What’s It All About, Alfie?

Hayden Hollingsworth
Hayden Hollingsworth

Do you remember that song from the 1970s? Lots of questions about what’s the point of it all; where’s the meaning to all the franticness that surrounds us? That seems particularly apropos at this time of year. The message with which we are bombarded is clear enough: More is better. Bigger is bettter. Faster is better. Whatever you’ve got we are constantly being told that it’s not enough.

The holiday season lends itself quite nicely to that idea. We can all appreciate that merchants must make a substantial percentage of their annual sales in the last two months of the year. When the dust settles and smoke clears we are faced with the bleakness of midwinter but, even more bleak, is the realization a sense of meaningful purpose is no closer to fulfillment than when the whole holiday hullabaloo started. That is certainly true if conspicuous consumption was the driving force of the last two months of the year.

It seems too obvious to state, but let’s do it anyway. Why are we still struggling for meaning in all the wrong ways? Here are a few tried and untrue things that promise meaning yet ultimately, always fall short.

Wealth. Some wag once said, “Wealth doesn’t bring you happiness but it sure makes misery easier to live with.” Somehow we have bought into the idea that wealth and happiness are related. One can be happy while wealthy but it may be that it is in spite of material wealth, not because of it. Johnny Cash, not known as a great philosopher, had it right when he said, “Being rich means having to worry about everything except money.”

Power. Think of the truly powerful people in the world. Success at that level may bring a sense of accomplishment, but often the price paid to hold onto that is terrifically high. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, last week unveiled his latest brilliant idea for delivery drones but I found something else he said much more arresting. “Someday Amazon will be gone, replaced with something newer and better.” That statement indicates that while continuing to strive for newer and better, he knows that his power will be eradicated.

Perpetual beauty and youth. Everyone knows that’s an ephemeral dream but we still chase it with never-decreasing effort. Virtually any commercial break on TV will offer countless was to stem the oncoming tide of aging. There are even intelligent researchers such as Aubrey de Gray who believe aging can be stopped dead in its tracks and we can live for hundreds of years. What a terrifying idea. Finding meaning in spite of aging . . . now that’s the challenge.

True meaning will never come from tangible things but from the intangible. All religions offer a pathway to meaning. None are easy and too few are tried but that doesn’t mean it’s a quest of no consequence.

For seasons such as we are experiencing now, it is particularly appropriate that, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or any other belief, that we recognize that the temporal will never bring the sense of meaning that adds a dimension beyond the current turmoil. Let’s hope that this time of year will help all of us find that path.

Hayden Hollingsworth

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -

Related Articles