We live in interesting times, but interesting times are not good times. The world, like the weather, is permanently unsettled. The government of the UK has retreated to its panic room, and the electorate of the US appears to have gone insane. While real wars are waged abroad, we fight culture wars of such resounding stupidity that it’s embarrassing to hold an opinion. However cynical we may be about the future, every day brings new information that obliges us to revise our forecasts downwards.
Persistent cynicism may be wholly appropriate in such a climate, but it’s not good for you – being cynical is associated with a range of disastrous health outcomes. If we are to leave cynicism behind, we must re-acquaint ourselves with wonder. But how can we do this? Is it possible to find joy again? To learn to see the world as children do? That, at least, is my aim for the immediate future: to seek out childlike things and have some childlike fun, while my capacity for joy still exists.
