A Phrase for Valuing Human Existence
“Existence Precedes Essence” • phrase • (ig-zis-tuhns pri-seeds es-uhns)
Definition: The practice of prioritizing human existence before human nature
Origin: French
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A vital pillar of the existential philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre is “existence precedes essence,” or in French “l'existence précède l'essence.” Sartre first introduced this phrase at a lecture he gave in 1945 at the Club Maintenant in Paris, and this lecture was eventually turned into the book Existentialism is a Humanism. This simple phrase upended hundreds of years of European thought and remains especially important today as the United States copes with the chaos of its ethnocidal way of life.
Prior to this phrase, European thought tended to prioritize essence above existence, which helped colonizers to justify their destructive conquests around the world. To put it simply, an essence is any idea or concept we create or believe about ourselves because it helps give us meaning or purpose.
An essence could be your religious belief, nationality, skin color, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or countless other ideas. Finding pride or comfort in these ideas is not inherently problematic, but it becomes problematic once people prioritize their essence ahead of existence and begin to use their religion, nationality, skin color, sexual orientation, or political party to dehumanize or kill others. Tragically, American society was built on a long history of colonizers using their essence as a way of othering and dehumanizing non-white folks. In order to counter America’s destructive ethnocidal culture which pervades all of our lives, we must learn to shift our focus from essence to existence.
The Essence of the Republican Party
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have worked to make sure that existence precedes essence in all areas of my life. To stay safe, keep others safe, and maintain my sanity, I had to focus on existence and make sure that essence remained a secondary concern.
However, a large segment of America wanted to prioritize essence ahead of existence as we confronted a deadly pandemic. The Republican Party in particular would outwardly dispute science and facts, proclaim that COVID-19 was a hoax, and argue that wearing a mask constituted a violation of their freedoms. The rhetoric coming from the GOP and their supporters was that their “freedoms” were more important than the lives of many others. They could ignore the lethal threat of COVID-19 because they bought into the idea that their essence would protect them. When existence challenged their essence they chose to protect their essence and not their existence. They had an essentialist crisis.
Wearing a mask would eventually become a political statement rather than a life-saving act because Democrats prioritized existence and Republicans prioritized essence.
The simple deed of caring about your own life and the lives of others became a divisive political issue, and in in 2021, the deadly influence of an essence-focused worldview was again laid bare during Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
On January 6, Trump sent a mob of his supporters to the Capitol in order to terrorize members of Congress and prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the next president. During the House Democrat’s presentation, it became unmistakably clear how close Trump’s terrorists came to Vice President Mike Pence and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney. We saw congressional staffers hiding in offices, witnessed mobs chanting “Kill Mike Pence,” and caught sight of a gallows with a noose erected on the Capitol grounds. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton was so concerned about the threat of the mob that he had his gun brought to him as they attacked the Capitol.
A Republican president sent a mob to the Capitol with the explicit purpose of terrorizing Republicans and Democrats, and hardly any Republicans believed that Trump needed to be punished in any way. Republican Sen. Mike Lee said that Trump deserved a “mulligan” or a second chance. Members of the Republican Party literally came face to face with their own death and when given the choice between existence and essence, they chose the essence of the Republican Party over their own existence.
If this political party cannot even act on behalf of the lives of its own members, should we believe that they are capable of valuing the lives of all American people?
The winter storm that has engulfed Texas and left millions of people without power, is yet another recent example of how the inability of Republican lawmakers to adequately intervene speaks to the dangers of prioritizing essence before existence. Texans are freezing and Republican Governor Greg Abbott seeks to blame the power outages on the Green New Deal. Former Governor Rick Perry argues that power outages amidst freezing temperatures are a price that Texans should want to pay in order to keep the federal government out of Texas’ energy grid. We also cannot forget how Ted Cruz abandoned the state and decided to fly to Cancun to evade the cold for himself.
America is witnessing a political party that values keeping their political power over their existence and the very lives of their own supporters. The GOP wants power without responsibility even when lives are at risk. When their individual life is on the line, they side with the Republican Party, and when the lives of others are on the line, they still side with the Republican Party rather than making swift decisions that could save lives.
Essence and the Internment Camps
When I think about “existence precedes essence” I often think about my Asian American friends. As I worked on my book The Crime Without A Name, an Asian American friend of mine volunteered to read all of my chapters and give me feedback, and I still remember how my chapter on “existence precedes essence” impacted my friend. Using the language of essence to describe the perpetual othering he has faced in America helped provide him with the language to describe the ethnocidal injustices he has encountered in America. Far too often American society attempts to ignore how ethnocide impacts Asian Americans and this is unacceptable. Almost 80 years ago today America sent its own citizen to internment camps and we cannot forget this atrocity.
On February 19, 1942, the United States authorized Executive Order 9066 which legalized the internment of “all persons of Japanese ancestry” in the country. Despite also being at war with Germany and Italy, America did not embark on a campaign to place “all persons of German and Italian ancestry” in internment camps.
America imprisoned its own citizens because Japanese Americans did not have a white essence. Their American identity was immediately questioned and invalidated because of their external appearance, and their existence became imperiled in order to sustain the white essence that has long dominated this country.
Unsurprisingly, as the Republican Party has increasingly professed anti-Asian sentiments following the outbreak of the pandemic, America is once again witnessing a surge of attacks against Asian Americans. Elderly Asian people are being killed or critically injured as they go about their regular day and Asian Americans are quickly slapped with racist comments or xenophobic rhetoric because of how they’re viewed as “perpetual foreigners.” By not prioritizing existence, the domestic terrorists carrying out these attacks are fixating on people’s skin tones or essence rather than taking a second to realize that this is an innocent person not posing a threat.
Prioritizing essence before existence only results in destruction, both of others and ourselves. If we want to live in a just and equitable society, we must make sure that existence precedes essence.
For this week, we would like you to practice repeating the phrase “existence precedes essence” and see what comes up for you. Feel free to share your thoughts over social media or contact us over email.
