Thought for the Day in The Whanganui Chronicle

The following is a reflection to be published in The Whanganui Chronicle which is the major daily newspaper for Whanganui. The timeframe is the eight days from May 8-13 and the segments are of 250 words or fewer.

Day One

“Yes or no, does human life make sense, and does man have a destiny? I act, but without even knowing what action is, without having wished to live, without knowing exactly either who I am or even if I am ... Supposedly, then, I am condemned to life, condemned to death, condemned to eternity! Why and by what right, if I did not know it and did not will it?” Thus, wrote the philosopher Maurice Blondel in 1893. In this series of reflections in Thought for the Day I invite you to join  me in reflecting on the profound realities of our existence perhaps as you peruse The Chronicle while eating your meusli, having a coffee at work or waiting for a haircut.  

So often we take for granted the everyday life including the very fact of life itself. Sometimes, with characteristic Kiwi modesty we downplay ourselves saying: “I am only a ...”, or, “I am just a ...”. The media constantly beams into our living rooms lives that seem to be so much more glamorous, exciting and interesting. Sometimes, we look to “produce, direct and star” in our own reality show on social media or YouTube. How, then, can I make sense of who I am without succumbing to vanity, false modesty or self condemnation? It is important to come to an answer to the puzzle of who I am since there will never be another me.

Day Two

The uniqueness of my existence can be traced to any number of factors including DNA, emotions, memories, thoughts and the illnesses proper to me in my own unprecedented and unrepeatable set of circumstances. Even identical twins, who share exactly the same DNA, are individuals. At the same time I can empathise with others and even imagine what it might be like to be like them. We share our human condition and regardless of the colour of our skin, language or body shape our humanity binds us into a unity which, as history as progressed, we are recognising more and more. Rightly racism, slavery and genocide are seen as crimes not just against the individuals who are attacked but also as “crimes against humanity.”

Already, I hope, you are sensing some of the wonder that dawns on me as we contemplate the mystery of our existence and our role in the story of the human family over the millennia. This is the case, even without considering who we are for one another and the possibilities that the future may have for each one of us. This is even more the case since there is not only me but an us. My uniqueness is necessarily bound up with the uniqueness of everyone else as a collective. Our destiny, whether it is annihilation or a life beyond our imagining, awaits all of us to share together.

Day Three

Despite the inevitibility of our shared future and the difficulty of coming to terms with our own individual and collective past it is possible to say that the seeds of the future lie in our present action. That seems obvious but how often do we lose touch with the possibilities of  the present? We also tend to forget that it is precisely the desire to act that speaks of a sense of always going beyond ourselves, always becoming. We are a mystery to ourselves because we do not know what precisely we are capable of. Suicide is considered a tragic and senseless act because it shuts the door on the future and on the possibilities of my own story.

It is not only in the sphere of saving money to buy a house or going to the gym to get healthier where the moment of decision lies but in my whole attitude to life and the key to its meaning. My innate tendency to transcend the present calls me on. The question is whether how I am acting now is authentic and worthy of who I am striving to become. The paradox, however, lies in the reality that I cannot meet my own needs! It is through reaching out to others and meeting their needs that my own need for truth, meaning and love is met. In other words, to become myself I need to forget myself and trust in a shared future which we trust we can discover together.

Day Four

If it is the case that our needs can be met by meeting those of others and our future is bound up with our collective reality why is it so hard? We misread each other, betray each other, bruise each other. Sometimes it is deliberate sometimes malicious, sometimes not. When we act it is not always for the benefit of others or even for ourselves. Animals seem to know what they want yet it is humans who have the potential to act more or less than themselves. We just need to look at the history of the World Wars to see that or read the court reports in The Chronicle.

People can appeal to the law or to the use of reason or common sense. Surely, we have the capacity to act for our own benefit? Education is seen as the answer. If only people will learn! Nevertheless, our actions betray us and through them we betray others. Writing almost two thousand years ago Paul of Tarsus wrote: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7: 15) The precious uniqueness of my life it seems is being squandered and the opportunities offered by my future, instead of motivating me, become an oppressive weight on my shoulders. Worst of all the person who is sabotaging my life turns out to be me. I am the one to blame! 

Day Five

So far, in these reflections, we have journeyed from a sense of optimism, wonder and hope, at what it means to be human and the intriguing possibilities of life, to a sense of incredulity, dismay and pessimism at our ability to make a mess of things. What stares us in the face is the prospect of death. Whether my actions are good or bad the end result will be the same. Futility lies just around the corner even when things are going well. The ancient Jews perceived this: “So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was the reward for all my toil. Then considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” (Eccles. 2: 9-11)

It is apparent that self-indulgence and pleasure seeking cannot satisfy the needs of the human heart nor can it give meaning to the actions which always look beyond themselves for fulfilment and never finding it. Paul tells us: “... for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ...” (Romans 8: 20)

Day Six

The mystery of human existence and of the rest of reality is indeed great. Paradoxically actions, performed by unique, unrepeatable individuals, who are designed to live for each other, can lead us to either ecstasy or despair. Augustine of Hippo, about 1650 years ago, found the answer in God: “Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved you! For behold you were within me, and I outside; and I sought you outside and in my ugliness fell upon those lovely things that you have made. You were with me and I was not with you. I was kept from you by those things, yet had they not been in you, they would not have been at all. You called and cried to me and broke open my deafness: and you sent forth your beams and shone upon me and chased away my blindness: you breathed fragrance upon me, and I drew in your breath and I do now pant for you: I tasted you, and now hunger and thirst for you: you touched me, and I have burned for your peace.” (St Augustine, Confessions)

God, I find, is not just a question but the answer to all my longings. The futility of my existence melts away: “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7: 24-25)