Seek, Turn, Read, Practice

The Don Quixote Complexity

December 2, 2024

Part One — The Current Situation

Here is some of my advice for everyone… Yet, realizing not everyone is seeking knowing what is right or what is true about life itself, or what is the right path and what is not, or maybe not even knowing the answer to what is that nagging little urge inside and what their heart might be seeking…

My advice is not for anyone who is content with themselves or with the way things are. My advice is only for those who see things in the world for what they actually are…

Everything is not right with the world. Never has been. Never will be — no matter how intensely we try to romanticize it. If that isn’t your mindset, this essay isn’t for you.

Still and all, and even though we look back with fondness, remembering all the sweet times in our past, we tend to suppress the mix of sour times from the past that we had to swallow.

At least, that has been my reality…

Now, I’m not trying to be a Despiteful David or a Negative Nellie in this essay, but without taking a completely honest look, a person cannot possibly begin to see either the potential dangers in their path ahead or to see the potential safeguards of any real solutions on the horizon.

We tend to exclude seeing any possible dangers and only think about finding those rewards. We end up following the Pied Piper of promises — as if this would become a guaranteed destiny. We slave our lives away, because we believe just around the corner all that the world promises will finally be ours.

In the meantime we strive to get by by entertaining ourselves. In fact, a whole commercial enterprise has developed in this Western World built around having fun, being comically entertained to escape our realities…

Here, I’ll stop to point out that some of the greatest comics who have entertained me have developed their “humor” from their deepest personal pain, and they probably found great comfort — even though temporary — in the roaring laughter or their fans. They also tried unsuccessfully to dull their inner hurting with pharmaceuticals. Yet, the humor=filled entertaining continued until death overcame their pain..

Don’t believe me? Two examples are a couple of my favorite comic actors, Robin Williams and Matthew Perry. How do you see it?

Putting the train back on track, there is another possibility in our rationale of denial in which we find a like-minded partner or two and engage in battle with a Don Quixote-like intensity, tilting at the windmills which are opposed to our happiness and romanticized destinies…

We replace that knight-errant’s quest with our own imagined Aldonza Lorenzo, who, like the fictional knight, we rename — and there are dozens of such names. Then, like the crazed Don Quixote, we select our own Lady Dulcinea, the romanticized object of our love and life’s goals — who also goes by dozens of names — as if in such fantasies we will find true happiness and personal fulfillment.

In my own life, such attempts have only led to disappointments, despondency, depression, and darkness.

Part Two — The Alternative

Everybody is different,” we might insist. “Everyone is unique in their lives, in their hopes, and in their dreams.” Tis true.

Yet, I contend we are all alike in our differences, and the fact remains that everybody does have hopes and do have dreams. We even flock together with those who have similar hopes and dreams… “Birds of a feather…”

Well, the alternative I have discovered is Biblical.

You see, I think all my experiences in this journey we call Life are not unique or strange. It is the way life is supposed to be. It is becoming the life God first created it to be. Congregating in close fellowship with like-minded people who have come to know God in a personal and in a communicative way, that is, walking and talking with the living God who walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden Paradise he had made for them.

“For them…” Think about that God had Mankind in mind from the very beginning! His purposes in his work were, as he said, after he had observed all he had made, everything was “very good. Check out this Bible verse:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” — Jeremiah 29:11, Berean Standard Bible.

Beyond that, “For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.” In other words, what the apostle Paul is saying to the Believers is that it does not matter what group you belong to, what actually matters is that you can be born again into the New Creation God has created for everyone’s hope for a better future:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying:

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.

‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.” — Revelation 21:1–4, BSB.

Still, this is not an automatic destiny. It is a solid promise, yes, but each person must choose to take the steps to get there. Hence. the title for this essay, “Seek, Turn, Read, Practice”

Part Three — The Way, the Truth, and the Life

Life is a journey, and there are many steps we take for this or that reason to get where we want to go. Sometimes the path gets so difficult, it is hard to imagine any way possible to get to a favorable end. Here is the favorable end Jesus promised which I found written down in the Bible:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” — John 14:1–7, BSB.

So, how does a person obtain that Promised Land? In a word, seek.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” — Matthew 6"33, BSB.

Take an honest look at yourself and your situation. Don’t bother blaming yourself or others for your condition. Here, I am assuming that you are like myself whose honest look made me realize all the hurt and harm I had caused, that I had made quite the mess out of my life, and that it was nobody’s fault but my own.

Follow up with what Jesus preached at the outset of his ministry:

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” — Matthew 4"17, BSB.

Now, understand that the word “repent” means “to turn,” and in this context turn away from the life you’ve been living, and turn to God and the life he has for you, assuming you do believe God is there somewhere “up there.”

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” — Hebrews 11:6, BSB.

If and when you decide to turn to God, Jesus, and the Bible, you can start to read the Bible with new eyes, and you will slowly but surely gain a fresh understanding of the words written there I did and so can you and anyone else. The Bible becomes more than a bunch of stories, fables, and allegories.

At the same time, keep in mind that unless you begin to put into practice the things you are learning, your journey will become fruitless both for yourself and for the people around you. Here’s advice from Jesus’ brother, the apostle James wrote about this matter:

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you tells him, ‘Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,’ but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.” — James 2:14–17, BSB.

I hope I haven’t confused anyone. Sometimes we cannot see the forest for the trees. So, I wanted to try to make things plain and simple, and if not simple, direct.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. — John 3:16–17. BSB.

We just want to let you all know you can find out for yourselves.