Our society is hell-bent on eliminating all shadows – all pain and inconveniences. So it has declared an all-out war against any source of light (ideals, beliefs, values) and all causes of shadows (people, situations that are demanding). It does this in two ways – either get rid of the light or of the thing or person that blocks it.
We have become experts in switching off the lights that show the path to true humanity. Moral values, integrity, nature, faithfulness and God all help to bring out the best in us. But these are inconvenient lights. They restrict our unbridled freedom to seek our self-interest, casting on us intolerable shadows of commitment to others, self-sacrifice and humility. So, the light must be switched off.
The light of objective truth has been replaced by realism and subjective freedom. We need to be practical and realistic, and, of course, we are grown up now and sufficiently enlightened to think and decide for ourselves. Live and let live, that’s the mantra. No God or authority can dictate or impose… (except those who are in power, of course!)
Values came tumbling down. Each individual is free to pursue his or her brand of happiness. Little does it matter that this relegates us to the dark shadows of individualism and depressing isolation.
The life-giving ideal of a stable and solid family was another victim of this new, progressive enlightenment. Divorce did not destroy the family. It was just the acknowledgement of a factual reality, claiming to shed a new light on the dark and painful shadow of broken lives and stunted children.
We have shot down the idea of nature being a home and a mother. Instead of seeing it as a life-giving gift we have reduced nature to be just another resource to be exploited by our greediness.
No wonder we became failed parents ourselves. Children became either another right to be enjoyed or a burden to be destroyed. Embryo manipulation and all methods of abortions have the same root: if life is no longer holy, then we’re free to fabricate or destroy it at will.
We need neither to switch off any light nor eliminate any inconvenient shadow, but simply let the light brighten the shadows
This is the tragedy of a secularist society: in replacing the sacredness of humanity with an enlightened humanism we change everything and everyone into a mere consumable – fodder for expediency, pleasure or success. When an unwanted child is seen as the aggressive invader of a reluctant mother’s body, privacy or plans, is this not great poverty?
When fear of pain becomes supreme, helplessness and hopelessness take over. It is just one step away from snuffing the light of one’s own life. No invocation of dignity or freedom erases the sad shadow of suicide, assisted or not. It is a sham cover-up of defeat by dehumanising pain.
But all is not lost. There is another way of illuminating the darkest shadows. This way is indeed more dignified, more human and more divine. It is called transparency.
Made in the image of God we humans are called to be the transparent conveyors of His light, instead of its blockers.
When we open our hearts, souls and minds to God and to our fellow human beings, we radiate the light of beauty, faith, hope and love, thus shining on others rather eliminating them by casting over them our deadly shadows of prejudice, greed and corruption.
We need neither to switch off any light nor eliminate any inconvenient shadow, but simply let the light brighten the shadows. Thus our human condition can be lit up from the inside, transforming pain into a life-giving force. Since time immemorial we humans have called this force love. We believers call it God.
If our society is so terrified of shadows that are becoming darker and more deadly, it is because we are losing our transparency, having declared war on the light of any inconvenient truth. In actively banishing an inconvenient God from our midst, we are banishing the love and the light that make us truly human.
How can we not realise that the higher the towers of greed and power go up to dominate the heavens, the longer and deeper their shadows will grow to darken our poor earth here below?
pchetcuti@gmail.com
Fr Paul Chetcuti is a member of the Society of Jesus.