HeyJaredEssaystential
Essaystential is a Substack about existentialism, philosophy and literature. Trying to unveil the complexities and paradoxes of everyday life.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
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- Sep 28, 2026
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- Jul 3, 2026
Latest issues
On Overcoming Loneliness (opens the original)
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This is the most personal essay I have written as of yet. In doubt whether I should keep it as a diary entry or publish it as an essay, I decided to do the latter. It was a quite cathartic experience for me writing this, as it captures one of the most central themes of my life thus far: loneliness. I hope the essay can be of any worth to anyone who might have dealt or deals with similar issues. Of all the fears I have ever had, not one came as close as the fear of loneliness. Navigating isolatio
Russia of the 19th Century: Anxious Tsars, Poor Peasants and Isolated Intellectuals (opens the original)
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This is the first chapter of my high school research project about Dostoevsky and his relationship with nihilism. It’s a concise history about the Russia that the writer lived in, capturing the position of the Tsars, the peasantry and the Russian intellectuals. The information is largely taken from the early chapters of Orlando Figes’ book: A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution. Essaystential is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work,
Dare to Think: The Danger of Using Politics for Social Gain (opens the original)
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People naturally tend to choose the easier option. It doesn’t take as much energy to make decisions, you just ‘go with the flow’. This energy-efficient way of making decisions and value judgements is very popular among us, as it’s not only faster and doesn’t require as much thinking, but it also protects us from being abandoned by their social group. For many believing in a shaky argument or going along with an idea that lacks logical reasoning and evidence is much more preferable than to risk o
The Roots of Nihilism I: Fathers and Sons (opens the original)
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In early February 1862, the Russian writer Turgenev published his literary novel Fathers and Sons. It was this novel that introduced the term “nihilism” to Russia. In the book, Turgenev showed the generation gap between the liberal, somewhat aristocratic generation, the “fathers” of the 1840s, and the new generation, whose values and principles he designated with the term “nihilism.”The main character of the book, Bazarov, was the embodiment of the nihilistic younger generation. Bazarov’s nihili
The Unbearable Complexity Of The Individual (opens the original)
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There are many ways to define people, we can do this socially, economically, politically or by their music taste. In a sense the individual is limitless, meaning that he/she can be defined through an almost infinite amount of dimensions or categories. This makes it rather hard to fully capture a human being in its entire essence, even a single person can’t be fully overseen and not only their character, but also when judging whether they’re good or bad for example. You can persecute a person as
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