When I focus on the news headlines and many conflicts of our time, I am overwhelmed. When all I see is the big picture of bad and worse news, it is hard to muster the energy to get out of bed, never mind figuring out how and where I might try to make a difference. In the grand scheme of life, my one life seems so tiny and has very little power. So, the question that has surfaced lately is, what can one life do? How can any of us have an impact? Where can meaning be found?
I was initially drawn to religion and ministry because of my delight in sitting with the “big” questions of existence. As I age, I find those questions have shifted and changed both in what they mean to me and how I approach answering them. I am less interested in once-and-for-all pronouncements, and more interested in sussing out what is being called forth from me. What do I have to give now? How might I be of service to ideals like love and justice? What is the connection between my individual life and the greater, common good?
I read a column recently, and its title has stuck with me as a kind of mantra, “start close in.” Rather than seeking large scale or grand gesture type efforts, I can begin with any and every interaction I have. Deliberately and intentionally focus on each interaction. If the prevailing ethos of our time is individualism and suspicion of the other, then trying to imbue every connection with kindness is an act of creation. I would like to believe that it is better to see every person I encounter as a potential friend rather than a potential threat. I would like to live in a world that sees each life as a potential source of good and hope. If I want to believe in these things, if I want my aspirations and ideals to still have a place, then I will need to live as if they are so.
I know that such an approach to living can be seen as naïve and like Pollyanna. The world is full of violence and meanness and cruelty. I am in no way diminishing this truth. However, if I live as if the harshest of truths about our world (and the ways we treat one another) are the only truths, I may as well give up. If I “start close in” and try to have the ripple effect out from me be one of positive possibility, then I am living in the direction of my hopes rather than my fears. It is certainly easier to live in the fear that is encouraged in us.
We seem to be suffering from a collective fear and anxiety plague these days. So many people I talk with feel immobilized and stopped by pervasive and generalized fear. What seems to help is connection. Any and every way we can undermine the sense that the world is out to get us allows us to move forward.
What kind of world do you want to live in? What connections do you want to have with people beyond the circle of your family? What role do kindness and compassion have to play? May we find a way to connect across all perceived barriers. May we find a way to live toward our hopes and make a difference.
Rev. Shana Lyngood is co-minister of First Unitarian Church of Victoria. She has loved and served in Victoria since 2010
You can read more articles from our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking, HERE
* This article was published in the print edition of the Times Colonist HERE
