It’s natural as our experience of life becomes more stressful–what with global warming, pandemics, collapsing governments, sectarian and religious strife, war and racial tensions–to feel increasing fear and despair. It’s also natural to coin a few new words to give voice to our anxiety. The following terms[i] were invented by organizations as disparate as the American Psychology Association and the Bureau of Linguistical Reality:
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- Shadowtime: a feeling of living in two distinctly different temporal scales simultaneously, or acute consciousness of the possibility that the near future will be drastically different than the present.
- Solastalgia: the homesickness you feel for a place that you have not left but that has transformed beyond recognition around you.
- Jestope: an attitude of hope mixed with clear-eyed honesty about difficult realities.
- Ecoanxiety: a chronic fear of environmental doom.
- Blissonance: what you might feel while enjoying a pleasantly warm day in winter but wondering what unpleasant things it bodes about the future.
But there’s no need to be stressed or anxious. In truth, the (non-existent) future doesn’t hold any unpleasantness. If that sounds confusing or makes you angry, consider embracing the principles of Simple Reality.
In the context of Paradigm-A, there is no future only the present moment. Identifying with the material world of Paradigm-B–filled with stress, reductionism and death–does indeed lead to anxiety and despair.
Most of us have chosen to live in a worldview of stress and anxiety. We recommend you make a different choice. Choose Simple Reality.
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Supplemental Reading: The Great Paradox, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 2
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#51 Shadowtime
[i] Jarvis, Brooke. “Econanxious.” The New York Times Magazine. July 26, 2020, p. 32.
