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Single Idea 23074

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 3. Angst ]

Full Idea

In anxiety, a man clings to whatever can reinforce, can stimulate his providential discomfort: to try to cure him of it is to destroy his equilibrium, anxiety being the basis of his existence and his prosperity.

Gist of Idea

In anxiety people cling to what reinforces it, because it is a deep need

Source

E.M. Cioran (The Trouble with Being Born [1973], 09)

Book Ref

Cioran,E.M.: 'The Trouble with Being Born', ed/tr. Richard Howard [Penguin 2012], p.123

A Reaction

A report from the front line of the age of anxiety, on which I am not qualified to comment. I assume that some anxiety can be a good thing, like nerves before a public performance.

The 18 ideas with the same theme [life permeated by insecurities and meaninglessness]:

20732 If man considers himself as lost and imprisoned in the universe, he will be terrified [Pascal]
22029 Irony is the response to conflicts of involvement and attachment [Schlegel,F, by Pinkard]
22096 Anxiety is not a passing mood, but a response to human freedom [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
22097 The ultimate in life is learning to be anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard]
21909 Ultimate knowledge is being anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard]
20758 Anxiety is staring into the yawning abyss of freedom [Kierkegaard]
7078 The freedom of the subject means the collapse of moral certainty [Nietzsche, by Critchley]
2876 The thought of suicide is a great reassurance on bad nights [Nietzsche]
21952 Anxiety about death frees me to live my own life [Heidegger, by Wrathall]
22224 Anxiety is the uncanniness felt when constantly fleeing from asserting one's own freedom [Heidegger, by Caputo]
22165 Anxiety reveals the possibility and individuality of Dasein [Heidegger]
20755 Fear concerns the world, but 'anguish' comes from confronting my self [Sartre]
19604 Unlike other creatures, mankind seems lost in nature [Cioran]
19606 We can only live because our imagination and memory are poor [Cioran]
19601 Life is now more dreaded than death [Cioran]
23074 In anxiety people cling to what reinforces it, because it is a deep need [Cioran]
20761 If existence is absurd it can never have a meaning [Beauvoir]
20734 Anxiety, nausea, guilt and absurdity shake us up, revealing our freedom and limits [Aho]