From time to time, we are anxious about our fate as it is connected with that of what is happening around us. We worry about every international or national event or crisis because we think that it will have a direct influence on us. We wonder, “What can we do?” and if we conclude that there is nothing we can do, we essentially feel worthless. But, these are cases of anxiety that we can avoid; there is no need to feel that we must all be Superman and try to save the world from imminent destruction.
One of the most comforting feelings that one can ever have is to know that the Earth is self-sufficient. It does not, and will not, need us for whatever reason we may think it should. The Earth, the Solar System, our Galaxy, and the Universe will all continue once humans are all long gone. In the context of the Universe’s age, and the ages of all heavenly things, human history is but a speck of dust in time.
When we think about our lives in that perspective, we may feel even more hopeless. But that should not be the case. What we should feel after knowing all of that is that we cannot expect to do godly works. We cannot expect, that just because we are humans, that we can do anything and everything we set our minds to. Other, larger forces are at hand, forces that we cannot deny, destroy, or even stall. All that we can do is accept those forces, and then learn to live with them.
In the case of world events, we must realize that we cannot purge the human race of any and all evil. One bad apple will spoil the whole bunch. It is too difficult to find that “one bad apple,” because, in truth, there are too many bad apples. Human nature has always been subject to debate; can humans be trusted? Can humans make intelligent decisions on their own? Can human evil be denied? If we look at human history, it is riddled with badness. We can’t deny our history. But at the same time, if we let ourselves continue to be the way we are, our doom is undoubtedly looming in the horizon.
We may feel helpless. And, in fact, we may have the right to feel helpless. But, feeling that human nature is inherently double-edged does not mean that we cannot live our own personal lives to our satisfaction. If we are to make life have any value, we must not let that feeling get in the way of our living. If we live according to the strict constriction of a troubled anxiety about the whole human race, we deprive ourselves of actual living.
