16th Jan 12

It is about 5.00am and I am experiencing one of life’s great wonders. I am waking up. A new day is dawning and I am alive.

It really is a remarkable and wonderful thing to be alive.

Brain researchers tell me that while I have been asleep my mind has been working furiously to solve problems that were too difficult for me while I was awake (like what to write for my first blog of 2012).

How good is that?

Now as consciousness emerges from slumber a myriad of electrical impulses and chemical reactions that I do not consciously control project me alive into a new day.

Life is good.

I am not using the word “good’ here as a moral or comparative term but as a descriptive one. Life is infinitely preferable to not-life. Life is intrinsically a good thing to experience. Whether you have a scientifically analytical, a religious or a quasi-magical view of the world, if you pause for a moment to consider your participation in this thing called life it is hard to suppress a sense of wonder or even amazement. For a very brief moment within the great time span of the universe you and I get to be alive.

The essential goodness of life does not shield us from its pain injustice, disappointment and struggle. Indeed it exacerbates the pain of grief which comes with the loss of life when someone we love is no longer participating with us in this great adventure. It also generates a burning sense of injustice when the enjoyment of life for many is robbed by starvation, war, famine, political oppression or abuse and neglect of the weak and vulnerable. It calls us into community with other living beings and motivates us to address the causes of suffering.

In affluent, materialistic Australia it is very easy to lose sight of the wonder of life’s goodness as an overwhelming majority of Australians have easy access to the necessities for which much of the world experiences a daily struggle, clean water, food, shelter and safety.

Losing a sense of wonder at life itself makes middle class Australia easy prey to a multitude of secondary fears, anxieties and concerns which are peddled incessantly by populist media, unscrupulous corporations and politicians devoid of vision.

Lose sight of the wonder and you can readily succumb to the illusion that life consists of status symbols and affluence relative to your neighbour. Before you know where you are, you are striving to preserve and increase these at any cost – and the cost will largely be borne by those who are genuinely struggling or generations yet to come.

Lose sight of wonder and little annoyances, problems, difficulties and setbacks loom disproportionately large and you are constantly sweating the small stuff and losing sight of what you can really achieve.

Stop!

You woke to life this morning too, didn’t you?

Take some time in 2012 simply to enjoy its amazing wonder.

Brian L Smith

Executive Officer