“We are the only beings alive that know we will die. From 5 years on we have a feeling about this. We know about our existence and non-existence. Heiddeger says there is a special feeling about this knowledge, which we don’t like to think about, that creeps up on us, and that is fear. Fear is the one emotion where we have to face our finite existence. It’s with that fear that we gain our freedom because once we let that fear grow, and face that fear, we understand that there is no god or no one who is going to save us so it is about the freedom and the meaning we give to ourselves. (Existentialism)”
– Wolfram Eilenberger, Time of the Magicians