Christian insights into what we are today

The stuff of culture can create a heavy burden

Daniel Defoe, the English author of Robinson Crusoe, was as well a trader, business and political journalist, and travel writer.  His story of the shipwrecked sailor, published in 1719, has Crusoe looking back at his spiritual state as his life alone begins after eight years at sea. The words strike a chord when looking at the lives of many today:

I do not remember that I had, in all that time, one thought that so much as tended either to looking upwards towards God, or inwards towards a reflection upon my own ways; for a certain stupidity of soul, without desire of good, or conscience of evil, had entirely overwhelmed me; and I was all that the most hardened, unthinking, wicked creature among our common sailors can be supposed to be; not having the least sense, either of the fear of God in danger, or of thankfulness to God in deliverance.

There's the challenge for us all - to be alert as to what is happening internally, and as to how the environment of this age is imposing upon us "a certain stupidity of soul".

Another insightful observation about how the world we live in traps us in a particular frame of mind comes in this form:  

Perhaps we are not touched by idols today (even when we live in places with statues of gods and deities) but there are many other idols of a more subtle kind which we can easily fail to recognise as such – materialism and consumerism, the obsession with money and wealth, the cult of sex and even of the body, the slavery to image and fashion, the cult of the hero be it in the media or in sports (‘fans’ = fanatics, a word used to describe the actions of frenzied worshippers in another age). Obsession with such idols can blind us to the very real needs – material, social, spiritual – of those around us. Then we fail in the essential quality of being a child of God – love for each other.

Fr Frank Doyle SJ on 1 John 5:14-21. 

Read in full here.

Finally, there is the curse of  meaninglessness that has seeped into the bloodstream of society:

There is so much division in society today, simply because the individual is facing a crisis of meaning and purpose.  Because of secularism, man does not believe in a creator or the existence of the Ultimate, whom we call God.  He has no idea of his origin, purpose in life or the outcome at the end of this life.  The world teaches us that the universe, and that includes us all, comes from the random interactions of the atoms.  It is by accident that we were born into this world.  Life has no meaning, no intrinsic value, except to make the most of what this world offers, at the end of which we return to the universe as atoms. This lack of purpose means that we are called to live for ourselves.  There is no reference point, no objective truth or morals to follow.  It is all about me finding fulfillment in this life.  People are important to me insofar as they can enrich my life.  This is what individualism is all about.

Therefore, we have to take a countercultural stand. St Irenaeus, who died about the year 202, has words that encourage Christians to be countercultural these days in their mind and lifestyle: 

The glory of God is each person fully alive!

Ω On the eruption of dysphoria and rising rate of mental illness in young Americans, see my post here

Ω If you like this blog, go to my Peace and Mind newsletter on Substack, where you can subscribe for free and be notified when a new post is published.