Reality Check: The Ordinary Is Extraordinary
I am afraid that I mention Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s (Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI) “Introduction to Christianity” too frequently, and I refrain from referencing it on many occasions because I don’t want to cheapen it. I don’t want “Intro” to become meaningless because I bring it up every day.
My friends have assured me that my frequent references have the opposite effect and, instead, motivate them to read it; but the fear persists. The book means more to me than I could ever explain, and I would be devastated if I were the cause of its reduction. But why do I fear that frequent references diminish it?
Why do we fear that what is common cannot be extraordinary?
Even in simple things like budding trees, we sometimes pass over beauty because it is expected this time of year. We perceive that vacations must be spent going on great, extravagant adventures rather than spending simple moments and routine days with family and friends. Even Merriam-Webster’s synonym list for the adjective “routine” includes “ordinary,” “unremarkable” and “unexceptional.” Is this truly what we want? Why do we think extraordinary things can only be occasional, and so resign ourselves to lives with few highlights?
Don’t we want to fill our lives with beauty?
Routine can and should be beautiful. The small, common, everyday occurrences can and should be extraordinary. There seems to be an obvious issue with the definition here, but I don’t think definitions do reality justice. As Hölderlin prefaced his “Hyperion,” “Not to be encompassed by the greatest, but to let oneself be encompassed by the smallest—that is divine.” So perhaps our true issue is perspective. Perhaps we think that what is small cannot matter when we ourselves are inconsequential blips on the radar of the universe that is ever-expanding and complexifying. However, we must return to the fact that it is not things that matter, but people and relationships.
Cardinal Ratzinger writes that because God is infinite, even the greatest things to us are infinitely small to God, and so “to him nothing is too small….To him who as spirit upholds and encompasses the universe, a spirit, a man’s heart with its ability to love, is greater than all the milky ways in the universe” (Introduction to Christianity 146). I could sit with this quote for ages. Nothing is too small for God, but nothing is greater than a heart that loves.
Let us embrace the smallest things. Just because something is simple and common to the everyday experience does not mean it is not extraordinary in and of itself. Budding trees are fascinating, from their science to their aesthetics to the simple fact that God decided they were good and should exist. Vacations should be seen as great opportunities to love and to deepen our relationships, whether we’re on a beach or in the mountains or at home washing the dishes we are blessed to have and make dirty with good food. And routine should be remarkable and meaningful in all the small ways in which it is accomplished and disrupted and enriched by our relationships with others.
Reality check: the ordinary is extraordinary.
