How would you describe anxiety? Psychology Today describes it as characterized by “increased arousal and apprehension…distressing worry, and …unpleasant activation of multiple body systems—all to facilitate response to an unknown danger, whether real or imagined.”1 Interestingly, it stems from an advantage humans have evolved to better deal with their environment: “The real cause of anxiety is being human with the capacity to imagine a future. It finds fertile ground in uncertainty, and there is much uncertainty in the world these days.”2
There is a related sense of anxiety that is discussed within the framework of existentialist philosophy. Martin Heidegger’s treatment of anxiety (angst) best fits the concept when it is described as a general feeling of dread or perhaps of “not feeling at home” in the world in a way that can sometimes bring on a crisis. It applies particularly well to the experience of life in the modern technologically-oriented world. The following three points illustrate how.
- The first way in which it might be beneficial is by simply knowing what it is. To distinguish it from fear, he describes it not as directed toward any particular thing in the world, but as a general feeling of dread. It is a feeling of apprehension in the face of the potential to be–to be anything or nothing at all–which certainly involves the future and enters into the project of understanding how to relate oneself to the world. As such, it has been related to the concept of existential dread.
- Secondly, by knowing how it arises. The way it arises is through a particular kind of involvement with the world that causes one to forget oneself through activities that can be seductive because they tranquilize and cover over the distressing aspects of existence. This kind of involvement could take the form of immersion in the daily routines of life, of the weekend, with a career, or immersion with social media. Heidegger regards this kind of involvement with the world as risking an estrangement from one’s true, authentic self. But at a certain point one’s true self calls us back to itself–an event Heidegger calls the “call of conscience.” At this point, the authentic self discloses itself as the authentic self. Inasmuch as it becomes part of one’s awareness, it brings on a feeling of not being at home. It might be said that a realization of estrangement dawns upon the consciousness of someone who had hitherto been immersed in the world or in what Heidegger calls the “they” self. To heed this call is to take the first step toward overcoming anxiety. It is to heed the call to authentic existence with all of its accompanying distresses. Despite the complications that may arise, the discovery of one’s authentic self shows the path to deliverance.
- Thirdly, by undertaking originative, genuinely creative action. To be delivered from anxiety is to achieve a reorientation toward one’s “ownmost” potential for being. It is to arrive at a point where it is possible to face the future resolutely and authentically. Acting upon the discovery of one’s authentic self and moving away from a self-alienating kind of relationship with the world should take the form of originative thinking and originative activity. It is important that the thinking and doing be originative in such a way that it answers to the call of authenticity. Originative thinking is essentially creative and originates from within oneself.
As may be seen from the developmental nature of these steps, anxiety is a problem that affects one’s existence, one’s way of being in the world. For traditional philosophy, existential problems of this type were often buried beneath a concern for building a worldview that often had to begin with problems of knowledge and the nature of reality. With the existential approach existential problems come to the fore. For further information about phenomenology as a basis for the existential approach, see Gadamer: Hermeneutics, Scientific Method, and Subjectivity – Structure and Flux and The Hermeneutic Circle – Structure and Flux
References
- “What is Anxiety?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 2021, Anxiety | Psychology Today
- “What is Anxiety?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 2021, Anxiety | Psychology Today
