Message from Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Federal Association, at the start of the Festival of Lights:
Dear humanists,
A Chinese proverb says: the rich man thinks of the future, the poor man thinks of the present. And a fundamental question of the humanist world view, i.e. our thinking and actions, has always been: how do we want to live tomorrow? If the proverb is true, it is therefore necessary that we give the answer to this important question a basis.
I am therefore turning to you today so that we can now reflect in the weeks ahead on what makes us so rich that we can all think about the future together. And also in a way that is a little more free from fear and worry. Because it is also said that those who expect the future only with fear, inoculate it with terror. And no one wants such a tomorrow, not for anyone.
But first of all, we now have another special time ahead of us. In which we can see an opportunity to create a foundation, a real foundation, that can carry us through the coming year. But what can this foundation consist of?
I do not think that such a foundation can be gained by simply closing our eyes to the major crises of the present and allowing ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of happiness. But everyone has their own life and the rest of humanity gains nothing if we simply forget our own life.
I think it’s right to consciously ask yourself a very simple question again: What am I lacking in my life so that I can find happiness myself and really help others, what am I particularly lacking in order to be successful in my own life in a way that doesn’t create another problem but contributes to solving the problems? Is it time? Is it love? Friends? Peace and quiet? Money? Understanding? Or confidence? Is there even a lack of real, sustainable prospects for the personal future?
I’m sure almost all of us have felt such a lack. And for most of us, there will probably be moments and even days in the future when we clearly experience such a lack in our own life or in something else. We are called upon not to resign ourselves to the bad, but to start again and again to find the way to a good life.
That is why I believe that the next few weeks are very well suited to ensuring that we do not simply allow ourselves to be carried away and overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle – this shining and ringing, fragrant and gurgling, rushed and crowded hustle and bustle, which, among other things, has already been pointedly said to represent the orgasm of capitalism.
Because when we take a look at the nature around us, for example, we can perceive completely different things. Then we realize what is obvious and yet too often overlooked: It’s not just the winter cold and darkness that have returned to our lives. The fauna and flora here follow the rhythm of nature, which is millions of years old and which only humans can or think they can escape.
But do we ourselves withdraw from this rhythm – or is there something that withdraws us from it? Why can’t we really rest for once? When the days get longer again, will we feel exhausted and satiated? Or filled with new strength and confidence, good plans and goals that we will need?
This is ultimately in our own hands if we seriously ask ourselves what we can really do. Then we will always find concrete answers to this question.
So let’s think about it: What do we actually want for ourselves, alone and together with the people we know? Let’s not just get carried away by the hustle and bustle of this big sales period, let’s simply use the darker days in a different way – namely to find out what we really lack. And to ask ourselves the question individually and together: What can I do, what can we do, to remedy this lack? Is anyone else like me or us, and what can we achieve together?
Let’s not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed as usual over the next few weeks, but let’s free ourselves from the unnecessary and superfluous: Let’s distinguish our own genuine needs from externally created desires. We can let go of worries that we don’t have to have. Comfortable habits can get in our way. Here, too, we are challenged to examine carefully: Let’s let go of habits that we don’t actually want to share.
What can we do without without feeling poorer? So what makes us richer without making us poorer? We should not overlook those who have less than we do. This will give us more space in our own lives to take care of the really important things – the things we don’t want to feel lacking in the year ahead. To find an initial or even better answer to the question of how we want to live “tomorrow”.
If we manage to escape the hustle and bustle of the pre-Christmas routine for a while over the next few days and do not allow ourselves to lose sight of the real sources of our happiness, we can also rediscover the true magic of the celebrations at the time of the Festival of Lights: the renewed community with family and friends, great energy and good hopes, new perspectives and the richness of being able to think more about the future again and not just about today or tomorrow. And when the shortest day of the year is behind us, when there is more daylight again, we will certainly be able to enjoy this really good occasion and celebrate it with dignity.
I sincerely hope that you all succeed in creating a peaceful and contemplative time of light festivals for yourselves! Think about what you really want and don’t let yourselves be distracted from leading a life that you are happy with!
