Carpe Diem!

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,

before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say,

‘I find no pleasure in them”-
Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark,

and the clouds return after the rain;
When the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop,

when the grinders cease because they are few,

and those looking through the windows grow dim;
When the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades;
When men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;
When men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets;
When the almond blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along

and desire no longer is stirred.
Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.
Remember Him – before the silver cord is severed,

or the golden bowl is broken;
Before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well,

and the dust returns to God who gave it.
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!”
Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

The character and content of our Western Culture is decidedly ruled and defined by secular humanism. The center value of all secular humanistic belief is the supreme and superior esteem of reason, rational thought and individual freedom. The structure of power in secular humanism is determined by what people are able to attain, give, receive, think, initiate or build. Yet as Thomas Merton describes in his book Contemplative Prayer, “A universe created around one’s self only becomes smaller and less significant. There needs to be room for God for eternal significance” (Merton, p.116, 1971).

A person cannot create a view larger than themselves unless they have a connection with something bigger than themselves. A Universal force which is bigger, more complete, more thorough, more compassionate, more loving, more present than any person.

Secular humanism is incomplete in its view for its states that human beings are the highest form of thought, love and life. The responsibilities of family, commitment, honor, duty and work are frequently thrown away, blown by the winds of abandonment to an individual’s freedoms and easy pleasures. The highest ambition is to get as much material wealth as possible. The highest goal is to always feel good and have all wants satisfied.

Just look at the book of Ecclesiastes. Here is a book in the Bible that outlines a groping search for the meaning of life. It carries within its sparse utterance a voracious hunger and thirst to devour all experiences of life in an attempt to digest their significance and purpose.

If one were to attempt a single phrase encapsulation of Ecclesiastes, it could possibly be “Carpe Diem”…Seize the day! The author of Ecclesiastes is detailing the Epicurean mantra, to “eat, drink and be merry.” Yet he states repeatedly that this life view is meaningless – philosophy is meaningless, money is meaningless, and prestige is meaningless. Nothing keeps death from happening. But life, yes, life is full of meaning when dedicated to worshipping the Creator God YHWH.

God is bigger than human problems, limitations, petty disagreements, wars, sickness, etc. By connecting with God, and widening the personal universe we may encounter, one can experience a bigger view of life. “Carpe Diem”…Seize the day!