Journey Through the Illusions of Self: Differentiation and the Existential Quest

To differentiate is to distinguish an isolated factor of the self apart from a collective, family system, or environmental predicament. It is crucial for the individual to differentiate themselves as part of their individuation process, developing their own unique flair according to their preferences, wants, desires, needs, instincts, inklings, and noetic yearnings. However, more often than not, the perceived illusionary sense of the ego, along with its preferences and so forth, is not truly what the individual longs for from a deep noetic understanding of themselves. Instead, it is more a perceived illusion of who they are and what they yearn for.

Victor Frankl has noted that many people turn to the pleasures of hedonism as a subsequent attempt or as a side effect of a deeper existential emptiness, known as the existential vacuum. I would like to annotate the potential distinct differences between what is known as the existential vacuum and the existential vacancy. Although Victor Frankl does not specifically denote the term of existential vacancy, I would personally like to suppose that the existential vacancy is the emptiness along with the disparity of the existential vacuum.

These are distinct yet similar notions. However, for clarity’s sake, it is important to point out that it is the existential vacuum that results in subsequent behaviors that never truly bring the individual to a state of deep satisfaction or purposeful meaning. Instead, they may further perpetuate the neurotic triad of depression, addiction, and aggression.

(c)2024 John Piedrahita