Why is it a risk? Well, it’s a risk because things can go wrong. When people work together, live together, conspire together, aspire together, conflicts and misunderstanding can arise. The ego, of course, gets in on everything. And we know this at a personal level, at a communal level and at a global level. We are surrounded by the consequences of not preparing for the risk of living together today.
And what does it mean to live together? It means that we accept each other’s differences, we respect each other’s different beliefs. At the same time, we are aware of each other’s diversity, recognising each other’s dignity and right to hold their own point of view, and to be aware of the common ground that we share.
Why do we need to reflect on this theme?
You would think that living together is such a basic human need. However, I think we’ve lost this experience of conviviality, which is the theme of the first of the talks which I’ll be giving.
We are, in many ways, responsible for creating this breakdown of community, of conviviality, because of our technology-driven individualism which has become rampant and it undermines the very nature of living together.
And at the personal level, we can see that in the breakdown of relationships, the breakup of marriages, the reluctance to make the commitment that is necessary in order to live together.
But we can also see it at the level of the sectarianism and polarisation that has come to characterise our different political, cultural, religious and ethnic perspectives.
Whether it’s at the individual level, the communal level, or the global level, we are facing the same dangers.
To have a special identity, whether that is sexual or political or artistic or whatever, even that recognition of our right to be who we are can become something exclusive, and we become fixated upon our own special identity as more important than other people’s special identity. So this is why this theme is so important for us today as contemplatives, living also as contemporaries, with a responsibility.
A personal, social, and spiritual responsibility to our time.
And this challenge affects people of every age group. We see it in very young children today. We see the rise of mental illness, the dependency upon technology, the loss of personal contact, and we see it in middle age, in people going through a mid-life crisis, which seems to happen earlier and earlier – now in younger people, young adults. And of course, we also see it in elderly people after retirement.
What is the meaning of my life and what have I achieved of significance? This risk that we have to learn how to recognise and embrace affects every age group.
The big question is: what do we need to do in order to reconnect with what will help us to live together? What do we need to do to find that connecting point? If we cannot find it with ourselves, with others, with the Spirit, with God, with the environment, then we are living in the nightmare of uncertainty and danger.
Now, life is uncertain. I’ve been through a lot of uncertainty myself in the last 18 months. I’ve developed a certain philosophy of doing the next thing as well as I can and not speculating or dramatising too much what might happen or what might not happen. But that applies to all of us.
Every single person has to face the challenge of uncertainty. And we can face it with joy and with peace, as I found, through trust and relationship, and the kindness of strangers and the goodness of people with whom we are sharing life’s journey, living together.
In this coming series, there will be eight sessions throughout the year. We’ll have a wonderful array of speakers reflecting from deep personal experience and wisdom, sharing with us from different perspectives on this crisis that our world is facing. I really believe that the result of listening to and participating in these sessions will awaken in all of us a confidence that conviviality, the risk of living together, is more than justified. It is our destiny, and we must approach it with great hope and confidence and joy, and our speakers will be doing that for us. So I look forward to having you join us for the series on The Risk of Living Together, a risk worth taking.
