Our Insecurity and the Human Predicament

Before this class my initial stance on the human predicament was the abuse of power by exploiting others to gain more power, but based on our course readings, and my own reflection, I have learned that this is not entirely the case. Now I believe that the basic human predicament is that we are insecure with our being as individuals because of social standards that have taught us it is right to exploit others for our own benefit. To resolve this issue, we need to take time to reflect, ask questions, and trust in God. When we take these steps, God will empower us to gradually learn to exhibit a “self-forgetting love” as Karl Rahner contends, and taking us closer to social justice and confidence with our purpose in life. To support my claim, I will mainly draw on three theologians who share a similar perspective on our predicament.

To begin, I was struck by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s view of anxiety. What I found enlightening was not the context of our predicament as he argued, but the relevance of the word “anxiety” today. What I took most out of Niebuhr’s text is that anxiety often leads us to overachieve or underachieve, and because of this we fall into pride and sensuality. We either work hard to beat others in this corporate world, or settle for what is safe and comfortable, all because we are insecure. To provide an example of this compare two children: one born into poverty, and another born into wealth. The boy who is born into poverty may strive to succeed in academics and in life merely because he wants to avoid being poor, but in this process he begins to exploit people for his own gain. This child is an example of a person falling into pride because of his insecurity. As for the boy who is born into fortune, he may n...

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..., not only will we acknowledge the needs of others by redeeming ourselves from sensuality, but avoid being prideful by acknowledging how unessential material wealth is in our own lives. When we do this we will break out of the the “competitive rat-race without meaning”, or the “vicious circle” (Arrupe 10), by choosing God’s love and the love for others.

Overall, the real question in the end after reflection, inquiry, and acknowledgement is whether I, or any other, can choose to trust in God. Will we choose to rise above our insecurities and habits, and do what promotes justice? Will we have the “courage to be” during this difficult realization, and the courage to choose God over ourselves? If, and when we do, we will realize the only thing more important than our insecurities are the people God tells us to call our brothers, and sisters in our greater community.