Had a great discussion the other day with someone who has been really struggling to be optimistic.
Its not something you can shake yourself out of eh?
Yet we shared some great common ground . That was good for all present because we don't know much really and we are all helped by being resisted with our often too quick and inadequate words and explanations.
.
Its bit like Job's three friends - who after speaking ever so smartly, eventually get to a better place and just shut up
When someone amongst is really suffering we can do little but be there and be quiet. As the neighbor book of Solomon's( Ecclesiastes) says ' there is no explanation and chasing one a satisfactory one is chasing after the wind "
We didn't give up though
We started back to find some IF there is some solid ground to stand on -Our instincts were our starting point . BUT who wants to go there too much when clearly it is some of the testosterone and hormonal "lizard" brain stuff that we wisely learn to resist . Progress ?
If we use that base level" nature knows best " simplicity as a exercise for doing what we feel like, we will never grow up . Life's cruelty can also kill us if we don't fight such simple nonsense and see beyond it . None of us present were doing that so that firmer ground was positive .
It was encouraging to find something ,even if it was very basic, to agree on' :
The good part is all three of us were quite grown up , Nice to see us as the old wrinkles who were good company for each other . We didn;t have the child like with us no temptation to lecture any kindergarten attendees or worry /watch them heading into another pit.
So back to basics .
Adrenalin is good for us, though we often worry needlessly when its product , anger, arrives . This is not just the fight or flight imperative, but responding well to the anger that comes with it
Reactionary Post Christian thinkers often forget that anger is not wrong but dangerous ;God our friend gets angry at sin but reminds us to not focus on the sinner but the sin and therefore to talk freely to the sin and not so much the sinners ( who we hope stops doing the wrong thing because its not him /her we are attacking or condemning )
Its Like life at its best : that place where we accept the challenge and the drive to respond well too it - not just let its tough stuff drive a drive a nail through our feet . .Noradrenalin reminds us that we can and should deal with threats by ending the day with an apology.and or confession /realization
If we sit on anger as some shallow behaviourists insist we do, our suppressed anger we will get us depressed. If we don't speak straight and to the point , our righteously angry friends will get red necked/ depressed for no result , while our society stagnates in a calm pond of superficial nonsense with dark things underneath and bullying and clowning around above .
No progress and a loss of sustainability and resilience.
The three amigos and others ( not finished yet )
Chesterton - The seeker who went deeper ; found solid ground beneath the surface
Ellul - The scientist who reminds us we must do it well it not at all; The sociological scientist who reminds us that if put things in boxes , we will box our minds in
Milton - The rebel who saw hell and thrived on the insights
Shakespeare - The man who taught us how to love all mankind fully
Whitehead - Another scientist who reminds us we must do science well it not at all. He is one who saw in the previous century the flood of foundless facts being assembled for the purpose of reinforcing ones own ignorance of them and their place.
Bagehot
Carlyle
All say you must love something before you can know something about it ( Carlyle )
