lørdag 17. oktober 2009

"Hell is - other people"

After being sentenced to burn in hell with Rosie and Alex in Sartre`s extistentialist play "No Exit" I`ve been thinking about this main idea of the play that humans create hell for each other so in that way we don`t need torture or burning flames to suffer. I think, as showed in the play that the worst torture we experience as human beings is the need for affirmation and reassurance from other people. The constant need for different sorts of approval can drive people crazy. In the play this is portrayed through all the characters where Gracin seeks affirmation to the fact that he`s not a coward, Estelle seeks the approval of Garcin to confirm her beauty and Inez tries to seduce Estelle to concinve herself that she`s capable of making her love women and despise men as she does.
This notion is present everywhere in society, the need for other people to approve of us and the torture it can be when they don`t. This need can manifest itself in many ways, like in MUWCI, where the need for approval is not for the oppinion you present, but the fact that you have an oppinion. I think we are scared to death in this place not to have an oppinion on something while in "the real world" you might hide your oppinion in fear of it not being approved. Of course you have radicals and extremists that seem not to care about approval of others, but they always have someone to support them in their cause even if it`s an insignificant minority.
Even in religion, where your main goal is supposed to be Gods approval, many people still seek out for the approval of their fellow men rather than God. In practicing religion they might seek more towards the approval of the religious community rather than the laws of God.
In the end we are completly dependant of other people for their approval and affirmation, so then to spend eternity in one room with two other people who doesn`t give you any affirmation would be the ultimate torture...

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