Why pray except when you are desperate . And probably for many of you, "Why take seriously a poor old farmer and his community - a community so desperate they would pray a lot -- wouldn't they ? A much need social construct you might think? "
Well not their neighbours - they are more like us , "The problem, they say , will be solved by less population and that means " less of YOU" .(Too quickfix, unsustainable - how many is too many?
No, the attraction of faith ( small though it maybe on the surface ) is there before us in many ways but simply because "it works" - we can't see how it works , but we can see in the myraid of books and the portrait of their lives and as people who pray we know ( some who may take it a bit too far?)" it works for them" . It may be considered phantasmagorias of the brain but it costs nothing, unlike our childrens addictions. It might be considered phantasmagorias of the brain but its not draining the glass.
So why don't people try to pray?
The answer is also there . Because individuals are afraid and lonely in this one space ( even Tevye and Golda are not always together - let alone the others) . Once individuals try a bit of faith they may well find ( because there is the evidence there that it does often happen)that they are hooked. To outsiders this looks like they will lose their freedom and their minds ( some may do?) -- as well as their old sense of community ( the most precious thing we have?) . If God is truly there.... it is scary !( for lots of reasons that have to be faced individually)
Realism means taking advice
The reality is that the reason many of us who started still pray is not only that we don't have a better option, but also because we "see" that God does indeed ( like our parents and community might ) know what's best for us.( we feel it deeply enough to want to share it !) One of the reasons we also still pray is because we have found our home - in the sort of community reported in the story . We have learnt ( perhaps the hard way) that money and success are not everything but that relationships are what we are made for ( good public relations) Good restoring relationships !
Finding yourself in a good place is not a reason to be saying "we are brilliant and clever"
Realism means knowing our place
The honour for being somewhere wonderful is not because of our brilliant thinking and
logic ( Matthew 11:25)
Realism means warning about wrong roads and false optimism (
eg that taxes solve all problems)
The reason I am making this post long IS BECAUSE our
children desperately need to know ( to avoid the pessimism that will confront
them early if they don't) that the reactionaries in charge are in BIG trouble .
Our children need to study and know the
drains before they can make the plumbing work as well as it did for us.
Our children need Hope ( remember that great song by Abba )
and that means the path to enjoy to good jobs . Listening to some of our
leaders you might be tempted to think they mean " any job " No we
want them to have the best jobs! ( I had
one) They can still have the best if they focus on what is best and what works ( plumbing involves both
pressure an gravity studies) ! Jobs with prevention and a full e
ducation ( the whole truth) as the focus are and always have
been our core focus(in the above sketch and in Tevye's community mindset ) Its
products aren't half baked and genarte their own sense of self satisfaction
. They produce results that are best shared; good bi products are
regeneration, renewal mended
relationships ( public ) and less ambulances.
Realism means you must look at why the glass is being
emptied to take a Glass half full attitude that's realistic.
The old wannabes in charge ( by contrast) want to their old
blinkered optimism in progress to keep being the
windscreen view- "what's ahead" (eg currently in
Australia --"private knows best "- the blinkered and dumb incomplete
view which makes individuals rich and exploits our shared assets eg land and
environment) )
The wannabes in charge want to keep doing what they have
been doing - pressing the accelerator . Their sort of optimism as Mark Twain
reflected doesn't last and it doesn't last because these (also glass half
full's) don't want to look back and see
what's actually emptying it . You can't develop good news stories about human
progress unless you face the bad news .
Believe me, its quite reasonable ; without public engagement
on " the state of our assets ",( the dysfunctional communities and
their aspirational disconnects )and the current speed and direction ( eg
expecting royal commissions to solve problems ) we are going to run out of
fuel. The ambulance service is growing when it need not be . Matter of sound
perspective and a focus on sustainability are the keys to a more fuel efficient
culture
