Are you part of the 52% of Americans who don’t feel safe on a daily basis? Not only is it more common these days to experience anxiety, depression, or self-depracating behavior, but studies show that it could even be hereditary. I think one reason we’ve seen such a dramatic increase in anxiety in recent years especially in the Gen Z cohort, is because of the access to alternative sources of information outside of mainstream media. In a post-trurh, alternative facts world, people thirst for truth more than ever. And in our search for it, we have paid for it with our peace.
The Wages of Truth is Peace
You see, truth is not free, even if our access to it is. I think we collectively believe that if someone (particularly in positions of authority) would just tell us the truth, then it would solve many of our society’s problems. If mainstream media told the objective truth, citizens would be more informed, which would lead to more efficient markets. At least, that’s the theory anyway. Or if there were transparency in government programs, there would be less corruption. If it were easy to prove that someone has been deceived in any given circumstance, and make those who perpetrate deception pay the consequences, then people in positions of authority would be incentived to tell the truth. Again, that’s the theory anyway.
“There are no solutions, there are only trade-offs; and you try to get the best trade-off you can get, that’s all you can hope for. We cannot achieve a perfect outcome.
Thomas Sowell, Economist
Truth doesn’t create a straight pathway to peace. In fact, I think many people take up positions of authority thinking that if they bring a little bit of truth to the problem they’re trying to solve, they could make a difference. In fact, people often have to sacrifice a lot personally just to sleep at night; just to have a little bit of peace. Generally speaking, there are no solutions, only trade offs. Saying yes to one thing means saying no to another. This is called an “opportunity cost.”
Knowledge of Good and Evil Creates Anxiety
Perhaps this is why God put the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden. As a Creator, it would be against God’s nature to hold anything back in his creation. He can’t create some truth, and not all of it. He can’t create good and not allow evil to have its place as well. Every yin needs yang, and vice versa. But we must choose which we want to create more of in our lives: truth or deception. Just as we choose how to use our time or any other tools or knowledge he has given us. So, I believe that God didn’t create the Tree of Knowledge to tempt people into taking it, but to give us the free choice to choose not to.
The Curse of Knowledge
But this creates a new problem for us mere mortals (You see? More answers inevitably leads to more questions and uncertainty!) Because once we’ve become enlightened with new knowledge and insights, we now have a responsibility to use that information appropriately. Information must be processed to become wisdom. Education truly does elevate people, but beware: the more advanced your education, the more you must bear the curse of knowledge. This is a cognitive bias that says once people become educated, it’s difficult for them to understand how others are not operating from their same level of enlightenment. But this very same sense of “raising awareness” to create an understanding around social issues can bridge social divides, because it creates in us love and empathy for our neighbors. This is the working theory behind the sociological concept of “Verstehen.”. And, on a more individual level, this is the what it takes to love people systematically—and to love our enemies.
Having more answers often leads to having more questions. More uncertainty. More obsession. More strife. More anxiety. Because the more enlightened we become—bit by bit—you’re reminded of what you know you don’t know, but maybe your enemies do. You feel excluded. So, if truth doesn’t beget peace, but rather, it comes at the cost of peace, then how do we live our lives with less anxiety, less stress, and throw off every weight that keeps us from running our own individual races; from ascending to reach our highest selves? As it turns out, in order to have peace, we should instead set our sights on freedom.
Practical Tips For More Personal Freedom
Here are a couple of exercises you can start today to reduce anxiety, and increase your personal happiness. You can use any one of these tips alone or in combination with the others for maximum effect.
1. Live in the world as it is, not as it should be
Whether we love or hate the word, let’s call it what it is: we live in a sinful world. And the more we become accustomed to recognizing the world as it is, the less anxious we’ll be in the short term. It’s not that we resign ourselves to never changing the world, but we do so with an understanding of how the world actually works, before we can commit to making it what it should be.
2. Make a list of things you can (and cannot) control
So long as there are threats to your personal peace, this one is an ongoing exercise. In one column, brainstorm as many issues in your life that on which you have direct influence. Then in a second column, list the very opposite. These are the issues in which you feel powerless to control. It could even be pieces of information that, after you’ve learned them, you really have no practical way of using it. Eventually, it will become second nature for you to compartmentalize your knowledge and your actions into these two categories.
3. Transfer responsibility
Every conflict needs a peacemaker. It is similar to having an arbiter to settle disagreements between two parties such as in a contract dispute. When we accept Christ into our souls, we request an intercessor to settle the disputes within our soul. This helps us to avoid biases and self-centered tendencies (Mark 3:25). The Holy Spirit brings light to darkness within ourselves (Matthew 6:22-3; John 15:26).
4. Listen to Koshiz Music
The pursuit of freedom, either personal, mental, or even financial, is in the very ethos if conscious Christian hip-hop. Christ is a free gift that people can choose to accept in order to live life to the fullest (John 10:0). Conscious rap fell out of favor in large part because it was music that complained about the world without offering it’s listeners concrete steps to make the world a better place. Conscious Christian hip-hop fills that need.
Only Jesus Offers Freedom
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him.” Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive, for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 14:6-7, 11, 16-17
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17
In my experience, what makes people anxious is not the threat to peace, but the threat to freedom. Either they are restricted in their thoughts and movements, or in order to get what they want out of life, they have to follow someone else’s agenda.
What does Jesus have in common with Buddha and Gandhi? They all offer peace. But here’s where Jesus’ offer is different: He offers freedom. No other gods, philosophers, monks, or other religious leaders do. In fact , they all require that you submit to disciplined routines in order to find personal peace. But as many who have left the church know, religious behaviours don’t create relationships with God. Religious rituals must be repeated in proportion to how much we sin in order to be made “right” with ourselves. But these actions are just another shackle on our ankles.
Accepting Christ is a faith-based performance action,
not a performance-based act. Religious actions can’t lead us to long lasting, sustainable forgiveness within ourselves. And where grace is lacking, so is forgiveness, there can be no freedom; only anxiety, Imposter Syndrome, uncertainty, and despair.
