Choosing the Best

We make choices all through life. Who to vote for is far down the list compared with who to partner with for life! Which car to buy is a lesser choice of value as well, although I admit it is a major decision each and every time; that is most likely due to the price tag associated with the decision. Same for which home to buy or rent. So many facets to each choice, and much thinking spent weighing the pros and cons.

I once made a decision to shed two extra curricular activities. Each was important in special ways, but also sources of frustration for me. I realized I could make a difference with my other involvements, and that those differences were very important to me. When I made those choices, a close friend stated I had discerned what was important to me.

That made me think on what the word means. Discernment is not an easy thing to do, let alone define it. Here’s a working definition anyway from Miriam Webster:

a.      The quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure: skill in discerning.

b.      An act of perceiving or discerning something.

Well, that sort of gets at it – the grasping of what is obscure, and understanding it. But the obscure bit is part and parcel of discernment. Wikipedia perhaps gets at it better:

            Discernment is the ability to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well. 

  

Yes; that’s more like it. Making a judgment with distinctions among perceptions that helps focus on the better moral position.

I like that. Discernment in my experience is about choosing to stay on track with the long term objective of what I hope to see happen. World peace is one of those objectives that offers many decisions toward building that peace without immediate rewards. It is a positioning towards the end result one hopes to gain.

So in my original situation I chose to drop two groups because I didn’t feel I was making a difference for them, nor was the involvement producing a position that would help me realize what I felt was most important in life. Letting go of those two activities was difficult, but it did free me up to perform better for the remaining involvements. Now a few years down the path my objectives are intact and my long term goals are shaping up very well. These goals and objectives, by the way, have nothing to do with or for me; they are focused on quality of life for others and my society.

Perhaps that’s what is most important about discernment. It may pertain to what you spend your time on, but it is time spent to benefit others that makes this a moral value that boosts an act of choice to an act of discernment.

Am I really spending my time in the best manner to produce the results I think are the most important for my society? That is the core question to ask oneself.

And yes, I think I am spending my time doing what is most important for the benefit of others. These are not easy things to weigh or discern. Maybe that is the proof that what we are about is discernment? And important!

June 14, 2017