I was listening to the news the other morning which, as you might expect, was taken up mostly with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and it spoke of the Ukrainian president saying that they were being attacked not just with bombs, but with false information.
It struck me how difficult it has become in the modern world to recognise not only what is good but what is evil. I don’t think the root of the problem is the mass media; that is only the way the confusion is disseminated; the problem lies deeper: the root of the problem, I think is that we no longer have a firm hold on the truth; it seems we can no longer agree what the truth is to begin with.
Without the truth what are we left with? Well I think we are left with a forlorn search for happiness. It is a natural drive in people to seek out happiness in life, I would even go so far as to say that in this modern age the greatest importance of all our endeavours is in obtaining happiness: How often do you hear the phrase, ‘As long as they are happy’. It seems strange that for all the effort we put into it, this world seems a less happy place, a less secure place, people are more anxious, there are more mental health issues. More young people are being referred for counselling. Happiness if anything, seems more elusive than ever.
Where can we find it? Why can we not find it? I personally have grown tired of pursuing some promised bliss only to discover it is lacking and does not live up to its promise. I want truth. And in a society where I am told the only truth I can have is of my own making, I find myself thrown back on a happiness of my own making. But it never lasts. There is always some shadow, some failing. There is always disillusion at the centre.
It has become so difficult to discern what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong in life. And talking about the search for happiness does not touch upon that other great human need: the need for truth.
Following blindly dictators has led to war and suffering and acts of inhumanity.
I hear ringing in my ears those words of Christ in the Gospel about the blind leading the blind and that, ‘No disciple is greater than his master’, and I cannot help but think that we have thrown off the yoke of obedience thinking to make ourselves our own master only to find we have no idea where we are going and no idea of how to get there.
To suggest that the answer might be found in obedience would be met with howls of outrage by a world that is intent only on being free to do what it wants.
But isn’t it time we looked round and realised we are lost. We cannot even decide who is in the right and who is in the wrong on so many things. Things are so complicated with different truths all vying for our attention and pushing forward their claims, we are paralysed, we are the producers of a fruit that is rotten.
For many, obedience is anathema because it means surrendering one’s freedom, one’s independence. Following blindly dictators has led to war and suffering and acts of inhumanity. There is a legitimate fear in choosing obedience over independence. But obedience is also about trust: deciding about whom to trust. As St Paul said, we have been given victory over death by Christ. Who better to trust than him? Who can see more clearly than he?