Existential Self-Care
Today, I would like to discuss a very strange and rarely encountered concept: existential self-care. To be fair, it should be noted that the discussion of this concept arose completely by chance...
From this point, we begin to smoothly transition from one eternal question asked by Alexander Herzen, "Who is to blame," to the second eternal question, "What is to be done."
And today, I would like to discuss a very strange and rarely encountered concept: existential self-care. To be fair, it should be noted that the discussion of this concept arose completely by chance when my fellow psychologists and I were discussing some aspects of existential psychology.
It's worth mentioning that this concept consists of two parts. The second part, "self-care," is already well-covered in popular psychology. The hackneyed advice to "take care of yourself" is something many of us have heard countless times.
The first and important step towards oneself is healthy egoism. The ability to make oneself feel good. Because if you cannot make yourself feel good, in fact, you cannot make others feel good either. Without experience, it remains an abstract concept. And from there, it's not so far to "the Greater Good of Mr. Grindelwald."
A person must reach the stage of healthy egoism. Both Jung and von Franz write openly about this. But this stage is not the end. This is where the second part of the equation comes into play — the adjective "existential."
Think about what a person associates self-care with. Once again, I will use the help of pseudo-higher intelligence and turn to OpenAI GPT-4. Artificial intelligence suggests that the concept of self-care is often associated with the following things:
Physical health
I agree that, undoubtedly, self-care is about taking care of the body. And in all aspects: health, appearance, pleasant smell (or at least the absence of it), adequate nutrition, etc.
Mental health
This is a recent trend, but a very positive one. As they say, "keep your Shadow to yourself," as well as other projections. This phrase should be repeated like a mantra by everyone. But there are also more prosaic aspects: the ability to cope with stress, anxiety, challenges of uncertainty, and so on, the ability to REST and restore resources. (Here, an attentive listener familiar with the psychological version of bingo should shout the corresponding word.)
Social connections
Truly, man is a social animal. Without the Other (not only in the Lacanian sense, but also in the everyday sense), it is difficult to achieve well-being and, as a result, be healthy.
Development
This point was undoubtedly gleaned from myriads of Western coaching materials with the cult of success. How to achieve success? Where to look for success? Where to shove it afterwards? But seriously, realisation in something, be it a profession or a hobby, is necessary to live a full life.
The last point proposed by GPT-4 is Spirituality.
Here, AI focused on the fact that some people need to perform spiritual practices in order to be in harmony with themselves and nature. Well, sounds reasonable.
So, five wonderful and beautiful points that reflect reality very well. Look at them again: does it seem to you that something is missing? It seems that everything is in place. If you break it down according to Maslow's pyramid, it's just great.
What is missing, oddly enough, is life. All of the above creates a field or space for a person, but none of the above answers the question of WHY a person lives their life.
All the points listed above can be accomplished with an adequate schedule. It's just that there will be time left exclusively for sleep. On such a person's grave, one could write: he was a great guy, lived as he should, took care of himself, and died healthy and loved. But did he really live?
This is where we come to the key question of today's episode. What does truly taking care of yourself mean? Allow me to quote the existential psychologist Grishina:
Again, the previously noted interdependence of life and death is confirmed — the less fully life is lived, the more painful the fear of death. The less you have accomplished in your life, the more you fear death. Let us recall Nietzsche's statements: 'Live life to the end' and 'Die at the right time.' And Sartre writes: 'I was slowly approaching my end, knowing that hopes and desires are strictly rationed to fill my books, confident that the last beat of my heart will be inscribed in the last paragraph of the last volume of my writings, that death will get a dead man.'
Existential self-care is the desire to live one's own unique life. It is following Jung's individuation. It is the fulfilment of Thelemic true desires. Existential self-care is the desire not to increase existential guilt, which arises every time we do not do what we should have done.
Existential self-care is the rejection of the fulfilment of momentary desires, the rejection of basic needs when the soul says otherwise. Remember the experience of Viktor Frankl, who, being sentenced to death in a concentration camp, did not cling to life and basic needs, but clung to his freedom.
Existential self-care is the desire to do what you think is right, not what is easy or approved by others. In fact, I am being somewhat cunning: all of the above is my understanding of existential self-care. It seems to me that each person has their own. And the task of each is to find out what it is.
Existential self-care is the search for an answer to the question of what it means for you, and after you have understood something, it is following this understanding.
Reasonable people are accustomed to taking care of their body. In recent years, the most advanced people have begun to take care of their psyche as well. This does them credit, and this is, in fact, already a huge achievement. But time dictates its own rules. And now it is necessary to allocate resources for taking care of one's soul as well.
Both the body and the psyche are important components. They create a field of possibilities for development and transformation. But in themselves, they do not change anything. This must be done by the person themselves. The time has come for existential self-care.
What do you think?