A book I have been reading investigates the various ways over time that we have made sense of the world. It carries the reader through to the present via several seminal classical texts and ultimately aims to suggest a strategy for “ finding meaning in a secular age.”
I am about half way through the book and am in no hurry to finish since the journey is as intriguing as it is thought provoking. The authors describe the age we now live in as secular. Their assumption seems to be that the current predominance of secularism is ill prepared to provide us with the spiritual buoyancy we require to feel as if our lives are indeed meaningful.
Socrates has famously instructed us that, in essence, an unexamined life is really no life at all. I tend to agree with that. Although, I would attach one important caveat: do not delve too deeply into things for fear of losing yourself in a vortex of unsolvable psychic mysteries that will cause chronic spiritual dyspepsia and do little for your soul or self-esteem. I give some thought from time to time to why I act or think in a certain way. For instance, it is my nature to want to understand why, with respect to a volatile political issue, I feel a certain way. Each of us comes to our conscious lives informed by a platform of assumptions that most of us have layered up without ever giving their genesis conscious thought.
That sort of indifference works to a point. So, for me the issue of finding meaning necessarily involves asking myself why I have thought or behaved in a particular way. My beef with some people is the extent to which they appear to cling to inherited beliefs without giving much thought to their validity. Even more disturbing is the tendency of many to arrogate to themselves the right to belittle or denigrate those who have chosen to take what Robert Frost describes as the road less traveled. I have trekked that trail often in my life, but never out of a sense of rebellion or wanting to be different for the heck of it. The fact is that meaning is elusive, varies from culture to culture, and what the goose find palatable is not necessarily tasty to the gander. The legitimate quest for meaning aside, much tension exists within our own culture due to the conviction of some that they have the answer and the rest of us just do not get it.
Arrogance is destructive no matter its guise. Being human means being, well, human. As far as I can tell, the possibilities, insofar as making sense of things is concerned, are illimitable.
The book’s authors seem to be suggesting secularism is doing us a spiritual disservice because it denies the possibility of meaning residing outside of the self. This may seem rather an abstract discussion to some. But if one has paid any attention to the current political posturing of presidential candidates, it is clear that some feel they have access to the Truth and the rest of us are treading water, hoping not to sink down deeper into one of Dante’s infernal pits. The arrogance of power has its equal in the arrogance of belief.
So, where does one go to make sense of existence? One can experience feelings of joy or comfort or contentment in any number of ways. It might be found in a grandson’s smile as his swing flies up toward the heavens. A granddaughter’s first steps. The peace of mind after prayer or meditation.
It can be something as simple as watching a pair of ravens fly effortlessly over a snow covered valley. It can happen as the by-product of a daily ritual or the result of feeling a sense of accomplishment after doing some sort of community service. Or, it can come about as the result of a chance phrase in a poem or novel one is reading. Life is an evolving mosaic of significant experiences that taken together mean something. We live in the present always. It is the small things that count.
RICHARD DEROSA’S blog address is rjderosa.com
Hawthorn Hill
January 30, 2012
Up on Hawthorn Hill: Making sense of things
- Hawthorn Hill
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- Swallow talk and bluebird vigilance I assume the swallows have returned to Capistrano. They have returned to Hawthorn Hill as well.
- 'Geezering: an act of doing stuff with another old guy It is a bright sunny day. I should be out back in our woodlot geezering with my neighbor John.
- Winter tree sparrow visitations have been rare on the hill Tree sparrows are lovely little birds, most conspicuous for their russet caps, white breasts and a distinctive charcoal smudge about mid-breast that makes one think that they are perpetual Ash Wednesday celebrants.
- Of Carolina wrens and crossbills We will remember this year for a number of reasons, among them first-time visitors to our bird feeders. Aside from reporting data to Cornell every five days as part of the Project Feeder Watch program, I keep on close watch over all the avian activity up here on the hill.
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Think before you speak, tweet
One of our dearest and most valued gifts is our ability to both think about and talk about ourselves. That is the gift of language. I have always felt that every living thing has some sort of language, but we are so lucky to be able to communicate through speech and writing.
- Of bikes, fishing rods and philosophy Every time I go to the garage, either to get something or start up the car, I am reminded of at least two activities that I thought I might get to at some point, even in earnest. Intentionality is something philosophers give some thought to. I suspect I would be an ideal case study.
- End of the season; time for a break By tomorrow afternoon we will have harvested the last of our vegetables. Two lonely stalks of kale, today snow capped and a bit bent over after being buffeted by the hurricane's winds last week, will take up primary residence in a kale soup whose makeup we have yet to determine.
- Election Day thoughts I have voted, and despite my strong feelings about who the winner should be, I intend to focus on other things the rest of the day. Let the talking heads spin themselves into rhetorical dizziness until the wee hours of the morning. The sun is shinning. There are some late fall chores to turn to. I look forward to an outside day preoccupied with sunny thoughts.
- Walking, across the pond One of the best reasons to travel is to get out of one's cultural skin for a while. It is also a great way to pick up some pretty useful ideas.
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Gabby
This is not an essay I want to write. We had to say good-bye to Gabby several weeks ago.
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