The train tracks of life

My grandson loves to watch his "Thomas" go rolling around the tracks, through tunnels, over bridges, he loves to lay down at eye level with it, relax, and just watch the train be a train.

One time, while we were stretched out on the floor enjoying the moment, I remembered an analogy I had come across in a book, (can't remember now which book.) The writer had compared man's existential condition to a train moving along train tracks. His context, as I remember it, had to do with Catholics fretting over church dogma, and how the rules were necessary because they were conducive to man's spiritual destiny.

Suppose the train could reflect on itself. It might say, "Look at how confined I am by these tracks, I want to jump these accursed tracks and be free." Unfortunately, as soon as our talking train escapes his imprisonment he finds himself completely immobile! The moral, of course, is that it's fine to live ones life off the tracks, unless one is a train!

The defining question here is, what is man? Is he, by nature, a worshipping being, is he a creature, who, by definition, requires meaning as much as knowledge? Does he have a transcendent spiritual core which is "restless until it rests in (Martin Buber's )'Thou."? (St. Augustine)

Let's examine what separates the cultural "right" from the cultural "left?" What separates the religious "right" from the religious "left?" These political, theological and cultural divides are, in reality, disagreements over the intrinsic nature of man. They are substantive debates, and should not be trivialized by the "can't we all just get along mentality." We need to engage and confront these controversies honestly.

Consider the debate over absolutes and secularism, which Pope Benedict referred to in his first major address as Pope.

Secularists are preoccupied with humanism in one form or another. Man is unraveling the secrets of the universe, of biology, of physics...religious rituals, loyalties, are now obsolete, in fact, they are counter productive, inhibiting man's inevitable progress. Man is now capable of setting the parameters, rules are self-interpretive and situational. Man runs toward self-glorification with every step. Here we have relativism.

On the other side, we have the long Judeo-Christian Tradition, a spiritual legacy embodied in the Natural Law, and the "corner stone" of western civilization. Man is created in the image of God, his destiny is communion, a covenant of love with the three Persons of the Trinity. The wonders of scientific discovery, the mystical heights of contemplation, in complementarity, draw man more deeply into the love story. Man runs towards God and finds his destiny. Here we have absolutes.

Two very different world views, indeed. From which well should we drink? Which source has the "living water," that will quench man's unremitting thirst for freedom, for meaning?

My "money" is on the Judeo-Christian Tradition. At times, in my life, I have been, "off the tracks" and the freedom it promised was a mirage. True freedom enables man to be most himself, or, in theological terms...we are to become what we are.

Mark Steyn, in his latest piece in Imprimis, entitled, Lights Out on Liberty, gives us a very sobering analysis of what is lurking out there, off the tracks, so to speak.

"On August 3, 1914, on the eve of the First World War, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, stood at the window of his office in the summer dusk and observed, 'The lamps are going out all over Europe.' Today, the lights are going out on liberty all over the Western world, but in a more subtle and profound way."

He proceeds to list numerous instances where the western world is cowering, appeasing and giving way entirely to forces that would utterly destroy our freedoms. To name a few;

1. In the Danish cartoon crises the European Union Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security proposed "prudence" when dealing with Islam, aka...Islam is off limits!

2. Steyn himself is currently being sued by the Canadian Islamic Congress because of his "flagrant Islamophobia."

3. The British government is "issuing Sharia-compliant Islamic bonds,

4. Steyn reports that the Fortis Bank, in London, "has stopped using Knorbert the piglet as a mascot for fear of offending Muslims,

5. And, according to Steyn, last month the Archbishop of Canterbury said that it was dangerous to have one law for eneryone and that the introduction of Sharia to the United Kingdom was "inevitable." Oh, yes, the ugly spector of relativism haunts the Church as well.

I only touched the surface with these snippets. Steyn concludes, if this is what is happening now with Muslims at 10% of the population, what will happen when they are 20%...? "Honor killings" are taking place in our own big cities right now.

I would argue, that when one sees true liberty, piece by piece, being abolished, all in the name of tolerance and peace...we are severely off the tracks!

There are absolutes in regard to man's highest and noblest aspirations. It is my contention, they are as firmly planted in our nature as is our DNA.

If we want to go anywhere we're going to need those tracks.