The Human Predicament: Towards an Understanding of the Human Condition

For each of us, if life is to be experienced as worthwhile, if not thrilling, and occasionally pleasant, if not joyful, our diligence is required. Even the most enviable of lives includes challenges, disappointments, frustrations, and confusions. There is a word for circumstances that challenge, disappoint, frustrate, and confuse – that word is predicament. Being a human being is not easy. Every advantage we enjoy seems to be accompanied by a disadvantage. We can acquire information, but also experience the frustration of forgetting. We can create, but also be tormented with “writer's block.” We can know the euphoria of being in love, but also suffer heartbreak from a lover's rejection. These are but a few of the phenomena that can make life difficult, troubling, perplexing, and, perhaps, a predicament.