Taking Refuge

In the lane next to me at a stop light, the hooded, sneering kid banged his hand on the steering wheel as the bass line rocked the car and rattled the windows. I wondered what kinds of thoughts coursed through his mind.

I asked my son what this fascination with pounding music was about. He told me he likes being in his car with the music up because it pushes from his mind all the thoughts he’d rather not have there. Music, to him, is a refuge from the harshness of the mind.

I think people are driven to find refuge in any way, in any place they can. In other words, we are driven to survive. Some of us are more civil in our pursuit of maintaining existence than others, but the drive and desire are the same.

A few weeks ago, Barack Obama claimed that when people are taken advantage of and have lost much of what they have they become bitter. Their bitterness drives them to – dare I say it? – take refuge in guns and religion. He was right, of course, because many, many disaffected people do turn to guns and religion. He took a big hit for that remark. Hillary Clinton proudly proclaimed, “The people of faith I know aren’t bitter.” An intelligent woman like her couldn’t have missed Obama’s point, but it was a perfect opportunity to pander to her constituents, who cheered and cheered.

Of course, one doesn’t need to be bitter to turn to guns, religion, or anything else for safety and security. One simply needs to be human. That’s because it’s our nature to want to be safe and secure. We need refuge, we need protectors. Each one of us needs someone to say, “There, there, everything is going to be all right. There is nothing to be afraid of.”

Nothing except ceasing to exist.

The desire for existence, of course, is nowhere but in the mind. The mind is a powerful and creative force. We can create whole worlds for ourselves, and we can – and do – give any meaning we want to the universe as it truly exists. What I mean here is that we really don’t see things as they are, but as we want them to be. Maybe that’s why we choose politicians who pander to us and reject those who will dare to tell us the truth. It gives us the illusion of safety and security.

So we take refuge with politicians and preachers, ideas and ideologies, dogmas and doctrines, all for the purpose of keeping us safe and secure within our own minds.