Pseudo-profound nonsense

I WAS amused to read recently an article that claimed that

we might be living now in an age of pseudo-profound nonsense. It was

referring to supposedly inspirational quotes now proliferating in the

social media and expressed by all kinds of people who try to define

what “living fully” is.

   

            I was amused because I cannot help but agree with the many

observations the author of the article made. It seems that all of a

sudden everyone, including the millennials and the post-millennials,

is now an expert in what is to have a full and happy, contented life

on earth.

  

            Of course, when you read lines that come from advertisers,

politicians and some people in the media, we can easily get the

immediate impression that things are being bloated to the limits and,

therefore, should be taken with a grain of salt.

   

            These people want attention and they will do anything to

achieve that, including exaggerating things, indulging in fantasies,

or just telling sweet, nice lies that will always look and sound true

but actually are not.

  

            Of course also, clerics, at least some of us, are not

exempted from that mischief. If we choose to be unscrupulous, tricky

and foxy, we can easily take advantage of the abstruse spiritual and

supernatural messages of the gospel and the gullibility of many people

today to invent attention-grabbing ideas, doctrines and other

teachings that are not anymore in line with what the Church

magisterium teaches. The possibilities for doing this are actually

limitless.

   

            And so what Shakespeare wrote once can come true: “A tale

told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” There

is a lot of embellishment, hyperbole and sophistry involved, all made

to serve one’s self-interest rather than to give glory to God and

serve the common good.

   

            We have to be wary of this emerging phenomenon and be

reminded of the need to be most faithful to the source of all truth

and beauty. While it’s true that we should try our best to be

inventive, creative, innovative, we should also be strongly reminded

that we need to always stick firmly to the objective perennial truths

that should remain unchanged even if they have to be continually

dressed up differently as times and circumstances vary.

  

            In all those so-called pseudo-profound nonsense that tried

to explain what “living fully” means, what is clear is that everything

is made to serve men’s self-centeredness. There is no reference to

God. Just one’s own so-called intelligence and wisdom.

  

            It is actually a useless attempt because no matter how

smart we think we are in defining “living fully” by our own light

alone, we cannot change the law given to us by our Creator. All that

effort is described in the Bible as “vanity of vanities.”

(Ecclesiastes 12,8) No matter what we do, it is God’s will that will

prevail, if not now then later. God will always have the last word.

   

            We cannot alter the gospel truth about where the fullness

of man and our joy can be found—in God, in Christ who taught us that

we have to be completely detached from earthly things so we can give

our heart fully to him, and with him, we can have everything else that

we need.

  

            “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and

all these things will be added to you,” (Mt 6,33) Christ told us. We

have to give our total trust in these words of Christ rather than in

the sophisms of many of our self-proclaimed wise guys in the world

today.

  

            Besides, if we want to truly wise in describing what

“living fully” is, our description would be, in the words of St.

James, “pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of

mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (3,17) It is not

arrogant, vain, conceited.