Re-writing Dread as the Revelation of Being and Nothingness

Dread or anxiety is a fundamental characteristic of the experience of being human. It is the revelation of both being and nothingness. In being we are always at the edge of nothingness, which is that which cannot be experienced (perhaps nothingness can illicite feelings within us, yet we cannot interact with it in a similar fashion to that which has ontological status). Dread arises from a being that is so intertwined with nothingness. Death or the nothing, is part of our being and it is this potential for non-being that allows us to be. Yet, because of the presentness of death we are unable to become the totality of our being and so we comport ourselves towards the not-yet of death in dread. All of our life projects loose meaning because we can never see the conclusion of them. Even more so, we cannot see the conclusion of our being since we cannot actually experience our own death.

Still, it seems that in nothingness we can find hope even despite the dread of non-being. Perhaps it is a common feature of the “not”, that allows for a multiplicity of possibilities. In dread one is engaged in a concern for oneself due to an awareness of their mortality. According to Heidegger it is this feeling of dread that allows for us to exist more authentically because prior to this moment we interacted with the world with a certain "everydayness" or rather a passivity that is almost habitual. If we take Heidegger's idea of the “everydayness” of being that precludes dread, then up until this point of dread we are supposedly in a state of passivity. Yet, dread very closely attaches us to our existence in an inward way, since in dread our whole being is attuned to non-being.Yet, is it possible to conceive of a moment of re-orientation from being of the self towards others driven by a dread of non-being? Let's consider an ontology that finds its basis in non-being. Could non-being become the figure of the other for instance, thus making dread the the pre-condition to be able to receive other people? Dread then re-orients a wholly self-focused attitude towards others in a moment of hope for the potentiality that is possessed within what isn't.

I believe that this is a general experience of being human. At some point we all recognize that our existence is finite and we also have thoughts regarding the impossibility of our existence. It's impossible to face the nothing because its ever-presentness is at the same time veiled with each passing moment and so we dread the “not”. However, it seems that in a recognition of non-being we are more fully. I think that the re-orientation of the “not” towards the similar mysteriousness of others allows for the possibility of being with others. A hope, which provides meaning to a scenario that could otherwise seem meaningless.