Does Anxiety Save Us? Rediscovering the Value of Our Fragility
Cesare Maria Cornaggia - Giulio Maspero - Giovanni Debenedettis.
A rich dialogue ensues below between Giovanni Debenedettis, Professor Cesare Maria Cornaggia, and Professor Giulio Maspero, co-authors of the book Ansia, idolatria (Anxiety, Idolatry). This volume offers a surprisingly original interpretation of anxiety—the very condition that dominates our contemporary world, afflicting younger generations and, ultimately, every one of us.
The book intertwines a clear and lively psychological analysis, supported by concrete examples and clinical cases, with a bold parallel between the “medical category” of anxiety and the “theological category” of idolatry. The result is a combination that opens up multiple avenues of reflection: theological and philosophical, yes, but also deeply existential, rooted in everyday life and experiences we all recognize. It is precisely this perspective that sheds new and unexpected light on a topic as urgent as it is current.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Good evening, and welcome everyone to the second meeting of the fifth edition of “In Hoc Libro,” the philosophy workshop organized by the students of the Pontifical Lateran University under the supervision of Professor Vimercati. Today's event is titled “What is an idol: on desires, relationships, and self-awareness.”
This afternoon, we will be conversing with the authors of Anxiety, Idolatry, published in 2024 by Inschibboleth Edizioni. The authors, who are also our guests, include Professor Cesare Maria Cornaggia. A warm welcome to you, Professor.
Cesare Maria Cornaggia: Thank you. Good evening.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Good evening. And Professor Giulio Maspero, whom I greet with equal warmth.
Giulio Maspero: My warmest greetings to you all.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Thank you both for participating. Dr. Federica Peroni, a psychologist and systemic-relational psychotherapist, is also a co-author, while the preface was written by Luca Doninelli. This is the book we are going to explore in today's discussion.
Let's begin by introducing our guests. Professor Cesare Maria Cornaggia is a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry. Starting in 1983, he worked as a researcher at the Neurological Clinic of the University of Berlin before returning to Italy. His many fields of research include linguistic analysis in mental and neurological diseases, as well as the behavioral and psychiatric aspects of intellectual disability. He served for many years as an Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Milan-Bicocca and currently practices as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Milan. He has an extensive number of scientific publications under his belt—290 works from 1978 to the present. In 2022, he also published Dalla parte del desiderio: da una paternità, un metodo nella cura (On the Side of Desire: From Fatherhood, a Method of Care).
Professor Giulio Maspero, a theologian and priest since 2003, obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Milan and, subsequently, his licentiate and doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the University of Navarra. He is currently a full professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, holding the chair of “The Mystery of God.” Among his numerous publications are Il Mistero di Dio Uno e Trino (The Mystery of the Triune God, 2014) and his 2021 post-pandemic work, Rigenerare la società con le relazioni (Regenerating Society with Relationships). He also serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
Here, then, is the book we are presenting: Anxiety, Idolatry. It offers an original interpretation of the anxiety that is so prevalent in our contemporary world. In addition to psychological analysis accompanied by clinical cases, the text draws a parallel between anxiety and the theological category of idolatry. This comparison stimulates reflections in theological and philosophical fields but also suggests a broader existential reflection based on the nitty-gritty of real life.
To kick off today's dialogue, I would like to ask Professor Maspero: Why, in your opinion, is anxiety the "disease" of our society, and where does this theological comparison between anxiety and idolatry stem from?
Giulio Maspero: Thank you very much for the kind introduction and for taking this book seriously. It was truly born out of friendship. It is a transdisciplinary text, but transdisciplinarity can only be achieved through friendship. The use of different categories—combining a technical-diagnostic term from psychopathology like anxiety with a theological category like idolatry—is based primarily on the relationship between myself, Cesare, and Federica. We realized there were some extremely interesting points of contact. We are also all believers—thank God, not through our own merit.
Why anxiety? It’s simple: because it imposes itself phenomenologically. We see people paralyzed by it. I am a priest; I do not have a clinical practice like my co-authors, but I talk to people as a spiritual director and confessor. Anxiety is everywhere; it is “gaseous.” You don't have to go looking for it; it demands to be seen.
The interesting aspect is the connection to idolatry: this anxiety is ultimately a plea for true relationships. It arises from a lack, from a relational crisis. What is an idol from a theological point of view? It is an idea or concept that usurps the symbolic place of God and, in a sense, causes anxiety. We are not passing moral judgment—we are not saying that anxious people are idolaters—but we maintain there is an analogy. Why? Because culturally, we have removed the sense of limits. Human desire, a sign of our perfection, is no longer directed; it finds no relationships to guide it. As a result, the person remains overwhelmed by ideas, unable to relate to reality because reality is limited. Contact with reality always brings frustration because reality never perfectly matches the idea.
In this sense, linking anxiety and idolatry is a bold move, but one we believe corresponds to what we observe. In the past, we radically separated these areas, as if the spirit had nothing to do with the psyche. I often joke with Cesare that he gets paid to listen to people and I don't, so we do different things, but we share the same object of study. We cannot ignore each other's results because the society we live in is polytheistic: it produces idols and, therefore, in our reading, it produces anxiety.
Giovanni Debenedettis: It seems this comparison stems from a relationship, paving the way to the essence of the book. I now turn to Professor Cornaggia. On page 21, you write that anxiety is, for all intents and purposes, the "evil of the new era," yet we forget that it is a physiological and healthy mechanism created to protect us. Why is the mechanism healthy in itself, and when does it become pathological?
Cesare Maria Cornaggia: Thank you. I would like to clarify immediately why it is a healthy mechanism. Anxiety is a tool to protect us from hypothetical dangers. It has an adaptive function: it prepares us to react appropriately to the outside world.
When faced with danger, the heart pumps harder, blood flows to the muscles to ready them for action, and we become more alert. So when is anxiety no longer adaptive? When we are anxious without any real external threat. In this case, we react to an internal danger, a fragility we are unaware of.
I would like to take a step back and quote Martin Heidegger. He said that what distinguishes humans from animals is not upright posture or opposable thumbs, but the ability to feel Angst (anxiety/dread). Heidegger was not referring to reactive anxiety in the face of danger, but to the anguish of nothingness, of ‘being-towards-death’—the anguish we feel when we are alone before something we must fill with meaning. Heidegger defined anxiety as the human condition in the face of finitude—we are an infinite being within a finite existence—and our freedom.
So, we are talking about both healthy anxiety in the face of danger and unhealthy anxiety when there is no danger. But this also taps into an ontological anxiety, which constitutes man as such, linked to the question of meaning regarding our presence in the world.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Thank you. It is precisely this ontological anxiety that segues perfectly into my next question for both of you: What is the link between anxiety and self-awareness? Professor Maspero?
Giulio Maspero: Anxiety is certainly human. It is a sign that we are made in the image and likeness of God precisely because we perceive the gap between our desire and reality, between the finite and the infinite. Anxiety is a double-edged sword: it has an aspect of greatness, but it can turn against us.
The challenge is to take the religious value of this ontological anxiety seriously. Humans cannot circumvent this desire for infinity. Either anxiety is “good,” leading us to find a path to infinity through relationships, or it becomes “bad,” paralyzing us with fear. From a theological perspective, everyone has a "God," even unconsciously. It is impossible to be truly agnostic; our choices prove this. When we pour our lives into the finite, contradicting the infinite desire in our hearts, anxiety is generated. We feel paralyzed because the real journey is always different from how we imagined it. It is a matter of helping people become aware of their finitude while acknowledging their infinite nature.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Professor Cornaggia, what would you add?
Cesare Maria Cornaggia: I totally agree with Giulio. Borrowing the definition from theologian Julián Carrón, I would say self-awareness is the ability to embrace ourselves. When can I embrace myself? When I can take care of myself and love myself. This predisposition arises from an awareness of our destiny. But this only emerges if I am clear that my destiny is good.
Accepting the way we are made is fundamental: knowing that, warts and all, we are “a good thing.” This enables us to enter the world. Contrast this with the anguish of those who think they must be different to face the world. Therefore, accepting our nature and knowing we are made for a good destiny means facing reality. When reality is a “given”—something gifted to us—it is fine as it is. This awareness is the best anti-anxiety remedy. Without it, reality becomes an unclimbable mountain.
Giovanni Debenedettis: So, self-awareness is essential for overcoming an anxious life. Professor Maspero, you quote Genesis in the book to show how the idea takes precedence over the relationship. What is the connection here?
Giulio Maspero: This is a genetic approach to anxiety. Reading Genesis as a book of wisdom, one notices a unique feature: it does not start with warring gods, but with a single, good God who creates by will. In Genesis, everything is created in pairs (heaven/earth, man/woman), and the relationship characterizing the world is an expression of God's goodness.
With original sin, man began to think of himself apart from the Giver. This led to thinking based on fear, not relationship. The devil tells Eve a lie: that God does not want them to become like Him. But they are already created in His image. When man thinks independently of the relationship with the Giver, he follows ideas and becomes incapable of bearing reality. Adam hides, and conflict arises. Today, we are immersed in a dialectic that generates anxiety. People feel inadequate. It is vital to tell people: “God made you out of nothing. So there is nothing in you that does not come from God, who is good.” This opens a way to overcome bad anxiety.
Giovanni Debenedettis: On page 54, you write: “The idol is a need disguised as desire.” Professor Cornaggia, how does the dialectic between desire and need fit into this?
Cesare Maria Cornaggia: We must distinguish the terms. Need is physical and urgent (like hunger), reappearing once satisfied. Desire has another origin. It comes from de-sidera ("from the stars"), expressing the perception of an ontological lack, an infinity we feel inside. Desire drives us forward not for immediate satisfaction, but from this profound lack.
As a psychiatrist, I often see the overlap. We transform the object of desire into an idol: “I will only be happy when I get X.” But that is slavery because you condition your happiness on a goal. Once you get there, you discover you have confused desire (ultimate satisfaction) with a need, which simply demands to be satisfied again.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Let's move to page 63 regarding limits: “Limits are reassuring because they put the brakes on... they allow us to see reality as something that happens outside of us.” Professor Maspero, how can the experience of limits help us deal with anxiety?
Giulio Maspero: In a nutshell: the experience of limits, when relational, frees us from anxiety. When a child cries, they experience a limit, but if that limit is inhabited by a parent, it becomes an opportunity for encounter.
In Latin, there are two words for “limit”: Limes (a closing boundary) and Limen (an opening threshold). The relationship transforms Limes into Limen. This is a profoundly paternal operation: the father introduces the child to reality, helping them overcome the frustration that reality does not coincide with the ideal. Today, young people suffer because they lack inhabited boundaries. Modern society rejects prohibitions, but we must face the frustration of reality. To do so, we need a mediator—a father figure.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Professor Cornaggia, how does the importance of the "other" manifest in treatment?
Cesare Maria Cornaggia: I would call it a method of life, not just treatment. We are born from a relationship. Before being an “I,” we are a “you.” The key word is “recognition.” We need deep relationships to recognize ourselves through others. The great desire is to have relationships where we can show our dark sides and see them accepted. Therapy starts with relationships, but this applies to all human connections. Being with others is the method for living.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Professor Maspero, you cite Descartes as decisive in the affirmation of the anxious paradigm. Why?
Giulio Maspero: During COVID, seeing couples reunite, I wondered: what relationship did Descartes have with women? His mother died when he was young. No mother would say the mind is separate from the body; we are our bodies. Descartes sought clear, distinct ideas. But anyone in a real relationship knows reality always exceeds ideas. Descartes deduced being from thought (Cogito, ergo sum), but this is "thinking alone." Thinking alone leads to idolatry. Reality, conversely, throws us into crisis and leads us toward the infinite.
Giovanni Debenedettis: You also mention the “pathoplastic society.” Professor Cornaggia, what does that mean?
Cesare Maria Cornaggia: First, every society produces a characteristic pathology; ours produces widespread, undefined malaise. Second, society is ‘pathoplastic’ because it molds and maintains this pathology. It does so by abolishing reality as a "given" and replacing it with subjective construction. If I must construct reality myself, what an enormous responsibility! Furthermore, society claims to abolish limits to avoid conflict. But limits are identity. Without boundaries, I don't know who I am. Thus, we move from dialogue to dialectics: shouting to assert our position. Man remains alone.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Finally, on page 99, you suggest seeking balance rather than absolutizing happiness. Professor Maspero, what is the connection between soul, body, and anxiety?
Giulio Maspero: There is no separation between soul and body, but a distinction. Emotion is felt in the body (the gut) but borders the soul. Feelings are deeper, drawing on the psyche. At the heart of the soul are relationships. Freud discovered—perhaps unconsciously in a religious sense—that certain physical sufferings were caused by relational wounds. Today, we integrate this by introducing the root of the desire for infinity: the soul itself.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Professor Cornaggia, what is the contribution of psychotherapy in combating this anxiety-idolatry combination?
Cesare Maria Cornaggia: Paradoxically, I would not dwell on psychotherapy as such. We need to return to healthy relationships, avoiding the urge to send everyone to a psychologist. Much discomfort arises from an unspoken question of meaning. The answer is a relationship of recognition with the other. More than therapists, we need real people with whom we can engage without fear.
Giovanni Debenedettis: Thank you both. I take with me the idea that our nature is good and that, precisely because we are lacking, we can open ourselves to relationships. Thank you, and goodbye.
The text has not been reviewed by the authors.