In Western culture, emptiness has a negative connotation as it is often associated with depression.
In Eastern society, the Buddhist concept of emptiness is known as śūnyatā, a key element to liberate the illusive mind from mind labeling and suffering.
The ideas of emptiness, alienation, boredom, anxiety, suffering and despair were crucial elements in postwar existentialist philosophy and literature.
Although it has historical roots in Greek and medieval philosophy, the fundaments of existentialism derive from German philosopher Martin Heidegger's Being and Time(1927).
This philosophical movement is centered on the recognition of individual existence.
The absurd, indifferent universe has no intrinsic meaning or purpose. Living in a crowded city, performing work without a passion for it, superficial entertainment, ... enhance the empty, unhappy feeling of human beings.
In contrast to "Pour soi ", Sartre described "être en soi" as a self deceiving state of inauthentic existence, in which an individual avoids responsibility and the freedom of choice.
Existentialists believed all individuals should face emptiness and be responsible for their actions, by choosing and shaping their own destinies. As soon as a person accepts the concept of emptiness, he will accept the responsibility to live an authentic life by exploring his own possibilities.
In order to understand human existence, authenticity is necessary. Responsibility, autonomy, commitment and integrity are all necessary ingredients for a meaningful self chosen life. Self-defining individuals freely choose which projects they engage in. These projects of self- understanding reveal the meaning of existence and one's identity.
As Jean Paul Sartre said: "Existence precedes essence".
The essence is what we make of ourselves, what we choose to be, who we become.
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