Kierkegaard, as later philosophers of existentialism, emphasized the balance of freedom and responsibility. Typically, freedom seems clearly positive phenomenon. However existentialists suggest that people begin to experience fear and anxiety when they realize that they are free, and accordingly, are entirely responsible for their lives (Fadiman & Frager, 2002, p. 642).
Freedom cannot exist without the anxiety as well as anxiety cannot exist without awareness of the possibility of freedom. By becoming a free, man inevitably feels anxiety. As Kierkegaard said, - "the anxiety - is dizziness with freedom." (Fadiman & Frager, 2002, p. 646).
Death comes to everyone, and people cannot escape from it. This horrifying truth fills humans with "deadly" fear. Referring Spinoza words, "every living being strive to continue their existing"; the confrontation between consciousness inevitability of death and the desire to maintain life are the central existential conflict (Hjelle& Ziegler, 1992, p. 344).
The fundamental isolation, from the perspective of the existentialists, is manifested in the fact that no matter how many relationships with others people build, no matter how close these relationships are, people still can never get rid entirely of the feelings of isolation and loneliness. It creates a conflict between absolute isolation and the need for contact, needs for protection and belonging to some groups (Yalom, 1980).
People are dying; they are responsible for the construction of their universe; each of us is fundamentally lonely in an indifferent world; what then is the meaning of our existence? Why do we live? How must we live? If anything was not originally predestined for us means we must do own life plans. This dynamic existential conflict generated dilemma between people`s searching for meaning and meaningless world.
References
Fadiman, J., & Frager, R. (2002). Personality and personal growth. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Hjelle, L. A., & Ziegler, D. J. (1992) Personality theories: Basic assumptions, research, and applications, New York (McGraw-Hill Book Company)
Yalom, I. D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. Basic Books.
