In this blog post, we will examine the roots of existential anxiety from a philosophical perspective and explore various approaches to it.
Existential anxiety and humans
Humans exist as individuals regardless of their own will, and are destined to disappear without knowing where they are headed. This existential anxiety that humans face can be explained by the fact that all objects in the world exist in a horizontal contradiction with all other objects, and in a vertical contradiction with an unknown absolute being that governs the existence and destruction of objects. Here, “horizontal contradiction” refers to conflicts arising from differences between entities, while “vertical contradiction” refers to conflicts arising from the fact that the absolute being remains unknown to entities. How have humans dealt with this existential anxiety?
The Western philosophical approach
In ancient Greece, before the formation of the polis, the absolute existence was unknown to each individual. However, after the formation of the polis, Western philosophy began to attempt to define this absolute existence. The aim was to clarify the nature of absolute existence through the power of reason and thereby resolve both vertical and horizontal contradictions. Western philosophy believed that by clarifying the universal principles corresponding to the essence of absolute existence, it would be possible to find a universal identity that encompasses the differences between individuals. Thus, it was believed that the identity of individuals could be secured by defining all individuals as legitimate components of a system without contradictions. However, individuals may have different understandings of what universal principles are. Therefore, in Western philosophy, it became important to engage in “debate” through a process of logical justification over the nature of absolute existence.
The Eastern philosophical approach
In ancient China, the absolute being that governed human life was also unknown. However, after the Spring and Autumn Period, scholars who inherited Confucius’s ideas shifted their focus from the vertical relationship with the absolute being to the horizontal relationship between humans, or the relationship between the self and others. They dismissed the need to define the relationship with an absolute being and focused instead on finding ways to achieve harmony among horizontal entities that cause conflict. They established specific moral values, such as benevolence and propriety, that could be shared within a group to resolve conflicts between individuals. This means prioritizing the order of the group over the individual and adopting the values of the group as one’s own identity. Therefore, it became important for them to follow moral values and refrain from revealing themselves in order to achieve harmony and maintain order within the group.
Existential anxiety in modern society
Although these two approaches differ in how they deal with existential anxiety and in the process of resolving it, they are fundamentally similar in that they both view humans as capable of resolving this contradiction. However, in the former approach, even if individuals endlessly seek answers to the question of what constitutes an absolute being in order to resolve their anxiety, it is difficult to escape the limitation that these answers are merely individual interpretations of an absolute being. The latter has the limitation of being only a partial solution, as it ignores the relationship with absolute existence in order to resolve anxiety and focuses only on resolving contradictions between individuals within the group. These two methods are human-centered methods devised at a time when urban civilization was in full swing and people began to seek a perfect order of domination within the walls of castles.
Primitive methods and their significance
On the other hand, there is another method that differs from these. This most primitive method starts from the recognition of the inevitability of vertical and horizontal contradictions that arise within individuals, and leaves the absolute existence as unknown. This is because it is not only impossible to define the essence of absolute existence with the abilities of individuals, but also because the attempt itself is futile. For this reason, contradictions between individuals cannot be resolved. All individuals are destined to be subordinate to absolute existence, so they entrust themselves to entities that have been granted charisma by absolute existence and live in complete dependence on them. Here, “charisma” refers to abilities that are unilaterally granted by absolute existence. Individuals adapt to the environment in which they live, temporarily parasitize objects that represent absolute beings by receiving charisma, and repeatedly gather and disperse according to changes in those objects. This method does not seek to identify or ignore absolute beings in order to resolve existential anxiety. This is because their existential anxiety cannot be resolved. They simply live their lives with their identity as parasites on objects that have been given charisma.
Comparison and Consideration
Compared to the previous two methods, the characteristics of this method are that it sees contradictions as irresolvable and that the identity of individuals is temporary and therefore can be relinquished at any time. If the approach that emphasizes debate and mutual understanding is the human-centered logic of cities that has emerged with the development of civilization over the last two or three thousand years, then this approach can be said to be the logic of the wild that has been engraved in the entire body of humans as a way of life alongside all other living things over the hundreds of thousands of years of human existence. According to this logic, even the superior perception that humans possess is not so different from the specialized survival abilities of other animals in that it cannot resolve existential anxiety.
The complexity of human existence
Therefore, in order to understand the complexity of human existence, it is necessary to comprehensively consider these various approaches. The debates of Western philosophy, the complementarity of Eastern philosophy, and the reliance on primitive charisma are solutions that have developed in different cultures and eras. In modern society, these three approaches coexist, and individuals strive to resolve their existential anxiety by flexibly combining these approaches according to their environment and circumstances. Ultimately, humans seek to overcome existential anxiety through the pursuit of absolute existence, harmony between individuals, and humble acceptance of nature. It is important to recognize that this is not a simple solution, but a process that requires constant reflection and contemplation.
