It's a Struggle

For some reason, when I went to the local store this past week, for my weekly, grocery shopping, I was shocked at how much everything cost. I was walking down aisles, looking at all sorts of items, thinking it all costs so much   This simple, everyday experience became overwhelming, putting me in touch with the universal human struggle.  

Struggle is a key spiritual theme, within Christian religion, and not in Christianity alone.  It is a life-long struggle, a quest for life, run within the primal battle between good and evil.  It so strikes me that this battle is being waged both out there, on the streets, and, in here, in my heart.  I feel it as I know this struggle so well and it does not simply go away.  

It is one where we are dealing with powerful, internal forces.  If we want to understand wars, we don't have to look further than ourselves.  No one is outside this human storm.  If we think we are above this struggle, we are either deceiving ourselves, lacking in self- awareness or just playing an arrogant game.  So what is our response to this battle?  Fight or flight, as they say?  

Flight is an easy escape, too readily sought.  Sadly, we too often reduce life to its lowest common denominator.  We fall into unhelpful routines.  We retreat to our comfort bubbles.  We rely on gimmicks and games to reassure ourselves.  To do any of this is to miss out on the beauty and joy of life, while failing to deal with the harsh realities of life, which stay with us.  

The other side of life is that it calls us beyond our safe zones and tried ways to wondrous spiritual depths and illumined human heights.  The challenge to being people of integrity and humility, living authentic and aware lives, may overwhelm us, but it is the invited and great way ahead.  Within the Christian narrative, based on the Gospel, St Charles de Foucauld lived life by a simple motto - 

"Be Christ in order to do what Christ does".  

In doing what may appear as so alien to the accepted ways of our world, we are destined to find peace and happiness.  This simple way may go against human wisdom, but that is okay.  It is signposted by our being kind and compassionate, by our reaching out to our neighbour in their need.  It is a struggle, but one worth fighting.  Thus we find ourselves and the greatness of the life to which we are called.  

Happy solidarity in shopping!    

Building Trust

I watched, in total fascination, a 15 minute report on AI and religion, aired on Deutsche Welle, last week.  It quoted a staggering figure of 2.16 Euros profit, made in 2024, from Spiritual Wellness Apps.  In the USA, one in three adults use these Apps for support during times of grief, relationship difficulty and financial hardship. Information is gathered from such use to then help establish Virtual Church.  Amazing!  Then there isthe  AI priest, the AI Buddha and even the AI Jesus.  What is all this leading to? 

I will not be the Aussie cynic nor will I simply deny the value of AI.  Neither is the way to go.  In line with the guidance of both the Church and the UN, AI is to be used responsibly and ethically, as a tool for advacing the common good of humanity. 

This post is not about AI, but really about trust.  During the past week, I particpated in a workshop on the use of AI in our work.  I saw how its misuse could destroy trust as its abuse could lead to serious questioning of one 's integrity.  

Is that homily yours? 

Did you really write that proposal or article?  

Any good relationship, strong community or decent world order has to be based on trust.  This issue of trust arose also during the past week, when participating in meetings on helping people in a time when funds are radically lacking.  It struck me the core issue was not funding itself, but trust.  

These discussions on funding arose within the present, chaotic climate created by the unilateral and immediate withdrawal of a major, aid funder on the world scene.  As a response, I was hearing various, professional players, in the field, speak in desperation.  

Does this mean that each player just looks after itself?  

Does it reduce the bonds of professional cooperation?  

Do we trust each other enough to take risks, to be honest, or is it all just about getting our money?  

Do times of difficulty and challenge, whether personal or corprate, reduce our life and actions to the lowest common denominator or do they instill in us the will to struggle even harder, to come together ever stronger?  

The questions go even deeper.  Do we allow ourselves to be vulnerable with each other, to bear our fragility in front of others?  

Do I realise that I am no better than anyone else?  Am I that brutally honest?  Only then can I and we build a trust that is lasting, that speaks of the gospel vision for life.  Trust is fundamental.  Building trust is not just about others.  It is about me.  How do I fare being trustworthy and engendering trust.  Don't expect others to do it for me or instead of me.  Do my bit to better myself and the world. 

Such levels of trust are frightening, but they are needed for a life that is rich and nourishing.  We are being drawn, in our crazy world, to more threatening levels of truat that are simultaneously deeply personal and deeply communal.  Are we up to this?  Trust in God, trust in the other, trust in myself.  It is needed for my sake, if no one else's.  

The Land of Oz

My boyhood featured a wondrous fairytale, played out in the Magical Land of Oz.  It came my way thanks to a cult movie, featuring Judy Garland and Toto, her faithful dog.  It was immortalized by an ever rousing and inspiring song, "Somewhere over the Rainbow", which attuned one to the human quest for happiness.  This was a quest that was eternal, never being squashed by the dramas and conspiracies of lived reality.  

A close friend, now dead, alerted me to the value of fantasy, for it helps keep life's energies pumping. It would seem that in today's crazy world, fantasy is needed more than ever, as a tool in keeping the big vision for humanity alive.  

 As we look at our world, many struggle to make sense of it, while others thrive and prosper thanks to its perceived craziness or nonsense.  What was thought to be "the bad, old days" is fastly becoming reality, while reality is being driven more and more by the hands of the few.  In the midst of such rapid and unwanted change, the age old question arises - What is real?   We ask this as reality is fastly passing us by.  

The Velveteen Rabbbit had the answer.  Real is when you have become ragged and messed up thanks to persevering the lived struggles of love.  Very seldom do we need lectures about life and love.  What we yearn for more is to be loved and to have our eyes opened to the wonder and awe of life, knowing that all is possible within a reality that can too easily fail and ravage us.  .    

Can we believe that love is real in today's world?  Can we identify the wonder and awe in our everyday lives?  If not, then there is something wrong with our world, something wrong with us, for the wonders of a boy can never be denied or doomed.  .