Cafeteria Catholics

Much has been of President Obama’s invitation to speak at and accept an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame. Not a few Catholics, myself included, feel that, however customary this may be for ND (they have invited other presidents in the past), the fact that the president’s views on life are polar opposite from Catholic teaching makes the invitation very incongruous. But there are some Catholics who feel this is a good thing and that the Magisterium could use an “extreme makeover”. For them the teaching of the Church, which are teachings of Christ, are an embarrassing anachronism. My Catholic brothers and sisters who feel this way in relation to secular power remind me of a quote by Eric Hoffer:
“Those who bite the hand that feeds them will eventually lick the boot that kicks them.”

What are Philosophers Like?

“The beauty of philosophy is that anything goes. Philosophical discussions are vital, not philosophical conclusions.”

-Undergraduate Student

“What about someone who believes in beautiful things, but doesn’t believe in the beautiful itself and isn’t able to follow anyone who could lead him to the knowledge of it? Don’t you think he is living in a dream rather than a wakened state?  Isn’t this dreaming: whether asleep or awake, to think that a likeness is not a likeness but rather the thing itself that it is like.”

-Socrates

Last evening I was lecturing on Plato’s Cave Allegory in Book VII of the Republic.  The allegory is used by Plato to represent the fact that those who do not pursue wisdom are like those living in a Cave, in which the shadows that they see, they take to be reality.  At one point in our discussion, I asked the class what they thought of philosophy to be, prior to taking the class.  Those that had an opinion, tended to say philosophy was just that, discussions about opinions.  These opinions could range from the timeless (e.g. God, evil, the afterlife) to the, seemingly, more contemporary (e.g. capital punishment, the legalization of drugs, abortion etc..).  Their view is not unusual.  Philosophers and anyone who takes up these questions,  seem to be shadow boxing.   I remember meeting a nice gentleman who was quite successful in business.  Upon learning that I was a philosophy graduate student, he remarked that he had once been a philosophy major as undergraduate at Harvard.  Nevertheless, he said, his father eventually told him to get down to reality and begin to study something useful.  Even in Plato’s day, philosophy was seen as something useless (which, is why it is superior…but that is another essay).  In Plato’s Gorgias dialogue, Callicles, a corrupt politician, says somthing of the same, i.e. philosophy is nice to engage in when young but better left there in order pursue more practical matters.

Above I have quoted a comment, posted on an article I read in a student newspaper about the need for philosophy in education.  The commentator was taking issue with the author’s view that philosophy should really serve as a guide for people.  It should do so, claimed the author, because it can lead people to more satisfactory answers about the world around them.  The commentator takes the author to task for becoming too dogmatic.  Thus, the, “…beauty of philosophy is that anything goes.  Philosophical discussions are vital, not philosophical conclusions.”   I remember reading a popular book on philosophy (which according to Plato, might be reason to leave it be) where the author enthusiastically stated that in philosophy, it was the question not the answer that was important.  On one level, both these views appear to be wise.  Questions and discussions are important.  But so are the answers!   Indeed, questions presuppose answers, however difficult they be to find.  Plato makes the same point when he says that the road to wisdom is a hard and difficult one.

Eric Voegelin, the great political scientist and philosopher, wrote a very illuminating commentary on the philosophy on Plato.  In it he makes the decisive point: one reason people have a hard time understanding the importance of philosophy is because, they are unaware of what philosophy, in Plato’s time was in opposition.  The opponent of the philosopher, in Plato’s view, was what he called the philodoxer.  So for Plato it was philosophos (love of wisdom) versus philodoxos (love of opinion).  Most people have heard of a philosopher, but not the philodoxer, and this is because, as Voegelin contends, there is no English equivalent to philodoxer.  Therefore, according to him, “[i]n modern usage…we call philosophers, precisely the persons to whom Plato as a philosopher was in opposition.”  So, anytime someone shares with us their opinions or view of life, we take that to be philosophy.  And since it seems there are as many view of life as there are people, many conclude that finding an answer is at misguided at best.  Yet, we must always keep in mind that a question without an answer is a logical contradiction.  The answer maybe genuinely difficult to arrive at, but difficulties do not necessarily add up to impossibilities.

I have stated, in accord with Voegelin, that one reason people view philosophy negatively, is due to the appellative loss of the opponent of the philosopher.  There is another, and perhaps more important reason, namely, that is not that some do not know what a philodoxer is but that they themselves are philodoxers.  Philodoxers or lovers of opinion are those who claim that genuine knowledge is not possible.  They say this either, because they are unable to arrive at genuine knowledge, or as they are vaguely aware of what that knowledge may require of them, they are unwilling to seek it.  Whichever it may be, these persons will extol the “beauty” of apparent philosophical endeavors (i.e. questions for questions sake and merely seeing what others think)  and ridicule the true philosophical endeavor (i.e. questions for the sake of answers and genuine interest in what people think to see if it is true).  Anyone, who values the exercise of philosophy, which in reality is philodoxy, over the aim of philosophy is, “…living in a dream…”.

Some may say that this view of philosophy is too narrow minded and not broad enough.  Maybe so.  But broadness of mind, in itself, is not be necessarily a virtue.  For our minds like a wayfarer must have a path to reach a destination.  The further and more difficult the destination the more one seeks certainty in the path.  Hence, highways have shoulders.

Some Brief Thoughts on Freewill.

The following is not terribly systematic, but just some initial impressions that could be developed at a later time.

I started a philosophy club at the high school where I teach a few years ago. We sit around a do what you would expect, talk about things that most people find boring or pointless (e.g. Why is there evil? Is there any difference between knowledge and opinion? What constitutes a ‘good life’?, etc…). Every year someone will bring up the question of whether humans have freewill or not. It amazes me how many students say that humans do not have freewill. I remember one young fellow, quite nice and very smart, who was very adamant about and confident in the fact that we did not have freewill. Furthermore, he gave some good arguments supporting his position (therein lies the problem with his position). This year, I seem to have a crop of students who share the same belief. In fact the topic came up today. It is odd, but perhaps understandable why some people would like to deny freewill. If one is prone to indulge the senses, such a view may be helpful. I mean if you can help smoking a “j” or sleeping around, then the world would be a much simpler place. However, after I left the meeting that day, it struck me as odd that these students and not a few academics who deny freewill, spend some time trying to convince me that this is so. I mean if I am not free but determined to do something, then what is the use of trying to argue for something that I have no control over. No one tells a lion, “Now listen here Mr. Lion, don’t you go trying to kill those poor little gazelles.” A lion is determined to hunt and no matter how squeamish we may be at such a sight.  Eating gazelles is a completely natural act for lions. If on the other hand you are at a restaurant and eating your dinner, and I being hungry, knock you out of your chair and begin eating your food, you would not buy my protestations that I am an animal and when hungry, and have no choice but to take your food. You, along with most sane people, would say I do have a choice.

In short, those who deny freewill and try to convince others that freewill does not exist are working under a belief that the other has the capacity to change their mind. If one believes that if some one is given good reasons that ‘X’ is the case, in the hopes that that someone will accept “X”, then the person giving the reasons is presupposing that the other can choose to embrace the better argument. However, if one can change their mind, then they are not necessarily determined to think a certain way; they are free to think another way. In this way freewill deniers end up contradicting themselves.

Tell me lies…

I remember enduring a program put on by the HR department of a company I worked for years ago. It was about workplace sensitivity and the dangers of finding oneself a transgressor. The mantra of the program was that, “perception is reality.”, meaning if someone perceived you to be racially, ethnically, religiously, etc…, insensitive, you could and would be branded as such, whether that perception corresponded with reality or not. In fact, HR was more than willing to admit that it could turn out that perceived violations of sensitivity might be completely baseless but the damage would already be done.

Well, I don’t deny that perceptions are powerful, for they certainly are. I perceive that I am one ‘helluva’ nice guy but my wife may point out, truthfully, that this is not always the case. Being the philosophical realist that I am, such a view seems misguided. The reason this is so, is because although perceptions can be valid, common experience shows they can be invalid as well. In the end, perception does not always correspond with reality. I remember sitting there that afternoon thinking to myself, “If the HR department, by admitting that perceived violations of workplace sensitivity may not correspond to reality, then why must we sit through this program, why not find get to the truth of the matter?” I know the reason, at least the pragmatic one; the company doesn’t want the legal hassle and so better for one man to perish that the whole company. No, I understand the pragmatic approach. I’m trying to make a larger point, which is this business of going along with the, “perception is reality” mentality, when we are being told that this is not the case (yet one would think most of us know that it is this is not always the case without having to be told) .

This brings me to my point (yes, I do have one). Watching one of the talking head shows Sunday morning, I heard something that crystallizes what I have been thinking about for awhile now. The issue was over the selection of Governor Palin of Alaska to be John McCain running mate. I don’t remember the specific point but the substance of it was if Gov. Palin did not do something effectively, then it would create a perception that voters may view as negative, therefore leading potential voters to react in such a way that would to hurt McCain’s presidential aspirations. The pundit admitted that such a perception would probably not be fair and that the Democrats would exploit this fallacious perception. So we, the potential voters, sit here and listen to the fact that a perception, which may be false, will nevertheless be encouraged for the expressed purpose of influencing us to act in a certain way. Basically we are told that we will to be lied to and manipulated (as an aside ,anytime you hear a pundit use the word “narrative” for clarity’s sake, go ahead and insert the word “lie” in its place). The wonder of it all is that this happens in plain sight. What I am essentially talking about is this political phenomenon of “spin”. Spin is a great example of the “perception is reality”

If what I am saying is unclear, then imagine the following scenario: A person is looking to buy a car. Let us say that he or she is given the opportunity to have representatives of two auto manufacturers present their cars to this person. Both representatives give impassioned presenations about the relative merits of their cars and also tell you why the other’s car would not be the best for you. Now suppose there were a couple of bystanders, maybe industry insiders, who also listened to the presentations and pulled the potential buyer to the side to tell him or her that there was more to the story that what they were told. Suppose they said that one of the representatives’ claims about his vehicle was not quite accurate. Furthermore, they say that some negative statistics cited by the same representative about the other manufacturer’s car were taken out of context and were not what they seemed. The insiders say that the representative’s presentation was so well delivered that the potential buyer would probably be influenced in buying his car, if he did not know the whole story. Now what would you think of the person, who now knowing that they were being manipulated, decided to buy the deceptive auto maker’s car? If you say “I’d think that person was an idiot.” you would be correct. If the absurdity of this scenario is readily apparent, then what is the real difference of the person who listens to the pundit and acts upon the “spin”?

Something Hopeful, This Way Comes.

“What is it about August? The First World War began in August 1914. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact effectively announced the Second World War in August 1939. Iraq, a fragment of the collapse of empires precipitated by August 1914, invaded Kuwait in August 1990.”

The above is take from an article written by George Will on Russia’s invasion of Georgia last week. It does seem that August, at least in modern times, as seen it’s fair share of political and social upheval. Just the other day I was taking with some friends and it was brought up on how perilous our times seem these days- economic uncertainty, Islamic faniticism, and the seeming return of Soviet rule in Russia. Only an obtuse individual would be uneasy in the face of such events. I must admit to feeling a slight dis-ease of late. Life seem so timorous. Am I the only one who, in quite times, thinks “Where is all this headed” ?

Yes it it true that some of sadder chapters in the human drama have been written in August. While ruminating about Will’s observation I was reminded of something. In a month that begins with the last entry being made in Anne Frank’s diary to, nearing month’s end, the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (in itself not “earth shattering” but considering the social changes in brought to this country, and not allfor the better, it is still very significant.), I was reminded I was reminded of another event that takes place in the middle of every August. This would be the celebration of The Assumption of the Virgin Mary. This liturgical celebration is, if anything, a celebration of hope. As such it may serve as an antidote to the diffusion of anxiety that washes over contemporary humanity. When one thinks of desires Isalamic miliatants or designs of a Vladimir Putin, one should turn to readings of the day, such as the Canticle of Mary:

The Mighty One has done great things for me for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him…He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.” Luke 1:49-50, 52

We are told that evil does exist in the world and has real power, but the Virgin Mother’s praise of God, encourages us to see that it does not have the last word. In the end, the celebration of this feast points to final victory:

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have salvation and power come, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed. For the accuser of our brothers is cast out…” Revelation 12:10a

August has seen some fearful events. The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, reminds us that amidst the raging’s of world events (and indeed the raging in our own souls) that we have reason to hope. Father Clifford Stevens says it well,

“The Assumption looks to eternity and gives us hope that we, too, will follow Our Lady when our life is ended. The prayer for the feast reads: ‘All-powerful and ever-living God: You raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul, to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory.’ “

Amen.

*******

A final thought: I came across a poem entitled, Wedding Toast by Richard Wilbur. The poem is speaks of the first miracle performed by Jesus at Cana. Part of the poem reads:

Which is to say that what love sees is true;
That this world’s fullness is not made but found.
Life hungers to abound
And pour its plenty out for such as you.

In keeping with the reflection above, part of our contemporary anxiety stems from our need to make our world a certain way (i.e. comfortable, safe, entertaining, efficient, etc…). The ancient philosophers believed such a need betrayed our need for some lasting happiness. What this poem reminded me of and what the ancients would have understood is that real happiness is not made, it is received.

Trip to NOLA

Nothing overly philosophical here today. I have just been thinking about how wonderful our twelfth anniversary was. We traveled to New Orleans, where were married, for a nice weekend together. I won’t bother going over the whole trip, if you want that you may visit the Our Little World blog. But I would like to offer my thoughts on some of the people and places we encountered.

Dr. Edward Henderson- This is probably my favorite professor. He is a philosopher in the true sense of the word. I first met him when was registering for LSU as a religious studies major. I remember us sitting in a classroom in Audubon Hall, with it’s high ceilings. He had an unmistakable southern drawl and had a certain weighty but approachable prescence about him. A few days later I was sitting in his Philosophy of Religion class and taking in all that he had to offer. What was his impact on me? He showed me first hand that being a philosopher and a believer was not an oxymoron. Not that he wore his faith on his sleeve or was preachy. Rather, he showed that if a philosopher is open to the whole of reality, particularly the mystery of the human person, then religion and God become intelligible. Running into him was quite serendipitous.

Family and friends- Again for the whole story, see my wife’s blog, but we spent time with my wife’s cousin, her husband and baby son. Later that evening all went to see my wife’s aunt and uncle. What a great evening. It was a nice reminder of the things that are important in life, and one of them is family…not just immediate family but extended. Our culture spreads us out so much that family member’s can become little more that acquaintances. We all should work harder to keep those ties stronger.  On Saturday, we had the opportunity to have lunch with some dear friends who drove in from Baton Rouge.  It was great to see them  (there is a link to our friend’s blog called Living With No Regrets- if you have teenagers or are a teenager, you may want to check it out). We also ran into some friends from college (again see the wife’s blog for details). We had a great time with them. They are really good people and I have taken it as a sign, that we should make more of an effort to get together. Fortunately they are live not too far away will be coming over this weekend for dinner.  Finally we ended the weekend by heading back to Baton Rouge, where I stood as the godfather for my best friends daughter.  She is as cute as she can be and her dad can’t deny her because she really favors him.  We went all together afterward for brunch, and it was really a nice time.  I don’t get to see him that often so it was a really special day.  Before leaving Baton Rouge we had time to see one more friend.  She will be getting remarried in the fall to a very nice fellow.  She looks very happy, and given the ups and downs of the past several years my wife and I are really happy for her.

Why did I write all this?  I guess maybe I hope that something I said may inspire you to be more cognizant of the friends and family you have around you and to take time to be with them.   It is not an overstatement to say that friends and family are truly gifts from God.

Laffite’s Blacksmith Bar- I love this place. There was a time when the fact that it was a bar may have been the sole draw, but as I have gotten older, the history of the place means more. You can just feel the age of the place.  The abeyance is hard to describe, but you have to like a place that the only light after dark is provided by candles.  Much of the furniture looks as if it is as old as the building itself.  My favorite architectural feature is the fireplace in the middle of the building, upon which hangs a colored print of the original USS Constellation. Ask yourself this question- When was the last time that you were in a building that pre-dated the signing of the Declaration of Independence?

My Wife- We tend get on each other’s nerves on a road trip. We have always joked that if we were to go on the show, The Amazing Race, someone would be guilty of homicide (truth be told, I am probably mostly at fault, hell, I even annoy myself). That being said there is no other person on the planet that I would rather go anywhere with. It has been a great twelve years, twelve years that I truly don’t deserve.  Do yourself a favor, if you have one, take a long look at your spouse and ask, Where and who would I be without you? Here’s looking forward to the next twelve- five times over (you can do the math).

Answers to Prayer: Life as Problem and Life as Mystery

This past Saturday morning, I went to a men’s prayer meeting at my church. The topic of the day was pertaining to prayer. We broke into small groups, each taking a specific aspect of the prayer experience (e.g. dryness, lack of faith, distractions, etc…) and discussed it. In my group the subject eventually turned to seeking answers to problems from God in prayer. I think this is something any religious person, Christian or otherwise has wrestled with. I can remember several years ago trying to decide what to do with my life, so I would pray seeking an answer. Yet it appeared, from my limited perspective, that God was either busy or not as concerned about my predicament as I was. I mean if you have a problem and ask someone for assistance, and they don’t say anything, you would think that person, rude at worst or a little “off” at best. But with God, it seems to be a different matter; I know that God is certainly not rude, although His timing can be inconvenient and uncomfortable, and an omniscient being is far from being “off”. So what gives? Well, I think the some of the difficulty with seeking His answers to our prayers, resides in a couple of things: first, when we pray, we are usually asking primarily from a perspective, that sees life as a problem to be solved and not a mystery that is to be accepted. The second difficulty, is related to the first, because in seeing life as a problem to be solved, we approach the act of praying from an perspective that inhibits the true aim of prayer, which is union with God. In what follows I would like to try to expand on these, and I hope you will bear with me…my wife as been encouraging me to be less boring (i.e. quit talking like a philosopher).

First of all, I came across an idea that originated with French philosopher, Gabriel Marcel (don’t check out on me yet, this is going somewhere, I promise), but was discussed in a different way by Jacques Maritain. Marcel said that life or for that matter a person, can be treated has a problem or a mystery. Marcel, being a Catholic philosopher, encouraged us that we should treat it as the latter. Maritain says that any reality that confronts us in life can, in varying degrees, be a “mixture” of a problem and mystery. What does it mean for something to be a problem and what stance should we have toward it? Well problems are usually finite things that can conceivably be solved or at least alleviated in some fashion (though not all problems can be, e.g. dying). Take a crossword puzzle. Certainly no one is forced to solve it but it is only there to be solved. Crimes are problems, that are meant to be solved. The energy woes that we are experiencing is a problem (political/social/corporate greed, apathy, and cowardice notwithstanding) that could be solved to some degree. When we approach a problem we come to it with an attitude that it must be solved and throw ourselves into doing so. No one, all things being equal, desires to tolerate a problem, it must be removed and if it is not, we get a bit testy.

What is a mystery? Well, the mystery I have in mind is not the one that Sherlock Holmes thought it to be or for that matter, the rest of us as well. Because when we talk of mysteries nowadays, we talk about them in the fashion of problems…they must be solved. So let us take God. God is a mystery because God is infinite or inexhaustible. God cannot be solved, though we try like hell to do so. But just because we cannot “solve” God as problem, does not mean the we cannot come to understand God as mystery (though understanding a mystery does not mean full comprehension). In fact the great theologian St. Augustine said that faith should seek understanding. But to understand a mystery is not the same as to solve it. Traditionally mystery, as used in the Christian sense, spoke of a reality that called for contemplation. To understand a mystery is to contemplate a mystery. To contemplate is to dwell with the mystery, to let it speak to you and draw you forth into it’s light. When we solve a problem we have to some extent, mastered it, transformed it, made it into something other that it was… a problem. Not so with the mystery. We can in no way master or make it into something other that it is…a mystery. Even more, we do not transform mystery, mystery transforms us (more on that later).

So now that we have some idea of what a problem and a mystery is, let us turn our attention to something else. There are, according to Maritain (and before him St. Thomas Aquinas) some realities that can be a “mixture” of problem and mystery. Some realities have more of the problem aspect and some realities have more of the mystery. So you can have things that are a little bit country and a little bit rock-n-roll (sorry, trying to be less boring). Take a human being for instance, they do have a reality that lies on the problem side of things- they have the problem of sickness, we solve it by curing it; they have the problem on inadequate access to food; we solve it by supplying it; they have the problem on unapproved ideology or racial/religious/ethic background; we solve it by exterminating them. NO! NO! NO! That would be the wrong answer. And I hope that brings up the consequence of seeing life only as a problem for solving. There are human realities that are problematic that need to be solved and hopefully eliminated or at least lessened. But that does not mean that all life’s problem can be treated that way (remember the dying example?). There are other realities, and to be honest this is the greater share of the human person, that are on the mystery side of things. Humans are always, even when being most difficult, a mystery that are to be treated with reverential respect… they cannot be forced or manipulated into our plans, however well-intentioned. This is true of humans and the whole of life, in general.

Let me give a personal example (I’ll try not to go “Oprah” on you). My wife and I have a precious little boy who is about four years old. We will call him J. J is the result of years of prayer, for conceiving was not easy for us. When we finally conceived J all was going well until the 22nd week of gestation…that is when life took us on an unwanted and problematic detour. We held off delivery for a week, which means, if you are doing the math, he was born at 23 weeks. Well needless to say, I thought this a bit askew with what I had envisioned for us and our son. Life was not cooperating. Why did this happen? How could it have been prevented? These are problems, to which there was no answer, it is part of the mystery of life. I couldn’t change it, I had to accept it. However, even with him being born about four months premature and weighing in at 1lb. 8oz he not only survived but was preserved from most of the catastrophic neurological and cognitive defects. Nevertheless he still has some issues. Most of his doctors and we, to some extent, expect autism. Thankfully, if this is the case, he is higher functioning. He is very smart; has a cute personality; and is very affectionate. Yet, he does have some problems socializing with peers and has a significant speech delay. Now in our day to day lives, the reality of J’s challenges certainly present problems. So for instance, the trouble with peer socialization, we try to address by getting him around other children. Likewise, we send him to speech therapy to counter that delay. All the while his mother and I are praying to God that the problems will abate over time and that he can live a happy and independent life.

And yet, I tend to focus on the negative, which is not the best way of living with a child with special needs, as you might imagine. His mother is much better at this that I am. And so it happens that I pray to God about the problem aspect of J’s condition but to my impatient mind nothing seem to happen. I want this problem solved. Here where things can begin to go awry. You see, I really want J to overcome these challenges, but here is a question that I have tried to avoid, but recently started to ponder- What if his challenges are not resolved to my liking? What if, contrary to my prayers, his life does not turn out as I desire? Problems, as mentioned above, are to be dealt with, changed, transformed, eliminated. What does one do here? One could choose this frequently popular option- if the problem will not be removed from us, we can choose to remove ourselves from the problem. Well, bailing out is not an option. I cannot imagine my life apart from my wife and J. In trying to escape one problem, I would find myself in the midst of a nastier one…hell.

Here is where I have started to see the difficulty in attitude of prayer that sees life as a problem to be solved. You see by the grace of God I have begun to understand my son is not a problem to be solved or fixed, but a mystery to be accepted and loved. Oh, his mother and I will continue to work with all we have to bring J to his fullest potential, to try to overcome those problems, that is our duty as parents. We will pray to God to give us the wisdom and the strength to bring this about. At this point I have started focusing my prayer on asking for grace- grace to accept the mystery that is before me; however the problems are resolved. We have to come to a place where our prayers are not so hyper-focused on the problem, that we miss the mystery that lies before us. The mystery calls for contemplation.

This gets at my second point, namely when seeing life as a problem to be solved, we approach the act of praying from an perspective that inhibits the true aim of prayer, which is union with God. The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, once said that “Prayer does not change God, but changes him who prays.” I know this to be true in my head, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t completely stopped trying. I think if we are honest, we have all approached prayer with the attitude of changing God. I believe that God knows that this is our preferred method of interaction with him. And yet God is patient…and persistent. For as much I try to change God through prayer, and have the problems all resolved to my satisfaction, God has been silently and steadily changing me (though I am not a willing subject). The change that is beginning to take place in me, is understanding that God loves me and that all things are working toward bringing me, my wife, and J closer to Him and to one another. This is happening despite the fact that there are difficulties and problems remaining in my life. They may or may not be resolved. And yet God, is helping me to see, that the life I have is a good life, because it is charged with his Goodness.

I know for some of you, and even of myself at times, that what I’ve just said makes little sense. Yet, to the degree that remains enigmatic may signify the degree to which we are not aware of the mystery of life. Probably the most influential teacher ever had, Mrs. Crane, used to say, “Don’t just look at how things appear, but look for the deeper reality.” This my friends, is really what it means to approach life as a mystery through prayer. We are destined for life, those of us who believe (if you do not believe, my sincere hope is that one day you may). Nevertheless, so long as life remains a problem to be solved, the destiny can be frustrated and the mystery cannot reveal itself to us. This need for control has to be relinquished if we are ever to live a whole life. The matter is summed up succinctly by the poet W.H. Auden who observes: “And life is the destiny that you are bound to refuse until you have consented to die.”

Birth Control and the Sexual Revolution Or What Hath Man Wrought

Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

The above quotation is taken from the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which was issued by Pope Paul VI. Sometimes, disparagingly called the “birth control” encyclical, it was released forty years ago this month. It’s release happened to come in the middle of what is fondly remembered as the “Summer of Love”. When it appeared it was met with howls of indignation, incomprehension and overall derision. One can call to mind the little ditty by Monty Python “Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is sacred.” But once the all the hullabaloo regarding Humanae Vitae died down, it was consigned to irrelevancy and became one of the first casualties of the Sexual Revolution. There have been many other casualties since.

The following observations are not scientific, but I, nonetheless, feel some warrant in making them. First the Holy Father made clear that the acceptance of artificial contraception, “could open wide the way for marital infidelity…” Has anyone heard of a show called Cheaters? Well, I know that is playing a bit rhetorical but seriously, have marriages, over the past forty years, been more or less immune to infidelity and/or divorce. I’ll let you answer that question.

How about “a general lowering of moral standards.” A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila (did you see the episode where aspiring suitors and suitorettes had to eat a dissected pig’s vagina to prove themselves worthy of Dame Tila. Oh, you missed a goodie!), Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, and Jackass. Next.

Finally and most worrying, is Paul IV assertion that, “a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.” Well, where to even begin with this one. How about internet porn and internet porn and internet porn. This industry makes billions and billions of dollars each year and this is not your daddy’s porn either. There is a PBS Frontline Special on the porn industry and they discuss what is called the “fringe market”. It is vile. And it is very violent towards women. If you think this is just a segment of the porn industry, which caters to the predilections of hard-core weirdos(oops! I made value judgment), you would be mistaken. One industry higher-up claims that it is the fastest growing market. Which, disconcertingly, seems point to the prospect that we are breeding a culture of hard-core porn weirdos. So again I ask the question, since the Sexual Revolution, has their been an up surge in the amount of pornography (I am, of course, taking this as a bad thing. If you do not feel this way, well this may not be the blog for you…and pray for your sanity)?  I’ll answer that for you and say, “Yes”. In the porn industry, all things being equal, who are the most enthusiastic supporters? If you said men, you would be correct. Who tends to be the objects, again all things being equal, of the men’s enthusiasm? Yes, that is right women!

Now I know there are some who might say “These women aren’t victimized because they choose to participate.” I would say in response, that however true that might be, the woman is still being objectified as mere sex toy. To this, some might claim that that the Sexual Revolution liberated women to claim their identities as sexual beings. Now, women can be just as sexual as men can be. Unfortunately, while nice sounding in theory, practical experience points in the other direction. Women take most of the burden for contraceptive practices; women are the ones who become pregnant; women are the ones who usually get abandoned once they are pregnant; women are the ones who must seek to raise the child on her own or to have an abortion. Where is the man in these scenarios? Gone.

Really, let’s be honest. From the man’s perspective (albeit a vulgar and selfish one) the Sexual Revolution was a great boon. I can see now those hippie males showing their eager solidarity with those hippie female’s burning their bra’s. And for the female, while such an act may have had real symbolic value, for the man it only symbolized, again being honest, that she was, “ready to go.” In other words, the contraceptive mentality, the Sexual Revolution, and so called feminist liberation, meant that men could finally have it all- sex anytime, anywhere, with anyone and without any of the responsibility. As far as I can tell, the only lasting reality to come to fruition from the Sexual Revolution for women is this: women went from being unwilling sexual objects to willing sexual objects. Anyone who would deny these devastating effects on society, on females, and on males are living in alternate universe. If you think this is just some conservative alarmism, that the sexual free-for-all over the past forty years has not been that bad, might I direct you to the American Psychological Associations Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (emphasis mine) released in 2007. If you do not find this troubling, one might infer that your are reading this from prison or, if not currently in prison, that you should be reading this from prison.

In 1968 Paul VI became the laughing stock of the Western World. Forty years later one could say that Paul VI is having the last laugh, but I don’t think a man who was called to be a Shepherd of Souls would do so. Especially following the observation of a fifteen year old girl in a book called Sex Lives of Australian Teenagers: “I’ve had friends who were raped, sexually abused, I’ve been molested… it’s just sad to feel disconnected from your own self…we’ve come nowhere from the sexual revolution.” (This quote is take from an article entitled The Pornification of Girls, which bears reading.)

Pensees

This promises not to rival Pascal, but I couldn’t think of a better title (hopefully garbage won’t come to mind). Nevertheless, these are thoughts that I have had at various times, and come rather infrequently. Most are short because I find that if I try to write anything over a sentence I become a babbling idiot. Anyway I hope that these humble offerings inspire something other than boredom.

“We have somehow fallen for the idea that if something is not explicitly dangerous it mustn’t really be dangerous. We have forgotten that a person can as easily drown in six inches of water as he can in the ocean.”

February 2006

“Never in human history have people, through technology, been so accessible to one another, while simultaneously being personally remote.”

August 2005

“We are fond of saying that children aren’t what they used to be. This is because adults have ceased to be what they should be.”

February 2006

“The problem that many young people have with finding the significance of history is forgetting that the present moment is full of significance.”

June 2006

“The problem with writing is approaching the task with a desire to express everything, which usually ends up saying nothing.

August 2006

“They say scientists are searching for a theory of everything. Such a theory would be able to unite our understanding of the macro and micro world of physics and so forth. Science will have unlocked the secrets of the universe and it will lie docile before her masters. It will certainly be a historic day; through science we will have mastered all things…except for the drunk, the philandering spouse, and the despairing individual with a gun to his head.”

August, 17 2006.

“Which proves to be a greater distance; from Earth to the edge of the universe or the person I am from the person I ought to be?”

[Variant] As far as extreme distances go, is there anything further apart than “is” from “ought”?

“With regard to popular culture and ancient history, current and relevant are not synonymous.”

August 3, 2006

Society is becoming somewhat schizophrenic, disparate voices continually clamor for our attention trying to convince us that they are real. Most our life is spent constructing a world that is safe and predictable. Only those events that we have planned for and developed the proper contingencies, if our plans go awry, are allowed to materialize. Much of this is understandable, no one likes to be surprised inconveniently. In fact, in some ways it is obligatory that we construct some such world. We need to have order, predictability, and safety. However, as with most things, painting with such a broad brush may appear to cover everything, but in reality lacks detail in some things. This is most true in relationships with other persons. We can plan for some events and take the needed precaution from disaster; or as it happens in most cases we really want precautions from inconvenience. This planning may work well with the weather, transportation systems, and technological apparatuses; but it is virtually useless when it comes to human relationships. In fact to be in relationship with another person is to have implicitly consented to be inconvenienced. We demand and expect as our right, convenience from our technological and thus “predictable” world. We say to ourselves, “This is the way things are supposed to be.” But at the same time the net of mastery that we cast over the world fails to capture everything; in our relational world we find it hard to attain that convenience and predictability that we find in technological world. We are in quite an existential quandary; part our world is one where we expect convenience and safety (but is this really possible?) and the other is one where inconvenience and risk hold sway.

August 20, 2006

There’s an illusion of choice that’s out there, but it’s an illusion, it’s not real choice.

Bruce Springsteen in an interview with Will Percy

This may be the cave that Plato said that most of humanity lives, unawares. We entertain the illusion that we are free; that our milieu has provided us with all the necessary comforts and conveniences. Becoming a renaissance man or woman has never been so easy. But are we really free? Do we really have choice? It is a odd paradox that the more opportunities provided for us to choose, the less real choice can be made. I mean, certainly, to take one contemporary example, there are a host of “reality” television shows to choose from, but is any real choice being offered. In the end it may well be as the ancient author of the Didache observed, “There are only two ways, the Way of Life and the Way of Death, and the distance between the two is great.”

This Place

This place, which I have known before,

Having trembled before the gaze that sees

a darkness not willingly illumined.

Here again I kneel in this place, with one who’s face

Resembles my own, but younger; playing hands

folded, imitating a prayer that is yet to be real.

And in that moment and in this place, a briefly felt a pain over

An innocence, which shall be wounded…

And my heart shudders.

In this place, where the human drama is ever staged, and

the very structure is saturated with prayer,

a head bows and a sigh is released, rising as smoke from a wick.

And in that moment and in this place, the Pantokrator receives

the incense. And before the Bronzed Face with blazing

eyes, an expression of love is revealed…

And my heart understands.

January 2007

“What is wrong with the world?” is another way of asking, “What is wrong with me.”

January 2007

It is said that in the past several decades the material prosperity of Americans have increased dramatically, while overall happiness has declined in due proportion. But how can this be? I mean, we want things (clothes, new houses, cars, electronics etc…) and it would seem that obtaining these wants would make for a happy person. And yet the statistics belie this obvious observation. If this seems counter-intuitive, think of it this way. Most of us pined for the arrival of Christmas or a birthday. I certainly did. I can remember one particular Christmas; I must have been six years old. There was, in myself, a build up of anticipation to the point of giddiness. Finally, the day arrived- I remember all the presents crammed around the Christmas tree, especially a blue bicycle with denim covered banana seat. It was all so special! I dare even to say marvelous; I got everything that I wanted. But then something happened, something, which you might be able to appreciate- boredom. I had everything that I wanted, all that I thought, in my six year old mind, I needed. Yet there I was, in the twilight of that Christmas day, amid the materialization of my wants, with that “Well, I guess this it” feeling. If you can find, in my experience, something similar to your own, then you may be able to understand why my earlier observation, is not so counter-intuitive. For like children at Christmas, in full possessions of all our wants, we may truly want for nothing, while simultaneously having nothing we truly want.

April 2007

In the consumer driven society, everything is eventually reduced to a consumable- politics, education, even religion.

June 2007

The wisdom of children may consist not in what they have learned but rather in what they haven’t.

July 2008

The consumer menatality and “Loss of the Creature”

Walker Percy has an essay entitled “Loss of the Creature” in his book Message in the Bottle. A point the essay drove home to me, is the loss of our ability to see the world as it is. This loss of vision is the result of our losing a sense of the world’s (and our own) “creatureliness”. Consider the following:

“The loss [of the creature] has come about as a consequence of the seduction of the layman by science. The layman will be seduced as long as he regards beings as consumer items to be experienced rather that prizes won…” (emphasis mine)

Science seduces the layman (though one suspects the experts aren’t immune either) through the “mastery” it gives man over the world. Thus the world becomes mere material to be manipulated and fabricated in the layman’s pursuit of the world that he desires, and all the more perceives as his given right- a world of endless comfort and unfailing convenience. Such a mindset exhibited by the layman shows what Percy sees as a consumerist approach to existence. The seduction of the layman and expert by science leads to a loss of wonder in regards to the world. And contra Descartes, Aristotle reminds us that philosophy begins in wonder. To lose wonder is to lose gratitude. And gratitude is not nor can ever be part of the layman’s economic calculus- where his very existence and the world that confronts him is just given.