At one time, shortly before entering the military, I was consumed with existential angst (EA). Life seemed meaningless, and I couldn't enjoy life because I was spending most of my time reflecting about it. I volunteered to join the Air Force because the Vietnam War was raging at that time (and the AF seemed like a safer place to be than in the Army). I went to basic training as an intense intellectual thinking, thinking, thinking. When I got off the bus at the Air Base, I no longer had any free time for reflection. Every moment of every day was planned out, and I rushed from one activity to the next. I was learning to spitshine shoes, or make up a bed so tightly that a quarter would bounce off the surface, or marching on the parade ground, or doing heavy physical exercise, or studying like mad, or target practicing with weapons every moment of the day. Amazingly, all of my existential angst completely disappeared! Why? Because I wasn't spending any time thinking about reality; I was living it.
Ask yourself, "If I didn't think a single thought about my current condition or situation, how would I feel? If I didn't reflect about myself at all, would there be any kind of problem?"
The person who has a nihilistic/EA perspective is like someone sitting on a riverbank (the mind) looking at the river of life. By jumping into the river of life (by becoming psychologically present here and now), the riverbank reflectivity ceases. One becomes a participant, so to speak, rather than an outside observer. By staying present it is eventually discovered that who one IS includes both the riverbank and the river, but the static observer, artificially separated from the action, is seen to be a product of imagination and is no longer mistaken for the living truth.
As long as the mind continues to check on itself, judge its condition, and attach to nihilistic conclusions, the imaginary observer stays on the imaginary riverbank.
Imagine someone suffering from EA who gets involved in a natural catastrophe (perhaps a flood or earthquake). Suddenly there is no time for reflective thought. The person has to act and act fast. EA will instantly disappear and only reappear when the action stops. Or, think about the movie character Jason Bourne as he is being pursued by various people trying to kill him. His life is pure action. People like that have no free time for EA to make an appearance. (loved the Mini-Cooper going down the stairs, BTW--ha ha)
Ask yourself, "If I didn't think a single thought about my current condition or situation, how would I feel? If I didn't reflect about myself at all, would there be any kind of problem?"
The person who has a nihilistic/EA perspective is like someone sitting on a riverbank (the mind) looking at the river of life. By jumping into the river of life (by becoming psychologically present here and now), the riverbank reflectivity ceases. One becomes a participant, so to speak, rather than an outside observer. By staying present it is eventually discovered that who one IS includes both the riverbank and the river, but the static observer, artificially separated from the action, is seen to be a product of imagination and is no longer mistaken for the living truth.
As long as the mind continues to check on itself, judge its condition, and attach to nihilistic conclusions, the imaginary observer stays on the imaginary riverbank.
Imagine someone suffering from EA who gets involved in a natural catastrophe (perhaps a flood or earthquake). Suddenly there is no time for reflective thought. The person has to act and act fast. EA will instantly disappear and only reappear when the action stops. Or, think about the movie character Jason Bourne as he is being pursued by various people trying to kill him. His life is pure action. People like that have no free time for EA to make an appearance. (loved the Mini-Cooper going down the stairs, BTW--ha ha)
