If you live in a first-world country, chances are that your life is significantly more comfortable, more pleasurable, and easier than a majority of people in the world. In general, your external woes are nothing compared to someone living in a third-world country. That isn’t to say that people in first-world countries don’t have burdens, struggles, or sufferings. They do. But, there is a difference even from say…300 years ago. Then, most people had to live hand-to-mouth. Death was extremely common. Most natural disasters were utterly unexpected. Technology was slowly advancing but many luxuries were still only that–luxuries.
As we’ve advanced, though, we’ve discarded God in favor of worship of the self. Consequently, this has caused a loss of purpose in countless lives. For many, all you have is this one life, so better do whatever gets you noticed or brings you maximum pleasure. In addition, suffering removed from Christ leaves people just trying to get through dumb suffering. That usually doesn’t work out very well and so many fall into despair and depression. Reality becomes too hard and many don’t want to face it anymore.
Enter the fantasy world.
There has been a movement to conjure up different false beliefs that allow people to reinvent themselves and the world around them. Initially, people balked at this movement because we all knew the fantasy world wasn’t true, but over time, those of us that have tried to maintain truth have been cut to the quick. It was not enough for people to just live in their fantasy world; now, the requirement is full embracement.
There’s the fantasy that life doesn’t begin at conception.
There’s the fantasy that you can pick your gender.
There’s the fantasy that pornography is actually freeing for women.
There’s the fantasy that millions of people are suffering from multi-personality disorder.
There’s the addiction of living in the fantasy world of video games.
There’s the fantasy that you can actually be groped in the Metaverse. A make-believe land where people walk around as avatars.
Venerable Fulton Sheen called all of these things “manufactured woes.” Why are they manufactured? Because they create actual problems in our lives when they don’t need to. They do simply because we refuse to acknowledge reality and face it like courageous people.
You cannot have inner peace when you fight against reality. True, facing reality can be difficult, exhausting, and even deeply sad. Acknowledging it, though, allows you to face it with courage and work to bring about a better day. When I was counseling, I had to tell my clients over and over that they must face the reality of their lives so that they can then actively work to fix that which is broken. Many couldn’t bear to do it and, consequently, their lives never improved. They could not find any peace.
But why would living in relative comfort and pleasure cause us to create manufactured woes for ourselves when we don’t need to? The answer is complicated.
We, as humans, were made for work and challenge. We weren’t created to pamper ourselves continuously in an endless stream of pleasures. There is something very satisfying in hard work and accomplishment of difficult tasks or challenges. But, when we focus on pleasure and comfort too much, we come to focus only on ourself. This is a shallow existence and one that leads down dark paths. But, the ego must constantly be fed and so we work up ways to get ourselves noticed or pitied. To get noticed in a day and age when everyone has a platform, you have to create more and more absurd ideas or ways of living. Most difficult to understand of all is that many see a simple, uncomplicated life as not worth much and so chaos is created in order to “feel alive.”
To find true inner peace, Catholic Pilgrims, we must face reality, speak truth, give of ourselves to others, bear suffering by uniting it to Christ’s suffering, remember our dignity, and seek God’s assistance in our daily lives.
May you live the faith boldly and a travel well.
Here is this week’s reading on my podcast from Venerable Fulton’s Sheen’s book, “Way to Inner Peace.”
