The Age of Confusion?

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I’m a big fan of wildlife and outdoor videos, mostly on YouTube.

I recently watched a video showing half a dozen toddler bears exiting their den among boulders, seeing the outside for the first time. They were hesitant, afraid, but obviously eager to explore the world outside their birthplace.

They were the model of cuteness but seemed to be confused about everything they saw and heard, darting here and there, trying to make sense of everything. They would often stand at the entrance to the den to try to absorb what they were seeing, then dash into the den again, apparently seeing the world as too scary.

I couldn’t help but think about how many humans are confused and fearful in a similar way. In many countries and neighborhoods, fear is a way of life. And, in many western countries, including the U.S., this seems to be the age of confusion - in politics, religion, sexuality, human relations, business and the marketplace.

Like Sheep Without a Shepherd

It brings to mind what Jesus said in Luke’s gospel, before the miracle of the loaves and fishes. He and his disciples had gone to a “lonely place,” but many people “saw them going and knew them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns….” Seeing a great crowd, Jesus “had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

Even many who profess faith as Jews and Christians are infected by this confusion. We say we believe in the Bible, and for Catholics and others, in church teachings, but we act in just the opposite way. We live a kind of practical atheism. Jesus, in Matthew’s gospel, put his finger on this problem when he quoted the Prophet Isaiah: “This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

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One of the problems, seems to me, is this notion of self-sufficiency which we try to promote in ourselves. It convinces us that we don’t need anyone else, that we can live the “good life” by our own wits, by making “good choices.” We can’t accept that self-sufficiency is an illusion.

Fact is, from the air we breathe to the food we eat, we’re dependent on God’s gift of order in the natural world and the work and wits of others. Our happiness, in reality, greatly depends on our relationship with others, and with God.     

It’s no surprise that failure to make these facts part of the background to all our thinking results in confusion. Combined with the factors that distract us from God and neighbor – the relentless screen time on phones, TV and streaming video (like my wildlife videos), the lure (and sometimes fanaticism) of sports, the near obsession with making more money, and the inability to see others as brothers and sisters – we seem to dash from one thing to another like the bear cubs at their den.

We have little time for thought, for prayer, for noticing and appreciating the incredible beauty and order around us, for other people. All of these, seems to me, are antidotes for confusion.

Bleak Picture?

I know I’m providing a bleak assessment of the extent of confusion, but I try to be realistic in these blogs, and I believe many of these observations are on track. But I also believe in the eternal optimism dictated by my faith.

Unlikely as it seems, I believe there is a layer to reality that that is mostly ignored or forgotten. And that’s the spiritual dimension that puts our screen time, sports, money and the ability to see others as brothers and sisters, in their proper places.

But with thoughtfulness and prayer, we can be more aware of this dimension of life. We can take Scripture and our church’s or faith’s teachings more seriously and learn to be aware of God’s presence, in and around us and others.

And in so doing, we can become catalysts for change – for less confusion and for more connection with the natural world, with other people, and with God.