Ecstasy (from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

ἔκστασις ''ekstasis'', "to be or stand outside oneself, a removal to elsewhere" from ''ek-'' "out," and ''stasis'' "a stand, or a standoff of forces") is a term used in

existential Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

philosophy to mean "outside-itself". One's consciousness, for example, is not self-enclosed, as one can be conscious of an

Other Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

person, who falls well outside one's own self. In a sense consciousness is usually, "outside itself," in that its object (what it thinks about, or perceives) is not itself. This is in contrast to the term enstasis which means from "standing-within-oneself" which relates to

contemplation In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with prayer or meditation. Etymology The word ''contemplation'' is derived from the Latin word '' ...

from the perspective of a speculator. This understanding of enstasis gives way to the example of the use of the "ecstasy" as that one can be "outside of oneself" with time. In temporalizing, each of the following: the past (the 'having-been'), the future (the 'not-yet') and the present (the 'making-present') are the "outside of itself" of each other. The term ecstasy (german: Ekstase) has been used in this sense by

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

who, in his ''

Being and Time ''Being and Time'' (german: Sein und Zeit) is the 1927 ''magnum opus'' of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. ''Being and Time'' had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other ...

'' of 1927, argued that our

being-in-the-world Martin Heidegger, the 20th-century German philosopher, produced a large body of work that intended a profound change of direction for philosophy. Such was the depth of change that he found it necessary to introduce many neologisms, often connected ...

is usually focused toward some person, task, or the past (see also

existence Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontology, ontological Property (philosophy), property of being. Etymology The term ''existence'' comes from Old French ''existence'', from Medieval ...

and ''

Dasein ''Dasein'' () (sometimes spelled as Da-sein) is the German word for 'existence'. It is a fundamental concept in the existential philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Heidegger uses the expression ''Dasein'' to refer to the experience of being that is p ...

''). Telling someone to "remain in the present" could then be self-contradictory, if the present only emerged as the "outside itself" of future possibilities (our projection; ') and past facts (our

thrownness Thrownness () is a concept introduced by German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) to describe humans' individual existences as being 'thrown' (''geworfen'') into the world. Overview ''Geworfen'' denotes the arbitrary character of ''Dasein ...

; ').

Emmanuel Levinas Emmanuel Levinas (; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the relationship of ethics to me ...

disagreed with Heidegger's position regarding ecstasy and existential temporality from the perspective of the experience of insomnia. Levinas talked of the Other in terms of 'insomnia' and 'wakefulness'. He emphasized the absolute otherness of the Other and established a social relationship between the Other and one's self. Furthermore, he asserted that ecstasy, or exteriority toward the Other, forever remains beyond any attempt at full capture; this otherness is interminable or infinite.Sociality is a "relation ... to the infinite" (E. Levinas, ''Le temps et l'autre'', Presses universitaires de France, 1991, p. 8). The "relation with the Other" 'rapport à autrui''is one among the "inevitable articulations of the transcendence of time" 'articulations ... inévitables de la transcendance du temps''which are "neither ecstasy where the Same is absorbed in(to) the Other nor knowledge where the Other belongs to the Same" 'ni extase où le Même s'absorbe dans l'Autre ni savoir où l'Autre appartient au Même''(''ibid''., p. 13). This "infiniteness" of the Other would allow Levinas to derive other aspects of philosophy as secondary to this ethic. Levinas writes:

References

{{Martin Heidegger Concepts in aesthetics Concepts in metaphysics