The main belief of existentialism is ”Existence precedes essenses” which means that living comes before meaning. The basic beliefs are
– We are born a blank state
– We are totally responsible for the consequence of our actions.
– Past and Future are not real. Presence is reality
– Death is inevitable
– We live in angst—we live with extreme anxiety because we are never sure if our choices are correct
To better understand Camus’s definition of existentialism and absurdism (which will come up later on the book) you should read a short essay by Camus called the The Myth of Sisyphus . Chances are they will make you read this in school anyways
I think Lenny‘s definition refers to a quote by Nietzsche that loosing all hope is freedom . In the quote, Nietzsche refers to hope as the future and the reason why hope can be a bad thing is that people who are obsesses with the future cannot really fully enjoy their lives by living for the moment.