Sianne Ngais Ugly Feelings and Out with the Old Anxiety Written by Bill Hayes - Essay Example

Ugly Feelings Introduction This essay picks on the Sianne Ngai’s “Ugly Feelings” and “Out with the Old Anxiety” written by Bill Hayes. Sianne Ngai’s theory of anxiety is used as Lens Awhile Lens B is the Bill Hayes’ “Out with Anxiety”. Lens A is used to see through Lens B where Lens A will be used as a framework from which B will be understood. Lens A- “Ugly Feelings” by Sianne Ngai Anxiety is a form of “expectant emotions” that tend to aim less at a particular object of their choice than at the general configuration of the world (Ngai 210). Anxiety also has a spatial dimension when aligned in particular with the concept futurity, temporal dynamics of anticipation and deferral. In the psychological discourse, anxiety is invoked both as an effective response to a projected or anticipated event as well as to something projected onto others as an outward propulsion. However, anxiety in this book is also viewed as a matter of distinction between outside and inside (Ngai 211). Anxiety is associated with timing and location and the effective grammar “when” and “where” are used. Projection therefore can be perceived as a strategy to display anxiety and means by which its particular form is assumed. It is suggested that the logic of projection and anxiety as a form of spatial displacement do converge in production of subject of knowledge-seeking (Ngai 215). Kierkegaard argument concerning anxiety is that every structure that is cognitive presupposes a mood. This mood is said to be much that the errors of modulation and development of thought become equally disturbing. Understanding and mood are organized by projectile logics that are intimately related. Dasein sees mood as a mode of submission or even surrender to the world while understanding projects or throws itself upon possibilities (Ngai S 228). Dasein is mostly concerned with concept of throw where he uses falling to clarify throwness. He claims that falling is existentially determinative for being in the world. Heidegger on the other hand functions as a projectionist and creates an abstract where beings are thrown and suspended in the throw. The implicit distance between the possibilities where the thrown projections fall and Dasein’s Projection site is the focus of interpretation of anxiety by Heidegger which culminates in the affect positing as a method that is distinctive for gauging the throw or distance. In the analysis of anxiety, Heidegger established the holistic complex of the being in the world as having four aspects which include: thrown and projecting as well as falling and disclosed. Heidegger also describes anxiety as a solution where by stating that it is a state of mind understanding in which Dasein in some distinctive way has been disclosed to itself and hence terms it as one of the most primordial possibilities of disclosure and which is far reaching (Ngai S 231). Anxiety is described as being more than just a mood. It is a phenomenon that functions methodologically and paradoxically distinctive since it is basic just as if it were a generic template for other types of mood. Heidegger claims that anxiety turns away which is a mechanism of interpretation and disclosure. It is an entity that is detrimental within the world that comes from a definite region though is close by and bringing itself close but it might stay away. Fear is compared to anxiety, where turning –away of falling is what first makes fear and yet is grounded rather in anxiety. However in anxiety one flees from a completely indefinite something which is not capable of having involvement, in fear one shrinks from an entity that is definite within the world. Heidegger also explains that all that is present at hand or ready at hand within the world functions as that which is anxious in the face of anxiety. The effective topology of Heidegger shows that the “nothing” encountered in anxiety is also “nowhere” that lack a position that is definite or stills a location in the world. (Ngai S 232). Anxiety saves Dasein from falling and restores its capacity for projection as well as its individuality. The interpretation of anxiety by Heidegger as an interpretive methodology is based on the kind of movement “the sinking of the environmentally ready-at-hand” which tends to disagree Dasein’s absorption in the world and all its entities as saying something or as meaningful. Therefore anxiety brings Dasein together in the world face to face. In anxiety, what that is ready at hand environmentally sinks away since its significance occurs through motion of withdrawal or recession. However in this movement, there is evidence of lack of phenomenological elaboration mostly when contrasted with detailed analysis of ontology (Ngai S 234). In his text, Heidegger says that as an interpreter of Dasein’s existential, he proceed from the the state of anxiety as it is the state of mind that enables one to be able to define “the totality of Dasein’s structural whole” in a unified manner that is phenomenological. (Ngai S 235) Anxiety whether created by throwing of projections, corsets or stones, it emerges as a disposition form that reorients, relocates and repositions the thrown subject and individualization is formed. Hence, the projective character of anxiety makes available a form of revolutionary uplift to intellectual subjects that directs away the attention from the questions of, horrible interspaces, sinking worlds and unknown, foreign feminineness quickly as they are raised such that this organization that is moody may hence be described as a turn that is aversive from the occasions of the aversion of the subject. Lens B – Out with the Old Anxiety In this article, the author talks of the things that he longed for a very long time. Time look to be running and though he has achieved much, some are yet to be attended. He tries to describe some of the feelings that one get on realizing that those things that were thought to be possible never happened. These dreams were never achieved due to various factors and one all of a sudden comes to realize that time was gone and it was not going to happen (Hayes 1). Bill defines wisdom as the ability to determine the time to unload what one will not need or rather use before getting to the next bridge. He claims that realization that some of the dreams will never come true is supposed to be a relief as one can narrow the choices. This would involve making even the hardest choices without reliance on maps, without resorting to dreams or even abandoning duties. Bills talks of how he had prepared a to-do list of things he wanted but had not yet. He did most of them including boxing, photographing, tattooing and travelling. With most of the things done, he feels the need to add more including a visit to Hungary where he gets mixed desires of going and not going. He gets an almost erotic, ravenous desire to get on a plane and travel (Hayes B 1). Bills goes on to set a target which is the get rid of extreme anxiety which he claims to be his marked trait. According to him, anxiety has resulted to suffering and needless worrying and that is why he wants to get rid of it. Bill defines anxiety a virus that lodges on sections of nerve fibre while innervating the skin for life. He claims that anxiety demands perfectionisms in all the activities. Bill talks of how he was unable to enjoy a relationship due to anxiety and how the same anxiety made him to perform poorly in an interview with a national radio station by terming it a harmless fling. Bill got his first, what he calls it, full-scale anxiety attack after the death of his long-term partner. He got a racing heart, knees buckling, and vertigo, as well as drenching in sweat. He describes the sensation he got as flying apart rather than falling apart and also compares it to the sucking into the eye of an unseen tornado. Bill is careful to note that it is possible to survive anxiety. He says that anxiety makes life less enjoyable rather but cannot kill someone. Bill suggest the flip of anxiety as excitement the reason being that they are both driven by a similar neurotransmitter and therefore it’s possible to choose to see anxiety not as destructive but positive (Hayes 2). Bill also recognizes the fact that one cannot live without anxiety but one should make effective use of it. He himself will make anxiety his effective motivator whereby he will be anxious to work and would get that sense of aliveness to get out of bed and to his desk. Bills talks of the importance of knowing the cycle of anxiety so as to realize the time when it might turn destructive and take strong caution (Hayes 3) Conclusion In summary, the Sianne Ngai’s book has helped see through the article “Out with Anxiety” by Bill Haye. The scientific description of the anxiety has brought to light the experiences of Bill Hayes in an anxious situation. According to both texts, anxiety can be dangerous and at the same time can be useful if taken positively. Works Cited Hayes, B. Out with old Anxiety. New York Times. 22 December 2012. Web. 2013. Ngai, S. Ugly Feeling. Harvard: University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005. Print. Read More