Is that all there is?

Unfortunately, all I see around me are people that are preoccupied about controlling everything around them. So many are scared about their safety. All they work for is pleasure and satisfaction. Some are concerned about order, as if it is the most important thing. Others want to be sure about everything.

These may seem to be right and important. But they are not essential. These are not vital. You do not grow because you control everything or because you are safe and certain all the time. Pleasure does not help you face what life is all about. What is essential and vital is more than this.

Our life is about more than building boundaries and walls to protect ourselves. It is more than protecting identities, creating our groups and identifying ourselves with them. Life is more than food and clothing, says Jesus (Lk. 12,23). But I look around and see people anxious about what they wear and how they look; others live only to eat and fill their belly.

Can’t we see that our life is more than just satisfying this body and decorating it? We worry so much about the container without thinking seriously about the contents. And what worries me most is that I see adult people in their 40s and 50s still preoccupied about this adolescent mentality. When do we really start to grow? Most people never move beyond this lower basic spiritual level. I rarely hear spiritual leaders preach beyond this level of spirituality or challenge people to go further than this. The funny thing is that when I try to do so people call me dangerous, judging my challenge to create confusion in people’s minds.

No wonder why the youths I work with end up asking, “Is that all there is?”