Tired of interminable changes and dismayed by so many contemporary attempts to return to or relive the past?
It’s challenging to embrace and live fully in the here and now.
A successful integration into the present is a never-ending process, since the present is a changing and evolving reality, not a fixed one.
Beware of being thwarted by handicaps in growth and development, inadequate philosophical and theological underpinnings, socio-cultural pressures, or fear.
The concepts, understandings, and strategies that at one stage in our development served us well, in another may prove to be obstacles to further growth and maturation if they are not modified and readapted to the present reality in which we live.
This can lead to misperceiving of opportunities as threats, a point of view that needs the optimism of Pope Pius XI, who urged, “Let us thank God that He makes us live among the present problems.”
Conversely, the total rejection of past experience in favor of entirely new, speculative, future possibilities, a kind of radical mutation of our lives, may also be damaging to our integral development.
Here we need Pope Leo XIII’s challenge and encouragement, originally to Christian philosophers, neither to reject what is new nor jettison what is old but “augment and perfect the old through the new.”
To successfully achieve this integration and renovation requires wisdom and a subtle discernment of substance from accident, essential from ephemeral.
Saint Paul said it well: “When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.”
But, also, in the words of Shakespeare: “parting is such sweet sorrow…”
What to do?
– Trust in God. The one who made us, sustains us in being, and guides our lives, has intervened in them far more than we suspect—and will continue to do so.
– Be not alone. Relatives, friends, colleagues, fellow citizens, neighbors, and acquaintances may have disappointed us in the past and may do so again—none of us is perfect. Yet, we need to share our experiences of success and failure in life to assist one another to cope with the challenges of today and tomorrow.
– Be real. Resist the temptation to “flee the world” and its disturbing and bewildering changes. Withdrawal is not the remedy—we’re not frightened snails! Don’t seek retreat to an imagined better past or to an unrealistic imagined future.
– Be politic. Otto van Bismarck once said, “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable—the art of the next best.” An old Chinese proverb expressed a similar wisdom: “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” They both imply an implicit warning about extremism, that “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”
– Be patient. The word, “patient”, is rooted in the Latin verb, patior, which means to suffer, to bear, to undergo. We’re all limited and imperfect. We all have our blind spots and prejudices. But, all we’ve got—besides God—is each other.
– Be glad. Don’t let the torrent of bad and fake news demoralize and depress you. Avoid being immersed and entangled in a web of devices and distractions. See the beauty of the created world and all of its creatures, in spite of their limitations. Give thanks!
22 November 2020