Angst |
Tuesday Sep 16 2008
By Jim Selman | Bio
I like this word. I don’t know why…perhaps because it is one of those words that seems to express itself in speaking of it. The word means ‘anxiety’—a kind of generalized anxiety with being alive. The existential philosophers talked a lot about angst. In fact, we normally associate angst with existentialism—existential angst. The word is usually associated with a negative mood such as depression or what Thomas Merton characterized as “the dark night of the soul”. I think that Heidegger talked about it as the inherent tension between ‘being’ and ‘non-being’. I think that angst underlies the ‘suffering’ that Buddha associated with human existence and probably is behind the concept of ‘original sin’. Whatever its origins or deeper meanings, it is a day-to-day practical reality for most of us in our unending quest to ‘get it right’ and ‘be happy’.[Read More]
Written by eldering at Leadership
Tagged with: angst conversation existentialism purpose service
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