Death Watch

By: Jonathan Seidel

'Heidegger’s being to death: and overcoming fearing death

Heidegger’s being-toward-death is fundamental to his understanding of Dasein. For Heidegger, man is ahead of himself thinking of the present as a consequence for the future; what I do know will affect down the road. Whether this is in the next five minutes or five years. We act in stages that are organically comprised in orderly fashion linearly. There is an overlapping connection between the varied actives lined up to in rational deduction. Today was Shabbat. Waking up early makes sense to leaving the house at 9 so I can make my way down new bridge to get to the synagogue which makes sense because I’m a Jew. Heidegger’s being toward death follows a sequential syllogism. 

Humans are never complete as there is something always occurring next. If a person is indefinitely incomplete the only way to be whole is morality. Death isn’t an end, an event signalling the finality of being but the stance we take towards the inevitable. Death will get us at one point or another and its secrecy fills us with angst awaiting our final breath. To Heidegger, death is not a way of being, it’s an external mode of non-being. 

Authentic experience emerges from an ownership of one’s life. Anticipating death is to conceive of not being at this time in this place. What life would be like without us or had we been born in a different era. This mindset forces us out of the ordinary routines and focuses us onto our own personal goals. The introspection ponders layers of diverse routes that we decide to chart. This vision arouses angst in a solo quest for us to overcome as the ending to this project is unknown. We cannot recognise the ending as non-being is the reality of completion. The end is the completion of the vision. 

Rosenzweig argues that the fear of death as the horror of being an “it” instead of an “I”. To be recognised as an individual instead of a nobody. Death demonstrates the nothingness of being. The humility drawn from internalising the spatial positioning in the void of nothingness. Death is the void of nothingness a panic to the existence of the self. The fear of death is specific to the individual in their personal purview of overcoming the terror in the face of emptiness.       

Rosenzweig and Levinas after him found life affirmation in the concordance of others. There is a selfless association with others Death cannot overpower relationships. Language is the essence of being not some clumsy tool. It is a mode of communication Contra Heidegger, it is not the selfish containment of authentic representation but  a correlation to the other. A responsibility in the face of death. The finite empowers the self to produce meaning through enhancing relationships.   

Soloveitchik supplies his halakhic man archetype in opposition to death. Halakhic man is unconcerned with death. Death is the mitzvah-less realm; the ability to affirm the way of God is absent. Halakhic man abhors death, though aware of it, do its defiling of his religious routine. Death is not sacred but sacrilegious. It expunges any spiritual fervour and moral development. 

Soloveitchik’s departure from the ideal archetype to the average man (himself) demonstrates the power of death in bolstering man’s inner strength to reflect on his life and pursue again. According to Soloveitchik, death is heroic in its remodelling of man’s second chance. Finitude raises doubt in man to reform before the end arrives. The Rav’s personal experience with death compelled an existentialist theme paraded with a critical depressive tone. Similar to Heidegger, there is a rejuvenation of life in death. True being is the acceptance of finitude and the crisis of reality.  

The dread of death shocks man to the core. It awakens a beast of terror. Life is limited and bordered by temporality. Mortality is a moral consequence. Finitude stalks us in sheep’s clothing. There is no evading the inevitable. We will die. Even with an eden reincarnation or resurrection, we will never live this life here again. There is no 2.0ing the past. What is done is done and cannot be altered. Lost in a routine may aid in our avoidance of the near death doorstep but such tragic boredom will eventually cease into robotic exclusivism. Huxley’s dystopian reality will be charted as an antidepressant.      

Experience is primal in the fear of death. The objective rationality of death is incongruent with the dread of human mortality. Heidegger’s selfish position is less narcissistic yet it conveys an arrogant measure of personalised success. Though Levinas’ challenge operates succinctly in the objective realm. The knowledge of the other does not mete the absolute other. Relationships are accorded in a self affirmed life. The other is relational in the midst of the finite.  

What is imperative to the self is considering the self in its metric of analysis. The self reflects and rectifies the hallowing sweat of trepidation. The hero is he who stares death in the face. Who is not scared of dying. Who is content with accomplishments. Death is oblivion. It is the incapability of being. It is incapability of self-expression. Death does not just steal the one unique mission for the self but the personalised notation of the entire unique personality. It is not the self project but the self actualisation. 

Heidegger’s conventional hero’s journey trip is an idolised marker of the unique self. Death does not merely open up an ecstatic quest to embark. It does not unveil one’s true purpose. It is a sign to the self. Recognition of mortality empowers the here and now; the centrality of presence. Meaning is diqvuged in making sense of existence and seeking purpose. It is making the most of life instead of falling into a helpless routine shrouded in societal operation. 

When does one truly fear death? When does the alarm go off in one’s mind? Losing someone special is a normative of personal reflection. We generally go through life unmoved by death and suffering. Seeing dying patients or suffering addicts, is portrayed in a negative light. There is less empathy than deserved. The true crisis is one’s own descent into the abyss. Reflection is in the grudge match of nihilistic heartache. Outwitting depressive notions is a courageous attempt at thriving. The impressive never-give-up attitude emboldens an intensity for self affirmation. 

Only upon reaching the abyss is life truly introspected. Only when death is a potentiality is there a cognitive spiritual reprisal. We are programmed to live yet the depressing pain attempts to cloud our judgement coercing us into a blissful suicide into nothingness. The lack of the self is more tranquil than a painful existence. To this, the sufferer learns the anxiety of existence. Suffering is a part of life, you either choose to deal or you don’t. Your life is your own. The sufferer is able to transcend the robotic agenda and decide his fate. To persist or to concede. Even persistence has a dual route: coping with suffering can be by voiding it all through relentless euphoric distractions or with purposeful direction. Death knocks on man’s door questioning his resolve. How one responds determines their destiny. 

Judaism aims to systematically construct meaning to man. Its routine focus is a recurring reminder to maximise. The object is to actualise the divine covenant any chance he gets. This perpetuated expression is an ever-growing personalised development. Habituated religious practice links one to a specified framework that guides one’s maturity. 

Judaism’s response to loss is to grieve and remember. There is a methodology to dealing with absurd of life. Death is the inevitable consequence and yet humanity cannot accept the end. Our relationships keep us attached and compel us to weep for those we lost. We know that they will leave us we are just never ready to give up. Over time we forget about those we lost and revert to our routines like cogs in a wheel. The moment of enlightenment, of genuine dread passes swiftly in the wind. It saves us from the angst of reality’s horror but it also steers clear of the existential plight. Judaism attempts got synthesis that with metaphysical archetypes. Soothing our conscious with an eschatological paradise. An edenic utopia calming the mind. Yet, this Christianised mindset is dangerous. Void of its ridiculous martyrdom compulsion, it still marries the bliss of eternity. 

Classical Jewish eternity is not in the reincarnated self but in the parental transmission. Biblical sources highlight the blessing at the deathbed theme. Both Isaac and Jacob bless their sons at the end of their lives. The patriarchal goal was to transmit their values to the next generation. A blessing of protection and growth in the future. Joseph and Moses also advise the future generation on the end of their lives. Death is the end for their life but is not the end of their convictions. People are the sum of their beliefs. The unification of body and soul need not be some celestial mantra. The body ceases in its finitude yet the soulful convictions persist. The trans-generational transmission is the heart of religiosity. Living by God’s word is an eternal covenant. 

The struggle is real but with the willingness to forgo determinate absence for educational merit is a different kind of hero. The Jewish hero in Soloveitchik’s outlook is not the glamour and radiant but the endurer. The sufferer who is engulfed in misery chooses life over death. Death stares him straight in the face and he says no! Staying true to convictions is the sole mode of overcoming the trepidation of death. Distractions are temporary and cease quickly. The pain only returns twofold. It is sidestepping the issue and posing far worse problems down the road. A stand must be made. The mental shift of positive reinforcement combined with an exuding confidence is the hallmark of progressive activity. Refusing to wallow in his suffering. Torture is finite his values eternal. He must pass them on. He must live for his family to properly address these merits.