Article about “War and Peace” for Caritas Vienna:
An Anthill Called the World
A long time ago, I once heard an anecdote that supposedly originates from the Talmud: We have a coat with two pockets. In each pocket there is a message. The first message reads: “You are a speck of dust in the universe.” The second message reads: “The universe was created just for you.” This is how we humans live in our universe, buffeted back and forth by these two poles.
Thus, my parents’ large garden in Klosterneuburg immediately comes to my mind. In the middle of one of its meadows, there was a huge anthill. As a child, I was often visiting it while walking through the meadows. I stopped in front of it and observed this colony of large wood ants. It was extremely difficult, almost impossible, to track a single ant in the middle of the heap. As soon as I saw one, I would lose sight of it again amidst the crowd. The big picture was much more important.
I also remember a few small experiments I conducted with this anthill. The most memorable one was the time I once took a branch, placed it on the heap, and used it to divide the ant colony into two halves. The colony immediately began to change. While it had previously been a single whole, from that moment onward it was divided. The colony immediately formed into two colonies, separated by the branch.
When I removed the branch from the center a few minutes later, however, nothing changed at first. It took many more minutes before the first ants ventured from their half across the former boundary. And it took an incredibly long time for the two colonies to reunite. Only in the next morning everything was back to normal again.
Just like the Klosterneuburg wood ants, we humans on Earth are in the same situation. Our planet, like our brain, has two halves. The left hemisphere is the so-called “West,” the Occident of sunset, the bright yang. The right hemisphere of the brain is the so-called “East,” the Orient of sunrise, the dark Yin. The central branch that connects the two hemispheres, the Corpus Callosum, is the Roman Meridian. On our Earth, this line passes directly through the Pantheon in Rome, the oldest church on Earth. It’s the center line of our planet.
Every four hundred years, the energy on our Earth shifts from one hemisphere to the other. While the last four centuries were dominated by “Western” forces, the next four centuries will be dominated by “Eastern” forces. The bright Yang shifts into the dark Yin. The dominance of our left brain hemisphere is replaced by the right brain hemisphere. Our Earth, our great anthill, is being shaken up tremendously. We ants are shocked and confused. Chaos and war are reigning, especially here, in the center of our world.
This massive change is frightening. Everything we have long been accustomed to seems to be breaking apart and perishing. Everything is getting more expensive, our money is becoming worthless, many things no longer function as they used to, from the railways to the social systems. All of Europe is preparing for war. We’re facing new Middle Ages.
What can comfort us in these dark times? Certainly the good Lord. God definitely knows what He is doing and what He allows. He knows that every change goes through a valley of tears. No Easter Sunday without Good Friday, as terrible as that is. And He continually sends us His Saints, who have become role models for us for all times.
When 800 years ago the then “West,” the Holy Roman Empire, came under pressure and the Mongols advanced from the East into Europe, He sent Francis of Assisi as a shining example. And another 800 years earlier, when the ancient “West,” the Western Roman Empire, collapsed and the Huns reached Europe, He sent Augustine of Hippo as the first great teacher of His Church.
If, like Augustine, we “live the truth in love” and, like Francis, “rebuild His Church,” then we got it. Our last Pope called himself Francis, and our new Pope Leo is an Augustinian. What a coincidence…
We Christians are bearers of hope. We are because we not only believe that things will turn out well, we trust in it with all our hearts. No matter how bad Good Friday is, there is an Easter Sunday. It’s like music. Every piece of music may have its dissonances that create tension. But every piece of music has a happy ending. Every single piece of music ends in a beautiful final chord. The same thing happens on our anthill called the world. We are specks of dust in the universe. And yet it was created just for us. Exactly as it is.
Every 800 years we face the same plot, with all its tragedies, all its suffering, all its conflicts and wars. The “West” is sinking, the “East” is rising. The “Logos” of the left brain is being replaced by the “Mythos” of the right brain. The light Yang is followed by the dark Yin. Yet, it will all end well. We can trust in that from the bottom of our hearts. God sends us His signs, for He connects both halves. He is the greater whole. As the Gospel of John already says:
“In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with the Mythos, and the Logos was the Mythos. In the beginning everything was with the Mythos.”
(John 1:1-2, The Prologue)
The rest is written in the Bible. Ask Saints Augustine and Francis!
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Vienna Calling 