Anguish arises when consciousness sees itself cut from its essence by nothingness

Evidence

Anguish in fact is the recognition of a possibility as my possibility; that is, it is constituted when consciousness sees itself cut from its essence by nothingness or separated from the future by its very freedom. This means that a nihilating nothing removes from me all excuse and that at the same time what I project as my future being is always nihilated and reduced to the rank of simple possibility because the future which I am remains out of my reach. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 246

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines anguish as the recognition of a possibility as one’s own, constituted by consciousness seeing itself separated from its essence by nothingness.
• XREF: Grounds Beauvoir’s later treatment of freedom and its anguished recognition; this is the systematic core the reading purpose targets. — connects to: Neurological suffering poses the question of the psyche surviving its own annihilation — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 1289; An essence is radically severed from the single appearance that manifests it; Anguish reveals the double nihilation that suspends the world in nothingness — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 213 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Anguish reveals that man is separated by nothingness from his essence. #corroborates (0.95) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 244
• Distraction is consciousness fleeing anguish by disowning its own possibilities #expands (0.82) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1473
• Anguish cannot be hidden because flight from it is itself a mode of consciousness #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 259