But if I "lose control," who will take over in my place? This question does come down to the level of the individual human person, because the rancor over global and national “big issues” can permeate the interior realms of persons and vital interpersonal communities more forcefully than ever before (given that technological media drowns us every day with detailed conflicting narratives beyond our capacity to assess or evaluate). Far from empowering us, this increasingly perceptible atmosphere of confusion and mistrust only underscores our lack of control over so many external factors in our lives, and fosters a malaise of anxiety over the scope of our own personal intelligence and freedom. Do my understanding and actions move me forward in my development as a person, or do I “lose control” over my own humanity in the whirlwind of desperate circumstances that surround me and press themselves upon me? I am a small, vulnerable, endangered person seemingly overshadowed by so many vast and terrible forces.
But if I don't control the direction and purpose of my life, then who does? Those who engineer the “dominant mentality”? Is the value of my life determined by those who "take control?" Must we all ultimately yield to those who strive to manipulate our minds with their ideologies and/or control us through the expanded sensory images that constantly bombard us — i.e. those who have power in this world? This is an existential problem, which means it's a question that really punches me in the guts, and not just me.
This is one of the reasons why people are afraid to admit their vulnerability even to themselves, much less reveal it to others. If we are vulnerable, if we are weak, how can we protect ourselves from being defined (and perhaps used and discarded) by those who grasp hold of power?
I don't know if we can protect ourselves, ultimately, from being misused and humiliated by those who boast of their power and want to do violence to us. But we have to try to remember that — however overwhelming it may be — our vulnerability does not define us either. And no ideology or clique or group or anyone can take it upon themselves to be the measure of the meaning and dignity of a human person. The powers of this world have their limits, and therefore oppression has its limits.
For "the Lord hears the cry of the poor..."
God defines and controls the meaning of my life. He doesn't manipulate me. He is not some great and distant super-power who “manages” everything else for his own benefit. God is not like the tyrannical "boss" of the universe, imposing a scheme on me that is alien to myself.
God is my Creator. He alone can form within me the understanding and free actions that truly correspond to “who-I-really-am.” He is the guarantor of my inviolable dignity, even when I am absolutely helpless.
God is Love. He has come to share our lives, to share our weakness, to bear the burdens we carry day by day in this harsh and broken world, the afflictions that the violence of others imposes on us (and even the afflictions that we impose on ourselves).
It is after all grace, the gift of God's love in Jesus Christ, that saves, heals, and transforms our lives beyond our own power or anything else in this world.
