Philosophy Now Forum

Gary Cox considers the problematic side of freedom, from the edge of a cliff.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/145/Kierkegaard_Young_Free_and_Anxious

Nice article.

The lack of a psychological guard rail can lead to far more mischievous actions which are not completely suicidal...

and again, what or who establishes the said guard rail?

far too many individuals are incapable of establishing, let alone respecting, such a guard rail...

being anxious/fearful of the many (The Judge) who wish to impose guard rails on everyone else...

-Imp

Guard rails may be the problem not the solution. Existential angst with its anxiety appears similar to a schizoid break between the conscious and the unconscious mind. It may be that since the Reformation with its objections to forms and images and the ascendancy of science with its empirical facts too much has been jettisoned from the human mind. It could be the equivalent of putting it in a straight-jacket, leaving it without the necessary archetypes to sustain it, or to mitigate its anxiety.

Being born in a concrete suburb gives you all the psychological guard rails you need. Actually, way too many.