Sigh. Troubled times. My neighbour is an ex-Nun. She spends so many of her waking hours ‘doing service’. But most of us truly need to balance that work with time that allows us to ‘refill the well’. We can’t look away from the car crash that is America, but we can find time to do things where we can be fully in the moment - physical activities, arts and crafts, light reading, brain training, or simply connecting more with those we love. This too shall pass. I hope. Take care dear fellow. All the best.
This is so true. Thank you for the reminder! On airplanes they remind you to put on your own mask and then help others! I don't know what the order should be but one does need a mask.
I let my friends be the 'filter' for current events. In Bible times, there was no 'news media', everything was word of mouth. I operate as if that were still the case today.
Be mindful of the danger of the bubble. Unless you have friends who are wildly divergent, you’re getting a specific slant. Do you have friends who depend on welfare and friends with comfortable lives? Disabled friends? Parents and childless friends? Educated and uneducated? Young and old? Different races and religions and sexual orientations?
I get what you're saying, but it's a bubble either way (friends or algorithms). I can only know a tiny fraction of what there is to know, so I just follow my curiosity, rather than try to form a 'complete' picture of the world.
I was a journalist for 30 years, long before anyone knew what a news algorithm was. My advice is don’t depend on any one site. First thing I do is look at the NYT “today” tab. I value a professionally curated list of top stories. Also good are Reuters, BBC, AP. WSJ has good news but I don’t personally think their opinion page is up to snuff. You don’t have to read everything every day, but it’s good to check in with a few legacy sites that still employ professionals with some news sense.
Sure. But what if I'd rather devote my attention to identifying wild orchids or camping with my kids or reading Dostoyevsky? I'm resigned to the fact that we're all gonna be in some kind of bubble (even if we make a concerted effort not to be), so I'd rather craft the kind of bubble that will create good memories (neither actively trying to keep up with news of the wider world, nor trying to avoid it, but just absorbing it ambiently as it comes to my attention).
I don't dislike this idea. And you might just be a few yeas ahead of where the rest of us are heading. I wonder if AI is going to create a world where you only know the truth of what you're looking directly at or are hearing about from someone trusted and standing right in front of you.
A good friend asked me recently how I was. I said I was okay. “Not happy?” he asked. I told him, no, I couldn’t say I was happy. He asked “what would make you happy.” I considered the question for a few seconds and then told him an end to our unfolding national nightmare.
I feel the same way and I am curious -- what would you consider "the end?" How would you know it was over? This is something I ponder without a lot of success. There is one obvious answer but I wonder if it's more complicated than that...you know?
The timing of your question is uncanny as I just yesterday posted an essay on "tending"--to oneself, and to the world. (So clearly, it's a question I'm struggling with as well.)
A couple of thoughts--The fact that you're worried you're not doing enough is a great indicator that you're likely doing more than your fair share! And to add to that...
I remember years ago when I was struggling with essentially this same issue, a therapist said to me: In your effort to be good and to do good, no one is asking you to martyr yourself along the way. You don't have to be a saint to be and do good. (I guess that falls under the "progress not perfection" umbrella.)
Thanks for this post and for using one of my favorite quotes (justice well up like water...) which Comey used years ago in a post...that indictment was yet another "interesting" event from this "interesting" week.
Thanks Diana. And I remember Comey using that phrase. I think in relation to Trump's various indictments or maybe his impeachment. Shows that things can go back and forth swiftly. I hope Comey has the opportunity to use that phrase again!
Those assumedly "prophet words" are obviously contradictious in itself, apart from that they are not "G*d"s words but delivered by humans.
All human beings are inevitably unequal, and if "God" has made anything, then He has made all human beings unequal.
There is a (man, not "God" made) difference between "all men are (un)equal" and "all are equal before the Law". The Law itself can never be perfect as it´s man made. Equality before the law is found mostly in "rich" nations.
Every invention that makes life easier and brings relief to all people, did cost vast amounts of money. On earth, progress and relief can usually/ frequently only be attained by spending high amounts, and hardly anyone will take on the efforts of inventing without a reward in sight.
So "being rich"/ richer than others can never be a kind of crime in itself.
"Rich" people who only spend and not invest (a.o. in inventions), will usually lose and not getting richer.
These threatening words are from an ancient world with strict - mostly male-made - rules.
The "Old Testament" reflects a patriarchism world, which projected their own intellectual and mental limitations and their consequences onto "God".
Christianity - if you believe in "God" or Jesus Christ as Messiah or not - could only become a "World Religion" with the "New Testament" that developped a perspective quite distant from the concept of a punishing God, and instead emphasizes the freedom of the individual, who can freely pursue or reject knowledge without the constant threat of punishment from a vengeful God—a concept invented by all violent patriarchal religions.
You will never find that in matriarchal religions which is not to say that "matriarchal is better" as it has its limitations, too.
The individual is fundamentally free; God is a partner in dialogue, who "admonishes," reminds, and offers guidance. "Punishment" is a human, primarily male, invention.
This fundamental attitude of "freedom" including "rebellion" against God if he lays inacceptable demands on you like killing your own children, existed more or less from the beginning in Judaism, but it became distorted within "Orthodox" Judaism, and it was against this distortion that Jesus of Nazareth directed his message, not "against Judaism" itself, but only against certain interpretations.
Jesus never distanced himself from Judaism. Those who preach a "punishing," hateful God instead of a liberating one are punished, for example, by the rise of "Islamism." Those who resolutely fight against this extreme nihilistic "Islamism" will be rewarded.
While of course also Islam originally has "peaceful" soft gentle caring contents accepting *differences*, individuality and freedom of belief - but Islam became devastated by its descendancy from deeply patriarchal systems through millennia of suppression and distortion by patriarchal systems of power.
So the message is to fight patriarchalism - not "males", because they are as well suffering from that system.
A "Christianity" that prays anything CK-like as "woman has to obey and serve their men", is anti-Christian. It is ridiculous when such figures pretend to "fight against Islam".
All of that any human being can find out by itself without "admonitions" by "God", only by using his soul and brain that "God" might have given them.
If they don´t use it, punishment might follow. But not "from God". Man has brought this upon itself.
Hi Kathleen. It made me feel better because it felt cathartic to write how I was feeling. I suppose there is power in calling something out, even if it's just internal to yourself.
“Everyone suffers when a community is led astray by its leaders.” The Rembrandt you’ve shared here was painted in 1630. The novel I’m now reding, Ronan Bennet’s Havoc in Its Third Year, takes place around the same time in England amid the violent abuse of the poor by the rich and the persecution, often unto death, of anyone who is different—all this in the name of moral rectitude. Leadership is corrupt, factionalism rampant. Published 21 years ago, this novel speaks with breathtaking urgency to the present moment.
As for you and what you are doing to make this broken world a little better, you are starting conversations that matter. You show up every week for your readers. Moral tenacity is in jeopardy. You’re helping to keep it alive.
It was longlisted for the Booker in 2004. Not a cheerful read but reminds you that what we’re witnessing today is not new. The questions the protagonist is asking are the ones we face today.
David. You’re my first Saturday read . Before NYT headlines and coffee . Germaine to your words of biblical wisdom I’m in a similar state of mind. I had a favorite book when I was a child The Phantom Tollbooth. Miles was the main character. A cute boy. His emotions at some point were described as being in the doldrums. The angst many have expressed about Trump . . Perhaps we are incapable of more rage . It’s exhausting. I’m with Miles.
My first thought when I read your question for the comments, ("How do you balance your attention between your personal world and the wider world?") was "Not well." The state of the wider world, specifically what's happening in the U.S., has a profound impact on my mental health. The parallels to Germany in the 1930s are shocking, and as a Jewish woman, and the mother of an autistic child, I am frightened.
At the same time, I know my privilege and try to focus on the choices I have. Like you, I feel better when I'm writing, especially if I'm speaking out against the downfall of American democracy. I wish more people would make the connection between their personal world and the wider community. Anyone who values the rule of law and their protections under the U.S. constitution should be alarmed.
thank you for this thoughtful article. we are at a tipping point. oppression anywhere cannot hold because it is against nature.
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
I'm in UK. We too have this same inequality and injustice plus we now seem to be ruled by an autocracy who declare how it's going to be and that's that. You may deplore Trump,at least he can be funny,often inadvertently,but we have Gauleiter Starmer. And he's not funny at all. A lot of us think he's not even human. I've read previous essays by you Mr Roberts and you do SO MUCH
You do enough to satisfy God,by any name,that you're making an effort and making a difference I bet. They want to hang us up on guilt trips. You manage your money conscientiously with skill and thought and you give generously but SENSIBLY. I know that because you've told us. I don't think you have to feel BAD at all. I have got a monthly dole of money which is my state UK pension. My God put like that I see myself as others may see me. I'm penniless to all intents and purposes. It's a bit like being on a high wire and looking down. Don't look down. But I try to manage my tiny dole with care and the little dregs of wit lodged in my failed brain and it's surprising how far a tiny amount can go if divided wisely. Ive written to.my MP numerous times to tell him they do not have a mandate from me. If everyone would DID THAT they couldnt claim otherwise. But don't over romanticise the poor either. There are just as many conniving,disrespectful,exploitational,and grasping folk among "the poor" as the rich. I know some of em. Maybe I am one of em!! I say carry on doing as you're doing but next time you see Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos tell em to give all their money to Jesus. Like I was taught as a kid!
Sigh. Troubled times. My neighbour is an ex-Nun. She spends so many of her waking hours ‘doing service’. But most of us truly need to balance that work with time that allows us to ‘refill the well’. We can’t look away from the car crash that is America, but we can find time to do things where we can be fully in the moment - physical activities, arts and crafts, light reading, brain training, or simply connecting more with those we love. This too shall pass. I hope. Take care dear fellow. All the best.
Thanks Beth. Good advice. I felt better once I hit "publish."
This is so true. Thank you for the reminder! On airplanes they remind you to put on your own mask and then help others! I don't know what the order should be but one does need a mask.
I let my friends be the 'filter' for current events. In Bible times, there was no 'news media', everything was word of mouth. I operate as if that were still the case today.
Donal, that's brilliant!
Be mindful of the danger of the bubble. Unless you have friends who are wildly divergent, you’re getting a specific slant. Do you have friends who depend on welfare and friends with comfortable lives? Disabled friends? Parents and childless friends? Educated and uneducated? Young and old? Different races and religions and sexual orientations?
I get what you're saying, but it's a bubble either way (friends or algorithms). I can only know a tiny fraction of what there is to know, so I just follow my curiosity, rather than try to form a 'complete' picture of the world.
I was a journalist for 30 years, long before anyone knew what a news algorithm was. My advice is don’t depend on any one site. First thing I do is look at the NYT “today” tab. I value a professionally curated list of top stories. Also good are Reuters, BBC, AP. WSJ has good news but I don’t personally think their opinion page is up to snuff. You don’t have to read everything every day, but it’s good to check in with a few legacy sites that still employ professionals with some news sense.
We are all susceptible to the bubbles otherwise.
Sure. But what if I'd rather devote my attention to identifying wild orchids or camping with my kids or reading Dostoyevsky? I'm resigned to the fact that we're all gonna be in some kind of bubble (even if we make a concerted effort not to be), so I'd rather craft the kind of bubble that will create good memories (neither actively trying to keep up with news of the wider world, nor trying to avoid it, but just absorbing it ambiently as it comes to my attention).
I don't dislike this idea. And you might just be a few yeas ahead of where the rest of us are heading. I wonder if AI is going to create a world where you only know the truth of what you're looking directly at or are hearing about from someone trusted and standing right in front of you.
A good friend asked me recently how I was. I said I was okay. “Not happy?” he asked. I told him, no, I couldn’t say I was happy. He asked “what would make you happy.” I considered the question for a few seconds and then told him an end to our unfolding national nightmare.
Love this post so much! Thank you!
Thanks Etta.
I feel the same way and I am curious -- what would you consider "the end?" How would you know it was over? This is something I ponder without a lot of success. There is one obvious answer but I wonder if it's more complicated than that...you know?
I think you’re asking David Roberts and not me?
No, you!
Excellent piece. Shana Tova
Shana Tova! 5786!
The timing of your question is uncanny as I just yesterday posted an essay on "tending"--to oneself, and to the world. (So clearly, it's a question I'm struggling with as well.)
A couple of thoughts--The fact that you're worried you're not doing enough is a great indicator that you're likely doing more than your fair share! And to add to that...
I remember years ago when I was struggling with essentially this same issue, a therapist said to me: In your effort to be good and to do good, no one is asking you to martyr yourself along the way. You don't have to be a saint to be and do good. (I guess that falls under the "progress not perfection" umbrella.)
Thanks for this post and for using one of my favorite quotes (justice well up like water...) which Comey used years ago in a post...that indictment was yet another "interesting" event from this "interesting" week.
Thanks Diana. And I remember Comey using that phrase. I think in relation to Trump's various indictments or maybe his impeachment. Shows that things can go back and forth swiftly. I hope Comey has the opportunity to use that phrase again!
Yes, adding suffering by berating oneself does nothing to alleviate the suffering of others! It just adds more suffering, unfortunately. Be well!
wonderful post David
Thanks Bill.
I call this feeling angst. Thanks for this post.
Thanks Peggy.
Those assumedly "prophet words" are obviously contradictious in itself, apart from that they are not "G*d"s words but delivered by humans.
All human beings are inevitably unequal, and if "God" has made anything, then He has made all human beings unequal.
There is a (man, not "God" made) difference between "all men are (un)equal" and "all are equal before the Law". The Law itself can never be perfect as it´s man made. Equality before the law is found mostly in "rich" nations.
Every invention that makes life easier and brings relief to all people, did cost vast amounts of money. On earth, progress and relief can usually/ frequently only be attained by spending high amounts, and hardly anyone will take on the efforts of inventing without a reward in sight.
So "being rich"/ richer than others can never be a kind of crime in itself.
"Rich" people who only spend and not invest (a.o. in inventions), will usually lose and not getting richer.
These threatening words are from an ancient world with strict - mostly male-made - rules.
The "Old Testament" reflects a patriarchism world, which projected their own intellectual and mental limitations and their consequences onto "God".
Christianity - if you believe in "God" or Jesus Christ as Messiah or not - could only become a "World Religion" with the "New Testament" that developped a perspective quite distant from the concept of a punishing God, and instead emphasizes the freedom of the individual, who can freely pursue or reject knowledge without the constant threat of punishment from a vengeful God—a concept invented by all violent patriarchal religions.
You will never find that in matriarchal religions which is not to say that "matriarchal is better" as it has its limitations, too.
The individual is fundamentally free; God is a partner in dialogue, who "admonishes," reminds, and offers guidance. "Punishment" is a human, primarily male, invention.
This fundamental attitude of "freedom" including "rebellion" against God if he lays inacceptable demands on you like killing your own children, existed more or less from the beginning in Judaism, but it became distorted within "Orthodox" Judaism, and it was against this distortion that Jesus of Nazareth directed his message, not "against Judaism" itself, but only against certain interpretations.
Jesus never distanced himself from Judaism. Those who preach a "punishing," hateful God instead of a liberating one are punished, for example, by the rise of "Islamism." Those who resolutely fight against this extreme nihilistic "Islamism" will be rewarded.
While of course also Islam originally has "peaceful" soft gentle caring contents accepting *differences*, individuality and freedom of belief - but Islam became devastated by its descendancy from deeply patriarchal systems through millennia of suppression and distortion by patriarchal systems of power.
So the message is to fight patriarchalism - not "males", because they are as well suffering from that system.
A "Christianity" that prays anything CK-like as "woman has to obey and serve their men", is anti-Christian. It is ridiculous when such figures pretend to "fight against Islam".
All of that any human being can find out by itself without "admonitions" by "God", only by using his soul and brain that "God" might have given them.
If they don´t use it, punishment might follow. But not "from God". Man has brought this upon itself.
David, you conclude by saying that writing this post made you feel better. Can you please explain why? Reading this post did not make me feel better!
Hi Kathleen. It made me feel better because it felt cathartic to write how I was feeling. I suppose there is power in calling something out, even if it's just internal to yourself.
Another comment made me think of a poem, below, which is another answrer to your good question.
Thanks Larry for that positive take. Your comment made me think of this Blake poem. I think I told my wrath.
A Poison Tree
BY WILLIAM BLAKE
I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I waterd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night.
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
“Everyone suffers when a community is led astray by its leaders.” The Rembrandt you’ve shared here was painted in 1630. The novel I’m now reding, Ronan Bennet’s Havoc in Its Third Year, takes place around the same time in England amid the violent abuse of the poor by the rich and the persecution, often unto death, of anyone who is different—all this in the name of moral rectitude. Leadership is corrupt, factionalism rampant. Published 21 years ago, this novel speaks with breathtaking urgency to the present moment.
As for you and what you are doing to make this broken world a little better, you are starting conversations that matter. You show up every week for your readers. Moral tenacity is in jeopardy. You’re helping to keep it alive.
Thanks Rona. I appreciate the kind words. And I'll take a look at Havoc in Its Third Year. Good historical fiction can be a balm.
It was longlisted for the Booker in 2004. Not a cheerful read but reminds you that what we’re witnessing today is not new. The questions the protagonist is asking are the ones we face today.
How does it compare to the Cromwell trilogy, assuming you’ve read that?
He’s a terse writer. The novel is only 242 pages, a very different experience from Hilary Mantel.
Started it and like it. Thanks!
David. You’re my first Saturday read . Before NYT headlines and coffee . Germaine to your words of biblical wisdom I’m in a similar state of mind. I had a favorite book when I was a child The Phantom Tollbooth. Miles was the main character. A cute boy. His emotions at some point were described as being in the doldrums. The angst many have expressed about Trump . . Perhaps we are incapable of more rage . It’s exhausting. I’m with Miles.
Jennifer, I loved that book, too! I hadn't thought about it for so long until you mentioned it in your comment.
My first thought when I read your question for the comments, ("How do you balance your attention between your personal world and the wider world?") was "Not well." The state of the wider world, specifically what's happening in the U.S., has a profound impact on my mental health. The parallels to Germany in the 1930s are shocking, and as a Jewish woman, and the mother of an autistic child, I am frightened.
At the same time, I know my privilege and try to focus on the choices I have. Like you, I feel better when I'm writing, especially if I'm speaking out against the downfall of American democracy. I wish more people would make the connection between their personal world and the wider community. Anyone who values the rule of law and their protections under the U.S. constitution should be alarmed.
Thank Amy. It's hard to live under a state of alarm. But as you write, we have to do what we can and be vigilant.
thank you for this thoughtful article. we are at a tipping point. oppression anywhere cannot hold because it is against nature.
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
Thanks Nina for that quote. Very apt.
I'm in UK. We too have this same inequality and injustice plus we now seem to be ruled by an autocracy who declare how it's going to be and that's that. You may deplore Trump,at least he can be funny,often inadvertently,but we have Gauleiter Starmer. And he's not funny at all. A lot of us think he's not even human. I've read previous essays by you Mr Roberts and you do SO MUCH
You do enough to satisfy God,by any name,that you're making an effort and making a difference I bet. They want to hang us up on guilt trips. You manage your money conscientiously with skill and thought and you give generously but SENSIBLY. I know that because you've told us. I don't think you have to feel BAD at all. I have got a monthly dole of money which is my state UK pension. My God put like that I see myself as others may see me. I'm penniless to all intents and purposes. It's a bit like being on a high wire and looking down. Don't look down. But I try to manage my tiny dole with care and the little dregs of wit lodged in my failed brain and it's surprising how far a tiny amount can go if divided wisely. Ive written to.my MP numerous times to tell him they do not have a mandate from me. If everyone would DID THAT they couldnt claim otherwise. But don't over romanticise the poor either. There are just as many conniving,disrespectful,exploitational,and grasping folk among "the poor" as the rich. I know some of em. Maybe I am one of em!! I say carry on doing as you're doing but next time you see Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos tell em to give all their money to Jesus. Like I was taught as a kid!
Thanks for the comment Jane.
Thanks for helping me feel a little less alone...from another "doomscroller".
I am just getting started on my article today on the following passage from the Message translation of Isaiah 1
"Your leaders are turncoats
who keep company with crooks.
They sell themselves to the highest bidder
and grab anything not nailed down.
They never stand up for the homeless,
never stick up for the defenseless."
Thanks Jonathan. Yes, Isaiah could thunder as well as any of the others!
"The best of people is the one who humbles himself the more his rank increases."
"Kindness is a mark of faith; whoever is not has no faith."
The Prophet, peace be unto Him
Yes! I'm familiar with the first one and am glad you reminded me of it. So rare, in fact and unfortunately.