Emptiness

Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, anhedonia,despair, or other mental/emotional disorders, including schizoid personality disorder, post trauma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizotypal personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. A sense of emptiness is also part of a natural process of grief, as resulting death of a loved one, or other significant changes. However, the particular meanings of “emptiness” vary with the particular context and the religious or cultural tradition in which it is used. Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, anhedonia,despair, or other mental/emotional disorders, including schizoid personality disorder, post trauma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizotypal personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. A sense of emptiness is also part of a natural process of grief, as resulting death of a loved one, or other significant changes. However, the particular meanings of “emptiness” vary with the particular context and the religious or cultural tradition in which it is used. While Christianity and Western sociologists and psychologists view a state of emptiness as a negative, unwanted condition, in some Eastern philosophies such as Buddhist philosophy and Taoism, emptiness (Śūnyatā) represents seeing through the illusion of independent self-nature. In the West, feeling 'empty' is often viewed as a negative condition. Psychologist Clive Hazell, for example, attributes feelings of emptiness to problematic family backgrounds with abusive relationships and mistreatment. He claims that some people who are facing a sense of emptiness try to resolve their painful feelings by becoming addicted to a drug or obsessive activity (be it compulsive sex, gambling or work) or engaging in 'frenzied action' or violence. In sociology, a sense of emptiness is associated with social alienation of the individual. This sense of alienation may be suppressed while working, due to the routine nature of work tasks, but during leisure hours or during the weekend, people may feel a sense of 'existential vacuum' and emptiness. In political philosophy, emptiness is associated with nihilism. Literary critic Georg Lukács (born in 1885) argued against the 'spiritual emptiness and moral inadequacy of capitalism', and argued in favour of communism as an 'entirely new type of civilization, one that promised a fresh start and an opportunity to lead a meaningful and purposeful life.' The concept of 'emptiness' was important to a 'certain type of existentialist philosophy and some forms of the Death of God movement'. Existentialism, the 'philosophic movement that gives voice to the sense of alienation and despair', comes from 'man’s recognition of his fundamental aloneness in an indifferent universe'. People whose response to the sense of emptiness and aloneness is to give excuses live in bad faith; 'people who face the emptiness and accept responsibility aim to live 'authentic' lives'. Existentialists argue that 'man lives in alienation from God, from nature, from other men, from his own true self.' Crowded into cities, working in mindless jobs, and entertained by light mass media, we 'live on the surface of life', so that even 'people who seemingly have 'everything' feel empty, uneasy, discontented.' In cultures where a sense of emptiness is seen as a negative psychological condition, it is often associated with depression. As such, many of the same treatments are proposed: psychotherapy, group therapy, or other types of counselling. As well, people who feel empty may be advised to keep busy and maintain a regular schedule of work and social activities. Other solutions which have been proposed to reduce a sense of emptiness are getting a pet or trying Animal-Assisted Therapy; getting involved in spirituality such as meditation or religious rituals and service; volunteering to fill time and bring social contact; doing social interactions, such as community activities, clubs, or outings; or finding a hobby or recreational activity to regain their interest in life. In Austrian philosopher/educator Rudolf Steiner's (1861–1925) thinking, spiritual emptiness was a major problem in the educated European middle class. In his 1919 lectures he argued that European culture became 'empty of spirit' and 'ignorant of the needs, the conditions, that are essential for the life of the spirit'. People experienced a 'spiritual emptiness' and their thinking became marked by a 'lazy passivity' due to the 'absence of will from the life of thought'. In modern Europe, Steiner claimed that people would 'allow their thoughts to take possession of them', and these thoughts were increasingly filled with abstraction and 'pure, natural scientific thinking'. The educated middle classes began to think in a way that was 'devoid of spirit', with their minds becoming 'dimmer and darker', and increasing empty of spirit. Louis Dupré, a Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, argues that the 'spiritual emptiness of our time is a symptom of its religious poverty'. He claims that 'many people never experience any emptiness: they are too busy to feel much absence of any kind'; they only realize their spiritual emptiness if 'painful personal experiences -- the death of a loved one, the collapse of a marriage, the alienation of a child, the failure of a business' shock them into reassessing their sense of meaning. Spiritual emptiness has been associated with juvenile violence. In John C. Thomas' 1999 book How Juvenile Violence Begins: Spiritual Emptiness, he argues that youth in impoverished indigenous communities who feel empty may turn to fighting and aggressive crime to fill their sense of meaninglessness. In Cornell University professor James Garbarino's 1999 book Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them, he argues that 'neglect, shame, spiritual emptiness, alienation, anger and access to guns are a few of the elements common to violent boys'. A professor of human development, Garbarino claims that violent boys have an 'alienation from positive role models' and 'a spiritual emptiness that spawns despair'. These youth are seduced by the violent fantasy of the US gun culture, which provides negative role models of tough, aggressive men who use power to get what they want. He claims that boys can be helped by giving them 'a sense of purpose' and 'spiritual anchors' that can 'anchor boys in empathy and socially engaged moral thinking'.