3 Existentialist Lessons to Help You Deal With COVID-19
By: Jeanne Briatte
Tags: Albert Camus, Existentialism, Covid 19, Psychology, Coronavirus

1) Don’t waste time searching for a “meaning”, there isn’t any.

On social media, you surely have encountered people trying to make sense of the situation. Whether it is Earth taking its revenge on polluters, God punishing us for our sins, or Capitalism finally collapsing, everyone seems to come up with their explanation to the events of these last weeks. You certainly are trying to make sense of the situation yourself, either by adhering to one of the aforementioned ideas, or by coming up with your own. And it is normal to act that way: to quote Camus, “Plagues are a common thing, but you hardly believe in plagues when they fall on your head”[2].

You thus want to understand it and that search for meaning is a perfectly human mechanism — but is it what you should spend time on? No, existentialists would tell you.

Indeed, one of the first existentialist postulates is that there is strictly no sense to our world. God, destiny or whatever you may call it — there are no such things. No superior entity is driving your life and giving it meaning. We, humans, are truly left by ourselves in a world that is thus absurd. Hence, the first existentialist lesson on how to deal with the pandemic is to stop wasting time searching for its meaning, since there isn’t any to anything anyway.

Quite destabilizing, isn’t it? The feeling caused by the realization of the world’s absurdity is what Sartre would call the Nausea — but don’t worry, you’ll overcome it thanks to the second existentialist lesson.

2) You’re completely free, be responsible with that liberty.

Existentialism just freed you from the search for meaning in which you were stuck. But the meaninglessness of the world should not lead you to extremes — such as suicide, which Camus tackles in Sisyphus Myth [3]. On the contrary, as explained by Camus in the same book, you should enjoy the fact that this absurdity gives you complete freedom. Indeed, because the world is absurd, you are completely free to act according to your own will!

However, does this mean you should do anything you want? In the present day, disrespect confinement rules, hang out with your friends, and ransack the toilet paper stocks of your local shop? No. True existentialism means acting as you would like others to act: in a way that enables society to function. So, even though you are free to do all the things mentioned previously, you should consider not doing them, as they would cause the virus to spread and shortages with it.

Think of the Kantian categorical imperative: you should act only as if your action was to become a universal rule!

The strength of existentialism is thus to stress how each one of us is responsible for their action. As the existentialist thinker Jean-Paul Sartre puts it [3], “man is nothing but what he does of himself” and is thus “entirely responsible for what he is”. Yes, you are free to act, but it should be in a conscious way. Because by acting in a certain way, one agrees with the values behind their action. The existentialist man is thus also “responsible of all men”: the values he defends through his actions are ones he would accept to become universal.

Hence during this pandemic, you are free to act. But bear in mind that all your actions are impactful. And they reflect the values you defend: either you help the virus to spread, or you fight against it.

3) You have the power to act, use it.

That is why, by confronting us with our responsibility, existentialism might be frightening. The burden of our total liberty can seem unbearable, creating anguish in ourselves. “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom”, says the existentialist pioneer Kierkegaard. However, existentialism needs to be rather understood as a philosophy of empowerment; something particularly helpful during the current sanitary crisis.

In The Plague, written by Camus during his existentialist phase or “cycle of revolt”, the doctor Rieux indeed keeps trying to heal people that will die from the disease, even though it is meaningless and absurd. He does what he believes to be right and fights for it at all costs. Going back to existentialism at the time of COVID-19 can thus help you find the strength to fight for what you think is fair. Even though you do not need to be as brave as Rieux, there are some small actions you can do. If you want the end of this pandemic, of its deaths, isolation and constant fear, you should act accordingly.