philosophy to live by

Two of the main principles of Existentialist Human Condition are: That man exists and then creates himself and what man chooses for himself he chooses for everyone else as well. Let’s examine the first principle: man exists and then defines himself. What it means is that man is created on this earth and is nothing but a shell of potential consciousness. What he chooses to do and to be is what makes him his own unique person. If a man comes into this world and chooses to steal, cheat, kill and lie then that is what that man has made himself to be. While society may see him as a "evil" person, that is what is right for him. Now on the other hand if a person chooses to be generous, kind, honest and loving, society may see him as a "good" person while it is still right for him. According to the Existentialists, a person is placed on this earth with no predisposed "good" or "evil" values, one man is not created with any more good or evil than the next. By the decisions we make in life we create ourselves and by an extension of ourselves, the society around us. Everything we do in life affects someone else, whether we are aware of it or not. Every time we drive our car. Every time we eat something, spend money, go for a jog, someone else is affected. For an example: a man goes to the store and buys a stereo. First of all the clerk the clerk is affected because they have to check you out, so you have taken some of their time, been rude or nice to them which further affects how they act to others later. The store is affected because they are minus one radio from their store which means that one less person after you can purchase a radio which can make them angry or late to something else. The manufacturer now has to make one more to replace the one that was bought from the store. The manufacturing employees are affected because put the radio together, and so on. On the other hand a man who chooses to steal that same stereo will affect even more people. If he gets caught, the store, the manufacturer, the police, the courts, the jails and all the people who are involved with those organizations all get affected along with the people previously mentioned. So now the question is raised "what if everyone acted the same way that man did?" Well there could be nothing but anarchy, no laws, or government. Basically we would revert to a type of Neanderthal type state. This is why many classic philosophers have problems with the Existentialist point of view, because of the "what if" questions. If everyone is affected by that one person’s actions, then what is stopping them from acting in the same way? This is actually a fallacy as these people never take into account the old or already established society. Sure, the man can create the society around him but it is very rare to find an individual that believes he molds all that is around him and therefore his actions only take limited effect. He thinks “the world and all the people, actions, and events are independent of me and all exist concretely outside of me so how could I change anything?” Doubt is what truly limits man and how he shapes the world. In an odd turn of events doubt, which Descartes wants us to use doubt to be sure of the events transpiring around us as only skeptics have the best chance of making the right next step. But as irony would have it, it is this same doubt that keeps us in the world others have created as it what is keeping us from allowing our full potential to come to fruition.