LOST?
It Could Help Us Find Our Way Home
by CSW Director Rob Field
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election, I’ve been feeling lost.
I’ve felt this way before, but this is the longest sustained sense of being lost I’ve ever experienced. Amidst my uncertainty and confusion, I’ve wanted to blame someone or something:
It’s the hurricane and its aftermath! (my latest theory)
It’s the political party I’m not voting for!
It’s the 21st century’s dizzying pace of change!
All I know for sure is that I didn’t want to feel lost unless I could at least tell myself why.
Yet my present sense of lostness can’t even offer me that cold comfort. There are too many interwoven causes to untangle them all, and singling out one won’t give me true clarity. It turns out I have a lot of company. The latest national surveys say 40 to 50 percent of my fellow citizens have negative feelings about the present and the future. Many of my friends, family members, and acquaintances tell me they’ve never felt more disoriented.
Although I don’t like it, feeling lost might just be the best thing. I agree with those who believe America has been spoiled by the relative peace, prosperity, and constitutionally-mandated freedoms that many (but certainly not all) Americans enjoyed for decades. Somewhere along the way, I started taking it for granted that political stability, a growing economy, and rising equality for all were permanent facts of life. I enjoyed this illusion for years, and eventually became complacent. I forgot that democracy and a rising tide of prosperity, shared by all people, don’t happen without struggle and concerted action.
In the days before a highly consequential election, I’ve been thinking about the spiritual dimensions of living in a democracy. Comfort and complacency (not to mention high levels of distrust and discontent) are threats to our political system. Author and educator Parker Palmer says there are 5 “habits of the heart” we need for a healthy democracy. Among them are An understanding that we are all in this together, An appreciation of the value of ‘otherness’, and A capacity to create community.
At their best, the world’s religious and spiritual traditions support these habits of the heart. Most religions offer a story that explains how we are members of an extended network that encompasses us, all beings, and the created order. Yet too many “religious” people in recent generations have ignored these stories and their implications for the world. Mature spiritual traditions also recognize the importance of diversity and the wisdom that comes from strangers and prophets. And the highest forms of religion insist on communal solidarity to meet the challenges faced by Earth and all creatures.
I realize I’m feeling lost because I don’t see enough evidence that these “habits of the heart” are widely shared. And I don’t expect much improvement until more of us wake up, grow up, show up, and step up. It must start with me and, if you accept the invitation, each one of us.
The good news? Knowing we’re lost can help us eventually find our way home again.
photo by Andrew Neel via Unsplash