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| 10 December 1998 | |||||
| Faith, and with it the implications of something beyond what can be touched, seems to completely negate existential thought. It does not necessarily have the same focus of time or place. Most importantly, faith is not concretely present; for the scientist, faith does not exist in the same way that Jean-Paul Sartre's cherry tree exists in Nausea. Yet Paul Tillich is able to write an entire book on faith with Dynamics of Faith and even advocate a life that includes faith. Albert Camus, on the other hand, hardly advocates embracing anything involving an ultimate concern in his essay "An Absurd Reasoning" in The Myth of Sisyphus. He is concerned, rather, with living life in the middle ground where reason takes leave but before faith is embraced. Of these two philosophies, Camus' means of achieving a fulfilled life seems to reflect a more existential viewpoint. This can be discerned by examining the nature of each idea, the focus of the idea related to place, and the focus of the idea related to time. | |||||
| The nature of Tillich's idea of faith is one of ultimacy. In fact, his first sentence says, "Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned" (Tillich, 1). He later goes on to talk of faith as a centered act of one's existence. This can be likened to taking a leap, where the object of ultimate concern becomes the centered act. Camus' idea of existence differs greatly from this. He maintains that the leap should not be taken, that a person should stay on the edge of the cliff rather than embrace faith or reason. "I merely want to remain in this middle path where the intelligence can remain clear" (Camus, 30). Part of staying on the edge is maintaining the struggle between the two ideas that make up the absurdity of existence, which Camus asserts is a nostalgia for unity and the inevitability of death. Having faith in an ultimate concern, especially when the ultimate concern is God (which Tillich says is the fundamental symbol of ultimate concern on page 45), takes away the inevitability of death, promising everlasting life instead. By taking away part of the equation of absurdity, Tillich effectively removes part of the struggle, and thus, part of the suffering of life. Since one of the most elemental aspects of existentialism is suffering, Camus' idea of suffering on the edge of the cliff more closely resembles existentialism than the peace of mind that Tillich offers with his faith. | |||||
| Another aspect of existentialism that does not seem to fit well into Tillich's idea of faith is a focus on things that one can touch - in short, things that literally exist. "Man is able to understand in an immediate personal and central act the meaning of the ultimate, the unconditional, the absolute, the infinite," writes Tillich (9). The very idea that the central act is based on something that is not or can not be seen, that faith is about "the infinite," suggests that the objects that actually exist are not important. Yet Camus rejects this idea. He writes, "This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that it exists. There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction" (14). For Camus, the emphasis is on things that he can actually touch. The emphasis is on things that exist. Part of existentialism is reality. Tillich's faith does not appear to be part of that reality, while Camus' philosophy centers on it. | |||||
| Finally, the temporal aspect of Tillich's faith does not correspond to the existential focus on the present. Tillich writes that the ultimate concern "is also the promise of ultimate fulfillment which is accepted in the act of faith" (2). The promise mentioned implies something that is to take place in the future. Existentialism, on the other hand, while focusing on the objects that exist, also focuses on the objects that exist in the present. Neither the future nor the past seems to have much importance in the existential philosophy. "An Absurd Reasoning" seems to deal with this idea in a better way. Camus writes of other philosophers that "they always lay claim to the eternal, and it is solely in this that they take the leap" (31). Camus rejects placing importance on the eternal and instead focuses on the present. "The important thing....is not to be cured, but to live with one's ailments," (29). Because of his focus on the present, Camus asserts a more existential philosophy than Paul Tillich. | |||||
| Paul Tillich and Albert Camus have very different philosophies about an existential existence. Tillich, with his idea of faith and the ultimate concern, appears to stray from the traditional existential themes of suffering, focusing on the present, and focusing of things that exist. Albert Camus' idea of living life on the brink of reason and faith does reflect these existential themes. | |||||