Wednesday, 15 June, 2006

Text: The Courage to Be by Paul Tillich

Here are a few pieces on fear and anxiety and I may put in a few small notes for clarification.
Anxiety and fear have the same "ontological (as in "being") root but thery are not the same in actuality.

...Fear, as opposed to anxiety has a definite object, which can be faced, analyzed, attacked, endured. One can act upon it, and inacting upon it participate in it - even if in the form of struggle. In this way one can take it into one's self-affirmation (note: as in when we defeat a fear...we affirm ourselves). Courage can meet every object of fear, because it is an object and makes participation possible...

One can say that as long as there is an object of fear love in the sense of participation can conquer fear.

But this is not so with anxiety, because anxiety has no object, or rather...its object is the negation of every object. (another author calls anxiety "dread" and that really works for me. I may dread going forward to do something or go somewhere and yet I cannot put my finger on the "thing" I dread or over the thing over which I am anxious. Tillich would say it is as basic as the possibility of non-being.)

Now, here the important piece I want to use for today.

Anxiety strives to become fear, because fear can be met by courage. It is impossible for a finite being (you and I) to stand naked anxiety for more than a flash of time. (Tillich goes on to say that those who have - call it "the night of the soul")

This horror is ordinarily avoided by the transformation of anxiety into fear of something, no matter what.

Now what do I want to make of this. Failure, can be one of those anxiety producers. It is for me. And yet failure is not a concrete object. It comes and goes and attacks my heart with threats of defeat and uselessness... Therefore, in the face of such anxiety, it is very easy to let myself point a finger - at them or at a "structure" for now I have someone and/or something to occupy my attention. It also puts me in the middle of a game in which I can call up every ounce of courage needed to fight this person or those people or that kind. Just think of young Hitler coming out of WWI. Devastated at the loss of the war and anxious about the affairs of the German people and how things would turn out after such a humiliating defeat, what a better time to point fingers and blame and, in essence, create an enemy. Now, with the use of active rhetoric with decisive words of blame and concrete solutions to the problems in the land, Hitler can muster up in the people a "foe" and with that, the unified and glorious rebellion that will make things right again. Find a scapegoat and we will be able to give people and ourselves, a way to call forth courage and then we can paint that effort with language of salvation and promises of victory. I don't know about you, but I can be one who quickly searches for an object toward which I can turn my anxiety or dread rather than learn to face the "dark night of the soul."

Connection: Be an observer today. Watch for signs of people's longing to turn anxious moments into opportunities for blame and finger pointing. The workplace and the corridors of schools are filled with such movements. Remember though, it happens within a "flash of time."

Abiding and loving God, let us rest in you alone so that we may face the anxieties that can grab our hearts and turn to you before we turn our world into objects from which we can run or to which we can run to do courageous battle - even unto death. Remind us of the peace that comes in you alone...teach us to rest there so we can see the world with your eyes. AMen.