Every year, the first morning of our retreat, we get a sermon followed by a song in which one of the lyrics states that “We lose our way.” This song “Lord teach us to pray” was written and sung by Joe Wise. Joe now lives north of me in Arizona. Somewhat of a coincidence since I have heard his song at each of my last 36 retreats in Minnesota where I used to live. I called him some years ago and talked about the possibility of meeting him. It has not happened yet. He still sings religious songs and records.
I started thinking about this idea of “losing our way” in more secular terms when I returned to my home after the retreat. Somehow the idea just stuck in my mind. “We lose our way.” So easy to do.
We seek fame. We want to be remembered and honored. We want to be celebrities. We give up our lives chasing the Goddess of Fame. We measure success by how much of a celebrity we have become. We measure hits and likes. We honor movie stars, sports heroes and heroines and royalty. We follow their every doing in the gossip pages and the constant 24/7 news that swamps us with their comings and goings. If only I was like Kim Kardashian. If only I was popular and good-looking like Leonardo De Caprio or Dwayne Johnson. Oh, how much better and happier my life would be. We lose our way.
“We need money. We need hits. Hits bring money, money bring power, power bring fame, fame changes the game.” — Young Thug
But maybe our Goddess is not fame. Maybe our God is Greed. More, more, more. More money. More sex. More stuff. More cars. More and bigger houses. Bigger is always better. So, give me a bigger whatever. Let me have bigger tits, a bigger cock, more muscles, bigger ass, bigger biceps, more hair, more youth. Let me live forever. Let me have piles of money to spend. Let me win the lottery. Let me win big at the racetrack or the casino. If only I had more, I could be happier. If only I was like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, my life would have meaning. I would be a success. We lose our way.
“We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.” — Stephen Hawking
Forget Fame and Fortune! They are for stupid people. Give me power. Power is where it is at. The God of Power Kratos personifies strength, might and rule. With my three enforcers: Nike for Victory, Bia for Force and Zelos for Rivalry, I can rule the world. I can have the power to take anything I want. I can make all the people bow down and look up to me. I can tell others what to do and when to do it. I can be the boss. I can be the ruler. I can be in charge. No one can tell me what to do. Those who have power make the rules. I will be the greatest ruler the world has ever seen. If only I was like Donald Trump. I could grab pussy whenever I wanted to. I could kill anyone in Times Square and my followers would still idolize me. I could say whatever I wanted to and insult whomever I wanted to, and I would still be loved and admired by millions. People would kiss my ass everyday and want to know what I wanted. It would never matter what anyone else wanted and it would all be about what I wanted. We lose our way.
“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.” — Georg Orwell, “1984”
How do we find our way back?
Aging Capriciously 