Bob Schwartz

A year ago, I declared 2023 the Year of Poetry. All the arts are valuable, but you can’t go wrong with poetry, whether reading it or writing it.

A new year, a new declaration. Nothing official has been decided, but I thought some of the candidates deserved mention.

Year of Buddhism and Taoism. For convenient classification, Buddhism and Taoism are often categorized as religions, though they don’t look like the others. We might better call them traditions. Anyway, as we approach a year that is certain to include much that goes sideways or turns upside down, it will be helpful to learn how to go with it. These are excellent for that. Other religious traditions are about keeping us steady and grounded by anchoring us in truths. B&T at their best acknowledge the ground but remind us that there is more than the ground, that whatever is propounded can be followed by “…and yet.”

Year of Philosophers. Ideally, philosophers don’t tell us what to see or think—though there’s plenty of that. They tell us how to see and think, for ourselves. That’s why I have been pleading with philosophers to take a more visible and audible place in our popular public conversations. Way too many talking heads offering conclusions and certainties in the face of complex or insoluble situations. Which tends to confirm or antagonize the conclusions and certainties of listeners and viewers. Instead, we need more people who teach us how to gather, distill and process knowledge and how to live with a little—or a lot—of uncertainty.

Year of the Absurd. This is currently at the top of my list. At some other point, I’ll deep dive into this topic. For now, know that when things don’t seem to make sense, it may be because they don’t make sense, and our futile job is not to make sense of them, though we feel compelled to try. Our real job is to learn how to live with it, not be discouraged or dispirited by it, crushed or drowned by it. If you think that 2024 won’t constantly offer us absurdities, you are mistaken. These may make you laugh or cry, or both, which is understandable and fine. It’s just absurd.

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz