OPINION (AN COLÚN): In a world of confusion our Christian faith is an anchor

WHEN faced by the chaos and madness of the world, we Christians take refuge in the calm and sheltered bay of our faith. When confronted by the insanity and the coldness of society we reach for the sanity and the warmth of the Christian tradition.
I am fascinated by the great religions and I've spent vast amounts of time reading about them. I hold them in great respect; but it is Christianity which holds the most attraction for me. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly, it is the religion which I grew up with and therefore where I am most at home. Secondly it possesses a spirit of compassion, a mood of forgiveness and empathy which I find most attractive.
Wandering through this thing called life we seek those experiences which resonate with our souls. The Christian message deeply resonates with our inner worlds.
Human society sometimes resembles a dystopian novel. The most famous dystopian novel from Irish readers' point of view is Orwell's “1984”. Less well known are other masterpieces such as Zamyatin's “We” or Huxley's “Brave New World”. Dystopian novels of course predict the future and a question often asked by readers is, which novel made the most accurate predictions? The book to make the most accurate predictions, by far, is Brave New World. In Huxley's chilling vision the future Earth is ruled by a government (“the World State”) which genetically engineers babies, conditions children through a brainwashing process as they sleep and distracts the general populace with a drug called Soma. Society is stable and conformist. Spiritual insights, the teachings of wisdom, are ignored. The focus is on sex rather than love. Things are maintained at a constant level of superficiality. To use a food analogy, Brave New World is fed with the mental equivalent of fast food or sweets but is never given, again mentally speaking, a full square meal for true sustenance. It's a society where the most important part of the person is denied expression.
Huxley uses his dystopian novel to critique the problems of contemporary society such as excessive consumerism, damaging technological advances and the suppression of individualism. The World State wants conformity not individuality. It promotes instant gratification rather than anything with emotional depth. Monogamy and family structures are abolished in favour of casual sex and “everyone belongs to everyone else”. It is striking how much of our contemporary society resembles the World State. It is true that we don't have genetic engineering or hypnopedia but the banality and superficiality of our society seems to be increasing rather than decreasing. We have also seen unrelenting attacks on many traditional values, such as the family structure, values which have stood mankind in good stead for many centuries.
Faced with the bleakness and inane nature of all of this, it's refreshing to bathe the mind in a mass or service; such as the service I attended in Gurteen College on Sunday afternoon during a conference focussed on the challenges facing farmers. The opening lines of the service weren't afflicted by contemporary doubt and uncertainty but were refreshingly confident and forthright - “We are the people of God, the Almighty. Created in the image of God, stewards of the creation. Open to the inspiration of the Spirit in faith, hope and love.” The first reading, from Philippians was magnificent. Philippians is a Letter written by St Paul to the Christian congregation he had established in Philippi (which was located near the Aegean Sea in north-eastern Greece):
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Rejoice in the Lord...Do not be anxious about anything...
During the service John Feehan delivered an excellent sermon during which he reflected upon one of my favourite images in the Bible, God in the burning bush. The burning bush is a beautiful metaphor which we can all apply to our own lives. It represents the fire, the soul, outside of us and within us. It represents our happiness and our homecoming; our peace and stability; our mental equanimity and compassion. It is the answer to all our questions and searching - “I am that I am.”

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