> [!infobox] <s class="aside-in"><em>mentioned in 5 topics, 9 evergreens, 1 source</em></s> #### <s class="topic-title">[[existential dread]]</s> Perhaps somewhat like a ongoing [[existential crisis]], existential dread is a nebulous term, probably best described as a kind of [[anxiety]]. Typically it includes questioning the answers to [[The three main questions of life]], but in lieu of satisfactory answers to those questions, or repeated events that make you question them will inrease in intensity. While prolonged feelings of existential dread may lead someone to [[nihilism]] or [[existentialism]], one does not have to subscribe to any kind of philosophical ideology to feel existential dread. For many this feeling will latch onto uncontrollable threats like [[war]] or [[climate change]], or a general lack of [[hope]]. - [[What is the psychological origin of existential dread]] - [[A secure worldview is the best defense against existential dread]] **See**:: [[Psychology]], [[existentialism]] #### Traditionally in [[existentialism]] > [!wikipedia] [existential angst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism#Angst_and_dread) > > "Existential angst", sometimes called existential dread, anxiety, or anguish, is a term common to many existentialist thinkers. It is generally held to be a negative feeling arising from the experience of human freedom and responsibility. The archetypal example is the experience one has when standing on a cliff where one not only fears falling off it, but also dreads the possibility of throwing oneself off. In this experience that "nothing is holding me back", one senses the lack of anything that predetermines one to either throw oneself off or to stand still, and one experiences one's own freedom.