In this sense, we are the most fortunate generation.
I've been told, my grandfather would spend the last few hours of every day upstairs in his study, reading the dictionary. It must have relaxed him at the end of a long day in his dental office. Perhaps, as his hand turned one page, then another, meditating on the structure, beauty and meaning of each word, he felt he was internalizing something of the mystery of the civilization from whence he came.
I can visualize Abraham Lincoln doing something like that, given the fact, that as a child he considered it a high privilege to own a book
However, in our own age, information is ubiquitous, bombarding us every minute of every day, so much so. that sometimes we have to make a concerted effort to turn off the spigot just to catch a breath!
But there is a tragic irony in our situation. While we have unmitigated access to all the information in the world, a privilege unimagined by our ancestors, we suffer from an excruciating lack of wisdom! Oddly enough, we hear psychologists tell us, that our society is struck by an ailment called ennui or "boredom!" I found it enlightening to learn that ancient languages have no word for "boredom," it's a modern invention. When I shared this fact with a friend recently, his response was, "they had no time for boredom, they were busy just trying to survive!" Good point!
Oh, but we have ways to relieve our boredom...reality shows, American Idol and then there's always shopping!
But, does the situation in which we find ourselves have serious ramifications? Notwithstanding the enormous spiritual, ethical and philosophical implications for western civilization; confining ourselves to American politics, and in that regard, after reading Thomas Sowell's latest piece on Obama and McCain, (read it here,) I would say unequivacally, yes, dire ramifications!
Why? Because, one can possess all the information in the world but if that information is not processed with wisdom and discernment, the consequence can only be disintegration, personally and publically. We cannot afford a global disintegration of values and purpose right now; Iran is revving up to destroy this very western civilization, which our universities, for the last 40 years, have so cavalierly dismissed.
Peter Kreeft, (Three Philosophies of Life,) states the following: "Folly cannot detect itself, only the wise know folly, fools know neither wisdom nor folly. Just as it takes wisdom to know folly, the light to know darkness, it takes profundity to know vanity, meaning to know meaninglessness."
When I see the crowd in Rev. Wright's and Obama's church of 20 years, pulsing and cheering rhetoric that is pure unadulterated and dangerous folly, when I hear Obama making speeches that in substance are nothing but deceit and foolishness, while the crowd gives itself over to emotional obcession, it is like getting a good solid punch in the stomach!
Where is the wisdom? Where are the fundamental questions of life? Where is the discernment to decipher substance from dribble?
Kreeft, in another passage, reflects on what the writer/philosopher of Ecclesiastes might say were he alive today to see modern culture:
"If this philosopher were alive today and knew the reigning philosophy in America, pop psychology, with its positive strokings, OKs, narcissistic self-befriendings, panderings, patronizings, and bland assurances of 'Peace! Peace!' when there is no peace, I think he would quote John Stuart Mill that it is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; and William Barrett: "It is better to encounter one's own existence in despair than never to encounter it at all.""
If Western Civilization, doesn't wake up fast, start appreciating the God-given gifts which are its legacy, and somehow acquire the guts to stand up and fight for it in the schools, in the public square and in the world...then it is despair that lurks beyond the next turn in the road...
A penny for your prayers....
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