By Dr Dennis Acop
Who’s your worst enemy? We live in a world where life is just full of disagreement and animosity sometimes. It is difficult and seemingly impossible to live fully without experiencing everything this life brings, good or bad. We talk and write about all the conflicts that go on in the world today and even in just our own backyards. I am one of them. Mea culpa! As a strategic analyst, I regularly write about the ongoing conflicts in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. But, lest we forget, wars are not only happening outside of ourselves but also within. In fact, the war within is probably even the more important war. For there would be no wars without, without first fighting the wars within. Father Andy, from his homily on Sunday (09.29.24), said some catchy things that caught my attention. Explaining and reflecting upon the Gospel, he said three things that will now fill-up my body paragraphs below: stairway to heaven, highway to hell, and lust for life. Fr. Andy mentioned these all too-familiar phrases to drive home his point that we are our worst enemy.
I shall begin with the first but in reverse order: lust for life. It is probably apt that I should begin with it because while many people would associate the phrase to something negative, it actually is not as it evokes both positive and negative energies depending on where one is looking from. There is this fictionalized biographical account of the life of one of the greatest painters that ever lived – Vincent van Gogh. A book made into a movie, Lust for Life, is really more about the hope that this world – our world – can be turned into something beautiful from it often being a context of sin and pain. You see, van Gogh suffered from poverty, depression, and schizophrenia. Quoting from Vvedaant: “Vincent could see the beauty in pain, believed people gained a soul through sorrow; he didn’t paint what was on the outside, he didn’t care about his drawings portraying people superficially. He always wanted to draw what exactly made that person a human, his struggles, his motivations, his aspirations … he wanted to draw, sketch, and color their soul.” Humans are imperfect but are creatures of God too who love them and so gave them free will so they could decide where they wanted to be eternally – with the angels in heaven with Him or the devils in hell with Satan. This is the graphic spiritual reality of it. For souls in the world trying to make a difference, it is never easy often leading to isolation and despair. Don McLean’s lyrics for that great artist who died very young perhaps capture it best: “This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you”.
Now, off to our second point: highway to hell. When AC/DC played the acid rock song back in 1979, the members of the band were young and probably high most of the time. As often happens when people are young, “youth is wasted on the young”, like the atheist George Bernard Shaw wrote. A year later, Bon Scott, who wrote the song, died after a night out in London with a drug dealer. I never listened to their type of rock music but I’ve heard of them while a cadet at the Point. My point in mentioning this is to echo Father Andy’s reflection. The highway to hell appears easy but laden with broken dreams and promises. It is easy because it is self-centered. It is selfish because it idolizes the self with all its whims and caprices. When the self idolizes its every beckon and call, that idolatry soon becomes its god. The road to perdition is not without help from individuals who have already taken that road. That road is a road well-travelled. Along that road are alluring whispers of self-glorification and aggrandizement: “You are the man who would be king”, “You are God’s gift to mankind”, “Most worshipful”, and all kinds of flattering remarks to get you off the road less travelled. The road well-travelled is a wide road which goes straight into hell. Souls travelling it are seduced by the idolatries of the body. For these souls, life is about the immediate gratification of the god-self in the short-term: the upward social climb unmindful of moral ethics. The young, rich, and powerful are most vulnerable. For when a man is still thus, no amount of wise teaching can convince him. The rebellious nature of man against the established moral order takes center stage when he feels invincible and invulnerable. But, alas, life is short and no sooner has man thought he has gotten it all when his puny life begins to crumble and starts losing everything. Then, and only then, will it behoove man to change significantly for the better: to reach beyond something greater than just himself and his tiny little world. That easy descent on the highway to hell is, after all, hell.
Finally, on to my third point: stairway to heaven. The point I’d like to make is the one referred to by Father Andy and not the one by Led Zeppelin. I am actually not a fan of the Led Zeppelin song as there are some lyrics of it that are satanic. The British band was also accused of plagiarism for that song. Unlike the highway to hell, the stairway to heaven is long and winding and is therefore less travelled. People would rather just stay put than endure an excruciating climb up. Not only that, the path is also strewn with crosses of those who dare defy the kings of the world. Nonetheless, a few people here and there still dare climb up the steep stairway. I guess the inner motivations that inspire such people are not of this world altogether. Perhaps, theirs is a theology, not sensuality, of the body. Who knows? It could be their understanding that living is to be alive fully – not only to the sensualities of the body but equally and perhaps more importantly, the stirrings of the soul. If you read the accounts of the prophets, mystics, and saints, they did talk about the unearthly joy they experienced when they were in those moments in their lives – whether in consolation or even desolation. Pessimists, cynics, and demagogues are quick to dismiss the non-secular good in this life conveniently forgetting that it was the moral order that gave them their secular good. Non-believers as well as non-practicing believers blame God when things go wrong in their lives or edify Him only when things go well for them. I think God does not need us even if we need Him. I also think that it is the truly good people in this world who stay the hand of God even when He is ready to strike down the bad. Lastly, I think it is the unheralded, unworldly people of God who make this world a better place to be no matter what. And even all the bad people should thank God and these good people. For they certainly do not deserve such goodness.
In conclusion, we are our worst enemy because it is us, ultimately, who decide whether to travel the stairway to heaven, highway to hell, or just lust for life. I echoed these themes from Father Andy’s Sunday homily. Lust for life can be either positive or negative depending upon whether we lust for that which leads to spiritual life or that which leads to spiritual death. The highway to hell is easy but laden with broken and lost souls. It is after all easy because it is self-centered. But the stairway to heaven is not and so it is hard. It is the road less travelled and only a few travelers find it.
