The End... or is it? The Potency of Heidegger's Ideas About Death

Abstract

This paper was first written in 2003, not long after the death of my mother. While it was well received by the college and the students to whom I presented it as part of the Advanced Diploma in Existential Psychotherapy, I did not feel ready to present it for publication. Instead, in February of the following year, as part of the SEA's Discussion Group programme, I facilitated what emerged as a fascinating evening on the same topic: The Potency of Heidegger's Ideas about Death; fascinating because the section of Heidegger's text from Being and Time I had selected ended mid-sentence. This perplexed and unsettled many of the group participants, provoking serious debate and an exploration that moved a number of the people present. Three years of living on from first writing the paper, and after teaching a course of Advanced Existential Practice, it feels timely, now more than ever, to put my reflections 'out there'. It appears here now, with minor changes; those subtle shifts that arise from growing older; the lines of age. This paper is based exclusively on Heidegger's text, Being and Time (1997), and the examination of his ideas as they appear in division two section one (pp 274 – 311). Of particular interest to me here are the ontic meanings. Thus, I move away from Heidegger's fundamental project and forego any pursuit of the ontological structure and focus instead on an existential conception. I have chosen to explore the question of death as an event, as 'the end', versus death as possibility. While at times there appears a fine line between the two 'positions', I will argue that the difference is significant, particularly for us as existential therapists. I will attempt to show that in understanding death as an event, an 'it' or 'the end', we may achieve some sense of control and security over our lives, but that ultimately this is illusory and comes at a price, the cost of which is a potent life (full of possibility and potential).