How Kierkegaard's Philosophy Embraces Anxiety

Is Anxiety Actually Good For Us?
It seems like we live in an age of anxiety, with more and more people using everything from meditation to apps to medication to cope. But from a philosophical perspective, anxiety might actually be a necessary, and even healthy, part of existence. And for philosophers like Kierkegaard, anxiety is key to understanding existentialism. We'll explain in this video on the Philosophy of Anxiety.
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Written by Amanda Scherker
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Brian M Kim
Produced by Olivia Redden
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#anxiety #culture #philosophy #existential #kierkegaard
© 2024 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

Of course we have free-will, we have no choice. We are condemned to be free, such is the prison of infinite choice and potential. But sometimes I think the anxiety of 'freedom' is knowing that many choices and potentialities are taken from us by the societies in which we live. In other words, you're not anxious because you can be anything you want or do whatever you want with your life, you're anxious because on some level, you know exactly that you can't - because money or country or culture or education etc. We tremble at all the things we can no longer be, and fear wasting the only life we can know we have.

[@WisecrackEDU]

damn, this one hits hard.

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

@@WisecrackEDU Thanks :D I think? haha I'll try to be gentler in future.

[@LonkinPork]

Holy fuck, YES. This is everything I wanted to say but couldn't put into words

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

@@LonkinPork Aww thanks :) Just typed it up not really thinking but I'm glad someone found it valuable :)

[@Jay-kx4jf]

Things that you can no longer be? The same things those societies told you you could be? Play this rat race to live the life you want? Freedom is knowing you're free of those fed in desires.

[@Biwul]

Love watching wisecrack on work hours 😂😂😂

[@noblewhitneyIII]

Big facts. It does make want to run out of work every now and then screaming “were all plugged in”

[@gerardolozano7084]

boss makes a dollar, i make a dime. that’s why i watch wisecrack on company time 😂

[@noblewhitneyIII]

@@gerardolozano7084 barz

[@jdw677]

Steal that time back!

[@cmckinney380]

I'm literally doing the same. Lol

[@0gham]

I feel that lack of public places and our general antisocial/parasocial habits have a bit to do with it.

[@LonkinPork]

I'm a simple guy, I see Our Boy Kierkegaard in the thumbnail, I click the video

[@WisecrackEDU]

and we love you for that.

[@adinsilverstein2788]

The way you capitalized the name makes it seem like a saint or something, like Our Boy of the (I’m Jewish) Kierkegaard

[@rafadesignercristao]

I see Kierkegaard, have my existential crisis and go to bed in peace.

[@l.k.4186]

Ah yes, just in time after the end of my college Existentialism class.

[@nishidohellhillsruler6731]

Not gonna lie, I would love it if I didn't feel so ridiculously philosophical all the freaking time 🤨

[@vazzaroth]

It does make it hard to enjoy a simple pleasure like X-men 97 since there's only so many 'deep' concepts to consume out there -__- Guess I gotta start making my own! (Looks at my 3 half-finished novel files)

[@tsegazeabkiflemariam1617]

Dude, that's the best part.

[@cameronboardman2579]

I’m glad I’m not the only person who goes to work and wants to ask everybody they see what they’re take is on whether or not free will exists. Turns out people don’t like questions like that unprompted.

[@fernandosanchezm]

The real problem at this point is, no matter you resolve your anxiety or find it necessary, it is just getting bigger and bigger because just living is becoming inhumane in economy and knowledge necessary just to barely function

[@redgreen2453]

Idk, I feel like for me my anxiety comes from a sense of a *_lack_* of freedom. Like that, while in theory I can do anything, there will always be people and forces more powerful and ruthless than me with the means to physically, emotionally, psychologically, or financially hurt me until I’m acting in accordance to their goals. Very possibly creating a life where the things I would actually choose are kept out of reach or even out if my awareness and I’m only left with the illusion of choice where every “option” only leads to a different flavor of living unfulfilled for the superficial betterment of the lives of people that will never know me and would only see me as a commodity if they did. Idk, at least that’s my experience with anxiety

[@deep_fried_analysis]

You're not the only one. I feel this too even when i engage in volunteer work and organizations. Although i'm sure that this feeling travels all the way up the food chain, but as you say, probably in different flavors!

[@Kazuma11290]

This deeply resonated with me. I've been thinking about these exact same things for the last few months after having realized none of my Highschool friends talk to me anymore. I tried getting in contact with them, but apparently none care to do the same. I've been pretty broken up about it, but I've come to realize I wasn't the problem. They're the bad friends, and I'm still loyal to those who actually matter. Even of I'm alone now, and maybe even forever, I know that's not certain and it's better to be alone than with them anyway. I'm Invincible and so are you if you choose to be.

[@MichaelBerthelsen]

I watched The Truman Show too young, and combined with ADHD, I regularly sit around wondering if everyone around me actually hate me, they're just being polite, but in reality don't ever want to see me again.😓

[@deep_fried_analysis]

Just plainly asking them what they want (in the relationship) helps a long way! You don't have to be afraid to lose someone that might be a fake

[@popcorn245]

Took Michael's advice, steak was great, ice cream is sweeter in silence, and my children have never loved me more. Thank you Micheal! 🙏

[@WisecrackEDU]

Parent of the year!

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

Till they get old enough to realize the deliberate nature of the deception. That selfishness done to basically PTSD them, for your benefit, is what happened.

[@MisterMusic117]

When you find out that first bit about your friends is true... Well I've been just fine without friends for like a decade. 😂

[@IAmNumber4000]

Wow. This is what I needed to hear right now. Thanks Michael. Wish my therapist would say stuff like this 😭

[@OverlordMMM]

Just want to preface this to say that I have debilitating anxiety due to c-ptsd which presents in a non-typical way, so my views on the topic may be a bit different. In my opinion, anxiety comes from the awareness of the difference between our self-agency (our conscious self) and the autonomous (subconscious self, physical self, and the world beyond). The more aware of our lack of influence, the more we recognize infinite possibility, as well as our inability to narrow those possibilities. It becomes less about our freedom to act within the the confines of the world, and more about the the ability of the world to act upon us, and our reaction in response. The reason for my clarification between agency and autonomy is because we do not control all of our internalized attributes. Our mind is both our own and in a sense a separate entity. Seeing these discrepancies and being more aware of this has significantly increased my personal anxiety, especially during the moments when I notice when my thoughts + thought patterns are fragmented, slowed, erratic, etc. Unfortunately for me, this specific type of awareness has become mostly a subconscious process over time creating a recursive cycle that is beyond my control.

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

Thanks for.... Saying this...

[@deep_fried_analysis]

This is deeply related to addictions too...

[@LuciaGreen2812]

I cannot stress* (big haha) how anxious saying we're trusting every single car not to go into the oncoming traffic made me feel

[@ptcosmos]

7:36 I love your channel and your audience, I'm gonna comment on ALL your videos for years until I reach your level of subscribers.

[@dem8568]

I often try to reframe anxiety as excitement. They are often physiologically the same, we just have to reinterpret the experience. The difference, I do find, is in accepting the possibility of failure. If I can't do that, I'm stuck in the domain of pure anxiety rather than possibility.

[@jeffreyrumery6768]

That disclaimer about not letting your kids experiencing true "freedom" is completely wasted on people who only listen to this video!😧

[@FacterinoCommenterino]

Today's Fact: The world's largest lizard is the Komodo dragon, which can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh up to 150 pounds.

[@youbetyourwrasse]

It kills by biting a Victim. Over the course of days, infection sets in, and the Victim parks by the Water-Hole to nurse it's illness. Sepsis takes over, the Victim expires, and after perhaps weeks of Patience, the Dragon Feeds. "PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE.* Things always Change. :D

[@Krotas_DeityofConflicts]

Thanks

[@sea_triscuit7980]

I love that people still do this 20 years later haha. A lot of posts were like this trying to be unique

[@GriffinDavis-te2xd]

Yeah say that an alligator isn't a lizard my ass

[@Mustachioed_Mollusk]

There used to be a species of penguin that was 6ft tall and 250lb. They have been named Mega Penguin

[@lampost_]

Watching Wisecrack on company time 🤙

[@vitoria.no.c]

I think this is a great way to think about anxiety as an opposite to capitalism: understanding that its inevitability is a smoke screen. Great video as always!

[@youbetyourwrasse]

☼ When a creature feels out of control AND in an enviroment they cannot trust, anxiety WAKES THEM to the fact that something is Wrong. And Changes needs must occur. A Sleeping Man is a Soaring God in need of Remembering innate Wisdom. "Simba, Remember WHO YOU ARE! You are MORE than what you've become .." -Lion King "Know Thyself" -Inscribed on Apollo's Temple at the Oracle or Delphi

[@yousifnash5378]

Speaking of anxiety, I hope you guys do a philosophy of video for Inside Out 2, because I use the first one for class

[@markb7913]

Heidegger uses the term angst, which is better defined as existential dread of which anxiety is a symptom not the cause.

[@TheOneTrueAnthemis]

This level of anxiety is so relatable

[@xizar0rg]

The kierkegard bit reminds me some of Foldable Human's 'not a video essay' about using art to cope with anxiety when he repeatedly watched Contagion (2011) during the recent plague. (I know the audience here has the love for Cody's Show-dy, but Dan should also be on people's radar, if he isn't already.)

[@thesimplicitylifestyle]

From "don't have a cow man" to "go hug a cow man" 😎🤖

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Your videos help me deal with my own anxiety guys. Thanks

[@n.p.aucoin7966]

Kierkegaard really is the best. Just his emphasis on the authentic existence as an individual is so refreshing and profound. For Kierkegaard, being dishonest with yourself is the worst thing you can be. Honesty about our lives, the world, and who we really are is the way we grow and truly live.

[@sudd3660]

Wisecrack used to be shallow, now look at it, all deep and stuff in medium long format :) it has grown up :)

[@LonkinPork]

Stolen, pithy joke: Anxiety is just conspiracy theories about yourself.

[@IAmNumber4000]

3:11 You better have a finale like Network (1976) where you get unalived by black panther assassins on air

[@LeandroZanella]

Amazing content, really insightful and surprisingly optimistic.

[@masterofblight]

15:05 We got this guy and he's gonna fix everything.

[@Ford_prefect_42]

I'm so glad I'm not anxious about retiring. I know I won't 🤣

[@NWPaul72]

But we'll die happy, knowing we enhanced shareholder value. 😀👍

[@jonathanvillanueva9206]

As someone who recently graduated from college and looked into the abyss with a lot of anxiety this helped a bit. I’ve failed so much this past year but I know it’s giving me experience to keep going and to be a better me

[@Ford_prefect_42]

This is making me anxious that wisecrack can see inside my head and I'm in a Truman show type situation. Yaaaay anxiety

[@Ford_prefect_42]

OMG 8:08 YOU ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT THE SHOW! Ok simulation confirmed.

[@jordan-kb9wt]

After heard there was a psychological illness based on the movie, it immediately when onto my banned list. Crisis averted.

[@robrules]

1 view in 10 seconds? bro fell off

[@WisecrackEDU]

gonna delete the channel

[@maxuabo]

Smh my head rip in peace

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Comment for the algorithm to case engagement🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@Thekowaikaiju]

Thanks for immediately triggering my fear of my friends being annoyed of me lmao And if you're still doing this at 85 it is almost rude not to die on camera 😅

[@rizerek]

Hmmmm.....I start to break into a sweat when I interact with anyone I don't know well. And it doesn't feel like it's because I have too much freedom.....

[@NWPaul72]

I think a lot of us would appreciate a link to the cow hugging thing.

[@satevo462]

I always just assume that nobody wants me around because I'm a negative person. Not racist, or bigoted, or hateful. Just a general disgust with the profoundly sick society we live in. I'm a buzzkill. And most people live for the buzz and simply don't want that kind of person around. So I stay away. I'm doing them a favor by not being around.

[@josephparrotta1159]

"Hopefully I die on camera, that'd be sweet" That is how I'm going to approach retirement philosophy from now on. Just be glad my profession is not related to driving all day.

[@JohnMoseley]

The psychotherapy known as AEDP puts difficult emotions at one of three tiers, or points of a triangle. At our most alienated, we're sort of obsessional and in denial. This is where we do things compulsively but without real satisfaction: anything from obsessive nose picking to heroin addiction to endless online scrolling, plus thousands of other examples. Recognise you're in this state and you can, as per this video, open yourself up to the abyss of anxiety. But there's athis third tier, as I say: real emotion. Why is anxiety not seen as a real emotion here? Because it's hermetic, self-involved: it's a turning inwards of emotions that feel too difficult visit upon others. When you're anxiously beating yourself up for not being good enough, you might ask yourself, 'Who would I _really_ like to be beating up?' But it's not all rage. Other emotions such as grief and disgust, and even positive feelings like joy and love, can get blocked by circumstances. The route from one level to another, first to anxiety, then to the 'real' feelings is through the body: don't rush to name the feelings, just negotiate with yourself to see if you can set aside the block and feel what comes. It's a little different from the existentialist view, but I see overlap. The first, most alienated position giving way to anxiety feels very like the idea that you need to be able to set aside mundane, conventional reality and open up to the abyss of anxiety. And the fact that you need to do this to get to truth fits with the idea that via anxiety we can get to our truer, deeper feelings. Bur existentialism seems to see anxiety itself as a truth and in my experience, it's rather amazing how in the AEDP process, what seem the terrible and awful truths of anxiety fall away as brilliant ruses when I open up to the truths of deeper feeling. I also think there's a clue to anxiety being illusory in the fact that, as Zizek says, the superego's demands are contradictory. This means that one of its doom loops is feeling impossibly stuck between contradictory but seemingly equally compelling positions. It reminds me of Berkeley proving that reality is an illusion by showing that it's contradictory.

[@jimmypickles1123]

When my girlfriend was a kid, her strict Christian parents left her alone for several hours. They'd written a note saying they'd been taken by the rapture, but she'd been left behind because she was a bad little girl. Freedom was not her first thought.

[@ditzykunoichi]

okay but if i donate enough for your address that doesn't mean you'll hang out with me RIP ;_;

[@amolloy02]

Nothing helps my Friday anxiety like enjoying a Wisecrack video!

[@TommyHanusa]

My friends might be talking about me behind my back, but they are talking about me.

[@taxirob2248]

no such thing as bad publicity

[@hellNo116]

Hey imagine having a major that the whole thing is to teach you to overthink what might go wrong. This is how it is to be taught to be a engineer. My brain is fried.

[@QuasarSniffer]

My boy Søren Kierkegaard always there to make me feel better about how bad I feel💪

[@MrLiguinii]

If anything, Home Alone can teach us a thing or two about anxiety and how to fight it.

[@thomaskuzma4360]

I'd love to make a drinking game of wisecrack. The first rule is drink whenever you hear Kierkegaard

[@starc.]

its a feminine problem a.k.a. its a jordan peterson problem

[@starc.]

never seen man ramble more than him, 99% unnecessary fluff how well someone understands a thing is defined by how concisely and simply they can explain it

[@nikitakapitonov1336]

im a year 1 philosophy student and I was literally just thinking about philosophy and how much it stresses me out, next thing I see is this video. bruh.

[@waterfrodo4304]

The more anxious you are, the more philosophy you consume. Of course philosophers would like that 🙃

[@trentdm120]

Thank you for such an excellent video! I am curious about your thoughts on acceptance as a part of anxiety. Or if you have thought about it at all I suppose haha.

[@AlleenDecember]

In the beginning you mention curing anxiety. It's important to note that there is no cure for anxiety. It's a natural life saving response that we a born with. Healthy anxiety yes it makes us proactive. However, disordered anxiety is what you are often describing in the example, this is not helpful and is often the brain perceiving the world or situations as dangerous when there is no danger around. There is no "cure" for anxiety but we can learn to manage disordered anxiety through coping skills and challenging thoughts, medication and mindfulness. As an anxiety specialist in mental health, I have helped people understand, accept, and manage anxiety. It is imoortant when discussing anxiety to acknowledge healthy from unhealthy anxiety and be able to differentiate between anxiety and panic. Some of what you showed would be classified as a panic attack. Also the fear of spiders etc is a phobia. So while well meaning there were large gaps in this presentation.

[@koolc90]

Tolerance is extinction

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Refreshed and saw a new wisecrack video! Clicked SO FAST ❤❤❤

[@nelsonbennett917]

I can't handle " The Bear" bro, I just can't 😂

[@luisavilez09]

I have the type of anxiety that comes with suicidal thoughts and depression so bad I can’t stand this so called helpful videos

[@SrGIJoe]

It’s 5 am and I haven’t slept. Idk if it’s good for me

[@georgesande3922]

I've been waiting for Heidegger to make an appearance here for a while now! I just took a graduate seminar on him and despite the unsavory personal history, I found his work to be incredibly enlightening. His discussion of anxiety (angst) is positioned as a rare mood in which being in the world collapses and we become aware of the stage as the set falls away. This break allows us to confront authentically and without edifice our fundamental existence as dasein. It's certainly required for both authentic being in and true philosophical thought. Hope Marty comes up more often! (Awful person, incredible philosopher)

[@WisecrackEDU]

We love talking about Heidegger! It's often just so hard to really outline his ideas in this format.

[@zinarmagadan3751]

So when people are facing the theft of their human rights, what is the feeling that emerges from that called? Since anxiety is facing more freedom, then I would assume that would be something else.

[@MelloJello100]

I'll be your friend Michael.

[@hannamakela6989]

"Not feeling less anxious but feeling better ABOUT your anxiety..." Very well put, sir! And this is coming from a certified depressive. :)

[@0gham]

I was on the road in Tennessee there was a rest stop near some cows and I really wanted to hug one but there were 2 fences and I couldn't get to it and after this video I am thinking about it again.

[@Driftking305forlife]

My brother from the 305 EPIC video. Anxiety sucks and as a dad of 2 kids and paying Miami's PSYCHO mortgage rates it F-ing sucks.

[@Sigrdrifaz]

Kirkegard saw anxiety as a sickness of those who can't make an existential leap of faith, and grasp the eternal, that the sickness of modern man was the loss of the eternal. This totally striped the theistic substance at the core of his philosophy.

[@WisecrackEDU]

Michael wrote a book about how there is a valid reading of Kierkegaard in which the ontology behind his theory of the self doesn't need to be theological. Contentious reading, we admit, but this isn't an issue of misunderstanding.

[@Sigrdrifaz]

@WisecrackEDU mmm, ok so pull out the spine of Kirkagaard and then prove his corpes can stand in oblivion, sounds like an intresting read.... of science fiction. But I guess we can still wonder, is that a person?

[@WisecrackEDU]

@@Sigrdrifaz I mean - don't *really* need to defend my reading here. Wrote a book and multiple articles about it, have presented with legendary Kierkegaard scholars, been invited to speak about his work at Universities. I'm all good. But if you check out my work and see seriously flaws would happily chat about it.

[@Sigrdrifaz]

@@WisecrackEDU I NOT trolling you to get defensive. just interested in how a body without a soul feels anxiety? isn't it just another social construct at that point? what other existential parameters are necessary for such an entity to feel?

[@Jolfgard]

Anxious people ruminate a lot. Philosophers ruminate a lot. These are both defining characteristics of anxiety and philosophy respectively. Therefore, we naturally can expect overlap. That's the null hypothesis I arrived at.

[@ubermonkee]

There is a dissonance between 'manufactured' anxiety and actual anxiety within the discord, and this has destroyed the importance of help and support. The feeling of disassociation within both aspects is exactly the same, but to justify your 'id' has become complicated. The 'social media' anxiety compared to the 'I'm losing my house'... they are emotionally the same. It is a symptom of a society that doesn't work. the generational label hasn't helped, but it can be addressed... I hope we get better at looking after the ones we ignore when it makes us feel shame.

[@WellDoneOnTheInternetEverybody]

Learning about the master and slave dialectic genuinely gave me optimism towards humanity and 'doomsday' anxiety.

[@satevo462]

Your ad breaks give me anxiety while watching a video about anxiety.

[@dd-di3mz]

10:20, every time, it gets me every time... a differential speed of 110mph, it's scary.

[@jk_lol9266]

Not sure why my comment got deleted, but: 20min of exercise is more effective than medication at treating Anxiety and Depression. Source 1: BMJ 2024;384:e075847 Source 2: Exercise for Mood and Anxiety: Proven Strategies for Overcoming Depression and Enhancing Well-Being 1st Edition by Michael Otto Ph.D. (Author), Jasper A.J. Smits Ph.D. (Author)

[@WisecrackEDU]

We didn't delete it so . . .

[@jk_lol9266]

@@WisecrackEDU Likely story. I'd hate to have to tell one of your 14 dads about this.

[@LonkinPork]

They have a few auto-moderator keywords for the comment section here. It may have triggered the alarm and gotten auto-deleted.

[@Jake-to3qk]

I wish I had the spare money to be a patreon because I really needed to hear this. Thanks guys

[@myles7022]

Thank you again wisecrack, really appreciate the vid, also really had me chuckling

[@zfrenchtoast]

scary how helpful, informative, n on beat this video was 4 me

[@miguelmora3629]

I just wanted to say that if you haven't seen the Japanese intro for x men you definitely should.

[@MisterCynic18]

11:30 would be better to fire up some SCAVENGER'S REIGN

[@chriscaventer596]

yea man, we're all going through it. hope you're persevering well, i know its a struggle RN

[@BotlheMolelekwa-ju2se]

Anxiety is like Pain. You need optimal amount to survive but the problem is finding that sweet spot and amount of rest is no easy task and it's different for everyone. Maybe I'm wrong 🤷‍♀️

[@KarnodAldhorn]

I believe in life as a good thing. And therefore it is good to be afraid of not living. When it comes to anxiety, the life within us is aware that it might stop living as it wants. A life not worth living is a life that is death. Fearing that is natural but not essential.

[@Amonra333]

Lord Kierkergard strikes again

[@quatresaison4769]

If you read this comments, go hug an tree and then climb it

[@WisecrackEDU]

sounds fun.

[@TheMjsanty]

I have got to read Kierkegaard

[@youbetyourwrasse]

If Kierkegaard had married the high-maintenance woman, we would never known his name, most likely. Thus making him emminently qualified to speak on the wake-up call that Anxiety truly is. He dodged a bullet? Solitude and Aloneness are not the same things. SILENT is an anagram for LISTEN

[@megaperl]

😂😂 The worst and most infantile explanation I ever heard about K's ideas on anxiety. It fascinates me how you US youtubers need to compare everything either to "Matrix" or the f "Truman show". You read like you eat.😅😅😅

[@tzgaming207]

I had learned on my own 20ish years ago, the 1st time I was on antidepressants, that a certain degree of anxiety was necessary. Without some anxiety, some discomfort in our current situation, we have little, if any, urge to change it. Philosophy, I've had a varied relationship with. In my 20s, I fancied myself philosophically oriented, despite never having picked up a book on the topic. Pondering the nature of existence & the universe, & notions like purpose & meaning, I considered myself, & was also by my friends, "deep". Pure egotism, front edge of the Dunning-Kruger curve. Given the 'gifted' label at 6 years old, but no real presence of classically, academically educated people in my home & social life, it was easy to be self-impressed. It would only be later in life I found myself in a new field, an advancement on the skills I'd learned so far, exposed to much more educated people, that I learned how small my thinking really was, & was humbled & chastened. I continued my pondering, though, until something finally clicked for me, which rendered everything I was so obsessed with suddenly moot. I stopped believing in god. Not just god, but the divine, the supernatural, ghosts, spirits, celestials, angels, demons, psychic abilities, astral projection, spellcraft, & many other pseudosciences & related things. I had realized I was under the sway of a number of cognitive biases, & I started to realize they were the linchpins of basically all my beliefs. With that, a great deal of my 'philolosophicalness', simply evaporated. 'Purpose' & 'meaning' of life became nonsensical, as they both imply a creator with an intent. A hammer has a purpose, because it was created by someone with the intent to drive nails. Meaning was not an inherent quality anymore; it had to be developed & applied independently, & even then, is subjective. Much philosophy, as I understood it, ceased to be as profound as it used to be to me, because so much of it seemed based in an assumption that god exists & we are his creations. So many words completely lost all their meaning & significance, because without divine backing, the notions they represent simply don't exist. Sin, blasphemy, heresy, apostasy, & many others, all cease to be things without god. Voltaire's "I cannot believe this watch has no maker" was no longer profound, but comical. It said more to me now about the limitations of the espouser than the world it's trying to comment on. There was a Sartre quote you brought up in a video regarding something to the effect that certain concepts must be proof of the divine's existence, because somehow they were too deep or complex to have been conceived of by mere mortal minds, or something like that, which was ridiculous on its face, to me. (Not that it's their fault, they were the products of their times.) So much philosophy is still pseudo-profundity to me. So much word salad that, without those linchpins, falls apart. And free will is a farce. The chains of events that dictate how & what "decisions" we make were set in motion eons ago & we will always exist within those constraints, no matter how much we wail into the cosmos. The problem with the illusion of free will, though, is that we must live our lives as though it existed. But I keep watching though 😉

[@userMB1]

The concept of anxiety in philosophy is really at odds with psychology. I'm 42 years old and have been anxious about 38 of them. Never have i thought about being anxious as something that can be life altering, now that i'm no longer suffering from it. When you're anxious you're anxious in almost all areas like meeting new people, school, work, dating etc. Most people experience anxiety as the root problem, not as a symptom. And they are right in most cases because it is paralyzing. When it's gone, then you'll thrive.

[@mikeyCmikeyDo]

I’m tired of over analyzing everything, the more I educate myself, the worse it tends to get. I’m trying to abstain from drugs and alcohol, which would exacerbate the anxiety when using them. I do feel better but the boredom is getting to me. There is no action anymore. Now I feel the need to “find something.” Which is a whole new pressure on its own. Ok I’m done now 😂

[@katiakreutz]

Even though we live in an increasingly anxiety inducing world, people are a bit better equiped to deal with their emotions these days. My 13-year old stepdaughter can identify when she's feeling anxious. Knowledge is power.

[@SixFeetRabbit]

Tbh I've been following Dr Dre's advice to deal with my anxiety for the past 25 years

[@nicolebogda1482]

The more you learn, the crazier you get. I am all of the opening except have not hugged a cow in a while- gonna do that! 3 day old baby goat counts. Anxiety v panic disorder? 💯consideration cuz… having both sucks & actually gave myself anxiety over having “punched in the chest” ❤palpitations yesterday worse than ever had. My fight, flight,(etc, etc)over the top! Gen X is 500% spinning over the less aged gens because…. We’re Gen X. Those of us w/ give a 💩? Educated Collegiate or “self-educated”- and we tend to be info “hoe’s” - I believe we have become the worry-gen, care-gen, wtf-gen, Joseph Campbell ‘my brain is on fire’ gen…(please do a J.Campbell series!!) we knew WW2 or earlier in our lives to, accepting tech, more learning, more learning, etc etc accepted then but now….wondering WHY!?! Loved reading Heidegger. But also fried brain. Gen X: we are ALL in the DSMV. Yet finding anyone educated enough to discuss our walking-the-tightrope issues? Our therapists are not properly trained. They are younger. Untrained. Mostly sociologists who have not had our experiences. We are the broken, abused, “wtf do I know!” Taking care of boomers or dumping them in asst living, nursing homes, or [like I am] in home care, while trying to care/help/empathise with, and with how we see the world suffering abuse from both sides. We ALL have our own stories. We are getting well burned out in so many directions. We all do our best. We are huggers & hand shakers in a no contact world & covid broke us. So, taking care of my boomers & now I am rambling because…dementia, brain damage, alcoholism surround me & “mom never saw LOR (my nephew was obsessed, she babysat, he read the translations) so. End now, brain fire! Luv Wisecrack!!🎉

[@jacobgartung9074]

I feel that my anxiety is connected to my codependency issue. I suppress my feelings to avoid confronting my anxiety.

[@ablazedark]

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

[@wyattmiranda3484]

🌀hell yeah, ride that spiral 🤟

[@marknugent9851]

This entire video could have beeen this scene from Serenity (2005): Dr. Caron: These are just a few of the images we've recorded. And you can see, it wasn't what we thought. There's been no war here and no terraforming event. The environment is stable. It's the Pax. The G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate that we added to the air processors. It was supposed to calm the population, weed out aggression. Well, it works. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped everything else. They stopped going to work, they stopped breeding, talking, eating. There's 30 million people here, and they all just let themselves die. Anxiety causes a lot of bad stuff but not enough means nothing changes, nothing progresses.

[@6thwilbury2331]

Wow, Kierkegaard choosing to live his life alone for fear of being a poor husband hits home big-time. I never knew that about him. I'm 52 and single, never having married because I had no doubt I would have made a shitty husband. Not abusive or anything like that, just not fully committed the way a good spouse or parent should be. I often joke that it's the product of two extremely popular movies when I was younger: Back To The Future and the Terminator. In each story, someone had to go back in time to prevent a certain known future. So instead of making my kid go back 30 years to make sure I did NOT meet his mom, I saved him the trouble. 😂

[@Jakeurb8ty82]

I have a collection of meditation mp3s. inside it is an album by Alan Watts talking about 'the quaking mass' An opening line to a Tool song also states the same thing: "Over thinking, Over analyzing -separates the body from the mind, withering my intuition leaving opportunity behind...' Its annoying because so many people do such little thinking but you have people like us who cross from being thoughtful to almost mentally mastibitory.