The section about nostalgia was striking to me. It reminded me of a Feist song called "Past in Present," which contains the line, "so much past inside my present" (I'll add the aside that I don't really get the rest of the lyrics of that song!) . . . Anyway, I appreciated the point that nostalgia can be unhealthy, and that it "never deals with something that touches depth," although at the same time, it has "a power to touch our deepest parts in the same way we are touched by love and truth." That wording is confusing b/c it seems like they are the same thing. But although that wording could use some clarification, I think I know what he means because it really rings true that there is a difference between experiences that are truly deep and those that are powerful, but essentially superficial and not real. I suppose that is the problem--nostalgia is dwelling on something that IS NO LONGER real, regardless of how real it once was. I liked Rolheiser's wording when he said that it sometimes comes looking like "the angel of light." True, funny, sad.
Another part of this section that rang true for me was that we need to accept loss and death in our life, when it happens. A few thoughts I had . . . One is that this is very very difficult. Second, I thought about all the different ways we experience loss, places where we might practice the acceptance of that loss: in death, in break-ups or divorce, when we move or change jobs and lose touch with people . . .
Then I also thought about how counterproductive Facebook is in this regard. Renewing contact with some people can be good, but for the most part, it is silly and superficial. No need to address other problems with facebook (e.g.: the pope's point that we should reduce our use of technology in order to focus on real relationships and not virtual ones . . .and how ironic that I am typing this on a blog. . . ).
That is all. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
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His comments on nostalgia also struck me. I was, however, most entranced by the "recessive journey" that Rolheiser describes on page 48, where one can go back to our dreams of the past to re-find that which is truest in us. I think that as I get caught up in the immediacy of reality now, sometimes I am actually living in the future (always working towards a goal that I chose a long time ago). This recessive journey can help us remember what made us smile as children or adolescents and perhaps, in light of our experiences now, we can look deep to find the motivation for our joys and apply them to our lives now in a more sophisticated manner.
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