What I am saying is that the older people I have met have had a resilience that was not merely physical, and which is also revealed in history, and that they retained a toughness to cope with their trials and tribulations. That isn’t to say these people didn’t suffer, but they stayed in the ring, to use a metaphor. The question is, where does this resilience come from? I have spoken to many younger people in my profession about this observation and many of them said that they wouldn’t be able to keep going like the older people had. This is also backed up by the number of people with psychological problems in our times, which I put down to the fact that they haven’t got anything to believe in.
I’m not even restricting this to a belief in a God; but even in Buddhism, we are confronted with depression. The Buddhist perspective is that an underlying selfishness/egotism is often the basic cause of feeling depressed. This doesn’t mean that the suffering person should be ‘blamed’ for the condition, but rather it opens up a very specific approach to the problem using meditation and emphasis on compassion and loving-kindness. You see, I think that the underlying problem of “selfishness” really boils down to the fact that we struggle with a concept of self that tends to block out our connectedness to a community and, from a Buddhist perspective, from Dharma.
The more individualist we are, the less support we feel from our peers, and the less common goals we have. This has an effect on the whole way we interact with society, and the worst part is that in tribulations we feel alone and may even block the compassion of others. The community spirit needs to be encouraged; people need others to point out that which they cannot see. It also needs to have certain elements like chanting or singing, music and dancing, but also meditation, contemplation and learning. I feel that these are aspects of human culture that we need to form a resilience that isn’t just a result of military drill. Of course, that also helps to a certain degree, but I think that we need a other components as well.
Unfortunately, it is only a minority of people who would be willing to take part in such a community. I notice at the gym that most people are doing their thing and only have superficial contact with others, and the exception confirms the rule. And, like I say, the materialist question, “does God exist?” isn’t necessarily a part of it. Besides, another thread could perhaps deal with the question whether Christian faith is materialist by nature, which I believe we can answer that it is not. At present I am more interested in metaphysical idealism than any materialist argument.
It is curious that you point to Scandinavia as proof of high levels of mental and material wealth. I discovered this on the internet:
In Europe, I’m not experiencing the level of “foisting views on others” that may be the norm in America for example. In fact, the influence of the Church is quite small, and the Islamic influences are also comparably small (except in Moslem communities). Therefore, I don’t see that as the problem you have named. In fact, I think that the fact that 38% of women and 32% of men will receive treatment for a mental disorder at some point during their lifetime may be an indication that they are struggling with something that society no longer addresses. Of course, there have been mental disorders in the past, but we have identified the problems which were prevalent then. This is a new situation and I have stated my case above.
You see, religion isn’t just about a belief in some divine being, it is also about a common goal. It is about a community aiming for the good of the whole. The number of care homes, care for the disabled, hospitals, clinics, and hospices run by the church (at least here in Germany) is quite high and was higher before the state started turning them into commercial businesses, demanding that they make a profit. The charitable aspect of faith is also important and playing a role in the larger society.
This is something I see as on the decline, and it is due to an inability to stay the pace. I observed very often that the older members of staff were more resilient, despite the aches and pains of getting older, than younger staff members. There was a point when staff would ask me to employ an older nurse rather than a younger one. There was also a common feeling that older staff members chose the profession as a vocation and not just as a means of getting paid. Of course, you may say that this was a local thing, but I travelled quite a lot as regional manager and was told the same story elsewhere as well.
But as I have continually tried to point out, this is one component of a larger issue, albeit that many aspects come together. Perhaps you can see that I am not just one of those Christians on the street waving a banner.