Paul Tillich was a man who some might consider one of the most important philosophers and theologians of the twentieth century. His ideas focus primarily on Christian theology and one of his most popular works, The Courage to Be, talks about how God, nothingness and humanity fall into the categories of "Being" and "Not Being" (2. Paul) . Tillich's work also focuses on feelings of anxiety that threaten one's real, spiritual, and moral self. Tillich's ideas seem to reflect that every anxiety is supposed to have an effect on a person, but in today's time period his thoughts about being aimless and finding meaninglessness in life, which affect a person's spiritual self, they may be seen by some as the anxiety that most noticeably affects the modern generation (Tillich). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To understand Tillich's thoughts, it is important to know his background and his life leading up to the publication of Courage to Be. Tillich was born at the end of the 20th century in a German city called Starzeddel (History). He was born into a very conservative Christian family: his father was a Lutheran pastor. Tillich was well studied and eventually became a Lutheran pastor as his father was. In 1914 Tillich joined the army during World War I, which many see as the key factor playing a major role in changing his originally conservative views (1. Paul). From the Outside: A person may believe that the atrocities of war led him to become a much more liberal person in thought after feeling that the church and theology could not adequately answer questions about the existence of a benevolent God as he saw the horrors that became a reality of people's lives at the beginning of the 20th century (History). The “benevolent God” he first considered was something many people during Tillich's time could not place their hopes in. Tillich was looking for a way of thinking that could address the real fears, or what should be labeled “anxieties” that people faced and the questions that tormented him most in this era of war (2. Paul). Therefore Tillich's work, The Courage to Be, would reflect his change in perspective. Tillich's writings would address how we, as human beings, manage to exist in a state of “Being” that includes everything we understand about living our lives. Along with this state of “Being,” Tillich writes about how we overcome the inevitable anxieties that the reciprocal of our “Being” (the “Not Being”) brings. Of these anxieties there are fate and death, guilt and condemnation and, what may be the anxiety with the greatest impact on people living today, emptiness and meaninglessness. Tillich writes about the threats each of these anxieties poses and how they are overcome. Tillich also addresses how God fits into a higher category of “Being” and encompasses the lower levels of “Being” and “Not Being” in order to create an abstract idea of ​​God that cannot concern people (Tillich ).Chapter 6 of Courage to Be is where Tillich talks about the many heartaches that come from “Not Being.” While meaninglessness is the anxiety that Tillich seems to label as the greatest in affecting people's lives during his time, it is also interesting to briefly see how other anxieties affect people. Death and fate are the anxieties that are said to affect our true self, because we as people are afraid of not existing. We live knowing continuation and not having it can be scary for some. The couple's other anxieties togetherthey are guilt and condemnation. People fear how they will be judged and the impact their actions will have, because even though they have good intentions, their actions may not always have a positive outcome (Tillich). To analyze Tillich's, it is important to be able to dissect and understand the concepts he addresses. We can dive deeper into understanding the first line where Tillich talks about the anguish of meaninglessness. “The courage to take upon oneself the anguish of meaninglessness is the boundary line up to which the courage to be can reach.” –Tillich 1952Tillich's quote about the senseless is a difficult concept to understand, but it can be simplified if you analyze Tillich's ideas piece by piece. To begin with, we can first address the phrase “the anxiety of meaninglessness”. Anxiety has a close relationship with fear (Tillich). The difference between the two, however, lies in the object that each possesses. Fear has an object, while anguish does not. You may fear a scary clown, but have anxiety about how a situation might turn out due to lack of knowledge beforehand, such as what happens after death. A fear can be overcome, while an anxiety cannot (3. Paul). This “anxiety of meaninglessness” can be described as anxiety that begins with the feeling of emptiness and how a person can feel dissatisfied with a passion. Ultimately this will lead to feelings of meaninglessness which is described by Tillich as the threat affecting our spiritual being. The threat of having no purpose in life and seeing all your work as useless is an anxiety and a question that can hit most people hard. Meaninglessness begins with feelings of emptiness when one feels that one's life passions are unfulfilling. After feeling emptiness repeatedly, a person falls into the depression of meaninglessness. While Tillich addresses the anxieties of death and doom that people may feel, it can be argued that meaningless is the anxiety that has the greatest effect on people today and in Tillich's time (Tillich). Courage to Be was written during the beginning of the Cold War. At that time the world was witnessing great advances in science, literature and economic growth. In America, the Great Depression was over and people were realizing how great their achievements were in science, technology and many other fields. Despite all these great achievements, however, there was still the underlying threat of war that could doom the world. The governments of capitalist and communist nations were competing to see who could be best, and the underlying threat of nuclear war was a fear many went to bed with every night (History). I believe that the anxiety of meaninglessness was the greatest anxiety to overcome in this time when people could see a future in which all the great progress and achievements of the human race could simply be demolished in an instant, as they were worth nothing . All the work people did to advance humanity in the 20th century would have been meaningless, and I believe this feeling could have been something that many people of the time would have had difficulty coming to terms with, and this could have be the most important anxiety that Tillich's Courage to Be could have addressed. To understand how Tillich suggests people overcome this meaninglessness, we should first try to understand where the meaninglessness lies in the realm of “Being” and “Not Being.” Tillich continues the quote by saying "Beyond it there is mere non-being" - Tillich 1952 Tillich's work The Courage to Be is very much about "Being" versus"Non-Being" and addresses these concepts at different levels. The first level of “Being” can be summarized as everything that life as we know it entails. Breathe, move and simply live. The first level of “Not Being” addresses the things that we as humans feel anxiety about as they include meaninglessness, hopelessness, condemnation, guilt, etc., as I have addressed previously. Continuing Tillich's model, there is a second level of "Being" which includes the first level of "Being" and "Non-Being". However, the second level of “Being” involves the Divine. The second level of “Not Being” is the whole state of nothingness and things that we as human beings are unable to physically understand. The Divine includes both the second levels of “Being” and “Not Being” and can overcome the first level of “Not Being” that we face. At the top of all the levels of “Being” and “Not Being” lies the third level of “Being”, or what Tillich is talking about in his quote. “Within it all forms of courage are re-established in the power of the God above the God of theism.”-Tillich 1952Tillich would argue that the second level of “Being” would also face nothingness and a level of uncertainty. Therefore, it brings another level, that of God, into the picture. This God exists on a third level of “Being.”“The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt.”-Tillich 1952 I would consider the third “Being” or “God who appears when God had disappeared” to be the God that Tillich would suggest as the God who must be grasped in order to overcome the second level of “Not Being” and the anxiety of nothingness. The idea of ​​having faith in this “Being” is not so much what Tillich advocates for, but rather being encompassed in the idea. This is necessary because the second level of “Being” would still have the second level of “Not Being” as anxiety and would also have a level of nothingness to overcome. This third level of God or “Being” would include all of the second level of “Being” and “Non-Being” and would be able to surpass the second level of “Non-Being”. Tillich calls this level of being “the ground of being.” It is reasonable to believe that Tillich says this to overcome the uncertainty of the second level of “Not Being” which the second level of “Being” cannot overcome. It can be understood that we must place our hope in the third level of “Being” where the Divine has the threat of a level of doubt that the third level of “Being” can overcome (Tillich). Tillich's ideas caused a lot of problems for some people. Specifically, with his assertion of “God above the God of theism.” Essentially many thought that Tillich was declaring a false god and denying the God of Christianity. Furthermore, Tillich speaks of the Divine as “the being of God is being itself” (Tillich). Tillich goes on to create an image of a very pantheistic God who would be a more transcendental essence encompassing all life and existence rather than a personal God (3. Paul). Although Tillich's quote did not sit well with many religious Christians, it appealed to other groups of people. Tillich's idea denies the need for a personal God in which the tradition of many religions resides. For an atheist or pantheist Tillich's idea may have been attractive since Tillich lays out the description of a God who helps us understand how we as human beings can live. our life in the best possible way with the knowledge of a God who exists who can help us deal with the anxiety we have about non-sense and who can overcome the unknown aspect of “Not Being” that we can never understand (1. Paul). That said, I don't think Tillich is trying to please a specific group of people with his ideology. I thinkthat the main point he was trying to make was that whatever idea of ​​“God” finds our courage must be able to overcome the anxieties of “Not Being” that we face. This third level of being created by Tillich does just that. This level of God is the “ground of being” and underlies all aspects of everything. This God is able to overcome all anxieties and understands everything that is unknown to us (Tillich). I would say that I agree and disagree with several points of Tillich's argument. If I could broadly summarize Tillich's ideas about God, I would say that Tillich advocates a transcendental God and a God who is not a real being but the essence of life and everything we know. I agree with the idea that God is transcendental or above all things and encompasses all things. I think he makes great points about understanding who God is and what He does for the anxieties we face by stating that if God is above nothingness and the things we are uncertain about we can put our hope in Him (Tillich). I personally agree with this part of Tillich's God as I believe it can also be understood that God is omnipotent and beyond our human understanding. However, I would disagree with the latter part of his ideology and would say that the higher level of being that helps us overcome nothingness is indeed a personal God. Tillich said that “God is being itself, not a being.” I personally believe we need a God who transcends our understanding to have Tillich's “courage to be,” but I also think it is important to have a personal God to overcome the meaninglessness and anxieties of “Not Being.” I think simply believing that there is a higher abstract God who can overcome meaninglessness doesn't really help us overcome our anxieties. Personally, the idea of ​​an unrelatable level of God is as much to me as not having a God. I think believing in a personal God helps us better understand ourselves and the role we play as human beings on earth. . Overall I think Tillich's quote can apply to many aspects of life today, but in a different way than what he says. presents it as if it were. If I could summarize Tillich's quote in my own words, I would do so: “We as people are struck by the reality that everything we do and accomplish is meaningless. The way to overcome this is to put our courage into a being who transcends this meaninglessness and who can understand what we cannot understand about what it means to no longer exist.” My personal understanding of Tillich's quote is that any person who is Christian, atheist, pantheist, etc. can have the power to live life to the fullest every day because there is a being that understands and contains everything (i.e. all things “Being” and all things). things “Do not be”). I think that while this may give people the courage to try to live a full life, perhaps it causes them to live their lives in a non-meaningful way. I believe people today are overly obsessed with social media, being famous, and obtaining material wealth. I think people in today's society ask themselves many of the same questions that people in Tillich's time did. Every day the news reports tragic events and, in recent years, the threat of war has become a harsh reality. I think a lot of people get caught up in the idea that they have to be popular and adhere to the latest trends, but ultimately people realize that getting a lot of likes on Instagram or being on television isn't that big. They watch the news and see that life is short and they may question their purpose. Many famous people on social media have recently come out..