To Be or not to Be: COVID-19 Pandemic, a Time for Activation of Dasein's most Fundamental Conflicts

COVID-19 pandemic crisis has put everyone in the most vulnerable position, facing the onslaught death. The contemporary human beings used to see themselves as very safe and far from death. However, the COVID-19 crisis has greatly increased the likelihood of death, guiding a large number of people to their deepest psychological conflicts: being versus non-being, life versus death. Reactivation of the basic conflicts of the human psyche by events in the external world are among the most effective factors of psychic states and behaviors. Considerable events, particularly those with disastrous consequences, can reactivate the most fundamental conflicts of the human soul, the conflicts about being versus nonbeing, with the resultant emergence of existential anxiety and astonishment! Attracting the attention of the contemporary humans to their being and the profound comprehension of the inevitable nonbeing would guide towards new approaches which are in accordance with Paul Tillich’s formulations, regarding types and expressions of existential anxiety. Ought to be in mind that these approaches would not be necessarily positive or negative, thereby the possibility of the emergence of nonproductive and even destructive approaches lies ahead, though the vice versa is also true