Angst, Ennui and Weltschmertz: Petrol of Inertia

Angst is a type of anxiety that arises in response to nothing in particular, or the sense of nothingness itself. It’s not exactly fear and not the same as worry, but a simple fact of the human condition, a feeling that disrupts peace and contentment for no definable reason.

The mood has flitted through my mind from time to time.

Ennui is defined as a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction with connotations of self-indulgent posturing and European decadence. Just a bit frilly for me, like a lace handkerchief splashed with cologne, pressed to the brow.

Weltschmerz describes a world weariness felt from a perceived mismatch between the ideal image of how the world should be with how it really is.  Just a bit too saintly and clear cut for me.

 

My angst is that these feelings predominate amongst those that drove stalled the inert middle of the electorate in recent events, allowing the radical fringes to climb to the top of the dunghill and proclaim the virtues of their causes!

So the solutions, and it is not too late, are to exchange the cologne on the hanky for sal volatile to clear the ennui, energise the angsters and a kick in the weltschmerz for the others to get them moving.

You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.”- Yogi Berra

 

I am grateful to Arika Okrent (lovely name) for some enlightenment on occasional moods and the gift of lovely words.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/58230/how-tell-whether-youve-got-angst-ennui-or-weltschmerz