Urbi et orbi
On my 55th birthday, a few thoughts to the urbi (this blog) and the orbi (the world).
Two weeks ago, I could have died. An event like that tends to reorient a soul's priorities.
I plan to live a long, fruitful life, filled with love and wondrous times. But nothing is guaranteed. Nothing is guaranteed unless we work at it. Nothing is guaranteed unless we continue the struggle. The myth of the Garden of Eden, because it is a myth, speaks to a truth. A human life is struggle, to wrench life out of an uncaring earth. For most of us, nothing we have came from the heavens like manna in the Sinai. We have all faced life's vicissitudes. We have all striven for what we have. We have all had to work to make a decent life for ourselves. There is no free ride in this world.
And yet, what I see is too many people who have never had to struggle demanding that this be the default. And when a struggle arises, when things aren't a smooth and easy road, they collapse. They fall asunder. They don't know how to deal with roadblocks, for they have never faced any.
We're seeing this with Joe Biden. One subpar evening, and the knives are out from the comfortable and unafflicted. They are unable to comprehend hardship, to comprehend a bumpy path. So they want to rid themselves of what they perceive is the cause of this discomfort, in the hope that this will settle the issue.
But it won't. President Biden isn't the problem. The problem is of a fat and lazy electorate which thinks that everything should be handed to it on a plate. It's what we see on the other side: if we just get rid of [insert favorite bogeyman] our lives will be so much better. The world will be set to rights. Nothing will ever be bad again.
That's a delusion. Contrary to Fukuyama, history doesn't end. History is the hydra which you cannot kill. Utopia means "no place", for it is not real. Gurus who sell you a utopian dream are nothing but grifters. Yes, we can make the world better, much better. But there will always be people who want to wreck whatever advances we make, because that's just human nature. Or, rather, human nurture. There will always be those, with waning and waxing amounts of power and influence, who don't want peace and plenty, but want to rule the world themselves. It's the way they were brought up. They were told they were special, and deserve so much more than the world gave them. Thus, they'd rather watch the world burn than live in a world where they are not at the acme of society. It's Satan's whisper.
Two weeks ago I could have died. Mortality fronted up to me. And it wasn't pretty. And in whatever time I have left on this earth, I want to do things which will leave a good memory in those who come after me. I want those who survive me to say, "He was a good man." And I know what I have to do to be a good man. Be kind. Be considerate. Work for the betterment of all. Leave no one behind. Do not give in to hatred. Do not view anyone as lesser than me. Uplift the downtrodden and remind those at the top that they, too, will die and be dust. None of us are any more special than anyone else. We are all children of God or the universe, take your pick. We are all children of humanity, of that spark of life and genius which has seen us reach beyond our world to plumb the mysteries of space and time. We are not meant for small things; yet too many of us settle for small things. Too many of us settle on fear and animus. That is not a human life. A true human life is expansive. It is liberal. It is all-encompassing.
But by "all-encompassing", I do not in any way mean that we simply have to accept others and their pathologies. No. I reject that which rejects my humanity. I reject that which seeks to subjugate me. Whether a political manifesto or a religious creed, I renounce anything which does not value me as a full human being. I am no better than you; but I will stand against you if you posit that you are better than me. To paraphrase Socrates: If I think myself wise, it is only because I know that I know so little. A human life is knowing how little you know, and seeking to fill in those gaps. You never will; the universe is infinite. But the path is the purpose, not the destination.
A blessing on all of you reading this. And a blessing upon the world. We have it within us to approach the angels. We merely have to resist the siren songs of the demons.
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