Asleep at the Wheel

I opened the news this morning on my computer to see the obituaries of two diametrically opposed men. On one hand there was the death of Kim Il Jung of North Korea, on the other, the death of Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic. It is unfortunate that so much press will be given to the former versus the latter. The rhetoric of "ding-dong the witch is dead" over the North Korean leader and opinion pieces of how wonderful it will be for the world that he is gone will totally supplant the quiet news of the passing of a truly great man. Many of you might not recognize the name, Vaclav Havel. He was a poet and playright who came to fame as a dissident voice against Communism. In the "Velvet Revolution" he was a key player and served as first President of both Czeckoslovakia and the Czech Republic. Havel was insightful, humble, spiritual and morally sound. His ability to name the ills of his land in the post-Communistic rebuild were keys to how that nation built itself into a stable force in middle Europe. He wrote seemingly constantly, and there is a collection of his essays entitled, "Summer Meditations" from 1991 that are truly wonderful and spiritually meaningful. One quote struck me as I was musing over his life and his accomplishments. Here it is: "Time and time again I have been persuaded that a huge potential of goodwill is slumbering within our society. It’s just that it’s incoherent, suppressed, confused, crippled and perplexed — as though it does not know what to rely on, where to begin, where or how to find meaningful outlets. In such a state of affairs, politicians have a duty to awaken this slumbering potential, to offer it direction and ease its passage, to encourage it and give it room, or simply hope. They say a nation gets the politicians it deserves. [...] At the same time – paradoxically – the opposite is also true; society is a mirror of its politicians. It is largely up to the politicians which social forces they choose to liberate and which they choose to suppress, whether they rely on the good in each citizen or the bad." "Slumbering goodwill"...it echoes Martin Luther King Jr's. sadness at the reticence of good people to become engaged by the wrongs that they see. In this time, though these words are 20 years old (at least) don't they still ring true? Hasn't our goodwill become "incoherent, suppressed, confused, crippled and perplexed"? One just needs to look at the current debates on any political topic or social ill and see that there's no guidance, no compass, no cogent thought processes. In a democratic society, we get the leaders that we deserve and they are truly a reflection of who we are at the time. Can the current crop of politicians really "awaken this slumbering potential" or are we all just going to continue in our self-induced stupor towards ruin? The writings of Havel give us a view towards a revitalized and fully aroused state: "There is no simple set of instructions on how to proceed. A moral and intellectual state cannot be established through a constitution, or through law, or through directives, but only through complex, long-term, and never-ending work involving education and self-education. [...] It is not, in short, something we can simply declare or introduce. It is a way of going about things, and it demands the courage to breathe moral and spiritual motivation into everything, to seek the human dimension in all things. Science, technology, expertise, and so-called professionalism are not enough. Something more is necessary. For the sake of simplicity, it might be called spirit. Or feeling. Or conscience." Hmmmm, the "courage to breathe moral and spiritual motivation into everything". He suggests that secular education and re-educaiton are not enough, he suggests that we also need to engage equally in reconnecting our spiritual and moral selves so that we can make decisions based on graeter ideals than our own petty selves. Can a dedication to spiritual disciplines arouse our sleeping goodwill and set us on a better path? Well, I'm not sure, but it seems prudent to say that what we're currently doing is not working and look for another option. Spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting, journaling, spiritual direction, worship and spending time with sacred texts have opened the eyes and minds of countless people over the millenia, maybe it's not too late for us. Peace for the journey, Dan