Existential Threats, Existential Crises

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We see references to "existential challenges" or "existential threats" fairly regularly: online quasi-monopolies are an existential challenge to small bricks-and-mortar retail stores, for example, and China is often cited as an existential threat to the global dominance of the U.S.

These share a key trait: the threats are external, i.e. they arise from external forces.

In my lexicon, "existential crises" arise internally from unresolved contradictions and conflicts within an individual, relationship, family, community, city, state, province or nation. This phenomenon is thus scale-invariant, playing out in individuals, groups and entire nations / empires.

Such internal conflicts may be exacerbated or triggered by external events, but the core issues are internal in structure and origin.

For example, an individual may experience an existential crisis as a result of their business failing, a divorce, a forced move to another locale and career, or a collapse of their health, for example, burnout.

In each case, the individual can identify the proximate cause of their crisis of confidence and identity--events that triggered failures that shook their sense of self, purpose and direction in life--but the roots of the crisis typically run deep into the nature of their character, formative experiences and relationships.

This is illuminated by how different individuals can suffer the same shattering losses but one's identity and relationship survives the impact while the other one questions the foundations of their life: how did this happen? Why did it happen?  They question themselves, their decisions, their goals, and perhaps even their faith, and faith in themselves.

On the national level, existential crises may erupt when foundational issues that were successfully papered over for decades suddenly explode into the public sphere in ways that cannot be papered over with face-saving compromises.