THE PROBLEM WITH UNIVERSALISM AND NIHILISM

As I understand it, “universalism” means that everyone has an idea and no one can say another idea is better than yours, so everything is relative. “Nihilism,” in its modern cloak of invisibility, is that profound belief that all an individual has to do is follow their heart and life is fulfilled as nature intended. While I do hold that the apex and culmination of all reality are me, the individual, and The Church is the repository of knowledge, love, and service, I must abandon my false self each day to be able to see what is unseen and know what is unknown by my individual life experiences alone. Nihilism is the unspoken assumption of the vast majority of humans, as far as I can tell. Life has a purpose that is irrelevant.

One of my colleagues emailed me about a meeting with a friend who held that religion doesn’t mean much and all you have to be is a good person. The problem with that is who is to say what is good or bad unless it is me. If you have yourself as the standard of morality, you will justify that everything you do is correct. That is hardly the basis for extrapolating your behavior to that of all other humans.

Here are some of my thoughts as I approach the notion of nihilism and the tendency of humans to be amoral to behaviors that make them uncomfortable. Humans have a problem with doing what is right versus what is easy. Who is to say what is right? Christ says we must take up our cross DAILY and follow the way, my unique way, in order to love others so that I might maintain and sustain our life as an adopted son or daughter of the Father. Reflect, for a moment, on the words of Christ and how that means you must deny yourself and take up his cross. What cross?

The Conditions of Discipleship.^*

24^q Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,^* take up his cross, and follow me.

25^r For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.^*

26 What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

27^* s For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.

28^* Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/16

MY PERCEPTIONS

Here are some ideas that challenge the notion of individualism and a subtle form of nihilism.

Everyone has an opinion about anything. Everyone cannot be correct about the meaning of life. Christ came to tell us how to begin to approach three fundamental questions that confront each human and must be learned before they die:

1. What does it mean to be fully human as nature intended?

2. How can I love profoundly?

3. How can I solve the Divine Equation that unlocks the meaning of life? This Equation does not tell me who God is, which I can’t know except through Christ, but who I am. 

a. What is the purpose of all life?

b. What is my purpose within that purpose of life?

c. What does reality look like?

d. How does it all fit together?

e. How can I love firecely?

f. I know I am going to die; now what?

Both the questions and the answers come from the Divine nature. All I have to do is listen and wait for the answers. I do that by being present to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

If you do not cut your grass, you must be content with living with the weeks. Before long, nature overtakes the lack of attention to the grass. Cutting grass takes work. You need to use the right tools and do the work. It is inconvenient (unless you hire it done). 

Taking up the cross is looking at life as a journey, one with rocky paths and smooth ones. Just because your path is rocky, doesn’t mean you are on the wrong path. 

As a Lay Cistercian, I place myself in the presence of God each day and seek God as God is present. (conversio morae) This is contemplation and takes not only work but a mastery that can never be mastered.

Life is the struggle between the kingdom of earth and the kingdom of heaven.  Christ came to give us the energy as humanity and me (Baptism) to be lifted up to that next level while still retaining my humanity until I die. 

If I listen to only my will, I do not have the capability nor the capacity to move to that higher level of my humanity, that of being an adopted son (daughter) of the Father and heir to the kingdom of heaven now and later.

I have everything I need (not everything I want) to fulfill my humanity. All I have to do is see myself as an adopted son (knowledge), love with all my heart, and do to others what I myself have received in grace and energy (service).

Christ came to tell us the way, what is truth, and therefore how to live our lives in such a way that we don’t become ensnared in the wiley temptations of Satan who seeks to use our humanity against us, and we don’t even see it coming.

Be strong in the faith that comes from being in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Stay close to the Blessed Mother’s example. Seek to be in the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist and adoration of the blessed sacrament. As a Lay Cistercian, try to seek God each day as God is, not my will.

Do not worry about what others say or do. As St. Benedict says in his Rule, “prefer nothing to the love of Christ.” Nothing! Allow the energy of the Holy Spirit to transform you from your old self (old wine sins) to receive the new wine of Christ in new skins.

Embrace the martyrdom of ordinary living which means transforming all from the everyday view of the world to that of the Spirit. (Galatians 5) Christ makes all things new in me when I convert myself from that citizen of the hearth to a citizen of heaven. This takes an act of free will on my part to abandon my reliance on just my humanity to take into myself the divine energy, with, through, and in Christ, so I don’t overload my neurons and fry my brain. 

Be dependent upon God for all things that lead to leading the life of an adopted son or daughter.

Dependence on God.^*

25ⁿ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

26Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?^o

27Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?^*

28Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.

29But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.

30^* If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

31So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’

32All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

33But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness,^* and all these things will be given you besides.

34Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.

Matthew 6:25

Just because your road is rocky, doesn’t mean you are on the wrong road.