Day by Day

I haven’t posted for the last few weeks because I felt I had nothing worthwhile to say. But today I read a quote of Einstein’s that I don’t recall seeing before. It is: “Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” ― Albert Einstein

The more I think about that, the more I think that it is the best advice anyone could be given. It seems to slot in nicely with Maslow’s self actualisation. As we go through this life spending most of our allotted time fulfilling the lower needs of Maslow’s Hierarchy, I think we do need to pause from time to time to savour the awesome privilege of being alive. I think at the start and end of each day we could do worse than reflect on Einstein’s words. I think we need to cultivate that world view that Einstein speaks of in this old favourite that I’ve quoted so many times before. No matter, it still resonates:

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

Yet we never hear those words quoted by any politician. We never hear them quoted by any religious leader. We never see them quoted in any newspaper. And that is the world’s loss.

Once again: “Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” ― Albert Einstein

I think it’s time the world started listening to Einstein.

I’ve been thinking some more about Truth, or more particularly, how we come by it. For most of us, I would think we first look to our parents for our truth. Then to our teachers, and then to our religious instructors.  As we enter adolescence, we look to our peers. And then, we’re on our own. There is that constant weighing up of truth as we perceive it, and how it compares with that of others. Is it any wonder that following such a haphazard path we become seriously confused? Well, I did, and from what I know of others, they did too.

As a young adult in the little town in which I grew up, I became seriously depressed. Looking back, it isn’t surprising that I did. My life consisted of work, pub, work, and precious little else. I can remember I used to look to the Quotable Quotes in Readers Digest for guidance in this world. I used to seize on the thoughts of those whose words were deemed worthy of a quote, and I tried to gain some wisdom from them. I still look to quotes in order to glean some knowledge from the thoughts of those who went before us.  For me, the pursuit of knowledge is the main purpose of this life. I want to know all there is to know. I know, of course, that I never will, but then it’s said it’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive, isn’t it. That must have been one of the many quotes I read somewhere in the distant past. Only now, do I begin to understand its meaning.

This transfer of knowledge down through the ages is man’s greatest achievement. To me, it is a sacred trust, if I can permit myself to use a term usually associated with religion. I can think of no greater trust than to pass on a morsel of truth to those who come after us. And I can think of no greater betrayal of trust than to knowingly pass on an untruth, especially for personal gain.

Lately, some of those quotes that have been the guideposts in my life have had something to say about the manipulation by the media. Men and women in a position of power have deliberately abused the position of trust in order to propagate misinformation in order to benefit the rich and powerful. No better illustration of this is the comment by Rupert Murdoch that we should invade Iraq so that we could get oil for $20 a barrel.

Yet, millions of our fellows look to the Murdochs of this world for their information. They take on trust that the information that is passed on to them is the truth. They are unaware that they are being manipulated by unscrupulous people in a position of power. To me, that is a gross betrayal of trust. That is a betrayal of our precious humanity. I am reminded of the words of John Donne:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee…”

We are involved in mankind. We can choose to mindlessly follow the self serving truths of the likes of Murdoch, or we can carve out our own truths. At the end of the day the test will be Thoreau’s truth:  ““I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.”

And not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. And that’s the challenge to us all, isn’t it. That is Life.