📮 Letters to a Young Seeker
Letters to a Young Seeker is an occasional series exploring the mystery and art of living. The title is an homage to the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. The term ‘Seeker’ in the title is inspired by the Delphic maxim: ‘Be a seeker of wisdom.’
Dear Fellow Traveler,
The Christmas season is typically the busiest time of the year. Roads, stores, and airports are crowded, and people usually move a little faster than normal. But interestingly, the hustle and bustle of the holidays is the perfect time to practice our philosophy—to practice being and doing in the present moment.
In his Thoughts on the Theology of Christmas, the Jesuit priest and theologian Karl Rahner (1904—1984) wrote,
Have the courage to be alone. Only once you have really managed to do this, and have achieved it in a Christian way, can you hope to give the present of a heart filled with the Christmas spirit – in other words, a gently patient, courageously collected, softly tender heart – to those whom you are striving to love.
This present is indeed something you should place under the Christmas tree, otherwise all other presents will simply be an unnecessary expense which could be incurred at any time of the year. And so, for once, try to endure your own company for a while. Perhaps you can find a room where you can be alone. Or you may know a lonely walk or a quiet church.
Rahner wisely suggests we take a contemplative approach to Christmas. Even though things and people are moving fast around us, we can practice stillness and attempt to be “present” with life.
He continues,
Wait. Listen. You must not keep quiet in this way simply in order to be able to speak about it later on. You must enter into this silence in such a way as to be resolved never to leave it again, in so far as you really make the appeal to this silence and into this silent infinity your last word standing on its own account and not existing for the sake of anything else, something which no one else need hear apart from the one to whom it is really addressed. So: Stop, be silent, wait. […]
The Christmas season is an opportunity to be where we are. It’s a chance to practice what we’ve learned, avoid distractions, and attempt to live in the “present” moment.
How do you want to live this Christmas season?
What principles and practices do you want to embody?
The French philosopher and historian Pierre Hadot explained that the ancient Greeks paid particular attention to the present moment. On the one hand, being content with the present meant being content with earthly existence. On the other hand, knowing how to utilize the present moment meant recognizing and seizing each decisive (and fleeting) instant.
Being in the “present” moment is a perennial challenge, but it’s important to remember that most things worth doing are. The seventeenth-century monk Brother Lawrence said these wise words regarding difficulties along the way,
Do not be discouraged by the resistance you will encounter from your human nature; you must go against your human inclinations. In the beginning, you will often think you are wasting time, but you must go on, be determined, and persevere until death, despite all the difficulties.
Consider practicing presence this Christmas season and taking Rahner’s words to heart: “Stop, be silent, wait.”
Farewell.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season!