ecstatic

is cognate with existence, both meaning literally 'to stand out'.

The term ''ecstatic'', which in common parlance seems particularly suited to the vocabulary of an overenthusiastic teenager, has for Heidegger a very precise meaning. It is cognate with the term ''existence''... both mean literally ''to stand out,,. What does ek-sist, standing out, mean' Here Sartre's well-known, suggestive statement ''I exist my body'' can be helpful. Even though the sentence is ungrammatical and unusual, since Sartre is using an intransitive verb transitively, we can have some intuitive sense of what he means. ''I exist my body'' means that I live in that body in the most concrete and intimate way possible. I can in no way escape it, although I can to some extent transcend it... for example, when people function in spite of pain. Heidegger expresses this by speaking of the existence that I am and have to be. I cannot change my mind and ''start over'' as someone else. The term ''existence'' becomes in Heidegger's later writings perdurance ( Austrag) and standing-within (unstundigkeit). Perdurance, a rather uncommon word, means to stick with something, to bear it. This need not have negative connotations, but it does have intense ones. Periods of great joy also have to be ''perdured''.

ecstatic, n.Definitions

ecstatic