A few months ago we had a congress day organized by IFES Netherlands on this theme. My colleague Maarten Vogelaar, student pastor in Amsterdam, held two lectures. I am grateful that I can process his notes in a number of blogs, because I think it's a very important topic.

What is going on? We live in a society with a number of crazy paradoxes:

-By technology we should have more time, but time has become scarce. Young people are burned out more and more, while you would expect us to win plenty of time through machines, internet and fast communication.

-We never had so much freedom. You can set up your whole life the way you like it. At the same time, we do not want to deviate too much from the group and behave as expected by our friends, parents, boss or ourselves. Appearingly confident, but insecure inside. Depending on likes and feelings.

-There is a lot more money in circulation, but we experience a lack of what people really need. We experience incredible prosperity and wealth, but feel impoverished, dissatisfied and afraid.

-There have never been so many books to read about theology, spirituality and esotericism, but faith seems to slip out of youth after an initial enthusiasm.

These crazy paradoxes betray the fact that the core of our society is not at all as we sometimes think. In fact, we could even speak of a disease that characterizes this time. The disease of this age is not in our body, but in our minds. We are no longer suffering from cholera, typhoid and tbc, but from ADHD, depression, loneliness, burnout and borderline. There is a new generation of young people who become overheated in their sincere endeavor to do the right thing. They have already started working hard. Under the luster of possibilities, talent and positivity, we always talk about fatigue, pressure and stress. That's already beginning at an ever younger age (because there's no time to lose), just like education, where we always see opportunities for even more improvements. To be continued....