Recovering the sense of order

THERE used to be great concern for order. Nowadays, such concern is
all but lost. Expressions such as “law and order,” “peace and order,”
etc., used to proliferate in ages past and commanded due attention and
respect.

And people in general tried their best to put order into their things
and their affairs. But now, all that seems to have disappeared from
the horizon of our general consciousness.

We need to recover our sense of order. I suspect that the basic cause
of this loss of the sense of order is that we have been grounding it
wrongly, or at least inadequately. Not only that. Many of us do not
know exactly why we have to live order, what its ultimate purpose is.
In short, we are not clear about its beginning and end.

We get contented with what may be called as middle-term order, a
conception of order that is detached from its proper roots and
ultimate source and inspiration on the one hand, and its ultimate
purpose and goal, on the other.

We have been satisfied with some material order only, or a civil
social order that is more external than formal, more on appearance
than on substance. It’s an order that comes more from an outside
pressure rather than from an inner conviction actuated by a spiritual
and supernatural principle who is God.

It’s an order that is motivated mainly by considerations of
convenience and practicality, and nothing much else, and much less by
motives of love of God and neighbor.

That’s why when these practical considerations are already satisfied,
then the reason for living order disappears. It cannot countenance
trials, sufferings, etc., as part of its consequences, given our
current human condition.

Thus, we have a lot of disorder, or an order that can go only so far.
It cannot go all the way. It gets disrupted sooner or later. We see
this predicament all over.

Especially these days, with the coming of the new technologies, the
plunge to disorder is made easier and graver. That’s why we have many
cases of people falling into all sorts of manias and obsessions. They
fall into certain attachments hardened by the ease with which these
attachments can be served because of the new technologies.

Disorders arising from these causes can go to both extremes of
overzealousness in some areas and apathy in others. These disorders
usually spring from self-righteousness, scrupulous and lax
consciences, and lead to things like unfair discriminations, a highly
selective and biased sense of preferences, etc.

We need to cultivate in an abiding way a certain culture of order that
is proper to us as persons and children of God. It should be an order
that is inspired mainly by love, by charity, which is very much
compatible with patience, understanding and compassion, flexibility
and not rigidity.

This would bring order beyond the criterion of mere practicality and
puts it at play in a bigger field, more complete picture and
perspective.

It should be a sense and a culture of order that is human, not
mechanical. It has a feeling heart, not a mindless machine. It
discerns nuances in persons, events and situations. It is not a blind
application of rules that puts everything in one easy, sweeping
generalization.

It should be a sense and a culture of order that knows how to
distinguish between what is absolute and what is relative, what is of
eternal value and what is of temporal worth. It does not absolutize
the relative, nor relativize the absolute. Neither does it eternalize
the temporal, nor temporalize the eternal. But it knows how to relate
these categories according to the mind of God.

It should be a sense and a culture of order that has a clear hierarchy
of priorities, that knows how to live and defend it in charity, and
that knows how to get up and make up once some disturbances throw it
into some disorder. In short, it is a sense of order that knows how to
recover and renew itself once it is disturbed or lost.

To achieve this goal may seem very lofty, if not impossible.. But it
is worth the effort. The journey of a thousand steps, as the saying
goes, starts with the first step. Let’s be hopeful and optimistic. We
can reach that goal if we want it, since the grace of God is never
lacking.

Obviously, we have to start with what we have here and now, with the
small things of our day—organizing our day, our daily tasks, etc.