Dr. Martha Beck

We live in a bizarre, crazy culture. And we do not know why we're here because we don't have access to our sense of meaning.

So after I wrote The Way of Integrity, where I say, look, integrity to me means that you are whole and that's what the word means. It means intact. It doesn't mean like morally. It just means structurally. If all your meaning-making systems are in order, are telling the same story, body, heart, spirit, mind, if those are all in agreement, there is a kind of grounding in reality.

So after I wrote The Way of Integrity, where I say, look, integrity to me means that you are whole and that's what the word means. It means intact. It doesn't mean like morally. It just means structurally. If all your meaning-making systems are in order, are telling the same story, body, heart, spirit, mind, if those are all in agreement, there is a kind of grounding in reality.

And in that reality, what happens when you get into that reality is you begin to awaken. You begin to experience spontaneously the things that Eastern sages have described about the cessation of suffering. So I was, you know, I'd been studying toward this for years, and I thought, this is the last self-help book I'm ever going to write because… I really believe this is it.

And in that reality, what happens when you get into that reality is you begin to awaken. You begin to experience spontaneously the things that Eastern sages have described about the cessation of suffering. So I was, you know, I'd been studying toward this for years, and I thought, this is the last self-help book I'm ever going to write because… I really believe this is it.

So people read the book and then they would come to me and they'd say, I have put my whole life in integrity, but I'm so scared all the time. I am so afraid. So I started looking into it. And realize that anxiety is skyrocketing all over the world. It is by far the most common mental health challenge that people face.

So people read the book and then they would come to me and they'd say, I have put my whole life in integrity, but I'm so scared all the time. I am so afraid. So I started looking into it. And realize that anxiety is skyrocketing all over the world. It is by far the most common mental health challenge that people face.

Something like 284 million people, last I checked, were clinically diagnosable with anxiety disorder. During the pandemic year, 2020, anxiety went up all over the world by a full 25%. And here's the thing about anxiety.

Something like 284 million people, last I checked, were clinically diagnosable with anxiety disorder. During the pandemic year, 2020, anxiety went up all over the world by a full 25%. And here's the thing about anxiety.

It's like one of those tire rippers that you drive across and you can't drive back because the way the brain is structured, when you get into anxiety, it just keeps going up and up and getting worse and worse and worse.

It's like one of those tire rippers that you drive across and you can't drive back because the way the brain is structured, when you get into anxiety, it just keeps going up and up and getting worse and worse and worse.

And then when you get a lot of people who are experiencing this intense anxiety and they can't get out of it, they create a culture that reflects anxiety and fosters anxiety without really meaning to. But that becomes, if you're stuck in this very mechanistic, grasping way of being, anxiety is inevitable and actually lauded.

And then when you get a lot of people who are experiencing this intense anxiety and they can't get out of it, they create a culture that reflects anxiety and fosters anxiety without really meaning to. But that becomes, if you're stuck in this very mechanistic, grasping way of being, anxiety is inevitable and actually lauded.

So I was amazed to find that Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, says in his quarterly reports and loves to say in many settings that he tells all of the thousands of Amazon employees who work under him, he wants them all to wake up terrified every morning. And that's the word he uses, terrified. And to stay terrified all day because that makes them productive.

So I was amazed to find that Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, says in his quarterly reports and loves to say in many settings that he tells all of the thousands of Amazon employees who work under him, he wants them all to wake up terrified every morning. And that's the word he uses, terrified. And to stay terrified all day because that makes them productive.

But most of these people are just getting by financially. He wants them to be afraid all the time so that he and the stockholders can get more stuff. And they already have so much stuff. You know, like 1% of the world's people own something like 95, no, 50% of the total wealth of the world is owned by the top 1%. It's insane.

But most of these people are just getting by financially. He wants them to be afraid all the time so that he and the stockholders can get more stuff. And they already have so much stuff. You know, like 1% of the world's people own something like 95, no, 50% of the total wealth of the world is owned by the top 1%. It's insane.

And so we're saying, yes, get up, be terrified as long as you're productive. And you know what? When you get really productive and you earn a lot of stuff and that's still your only way of being, you still wake up terrified every morning and you stay anxious all day long. Fear, see, fear is like being shot from a cannon.

And so we're saying, yes, get up, be terrified as long as you're productive. And you know what? When you get really productive and you earn a lot of stuff and that's still your only way of being, you still wake up terrified every morning and you stay anxious all day long. Fear, see, fear is like being shot from a cannon.

If a bear came in here, we would both go, whoa, and we'd get very clear instructions from our biology teacher. To either fight, flee, freeze, you know, hide under the table. I would feed you to the bear probably.