(39) Change & Commitment

"Because scientific explanations of natural phenomena
change so rapidly in the light of new knowledge it seems
that any understanding we may have of ourselves or the
human situation can only have limited and temporary
validity. Consequently, our time has become an age of the
half-hearted commitment..."
[John Main, LETTERS FROM THE HEART: CHRISTIAN
MONASTICISM AND THE RENEWAL OF COMMUNITY,
Crossroad, 1982, p. 90.]

Comment: The late John Main became a Benedictine monk
after serving in the Far East with the British Colonial Service.
He was also a specialist in International Law.

Though John Main wrote the above quote well over a quarter
century back, I believe his words still ring true. Most thinking
folk now know that we live on the cusp of a New Time. Since
World War II *technology* has proliferated; and, in turn,
technology has enabled scientists to observe more specifically
both the outer universe and the inner universe.

In my role as a philosophical story-teller, I recently put together
a short tale about a scientist who was trying to discover what
he called the "Plenum of the Universe." And what he discovered,
beyond the few seeming facts we believe we know, was that
we are barely fledglings when it comes even to what we think
we know! Indeed, it's rather shocking arriving at this conclusion--
as I did while researching for this story. (See the link for
"Sol Scientia" on the sidebar.)

Nonetheless, where--even what--would we human beings be
if we didn't ponder, try to investigate our Reality? Not very far
along, I suspect.

I can only speak for myself, but even before I decided to take
on Reality I seemed already to have a *deep faith* in the Lord
who holds the All altogether--as St. Paul put. Indeed it was this
faith that set me off on my own adventure, poking around in the
far corners of Reality.

Naturally I'm disappointed that we have only begun to cope
with the challenges of this New Time. On the other hand, I feel
that we are a privileged few generations that now stand on the
precipice of this great cusp--or gap that differentiates a lot of
what came before with what might come in the future. Generations
upon generations before seemed to move nearly in slow-motion
compared to how we are forced to move today.

I could go on and on about these differences, but rather I would
like to say something about the business of commitment. It's
obvious that the West has begun to experience institutional
breakdown--and it's not only in the monasteries, or in religions,
but also in our economic and even our academic institutions.
What once were perceived as bedrock havens seem to be
crumbling. And I'm not positive this fragmenting is necessarily
connected with our scientific observations--though, I do think
this situation might indeed be "natural."

Time changes! Change always takes place over Time. This
happens time and time again, no matter how we yearn and
seek security. Nature demands *adaptation* when it comes to
survival. Why, one might ask? Mainly its about evolving,
developing into "more" and maybe "better."

So what might any of this to do with commitment? Could be because
our institutions have not responded to our Time, if you will. They
have not adapted, much less evolved. So who shoulders the blame?
All of us, probably. If we cling to what is no longer relevant in our
lives, eventually we all pour down the drain. And others who no
longer place their stock in failing institutions have little choice but
to re-build and refine their purpose. Otherwise we become an
aimless people. Commitment towards the New would seem in
order, yet somehow retaining the better aspects of the Old. Not an
easy matter, this!