Experience Light in darkness Make hope real in 2021
Experience – let’s face truth gently, with courage and humility, and make hope real
‘To the existentialist, life is like a small child, lost and alone in a deep, dark forest. And the child means nothing to the forest.’ (Peter Hicks)
Hicks’ bleak depiction of the human condition, of unresolvable existential angst that we face and experience as we find ourselves thrown into this world, is a despairing vision of life without hope.
It reflects deeply Jürgen Moltmann’s view that ‘hell is hopelessness’. Yannick Jacob comments that ‘there is a way to live without this anxiety, at least temporarily, by deceiving ourselves, by closing our eyes to some of the realities of our existence.’
It’s as if we can numb the pain, make ourselves feel better for a time, by distracting ourselves, or drugging ourselves, to feel safer and more alive.
This is, perhaps, a deep root of addictive behaviors, of aligning ourselves with extreme positions, of engaging in some forms of extreme sports, or of some medication that seeks to dampen our painful thoughts and feelings. Instead of being willing to pause, breathe, pray, and peel back the curtains to reveal what lays behind or beneath our personal and cultural actions and routines, we grip them tightly shut.
Over a lifetime, we glue them, stitch them, and tape them together. We build barricades to support them, reinforce them, and hide them, even to ourselves. Out of sight, out of mind.
At least for a while. Sooner or later, we may inadvertently catch a glimpse, experience an unnerving feeling, find ourselves fighting, falling, or failing as the walls creak, crack, and start to crumble down.
It could be sparked by an accident, a break-up, a failed promotion, an illness, a mid-life crisis, a war. Our defenses are weakened, no longer able to withstand the swirling, turbulent pressures that have built up behind them.
It’s as if suddenly, as if by a flash of lightning, everything is revealed. Our self-assured confidence collapses and, perhaps for the first time, we experience terrifying vulnerability.
This is the backdrop to the Christian Christmas story: an intensely dark existential crisis that can’t be resolved with a quick-fix solution. F
or followers of Jesus, it’s an astonishingly hope-filled account of a profoundly transformational encounter – between God and humanity, where God takes the first step and enters our reality.
When the Bible says ‘light (now) shines in the darkness’, we catch a glimpse of light, life, and love made possible. Whatever your experience as a coach, whatever the experience of your clients in 2021 – let’s face truth gently, with courage and humility, and make hope real.
Nick Wright is a psychological coach, trainer and organisation development (OD) consultant. (www.nick-wright.com)
