Our Psychological
Jitters
One of the world's leading mathematicians visited me in my hotel room recently. I could sense that the weight of his personal problems had become so heavy that he was on the verge of a breakdown. The strain of modern living had become too great. He was in danger of becoming another statistic in the alarming growth of mental illness.
The intellectual climate in which modern man lives is a paradox. Our technology creates miracles of science, but fails to satisfy our deepest needs. It puts wheels under our feet, but fears and apprehensions in our hearts. We are able to live longer, but not better. We are able to live more comfortably, but not more contentedly.
According to a United States Public Health Service report, eight million persons are suffering from some form of mental illness. Out of this number, one million are treated in the hospitals of the United States each year. Over fifty percent of the nation's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from some form of mental or psychological problem. One out of every ten babies born today will be confined to a hospital with some form of mental illness at some time during his lifetime.
Many of the mentally ill are literally sick at heart and soul. Their maladies do not involve corrupted or damaged brains. People do not lose their minds or break their nerves in so-called nervous breakdowns; they lose themselves! They disappear into worlds of their own creation in their attempt to escape the real world. The frightening fact about mental and
Page 32
emotional illness is that it is making alarming inroads into this present generation of young people. A recent magazine article calls the youth of today "the tormented generation."1 It says: "At the University of Pennsylvania, twenty percent of the students require help form the mental health service during their college years. At Harvard, twenty-five percent of the undergraduates consult a psychiatrist or a social worker." These percentages reflect no discredit on the Universities of Pennsylvania and Harvard. A recent poll of 600 college psychiatrists revealed that about fifteen percent of the students in their schools seek psychiatric help, while thirty percent should do so.
Escapism
Millions are busy burying their heads in the sand pretending that the devastating events of our times are not really happening. They are desperately trying to escape the realities of the pressures of modern living.
Escapism is not in itself a condition of mental sickness, but a subconscious mechanism to escape reality. It is a mode of behavior adopted to evade unpleasant facts and realities. It can take many forms. The harassed housewife goes on a shopping spree, while someone else may take refuge in a clandestine love affair or a Watusi session. One of the most conspicuous modes of escape is alcoholism, which is now a national catastrophe.
Each week in our Minneapolis office we receive thousands of letters, more than half of which have to do with domestic problems; and half of these are related to problems of drinking. Drinking has become one of our most serious social problems. It is basically the result of an attempt to escape from the responsibilities and realities of life. "Every time my husband
Page 33
and I have a disagreement, he dashes for the corner bar," writes a woman from Iowa.
Volumes could be written on the problem of dope addiction. Millions of barbiturates are swallowed every night to help the nation sleep. Millions of tranquilizers keep us calm during the day. Millions of pep pills wake us up in the morning after the hangovers of the night before.
The Bible warns that these flights from reality bring no lasting satisfaction. "Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things" (Philippians 3:19).
Anxiety
Historians of the future may label this present time "The Age of Anxiety." Although in some ways we have less to worry about than previous generations, we seem to do more worrying. Although we have it easier than our forefathers, we have more uneasiness. Although we have less cause for anxiety, we are more anxious. Calloused hands were the badge of the pioneer, while furrowed brows are the insignia of modern man.
The pioneers complained that they were "run down" from physical exhaustion, but the trouble with us is that we are "wound up" from hypertension. Much of this is due to a shift of emphasis. A century ago man's chief concern was his spiritual life; today his chief concern is with his physical and temporal affairs. Vast numbers of people actually believe that if we give man enough food, shelter, clothing, education, and recreational facilities, then we will have reached Utopia.
Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm asserts that modern living turns men in to anxious, loveless shadows. He says: "Most Americans believe that our society of consumption . . .
Page 34
happy, fun-loving, jet-traveling people creates the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Contrary to this view, I believe that our present life leads to anxiety, helplessness, and eventually to the disintegration of our culture. Could it be that our dream that material welfare per se leads to happiness is just a pipe dream?"
Leisure
Another problem facing millions in the Western world is leisure. We may not think of it as a problem, but psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists are beginning to realize that it may become the foremost psychological problem of the next generation. Realizing the importance of the growing prospects and consequence of leisure as a result of automation, Life magazine devoted a two-part series of articles to the subject.
In societies where leisure is already a reality, boredom is the big new problem. Some time ago I was visiting in a welfare state where one of the church leaders said to me: "We in the church have fought for better living conditions and a higher standard of living. In this country, we now have security from the cradle to the grave; but we are faced with psychological problems such as boredom which are just as great and devastating as the old social problems of a century ago."
With more leisure and less responsibility, the problem of "what to do" assumes major proportions. The proposed twenty-hour week and ten-day vacations, together with accelerating automation which will increase the numbers of the jobless, are becoming the causes of one of the most serious social problems in our century. The rapid growth of leisure could produce more crime, more home breakups, more
Page 35
psychological problems than we can deal with. It could breed discontent and restlessness, which could lead to greater unhappiness than we now have with our great prosperity.
We see this potential of crime already among us in the vandalism of unoccupied youth. We see it in the cocktail lounges where the bored and restless while away the tedious hours of leisure. We see it in the nightclubs where jaded and frustrated businessmen watch sensual performers go through their frenzied routines, leaving their audiences empty, frustrated, and satiated. All of us have read stories of the boredom suffered at the average cocktail party. I have had more than one wealthy person tell me: "If I have to go to one more cocktail party, I'll blow my brains out." A senator once confided to me that the greatest need in Washington was the elimination of the cocktail party. He said: "It consumes so much of our time that we don't have time for matters of state."
In an interview Arnold J. Toynbee was asked: "Would the abolition of poverty ensure that America's civilization would continue to grow and be dynamic?" He replied: "No. There is more to it than that in the age of automation. I think the essential question is what Americans do with their leisure. In time people will have to work only a few hours a day, and they will have more and more leisure. If they spend it staring at television or playing pinball machines, then the future of American civilization would not be very healthy."2
The future course of America's civilization will depend at least in part on whether her people use their leisure constructively. This has become one of our greatest challenges. Tomorrow's prospect of leisure may be greater than today's problem of work. One psychiatrist has said: "A great majority of our people are not emotionally or psychologically ready for free time." An economist has said that by the year 2000 A.D. it may be possible for two percent of our population
Page 36
working in factories and on farms, to produce all the goods and foods that the other ninety-eight percent can possibly consume.
If these forecasts and calculations should prove correct, life would soon be virtually all play and no work. What then will we do with this leisure? Shakespeare said: "If all the years were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work." Carlyle said: "A life of ease is not for any man nor for any god." And the Bible says: "The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15). God's plan for the human race was for man to be occupied. This was for man's good — psychological, physiological, and spiritual. If through our technological progress we succeed in forsaking this principle, it will be to our own peril. Already we see foreshadowings of what that peril may be.
"Doublethinking"
How does a society develop the kind of psychosis that plagues us today? It is the product of many things, including the loss of religious faith, faulty education, and too much softness. In his book 1984, George Orwell describes what he calls "doublethink." This is not an original idea, for the Bible says: "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). Nationally we are in a state of double-mindedness that could endanger our very survival. "Double-think," or double-mindedness, means the faculty of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind and accepting both of them. The whole world has become familiar with the Communist's double-talk. When they speak of peace, they mean "peace on our terms." But we, too, talk out of both corners of our mouths at once. We say we are a Christian
Page 37
nation, but much of our literature, our social practices, our deep interests are not Christian at all. They are totally secular.
Erich Fromm, in his book Will Man Prevail?, says: "While people believe in God, they are not concerned with God. That is, they do not worry or lose sleep over religious or spiritual problems. Most people of the West say they believe in God, hence in God's principles of love, justice, truth, and humility. Yet these ideas have little influence on our behavior. Most of us are motivated by the wish for greater material comfort, security, and prestige."
We say we believe in the church, and yet many of us without conscience can drive by the church to go golfing, boating, swimming, or even nightclubbing.
Ideals can easily be turned into shibboleths — mere catch-words. The ideal becomes alienated. It ceases to be an authentic experience and becomes instead an idol, outside of self, to which we pay homage and which we use to cover up dishonesty and immorality.
Freud learned what the Bible teaches, that a person can be fully sincere and at the same time be in error in his thought. Sincerity can even be a cover, a disguise for the real impulse that motivates him. This can be true with a nation as well. We can employ the "doublethink" and be unaware of any wrong.
"Group-Thinking"
Besides the "doublethink" we are beset with a new method of thought called "group-think." The allure of identity, security, and acceptance drives us into patterns of thought, action, and behavior. We tend to think, act, and talk like
Page 38
those around us. And one of our most deep-seated fears is that we might be called an "outsider."
This fear has led us down the road to conformity, has put the imprint of "the organization man" on our souls, and has robbed us of originality of thought, individuality of personality, and constructive action. It has invaded not only our secular life but our religious life as well.
In The Status Seekers, Vance Packard observed: "For the vast majority of American Christians, going to church is the nice thing that proper people do on Sunday. It advertises their respectability, give them a warm feeling that they are behaving in a way their God-fearing ancestors would approve, and adds a few cubits to their social stature by throwing them with a social group with which they wish to be identified. And even those who take their worship seriously often prefer to do it while surrounded by their own kind of people."
It is not easy to break away from the "group-think" of our times, with the television hucksters downgrading your brand of aspirin and dramatizing its devastating effects on your stomach with clanging bells and eerie sounds of your "innards" disintegrating, if you do not run out immediately to buy their brand.
The "group-think" pressure affects our voting at the polls, the brands of food we buy at the grocery, the makes of cars we drive, the brands of gasoline we burn, as well as our patterns of religious belief.
It is almost terrifying to note the way in which crowds can be swayed to believe almost anything, provided it is put in a form that travels the avenues along which they are accustomed to receive their knowledge, whether it be true or false. For example, several years ago when a certain actor ordered pink champagne in a movie, he started a minor revolution in the wine industry. Immediately restaurants all over
Page 39
the country were amazed by the demand for this exotic beverage. From one end of the nation to the other, movie and television stars lay down the law of fashions, manners, speech, and even moral behavior. The elaborate bathroom, the one-hand telephone, and the Venetian blind were all inspired by Hollywood and later became prerequisites for almost every American home. However, these are only the superficial symptoms of Madison Avenue's and Hollywood's power of suggestion. The movies and television with equal ease lead and change the nation's thoughts on politics, morals, and social questions of great importance. In the darkness of a living room or theater, where people sit relaxed to give undivided attention to the flashing pictures, psychological conditions are perfect for insinuating ideas into the mind. In test after test among high school and university students, it has been proven that a movie or a television program can brainwash.
The Lie
We are in the midst of a generation whose minds have been prepared for THE LIE. The Bible speaks in 2 Thessalonians of the coming of the great Anti-Christ: "It will be attended by all the powerful signs and miracles of THE LIE, and all the deception that sinfulness can impose on those doomed to destruction" 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 NEB). The movies, television, radio, the sensual novel, the cheap magazine all have combined to make it almost impossible for the masses to do any real individual thinking. With the breakdown of discipline in the home and with every source of amusement and instruction pouring poison into daily life, it is not to be wondered that the minds of people are ready to receive anything
Page 40
but the truth and that they are ready to believe lies and ultimately THE LIE.
It is possible that "group-think has made individual action passé in our country. Are we becoming a robot civilization, manipulated by mass media, pressurized by conformity, and pushed by political maneuvers? Have we developed a department-store mind, where we shop for name brands of faith, politics, and a way of life? Are we collectivizing the mentality of America? In the 1964 election the polltakers predicted to the very percentage point what the American people would do at the polls, and less than an hour after the polls had closed the computers had predicted who would win and what the majority would be. One columnist said later: "In the future we might as well let the pollsters tell us who the American people are for, and it would save all the expense of a campaign." It seems that as a nation we are in danger of losing our individuality and our personal identity. The student has become only an IBM card. He is a statistic. The personal relationship between teachers and students that used to prevail has broken down. The student is now only a part of the "mass."
When we look for a remedy for a condition that produces an unhealthy national psychosis, we should remember what was said by Bernard Iddings Bell: "All human predicaments are not to be resolved by tinkering with the symptoms, because our disorders are not those of mere housekeeping. It is the whole sewer system that is out of whack."
In times of national problems we should be hearing the voice of God in His effort to have us think His thoughts after Him. Many times we miss the purpose of national catastrophes. Charles C. West says: "We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them."
Perhaps out of all this God is speaking to the nation and
Page 41
to the individual. We are not made for emptiness. We are made for boredom. We were not created to cringe in fear. Our anxiety, our mental anguish, our concern all reach upward for purpose and fulfillment. There are signs in the sky. They portend a better life, a better way, a better day.
You and I were made for the heights. The Bible says of man: "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet" (Psalm 8:5, 6).
It is Jesus Christ who gives dignity and worth to the individual. He says: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36). Christ taught that in the sight of God one soul is worth the entire materialistic world! In God's sight the individual is all-important. When Christ calls a man to follow Him, He calls him "out" from the "group." Christ can fill the vacuums. He can restore your personal identity. He can become THE TRUTH to your generation.
The question is Where can we find Christ? Where can we find this new life? How can we become the men and women God meant us to be?
__________
1. The Saturday Evening Post, 1963.
2. U. S. News and World Report, March 30, 1964.
