The Pitfall Of Superficiality

Humans can be very superficial--almost everyone likely realizes this, but few can ever escape the negative enslavement to the superficial that infests our American society.

People immerse themselves in work and escapism to conceal their pains and questions, yet these necessities and charades never quite erase the problems.  People rush from one source of amusement to the next (hence the overwhelming quantity of absolutely asinine and pointless YouTube videos and Instagram selfies) in an effort to avoid the need to find a solution to the human condition or thinking about dark, demanding matters like ethics and purpose, yet reality does not change because they do not want to embrace it or collide with it.  They pursue pleasure because they hope for it to numb them to the agonies and terror of human life.

The dread of uncertainty about important questions and truths has not motivated people to explore these questions, but has frightened people away from thinking too seriously about the deep matters of living.  People can excel all too greatly at neglecting their own emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs by focusing on mediocre and trivial things--a brief laugh, a fleeting moment of excitement--as if the burdens of existence as a spiritual and intellectual being will vanish.  But occupying your time with insignificant matters will not relieve you of your pain or questions--instead it deprives you of opportunities to address them.  Hedonism--living for pleasure--and avoiding a confrontation with the grand realities of the universe and God will not benefit anyone in the end.

I am NOT against entertainment, leisure, pleasure, or working a lot.  Am I saying not to socialize, relax, laugh, or be lighthearted?  Not at all!  I just want to remind people that they can't allow these things to be elevated to idols that rob the heart and mind of fulfilling their true purposes.  Do not allow them to hinder spiritual, emotional, and intellectual honesty and progress.  And when one begins to discover what is real and true and meaningful, then one will not wish to exchange the difficult truths for superficialities instead.  So enjoy life.  Appreciate pleasure, for God delights when we do so!  But never hide from questions and, far more importantly, from answers behind flimsy barricades of escapism and misuse of pleasure to numb anguish, the anguish that forces us to seek relief from an external source, and do not neglect the intellect, the intellect that recognizes and verifies the solution to our condition of misery and the desire for an unchanging purpose.