Fascinating post. A few things that came up for me. We're living in an age of ubiquitous self-diagnosed mental illness, with self-diagnosed anxiety being perhaps the most common. I've wondered if that self-diagnosed anxiety is a certain lack of resilience that is taught and rewarded by our current culture. And, conversely, our current social media culture has demonstrably harmed the emotional and mental health of people, especially younger folks. Now I'm wondering if the rise in American anxiety, whether self-diagnosed or not, is related to the decrease in religious faith? What does the anxiety of the finite and infinite mean in an increasingly-secular country?
Indeed, the number of people–especially younger generations–identifying as suffering from varying degrees of anxiety has certainly increased dramatically. I wouldn't hesitate to say that social media is a primary cause. And this would largely be anxiety of the finite (in relation to your peers/others on social media, endless comparisons to others, etc.).
Regarding the relation between a decrease in faith and an increase in anxiety, this is precisely what Kierkegaard says. (And here, we are talking about anxiety of the infinite.) He says that to escape despair (a distinct but intimately related concept to anxiety), one must become "anchored in the power that established him." To use his definition of faith mentioned in the essay, "inner certainty that anticipates infinitude," faith is the provider of this inner certainty. Faith is what permits us humans to stare out into the abyss, into the infinite nothingness, and be ok.
In light of decreasing faith, we are seeing an increase in the only two possibilities other than faith: people either refuse to look, or they look and, instead of being brought to faith, they crumble or cling to something dangerous. I would say most people simply refuse to look (because of their anxiety of the finite, their lack of self-confidence/resilience that you mention.)
So, to answer your question, in an increasingly secular country, we see an increase in an anxiety of the finite, as the only true remedy is to be anchored in the power that established you, and perhaps we see a decrease in the anxiety of the infinite as people are simply too afraid to face it.
Fascinating post. A few things that came up for me. We're living in an age of ubiquitous self-diagnosed mental illness, with self-diagnosed anxiety being perhaps the most common. I've wondered if that self-diagnosed anxiety is a certain lack of resilience that is taught and rewarded by our current culture. And, conversely, our current social media culture has demonstrably harmed the emotional and mental health of people, especially younger folks. Now I'm wondering if the rise in American anxiety, whether self-diagnosed or not, is related to the decrease in religious faith? What does the anxiety of the finite and infinite mean in an increasingly-secular country?
Indeed, the number of people–especially younger generations–identifying as suffering from varying degrees of anxiety has certainly increased dramatically. I wouldn't hesitate to say that social media is a primary cause. And this would largely be anxiety of the finite (in relation to your peers/others on social media, endless comparisons to others, etc.).
Regarding the relation between a decrease in faith and an increase in anxiety, this is precisely what Kierkegaard says. (And here, we are talking about anxiety of the infinite.) He says that to escape despair (a distinct but intimately related concept to anxiety), one must become "anchored in the power that established him." To use his definition of faith mentioned in the essay, "inner certainty that anticipates infinitude," faith is the provider of this inner certainty. Faith is what permits us humans to stare out into the abyss, into the infinite nothingness, and be ok.
In light of decreasing faith, we are seeing an increase in the only two possibilities other than faith: people either refuse to look, or they look and, instead of being brought to faith, they crumble or cling to something dangerous. I would say most people simply refuse to look (because of their anxiety of the finite, their lack of self-confidence/resilience that you mention.)
So, to answer your question, in an increasingly secular country, we see an increase in an anxiety of the finite, as the only true remedy is to be anchored in the power that established you, and perhaps we see a decrease in the anxiety of the infinite as people are simply too afraid to face it.