We suffer because we lack distraction.
Healing is important, working on childhood wounds is crucial, and setting boundaries is valuable. But the occupation with the self and being exactly right in order to face the world is also simply a consequence of having no distractions. Real distractions, not the distractions that flicker across our screens but the ones that give us meaning and tear us away from ourselves and bring us into a larger experience. That allows us to be a part of a whole and not the whole thing entirely.
People of the past have suffered, and many have suffered more than us –but how often did they have to suffer the presence of their own being? To constantly look in the mirror and be forced to look at their own image, alone. Is the pain of a loved one being at war easier when you too are involved in the war effort? When all of society is coming together to face a common enemy? When you’re simply part of one larger moving body, not simply an individual suffering your own pain. In my simple understanding of the Vietnam War, it was the first time soldiers came back to an ‘audience’ with mixed reviews, of boos and cheers. The facade of fighting ‘for your country’ fell apart when they were met with the scoff of angry protesters who detested the war. How different that must have felt from the World War 1 heroes who knew that were fighting for the greater good and could be met with great prestige once they found their way home.
War is difficult. Life is difficult. But the cohesiveness of the society around you, the feeling that we are in this together –or not, changes everything. The culture wars do not just represent varying values they represent a new reality in which we cannot depend on seeking outer strength for our solitary reality.
But we can’t wake up and suddenly create a community. Communities are cultivated long before any single person is born and they die with the lack of cultivation. We don’t need healing and inner work because we are objectively worse off than our ancestors but because we are less sheltered. Our selves are showing and there is no tribe, community, or intactness of any kind to latch on to and detach ourselves for a while. It’s us 24/7 dealing with ourselves, there’s just no way around it.
And strength is found in Allah alone.
Related:
- Loners in the Age of Distraction https://bythefigandtheolive.com/loners/
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Photo by Ali Karimiboroujeni on Unsplash
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