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A famous page by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche begins like this: “ Have you heard about that crazy man who lit a lantern in the fair light of the morning, run to the market and began to scream ceaselessly: “I’m looking for God! I’m looking for God!”. To decide to light a lantern when there is the full light of the morning all around sounds crazy, but in fact today’s mankind too is beginning to feel the need to have to relight a new light just when everything seems to be lit up, all around. The light that comes from the age of “enlightenment”, from reason, from science, from the powers of the world seems to be no longer adequate for our walk. We are driven by many signs to start looking again. I think one of the very first tasks of Christians in Europe and in the world is to listen, to bring up, to support this new quest. People look for the truth, they look for God. Today’s man is looking for God, for the truth, even if at the “market” there are people who seem to be unconcerned. If we look at our modern Western culture, we find out that the value that has become the main star for man’s actions is that of freedom. We all agree that freedom is really a fundamental value, but nowadays we also have to honestly realise that this beloved, sought-after freedom faces challenges, contradictions and huge risks. The spreading of the search for self-determination – which is the offspring of the worldly walk of modernity – has tried to shake off any form of protection: God, altars, truth, traditions, laws, morals, but a truth-less freedom to rely on hangs over nothingness. Today, freedom is experiencing loneliness: “free, yes, but what for?” Freedom needs to start searching again, to start walking again to find a foundation, its real identity, to find the company of the other values, to find the other or The Other to found and save it. To be free for nothing is simply terrible. Freedom must find itself again. Before the risk of nothingness, the basic existential questions can be clearly heard again in Europe today: does living and history make sense? Is there any good or someone I can trust my life with that can respond to my need of life, of happiness, of celebration, of affection and eternity? Are grief and death man’s last word, and as such are they a setback to my every wish? Does grief make sense? The issue of truth intertwines with that of sense. Good is the other attribute of being, of the real. Is there a good, a love, something worthy that can guide the actions of both individuals and cities? Is there a good that can respond to the dramatic request for justice from the poor of the world? When in Europe we talk of values, we agree fairly often when we have to make a list of them. For example, the list of values we find in article 2 of the Constitutional Treaty of the European Union and the first place given to human dignity can be perfectly shared. But the problem is not so easy. The serious problem that remains unsolved regarding values is that of their foundation, content and interpretation. An awesome feat, that is awaiting us.
