Sein and Zeit again
Okay folks. This heat is really getting to me and I’m trying to remain sane—well, as much as can be considered normal. Too much is on my mind though. I am at odds with sein und zeit these days and I am doing terribly as dasein. Some of you may ask, “What the hell is he talking about?” These, my friends, are the rudiments of existentialism al la Heidegger. I miss this stuff and as I get older I now begin to appreciate what he and other existentialists have and had to say. I mentioned in my previous post that I was having “time, space continuum problems”. This is true in a daily sense in that I can really tick people off by being late or too early. True, much can be said for lack of discipline here. Something can be added in that I’m just not caring about much of anything these days (at least lately).
Like a friend of mine who has a rather extensive blogsite, I wish to not dwell on negative things or allow this to be a means of lamentation. Too many blogs exist in which people just complain or whine about “why I’m so lonely” or “life sucks” or “my girl(boy)friend doesn’t understand me” and so forth. I let myself slide a bit yesterday. However, I think I can get away with some actual philosophical ontological angst on occasion.
But I digress. Sein und zeit, “being and time” is actually the name of Martin Heidegger’s major tome and represents his ontological understanding. Dasein can be translated as “there-being” or as many will, “being-there”. Very, very simply put, from Descartes, we have the cogito ergo sum, “I think; therefore, I am [exist]” or in other words, because I can think, cogitate, etc, I know that I exist or have existence. The dasein takes it a bit further (and wonderfully I think) in that our existence is not in a void but can only be so in space/place and at a certain time—therefore, we don’t just have "being" but the “there-being”. Also, I encounter and know things as I have a place in existence of which to view them—the sitz-im-leben or “setting of life” or “situation in life”. (I’m using a rather open meaning here, not necessarily the form criticism/analysis sense. More or less: "from where I find myself sitting in life" or my "life situation").
…Obviously from above, Heidegger and many of the existentialist guys are German. They also use a good bit of those great compound (and hyphenated) German words which can be a good thing for philosophy!
So, personally and philosophically, I am having trouble with my dasein. (Well.., go out and get a new one then! I think I saw one on sale at Walmart earlier in the week.)
Where in the hell do I actually sit in life anymore? How did I get in my current state of being? Do I have a place? Do I want one? One is there whether I like it or not. However, as much as I think or feel that I fall into a void, my being (as well as anyone else) takes up space and time. Existence. I have this. That is what we know; what I know. And if there is no existence or being, then it is “non-being”.
Many of you good diverse friends probably feel that, yes, he’s lost it and would say something like: “Man, you need a good lay!” or “You need to get back to the Lord.” or “You think too much–wanna go watch some baseball?” or “I’ve got some Jack you can have…” or “Say wha?”
I miss those days of mine from Duquesne University. It was there that I began to learn and embrace this stuff. I had a double major in theology and psychology and a minor in philosophy and I did very well in all of those. Our psychology there was a philosophically based one—that of existential phenomenology. (The Skinner behaviorists can now roll their eyes in unison here). Psychology had its origins in philosophy and Duquesne’s brand tries to get back to that fact. Indeed, DU was one of only five existential phenomenological centers of the world. (I think the Univ. of Leuven in Belgium is one of the others).
Anyhow, I feel that the issues of philosophy and psychology are very much in a crisis stage deep within. They may have been for awhile. I still appreciate what I have learned via cognitive (scientific, empirical) psychology both as a subject of study and as one who was a client. It is the main crux of the “recovering” aspect of me being a “recovering melancholic”. This crisis is likewise both philosophical and psychological for me. I have and use the tools of cognitive psychology to continue on with daily life and to help me keep a certain perspective and more importantly, a healthy attitude based on true fact rather than on false assumptions. (To know the difference is the key!) The regimen of philosophic study and inquiry also help me in that maintenance. Plus, that is just me.
Again, I miss this kind of thinking and study and I desire and need to get back to it. This blog, I hope, will allow me to do this. I need to rediscover or redefine the dasein, my dasein. I need to think. I’m tired of trying to be someone or something that I’m not but moreso, I’m becoming someone and something that I don’t like. I need to stop this. And yet, even at my age, I am not sure exactly who I am or my place in this world. Philosophy helps me in having that sitz-im-leben from where I can at least sit a spell and take a breather and see what exactly is around me. Obviously, there is more to come on all of this.
I do not intend to explain or teach philosophy here. I do hope to explain my own take on things using philosophy, particularily that of existentialism–a rather general term.
By the way, does anyone have an extra copy of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time lying around? I think the last time I saw a copy, a professor of mine was using it to keep a door open. Yes, he did use it as it was intended though, but it is big and heavy enough to keep a door from closing. I probably should review some of my German while I’m at it.
