We live in difficult times. I think everyone probably would believe this. But what if we’ve always lived in difficult times? Maybe life has always been a bit of a struggle along the way. And I was watching a video recently about the so called post millennials.
How tough it is now. The young people that were born around the turn of the century. So they’re now 25 years old, so to speak. And for them, it’s tough. They go to school and finish school, and then, apparently, everyone has been promised a great job and a great life.
But in reality, this does not occur. The average person gets a job that they don’t really enjoy, hence the deep hatred of work in that sense, cannot find a positive relationship with the opposite sex because they’re seemingly strung out on either pornography or feminism or God only knows according to this video. It’s a tough lot for sure. So what do you do? Well, many people just escape.
They become perhaps freeters, the so called free workers. They finish university and then get a rather tedious job, perhaps working in something like a seven eleven, eight hours, go back to my room, play video games, and basically escape. Or perhaps I can lie flat like in China, escape again, refusing to strive forward in Japan. Similar phenomena are occurring. So what do I do?
Now as an aside, in the nineteenth century, of course, exactly the same thing happened in the chaos of nineteenth century Imperial Russia. Many people just got fed up with the system, could not make a go of it, couldn’t buy a piece of land, especially when most of the property was controlled by the 3% of the population that were part of the aristocracy. And even after the serfs were emancipated in 1861 was still difficult for the average person. My great grandfather, for instance, was born in the Austro Hungarian Empire, and their serfs were freed a little bit earlier in 1848, but still there was no land. Hence why my grandfather eventually came to Canada to farm.
So the pilgrims, great book, if you ever have time, is called The Way of a Pilgrim, and it discusses what was it like to be a pilgrim in nineteenth century Russia, to be a so called medicant monk. You go along praying, saying the Jesus prayer. It’s an ongoing prayer that you can say. You should look it up. It’s quite interesting prayer, very short.
People chant this continuously. And in this way, as a monk, you are going to find God. You are gonna find your communion with God. So you ask yourself, my gosh, is this my life? I finished school.
I get an average job. I meet an average individual. I save a bit of money. I eventually retire and then die. No.
Of course not. That’s not the purpose to life, but you have to figure that out for yourself because just as an aside, as I’ve said before, in history, there have been a number of years that have been far worse than our modern era. And I think if we go back in the time after the time of Christ, the great one, I’m told, and we should all look it up. It’s in 536. It was called the end of the world, the darkest year.
They actually had a volcanic eruption in maybe Alaska, maybe Iceland, but it produced something like a nuclear winter for up to perhaps two to three years. Crops failed maybe a third to a half of the world’s population actually died. Then, of course, well, let’s run on a bit. Another about eight hundred years later, we come to the black death in the middle of the fourteenth century. Also, a third to a half of the population of the earth at the time.
Then, gosh, 1914 to 1918, maybe fifty million people killed in the first World War. At the end of it, just add another real curse, of course, the Spanish flu, maybe another fifty million people, then we come to the second World War, thirty nine to forty five, another fifty million. Gosh. We run on. Then we perhaps come again to the cultural revolution in China, Fifty to a hundred million, and we come to the modern era.
Our wars still continue. So you could see this is really not the best, the worst time to be alive at all. In fact, it’s a pretty good time. Right? Think to yourself now.
If you have access to the Internet, which everyone does, you have instant communication. So you know absolutely everything. You have access to all the knowledge on earth, all of it. Unfortunately, zero wisdom, which is probably why you are unhappy or feeling sad because you think, oh my gosh. When I watch the news, it’s also horrible, but it really isn’t.
Right? And there are numerous other things. Good health care, safety. I mean, it just goes on. So, ultimately, if we’re living in this time in my head, this is what I believe.
What am I to do? Well, first of all, I have to realize that my life is truly up to me. Whenever I’m born, whether I was born in the fifth century, sixth century, or when I’m born today, it’s up to me. What happens to me? And, yes, sometimes life’s unfair.
Well, often life’s unfair. You know, when I have this body I don’t perhaps really like, perhaps I have this education I’m not happy with. I have this family I don’t truly enjoy, but those are my givens. And then get on with it. Because it is all possible, this thing called life.
With your givens under control, you can go forward, but it is up to me. So I have to get down, work hard, struggle on. And if I can answer these three questions, why am I here? Why me? What is my mission?
What am I here to accomplish? And finally, what happens when I leave here? What is my religious understanding of my reality? Then a tremendous amount of calm in my estimation comes over me and I can get on the path because life is hard as we’ve already recognized, but I can succeed. I truly believe this.
I’ve seen this in my own life. And, of course, you could say, well, wait a moment. You’re old now and you grew up at a time that was a lot more affluence. All those things are true. But if you read anything from historical figures, you realize that the time you were born in was really somewhat minor to the effort you put into your own life.
So think to yourself, I’m going to accomplish this thing called life, my life. I’m gonna make something of it. Never ever ever ever give up. Right? And you know the old adage, if it’s not good, obviously, the journey has not finished yet.
Right? For sure. So put history in perspective. We live in difficult times, but humanity has always been there. It’s always been there, but I don’t have to suffer.
I can overcome, but I must work. Of course. And you know what they say. You know what they say. Critical thinking is necessary.
If I’m going to somehow find my path forward in this thing called life, and critical thinking is great. Truly great. You take care of yourself. God bless. Bye bye.