The woman waited until the last minute to pack for her trip. Hurriedly she threw in her clothes and needed items, and grabbed a handful of important items from her drawer and stuffed those in her purse.

She caught a taxi and raced to the airport, then hurried to check-in. When asked for her ID, she pulled out her passport, placed it on the counter and continued searching around in her purse.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” said the airline worker, “but your bankbook is not adequate identification.”

WHAT? Explained the woman, as she jerked to attention-and then realized that she had tossed the wrong blue booklet on the counter. It was the bankbook account where she placed all the coins she collected in her savings jar.

Embarrassed, she reached for the bankbook, which the attendant had opened, and glanced at. Handing the book over the attendant remarked, “Not really very solvent, are we?”

Is Our Society Solvent?

So, yes, solvency often refers to having sufficient money, but the story made me really think about what it means to be solvent.

The good ole Thesaurus defines solvent as sound, substantial, good, reliable, solid.

And I began to ponder the state of today’s world and society in general. Whatever happened to common decency?  Where did all this violence come from?  Why are people depressed and angry and dissatisfied?  Why do we count our worth by what we own, what we can afford?  Why are there so many who feel trapped, or hate their job/marriage/life?

Oh, I know there are all sorts of theories- ranging from television, entitlement, inadequate parenting, politics, and so forth. And all those things have a very real effect on people.

The Missing Ingredient

But there’s something else that’s seriously lacking.

Pew Research Center shows:

In a survey on the importance of religion. about 75% of the age group 18-49 answered “not too, or not at all, important.” In that same age range, only 50% said there are clear standards for what is right or wrong- about equally divided between men and women, about half saying they depended on common sense or science to decide.

61% said that they seldom/never attend religious services in that 18-49 age group, and the more income they had, the less they attended.  60% of 18-49 year olds seldom or never feel any sense of spiritual well-being.

54% said they never experienced any wonder about the universe, the highest percentage being among lower income whites. And 72% said they do not believe in God.

Now I take those statistics and look at the state of our country, and I find a telling comparison!

There is a general feeling of lack of stability…in our homes, our communities, our nation. No one seems to be satisfied with anything.  Bad news gets all the press.  Disagreements can’t be discussed with civility, and unfocused anger crops up everywhere.

It’s like everyone is having a bad day every day. The atmosphere is so toxic that people have stopped reading newspapers or listening to the news, in order to create a haven from bad news bombardment.

I suggest a root cause is a very weak and temporal foundation on which so many in society now base their lives.

We have the “gimme” entitlement group who want everything for nothing- no work- no merit- no pride in accomplishment- no productive contribution.

There’s the workaholics- so busy climbing up the corporate ladder, that all the truly important things in life are neglected or shunned.

There are the folks who measure happiness by acquiring THINGS: another house, an expensive new car, costly vacations. Unfortunately, all those physical acquisitions can be wiped at quickly by flood, fire, mud slide, earthquake, tornado, financial reversal, etc.  Their’s is a fortune and future that hangs on the edge of imminent disappearance.

We have those in society who are only a pay check or two away from disaster. Hard work doesn’t prevent layoffs, and store and business closings.

The ground so many stand on is shaky, unstable, and capricious! They see things as out of control and they feel helpless about changing anything.

Today’s Dilemma

Dare I say that half the population today depends solely on themselves for their future, success, and happiness.

And therein lies the root cause.

Humans are mortal, prone to mistake and error, blow hot and cold, and are erratic, and fallible.  Yet they count only on their own human efforts, splashing stress and angst everywhere.  And, in spite of all their efforts, they feel that the world is fast going to hell in a basket.

Where’s the elephant glue?  Where is the unifying substance that holds everything together?  Where is the sense that there is reason and order in the universe?  From what or where are they getting a sense of worth, purpose, and reason for even being here on this earth?

When you replace any belief in a Higher Power with your own meager efforts, no wonder life seems on the brink of disaster.

Did you ever listen to an elementary kid’s campaign speech for Student Council president? Yeah…well that’s similar to what some folks think as representing reality.

Real life’s just not like that. Letting the rise and fall of the world rest on frail human shoulders is a recipe for sure disaster.  The responsibility is overwhelming!

Not really very solvent, are we?

Cause and Effect

You can trace the spiral down. Religious institutions, notoriously slow in keeping pace, got whacked out of the water with the tremendous speed of modern technology and scientific mind set.

The generations that grew up with computers and advances in science felt religion, or a faith belief, was not relevant any longer, and therefore any belief in God was obsolete and unnecessary.

With that dismissal went any sense of wonder and awe in things beyond our understanding.

Scott Peck wrote: Mental health requires that the human will submit itself to something higher than itself. To function decently in this world, we must submit ourselves to some principle that takes precedence over what we want at any given moment.

Instead we have created God-substitutes and centered our lives on them- our partner or spouse, our family and children, our work or career, money and possessions, pleasure and gratification and pleasure, relationships and approval, some noble cause, religion and morality.

And when they fail or disappoint, as they surely will, where then do we turn?

Is There a Solution?

I suggest that the unhappiness, rage, discontent, and lack of ability to fully savor life is a direct result of having no belief in any power beyond one’s own self.

What prevents many from belief in a higher power is that it cannot be absolutely, scientifically proven whether God exists or not, so they choose not to believe.  End of discussion.

To trust in some power beyond knowing takes an enormous leap of faith in which proof is replaced by trust.

Take, for example, those black holes in space. The astronomers can’t actually SEE those black hole because all the light and material that is necessary for observation is absorbed.  So, how do we know they are there?

We know because we ARE able to observe the behavior of matter, and the stars’ orbit around and near a black hole.  From this we are able to predict or affirm the presence of a black hole.

Similarly- we can’t see God, or prove by science that there is a higher power…but we can observe in other people the results of their faith in God.  And we can see how events play out.

And NO- I don’t mean the fanatical, literalists whose actions belie their beliefs.

I’m talking about those who have taken that massive faith leap and are living in an intimate relationship with the Divine. And we CAN see and note their behavior, actions, and how their belief impacts their lives and those around them.

Faith is a Choice

Faith is a matter of choosing to trust- without any absolute proof.  And yes, trust is a rare commodity anymore.

I know people today have a hard time trusting anyone, or anything, and God is no exception. Lack of faith in a higher power has a lot to do with poor and erroneous ideas about God, and what a relationship with the divine actually entails.  (More about this in later posts)

Marcus Borg in The God We Never Knew wrote: “(I take) seriously the turn to experience that marks the spirituality of many in the modern world: what I come to know in my own experience- can be trusted to be true in a way that what we learned secondhand from tradition cannot be trusted.”

CALL TO ACTION

Check out within yourself – on what bedrock do you stand? What is the unshakable foundation on which you base your decisions, actions, behavior and very life?  Is that support dependable and reliable?  Can you count on it to have your best good foremost in mind?  Always?

Seriously, my friend- Take the time to consider whatever underpinning your whole life rests upon. And is it solvent?  Or not?