How on earth did we stray so far from the paths of wisdom that we find ourselves in this God-forsaken place that is our modern world?
I am fond of telling the story of an American tourist who gets himself hopelessly lost somewhere in the wilds of the west of Ireland. In desperation, he stops to ask an Irishman the way. “If I were you,” the rustic sage replies, “I wouldn’t start from here.”
We might not think such advice very helpful and no doubt our lost American tourist found it exasperating and infuriating in equal measure. And yet there is an odd sort of wisdom in the Irishman’s words, at least if we take them metaphorically. With regard to the state of our modern world, we might indeed lament that we are so hopelessly lost that this isn’t a very good place to start. How on earth did we stray so far from the paths of wisdom that we find ourselves in such a God-forsaken place? And yet we have no option but to start looking for the right place from the wrong place in which we find ourselves. Furthermore, we are already moving in the right direction as soon as we know we are lost. There are, after all, none so lost as those who don’t know that they’re lost. And this is the problem we face.
Those on the so-called “left” have no idea they are lost. In spite of the temporary setback of the last election, they are convinced that humanity is “progressing” towards a better future because, well, there’s something magical at work, which means that humanity is always ascending from the ignorance of its past to a bright and better future. There might be no God but the Nothing that animates the cosmos is nonetheless benign, guiding the ascent of man with its non-existent hand. The past stinks but the future will be a bed of roses (genetically modified by “progress” so that the roses will have no thorns). Those who have taken this left-fork in the road are now wandering further and further from the true path in pursuit of a mythical future golden age, a utopian Nowhere.
But what of those on the so-called “right”? There’s a certain brand of so-called “conservative” who believes, in spite of the temporary respite of the last election, that humanity is regressing towards a dark and deadly future because, well, there’s something black-magical at work, which means that humanity is inexorably descending from a bright and better past to a dark and dismal future. There might be a God in Heaven, but He’s not as powerful as the Devil, which is why we’re all headed for Hell. The past smells of roses, but the future stinks. Those who have taken this right-fork in the road are, as if by magic, on the same road as those who took the left-fork. They are heading for the same place, though the one on the “right” considers that the path leads to a mythical dark age, and not a golden age—a dystopia, not a utopia. They are both on the same road to Nowhere.
And then there are those on the road not taken, those who have spurned both forks in the road as they would spurn both forks on the serpent’s tongue. They don’t seek the heaven on earth, the utopia of the progressives, knowing all too well that it doesn’t exist and will never exist. Nor do they fear the hell on earth, the dystopia of the prophets of doom, because they know that their hell is the same as the progressives’ heaven. It is Nowhere.
They know that what will be will be very similar to what has been. They know that the future will stink as the past has stunk. They know that sin will stain the future, as it stains the present and has stained the past. They also know that virtue will be the candle which enlightens the future, as it was the candle which enlightened the past and enlightens the present. They are not on the so-called “left” or the so-called “right” because they are convinced that humanity is neither progressing nor regressing but merely playing its part in a story—His Story which we call history, in which the same lessons are taught (and sometimes even learned) like motifs in a great symphony of meaning. They know that the roses of wisdom are good to see, true to the touch, and have a beautiful scent, but they also know that they can only be reached on a path of thorns. They know, indeed, that the garland of roses is inseparable from the crown of thorns.
This is why those on the road not taken can be found clambering through the brambles of life, seeking the roses amidst the thorns. They are found there because they know that the road to Heaven, the only road worth taking, includes the purgatorial path of suffering. They wander from the road to nowhere because they are not lost. And as for the God-forsaken place in which we find ourselves, the only thing we can truly say about it is that it is not God-forsaken.
This essay was first published here in January 2017.
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Always the same stink? How about waiting in dread and fear because the Huns are coming, for example? Or the Vikings? Or the Nazis? Or… Isn’t that how we get lulled into apathy? Thinking the future will be just like today?
I agree. Of *course* life progresses and gets better, if it didn’t life would be pointless and largely a waste of time. The problem with left wingers is their “Progress” is entirely phony. Without belief in God, their only progress would be in hogging up more and more power for themselves. In contrast, Christianity represents TRUE progress, in that the world can be improved both morally and materially. The only alternative is stagnation, which would lead to boredom at the very least, and apathy followed by despair at worst.
Wonderful stuff. A plague on both their houses!
walking through the fields and forests may be a lot slower than running either of the paths, but is what this life is really all about.
Revelation C:3 v[16] So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
Seems like the ones who do not take either road are nether hot nor cold..
In the Divine Comedy, Dante meets angels who can neither enter into the Kingdom, not could they enter into Hell. They were the ones who neither joined Michael, nor satan, in the
exorcism of the rebellion. Sometimes a bad choice is better then no choice; at least a choice
was made. Our lives are made of a lot of bad choices. Our losing the difficult path and
becoming lost, but Thank-You Jesus for the Sacrament of Penance which places us again
on the difficult way! In other words, whos to say that those who made no decision, were any
better than those who chose Left or Right.
Loved the article.
Barbara, your statement made the author’s point. Wars have happened since the beginning of humanity. They won’t cease until the end of it. He’s telling you to expect trouble because that’s the way it has always been and always will be. The past stinks, so does the future, until He comes again. Christians look forward to that day, making the best of the mess we live in until it arrives.
“If I were you,” the rustic sage replies, “I wouldn’t start from here.”
The version I always knew (from many many years ago) always involved a Northern New Englander (Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine Yankee), who would tell the hapless flatlander, “Yuh cahnt get theah from heah.”
The twin misguided views of both the past and the future described by the author are rightly argued to be avoided. Though readers may still be compelled to embrace either vision, this much may be safely and hopefully said: we have never lived– nor do we now–in a “God-forsaken” world. Transcending ideology, economics and worldviews, God still reigns. For this we may all be thankful.
Our society has long been in a downward spiral and is deteriorating day by day. The breakdown of the family unit is omnipresent, and there is a pervasive morals differential across the board. Materialistic elements supersede character, honor, humility, compassion and sacrifice, the major tenet of Christianity.
Faith has become merely a word…
“For those who are nonbelievers, no explanation is possible”.
“For those who are believers, no explanation is necessary”.
Ms. Pamela
Very encouraging.
Thank you!
The roads to the left and right have not recognized God. But we Christians KNOW there’s God. So we consequently choose a separate road from the others. We see the true, the beautiful, and the good. We have a strong reason for hope in this path of thorns, Christ promised to be with us until the end of time. We see the light, be it ever so faint, we don’t “feel” it, we see it. I like this piece of writing.