I loved this quote so much that I had to read it over again and chew on it for a while…
“Goethe one said that the most profound distinction between various historical periods is that between belief and disbelief, and added that in all epochs in which belief dominates are brilliant, uplifting, and fruitful, while those in which disbelief dominates vanish because nobody cares to devote themselves to the unfruitful. The “belief” Goethe spoke of is deeply rooted in the love of life. Cultures which create the condition for loving life are also cultures of belief; those which cannot create this love also cannot create belief.”
- Erich Fromm
Something about it reminds me of the quote often attributed to Mother Teresa “No, I won’t come to your anti-war protest, but if there’s a march for peace I will join you there.”
There’s a sense of orientation to it… what do you believe IN, follow that, do more of that, focus on THAT.
But what we disbelieve… what we are pushing against withers our love and joy for the life we live, the society of which we are a part, and our collective hope for the future.
Our disbelief siphons our joy and connection to this life… nothing sparkles, it’s all grey, dull, overwhelming, and demoralizing. It sucks the life from you leaving you a pale zombie wandering the streets, lifeless but still moving.
Loving life is a whole other experience of life altogether. It’s a position of openness, curiosity and creativity. It’s a receptive orientation that begins a flow towards you. A downhill roll of amazing experiences. They move toward you because you are looking up the hill with delight at what’s rolling down toward you.
The posture of disbelief points you in the opposite direction in which you are poised to be squashed by the experiences rolling down the same hill. To you it feels that life is happening to you while you run away and resist. But all you’re doing is making the experience of life unbearable.
These two postures are a choice. You can choose to live with a lightness and love for and of life. To believe in humanity and to choose to act and promote ways of being open, compassionate, kind, and other ways of being that foster connection, empathy, and community. Or you can choose to close yourself off from the world and seek to reinforce your decision as correct as evidenced by the terrible news reported to you within the walls of your bunker. See? I told you its safer in here!
Remaining open to life doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen to you. But it’s your orientation to life and the love of life that you bring that creates a belief that its not happening TO you but FOR you.
Look, bad things are going to happen to all of us. We will all have our challenges. Our burdens to bear but we don’t have to make them heavier in our minds. That’s completely on us.
And hidden within them can be the seeds of an entirely new creative way forward.
Thanks for joining me for another episode of Create in 8,
Laura Olsen
Loving Life