Emery blagdon through Heidegger's eyes
by isabel koolik
‘Dasein’, or literally translated as ‘Being-there’ allows us to understand the specific Being that is a
human being. It is understood as the idea ‘to-be-there’, in terms of being in the world. We are not only
physically being there, but our activities of Being creates an essence that is our existence. You cannot
understand this existence unless you allow yourself to live and let yourself exist amongst other entities.
Heidegger also believes in the idea of ‘thrownness’ in that Dasein is thrown into the world in which they
live. Alongside thrownness is the idea of ‘disposedness’, which relates to the idea of mood. According to
Heidegger, Dasein is always in one mood or another. Life is then perceived through the lenses of that
mood. The world is visualized differently according to which mood one is in.
Martin Heidegger’s philosophy on mood is exemplified in Emery Blagdon’s Healing Machine.
Emery Blagdon was a man from Nebraska who had an individualized idea on the powers of healing.
Having lost both parents and a sister to cancer, he lost belief in Western medicine. Emery needed a way
to gain hope for a better life. For that reason, Emery Blagdon built a machine in his shed that he
believed could cure people. The machine was filled with his creations that included wire structures,
mobile-type pieces, metals, paintings, etc. Although to an outsider it seemed like scraps of nothing, to
Blagdon it was his way of seeing life in a different way. He was no longer stuck in a depression and a loss
of hope. Emery had built himself a means in which his mood could change. He could now see life
through happiness.
In addition to Heidegger’s belief in moods, Heidegger also had a philosophy on death. To
Heidegger, one cannot understand existence without the understanding the idea that our existence is
finite. The way in which we learn about finite existence is to experience deaths of others. At first, one
might have deemed Blagdon to be purely running away from his sadness and despair. One might not
have realized that, in fact, Blagdon had just understood Being at a deeper level. Emery Blagdon came to
peace with finite existence and created a way to experience his life and Being to the utmost greatness.
He did not want to affect his own existence by mourning or fearing death. Instead, Emery found a way
to understand life, and understanding how great life could be.
human being. It is understood as the idea ‘to-be-there’, in terms of being in the world. We are not only
physically being there, but our activities of Being creates an essence that is our existence. You cannot
understand this existence unless you allow yourself to live and let yourself exist amongst other entities.
Heidegger also believes in the idea of ‘thrownness’ in that Dasein is thrown into the world in which they
live. Alongside thrownness is the idea of ‘disposedness’, which relates to the idea of mood. According to
Heidegger, Dasein is always in one mood or another. Life is then perceived through the lenses of that
mood. The world is visualized differently according to which mood one is in.
Martin Heidegger’s philosophy on mood is exemplified in Emery Blagdon’s Healing Machine.
Emery Blagdon was a man from Nebraska who had an individualized idea on the powers of healing.
Having lost both parents and a sister to cancer, he lost belief in Western medicine. Emery needed a way
to gain hope for a better life. For that reason, Emery Blagdon built a machine in his shed that he
believed could cure people. The machine was filled with his creations that included wire structures,
mobile-type pieces, metals, paintings, etc. Although to an outsider it seemed like scraps of nothing, to
Blagdon it was his way of seeing life in a different way. He was no longer stuck in a depression and a loss
of hope. Emery had built himself a means in which his mood could change. He could now see life
through happiness.
In addition to Heidegger’s belief in moods, Heidegger also had a philosophy on death. To
Heidegger, one cannot understand existence without the understanding the idea that our existence is
finite. The way in which we learn about finite existence is to experience deaths of others. At first, one
might have deemed Blagdon to be purely running away from his sadness and despair. One might not
have realized that, in fact, Blagdon had just understood Being at a deeper level. Emery Blagdon came to
peace with finite existence and created a way to experience his life and Being to the utmost greatness.
He did not want to affect his own existence by mourning or fearing death. Instead, Emery found a way
to understand life, and understanding how great life could be.