Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World by Kirk J. Schneider
By Daniel Liechty | April 13, 2023
Kirk J. Schneider has been a friend and associate of the Ernest Becker Foundation since its founding some 30 years ago. A psychologist, Schneider is widely known and recognized as a leader in existential approaches to understanding the human condition. He is an expert interpreter of the work of Otto Rank, Rollo May and of Ernest Becker, each of which contributes to Schneider’s own take on human psychology, that of emphasis on ‘awe’ as a fundamental pathway toward building a sound, sane mind and a strong sense of spiritual connection to that which transcends the individual. Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World (University Professors Press, 2023) is Schneider’s most recent contribution to the field.
Since Schneider began writing on the concept of awe, it has emerged as a category receiving wide attention and has become the focus of research exploring the psychological and physiological effects of awe-inspiring experiences, that is, moments of encounter with that perceived as vast, powerful, and transcendent. Typical triggers are the beauty of nature, art, deep relationships, and more specifically spiritual experiences.
As Schneider presents it, awe is a more or less inextricable companion with anxiety. In this he sets his own course from that of most others writing about awe, who are more likely to present awe as an antidote to fear and anxiety. It is this connection of awe with fear and anxiety that truly marks Schneider’s approach as an existential psychology, rather than as another form of ‘positive’ psychology. There is overlap here, to be sure, for example in delineation of the kinds of positive effects awe can yield in the lives of individual and collectives. These include such important areas of enhanced feelings of connectedness to others, participation in that which is larger than oneself, greater prosocial behavior and generosity, reduced stress and anxiety, and increased creative openness to new ideas and concepts. Both Schneider and Ernest Becker draw from Rudolf Otto’s phenomenology of religious experience, the ‘holy shiver’ in confrontation with tremendous mystery, that links fear, anxiety and awe into an experiential continuum.
Schneider highlights the importance of experiences of awe that evoke a sense of wonder, transcendence, and humility in our lives. His overall claim is that such experiences have powerful benefits for our mental, physical, and social well-being, if they are understood correctly and cultivated through conscious practices. Various sections of this new book creatively apply this concept to areas such as art, psychology, social and political analysis, and religious beliefs and practices. Some of these chapters are based on previously published articles and lectures, but most of this is new work. A profoundly humane book, it will be of interest to all readers engaged in ideas of Ernest Becker, humanistic-existential psychology and existential philosophy more generally.
Readers who have been with the EBF for many years may remember the input we had from educator Sam Gillian, whose life work also pointed toward the positive perspective on fear and awe. Sam is regretfully no longer with us, but his work is being carried on and expanded by Canadian educator, R. Michael Fisher. When I first read Schneider’s book, a thought I had was how it might be to have Schneider and Fisher in dialogue. Without claiming for myself any magical powers, or even that great minds think alike(!) lo and behold, soon afterwards just such a dialogue appeared on YouTube. This would be a great place to start for anyone wanting to interact with the ideas in this new book by Kirk Schneider.
Daniel Liechty, Ph.D., is a longtime reader and interpreter of Ernest Becker’s writings. Liechty is Professor of Social Work and Distinguished Lecturer in Arts and Sciences at Illinois State University. He is especially interested in the implications of Becker’s work in religion and spirituality and its applications in psychotherapy. His Becker-related books include Theology in Postliberal Perspective (1990), Transference and Transcendence (1995), Thinking about Faith in a Post-Christian Time (2003), and The Ernest Becker Reader (2005). More recently he edited Facing Up to Mortality: Interfaith/Interreligious Explorations (2021), exploring Becker’s ideas as a catalyst for interfaith communication. Liechty served some 20 years as Vice President of The Ernest Becker Foundation.