Fear of future change

There is a new global malaise, the elements of which are difficult to identify and assess and which vary from context to context. They comprise the time-honoured distrust of strangers, fear of the future, combined with a self-defensive reflex which together often lead to a withdrawal symptom, prejudices arising from the way national and international news is presented, and occasionally a spiral of violence in which aggression and defence are almost inextricably intertwined.

Although many people realize that it is they who create the future, that there is nothing which will occur except that which is created, yet within people there is an innate fear of the future. This is intensified by present-day society's heavy emphasis on defence. Individuals are trapped and helpless in the conscious expectation of participating in creating a different future while not knowing how to appropriate this role.