Thoughts on religion, existentialism and the supernatural

1

The main factor that makes me uncomfortable about religion is that mulititudes of people, from different walks of life, adhere to a single set of morals. Whatever you may believe, think or aspire, the morals you stick by are from a religious creed, not something personalised.

What I admire about existentialism, Sartre et. al. is the necessity for an individual to construct his own set of morals... You can make whatever choice you like as long as it is a moral one, and this bars any choice of murder, rape, etc.

But for someone to read this ancient book, that in essence is a piece of apocrypha, and see relevance in it to contemporary life... I don't think that one set of morals can govern what different people, from different persuasions, believe.

2

Now that I have pointed out my admiration for existentialism, I will talk about my qualms with it... Existentialist literature is antagonistic to the supernatural and is often rooted in the concept of proactivity and, often, political change. On the other hand, I am often disinterested in many forms of fantasy because of its reticence to explain itself or make comments... But a lot of the time, this idea of the supernatural emerging out of this new world of moral choices is completely out of the question for many existentialists. (Albert Camus wrote a fulminating reply to Andre Breton's surrealist manifesto.)

Something that to me bridges the gap between the two territories is Franz Kafka. Admired by both existentialists and magic realist writers, his writing depicts both troubled characters striving to form their own take of the world yet at the same time... crushing defeat often results in the supernatural, like the metamorphosing of Gregory Samsa...