By the Way: ‘An age of anxiety’
By Oz Lorentzen on September 16, 2023.
Even a cursory glance at the world around us will justify the moniker “An Age of Anxiety”: the sources and occasions for feeling anxious are innumerable, and the manifestations of the anxiety of others is undeniable. I wanted to reflect on part of the cause of such a state of affairs (leaving aside those imponderable/implacable forces – God and nature, nations and economics). You have perhaps heard the pithy little saying, “Resentment (or unforgiveness, or hatred) is like swallowing poison and hoping that someone else will be harmed by it.’ I think there are many such things that we carry, that we intend to use to our benefit, to make us stronger or to protect us, that are like this, internal time bombs, stripping us of needed resources and effecting decay and decrepitude. These emotional time bombs are both a response to feeling anxious – a response to perceived threats – and a cause of anxiety. And they become a self-reinforcing cycle. Things like, hateful commentary and speech, bigotry and social/economic snobbery, gossip and slander, (and a pleasure in consuming gossip and slander) all make us weaker, dehumanize us and our communities, and create an immune deficiency of spirit and soul. That is, we lose our resiliency and our ability to respond to stressors. On the other hand, things like respect, treating others with dignity, listening (with understanding and empathy) to others create a real immuno-boost. That may be too much to expect immediately. The good news is we can go a long way toward moving out of the cyclonic nature of anxiety by just letting go. By releasing the toxic emotions and their behaviours, and by refusing to give them any more fuel. By creating the time and space for perspective. As radical as it may sound, this may mean that we need to not be so tuned into the incessant bombardment that we call the news, the media. Oz Lorentzen is the pastor at St. Barnabas Anglican Church 10-9
