Decisions
“If
we hope to live not just moment to moment, but in true consciousness of our
existence, then our greatest need and most difficult achievement is to find
meaning in our lives…An understanding of the meaning of one’s life is not
suddenly acquired at a particular age, not even when one has reached
chronological maturity. On the contrary, gaining a secure understanding of what
the meaning of one’s life may or ought to be—this is what constitutes having
attained psychological maturity. And this achievement is the end result of a
long development: at each age we seek, and must be able to find, some modicum
of meaning congruent with how our minds and understanding have already
developed.”
Bruno
Bettelheim (The Uses of Enchantment, Introduction: The Struggle for Meaning)
In one of the ancient myths, Athena, the symbol of wisdom, springs fully developed from Zeus’s head. Unfortunately, for us mere mortals, it doesn’t happen that way. We gain wisdom through intentional self-work, and through life experience that we consciously seek to understand. In other words, mature understanding of ourselves and our place in the world changes with our age and life experience, but only if we apply conscious effort to comprehend it. There are adults who never grow up, of course, and there are children who seem wiser than their years. But for most of us, we must want to know our life’s meaning and consciously apply ourselves to seeking and embodying it.
I listened to a sermon by Nadia Bolz-Weber last night that my friend DeJuana posted on her Facebook page. It is about worry during this time of isolation from the corona virus. She used the scripture in which Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself. “Sufficient for today is its own trouble.” (Matt. 6:34) But, of course, we are worried—will we get the virus, will we lose our jobs, will we be able to feed and shelter our families, will life ever return to “normal?” Instead of worrying and fretting about things we cannot control, why not take this time to consider whether we really want to return to “normal” or whether we want to find a different way to live. Contemplating the meaning of our lives right now, in whichever developmental stage we are in, is one way to decide that.
For me, because I’m no longer in the work and pay cycle of life, it’s easier and less stressful to entertain the idea that life will not return to normal—but for young and middle-aged people, this time of crisis is a big deal. The economy is opening back up even though the infection and death rates are still going up. We are caught between the choices of whether to place ourselves in danger and at risk by going on as though there is no pandemic or continue to shelter and isolate. These are not happy choices. But maybe this is a good time to decide exactly how we want our personal economy to look when we do return to life on the other side. Do we want to live differently?
“We will prevail,” as
Nadia Bolz-Weber said in her sermon. We who live on after the pandemic can make
the decision right now as to whether we go forward the same, or different. Even
if we keep the job we had before, will the meaning of our lives and the purpose
of our work be different? Is there meaning to be found in this global pandemic?
It is only meaningful if we make it so—but humans are wired to search for meaning.
We now have time and opportunity to do that.
Please be safe and take
good care of yourselves.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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