Through my participation in the Newham Talking Therapy’s online webinar, I’ve come to realize the vital importance of self-awareness as the initial step towards instigating change. This concept seamlessly aligns with the emphasis I intend to highlight in my research. Additionally, within Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the emphasis on values and cultivating positive thought patterns has led to new reflections: How does one’s definition of value impact thought processes and overall existence? Moreover, when this sense of value diminishes, how does it influence emotions?
Therefore, from podcast overthinking, I encountered the concept of existential anxiety. Two philosophical professors explored anxiety and its potential existentialist resolutions. I found resonance with several viewpoints, and this newfound contemplation further brought my project’s focus in alignment with them.
- Transcendence: The notion of transcendence in existentialism resonates deeply with me. It asserts that humans are transcendent, we could go above and beyond the facticity or our situation and the realities around us do not wholly dictate our freedom of choice. Often, anxiety stems from this freedom to make choices.
- Anxiety as a Teacher: I appreciate the idea that anxiety can relate us to the world uniquely and profoundly. It prompts a distinctive relationship with our surroundings.
- Absurdity of Existence: Embracing the ugliness of existence. Recognizing that we only live once underscores the importance of “confronting.” Facing pain instead of palliating it, as mentioned by Byung-Chul Han. Treating anxiety as more than a symptom to be eliminated. This approach avoids oversimplifying the complexity of human life and human condition into a mere ailment that requires curing, which is also a tendeny of mutinng people who suffers. The problem with medical approaches to anxiety is that by definition, they never get at the root of the problem：If we treat the symptoms, we are losing sight of that meaning. (Naturally, it is crucial to note that the existentialist model of anxiety should not in any way be interpreted to diminish the experience of people struggling with something like clinical anxiety)
In my previous reflections, I’ve defined my study group as young Chinese graduates who share a common identity and life stage. Combining insights from this podcast with Byung-Chul Han’s perspective on the “The Palliate Society,” I aspire to narrow my focus more on their exsistence condition and to their specific challenges. By delving into individual cases and situations, I aim to learn and, from this point, step back, to examine broader issues.
REFERENCE:
link of the podcast: https://www.overthinkpodcast.com/episodes/episode-04
what are human values: https://commoncausefoundation.org/