Angustia: no way out!

 

Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae describes anxiety as a narrowing (from Latin angustia - narrowness):

"Anxiety is that which so takes possession of the mind as to leave no opening for escape"

It is sorrow so intense it "binds the soul" and "shuts out all hope"

The soul becomes trapped, unable to find a way out.

This image is precise: anxiety feels like being in a space that keeps getting smaller, the walls pressing in.

Aquinas's proposed remedies all point towards "dilatatio" (expansion):

-Grace as "enlargement and strengthening" of the soul. A distraction that provokes a "dilatatio" (expansion) and therefore: 

-Joy and love causing the heart to widen

-Hope opening what anxiety has closed

-Contemplation of truth delighting more than pain saddens

This is grace - not as theological abstraction, but as lived experience of sudden release.

My frustration: 

Around my 20s when I was trying to deepen Catholicism, I began to read him. And I totally disliked him. Too much mental constructions. I have tried again a few days ago, because, again, I am trying to reach the "splendid essence" that all converts claim to have finally found in Catholicism... But I seem unable to grasp what they see, and it is only through their eyes that I understand their depth!

Here is how Aquinas explain how anxiety forms:

"The heart is moved by the soul... not as by a physical force, but through the apprehension of the mind. When the mind perceives something as good or evil, the heart follows with an affection, either expanding in joy or narrowing in sorrow."

Technically it is a super description but his writings do not share any compassion at all. Just a sharp surgery on how we humans "function"!

When Aquinas suggests to swich one's attention towards something holy, it describes it perfectly:

​"The contemplative life consists in a certain liberty of the mind... for the soul is not drawn to things outside, but is fixed upon the thought of God alone."

In contemplation we become one with God and therefore, my conclusion, we may aspire to His Grace!

​"Grace is not a movement, but a certain formal principle in the soul... by which the soul is perfected in its being, so that it may later act through the virtues".

After reading him, I perfectly understand what is talking about. I perfectly know what it means, but somehow his aridity strikes me. Especially when you come from a spiritual path like mine, that through Hinduism reached Buddhism, in which I found the necessary inner state to reach God and unite in contemplation; and finally Hebraism. Just to be clear: it has nothing to do with common Jewish people (with a Zionist mentality), but with the deepest essence of Judaism, out of which Jesus resumed the essence that became Catholicims - if only the Fathers of the Church would have maintained the purity of heart and didn't switch into a surgical analytic mind!

Therefore I take you now into the Jewish Understanding on how we should face all troubling adpect of life: 

-You honestly try your very best;

-At the same time you invoke the Heavenly Assistance (Siyata d'Shemaya)

In other words: You provide the candle, through the intent and your good will in acting in the best way possible; God provides the light.

A fundamental spiritual law:

Human effort is necessary but insufficient.

-We must be willing to struggle towards good

-But we cannot succeed in transformation by our own power alone

-We need the "Ray of Divine Illumination" - God's active assistance

From Tanya Chapter 13: "If the Holy One, blessed be He, did not help him, he could not overcome it."

This is why people write BH "B'zrat Hashem (ב"ה) at the top of documents, meaning "with God help" - not as superstition, but as theological acknowledgment: even my best effort requires divine help to bear fruit.

The Mechanics: How It Actually Works

1. Stop Fighting Yourself Directly. For instance: dealing with anxiety, don't try to "not be anxious." Don't suppress the trait. Your anxiety, your stubbornness, your intensity or whatever - these are part of you. Trying to eliminate them is like trying to remove parts of your own engine.

Recognise therefore your status. Most of all recognise you are unable to deal with it. You tried your best but it doesn't really work!

2. Redirect Instead of Remove

The Lubavitcher Rebbe: We don't need to transform our nature as much as redirect it.

Anxiety is a constriction caused by the impossibility to act in order to solve a situation - your body has mobilised the energy and is ready. But in the state of immobility the subtle energy bloats. You can't cure it but you can use it as fuel for action. It's the action that must be chosen carefully. If you can't do anything to solve the trouble, you must choose another action.

Ask: "God, allow me to redirect this anxious energy into [washing this dish, making this call, doing this one small task, etc.]."

Why this works:

Stop the fight: Admit you cannot force the situation into something better. For instance, you can't oblige yourself to be calm. 

This admission - this humility - opens the needle's eye. 

Then you say: 'God, I provide the will and my best deeds to deal with it; please provide your Ray', your holy touch, strength, enlightenment...

In requesting the Ray: You're asking God to illuminate your mind so you can see clearly - not to do the work for you, but to turn on the lights so you can see where to step.

The Mood: Joy as Foundation

"Simcha Poretz Geder" - Joy breaks through fences.

Not happy-clappy laughter, but internal confidence that God is with you and your struggle matters.

The Rebbe's teaching: Maintain a "base level" of joy - not because life is perfect, but because you are a partner with God.

All this works and makes the shift happens: You aren't fighting anxiety anymore. You're taking that engine (your natural intensity) and shifting it to an area where hope and the following joy for having God's help will accompany you.

You do not battle the darkness; you simply turn on the light.

The Complete Picture

The Problem: Anxiety as narrowness (angustia) - the soul bound, no way out.

The False Solution: Try to expand yourself through mental effort, contemplation, willpower.

The True Solution: Partnership with God.

-Recognise you are at your limit;

-Provide the will (the spark, the struggle, the staying in the fight);

-Ask for the Ray (God's illumination, help, partnership, fuel)

-Redirect the energy into some small positive actions;

-Maintain base joy because you're not alone in this;

-Enjoy being with God!

God doesn't require you to win the war. He requires you to stay in the fight... with Him!