This Exercise should be completed between November 16 and November 19.
In an essay on the First Principle (also called the Fundamentum), Fr. Joseph Tetlow, S.J., writes that behind the first principle of Ignatius lies a religious experience—the experience that Ignatius had as he meditated on the bank of the Cardoner River near Manresa. What happened by the Cardoner? As he sat praying, he suddenly experienced enlightenment that he had difficulty putting into words. His enlightenment was that God was in the world, constantly creating. Ignatius sensed how all things come from and return to God, and he realized that he and the entire universe were being created moment by moment. God was creating him by infusing specific thoughts and desires into his heart and mind. Fr. Tetlow continues by explaining that God creates us using all of our reality, including the raw material of poorly made decisions. (All of these insights are relevant for all people. You do not have to be Christian to engage in this Exercise).
The desires that God infuses into our hearts lead us to freedom and foster the freedom of others. How do we know which thoughts and desires come from God? Those thoughts and desires are consoling: they foster creativity, lead us to empathize with others, and free our minds of emotional clutter. Desolate thoughts and feelings foster resentment, hatred, selfishness, and despair. What an enlightenment Ignatius had! To follow God then is simply a matter of knowing the direction of our thoughts and feelings. If our thoughts and feelings foster resentment and hatred, we need to drop them. If our thoughts and feelings foster empathy for others (including ourselves), we should act on them.
(Although Ignatius did not write extensively about empathy for oneself, modern psychologists and spiritual directors have added this emphasis. Even the ancient Aristotle was aware of the need to care for oneself in relationships. A dear friend of mine has occasionally reminded me that because my self is the “first gift God has given me,” I should take care of myself. It is possible for a manipulative person who abuses power to demand empathy for him over against healthy self-caring of yourself. That is not what Ignatius means by empathy. Empathy for such spiritual vampires is a tricky business. This is where contemporary translations of Ignatius’ definition of consolation and desolation are relevant. It is also healthy spirituality to simply avoid toxic personalities until they undergo some kind of conversion.)
We can summarize what we have discussed thus far by paraphrasing the first principle: Human beings are being (present tense being!) created to praise, reverence, and serve God by God who is creating them by infusing creative, charitable, and just desires into our hearts and minds. We fulfill our purpose in life by acting on these consoling thoughts. We stray from our purpose of being loving by acting on resentful, self-pitying, self-destructive, or selfish thoughts.
At this point, it is helpful for us to introduce Ignatius’ definition of consolation and desolation. Once again, we find that there are classical definitions and contemporary translations.
First, the classical definitions, which are overtly Christian, taken from St. Ignatius’ Rules for Discernment:
Third Rule. The third: OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION. I call it consolation when some interior movement in the soul is caused, through which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord; and when it can in consequence love no created thing on the face of the earth in itself, but in the Creator of them all. Likewise, when it sheds tears that move to love of its Lord, whether out of sorrow for one's sins, or for the Passion of Christ our Lord, or because of other things directly connected with His service and praise. Finally, I call consolation every increase of hope, faith and charity, and all interior joy which calls and attracts to heavenly things and to the salvation of one's soul, quieting it and giving it peace in its Creator and Lord.
Fourth Rule. The fourth: OF SPIRITUAL DESOLATION. I call desolation all the contrary of the third rule, such as darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to things low and earthly, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations, moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when one finds oneself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from his Creator and Lord. Because, as consolation is contrary to desolation, in the same way the thoughts which come from consolation are contrary to the thoughts which come from desolation.
Second, a contemporary translation, which applies to all people, from Margaret Silf’s book Inner Compass (an excellent introduction to Ignatian Spirituality, p 52):
Desolation:
• Turns us in on ourselves
• Drives us down the spiral ever deeper into our own negative feelings
• Cuts us off from community
• Makes us want to give up on things that used to be important to us
• Takes over our whole consciousness and crowds out our distant vision
• Covers up all of our [spiritual] landmarks
• Drains us of energy
Consolation:
• Directs our focus outside and beyond ourselves.
• Lifts our hearts so that we can see the joys and sorrows of other people.
• Bonds us more closely to our human community.
• Generates new inspiration and ideas
• Restores balance and refreshes our inner vision.
• Shows us where God is active in our lives and where he is leading us
• Releases new energy in us.
Take 10-15 minutes and review the previous 24 hours with these definitions of consolation and desolation. When did you feel desolate? When did you feel consoled?
How does the truth that God is creating you from the material of your life, even from bad decisions, make you feel? What gives you greatest hope? What feelings and thoughts are leading you to freedom? Which are moving you to work for the freedom of others?
It is helpful for you to re-read these definitions as we move into the next weeks of prayer, to take notes about your consolation and desolation, and to try to notice patterns to your movements of consolation and desolation.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Prayer In Daily Life, Phase 1, Week 2, Exercise 1: The First Principle And Foundation
This exercise is to be experienced sometime between November 13 and November 16.
In the first week of our retreat in daily life, we were invited to open ourselves in prayer. The metaphor for prayer that the prophet Isaiah used was water. Water cleans us, renews us, invigorates us. This week, invigorated by the consolation God gave us in prayer, we meditate on our purpose for living. The Buddha referred to the goal of human life as “the sweet joy of living in the way.” St. Ignatius summarized our goal in life in his “First Principle And Foundation.” It is also called “The Fundamentum.”
We will use two versions of the First Principle: the classic, literal translation and a translation by Spiritual Director David Fleming, S.J.
The prayer experience follows the following format:
1. Ask God for the gift of spiritual freedom. According to Fr. Skehan,
Spiritual freedom is mine when I am seized so completely by the love of God that all the desires of my heart and all of the actions, affections, thoughts and decisions which flow from them are directed to God, my Father, and his service and praise. My attitude is that of Samuel, “Here I am Lord, send me” (24).
2. Read through both versions of the First Principle:
The classic text:
The human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord, and by doing so, to save his or her soul.
All other things on the face of the earth are created for human beings in order to help them pursue the end for which they are created.
It follows from this that one must use other created things, in so far as they help towards one's end, and free oneself from them, in so far as they are obstacles to one's end.
To do this, we need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, provided the matter is subject to our free choice and there is no other prohibition.
Thus, as far as we are concerned, we should not want health more than illness, wealth more than poverty, fame more than disgrace, a long life more than a short one, and similarly for all the rest, but we should desire and choose only what helps us more towards the end for which we are created.
David Fleming’s translation:
The Goal of our life is to live with God forever.
God, who loves us, gave us life.
Our own response of love allows God's life
to flow into us without limit.
All the things in this world are gifts from God,
Presented to us so that we can know God more easily
and make a return of love more readily.
As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God
Insofar as they help us to develop as loving persons.
But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives,
They displace God
And so hinder our growth toward our goal.
In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance
Before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice
And are not bound by some obligation.
We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,
Wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.
For everything has the potential of calling forth in us
A deeper response to our life in God.
Our only desire and our one choice should be this:
I want and I choose what better leads
To God's deepening [God’s] life in me.
If you prefer one of the translations to the other, then pray with that translation. If you find spiritual benefit to praying/meditating with both of them, then pray/meditate with both. I have Ignatian friends who prefer the classic translation and I have Ignatian friends who prefer Fr. Fleming’s translation.
Over the next months of our prayer in daily life experience, it is beneficial to occasionally read the first principle.
3. Pray with the following questions:
Have I ever been aware of the experience of God creating me?
How have I praised, reverenced and served God? How have I not?
Recall a moment when I felt loved by God. Ignatius encourages us to relish these moments. Whom were you with? What were you doing? Apply all of your senses. What did you see? What were the smells of the experience? Enter back into these sensations. Relish them the way you relish a gift. Let your heart “taste” these experiences again. What did you hear? What did you touch? What did you taste? Let your whole being savor all of the good of that experience. Now say a prayer of thanksgiving to God for that experience.
Consider a gift God has given you. Using the above method relish that gift. Now consider the following: when have you freely enjoyed that gift? Recall Fr. Skehan’s definition of spiritual freedom:
Spiritual freedom is mine when I am seized so completely by the love of God that all the desires of my heart and all of the actions, affections, thoughts and decisions which flow from them are directed to God, my Father, and his service and praise. My attitude is that of Samuel, “Here I am Lord, send me” (24)
Has that gift or any gift displaced God and become the center of my life? What did that feel like? Talk to God in prayer about that experience.
Read through the translations of the first principle again. Let any spontaneous prayer well up in your heart.
Just listen to God. How does he feel toward you? Ask him to understand your deepest, most authentic desires. He knows them better than you do. How do you feel toward God? Why?
4. Close with a spontaneous, authentic prayer asking God that your only desire and your one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads
To God's deepening [God’s] life in me.
5. In your prayer journal record what happened during prayer. What were the most consoling moments of your prayer (which moments gave greatest insight)? Which moments were desolate (full of negative energy)?
In the first week of our retreat in daily life, we were invited to open ourselves in prayer. The metaphor for prayer that the prophet Isaiah used was water. Water cleans us, renews us, invigorates us. This week, invigorated by the consolation God gave us in prayer, we meditate on our purpose for living. The Buddha referred to the goal of human life as “the sweet joy of living in the way.” St. Ignatius summarized our goal in life in his “First Principle And Foundation.” It is also called “The Fundamentum.”
We will use two versions of the First Principle: the classic, literal translation and a translation by Spiritual Director David Fleming, S.J.
The prayer experience follows the following format:
1. Ask God for the gift of spiritual freedom. According to Fr. Skehan,
Spiritual freedom is mine when I am seized so completely by the love of God that all the desires of my heart and all of the actions, affections, thoughts and decisions which flow from them are directed to God, my Father, and his service and praise. My attitude is that of Samuel, “Here I am Lord, send me” (24).
2. Read through both versions of the First Principle:
The classic text:
The human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord, and by doing so, to save his or her soul.
All other things on the face of the earth are created for human beings in order to help them pursue the end for which they are created.
It follows from this that one must use other created things, in so far as they help towards one's end, and free oneself from them, in so far as they are obstacles to one's end.
To do this, we need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, provided the matter is subject to our free choice and there is no other prohibition.
Thus, as far as we are concerned, we should not want health more than illness, wealth more than poverty, fame more than disgrace, a long life more than a short one, and similarly for all the rest, but we should desire and choose only what helps us more towards the end for which we are created.
David Fleming’s translation:
The Goal of our life is to live with God forever.
God, who loves us, gave us life.
Our own response of love allows God's life
to flow into us without limit.
All the things in this world are gifts from God,
Presented to us so that we can know God more easily
and make a return of love more readily.
As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God
Insofar as they help us to develop as loving persons.
But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives,
They displace God
And so hinder our growth toward our goal.
In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance
Before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice
And are not bound by some obligation.
We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,
Wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.
For everything has the potential of calling forth in us
A deeper response to our life in God.
Our only desire and our one choice should be this:
I want and I choose what better leads
To God's deepening [God’s] life in me.
If you prefer one of the translations to the other, then pray with that translation. If you find spiritual benefit to praying/meditating with both of them, then pray/meditate with both. I have Ignatian friends who prefer the classic translation and I have Ignatian friends who prefer Fr. Fleming’s translation.
Over the next months of our prayer in daily life experience, it is beneficial to occasionally read the first principle.
3. Pray with the following questions:
Have I ever been aware of the experience of God creating me?
How have I praised, reverenced and served God? How have I not?
Recall a moment when I felt loved by God. Ignatius encourages us to relish these moments. Whom were you with? What were you doing? Apply all of your senses. What did you see? What were the smells of the experience? Enter back into these sensations. Relish them the way you relish a gift. Let your heart “taste” these experiences again. What did you hear? What did you touch? What did you taste? Let your whole being savor all of the good of that experience. Now say a prayer of thanksgiving to God for that experience.
Consider a gift God has given you. Using the above method relish that gift. Now consider the following: when have you freely enjoyed that gift? Recall Fr. Skehan’s definition of spiritual freedom:
Spiritual freedom is mine when I am seized so completely by the love of God that all the desires of my heart and all of the actions, affections, thoughts and decisions which flow from them are directed to God, my Father, and his service and praise. My attitude is that of Samuel, “Here I am Lord, send me” (24)
Has that gift or any gift displaced God and become the center of my life? What did that feel like? Talk to God in prayer about that experience.
Read through the translations of the first principle again. Let any spontaneous prayer well up in your heart.
Just listen to God. How does he feel toward you? Ask him to understand your deepest, most authentic desires. He knows them better than you do. How do you feel toward God? Why?
4. Close with a spontaneous, authentic prayer asking God that your only desire and your one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads
To God's deepening [God’s] life in me.
5. In your prayer journal record what happened during prayer. What were the most consoling moments of your prayer (which moments gave greatest insight)? Which moments were desolate (full of negative energy)?
Friday, November 4, 2011
Prayer In Daily Life: Phase One, Week One, Prayer Experience 2:
Since we are so busy, we will only aim to complete two prayer exercises a week. If you have more time and authentically, truly authentically desire more prayer, then choose material that helps you. It may be helpful to pray with the Hebrew Psalms, especially Psalms 42: 2-3, 103, 104, 131 and Psalm 150
Prayer Experience 1 should take place between November 6 and November 8. This prayer experience should take place between November 9 and November 11. Since this is the first week of the retreat, try to meet with your director or prayer group one day from November 10 to 12.
Directions for Prayer Experience 2:
First, find a quiet place. Sit down and focus on your breathing. Calm yourself. After about five minutes, slowly read the following passage from the Buddhist Scriptures.
Second, read through the passage and choose one word or phrase that resonates with your deepest self. Say that word or phrase over and over.
Third, using the words of your own faith tradition, speak with God about this word or phrase. Do you need freedom? Are you joyful? What keeps you from joy? Are you attached? How is God inviting you to pray about this need or condition of yours? Are they prayers of thanksgiving? Of petition? What do you want to ask from God during the next few months of prayer? What do you need? What does your community need? Early Christians called themselves “people of the way.” What does it mean for you to “live in the way” as Buddha recommends?
Interestingly enough, classical Buddhism is atheistic. If you are Buddhist, then meditate on these beautiful words in whatever way is fruitful. If you believe in God in any particular way, try to follow the instructions above.
From the Dhammapada, Words of the Buddha:
Live in Joy
Live in Joy, In love,
Even among those who hate.
Live in joy, In health,
Even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, In peace,
Even among the troubled.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.
~
There is no fire like greed,
No crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation,
No sickness like hunger of heart,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.
Health, contentment and trust
Are your greatest possessions,
And freedom your greatest joy.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.
Now, close the prayer period with a prayer of your own tradition.
Finally, write down what happened. Was prayer difficult? Was it easy? What did you feel? Did you feel dry? Did you feel your heart and mind being enriched? Did you feel yourself being moved to faith, hope or charity? Did you feel a desire to continue in prayer over the next weeks? Ask God for the grace to understand your feelings.
Prayer Experience 1 should take place between November 6 and November 8. This prayer experience should take place between November 9 and November 11. Since this is the first week of the retreat, try to meet with your director or prayer group one day from November 10 to 12.
Directions for Prayer Experience 2:
First, find a quiet place. Sit down and focus on your breathing. Calm yourself. After about five minutes, slowly read the following passage from the Buddhist Scriptures.
Second, read through the passage and choose one word or phrase that resonates with your deepest self. Say that word or phrase over and over.
Third, using the words of your own faith tradition, speak with God about this word or phrase. Do you need freedom? Are you joyful? What keeps you from joy? Are you attached? How is God inviting you to pray about this need or condition of yours? Are they prayers of thanksgiving? Of petition? What do you want to ask from God during the next few months of prayer? What do you need? What does your community need? Early Christians called themselves “people of the way.” What does it mean for you to “live in the way” as Buddha recommends?
Interestingly enough, classical Buddhism is atheistic. If you are Buddhist, then meditate on these beautiful words in whatever way is fruitful. If you believe in God in any particular way, try to follow the instructions above.
From the Dhammapada, Words of the Buddha:
Live in Joy
Live in Joy, In love,
Even among those who hate.
Live in joy, In health,
Even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, In peace,
Even among the troubled.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.
~
There is no fire like greed,
No crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation,
No sickness like hunger of heart,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.
Health, contentment and trust
Are your greatest possessions,
And freedom your greatest joy.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.
Now, close the prayer period with a prayer of your own tradition.
Finally, write down what happened. Was prayer difficult? Was it easy? What did you feel? Did you feel dry? Did you feel your heart and mind being enriched? Did you feel yourself being moved to faith, hope or charity? Did you feel a desire to continue in prayer over the next weeks? Ask God for the grace to understand your feelings.
Pray As You Can, Not As You Can't
The Exercises are not a series of lessons to be pushed through, or of theorems to be memorized. They are a means of facilitating a personal and group encounter with God. If something about the prayer experience is not working, then you may make an adjustment. However, there are times when a desolate prayer experience may lead us more deeply into our relationship with God. If that is the case, it may be profitable to endure the difficult experience. As the weeks go on, I will write about the nature of what is called consolation and desolation. Right now, however, please know that we are to be flexible. If you need to adjust the time you spend in prayer or change the place you think you should pray, then make the change. If you feel yourself called to repeat an earlier exercise because it was so fruitful, then follow that desire. If you have a spiritual director, you can qualify these things with him or her.
This retreat experience is not an attempt to encourage people to become Catholic Christians. It is an interfaith experience. Use the prayers from your own tradition that give you the most spiritual benefit. For example, if closing your prayer experience with the Our Father does not work for you, then don’t do that. Find another prayer that works for you. It might even help you to write a prayer of your own, something that comes from your heart of hearts, something that spontaneously speaks to God as you really want to speak to God. Obviously, if you are Buddhist, then a closing prayer would not be appropriate. Adjust the Exercise to fit your Buddhist method of meditating.
Ignatius noted that, for Catholics, attending the Liturgy as often as possible aided the retreat experience. If you are a non-Catholic Christian, it may be fruitful to spend a little extra time praying with your community over the next few months. If you are not Christian, it may be fruitful to spend a little extra time praying with your community, as your community normally prays, over the next few months. While you are attending your communal prayer/liturgy, please pray for the entire community experiencing the Exercises, pray for your own self as you experience the Exercises, and pray for your fellowship group, trusted friend, and/or spiritual director. There is no power as powerful as prayer! Once again, if you are Buddhist, then spend a little extra time with your sangha and, in an appropriate manner, center your mind on the spiritual well-being of the community experiencing this Ignatian retreat together.
This retreat experience is not an attempt to encourage people to become Catholic Christians. It is an interfaith experience. Use the prayers from your own tradition that give you the most spiritual benefit. For example, if closing your prayer experience with the Our Father does not work for you, then don’t do that. Find another prayer that works for you. It might even help you to write a prayer of your own, something that comes from your heart of hearts, something that spontaneously speaks to God as you really want to speak to God. Obviously, if you are Buddhist, then a closing prayer would not be appropriate. Adjust the Exercise to fit your Buddhist method of meditating.
Ignatius noted that, for Catholics, attending the Liturgy as often as possible aided the retreat experience. If you are a non-Catholic Christian, it may be fruitful to spend a little extra time praying with your community over the next few months. If you are not Christian, it may be fruitful to spend a little extra time praying with your community, as your community normally prays, over the next few months. While you are attending your communal prayer/liturgy, please pray for the entire community experiencing the Exercises, pray for your own self as you experience the Exercises, and pray for your fellowship group, trusted friend, and/or spiritual director. There is no power as powerful as prayer! Once again, if you are Buddhist, then spend a little extra time with your sangha and, in an appropriate manner, center your mind on the spiritual well-being of the community experiencing this Ignatian retreat together.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
The Four Phases of the Exercises
Ignatius recommends that, if possible, one should make the retreat over 30 days. This 30 day period is broken down into four weeks. Since we are following the Eighteenth Annotation, our retreat experience will last longer. In our case, we will not speak of one section of the retreat taking a week. Rather, we will speak and write about four phases. Within the four phases, we will have various weeks. Right now, we are in the first phase of the exercises which will last five temporal weeks.
For Those Engaging In Prayer In Daily Life: The Director of the Exercises
I find the following advice from James Skehan’s book Place Me With Your Son to be helpful:
Ignatius suggests that the “director of the Exercises, as a balance at equilibrium, without leaning to one side or another, should permit the Creator to deal directly with the creature, and the creature directly with his Creator and Lord” (The Spritual Exercises, Annotation 15). For Ignatius, therefore, God himself is the director. Nevertheless, the human instrument may explain the process of the Exercises, give instruction in prayer, assist in discerning the various spirits, validate the exercitant’s graces and propose further matter for prayer [N.B. the exercitant is the one making the retreat].
Perhaps the most important function of the director is to require of the exercitant a certain accountability in prayer, and so lessen the distortion that can come from the evil spirit and confirm those graces that come from God. A conversation with one's spiritual director will help to discover which of the following modes of accountability is best for you:
1. One may invite a trusted and respected person to be a director in the full sense--one who will assume responsibility for all the functions assigned by Ignatius to the director in the Guidelines or as they were originally called, "Annotations."
2. One may continue to hold regular meetings with a spiritual director, but the conversations focus on the progress of the Exercises in Everyday Life and are more frequent than they would be in ordinary circumstances.
3. Two exercitants [people making the retreat in daily life] may meet with each other every other week in order to engage in spiritual conversation about the Exercises and to share with each other how God has been leading them in prayer. In this mode each partner, not strictly the director of the other, agrees to be accountable to the other in helping to discover God's ways.
4. Small groups of exercitants, generally ten or fewer, agree to meet regularly so as to share with each other what has been happening in their prayer, and thus act as instruments of God's grace for one another as they engage in the Exercises . . . .Additionally a private meeting with one's spiritual director from time to time helps provide valuable insights to progress. This mode commonly results in the formation of a post-retreat prayer [or meditation] group . . . .
5. One may make the Exercises privately, setting aside an hour each week to review the graces granted by God and to keep some record of the various movements of the soul.
Ignatius suggests that the “director of the Exercises, as a balance at equilibrium, without leaning to one side or another, should permit the Creator to deal directly with the creature, and the creature directly with his Creator and Lord” (The Spritual Exercises, Annotation 15). For Ignatius, therefore, God himself is the director. Nevertheless, the human instrument may explain the process of the Exercises, give instruction in prayer, assist in discerning the various spirits, validate the exercitant’s graces and propose further matter for prayer [N.B. the exercitant is the one making the retreat].
Perhaps the most important function of the director is to require of the exercitant a certain accountability in prayer, and so lessen the distortion that can come from the evil spirit and confirm those graces that come from God. A conversation with one's spiritual director will help to discover which of the following modes of accountability is best for you:
1. One may invite a trusted and respected person to be a director in the full sense--one who will assume responsibility for all the functions assigned by Ignatius to the director in the Guidelines or as they were originally called, "Annotations."
2. One may continue to hold regular meetings with a spiritual director, but the conversations focus on the progress of the Exercises in Everyday Life and are more frequent than they would be in ordinary circumstances.
3. Two exercitants [people making the retreat in daily life] may meet with each other every other week in order to engage in spiritual conversation about the Exercises and to share with each other how God has been leading them in prayer. In this mode each partner, not strictly the director of the other, agrees to be accountable to the other in helping to discover God's ways.
4. Small groups of exercitants, generally ten or fewer, agree to meet regularly so as to share with each other what has been happening in their prayer, and thus act as instruments of God's grace for one another as they engage in the Exercises . . . .Additionally a private meeting with one's spiritual director from time to time helps provide valuable insights to progress. This mode commonly results in the formation of a post-retreat prayer [or meditation] group . . . .
5. One may make the Exercises privately, setting aside an hour each week to review the graces granted by God and to keep some record of the various movements of the soul.
Monday, October 31, 2011
A Note About How to Listen during Prayer in Daily Life
In section 22 of the Spiritual Exercises (the “presupposition”), St. Ignatius writes the following: “in order that the one giving the Exercises and the one receiving them, may help and benefit themselves, let it be presupposed that every good [spiritual person] is to be more ready to justify than to condemn what another says or writes. If he cannot justify it, he should inquire how he means it; and if he means it badly, then let him correct him with charity. If that is not enough, let him seek all the suitable means to understand the statement in the best possible sense.”
This paragraph helps us to focus on the positive during the prayer period and to avoid theological and political debate. Theological and political debate are fine outside of the context of the Exercises, but it disrupts the necessary trust between director and exercitant and among the fellowship groups making the retreat together. In the case of a group of people journeying through our Prayer in Daily Life together without a “director,” as you are sharing your prayer experience with each other, be more willing to justify than to condemn what each person says. The same is true for pairs of trusted friends who are making the retreat.
I find it helpful to consider the advice of Kay Lindahl in her book The Sacred Art of Listening. She writes that
Listening is a creative force. Something quite wonderful occurs when we are listened to fully. We expand, ideas come to life and grow, we remember who we are. Some speak of this force as a creative fountain within us that springs forth; others call it the inner spirit, intelligence, true self. Whatever this force is called, it shrivels up when we are not listened to and it thrives when we are.
The way we listen can actually allow the other person to bring forth what is true and alive to them. . . .
Listening well takes time, skill, and a readiness to slow down, to let go of expectations, judgments, boredom, self-assertiveness, defensiveness. I’ve noticed that when people experience the depth of being listened to like this, they also begin to listen to others in the same way. (11-12)
Later in the book, Lindahl suggests that we learn to listen to understand, rather than to listen to agree or disagree. When you are involved in some kind of political debate, you are listening to find a flaw in the other’s argument or you are listening to find “common ground.” In the context of the Exercises, you are not listening to agree or disagree with another. You are listening to understand the other, hoping to help the other hear herself or himself so that we might better understand how the Spirit of God is at work in our thoughts and feelings. According to Lindahl, “one important guideline of dialogue is listening to understand, not to agree with or believe. I do not have to agree with or believe what another person is saying in order to come to a new understanding of their experience” (50).
This paragraph helps us to focus on the positive during the prayer period and to avoid theological and political debate. Theological and political debate are fine outside of the context of the Exercises, but it disrupts the necessary trust between director and exercitant and among the fellowship groups making the retreat together. In the case of a group of people journeying through our Prayer in Daily Life together without a “director,” as you are sharing your prayer experience with each other, be more willing to justify than to condemn what each person says. The same is true for pairs of trusted friends who are making the retreat.
I find it helpful to consider the advice of Kay Lindahl in her book The Sacred Art of Listening. She writes that
Listening is a creative force. Something quite wonderful occurs when we are listened to fully. We expand, ideas come to life and grow, we remember who we are. Some speak of this force as a creative fountain within us that springs forth; others call it the inner spirit, intelligence, true self. Whatever this force is called, it shrivels up when we are not listened to and it thrives when we are.
The way we listen can actually allow the other person to bring forth what is true and alive to them. . . .
Listening well takes time, skill, and a readiness to slow down, to let go of expectations, judgments, boredom, self-assertiveness, defensiveness. I’ve noticed that when people experience the depth of being listened to like this, they also begin to listen to others in the same way. (11-12)
Later in the book, Lindahl suggests that we learn to listen to understand, rather than to listen to agree or disagree. When you are involved in some kind of political debate, you are listening to find a flaw in the other’s argument or you are listening to find “common ground.” In the context of the Exercises, you are not listening to agree or disagree with another. You are listening to understand the other, hoping to help the other hear herself or himself so that we might better understand how the Spirit of God is at work in our thoughts and feelings. According to Lindahl, “one important guideline of dialogue is listening to understand, not to agree with or believe. I do not have to agree with or believe what another person is saying in order to come to a new understanding of their experience” (50).
Saturday, October 29, 2011
An Olympic Prayer Exercise For Akron: Phase One, Week One, Experience 1
Akron is the birthplace of AA, one of the most important spiritual movements in the world, and yet Akron, like any other city, has room for growth. If Akron is going to help host the Olympic games, Akron needs to grow in humility, generosity, freedom, and hospitality. Many people who are from Akron may claim that there is no need for growth. They claim that everything is fine as it is. It is true that there is a lot of good here, but are we really full of the Olympic spirit? Are we truly as creative as we could be? Or do we cling to our comfort zone?
The upper classes in Akron may feel that Akron cannot be improved, but they’re not the ones who are hurting. Economic stagnation hurts the working class and the poor more than anyone else. We need a new spirit of entrepreneurship, of risk-taking, and, in light of our goal to host the Olympics, a spirit of openness to the gifts of the divine.
We come from many different spiritual traditions. I write as a Catholic Christian, but I do not expect everyone to use my tradition to pray. Rather, I propose that we adapt the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius so that they nurture prayer and meditation in all of our great traditions. Let’s ask for the Spirit of God to guide us to be more open to God’s gifts, more courageous, more open to positive change, more critical of abusive power structures and our complicity with them, and more full of faith, hope and compassion.
What I am proposing is called Annotation 18. All of the great Ignatian spiritual directors have adapted the Exercises to people in diverse situations. That is just what we are going to do.
I propose that we begin our prayer in daily life experience next week, starting on Sunday, November 6. If Sunday is too busy, then pray on another day. Just find a quiet place to pray for 30 to 60 minutes. It also helps to talk about your prayer experience. If you can, find a spiritual director. If not, then try to meet with a trusted friend or group of friends. Discuss what happened when you prayed.
Phase One, Week One, Prayer experience 1: An invitation to prayer.
A. Use the following passage from Isaiah 55 to pray. Slowly read through the passage once. Then ask for the grace that God might give you a spirit of generosity over the coming weeks. In the words of the Isaiah ask that you might come to the water.
If you are not Christian or Jewish, then read the passage the way you would read good poetry. Pray if you feel moved to pray.
Isaiah 55
All you who are thirsty,*
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, buy grain and eat;
Come, buy grain without money,
wine and milk without cost!a
2Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what does not satisfy?
Only listen to me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.
3Pay attention and come to me;
listen, that you may have life.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
the steadfast loyalty promised to David.b
4As I made him a witness to peoples,
a leader and commander of peoples,
5So shall you summon a nation you knew not,
and a nation* that knew you not shall run to you,
Because of the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.c
6* Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near.
7Let the wicked forsake their way,
and sinners their thoughts;
Let them turn to the LORD to find mercy;
to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways—oracle of the LORD.
9For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10* Yet just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
11So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me empty,
but shall do what pleases me,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
12Yes, in joy you shall go forth,
in peace you shall be brought home;
Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you,
all trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13In place of the thornbush, the cypress shall grow,
instead of nettles,* the myrtle.
This shall be to the LORD’s renown,
as an everlasting sign that shall not fail.
* [55:1–3] The prophet invites all to return, under the figure of a banquet; cf. the covenant banquet in Ex 24:9–11 and wisdom’s banquet in Prv 9:1–6. The Lord’s covenant with David (2 Sm 7) is now to be extended beyond his dynasty.
* [55:5] The “nation” is Persia under Cyrus, but the perspective is worldwide.
* [55:6–9] The invitation to seek the Lord is motivated by the mercy of a God whose “ways” are completely mysterious.
* [55:10–11] The efficacy of the word of God recalls 40:5, 8.
* [55:13] Thornbush…nettles: suggestive of the desert and therefore symbolic of suffering and hardship; cypress…myrtle: suggestive of fertile land and therefore symbolic of joy and strength. To the LORD’s renown: lit., “to the name of the Lord.”
a. [55:1] Jn 4:10–15; 6:35; 7:37–39; Rev 21:6; 22:17.
b. [55:3] 2 Sm 7:12–16.
c. [55:5] Acts 13:34.
B. Read the passage again. This time stop when your mind has an image from the passage. Perhaps you stop at water. In your mind and heart, you can imagine running water. It is water your soul longs for. It nourishes your heart. Perhaps another image occurs to you.
C. Read the passage one more time. Maybe this time, you read it aloud. Then just sit back and let your mind wander. What happens in your mind and heart? Ask yourself: what is my heart’s most authentic desire?
D. Now take a notebook and write down what happened. Use your notes to talk with your spiritual director, your friend or to your fellowship group.
E. Once again ask God for a spirit of generosity. Then, choose a favorite prayer of yours to close the prayer period. It could be the Our Father or any other prayer. Choose a prayer from your tradition that has a lot o f meaning for you.
F. Meet with your spiritual director, fellowship group, or trusted friend.
May God’s peace be yours! I am praying for all of you. Please pray for me. This is the healthiest way to begin our Olympic effort.
The upper classes in Akron may feel that Akron cannot be improved, but they’re not the ones who are hurting. Economic stagnation hurts the working class and the poor more than anyone else. We need a new spirit of entrepreneurship, of risk-taking, and, in light of our goal to host the Olympics, a spirit of openness to the gifts of the divine.
We come from many different spiritual traditions. I write as a Catholic Christian, but I do not expect everyone to use my tradition to pray. Rather, I propose that we adapt the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius so that they nurture prayer and meditation in all of our great traditions. Let’s ask for the Spirit of God to guide us to be more open to God’s gifts, more courageous, more open to positive change, more critical of abusive power structures and our complicity with them, and more full of faith, hope and compassion.
What I am proposing is called Annotation 18. All of the great Ignatian spiritual directors have adapted the Exercises to people in diverse situations. That is just what we are going to do.
I propose that we begin our prayer in daily life experience next week, starting on Sunday, November 6. If Sunday is too busy, then pray on another day. Just find a quiet place to pray for 30 to 60 minutes. It also helps to talk about your prayer experience. If you can, find a spiritual director. If not, then try to meet with a trusted friend or group of friends. Discuss what happened when you prayed.
Phase One, Week One, Prayer experience 1: An invitation to prayer.
A. Use the following passage from Isaiah 55 to pray. Slowly read through the passage once. Then ask for the grace that God might give you a spirit of generosity over the coming weeks. In the words of the Isaiah ask that you might come to the water.
If you are not Christian or Jewish, then read the passage the way you would read good poetry. Pray if you feel moved to pray.
Isaiah 55
All you who are thirsty,*
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, buy grain and eat;
Come, buy grain without money,
wine and milk without cost!a
2Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what does not satisfy?
Only listen to me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.
3Pay attention and come to me;
listen, that you may have life.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
the steadfast loyalty promised to David.b
4As I made him a witness to peoples,
a leader and commander of peoples,
5So shall you summon a nation you knew not,
and a nation* that knew you not shall run to you,
Because of the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.c
6* Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near.
7Let the wicked forsake their way,
and sinners their thoughts;
Let them turn to the LORD to find mercy;
to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways—oracle of the LORD.
9For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10* Yet just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
11So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me empty,
but shall do what pleases me,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
12Yes, in joy you shall go forth,
in peace you shall be brought home;
Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you,
all trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13In place of the thornbush, the cypress shall grow,
instead of nettles,* the myrtle.
This shall be to the LORD’s renown,
as an everlasting sign that shall not fail.
* [55:1–3] The prophet invites all to return, under the figure of a banquet; cf. the covenant banquet in Ex 24:9–11 and wisdom’s banquet in Prv 9:1–6. The Lord’s covenant with David (2 Sm 7) is now to be extended beyond his dynasty.
* [55:5] The “nation” is Persia under Cyrus, but the perspective is worldwide.
* [55:6–9] The invitation to seek the Lord is motivated by the mercy of a God whose “ways” are completely mysterious.
* [55:10–11] The efficacy of the word of God recalls 40:5, 8.
* [55:13] Thornbush…nettles: suggestive of the desert and therefore symbolic of suffering and hardship; cypress…myrtle: suggestive of fertile land and therefore symbolic of joy and strength. To the LORD’s renown: lit., “to the name of the Lord.”
a. [55:1] Jn 4:10–15; 6:35; 7:37–39; Rev 21:6; 22:17.
b. [55:3] 2 Sm 7:12–16.
c. [55:5] Acts 13:34.
B. Read the passage again. This time stop when your mind has an image from the passage. Perhaps you stop at water. In your mind and heart, you can imagine running water. It is water your soul longs for. It nourishes your heart. Perhaps another image occurs to you.
C. Read the passage one more time. Maybe this time, you read it aloud. Then just sit back and let your mind wander. What happens in your mind and heart? Ask yourself: what is my heart’s most authentic desire?
D. Now take a notebook and write down what happened. Use your notes to talk with your spiritual director, your friend or to your fellowship group.
E. Once again ask God for a spirit of generosity. Then, choose a favorite prayer of yours to close the prayer period. It could be the Our Father or any other prayer. Choose a prayer from your tradition that has a lot o f meaning for you.
F. Meet with your spiritual director, fellowship group, or trusted friend.
May God’s peace be yours! I am praying for all of you. Please pray for me. This is the healthiest way to begin our Olympic effort.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The Essential Quality of Moral Self-evidence in our Labor for Progress
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all (people) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
For nearly two centuries these words conveyed a summary of the social ethics of nearly all Americans. As Americans we knew that God had given humanity rights that no government should violate and we professed that any rational person could know this truth. Any rational person could know these truths because they are self-evident: their truth flows from the rational nature of human existence itself, regardless of the culture, religion, or station in life of particular individuals. Unfortunately, the idea of self-evident moral truths has fallen on hard times. For decades, a creeping moral and cultural relativism has undermined rational attempts to pass down a few irrefutable moral principles. In an effort to expose western minds to the voices of those previously oppressed by western minds (and the oppression was real), some have argued that all of morality is socially constructed and that all moral positions are equal. Furthermore, some have claimed that to argue that one ethics is superior to another is a form of cultural imperialism. Although I sympathize with oppressed minorities whose civilizations and personhood have been mocked and objectified, I find cultural relativism to be irrational. My argument may seem conservative, but I consider it to be very progressive. I will explain this later.
Multi-culturalism claims that all marginalized groups need to be heard. In order for the voices of the marginalized to be heard they need to be alive. It then seems that it is self-evident that human beings have the right to life. A culturally relative denial of this right is self-contradictory. It would amount to saying that non-western, female, and homosexual people have the right to freedom of expression but they do not have the right to life. You have no political freedom if you are dead.
That is not to claim that all moral principles are absolute or that western ethics are better than Buddhist ethics or other eastern ethical systems. Nevertheless, reason leads us to the conclusion that not all systems of thought contribute to progress. Communism's slaughter of nearly 100 million and Nazism's slaughter of 6 million proves this. Both Communism and Nazism denied the possibility of moral self-evidence. Both claimed that they were bringing about a brave new world that would leave the moral wisdom of the past behind.
Systems of thought that contribute to individual and collective progress abide by the self-evident moral principles articulated by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and by the principles derived from these fundamental principles.
I would contend that the following moral principles are self-evident, absolute and universal:
Right to life
Right to free expression--includes right to critique government and other institutions
Right to freedom from cultural imperialism.
Right to religious freedom.
Right to family life (this includes rights for gays and lesbians)
The right to privacy.
Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.
The right to elect government representatives in a pluralistic, democratic system.
The right to freedom of assembly.
All moral systems can be called to grow according to these absolute principles.
To claim that there are absolute principles is not the same as claiming that there are a priori absolute answers to all moral situations. In living the good life we muddle through at times and make the best approximation. Nonethless the fundamental, self-evident moral principles are absolute.
We need to recognize that all moral systems can grow, but they cease to grow and actually regress when they ignore respect for life and human freedom. The American moral system grew when it recognized that women had the right to vote (I did not write that it gave women the right to vote because women have always had that right. We just used the law to deny that natural right). All moral and governmental systems need to be open to growth. As Karl Rahner has written, we are always systematizing but we never have a system.
The absolute principle of free expression leads westerners to critique non-western systems. To claim that non-western voices should be free of critique because of past victimization is to patronize non-western voices. It is to deny their intelligence. To claim that a westerner cannot critique a non-western system is to deny the humanity of both the westerner and the easterner.
The Arab Spring has brought us face to face with a living critique of Arab culture which westerners and easterners must encourage. It has also demonstrated that all human beings long for political arrangements that respect human life and human freedom. The Arab Spring has demonstrated that democracy is still superior to tyranny and oligarchy. The Arab Spring has proven that the founding principles of our nation--including moral self-evidence-- are universal.
This leads us to our next question: how do we respond to the claim that a good part of reality is socially constructed? We accept it and ask how do we know this. We know because, using reason, psychologists, sociologists, and other thinkers have proven this to be the case. Nevertheless, fundamental reason is not socially constructed. Under God's guidance, it evolved as a capacity of homo sapiens (the idea of divine guidance is not self-evident, but the rational evidence for the evolution of reason is irrefutable). Fundamental faith, hope and love are not constructed. They are gifts given by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not socially constructed. Images of the Spirit are socially constructed, but the Spirit herself is now, always has been, and always will be.
Other religions can also claim that although their images and words about God are socially constructed, God always has been. At this point, our study of comparative religiosity must stop for it goes beyond the focus of this specific essay. Our analysis concerns reason and moral self-evidence which apply to all moral systems regardless of religion.
In summary, we have proven that there are self-evident moral principles and that these principles are absolute. These principles can be known by reason. There are moral principles that are not self-evident. These are known through religious revelation and meditation. However, as Thomas Jefferson knew, the principle "Respect human life" and many other principles are universal, absolute, and self-evident.
Now this seems to be such a conservative argument coming from a progressive writer. I will respond that progress conserves and builds upon the moral successes of the past. The Declaration of Independence is a success! Moral self-evidence is a success, not some barnacle to be removed from the wisdom of humanity. Moreover, the principle "respect human life" supports many progressive arguments: to respect human life we have enacted OSHA regulations, we have sought to abolish the death penalty, we have sought to make health insurance universal, we spend money on aid to developing countries, especially those suffering from famine and starvation, and we have negotiated arms control agreements. The list could go on.
We are a good nation. When we build upon our self-evident moral principles, we are great.
For nearly two centuries these words conveyed a summary of the social ethics of nearly all Americans. As Americans we knew that God had given humanity rights that no government should violate and we professed that any rational person could know this truth. Any rational person could know these truths because they are self-evident: their truth flows from the rational nature of human existence itself, regardless of the culture, religion, or station in life of particular individuals. Unfortunately, the idea of self-evident moral truths has fallen on hard times. For decades, a creeping moral and cultural relativism has undermined rational attempts to pass down a few irrefutable moral principles. In an effort to expose western minds to the voices of those previously oppressed by western minds (and the oppression was real), some have argued that all of morality is socially constructed and that all moral positions are equal. Furthermore, some have claimed that to argue that one ethics is superior to another is a form of cultural imperialism. Although I sympathize with oppressed minorities whose civilizations and personhood have been mocked and objectified, I find cultural relativism to be irrational. My argument may seem conservative, but I consider it to be very progressive. I will explain this later.
Multi-culturalism claims that all marginalized groups need to be heard. In order for the voices of the marginalized to be heard they need to be alive. It then seems that it is self-evident that human beings have the right to life. A culturally relative denial of this right is self-contradictory. It would amount to saying that non-western, female, and homosexual people have the right to freedom of expression but they do not have the right to life. You have no political freedom if you are dead.
That is not to claim that all moral principles are absolute or that western ethics are better than Buddhist ethics or other eastern ethical systems. Nevertheless, reason leads us to the conclusion that not all systems of thought contribute to progress. Communism's slaughter of nearly 100 million and Nazism's slaughter of 6 million proves this. Both Communism and Nazism denied the possibility of moral self-evidence. Both claimed that they were bringing about a brave new world that would leave the moral wisdom of the past behind.
Systems of thought that contribute to individual and collective progress abide by the self-evident moral principles articulated by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and by the principles derived from these fundamental principles.
I would contend that the following moral principles are self-evident, absolute and universal:
Right to life
Right to free expression--includes right to critique government and other institutions
Right to freedom from cultural imperialism.
Right to religious freedom.
Right to family life (this includes rights for gays and lesbians)
The right to privacy.
Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.
The right to elect government representatives in a pluralistic, democratic system.
The right to freedom of assembly.
All moral systems can be called to grow according to these absolute principles.
To claim that there are absolute principles is not the same as claiming that there are a priori absolute answers to all moral situations. In living the good life we muddle through at times and make the best approximation. Nonethless the fundamental, self-evident moral principles are absolute.
We need to recognize that all moral systems can grow, but they cease to grow and actually regress when they ignore respect for life and human freedom. The American moral system grew when it recognized that women had the right to vote (I did not write that it gave women the right to vote because women have always had that right. We just used the law to deny that natural right). All moral and governmental systems need to be open to growth. As Karl Rahner has written, we are always systematizing but we never have a system.
The absolute principle of free expression leads westerners to critique non-western systems. To claim that non-western voices should be free of critique because of past victimization is to patronize non-western voices. It is to deny their intelligence. To claim that a westerner cannot critique a non-western system is to deny the humanity of both the westerner and the easterner.
The Arab Spring has brought us face to face with a living critique of Arab culture which westerners and easterners must encourage. It has also demonstrated that all human beings long for political arrangements that respect human life and human freedom. The Arab Spring has demonstrated that democracy is still superior to tyranny and oligarchy. The Arab Spring has proven that the founding principles of our nation--including moral self-evidence-- are universal.
This leads us to our next question: how do we respond to the claim that a good part of reality is socially constructed? We accept it and ask how do we know this. We know because, using reason, psychologists, sociologists, and other thinkers have proven this to be the case. Nevertheless, fundamental reason is not socially constructed. Under God's guidance, it evolved as a capacity of homo sapiens (the idea of divine guidance is not self-evident, but the rational evidence for the evolution of reason is irrefutable). Fundamental faith, hope and love are not constructed. They are gifts given by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not socially constructed. Images of the Spirit are socially constructed, but the Spirit herself is now, always has been, and always will be.
Other religions can also claim that although their images and words about God are socially constructed, God always has been. At this point, our study of comparative religiosity must stop for it goes beyond the focus of this specific essay. Our analysis concerns reason and moral self-evidence which apply to all moral systems regardless of religion.
In summary, we have proven that there are self-evident moral principles and that these principles are absolute. These principles can be known by reason. There are moral principles that are not self-evident. These are known through religious revelation and meditation. However, as Thomas Jefferson knew, the principle "Respect human life" and many other principles are universal, absolute, and self-evident.
Now this seems to be such a conservative argument coming from a progressive writer. I will respond that progress conserves and builds upon the moral successes of the past. The Declaration of Independence is a success! Moral self-evidence is a success, not some barnacle to be removed from the wisdom of humanity. Moreover, the principle "respect human life" supports many progressive arguments: to respect human life we have enacted OSHA regulations, we have sought to abolish the death penalty, we have sought to make health insurance universal, we spend money on aid to developing countries, especially those suffering from famine and starvation, and we have negotiated arms control agreements. The list could go on.
We are a good nation. When we build upon our self-evident moral principles, we are great.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Looking Forward To The Cleveland Center For Intercultural Healing And Reconciliation
In past blogs, I have written about reforming the Olympic movement so that the Olympic movement furthers its goal of being a vehicle for peace and development. In short, I have advocated for a progressive Olympics. An important criterion for a progressive Olympics concerns the utility of the Olympic facilities after the Olympic Games. An Olympics that is socially just will not build a park that will not be used after the Olympics have ended.
The 2020 Lake Erie Olympics will guarantee that the Cleveland Olympic Park and the neighboring Cleveland Center For Intercultural Healing And Reconciliation will be used after the Lake Erie Olympics has ended. The Cleveland Olympic Park will host concerts and rallies, including LiveAid concerts for the developing world. Because it will have a retractable roof it will host events all year long (except perhaps during the month of February which is terribly cold).
The Cleveland Center for Intercultural Healing And Reconciliation will host a number of events. There will be student trips from New York, DC, Chicago and other cities. Other events include field trips from all over Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Summer programs in non-violent conflict resolution will attract national and global attention.
We will give scholarship money to bring together Palestinian and Israeli teenagers. They will discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, engage in team building exercises, go to concerts together (music global teens like as well as the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and the Akron Symphony Orchestra), go to the ballet together, go to a U Akron soccer game together, play soccer together, and work together in other friendship building exercises. They will also learn how to listen attentively to others. Finally, if the religious leaders can design an appropriate prayer exercise, they will pray for and pray with each other.
We will give scholarship money to bring together North and South Koreans, Catholics and Protestants from Northern Ireland, Pakistanis and Indians, and people from other parts of the world. Each of these groups will engage in exercises similar to the Israelis and Palestinians.
The closing ceremony of each intercultural conference will be held in the Olympic Park. There will be a few celebrities present. There will be music. The Governor of Ohio, a representative of the US President, representatives from the governments of the participating countries, Ohio senators, representatives, and the mayors of Cleveland and Akron will attend. It will become a custom for Buckeyes from all over Ohio to congratulate those who have attended these conferences by attending the closing ceremony for free (or for minimal cost of $2-$3). People may come to see the celebrities and to hear the music, but the real reason they will attend will be to become instruments of peace. Even if they attend just to see the celebrities who will attend, they will be so engaged by the ceremonies that they will want to advocate peaceful methods for resolving conflicts. They will feel a bond with the people who have attended the conference and will foster that bond by continuing to learn about those countries. People will come for the celebrity and ceremony and will leave ambassadors of peace.
The 2020 Lake Erie Olympics will guarantee that the Cleveland Olympic Park and the neighboring Cleveland Center For Intercultural Healing And Reconciliation will be used after the Lake Erie Olympics has ended. The Cleveland Olympic Park will host concerts and rallies, including LiveAid concerts for the developing world. Because it will have a retractable roof it will host events all year long (except perhaps during the month of February which is terribly cold).
The Cleveland Center for Intercultural Healing And Reconciliation will host a number of events. There will be student trips from New York, DC, Chicago and other cities. Other events include field trips from all over Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Summer programs in non-violent conflict resolution will attract national and global attention.
We will give scholarship money to bring together Palestinian and Israeli teenagers. They will discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, engage in team building exercises, go to concerts together (music global teens like as well as the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and the Akron Symphony Orchestra), go to the ballet together, go to a U Akron soccer game together, play soccer together, and work together in other friendship building exercises. They will also learn how to listen attentively to others. Finally, if the religious leaders can design an appropriate prayer exercise, they will pray for and pray with each other.
We will give scholarship money to bring together North and South Koreans, Catholics and Protestants from Northern Ireland, Pakistanis and Indians, and people from other parts of the world. Each of these groups will engage in exercises similar to the Israelis and Palestinians.
The closing ceremony of each intercultural conference will be held in the Olympic Park. There will be a few celebrities present. There will be music. The Governor of Ohio, a representative of the US President, representatives from the governments of the participating countries, Ohio senators, representatives, and the mayors of Cleveland and Akron will attend. It will become a custom for Buckeyes from all over Ohio to congratulate those who have attended these conferences by attending the closing ceremony for free (or for minimal cost of $2-$3). People may come to see the celebrities and to hear the music, but the real reason they will attend will be to become instruments of peace. Even if they attend just to see the celebrities who will attend, they will be so engaged by the ceremonies that they will want to advocate peaceful methods for resolving conflicts. They will feel a bond with the people who have attended the conference and will foster that bond by continuing to learn about those countries. People will come for the celebrity and ceremony and will leave ambassadors of peace.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The Gift Of Israel, The Gift of Palestine
Islam, Judaism, and Christianity-- all three great Abrahamic faiths--nurture gratitude for God's gifts. It is amazing how much God loves each of us! What gifts God has given us!
Jewish Israelis claim that God gave them a beautiful gift by giving them the land that is called Israel. Palestinians claim that God gave the same land to them and they call the land Palestine. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians are right. The land is a gift from God. Neither side earned it. It is a gift and gifts are given freely, without thought of who deserves it. But here is the crucial question: What does God want us to do with a gift he gives us? He wants us to share it. Therefore, God wants the Israelis and Palestinians to share the land. Not to kill each other over it, but to share it.
If we think of the land as a gift to be shared, the war will end. If we think of the land as something somebody earned, the war will continue. There is an absolute link between being open to God's gifts and knowing how to live in peace.
Jewish Israelis claim that God gave them a beautiful gift by giving them the land that is called Israel. Palestinians claim that God gave the same land to them and they call the land Palestine. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians are right. The land is a gift from God. Neither side earned it. It is a gift and gifts are given freely, without thought of who deserves it. But here is the crucial question: What does God want us to do with a gift he gives us? He wants us to share it. Therefore, God wants the Israelis and Palestinians to share the land. Not to kill each other over it, but to share it.
If we think of the land as a gift to be shared, the war will end. If we think of the land as something somebody earned, the war will continue. There is an absolute link between being open to God's gifts and knowing how to live in peace.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Ex-Marine Awarded Medal of Honor
An extraordinary story about a courageous soldier who correctly mentions that there are many other American soldiers who deserve the award but who go unrecognized. The New York Times reports.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Knowing Reality As It Really Is
One of the goals of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is to know reality as it really is. Our understanding of what is real is affected by the condition of our subjectivity. Our subjectivity includes our feelings, memories, thoughts, mental habits, emotional habits, spiritual experiences, our trust or lack of trust in the Holy Mystery, our sense of hope or despair, our understanding of love, how we interpret our feelings, thoughts, mental habits, emotional habits, the method we use to discipline our subjectivity, consolation, desolation, and how we act in response to consolation and desolation. It is possible to grow in knowledge of what is real and what is valuable through the conversion of our own personal subjectivity.
According to section 21 of the Spiritual Exercises, the goal of the Exercises is to enable a person to make decisions free of disordered attachments. In order to see an attachment as disordered, we need to know reality as it really is. Our attachment functions as a psychic blinder to what is and as a psychic tumor draining us of the energy needed to want to know what is real. Whatever the attachment, it siphons psychic energy away from life-giving pursuits. For example, I may feel attached to resentment because of a past injury. I may feel the urge to nurse the resentment and rehearse the anger. In doing so, I am feeding what Buddhist monk Thich Naht Hahn calls the habit energy of anger. In other cases, I may nurse the resentment out of fear of being hurt again. I avoid the person who hurt me and I avoid situations and people who remind me of the pain. Finally, the injury may remind me of an earlier, more traumatic injury, perhaps something from my childhood. In all three cases, it is understandable that I react with resentment, but if I don't eventually let go of the resentment, it will become a spiritual and psychic tumor, coloring much of my life.
The Exercises are designed to help me with the attachment in a variety of ways. First, in contemplating the forgiving Christ, I may be moved to imitate him, letting go of the resentment that is poisoning my mind and heart. Second, in the meditation on the Two Standards, I may be drawn to how Jesus attracts us to spiritual freedom and repelled by the manner in which the enemy of human nature seeks to enslave me in my resentment by way of a sense of wounded honor and pride. Third, in the meditation on three kinds of humility, I may ask for the grace to follow Jesus even in the face of poverty and contempt, not wallowing in the contempt of others, but just peacefully accepting it.
As I let go of the resentment, I actually grow to a fuller understanding of the world. Dr. Joseph Komonchak writes about this experience in an essay about the theological method of Bernard Lonergan, SJ (“Conversion and Objectivity”, Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 1996, p 99). To better understand Lonergan's Method, he uses the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). In the parable, the father and older son have different understandings of reality. The father’s reality is charged with forgiving love. The older son’s reality is held together by the desire to please the father by observing religious rules for the sake of the rules themselves. In order for the older son to live in the reality of the father, he must undergo metanoia-a change of heart and mind. He must let go of the social reality constructed by the social and mental habit (ethic) of keeping religious score of one's personal holiness. He must accept the social reality of the awesome, excessively prodigal, unconditional love of the father.
Komonchak uses this parable to explain the Ignatian insight that objectivity (reality) is the fruit of authentic subjectivity. That is, how you understand reality is affected by the condition of your subjectivity. For Lonergan and Komonchak, there is an error in assuming that knowing is just like looking. Lonergan gives the example of an x-ray. When I look at a faint line on the x-ray of a rib cage, I see nothing more than a line, but a doctor whose subjectivity has been tutored through years of medical school, will see a fracture. She will see a particular kind of fracture and she will know how long it will take to heal. Knowing what kind of fracture it is requires more than just looking. It requires looking with a tutored and authentic subjectivity.
If I approach a social problem like health care without an understanding of God's unconditional valuing of each person, my understanding of the situation will be less accurate than if I had, through experience, knowledge of how God unconditionally values me and others. What occurs during this experience? Metanoia or as we say in English--conversion. What exactly is a conversion? It is the change and expansion of one's horizon of knowing, feeling, valuing, and acting. What is a person's horizon? It is the difference between what one knows and does not know. Consider the comparison with one's visual horizon. What is beyond my visual horizon cannot be seen by me so it cannot be known by me. What is beyond my intellectual horizon cannot be known by me until my horizon shifts. What is beyond my moral horizon cannot be valued by me until my horizon expands. How does such an expansion of horizon occur? In The Desires of the Human Heart: An Introduction to the Theology of Bernard Lonergan, Walter Conn comments: “... Conversion to a new horizon must be a non-logical leap, effected not principally by logic but by symbols which tunnel under the logical defenses to reach our horizon's imaginative and affective center, our hearts” (52).
This is just what happens when Jesus tells a parable: using the symbols and narrative of the parable, Jesus draws us into our hearts. Ignatius builds on the method of Christ by encouraging us to use our imagination when we pray with Scripture. We enter into the scene and imagine the concrete sensory details. In the case of the parable of the prodigal son, we may be able to imagine the joy on the father’s face when he sees his son returning home. This expression of joy evokes an affective response on our own part. We recall moments when we gratefully forgave another and felt joy. We imagine the expression of the older son and can feel the contempt he has in his heart. We can also feel the tension he lives with thinking that he must constantly please his father. We then recall moments in our own lives when we held a grudge and feel the destructive tension in our hearts. In the end, we imagine the father’s invitation to join in the banquet: do we accept the invitation and share in the father’s joy or do we refuse and stew in our own resentment? Conn continues: “While moral conversion is a matter of discovery and decision, then, it is also a matter of desire: of feeling in the demand to respond to the call to responsible freedom a joy over the prospect of growth toward more authentic life” (p 52).
.
In conclusion, we have found that knowing reality is dynamic because reality-love- is dynamic. Knowing reality requires constant metanoia and constant reaching out. It is the fruit of a subjectivity tutored through effective spiritual exercise.
According to section 21 of the Spiritual Exercises, the goal of the Exercises is to enable a person to make decisions free of disordered attachments. In order to see an attachment as disordered, we need to know reality as it really is. Our attachment functions as a psychic blinder to what is and as a psychic tumor draining us of the energy needed to want to know what is real. Whatever the attachment, it siphons psychic energy away from life-giving pursuits. For example, I may feel attached to resentment because of a past injury. I may feel the urge to nurse the resentment and rehearse the anger. In doing so, I am feeding what Buddhist monk Thich Naht Hahn calls the habit energy of anger. In other cases, I may nurse the resentment out of fear of being hurt again. I avoid the person who hurt me and I avoid situations and people who remind me of the pain. Finally, the injury may remind me of an earlier, more traumatic injury, perhaps something from my childhood. In all three cases, it is understandable that I react with resentment, but if I don't eventually let go of the resentment, it will become a spiritual and psychic tumor, coloring much of my life.
The Exercises are designed to help me with the attachment in a variety of ways. First, in contemplating the forgiving Christ, I may be moved to imitate him, letting go of the resentment that is poisoning my mind and heart. Second, in the meditation on the Two Standards, I may be drawn to how Jesus attracts us to spiritual freedom and repelled by the manner in which the enemy of human nature seeks to enslave me in my resentment by way of a sense of wounded honor and pride. Third, in the meditation on three kinds of humility, I may ask for the grace to follow Jesus even in the face of poverty and contempt, not wallowing in the contempt of others, but just peacefully accepting it.
As I let go of the resentment, I actually grow to a fuller understanding of the world. Dr. Joseph Komonchak writes about this experience in an essay about the theological method of Bernard Lonergan, SJ (“Conversion and Objectivity”, Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 1996, p 99). To better understand Lonergan's Method, he uses the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). In the parable, the father and older son have different understandings of reality. The father’s reality is charged with forgiving love. The older son’s reality is held together by the desire to please the father by observing religious rules for the sake of the rules themselves. In order for the older son to live in the reality of the father, he must undergo metanoia-a change of heart and mind. He must let go of the social reality constructed by the social and mental habit (ethic) of keeping religious score of one's personal holiness. He must accept the social reality of the awesome, excessively prodigal, unconditional love of the father.
Komonchak uses this parable to explain the Ignatian insight that objectivity (reality) is the fruit of authentic subjectivity. That is, how you understand reality is affected by the condition of your subjectivity. For Lonergan and Komonchak, there is an error in assuming that knowing is just like looking. Lonergan gives the example of an x-ray. When I look at a faint line on the x-ray of a rib cage, I see nothing more than a line, but a doctor whose subjectivity has been tutored through years of medical school, will see a fracture. She will see a particular kind of fracture and she will know how long it will take to heal. Knowing what kind of fracture it is requires more than just looking. It requires looking with a tutored and authentic subjectivity.
If I approach a social problem like health care without an understanding of God's unconditional valuing of each person, my understanding of the situation will be less accurate than if I had, through experience, knowledge of how God unconditionally values me and others. What occurs during this experience? Metanoia or as we say in English--conversion. What exactly is a conversion? It is the change and expansion of one's horizon of knowing, feeling, valuing, and acting. What is a person's horizon? It is the difference between what one knows and does not know. Consider the comparison with one's visual horizon. What is beyond my visual horizon cannot be seen by me so it cannot be known by me. What is beyond my intellectual horizon cannot be known by me until my horizon shifts. What is beyond my moral horizon cannot be valued by me until my horizon expands. How does such an expansion of horizon occur? In The Desires of the Human Heart: An Introduction to the Theology of Bernard Lonergan, Walter Conn comments: “... Conversion to a new horizon must be a non-logical leap, effected not principally by logic but by symbols which tunnel under the logical defenses to reach our horizon's imaginative and affective center, our hearts” (52).
This is just what happens when Jesus tells a parable: using the symbols and narrative of the parable, Jesus draws us into our hearts. Ignatius builds on the method of Christ by encouraging us to use our imagination when we pray with Scripture. We enter into the scene and imagine the concrete sensory details. In the case of the parable of the prodigal son, we may be able to imagine the joy on the father’s face when he sees his son returning home. This expression of joy evokes an affective response on our own part. We recall moments when we gratefully forgave another and felt joy. We imagine the expression of the older son and can feel the contempt he has in his heart. We can also feel the tension he lives with thinking that he must constantly please his father. We then recall moments in our own lives when we held a grudge and feel the destructive tension in our hearts. In the end, we imagine the father’s invitation to join in the banquet: do we accept the invitation and share in the father’s joy or do we refuse and stew in our own resentment? Conn continues: “While moral conversion is a matter of discovery and decision, then, it is also a matter of desire: of feeling in the demand to respond to the call to responsible freedom a joy over the prospect of growth toward more authentic life” (p 52).
.
In conclusion, we have found that knowing reality is dynamic because reality-love- is dynamic. Knowing reality requires constant metanoia and constant reaching out. It is the fruit of a subjectivity tutored through effective spiritual exercise.
Friday, September 9, 2011
GOP Confusion Regarding Health Care Reform
In the Chicago Tribune, Eric Zorn points out that the Republicans are avoiding real debate about health care. He also points out that thanks to Governor Perry's policies, Texas is dead last when it comes to insuring people. He goes on to note that Governor Romney's policies (that informed Obamacare) have made Massachusetts the best state when it comes to health coverage. Finally, he notes that the individual health insurance mandate was originally a Republican idea supported by Newt Gingrich.
On a different but related note, it seems to me that in an age of bio-terrorism, universal health coverage is not only morally right, it is also a national security matter. If someone who is uninsured were to show up at an Emergency room with strange symptoms caused by a contagious biological agent, would we turn them away because they do not have insurance? If we do, then we spread the bio-terror contagion. If we do not turn the uninsured away, then the hospital does not get paid by the uninsured.
Some might say that, in the event of some kind of bio-terror, the federal government would be able to quickly infuse capital into hospitals to innoculate people or to stop the spread of the agent, but we know that it would take some time for the money to get to the hospitals. The better national security policy is to have universal health insurance (or near universal health insurance) in place. Ever since 9/11, our hospitals have been on the front lines.
In conclusion, as Romneycare worked in Massachusetts, Obamacare will work for the entire nation. It is good health policy and good national security policy!
On a different but related note, it seems to me that in an age of bio-terrorism, universal health coverage is not only morally right, it is also a national security matter. If someone who is uninsured were to show up at an Emergency room with strange symptoms caused by a contagious biological agent, would we turn them away because they do not have insurance? If we do, then we spread the bio-terror contagion. If we do not turn the uninsured away, then the hospital does not get paid by the uninsured.
Some might say that, in the event of some kind of bio-terror, the federal government would be able to quickly infuse capital into hospitals to innoculate people or to stop the spread of the agent, but we know that it would take some time for the money to get to the hospitals. The better national security policy is to have universal health insurance (or near universal health insurance) in place. Ever since 9/11, our hospitals have been on the front lines.
In conclusion, as Romneycare worked in Massachusetts, Obamacare will work for the entire nation. It is good health policy and good national security policy!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Gospel Truth By Thomas Friedman
This piece is a must read. Friedman lets us know how real recovery will begin with the truth. It also gives us perspective regarding the situation President Obama has been trying to deal with.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Governnor Perry And Religious Pluralism
I respect my brother Governor Rick Perry. I respect his commitment to Christ and I pray for God's continuous blessing upon him. I also respect his love for our country. I am grateful that he and other conservatives continuously challenge me. I am grateful for the dialogue.
Because I respect Governor Perry, I have some more questions for him. In no way do I seek to demean his Evangelical Christianity. I have tremendous respect for evangelicals. I just think that we need to clarify a few things:
Governor Perry, as an Evangelical Christian, do you think that all non-evangelicals are going to hell? Specifically, do you think that all Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christians are going to hell? Some might suggest that I have no business asking a presidential candidate these questions. After all, many think we should not mix religion and politics. The reality is that Governor Perry and other politicians want religion to play a stronger role in the public square. I would also like all of the great religions to play a stronger role. The Lake Erie Olympics I have lobbied for includes the essential component of inter-religious dialogue in The Cleveland Center For Intercultural Healing and Reconciliation which will border the Cleveland Olympic Park. I am opposed to the privatization of religion for I think public discussion of faith is essential to our democracy.
Having established the necessity of discussing religion in the public square, we need to ask what does my specific question have to do with politics? Well, it is simple. If a president thinks that all non-Christians are going to hell, then it seems to me that he probably thinks that their specific traditions are void of all virtue, that these traditions have no wisdom. It seems to me then that this president will probably never appoint a Jew, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist to the Supreme Court where he or she would have to interpret the First Amendment.
After all, if Governor Perry believes that Christianity is the only path to salvation, he is probably going to want appoint justices who will interpret the First Amendment in such a way that others have a better chance of encountering an evangelical church. He may not appoint justices who will establish Christianity, but he will appoint justices who will promote Christianity over against traditions that he thinks are void of salvific significance.
So, Governor Perry, do you think that all non-Christians are going to hell?
Because I respect Governor Perry, I have some more questions for him. In no way do I seek to demean his Evangelical Christianity. I have tremendous respect for evangelicals. I just think that we need to clarify a few things:
Governor Perry, as an Evangelical Christian, do you think that all non-evangelicals are going to hell? Specifically, do you think that all Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christians are going to hell? Some might suggest that I have no business asking a presidential candidate these questions. After all, many think we should not mix religion and politics. The reality is that Governor Perry and other politicians want religion to play a stronger role in the public square. I would also like all of the great religions to play a stronger role. The Lake Erie Olympics I have lobbied for includes the essential component of inter-religious dialogue in The Cleveland Center For Intercultural Healing and Reconciliation which will border the Cleveland Olympic Park. I am opposed to the privatization of religion for I think public discussion of faith is essential to our democracy.
Having established the necessity of discussing religion in the public square, we need to ask what does my specific question have to do with politics? Well, it is simple. If a president thinks that all non-Christians are going to hell, then it seems to me that he probably thinks that their specific traditions are void of all virtue, that these traditions have no wisdom. It seems to me then that this president will probably never appoint a Jew, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist to the Supreme Court where he or she would have to interpret the First Amendment.
After all, if Governor Perry believes that Christianity is the only path to salvation, he is probably going to want appoint justices who will interpret the First Amendment in such a way that others have a better chance of encountering an evangelical church. He may not appoint justices who will establish Christianity, but he will appoint justices who will promote Christianity over against traditions that he thinks are void of salvific significance.
So, Governor Perry, do you think that all non-Christians are going to hell?
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Show Me The Errors Of Appropriate Keynesian Spending
Considering the way he threatened Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Governor Perry obviously considers himself some sort of economics expert, and considering his opposition to any kind of Keynesian deficit spending to get the unemployed back to work, he must have some iron clad grip on American history. Unlike Governor Perry, I am not an economics expert. I am just an average American, born in the Midwest (Illinois), raised in the Midwest (Wisconsin), currently residing in the Midwest (Ohio). In many ways, I am just the common man, facing these difficult times and trying to raise a family. Then again, there's part of my experience that is a little different from your average Midwesterner (and that Governor Perry seems to dislike): like many others who wanted to expand their horizons, I attended supposedly elitist Eastern universities. I found that by leaving what was familiar to me and conversing with people of a thousand different backgrounds, I learned. Now that doesn't make me better than people who stayed in Wisconsin or Texas (I have dear cousins and friends who are from Texas), but I did learn.
Two of the things that I learned at Georgetown University and The Catholic University of America were to pay attention to previous experience and to ask intelligent questions. "Be attentive" is an imperative roughly equivalent to "show me," the motto of Missouri, one of my previous states of residence.
What then should we pay attention to? The experience we need to pay attention to is the experience of the Great Depression, the first great constriction, and other economic downturns. Doing so will help us understand the current economic constriction that plagues us. The questions we need to ask are:
1. If Keynesian economics is so flawed, then why did Keynesian spending via the New Deal and military spending for World War II end the great depression? In 1932 the unemployment rate was 23.6 percent. By 1936, thanks to the New Deal spending of the Federal Government, the rate had fallen to 16.9 percent. That was a 6.7 percent drop completely connected to the generous social spending of the Federal Government. It was not caused by a later phase of Keynesian stimulus which occurred 5 years later when we entered World War II.
2. Why has the US economy, stimulated by Keynesian policies for 80 years produced more wealth than any other country in history?
These questions must be answered before we abandon an economic model that works. So, Governor Perry "show me." Show me what Franklin Roosevelt did wrong. Show me what Ronald Reagan did wrong when he stimulated the economy through defense spending. Show me what the US government did wrong when it took the internet it had created and gave it to the global private sector for economic growth.
Show me.
Two of the things that I learned at Georgetown University and The Catholic University of America were to pay attention to previous experience and to ask intelligent questions. "Be attentive" is an imperative roughly equivalent to "show me," the motto of Missouri, one of my previous states of residence.
What then should we pay attention to? The experience we need to pay attention to is the experience of the Great Depression, the first great constriction, and other economic downturns. Doing so will help us understand the current economic constriction that plagues us. The questions we need to ask are:
1. If Keynesian economics is so flawed, then why did Keynesian spending via the New Deal and military spending for World War II end the great depression? In 1932 the unemployment rate was 23.6 percent. By 1936, thanks to the New Deal spending of the Federal Government, the rate had fallen to 16.9 percent. That was a 6.7 percent drop completely connected to the generous social spending of the Federal Government. It was not caused by a later phase of Keynesian stimulus which occurred 5 years later when we entered World War II.
2. Why has the US economy, stimulated by Keynesian policies for 80 years produced more wealth than any other country in history?
These questions must be answered before we abandon an economic model that works. So, Governor Perry "show me." Show me what Franklin Roosevelt did wrong. Show me what Ronald Reagan did wrong when he stimulated the economy through defense spending. Show me what the US government did wrong when it took the internet it had created and gave it to the global private sector for economic growth.
Show me.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Let's Use Intelligence As We Deliberate About Economic Policy
As we consider our fiscal priorities over the next few years, it is wise to recall John Rawls' book A Theory Of Justice. In this text, Rawls argues successfully that the economic policies that are best for the poor are the most rational and thus the best policies.
His argument proceeds as follows: imagine that you do not know your status in society. All you know is that you are rational and self interested. You are asked to choose the economic policies that will guide your country. Which economic policies would you choose?
Rawls argues that we all would choose the policies that are best for the poor because when we are placed back into society we could be poor. We would not choose policies that would make the poor suffer because we could end up being the suffering poor. Therefore, the most rational policies are the policies that most help the poor and vulnerable.
Will the US Congress act to lower the rate of poverty and to protect the health care reform law that extended insurance to 20 million uninsured Americans?
Only if they behave rationally.
His argument proceeds as follows: imagine that you do not know your status in society. All you know is that you are rational and self interested. You are asked to choose the economic policies that will guide your country. Which economic policies would you choose?
Rawls argues that we all would choose the policies that are best for the poor because when we are placed back into society we could be poor. We would not choose policies that would make the poor suffer because we could end up being the suffering poor. Therefore, the most rational policies are the policies that most help the poor and vulnerable.
Will the US Congress act to lower the rate of poverty and to protect the health care reform law that extended insurance to 20 million uninsured Americans?
Only if they behave rationally.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
About The Deficit And Debt Debate
First things first. Everyone, including conservatives, needs to acknowledge the following: one of the major reasons we have deficits is that key policies of the Democratic party--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, OSHA regulations-- have all been successful. That's right, successful. Our seniors do not die as early as they used to. All of these Democratic policies have prolonged peoples' life spans. This is a good thing.
Before conservatives mock everything liberal they need to acknowledge that these policies are successes.
Now one of the consequences is that when people live longer they then need more social security checks and more health care. But this is not something to disdain or regret. It first needs to be celebrated, yes celebrated, and then prudently responded to. It does not mean that government programs necesarily fail.
Before conservatives mock everything liberal they need to acknowledge that these policies are successes.
Now one of the consequences is that when people live longer they then need more social security checks and more health care. But this is not something to disdain or regret. It first needs to be celebrated, yes celebrated, and then prudently responded to. It does not mean that government programs necesarily fail.
Truth, Compassion, And Christian Dialogue With Other Religions
A friend of mine asked me a question:
"In heaven, do you think Jesus and Buddha are quarreling over doctrinal issues?"
I responded first by pointing out that Buddhists do not believe in heaven. She responded by asking me if, as a Christian, I thought that the Buddha would be in heaven. I agreed that he would be.
"So answer the question."
I gave it some thought and answered: " Of course not. They have the deepest compassion for each other."
She replied, "In the same way, we must have compassion for each other, even if we have serious differences."
I asked, "Does compassion for others mean that we find truth in different religions?"
She answered, "How can we have compassion for others, really feel with and feel for others, if we reject the ways that lead them to freedom?"
"In heaven, do you think Jesus and Buddha are quarreling over doctrinal issues?"
I responded first by pointing out that Buddhists do not believe in heaven. She responded by asking me if, as a Christian, I thought that the Buddha would be in heaven. I agreed that he would be.
"So answer the question."
I gave it some thought and answered: " Of course not. They have the deepest compassion for each other."
She replied, "In the same way, we must have compassion for each other, even if we have serious differences."
I asked, "Does compassion for others mean that we find truth in different religions?"
She answered, "How can we have compassion for others, really feel with and feel for others, if we reject the ways that lead them to freedom?"
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