Weather, Writing, and Truth

As the emerging clouds roll in here in Switzerland, they threaten the last glimpse of sunlight and your plans for the day.  And yet, just as the clouds move in and the rain comes down, the sun can reappear just as quickly, and with it, unexpected opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. The weather in Switzerland is unpredictable.  The surrounding Alps can both hold in and prevent weather patterns from emerging, which results in drastic changes.  (A few of us even refer to the weather as being schizophrenic)

On the one hand, the ever-changing weather can create fluctuating landscape portraits.  This is why you can take a picture from the same spot and get a different image with every camera click.  On the other hand, the volatility of the weather can help you confront your need to be in control.  The weather does not care if you have plans for the day.  The rain is not concerned with your wants.  The sun is not interested in cooperating with your desires.  The weather is not to be controlled.  And this can be hard at times for someone like me who still grasps at things that I cannot control.

“Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not… We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.”

-Cardinal John Henry Newman

Nevertheless, embracing the uncontrollable weather in Switzerland has been a freeing experience for me because it has allowed me to confront other things in my life and people who simply cannot and should not be controlled.  And this has left me with a glaring truth.  Not only do I have less control than what I think, but the same things and people I can’t control don’t care.  They are not concerned about my existence.

What a gift to my soul.

I have always been drawn to writing.  Every empty page offers me the canvas to probe my past for understanding while simultaneously juxtaposing my present-day realities with a glimmer of authenticity.  All while still holding onto hope as I daydream about my unknown future.  In short, it is an activity that helps me make sense of my life.  That is if I am open to a larger truth.

An objective truth is not concerned about what I think is right, how things should be, my feelings, or what I think is fair.  And like the weather, when my relationship to this objective truth is not interested in controlling it, but rather, being captivated and transformed by it, the writing becomes satisfied for what it is within itself.  Subsequently, the writing is not concerned with anything else.  It is not worried about the number of likes on Facebook.  It is not concerned about financial gain.  It is not worried about self-satisfaction.  Instead, its sole purpose is to explore and be transformed by a more profound objective truth.

My brother was here visiting this past week, and it rained daily.  And yet, with every changing cloud and occasional sunlight break, a more profound truth emerged.  Namely, letting go of control has allowed me to be taken over by a more profound reality…in the end, the only thing that matters is relationships.  Relationships with loved ones, friends, neighbors, myself, and truth.

With nothing more important than my relationship to truth.

“But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.”

–Pope Francis

Weather and writing are two avenues that help me wrestle with truth…what are yours?