Existentialism and Radical Choice
Radical freedom, bad faith, and the weight of choosing who you are
How do you use Sartre’s existentialism in practice?
Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism holds that human beings have no fixed nature — "existence precedes essence" — and are therefore radically free to define themselves through their choices. The practical implication is that you cannot hide behind role, instinct, or circumstance: you are always already choosing, including when you tell yourself you have no choice. This is philosophical rather than clinical; its overlap with ACT and CBT is real but indirect.
Sartre argued that the anxiety of being human is the anxiety of freedom: there is no script, no essence, no pre-given nature that tells you what to do. You are what you do, and every inaction is itself a choice. That is either liberating or vertiginous depending on how you hold it — the existentialist practices below are about learning to hold it as liberation rather than paralysis. These are philosophical practices, not therapeutic protocols; the evidence is where the mechanism has psychological grounding, and honest about where it does not.
Practices
- Take seriously that you have no fixed nature
Stop treating your personality, role, or past as a given — you are always in the process of defining yourself.
- Bad faith in existentialism: spot it in yourself
Bad faith (mauvaise foi) is Sartre’s name for denying your own freedom — treating yourself as fixed by role or circumstance when you are in fact choosing.
- Take radical responsibility for your choices
Own every choice completely — including its unintended consequences and the unchosen conditions within which you chose.
- Choose authentically — from your own values, not from expectation
Make choices that reflect your actual values rather than the role others have assigned you.
- Sit with the anxiety of freedom
When the weight of choice produces vertigo, use it as a signal — not a problem to escape.
- Define yourself by actions, not intentions
You are not your intentions or your self-image — you are the accumulation of what you actually do.
Practice this with IX Coach
Related concepts
- Absurdism and the Practice of Meaning Despite
Revolt, lucidity, and the art of building meaning in a world that won’t provide it
- The Examined Life
The Socratic method as a daily practice — questioning, consistency, and honest self-knowledge
- Man’s Search for Meaning, Made Practical
Logotherapy, the three sources of meaning, and the last of the human freedoms
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Made Practical
The core ACT processes, the mechanisms behind them, and an honest read on the evidence
- Values Clarification, Made Practical
Card sorts, ranking, and value-consistent action — with an honest read on the evidence