We were able to camouflage that insecurity when we concentrated our psychic energy on external enemies. We were able to drug ourselves into not recognizing that insecurity when we were consumed by a relentless drive toward material plenty. But with no external enemies and with our drive toward material plenty being dissipated in this moment of history, we can avoid this despair no longer. It haunts us so that not even a hard-won peace and the presence of economic plenty are able today to give us security or to contain our anger. Our human anger, so irrational and so unfocused, arises ultimately, I believe, out of a spiritual crisis that lies at the heart of modern life.
Human anger is never righteous, it is always an expression of human emptiness and human fear.
That is the great question that needs to be addressed in both the church and society of our time. I will seek to sketch my way into a solution in a future article.