Being spring planting time, I did not anticipate a blog entry today, but feel that I should. The last two essays have been rather bleak in outlook and I don't want readers to get the impression that all is lost from my perspective. I had written a note to myself last week to make this week's entry more uplifting - for I am filled with hope and even joy at times with the sunrise, as with most. However, my friend came up in a blog this week and I felt compelled to write about him. Given what happened, I should have known it would not have a happy conclusion.
Pope John, in a speech to the 2nd Vatican Council, said: "In these times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin...We feel we must disagree with these prophets of gloom. In the present order of things, divine providence is leading us to a a new order of human relations which, by human effort, and even beyond human expectation, are directed toward the fulfillment of God's higher and inscrutable designs; and everything, even human differences, leads to the greater good of the church." While I can and do argue with points of view of popes and saints alike, can I argue with such a grand vision? It is true that we have to watch it - we have all done things, or know people who have done things, that have led to unsavory ends - and this holds true for our species at large. Yes, we have to watch it, but we did not make this world nor can we unmake it. There is at some level, and probably at every level, intelligent design. While rational observation shows that we may be headed towards a bleak cul-de-sac, rational observation or thought cannot explain any of the big questions. In the end we must watch it, yes, but ultimately depend on powers beyond us. It is from this or these that we got here, and probably from this that we will find our destiny. No polyanism here but gloom is just as short-sighted and misconstrued - and perhaps arrogant.
And so I will go to plow and plant with the near certainty that my efforts will pay off with growth and food. I should be as certain that the good efforts and will of so many in this world will pay off in such bounty as well. FK
Pope John, in a speech to the 2nd Vatican Council, said: "In these times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin...We feel we must disagree with these prophets of gloom. In the present order of things, divine providence is leading us to a a new order of human relations which, by human effort, and even beyond human expectation, are directed toward the fulfillment of God's higher and inscrutable designs; and everything, even human differences, leads to the greater good of the church." While I can and do argue with points of view of popes and saints alike, can I argue with such a grand vision? It is true that we have to watch it - we have all done things, or know people who have done things, that have led to unsavory ends - and this holds true for our species at large. Yes, we have to watch it, but we did not make this world nor can we unmake it. There is at some level, and probably at every level, intelligent design. While rational observation shows that we may be headed towards a bleak cul-de-sac, rational observation or thought cannot explain any of the big questions. In the end we must watch it, yes, but ultimately depend on powers beyond us. It is from this or these that we got here, and probably from this that we will find our destiny. No polyanism here but gloom is just as short-sighted and misconstrued - and perhaps arrogant.
And so I will go to plow and plant with the near certainty that my efforts will pay off with growth and food. I should be as certain that the good efforts and will of so many in this world will pay off in such bounty as well. FK
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