I keep reading the title as "Why I'm getting out of existentialism" which is as good as "What I'm getting out of existentialism".

His concept of the creative act is admittedly hard to understand, but I get a sense of it on an intuitive level, which is why I'm a proponent of it. The arts are only one aspect of creativity for him. The creative act is a fundamentally spiritual action; it's a component of man's relationship with God. Philosophy, for instance, should be a creative act. Happy reading!

What makes you think so?

I keep reading the title as "Why I'm getting out of existentialism" which is as good as "What I'm getting out of existentialism". — Bitter Crank

LOL! I've been meaning for several days to say the same thing, but thought that I'm the only one >:O

Just that 'why I am getting out of existentialism' would be as good a response generating title as 'what... existentialism'.

It does seem likely that one could subscribe to a system (like Stoicism, or Christianity) and just treat existentialists as those who remind us that:

• No system is complete
• Because no system is complete, a system can attempt to put constraints on reality that don't actually apply- those constraints can and should be challenged
• Experiences, history (our own and that of philosophy) and relationships are important
• Dogma and egoism can cause harm

Considering the fact that we are talking about Christian Existentialists in this thread, it's obvious that existentialists can work within existing systems.

Regarding personal histories: Existentialism may mean more to me than it does to other people because I grew up in and with a very rigid system of fundamentalist Christian young earth creationism. About 25 years ago, I started doubting the veracity of literalism and started looking for another system as a replacement.

I experienced a lot of rigid dogma and egoism (in Christianity and among atheists- I explored atheism for a while). Egoism to me is the belief that if one could just have complete control over one's environment (including outcomes and the responses of others) then one would be living the best life possible.