I have no idea whether or not what I experience “is real”. I experience it “as real”.
What this means is that I have no way of proving conclusively that there is any other conscious awareness of existence other than my own, but I experience my existence as though I am not unique in experiencing existence.
No matter how I approach my existence, I cannot avoid the necessity of choice. Not choosing anything in particular is itself a choice. This is the nature of the individual in the cosmos. I am alone in this responsibility. My conscious awareness in my mind is mine alone. I do not share my personal conscious awareness with any other living creature. What is more, I existed before I became consciously aware of my existence. Existence comes first. I believe it comes first at all levels of life. –from “I am an existentialist”
I choose to believe that I am not the only conscious awareness of existence in the cosmos. I choose to believe that I can communicate with other “conscious awareness-es”, primarily human ones that share my form of communication. I choose to believe that I may influence those with whom I communicate, as they influence me.
I state “ I choose to believe” because these are all propositions that I have consciously considered and I have consciously decided to believe.
Which raises the question, are there beliefs I hold that I did not choose to believe in? That someone or something else chose for me to believe in and taught to me as "the truth"? And then, what if whether or not I believe in something signals whether or not I belong to a particular group of individuals within which I meet my needs? (Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?)
This starts getting very complicated very quickly.
What I can tell you from personal experience is that the process of rejecting my childhood faith which is the belief structure of my siblings, and much of my extended family, was traumatic. It has only been through the insights gained in the study of the various facets of existentialism that I have been able to replace my childhood faith with a coherent set of beliefs that allows me to maintain anything close to rational consistency throughout all the varied aspects of my life.
In a nutshell this rational consistency is simply understanding that if I maintain a basis (the means) for satisfying my needs that allows me to pursue the uniquely human experience of applying my imagination to "What might be" and selecting from the infinite range of options, "What ought to be," and then trying to make it, "What is",—then I am able to engage in choice at what I choose to believe is the highest form of human existence, being creative in a community committed to love.
(See “I am an existentialist, Part III” for my definition of love in human terms.)
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