[00:00:29.020]
Welcome to episode 332 of The Non-Anxious Leader Podcast. I'm Jack Shitama. If you are new to this podcast, you can get more information at the nonanxiousleader.com. You can subscribe to my Two for Tuesday email newsletter there, as well as a link in the show notes and you can find out all about my speaking engagements, the books that I've written, my coaching practice, and Other resources for non-anxious leadership. Also, you can email me at jack@christian-leaders.com. I love to hear your questions, comments, and ideas for future episodes. Finally, if you would like to support my work, you can become a patron for as little as $5 a month. It helps me bring all of these resources to you. I will put a link in the show notes so you can find out more. Thanks in advance for your consideration. Now, without further ado, here is episode 332, What in the World is Going on Right Now, Part 1 of 2. If you are disturbed by the chaotic, divisive world we live in, you are not alone. I speak to many people who are tired of the political and religious conflicts of our day. It's enough to ask what in the world is going on.

[00:01:55.310]
Family systems theory has an answer for this. It's called societal Regression. The idea for this episode was sparked by an article by Stephanie Ferrera, Reflections on Societal Regression. I'll put a link in the show notes, as well as a link to an article by Michael Kerr, A Perspective on a World on Fire: Societal Regression. Murray Bowen developed the concept of emotional regression, which occurs in smaller relationship systems such as families, congregations, and organizations, as well as the related concept of societal regression. He wrote, When a family is subjected to chronic sustained anxiety, the family begins to lose contact with its intellectually-determined principles to resort more and more to emotionally determined decisions to allay the anxiety of the moment. The societal concept postulates that the same process is evolving in society. The idea here is that chronic anxiety leads to more reactivity. Instead of people responding in self-defined, non-anxious ways that are in line with their principles, they let emotions influence their decisions. A key point is that this is an attempt to manage their own anxiety. I often say that even when you are a non-anxious presence, you will still feel anxious inside. Self-differentiation is not the absence of anxiety.

[00:03:27.760]
It's the ability to manage your anxiety in a way that enables you to act in line with your principles in non-anxious ways. In his article, Kerr notes that anxiety is the polarizing force. It's a reaction to real or imagined threats in the relationship system. Emotional or societal regression occurs when the go-to reaction to anxiety is an us versus them mentality. According to Kerr, regression renders family family members vulnerable to replacing rational decision making and a long term view with intense feeling reactions, subjective thinking, and a short term view. Anxiety is the polarizing force, not the specific content of the polarized issues. As one family member said, It's not what we are fighting about, but it's that we are fighting. It's process, not content. The important thing to understand here is that It's not the issues themselves that create conflict, it's the emotional immaturity of people in the system in response to anxiety. As Ferrara notes, differences of opinions by themselves don't create conflict. It's possible for people to disagree and live with those differences. While every societal regression has its own content, issues, and details, there is an emotional process that's common to both emotional and societal regression.

[00:05:00.690]
These include reciprocal grievances, blaming and attacking others, defensiveness and retaliation, all of which result in increased polarization. Interestingly, Kerr notes that systems can also go through periods of progression, where long term thinking and principled decisions override emotionally charged thinking and polarization. This enables different viewpoints to be heard so that good decisions are possible. The The analogy here is that when differentiation occurs in a system, there is sabotage. That is, the less emotionally mature will manage their discomfort through triangling, blaming, attacking, and subconsciously undermining those who are self-differentially. Differentiating. When the latter can maintain a non-anxious presence, a progression can occur. However, if they cannot, a regression back to the previous patterns of functioning will take place. My understanding of this is that societies go through patterns of progression and regression. There are times when things are going well and improvements for the common good are made, and times when conflict and division dominate. This leads me to two reflections on what in the world is going on right now. I have two main takeaways from my understanding of societal regression. The first is that the two world wars in the 20th century were the peak of societal regressions.

[00:06:34.590]
My own interpretation is that the regressions were in response to the industrialization and nationalization of major parts of the world. And while each war was followed by a period of peace and prosperity, regression resumed. In the 1930s, this regression resulted in the rise of fascism and leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, and Hira Hito. In the 1960s, the Cold War dominated for world politics and for the US, resulted in the Vietnam War. In fact, by the time Edwin Friedmann wrote A Failure of Nerve in the 1990s, he maintained that we were already in a chronically anxious society. That is, we were already in a regression. I believe the pace of technological change has only made this worse over the last three decades. Remember, all change is loss, and this increases anxiety in the system. My second take is that Donald Trump is not the problem. He is a symptom. It's process, not content. I believe if Trump had not risen to power, there would likely be someone else. It could have easily been Bernie Sanders. Remember that Kerr wrote that short-term thinking is a part of the process that creates a regression. In a failure of nerve, Edwin Friedmann noted that in chronically anxious societies, think chronically anxious relationship systems, there is a desire for a quick fix.

[00:08:00.890]
This is classic short-term thinking. Instead of going through the long-term process of working toward differentiation, people want to get something that will relieve their anxiety and make them think things will get better. The same is true for societies. I believe that it is this desire for a quick fix that gives rise to politicians like Trump and Sanders. This is not about the rightness or wrongness of their politics. It's about the emotional process that's going on. Not just in the US, but in the world. Think Boris Johnson in the UK or Claudia Scheinbaum in Mexico. It's process, not content. Of course, these are just my opinions, but I believe understanding the nature of societal regression provides a perspective on the current conflict and division in many parts of the world. Just like doing your own family of origin work can help you better understand what makes you tick without blaming others or yourself, applying this lens to the world makes it easier to stop blaming and demonizing others. The question is, what's a non-anxious leader to do about all this? I'll cover that next week. That's it for episode 332. Don't forget, you can connect with me at jack@christian-leaders.com, and you can find more resources at thenonanxiousleader.com. If you have found this episode helpful, please share it with someone who will benefit, and please leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. Thanks in advance for your help. And now, until next time, go be yourself. Thank you for listening.