What Do We Know?

“Even though life is quite a sad business, you can have a good time in the middle of it. I like to laugh, and I think the unsung, real literary geniuses of the world are people who write jokes. Both the Irish and Jews are very fatalistic, but they laugh a lot. Only the Protestants think that every day in every way, life is getting better and better. What do they know?  — American writer Mary Gordon (daughter of a Jewish father and Irish Catholic mother)

         My beloved mentor Huston Smith once gave a talk at the Lobero Theater here in Santa Barbara.  With a smile, he announced his theme: “Five Things You Won’t Agree With.”  One theme was “There’s no such thing as progress.”[i]

         Huston told the story of being a young American scholar in the 1960s when he was invited to speak on the future of society at a conference In Europe.  He spoke glowingly of what he thought the century would bring.  After he finished, the next speaker said, “Professor Smith has just spoken out of 200 years of American successes. I’m now going to speak from 1,000 years of European failures.”  Huston listened and was humbled.

         He went on to say that, to be sure, some things have improved in our modern life.  Plumbing, for one.  Public health, for another.  And there has been some progress in human rights.  But in many ways, our human nature has not changed. We have not outgrown the destructive impulses of our ancestors.  No century in human history saw as many people die in war as the 20^th – somewhere close to 50 million.  Some things are better, but we are a long way from having the world we would like to have.  Those “Protestants” who “think that every day in every way, life is getting better and better – what do they know?”

         This perspective could lead to being “fatalistic” – why bother trying to make anything better?  I don’t think that’s an option.

         Social teachings of the Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and many secular traditions have always included a strong emphasis on “trying to make the world a better place.” Basic compassion and a spiritual calling compel us to do all we can to confront hunger, poverty, injustice, violence, and threats to human dignity.  Here and there, there are signs of “progress.”

         We moved to Santa Barbara in 1992.  With our daughters active in athletics, we became passionate supporters of the UC Santa Barbara women’s basketball team — along with many in my congregation. The team was having great success, making it to the “Sweet Sixteen” in 2004.  One year we invited the outstanding center to speak at the beginning of our worship service.  She was several inches over six feet tall, and it was striking to see her walk down the aisle and step to the pulpit with poise and ease.  UCSB had just won a dramatic game against the University of Hawaii the night before, and someone asked her if she had prayed for a win.  She said she did pray at halftime – but not to win.  She simply prayed that she would do her best, whatever the outcome.  Everyone sensed this young woman possessed great inner strength and character.

         A few days later, I ran into Michelle, one of our members.  I asked her what she thought of hearing the player speak. Michelle said she had wept.  That surprised me and I asked her why.  As a woman who was six feet tall herself, as a teenager she was constantly walking bent over with slumped shoulders so she wouldn’t seem as tall as she was. But on Sunday, when this tall, young woman entered to the delight and admiration of the congregation, she realized how much had changed in just one generation.  Her tears that morning were tears of gratitude that maybe life for young women was improving.

         On the other hand, I remember visiting the “Museum of Communism” in Prague in 2020.  The museum was divided into three sections: “The Promise,” “The Reality,” and “The Nightmare.”  “The Promise” told the story of the genuine idealism that had convinced many earnest people to support the revolutions in the early decades of the last century.  “The Reality” displayed exhibits of how this social experiment was troubled from the start.  “The Nightmare” showed how grim and heartless communist societies became.  People hoped they could make society “better and better”, but it was not to be.

         I believe we should never give up trying to make the world a better place.  At the same time, we can recognize our human nature has a dark side that may resist and undo our best-laid plans and hopes.  Along the way, we welcome the great artists in our midst who help us laugh:

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[i] I previously wrote on one of the other points: “Living on the Back Side of the Tapestry”