Do you ever feel like you can’t figure out what’s going on? One moment everything seems normal, then suddenly the context shifts to reveal a world on fire, struggling with war, climate change and political violence and unrest.
This is the “zozombra,” the strange form of anxiety that comes from an inability to settle on a single perspective, leaving you with questions like: Is it a beautiful fall day or an unsettling moment of converging historical catastrophes?
On the eve of a general election in which the outcome – and the aftermath – is unknown, it’s a situation many Americans may be experiencing.
As his scholars this phenomenonwe have noted how zozobra has spread to US society in recent years.
Now, in 2024, as crisis fatigue and disorientation erode many people’s ability to believe that life will return to “normal” again, we believe these insights from Mexican philosophy are more relevant than ever.
From the conquest and colonization of the Valley of Mexico by Hernán CortésMexicans have had to deal with wave after wave of profound social and spiritual upheaval – wars, rebellions, revolution, corruption, dictatorship and now threat of becoming a narco-state. Mexican philosophers have had more than 500 years of uncertainty to reflect on, and they have important lessons to share.
Zozobra and the Swing of the World
The word zozobra is a common Spanish term for “anxiety,” but with connotations reminiscent of the rocking of a ship about to capsize. The term emerged as a key concept among Mexican intellectuals in the early 20th century to describe the feeling of not having firm ground and feeling out of place in the world.
This feeling of zoobra is commonly experienced by people visiting or immigrating to a foreign country: the rhythms of life, the way people interact, everything just seems “off” – unfamiliar, disorienting and vaguely alienating.
According to the philosopher Emilio Uranga (1921-1988), the telltale sign of the zozobra oscillates and shifts between perspectives, unable to relax into a single framework to make sense of things. As Uranga describes it in his 1952 book “Analysis of the Mexican Being”:
“Zozobra refers to a way of being that oscillates incessantly between two possibilities, between two feelings, not knowing which one to rely on… indiscriminately rejecting one extreme in favor of the other. In this back-and-forth the soul suffers, it feels torn and wounded.”
What makes zozobra so difficult to deal with is that its source is intangible. It is a disease of the soul that is not caused by any personal failure, nor by any of the specific events that we can point to.
Rather, it comes from cracks in the frameworks of meaning we rely on to make sense of our world—our shared understanding of what is real and who is trustworthy, what dangers we face and how to deal with them, what basic decency requires of us, and what ideals the our nation.
In the past, many people in the US took these frameworks for granted – but not anymore.
The gnawing sense of anxiety and disorientation that many Americans feel is a sign that at some level, they now recognize just how these structures are necessary and fragile.
The need for community
Another Mexican philosopher, Jorge Portilla (1918-1963), reminds us that these frameworks of meaning that hold our world together cannot be maintained by individuals alone. While each of us can find our own meaning in life, we do so against the backdrop of what Portilla described as “horizon of understanding” maintained by our community. In everything we do, from making small talk to making big life choices, we depend on others to share a basic set of assumptions about the world. It’s a fact that becomes painfully obvious when suddenly we find ourselves among people with very different affairs.
In our book regarding the contemporary relevance of Portilla’s philosophy, we note that in the US, people increasingly feel that their neighbors and countrymen they inhabit a different world. As social circles become smaller and more limited, the zozobra deepens.
In his 1949 essay, “Community, greatness and misery in Mexican life,” Portilla identifies four signs that indicate when the feedback loop between zoobrae and social decay has reached critical levels.
First, people in a disintegrating society become prone to self-doubt and reluctance to take action, no matter how urgently action may be required. Second, they become prone to cynicism, even corruption – not because they are immoral, but because they really do not experience a common good for which to sacrifice their self-interest. Third, they become prone to nostalgia, fantasizing about returning to a time when things made sense. In America’s case, this isn’t just for MAGA hat wearers. anyone can fall into this sense of longing for an earlier age.
And finally, people become susceptible to a sense of deep vulnerability that breeds apocalyptic thinking. Portilla puts it this way:
“We always live simultaneously grounded in a human world and a natural world, and if the human world denies us its accommodation to any degree, the natural world emerges with a force equal to the level of insecurity that shapes our human relationships.”
In other words, when a society falls apart, fires, floods, and tornadoes are seen as harbingers of the apocalypse.
Coping with the crisis
Naming the present crisis is a first step in dealing with it. But then what should be done?
Portilla suggests that national leaders can exacerbate or alleviate zoobra. When there is consistency horizon of understanding at the national level – that is, when there is a shared sense of what is real and what matters – individuals have a stronger sense of connection with the people around them and a sense that their society is better placed to deal with the most pressing issues. With this consolation, it is easier to return attention to one’s own small circle of influence.
Uranga, for his part, suggests that the zozobra actually unites people in a common human condition. Many prefer to hide their pain behind a cheerful facade or channel it into anger and guilt. But Uranga insists that honest discussion about shared suffering is an opportunity to come together. Talking about the zozombra offers something to commune with, something on which to base love for one another, or at least sympathy.
This is an updated version of an article originally published on November 2, 2020.
