What is the Nature of Our World?

There is a story that goes around about how a reporter once asked Albert Einstein what he thought the most important question facing humanity. He said that the most fundamental question we ever ask ourselves is whether the universe is hostile or friendly.

The young woman I visited in the psych ward sees the world as a hostile place. The chairs are all hard plastic. The mattresses are thin and the blankets thinner. Lights are on 24/7. Someone is often creating a ruckus. One group tv is usually on mute but it hardly matters - who could agree on a shared interest anyway? When she reports her anxiety and asks for meds, they hand her an old battered plastic container of crayons and a piece of paper. The environment is inhospitable on a good day.

I, as a visitor, can agree with her assessment while noticing other details too. The nurse in charge is a friend of mine - a caring professional who loves her patients even when she has to tell them no. I notice also that for weeks before she landed here, this young woman was on the streets of Richmond, VA and it has been a damp, cold, rainy few weeks.

I look around and see the universe is trying to help her; she sees it as a place that disappoints, judges and does not understand her. Her desires rule her life even as they stand in contradiction to her hopes and dreams.

She is fighting for survival but this disease is only managed through the practice of surrender. I have to surrender to the reality that she will probably ditch this place in the morning and use drugs as quickly as possible. My recovery requires me to surrender to the world as it is, not as I wish it to be.

Suffering is not eliminated when we get to the twelfth step, but it is alleviated by this firmly held conviction that the world is a place where God still works alongside his children to make it a better place. In the meantime, we surrender and hope and pray that God will protect this precious one as she continues her journey. And we ask God to give us the strength to do his will which always includes having compassion for the suffering.