The hustle and bustle of life is apparently making some people mad. More and more persons are realising that life without reflection is a tasteless banquet. This is attested to by China’s most famous teacher, philosopher and political theorist, Confucius when he said, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter.” Thus, for this Chinese thinker, reflection is the most privileged way of attaining life’s wisdom.
Reflection is important because it helps us transcend our subjective ways of seeing things. We tend to focus our idiosyncrasies so much that we end up misunderstanding the essential from the urgent.
This is the tragic result of a life not well reflected upon. The gospel for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary time is particularly instructive on this point. In the parable of the wedding feast, the guests “ignored” that honourable invitation by inventing a host of “urgent” excuses. “I have purchased a field and I must go look at it ... I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to see them” ... “I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come” (Luke 14:18-20). They gave their back to the messianic good, and refused participation in the salvation wrought by Christ. They impeded themselves from entering into eternal life by their hardened heart. They have confused the important with the urgent. Why? Because they did not discern their life situations well. They just acted instinctively. Is it not also the trend of today’s society, wherein instinct is unhappily prevailing over wisdom?
Saint Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians is the most appropriate for us in today’s life context. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6, 19-20). If we as persons are so precious in front of God, how can we let ourselves be squeezed by the business of life? An untamed work schedule can amount to the catastrophic mnemonic BUSY, meaning, Being Under Satan’s Yoke. When we are strangled by many appointments without the chance to reflect on what has been occurring to us we finish up going in circles. It is not the amount of work that we do that will improve our lives but the manner in which we do it. Unfortunately many people today complain that the spirit among us has become so heavy and gloomy because love, the result of reflection, is getting scarce more and more. It is up to us to undertake once again the wisdom of finding our sanctuary where, in God’s presence, we meet ourselves and through his Spirit we see our lives as they are, understand what is going on and have the courage to decide for what is right for us in God’s light.
Since reflection is the servant of fruitful action let us keep in mind what Johann Wolgang von Goethe says: “Never by reflection, but only by doing is self-knowledge possible to one”. Reflection is always the incubator from which the new born baby, action, gets ready to go out so as to live and mature. So find yourself a space!
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann