Thus said Thomas Hardy - a man rather notorious for his unChristian pessimism. Yet he was surely right on this point.
At least, that is my philosophy, and that of this blog. Some readers sometimes comment and send e-mails assuming I am on the cusp of some kind of despairing breakdown; but the truth is that I regard ignorant, self-blinded optimism as a feeble kind of pseudo-faith.
Before being cheerful stoical, and 'making the best of things'; we ought to consider, in a realistic fashion, if not exactly 'the worst' - at least where this situation is planned to go (by its architects); and also where it might go if it escapes from the plans (which happens often enough).
That is, at any rate, what I have attempted over the past few weeks. I think the plan for the world is a very evil one; and the actuality may be even worse; but having looked at that - I have found many compensations in the almost-palpable (well, actually palpable!) daily (hourly - when looked-for) evidences of the presence of the Holy Ghost and the work of God 'behind the scenes'.
(In between the usual 'wobbles' and waves of despair...) I have felt a deepending and strengthening of my Christian faith, an improvement in the scope of my perspective, a more solid hope and anticipated joy.
But all this exacts a full look at the worst - which ought not to be denied or ignored.
Comment from Jared:
ReplyDelete"What a great quote. And equally good post about it and the ... problem.
Being of a positive outlook by nature and temperament, I inform my viewpoint by reading and listening to those who are able to look at the other side of things.
My own experience with the negative and problems in life in general, is that it's kind of like the arcade 'whack-a-mole' where if you succeed on putting one mole down, another one will pop up and it's easy to miss problems we need to solve.
I think it's not good to be too naive. That being said, I think Heavenly Father loves each of us. My belief is that this means that he will guide us to those things that will be for our best good in the long run. What that means in this ... problem I don't know, but I think if we adjust our lives in a way that we are able to live out true Christian principles during this time, our experiences will help us reach our goal."