SEPTEMBER 2006
for fun.' so, along with "The Devil Wears Prada' and 'Undaunted Courage', I brought one book of relatively short
length that I had wanted to read for quite some time--'When All You Have Ever Wanted Isn't Enough' bu one of
my favorite authors and theologians, Tabbi Harold Kushner. The book was concerned about one thing: How to
live a life of meaning and satisfaction. No small matter in a volume not even two hundred pages.
He notes that some people try to find some thrill out of skydiving or bungee jumping. This gives them a surge of
adrenaline that makes the rest of their lives look mundane and boring by comparison. Indeed, may people seek
out skydiving to escape this daily tedium of existence. Everyday living has no thrill for them, and their days are
filled with dissatisfaction and the never-ending search for happiness. Kushner quote Carl Jung where he writes,
"About a third of my cases are suffering form no clinically definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and
emptiness of their lives. This can be described as the general neurosis of our time."
Instead of living in a culture that attempts to address and to heal this emptiness and senselessness, we occupy a
culture that exploits it. The culture of advertising,a possibly the entire economy, is built upon dissatisfaction with
life. In order to get me to buy the latest soda, or car, or sneaker, advertisers have to convince me that the things
I already own do not make me happy. This is likely true because most things we have provide happiness about
as long as the wrapping paper on Christmas morning. We may or may not be pleased with our stuff, but
advertisers promise us that we will be cool or be the envy of our friends if we buy the newer better and shinier
thing.
But soon we see that this is not the case. I am not telling you all that you should feel guilty because you went out
to buy yourself the new satellite dish or car. There is nothing wrong with something new. But when we thing
that the only way to escape from the malaise of life is to gout and buy something bigger and better, then we will
be disappointed. This is foolishness and vanity. In fact, this continuous push for more and better stuff may be a
form of denial about what our lives are really about. Always desiring more is built around the future. I will
someday buy the new computer. Instead, we should be focused upon our life as it is right now. What is it about
my life that touches me deep down? Is it my relationship, my family, or my community? Or is it the mortgage
payment, the lower back pain, or the general anxiety and neurosis of our time? Whether it is good or bad, this life
as it is right now, without denial, without a story, without a naive wish that the Great Pumpkin will come soon.
To be alive, and to find the true joy of living, is to be in touch with what is really going on within and around us,
be it joyful or painful That is life in the present moment, and the future we remove ourselves from it, the less we
really are participating in the drama that is our life.
Pastor Steltzer