I am sure you can identify with this: it comes upon you quite unexpectedly. You can be walking or talking or engaged in some inane activity. It builds softly in the back of your mind, slowly muscling itself to the forefront of your consciousness. It is initially as extremely confusing as it is remarkably rare. And then, there it is – joy: unsolicited, stunning and exciting – joy! You are filled with gratitude to just be alive. But is this an isolated quality only experienced by a lucky few? 

“Comfortably Numb” is the title of one of the most celebrated Pink Floyd (1) songs. I listened to it the other morning. This led me to question what these words, independent of the song, truly mean. Will I live out a life of perverse affluence surrounded by my material possessions or will I discover the answer to the age-old question: what is the meaning of life? Will I eventually just be deadened or I am personally, still on a quest for the answer, though the field is narrowing. Every day must I fight off becoming dull and irrelevant? As you age, images of Austerlitz (2) come to mind: winning against overwhelming odds. I am constantly confronted with people who appear, at least from their eyes, to be vacuous or lost souls. The other day, I bought gas. The attendant was a young man of perhaps 18 or 19. He barely knew that I was in front of him. He methodically, and yet efficiently, placed the nozzle into the car’s gas tank; upon finishing, he took my money and subsequently handed me my receipt and change: totally expressionless.

I had a job much like this when I was 14 years old. It was my first job and I remember it as a time of great excitement and adventure. It was not filled with the obvious boredom experienced by this person. Was the “zeitgeist,” the spirit of the age, that different? I think not. It is our fault! Our schools, our parents, and our society are not providing young people with that fundamental sense of wonder and spiritual intoxication that ignites the desire to learn how to soar. They are being forcefully co-opted into a system that is an extreme state of flux. Go to school and you will get a good job, marry “Mr. or Mrs. Right,” have 2.2 children, make a lot of money, retire at 50 and live to 100: in good health and in your own vision of Shangri-La. In my experience with young people, they virtually all know that this is a blatant, total lie. They can watch the news on the Internet and make their own evaluation. Failure to achieve the success that they have been promised quickly results in social opprobrium. “What, you still don’t have a job?” Conversely, they are cautioned against accepting a position that may “dirty their hands” or diminish their family’s social status.

These attitudes are a direct result of consumerism and raw capitalism, and they won’t work. The new Renaissance is upon us and it promises, much like the previous one, (3) to revolutionize and change our world. It is nothing short of criminal that we continue to espouse old, dead models of society. I believe that human society is being offered something extraordinary: the opportunity to change the world, one person at a time. This requires very little, just the commitment not to allow societal transgressions to go unnoticed and not be commented upon.

A small example: the other day a friend of mine was at a museum and saw a child aggressively assaulting the enclosed exhibit of a butterfly. For whatever reason, the young person was vigorously shaking the Plexiglas box hoping, perhaps, to dislodge the embalmed insect. Who knows, or cares? This kind of aberrant behavior is anti-social, to say the least. My friend felt that he should say something to the boy and subsequently did. The result was a terrified boy and an extremely embarrassed mother. I doubt that the individual will do this again. Some people certainly disagree with this proactive approach. You be the judge! We are left with the immortal words of Reverend Martin-Niemöller: (4)

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Catholic.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

You be the judge of the world you want to inhabit. John Locke (1632-1704), the great English polymath and thinker leaves us with a thought: I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. (5)

A closing thought: It is difficult to live an authentic life, as the philosophers say, to have your values mirror your actions. But, at the very least, we must try. Life is a fast flowing river. It is sometimes difficult to pull your boat to the shore to bivouac for a day or so and just think. It is fortunate that the river is very, very long. You will have an opportunity to stop in other places and mature your thoughts in those venues. (A part of this essay were first published in June 2012)

 

To sum up: This week we spoke about gratitude and the appreciation of the gift of life. It is, however, not a cadeau to be toyed with lightly. Consciousness, in this reality, is granted but once. From Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) “but to act, that each tomorrow finds us farther than today.”

 

A philosophical question: Why does no one ever tell you that your pants are unzippered until it is too late, and it is on the day that you are wearing your “hearts” undergarments?

Just for fun — Pink Floyd–Comfortably Numb

 

This week on your contemplative walk, ask yourself: who or what do I believe in?

Every day look for something magical and beautiful

Quote: To act in a morally, well-intentioned manner, regardless of the consequences, produces a sense of honor and of valor.

Footnotes:

1)  Pink Floyd

2) The Battle of Austerlitz (1805) was one of Napoleon’s greatest victories, where the undermanned French Empire effectively crushed its much larger adversary.

3) The Italian Renaissance was the earliest expression of the European Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement that began in Italy during the 14th century and lasted until the 16th century.

4) Martin Niemöller (1892 –1984) was a German, anti-Nazi theologian and a Lutheran pastor.

 5)  John Locke