I am well aware that in these troubled times, many of us simply stop watching and reading bad news. My use of the phrase "senseless society" may tilt your opinion quickly in the thinking of "Here we go again." But, in my defense, I hope to rise above the bad news by offering a view of safety and sanity. However, first things first:

                              THE SITUATION: A SENSELESS SOCIETY

Politics! It did not have to be this way, but for the time being it is a way of fear, confusion, misinformation, the splitting of friendships, families, boards, governmental organizations, services, news outlets, municipalities, and even the military. In other words, even the task of describing the danger of our present situation is daunting. 

I will try, however, to state the "senselessness" of our society and world situation by drawing on the expertise of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Following the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a group of scientists who helped build the first atomic bomb realized the horror of what they had created, and what it might portend for the future of civilization's survival. In order to help guard against the danger of individuals and even nations' use of nuclear weapons, the concerned group of scientists in Chicago founded the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists for the purpose of educating the general public of the dangers potentially threatening global catastrophe.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists publishes articles regularly, available to the general public. The organization consists of renowned scientists from around the world. Each year they convene in late January to consider the actions and non-actions of world leaders and governments, asking what has been done to save our planet from catastrophic destruction, always keeping in mind the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as reminders of what devastation we can enact on one another and the planet.

You may yourself read and reflect on the report of the Bulletin. They addressed the following concerns, acknowledging that Russia, China, the United States and other major countries have become increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic. In particular, concerns raised had to do with the following: 

• "a lack of leadership on nuclear issues with no country stepping up to stem the growing sense of disorder and breakdown of norms."
• "a troubling climate outlook" with record-breaking trends continued in 2024 and 2025. Globally averaged temperature in 2024 was at the warmest level in 175 years of record-keeping.
• "Increasing chaos, disorder, and disinformation in the world's information ecosystem threaten society's capacity to address difficult challenges in 2025, and it is clear that AI has great potential to accelerate these processes of information corruption." 
• "Four major concerns: the possibility that scientists could create mirror life, the continued evolution of AI and biological weapons systems, and the dismantling and degradation of US public health infrastructure... ."

And there you have my brief summation of the bad news in a senseless society. Now I  present the other side of the equation.

                                   THE RESPONSE: SAFETY AND SANITY

First, let me quickly add that there remain governments as well as professional organizations and determined individuals who carry on the worthy and courageous work of serving humanity. Those individuals and groups, thankfully, are too numerous to name in this short writing. Therefore, I will point to four other sources available to you: Buddha, Moses, Christ, and Lao Tzu. I have chosen these sources as a resource not only because of who they are, but also because they offer windows into practices that may assist us in the search for safety and sanity.

• Buddha: The prince, Siddhartha Gautama lived a sheltered life in Nepal until he left to witness the widespread suffering of aging, sickness, death, and the misery of groups warring with each other. From this experience of suffering he preached the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path that concludes with a deep meditative concentration taught in Tibet, China, Japan, and world-wide sites. Often the meditation employs  the universal mantra: om mani padme hum ("Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus") evoking the image, compassion, and wisdom of Buddha for a suffering, senseless society.

• Moses: Moses was a Hebrew prophet. He led the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt. Following an Exodus that crossed the Red Sea, they arrived in a wilderness where Moses spent 40 years with his quarrelsome group of hungry, scared, confused band of followers. They had barely escaped their previous decades of slavery, only to fall into the temptations of idolatry and demand that Moses lead them back into Egypt. When Moses could take it no longer, he sought solitude on Mount Sinai where he was given the Ten Commandments. The commandments begin like this:  "I am the Lord thy God — Thou shalt have no other gods [ultimate value on being] before me."  This is a high bar challenging our senseless society with its gods of wealth and power. 

• Christ: What can we say that has not been said about Jesus Christ and his words? But let me risk simplifying by referring to what has become known as the "beatitudes." There are eight, and each one refers to a new state of existence, or what the New Testament scholar, Rudolf Bultmann, referred to as an "eschatological existence," the awakening to a condition of being in which one's life is oriented toward the "kingdom of God," rather than the frivolities of the world. Returning to the beatitudes of which Jesus spoke (See Matthew 5:3-10), I choose only one: "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."

• Lao Tzu: We know little about this mysterious old man whose name is associated with the Tao Te Ching. The work itself is a collection of 81 chapters or poems rising from Chinese mysticism. Around 1100 BCE, in the Chou dynasty, the individual known as Lao Tzu is thought to have served as an archivist in the Chou court at Wangcheng. Despairing the "senselessness" of his time and society, he left that world behind but not before compiling some or all of these writings we find in the Tao Te Ching that has become a "face" for the religion we know as Taoism. Taoism focuses on nature, simplicity, balance, meditative practice, intentionally resisting the lure of a senseless world. This path is known as the Way. 

         Consider this excerpt from the Tao Te Ching, poem 21: 
                The omnipresent Virtue will take shape according only to the Way.
                The Way itself is like something seen in a dream, elusive, evading one.
                In it are images, elusive, evading one.
                In it are things like shadows in twilight.
                In it are essences, subtle but real,
                Embedded in truth. 

More can and will be said about our response to a senseless society. And in future writings I will return to:
                 the mind of Buddha
                 the commandments of Moses
                 the heart of Christ
                 the Way of Lao Tzu

I see each of these as providing a sane and safe response to the senseless society in which we find ourselves at this time.  

(The translation of poem 21 in Tao Te Ching is by R.B. Blakney, Lao Tzu, Wisdom of Ancient China.)

Like millions of people around the world, on New Year's Eve, you may have seen the ball drop in Times Square, the fireworks, parades, and celebrations around the planet. You may have been alone and quietly experienced the passing of our old year. Still, you can say that you "saw" the moment when a significant moment occurred in time.

I refer to this experience as "seeing." It is one of those occasions when we know the "past" is now behind us, and the "future" is before us. Wherever we are, in whatever time zone, our clocks approach 11:59 PM, and we experience something hard to describe. Yes, we may see the "ball drop," we may offer a toast to friends and loved ones, we may call a relative or a friend of long ago. Most often this experience commands all of our senses briefly, and then it is gone.

What did we see? Or did we? I use the word "see" to describe what may be indescribable, but yet something happened that is soulful. That event when our clocks moved from
11:59 PM to 12 AM, describes perhaps the solitary instance when we are one with each other. We may not know that, we may not see it, but we do well to reflect upon what we "saw" or missed seeing. Poets describe moments in time that transcend time, moments of beauty, awe, wonder, meaning, love, and possibly a resolve to live against a backdrop of eternity.

I will give you a small taste of what I mean when I say that poets "see" into the soul of humanity and bring to us their gifts of sight, presented with the evocative vision of poetic imagination. Of the many that could be chosen, I invite your consideration with poetic excerpts from Robert Frost, Lao Tzu, Mary Oliver, W.H.Auden, and Derek Mahon.

                                 STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING
                                              Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Frost was born in San Francisco, moved about in his early years including some time in England before settling down in Shaftsbury, Vermont, on a farm where he grew apples, taught writing in local schools, and wrote poetry.

                                      Whose woods these are I think I know
                                         His house is in the village though;
                                         He will not see me stopping here
                                      To watch his woods fill up with snow.

                                        My little horse must think it queer
                                         To stop without a farmhouse near
                                       Between the woods and frozen lake
                                          The darkest evening of the year.

                                         He gives his harness bells a shake
                                          To ask if there is some mistake.
                                         The only other sound's the sweep
                                           Of easy wind and downy flake.

                                        The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
                                           But I have promises to keep,
                                          And miles to go before I sleep,
                                          And miles to go before I sleep.


                                           TAO TE CHING — Chapter One
                                              Lao Tzu (6th century BCE?)

Lao Tzu, which might be translated from the Chinese as "Old Man," lived in the 6th century BCE, according to some research. However, little can be of certain about this profound old man who supposedly worked for Confucius before he retired and retreated to the unknown sacred mountains in China. 

                           The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
                           The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
                           The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
                           The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
                           Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
                           Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
                           These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
                               this appears as darkness.
                           Darkness within darkness.
                           The gate to all mystery.


                        YOU ARE STANDING AT THE EDGE OF THE WOODS
                                       Mary Oliver (1953-2019)

Mary Oliver is one of the better know poets in modern literature. She grew up in Ohio, became fascinated with poetry in her later life and wrote of nature and our place in the deep mystery of woods, streams, oceans, and animal life. She spent many of her most productive years living in Provincetown, MA. I have excerpted the beginning and ending of this poem that yet evokes in me the wonder and mystery of Oliver's world.

                            You are standing at the edge of the woods
                                                   at twilight
                                          when something begins
                                          to sing, like a waterfall
                                                      ...
                                                The thrush
                                     is silent then, or perhaps
                                            has flown away.
                                     The dark grows darker.

                                                The moon,
                                     in its shining white blouse,
                                                     rises.
                                   And whatever that wild cry was

                                    it will aways remain a mystery
                              you have to go home now and live with,
                 sometimes with the ease of music, and sometimes in silence,
                                          for the rest of your life.


                                           FOR THE TIME BEING
                                          W.H. Auden (1907-1973)

Auden was something of a wanderer. Born in Great Britain, he sought stability in life within the boundaries of New York City, first in Brooklyn Heights, and later, Manhattan. Auden was gifted to make use of his own unsettledness and left us with an evocative commentary on the political, moral, social, and religious dynamics of his time, throwing light on the disturbing time in which we are living. Later in his life, Auden found refuge in the Anglican Church from which he drew the symbols of this long poem that concludes as follows: 

                     He is the Way.
                     Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
                     You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.

                     He is the Truth.
                     Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;
                     You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.

                     He is the Life.
                     Love Him in the World of the Flesh;
                     And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.


                                  EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALL RIGHT
                                           Derek Mahon (1941-2020)

Mahon was a solitary who wrote against the backdrop of Northern Ireland's brutal conflicts. Determined, he pushed himself to claim a love for poetry that his working class parents did not understand. His "watchful heart" looked inward and outward as he visited many cities around the world and saw features of life that others may not have seen. But many of us have found comfort in the vision of his "watchful heart" that he describes in the following poem.

                                 How should I not be glad to contemplate
                                   the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
                                   and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
                                 There will be dying, there will be dying,
                                    but there is no need to go into that.
                                 The poems flow from the hand unbidden
                                    and the hidden source is the watchful heart.
                                 The sun rises in spite of everything
                                    and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
                                  I lie here in a riot of sunlight
                                    watching the day break and the clouds flying. 
                                  Everything is going to be all right.


We do not all possess that marvelous capacity to write poetry. But we see with our eyes, our hearts, our minds, our imagination, our dreams. What do you see this new year?