“Moods of existence” suggests that feelings, emotions, and affect cannot be dismissed as irrational noise. They are not obstacles to understanding, but ways through which existence reveals itself. We must learn to understand them anew—from the height, and also the depth, of existential thought.
In much of traditional philosophy, emotions were treated as distractions beneath inquiry, the opposite of reason. As a result, the philosophy of emotional existence is nearly absent. Yet emotion is not opposed to truth—it is a form of truth, one that arises from how we dwell in the world.
My story begins here.
Studying Heidegger, I learned to notice the nuance—the way emotions are not private storms but modes of being. Fear, anger, and joy do not simply happen to us; they are how the world discloses itself. That insight quietly transformed how I live, especially in my relationship with my mother.
When she was angry, I used to believe it was because I had done something wrong. I tried to fix myself to fix her. But now I see that the essence of her anger is not accusation—it is simply her way of being present, of asserting herself in the world. Her anger does not belong to me. It does not define me. I do not need to feel guilty. All I need to consider is how to soothe her, how to respond with care, and how to preserve tenderness amid dissonance.
Once I learned this, I began to see the power of positive emotions as well. Joy, gratitude, and curiosity are not fleeting moods; they are openings that draw others closer. To attend to emotions—both my own and others’—is to participate in shaping existence itself.
In that sense, to live philosophically is not to suppress emotion but to listen to it. Feelings are not the background of life; they are life’s texture, the way the world touches us and the way we, in turn, touch it.