IT'S SO EASY TO DO NOTHING

George Offerman

With all that is going on now a days, many people I encounter are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of the issues going on nearly every day.  In looking at our modern life, it is clear we have lost our moral compass, and even well meaning and honest people are beginning to wonder what is real and what is right anymore (or even if there is such a thing as right and wrong).  Up is down, left is right, cold is hot, relativism is absolute and so on.  We are watching everything we know and our way of life disintegrate, and it seems no one has the way or understands what to do next.

We have witnessed a systematic destruction of western thought and way of life that became prevelant only because it was rooted in Christianity and the guidance of the moral code that goes along with it.  Once rationalism, coupled with modern philosophy and the ‘hard sciences’ began to question this foundation, western society began its downward trajectory.  It was initially slow and mostly unnoticed, but has now progressed to the runaway train we are now witnessing.  We are seeing breakdowns in literally every area of our lives and in every corner of society.  And many are getting the sense that when they think ‘it can’t get any worse’ it seems another “worse’ corner is turned and the “anxietyometer” is dialed up another notch.

Freud identified the cause of all fears and they can be placed into two categories: 1)fear of death and 2) fear of being alone (that is why most people identify being buried alive as the most fearful way of death, it incorporates both).  We will do anything to survive, and we will do nearly anything to not be alone. We also fear representations of both of these drives, and under more ordinary times these fears are in the background.  However, with heightened environmental tensions, they become more conscious and require resolution.  Since we have been socialized into believing we have a right to a ‘good and safe life’ these forces break into our awareness in ways we have not been prepared to deal with effectively.  So, in essence, our fear of death is exacerbated by watching our way of life die right before us, and our fear of being alone is as well exacerbated by how much more we feel disconnected from our fellow man.  In other words, neurosis becomes the norm for our out of control society, and the signs of this are everywhere.

When an individual reaches this point, and it becomes more of a chronic condition due to environmental instability, the individual tends to withdrawal from the stressors and takes on a position of learned helplessness.  This immobility then becomes habituated, and even when a major crisis hits, the individual fails to act because the predominant thought process revolves around “What difference does it make anyway, this will get solved and then there will be a bigger problem to take its place”.  The individual who finds himself in this place, finds it much easier to do nothing, and will also detach himself from his fellow man.  This is why we are seeing an increase in violent crimes in which many witness it, but no one steps in to help.

Those who have managed to stay true to root Christian teachings and ways of life seem to have less of this problem, if any at all.  To have faith in God is the only way through this mess we are entering.  Only the Love of Jesus can stop all fear in its tracks and renew anyone asking for this free gift.  Man will never have the answer, and no amount of drugs or therapy will ever be able to drive man's fears out of his psyche.  We need to rely on our faith if we are to make it though these times.  We will be tried in ways we cannot even begin to imagine, and will be feeling primordial fears of both anihilation and abandonment.  It is truly time to have a humble and contrite heart and approach the Lord in this way, and pray for courage and strength to make it through these times.