Yes, you read that correctly. It doesn’t make sense
does it? It doesn’t add up?
Yet, that statement is correct in a sense. Trying to
obtain clear, unambiguous, and accurate statistics on anxiety, worry, hope, and
optimism in the world leads to a muddied place.
There are statistics that show levels of anxiety
(depending on the country) ranging from about 4% to 9%. Yet, other research
suggests anxiety levels as high as 85%, especially when it comes to anxiety
about climate change. This last anxiety source (eco-anxiety) appears to be on
the increase.
Eco-anxiety is defined as the chronic fear of
suffering an environmental cataclysm. The word cataclysm itself conjures
up alarming images. It is often associated with phenomena such as floods of
Biblical proportion, or devastating events such as volcanoes and earthquakes.
The flood image is particularly apt as the derivation of the word gives us a
literal translation of washed down almost to the point of drowning.
Hopefulness too provides us with highly disparate
conclusions. Some research indicates that young people are more hopeful than
older people, yet other studies show that young people are highly concerned
about the effects of climate change, whereas older generations are less so.
Even within a single population we can get confusing
signals. Research from the USA notes that more than half its citizens are extremely
worried about the future, whereas 1/5th are extremely hopeful
about the future.
It would seem that we could say (rather glibly) that
half the world are hopeful, and the other half are worried.
Hope or anxiety? Confidence or worry? Optimism or
fear?
All of these are future-oriented. Anxiety about what
may befall one, or hope that what is to come will be beneficial.
The future then, seems to be muddied. We are heading
towards it, and are acting like three children in the back of the car, asking
of our parents, ‘Are we then yet?’ One child is excited and looking hopefully
out the window expecting a glorious future. Another is worried, looking down at
their feet and huddling against the door, trying to make him or herself small.
Meanwhile, a third child is peering out the back window, depressed about where
the family has come from.
This muddiness will not resolve itself, unless we
settle the waters and live in the present moment.
Buddhism speaks of three poisons keeping us trapped.
Two of these are aversion and attachment.1 We can see these played
out in our future orientation. We either attach to hope for the future, or we
are averse to the future via anxiety.
Buddhism, along with many other Eastern philosophies
and nature-based cultures from other parts of the world, advocate learning to
live in the present moment. Present-centredness is an antidote to aversion
(anxiety) and attachment (hope.)
Living in and for the future is a mistaken way of
being. Not only can we not know the future, but by living in fear, or
confidence, of it robs us of the present moment, in all its beauty, joy, love,
and compassion.
Where are those who are living in the present? Where
are the those with a grounded sense of now?
Notes:
1. The other is the delusion of the separate self.
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