(The Atlantic) – You might think that in the past two decades, Americans would’ve grown accustomed to uncertainty. But Perel believes that many people are struggling to cope with that precarity. Why learn how, when you can use Google Maps to see exactly how delayed your train is, or ask ChatGPT to give you a breakdown of anything you don’t immediately understand? In a superficial sense, the world is more graspable and predictable than ever. Sometimes, though, that can make a person more afraid of ambiguity, more attached to the fiction that we can ever know what’s around the corner—or in our partner’s head.

On top of that, Perel said, the kinds of communities and rituals people traditionally relied on when facing enigma and loss aren’t so common anymore. Fewer Americans are looking to religion to answer the big questions—how to live, what happens after death, why bad things happen to good people—or to let them wrestle with these issues communally. Fewer socialize regularly with their neighbors. The average family size keeps shrinking. A lot of people don’t know where else to look for certainty but their partner. So they cling for dear life. (Read More)