“Millions of people in the contemporary world hunger for spiritual meaning but predominantly through compensatory behaviors. Religiosity itself remains a major delusionary outlet. Others, more widely recognized, include hedonism (addictive pleasure), power seeking, recreational drugs, gambling, and economic consumerism (shopping). We use these escapist behaviors to cover over an inner angst, an alienation that frightens and dislocates our otherwise noble aspirations.”
The above observation was made by the social psychologist and priest Diarmuid O’Murchu. O’Murchu’s point is that we humans suffer from a condition that seems to be as old as humanity itself: Alienation!
We can’t seem to help ourselves in this regard. There is something deep within each one of us that repeatedly reminds us that we are alone, disconnected, and our lives are out of synch with any ultimate meaning. It is in our search for connectedness and meaningfulness that we act out in compensatory ways mentioned above.
Perhaps this sense of alienation is graphically depicted in our own Christian story of origin found in Genesis. According to the story (myth), our original parents fled from God because of their own willful disobedience.
They hid from their Good Creator, separating themselves from his loving embrace and purpose for their lives. They hid within the garden prepared for them. In the midst of God’s creative abundance and goodness, they fearfully squatted in the dense foliage as a means to separate themselves from their Creator.
This alienation was, of course, the result of their own doing, yet the fear that it produced in their hearts and minds continue to haunt us to this day.
We are living in a world today that finds itself deeply alienated from all that is supposed to be good. Like little children trembling in a dark room, afraid of the infamous boogeyman, we humans are seeking compensatory ways to assuage our fears created by our own sense of alienation.
It is no wonder that the single most repeated admonition in the Bible is “fear not!”
Truth is, we humans are not as alienated as we think we are. We are more connected to meaningfulness than we ever thought possible.
As we head into the election season there will be political adds infinitum using fear as their strategy for success. The suggested narrative is really quite simple:
“If enough folks can be convinced and made fearful that their way of life is being seriously threatened then winning their hearts and minds (and votes) will have been a success.”
Spoiler Alert: Every generation believes their's to be the worst; to be on the verge of destruction; to be on the edge of the so-called “Eve of Destruction!”
And don’t think for a moment that political strategists of all stripes don’t know this about us.
So political election campaigns focus on our fears that are borne out of our own sense of alienation. We are told that if we vote for this candidate or that candidate then the world as we know it will become immeasurably better or worse depending on who we vote for.
Hint: Fear is the bait to catch a vote.
Well, don’t fall for this strategy. We are not living on the Eve of Destruction. I for one cannot and will not accept such a dark narrative repeated by the political spin masters of our time.
We should not ignore the pressing issues of our time, nor should we too easily dismiss the human capacity for destructive behaviors. We humans have a lot of work to do in order to access our better angels. But life is not yet hopeless.
For me, the Biblical injunction, “Fear not” is a constant reminder that we all live in a world that certainly offers us opportunities to fear, but also a world we believe has meaning, purpose, and a hopeful future. We only need to discover such purpose and such meaning outside the magnetic pull of imagined fear.
In the words of Jesus:
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I don’t know about you, but these words help cure my own sense of alienation (separation) and gives me hope that no matter how dark the skies are, or how tough life becomes, or how confusing my world seems to be, I am not alone in this huge expanding universe—and neither are you.
Don’t allow political fear mongers to own your heart and mind. We are never alienated from a life of meaning and purpose, if so then we have succumbed to the voices crying “fire, fire” when there really is no fire.
More importantly, we are never alienated from the One who loves us in ways we just cannot fully imagine.
Fear not!
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