24 January 2024 A Candle in the Window Peter Millar
Words to encourage us in these times.
The passionate heart never ages:
Sometimes in very old bodies there are incredibly young wild looking souls looking out at you. It is so invigorating to meet a wild old person who has remained faithful to their wild life force. Meister Eckhardt said that too in a more formal way: there is a place in the soul that is eternal. He says time makes you old but that there is a place in the soul that time cannot touch. It is a lovely thing to know this about yourself. Even though time will inscribe your face, weaken your limbs and make your movements slower and, finally, empty your life, nevertheless there is still a place in your spirit that time can never get near. You are as young as you feel. If you begin to feel the warmth of your soul, there will be a youthfulness in you that no-one will ever be able to take away from you. John O’Donohue, from his book Anam Cara
May I have the courage today to live the life that I would love, to postpone my dream no longer, but to do at last what I came here for and waste my heart on fear no more.
From “Benedictus” by John O’Donohue
Many years ago, Alister Hardy (1896-1985) formerly Emeritus Professor of Zoology at Oxford wrote these words in his diary:
“I will now record something which I have never told anyone before, but now that I am in my eighty-eight year, I think I can admit it. Just occasionally when I was sure that no one could see me, I became so overcome with the glory of the natural scene, that for a moment or two I fell on my knees in prayer – not prayer asking for anything, but thanking God who was very real to me, for the glories of his Kingdom and for allowing me to feel them, it was always by the running water-side that I did this, perhaps in front of a great form of meadowsweet or purple loosestrife.”
O Christ, there is no plant in the ground,
There is no bird on the wing,
There is no star in the sky,
There is nothing beneath the sun
but proclaims your goodness.
Based on a Celtic prayer
The quest for meaning in life:
Several years ago when I was working alongside the Wellspring Community in Australia I had the privilege of being in dialogue with the Australian writer and researcher Richard Eckersley. Richard’s reflections, written over many years, are relevant to our present situation. So many people, of all ages, are today searching for deeper meaning as they discover they need some kind of moral and spiritual framework for daily living. The search takes many forms. The individual journeys may be different, but many lead to inner transformation and greater clarity about our precious time in this life. Peter.
*Despite the cultural propaganda of our times, it is clear that constantly filling up “an empty self” is a poor substitute for the web of meaning provided by deep and enduring personal, social and spiritual attachment. We are told that a highly individualistic, consumer lifestyle is compatible with strong families, social cohesion and equity, environmental sustainability and a sense of spiritual connectedness to the universe in which we live. It is not.
This critique of our way of life will strike many as exaggerated. But it is an attempt to give a clear definition, a sharp edge, to issues that are, in reality, diffuse, often unconscious, and hard to discern from “inside” our culture. To argue that Western society is seriously flawed in these ways is not to say a meaningful life is impossible, only more difficult. Nor is it to suggest that we return to old ways. Rather, we need to go forward towards new goals, guided by different values. Given the era we live in, the challenge we face can be framed in terms of individual choice.
We can choose to go with the flow of modern Western culture, and pursue a life of personal ambition, distraction and gratification. This can be a pleasant enough existence, particularly if nothing goes wrong and we keep getting what we think we want; but it is a life that lacks depth and resilience and comes at a price to others and at a cost to the future.
Alternatively, we can resist the pressures to conform to social expectations, powerful though they are, and choose to find meaning in our lives by focusing on the things that history, religion and science show matter most.
Realistically, the choice is not that stark. What matters is where on the continuum between the two extremes of total acceptance and total rejection we choose to locate ourselves in the quest for meaning. The research evidence suggests we know in our hearts what is important and what is right. But living by these beliefs can be hard when society appears to operate according to different moral rules.
There has never been a period in human history when so much hangs in the balance between what is and what might be, when so much depends on the choices we make as individuals, when it is so clear we are, each of us, “decision-makers” in deciding the destiny of human kind.
It is a time, then, that offers so much meaning. And yet because of the pressures, preoccupations and priorities of life today, we don’t sense this significance of the moment – or sensing it, seem unable to hold it and be inspired by it. This is one of the most profound paradoxes of our times. Recognising this can help us make the right choices – and find more meaning in our lives.
