There are concepts that, in an instant, shed light on something and reveal insights into the depths of time. The word “loss” is one such key concept. Sociologist Andreas Reckwitz brought it into the spotlight with his book Verlust—Ein Grundproblem der Moderne [Loss: a fundamental problem of modernity].
Reckwitz begins with a statistic: in 2022, 84 percent of Germans had a negative outlook on the future, and the number of those who expect the next generation to be worse off materially is growing. In addition, confidence is dwindling that democracies will be able to solve the current problems. The present is shaped by an uncertain future, and the past casts a shadow over it, because damage and trauma from earlier times call for attention and healing now. The experience of loss has become fundamental. This experience ranges from material loss and the resulting loss of status to a dwindling sense of meaning and richness in one’s own existence. The Hungarian philosopher Georg Lukács calls this spiritual experience of loss “transcendental homelessness.” Whatever one’s opinion of the US and Israeli attack on Iran, without a mandate or a decision by the US Congress, it is the latest example of today’s loss of order. The fact that climate change as a task has oddly receded into the background reflects this loss of control. According to Reckwitz, these various experiences of loss escalate into an experience in which even those who are spared from actual loss very often live in anticipation of experiencing it.
Modernity Breaks Its Promise
Of course, people have always had to deal with loss, often on a much more dramatic scale than is the case today in wealthy countries with insurance systems and social security. You only have to go back a few centuries to find that the death of a child or the loss of possessions were part of everyday life. According to Reckwitz, the problem is not the amount of loss we experience, but our perception of it. With technological advances, medical care, and social security, modernity has promised a life nearly free of loss and has been rather successful in its methods of loss reduction. Where age or illness causes us to lose something in life and loss becomes inevitable, nursing homes and clinics remove us from the public eye. Modernity has developed strategies for avoiding loss and, at the same time—and this is where the contradictions begin—it has developed a high degree of sensitivity to loss through a thousand different therapeutic services. “Loss” should not exist, it says, yet it is exploited everywhere.
Yes, if the narrative of modernity involves “faster,” “higher,” and “farther,” it means that something is constantly being left behind as “old.” Modernity wants to free us from loss and yet creates loss through its belief in progress. Confidence that our society can avoid loss has become tentative, and thereby, populism gains ground because it can capitalize on the experience of loss. It promises to reverse the losses: “Take back control” was the slogan in the UK and “Make America Great Again” in the US. By finding culprits for the experience of loss, populism promises its supporters that it will free them from their role as victims. Negative experiences do not fit in with the “anti-tragic” program of modernity, writes Reckwitz, adding: “Modern progressive thinking has no real place for mourning what has been lost, failed, or gone wrong. The more the belief in progress erodes, the less people are inclined to believe that a loss is only a short-lived dip in the actual rise.”
Learning to Grieve and Growing Up
To clarify that it is a matter of perception, interpretation, and ultimately evaluation, Reckwitz outlines four stages of disappearance. Some things disappear without anyone noticing—as the natural course of events. Other things disappear, and this is noticed and evaluated neutrally. Still other things disappear, and this is welcomed: the new replaces the old. The book deals with the fourth case, where disappearance is interpreted as loss. Interestingly, anger about a negative event is more profound and lasting than joy about a positive event. The same applies to expectations. If a negative expectation does not come true, it is quickly abandoned. The situation is different with a positive one. If it is not fulfilled, it is much more difficult to let go of it. The inability or unwillingness to acknowledge loss crystallizes in the question: Have we forgotten how to grieve?
In Rudolf Steiner’s “Twelve Moods,” he interweaves the twelve zodiac signs and the seven colors of the planets. It is worth taking a look at the last of the 84 lines: “Der Verlust sei Gewinn für sich!“—the loss is a gain in itself! Andreas Reckwitz gives the same advice in the last chapter of his book. If modernity does not find its own path to ascension, the sociologist recommends cultivating three traits: vulnerability of humanity, society, and the earth; resilience; and integration of loss. Kant’s guiding question, “What can I hope for?” is twisted by the expectation of loss into “What must we fear?” Reckwitz concludes his book with a piece of advice, offering a perspective on Kant’s positive attitude. “From the outset, modernity was characterized by the thrilling ideal of youthfulness. After 250 years, it is time for it to grow up and learn to deal wisely with loss.”
Book Andreas Reckwitz, Verlust—Ein Grundproblem der Moderne [Loss: a fundamental problem of modernity]. Berlin 2024.
Translation Laura Liska
Image Flooding in Bradford (UK) in 2019, photo: Wes Warren/Unsplash
