Carpe diem November 28, 2008
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“You have live in the present. With no regrets of the past and no fear of the future. Otherwise you miss perfect moments in the present.” That was the advice Ashleigh gave to me just a moment ago in response to my time urgency. Her advice calls one to live in the present, to act in the moment. It is not a call to neglect the future and squander one’s resources on fleeting pleasures and extravagance to offer temporal satisfaction in the present. To believe that her advice implied thus is to misinterpret it or to understand it too simplistically. Instead, Ashleigh’s advice represents a wider call to act now in the time that one has. Tolkien advised this also through the character of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings; “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
Do you ever wish you could do something meaningful with your life? If one takes Ashleigh’s advice, then perhaps the answer is to do something meaningful now. Now does not mean only this day and hour which shall come to pass and then never again; rather now means every day and every hour. For now is one’s life. If one acts with purpose in every moment of now then one has truly acted with meaning throughout their entire life. To quote Lloyd John Ogilvie: “Living each day as if it were out only day makes for a total life lived at full potential.”
Enacting something meaningful in the now does not necessarily have to be something large and grand. It is quite often the simplest of things, most often taken for granted, that are the most meaningful, and if performed in the now throughout one’s life – fill one’s life with meaning. Such simple things may include a smile to a stranger or even laughter among friends, or a kind word of comfort to someone in distress. In the words of Mother Teresa, “We can do no great things; only small things with great love.” In this understanding, therefore, the magnitude of the action, whether great or small, is less important than the purpose with which it is performed. A simple task, therefore, may be filled with valour, even if it is without renown. Regardless of magnitude, the action stands on its own merit.
On Superficiality November 26, 2008
Posted by Stewart in All posts.Tags: superficiality
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Superficiality describes formulating an understanding of something by examining only the surface of it, such as its outward appearance. Superficiality is thus characterised by the shallow processing of a stimulus according to its general features, and a lack of depth, which is an expression of its failure to provide a full or complete understanding or account of something.
We live in a culture that tends to emphasise the apparent importance of mere appearances, such as those of status, notoriety, money, power or position. These are the superficial images that form the facade of personality, and yet we often come to idolize these, vainly believing in the illusory hope that they are of some great value or worth, or that they shall perhaps fill our hearts and so provide enduring contentment to our existence. Pope Benedict XVI contemplated how one may idolize superficialities, stating in an address to a crowd in France:
“The word ‘idol’ comes from the Greek and means ‘image’, ‘figure’, ‘representation’, but also ‘ghost’, ‘phantom’, ‘vain appearance’. An idol is a delusion, for it turns its worshiper away from reality and places him in the kingdom of mere appearances. … Have not money, the thirst for possessions, for power and even for knowledge, diverted man from his true destiny?”
The question is quite clearly one of value and where one centers one’s existence. Is my existence founded upon truth or at the very least a search for truth, or is founded upon some fanciful fantasy – a reality that is precarious and deceptive by nature because it is centered in the realm of mere appearances. Appearances which, though enticing, may turn out to be false. Am I chasing a phantom?
Therein lies the ultimate failure of superficiality, that is, it rests upon the shallow processing of a stimulus according to its appearances, and thus it fails to look beyond the surface to process the content of a stimulus with any great depth of detail. The understanding generated from shallow processing is thus limited and based solely upon observed appearances of an object or subject’s surface.
An added problem that superficiality seems to generate is that sometimes it creates barriers. We sometimes use our earthly differences to build a wall, behind which we hide seeking an illusory sense of security. It is a form of isolationism that is challenging to break. But in breaking this isolationism and truly interacting and connecting with other human beings we find a common humanity on a deep level. This deep level can never be achieved by shallow processing, only by breaking free from centering our existence in the realm of appearances.
It is often said that one should not judge a book by its cover, rather by its content. Similarly, one should not judge an argument by its style, but by its substance. The logical extension of this, therefore, is that one should not judge a person by their mere appearances, but by the content of their character, as Martin Luther King Jr. would declare. Shattering superficiality is achieved, therefore, by deep processing that examines beyond the surface of something to see the character or nature behind it.
Before God, we are all stripped of our superficialities, of our outward appearances, whether they take the form of wealth, status, notoriety or power; we are stripped of them and all extravagances; the superficial facade of our personality crumbles in His presence so that only our innermost heart is revealed in the light of truth. God’s almighty gaze pierces through the surface of our character and touches the very core of our existence itself.
