“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” E.B. White
I prefer a third option – my desire is to experience the world. I am too old to think much about improving the world. I don ‘t have many years left. Improving the world is a young person’s activity. Young people (anyone under 40 years old) still believe in their ability to plan a world according to the basic tenets of humankind – good and evil. I remain hopeful that good will triumph, but looking at our planet’s history of attempts at goodness I am not encouraged. Good intentions and hope-filled actions are almost always interrupted by darker forces – war, poverty, injustice, greed, pettiness, etc. Can you think of any time when good triumphed? As a Christian, I was brought up to believe that when Jesus comes back, goodness will reign supreme for eternity. But that hasn’t happened yet. Jesus’ last foray into sharing goodness with folks didn’t end so well so I have some doubts that the next time might end differently.
And one has to be completely immune to the news to believe one can enjoy the world. We are constantly bombarded with endless news cycles laying out for us the pain and suffering, the nihilism, the selfishness, and misunderstanding among folks who don’t seem to be enjoying each other’s company. It’s not just rich v poor, republican v democrat, all the common binary choices we are given to consider. It is the fundamental theme, I believe that you and I cannot enjoy the world because no one seems to know how to enjoy anything these days. The pandemic of 2020 makes enjoyment that much tougher. And these days, if I am caught enjoying most anything I am called horrible names describing my lack of understanding of, and compassion for, the oppression and marginalization of so many categories of people and situations. I am asked how I can enjoy the world when so many are suffering, are kept down, are disregarded, not seen as mattering.
So I am choosing all that’s left for me. I am choosing to experience the world. I choose to take in all that my senses can stand. I choose to engage fully with all points of view, reserving judgment, and condemnation as someone else’s right to decide. I choose to experience and observe everything around me. Some days there is horror, some days utter beauty and simplicity. Some days people are remarkably good, some days they turn on each other with venomous actions.
I am rejecting binary choices – good/bad, rich/poor, matters/doesn’t matter, useful/wasteful. No more drama, no more judgment, just jumping in to experience the world and wonder how it all fits together. You see when I am experiencing the world rather than improving or enjoying it, I get to choose the standards, the values, the definitions I use to describe what I experience in the world. I get to filter everything I experience through the lenses of the things I hold dear.
My filters are these: hope, noble purpose, compassion, easing suffering, giving, beauty, truth, justice, and several others close to my heart. So whatever the news I read or see or hear, I filter it through those virtues. Suddenly I find hope, I see folks doing kind, noble things for others, I see goodness in all that I experience. This is my choice – to experience the world through my values. That’s my plan.
A side benefit is that I find myself praying for the world to be touched by folks bent on improving it and I am encouraged by those who are finding they can enjoy the world. Me, I just experience the world according to what I hold dear. I try to live by three simple maxims paraphrased from John Wesley: do no harm, do all the good you can, find occasions to thank the world for not giving up on me, on us. That’s my plan for tomorrow. Have a great week, improving, enjoying, or experiencing the world. Find your own peace of mind.