Creative Existentialism: A Philosophical–Psychological Framework for Meaning‑Making and Existential Maturity

Abstract

Abstract (Native English Translation) Classical existentialism—Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus—captured the condition of the modern human with remarkable precision: absurdity, freedom, anxiety, and responsibility. Yet it fell short of offering a process map for moving from existential emptiness to the active creation of meaning. This article introduces Creative Existentialism, a framework that extends the classical tradition while offering three foundational innovations: (1) examining “existence” within the deep psychological structures of the self (the maternal knots), (2) introducing existential orientation as a bridge between philosophy and psychology, and (3) emphasizing the process of meaning‑creation as a dynamic, cyclical phenomenon. This framework rests on seven core principles: pre‑projective worth, evolutionary absurdity as the ground of creation, the analysis of existence within deep psychological structures, existential orientation, multi‑functional ethics, commitment to transience, and meaning as the response to the psyche’s fundamental questions. The ultimate aim is existential maturity—a state in which the human being, while continually self‑creating, finds equilibrium through existential openness toward the world and the Other. As the introductory essay to the broader project of Creative Existentialism, this article outlines the conceptual architecture of the framework and maps the trajectory for the subsequent papers in this series. Keywords: Creative Existentialism, Pre‑Projective Worth, Maternal Knots, Existential Orientation, Commitment to Transience, Existential Maturity, Meaning‑Creation.