I’m happy to hear about “existential” becoming Dictionary.com’s word of the year. That many people are using the word in the media, and that people are seeking its definition more and more is a sign of the spiritual awakening humanity is undergoing.
It might seem like a negative phenomenon, since as Dictionary.com mentions, it emerges in the media commonly together with the words “threat” and “crisis” related to crises in society, climate change, protests, gun violence, Big Tech anxiety, as well as questioning people’s entire life direction and self-identity.
However, it is precisely such crises that spur questions about what our lives are ultimately about. If it were not for such episodes, we would simply flow in the currents of life, ending our every day the moment after it starts. Therefore, existential questions about life’s meaning and purpose, who we are, where we’re headed and who or what we really depend on, surface to wake us up from our everydayness.
Existential Threats and Crises — A Spiritual Wake-Up Call
The fact that “existential threats” and “existential crises” increasingly appear in the media shows many people’s concern arising together with an increasing distrust in the media, governments, politicians and companies that hold immense influence over our lives.
We mostly take for granted how complex our lives have become today. On one hand, we carry out our daily business in order to survive and enjoy life as best as we can, but on the other hand, we are in the midst of an overload of information and pressures that we never experienced before. Our connections increasingly tighten all around the world, and since we have yet to realize such connections positively, we experience this tensing reality as one of increasing pains and sorrows.
Many of us thus seek out different meanings and purposes to our lives than the ones we grew up with. It is a sign of humanity undergoing a new form of development from its corporeal desires, where we lived to fulfill ourselves at the levels of food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge, to the awakening of the spiritual desire, which seeks the meaning of life.
Most people who encounter such existential questions still seek out a new goal or identity within the corporeal realm, for instance, changing their profession, friends, location, gender, or in general, where they invest most of their time and energy. This search is still not for the eternal and ultimate meaning of life, which the wisdom of Kabbalah provides an answer and method for. It does, however, display an acceleration of human development from the corporeal to the spiritual.
The Definition of ‘Existence’ According to the Wisdom of Kabbalah
Where Dictionary.com’s definition of “existential” means “of or relating to existence” or “of, relating to, or characteristic of philosophical existentialism; concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by the individual’s freely made choices,” according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the definition is much more intensive. To be specific, there is no term “existential” in the wisdom of Kabbalah, but “existence” in Kabbalah means that within every particular moment of our lives, we question why we are alive. By doing so, we can constantly sharpen our lives’ direction to its ultimate purpose, and thus reach a more optimal realization of ourselves and our lives.
Therefore, we target our dissemination of Kabbalah to anyone who has such questions, and the door is always open for people of any background, culture, age and gender to take whatever anyone wants from the wisdom.
If one seeks answers about life’s meaning and purpose, Kabbalah provides a method to discover life’s ultimate meaning and purpose by guiding our discovery of the eternal and perfect reality, all while we are alive in this world.
Alternatively, if people are looking for a change and improvement in life, not yet at the level of unlocking eternal perfection, then such people are also welcome to read our materials, or join our courses and channels, and see how the wisdom that describes the complete picture of reality can help us conduct our lives with more awareness, understanding and balance.)