Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the first existential philosophers that I got into. (In fact, Nausea was the first philosophical book I bought.) The handout states that Sartre’s philosophy is about freedom, which is strange because the impression that I get from the text is confinement and power. Perhaps the freedom comes out of the power. The introduction to Sartre began to develop his theory about being held responsible for our actions, which includes our emotions, and he uses the phrase “emotional consciousness” which is simply beautiful. If you couldn’t tell from my other blog posts, I have such a passion for exploring consciousness. Emotional consciousness is what brings an emotion into possibility. Before we can act upon an emotion, we have to feel that emotion first. In order to feel that emotion, according to Sartre, there must be a physical reaction in the brain to induce that emotion. Emotional consciousness is the unperceived set of events that leads you to experience an emotion. The emotion doesn’t exist yet, but the probability of emotion is very high, thus bringing the emotion into life. I also agree with him when he says that our emotions are strategies. Often when I am at school I act nicely to everyone. When I act nice my emotions show it; I appear happy and content. To me, this is just a strategy for a way to fit in. I can also see it as a strategy to not draw attention to myself, to not start arguments with anyone. Basically by being happy, I go to class and then go home, which can all be seen as a strategy to get by. Bad faith, as described by Sartre, is when someone uses their emotions strategically to avoid their fears and come to terms with their fears. I am definitely guilty of doing this sometimes. Reflecting on this, it is important to take control of your emotions and learn to master them, not let them master you.