The term "borderline situation" was coined by the German philosopher Karl Jaspers. He is one of the most important concepts for the representatives of existentialism - the direction, one of the founders of which was Jaspers.
What situations are borderline
The borderline situation is always associated with very strong stress and a serious threat to life. It can be created by an overwhelming sense of guilt, very severe stress, an event associated with a serious danger of death. A typical example is an accident or a terrible accident in which a person miraculously remains alive, or the moment before a suicide that did not take place or was unsuccessful.
The borderline situation can also be associated with a strong fear of death. For example, during a war, people know that at any moment they can die, and this causes them to experience serious stress.
One of the features of the borderline situation is that when it occurs, the human body mobilizes all its resources. This is accompanied by a strong adrenaline rush and the maximum aggravation of feelings that people are generally capable of. This condition can lead to severe psychological trauma, which later turns out to be difficult to get rid of.
What happens when a person is in a borderline situation
The borderline situation frees from a lot, including generally accepted norms, stereotypes, unnecessary thoughts, conventions. Finding himself in it, a person throws away everything that prevents him from surviving, and this allows him to experience a special experience of a “pure” understanding of himself and of being.
In a borderline situation, people refuse even that which fetters their body. They can demonstrate strength and endurance that in everyday life seem impossible, only you survive or save others.
According to the philosophy of existentialism, being in a borderline situation, a person suddenly realizes that up to this moment he was surrounded by an illusory world, but now he was face to face with true life and very real death. In this case, there are several options for the development of events. Some people cannot cope with the psychological trauma that stress and confrontation with the "truth of being" inflicted on them. This can lead to serious mental disorders or even death. Others recognize the falsity and illusory nature of everyday life and abandon it, choosing battle or death. Still others lose the meaning of life and the desire to seek it, while the fourth, on the contrary, gain it. There are also people who, in such situations, realize that their vocation is to protect others and turn the lives of the people around them into the highest value, for which it is worth fighting.
