Phase One, Week 4, Exercise 2: The History of Sin and Disorder

This exercise should be experienced between November 30 and December 3.

In the first exercise of this week, we reflected on the nature of sin and disorder. Sin disrupts my relationship with myself, God, others and the ecology. In this exercise, we will consider how disorder was present at the origin of human culture and how the dynamic of sin and disorder is mimetically passed down from generation to generation.

Through the years, the notion of original sin has been understood in primitive, pseudo-biological terms and, as a result, it has been rejected by some people. At the same time, it cannot be denied that human beings seem to continually be drawn back into social dynamics that discriminate against others. In some cases, these social dynamics lead to overt violence against others. Why is this?

The cultural anthropologist Rene Girard has provided a theory that helps to answer this question. According to Girard, one of the most resilient human characteristics is the tendency to copy others. As toddlers, we learn language by copying the adults in our families. We continue to learn by copying throughout our lives. The problem is that we copy more than language.

In his book Violence Unveiled, Gil Bailie, one of Girard's students, tells a story all parents know. He asks us to imagine a nursery. In the middle of the room lies a toy. One child enters the room. He touches the toy in the middle of the room, but he shows no real interest in it. He then goes to one side of the room and plays with another toy. A second child enters the room. He walks to the center of the room and begins to play with the toy that the first child rejected. What happens next? Most people can tell you: the first child copies the desires of the second chid and, as a result, wants to play with the toy the second is playing with. As he reaches for the toy, a conflict develops. If the adults in the room do not intervene, the conflict will become physical.

This copying of others Girard calls mimesis. Everyone does it--from teenagers copying each others' clothing to adults copying the actions and desires of others when they see people flocking to a store on Black Friday. What then does this have to do with the origin of culture, sin, and the on-going dynamic of culture?

It helps if we take a stroll down the lane of human evolution to the beginning of human culture. Imagine, if you will, two nearly human beings. Let's call them Ug and Oog. They live in close proximity of each other and in close proximity of several other nearly human beings. Ug has been wandering around the countryside in search of food when he finds an animal tooth. The object interests him so he picks it up. Oog has been watching Ug from a distance and, influenced by his mimetic tendencies, wants to know what Ug is fascinated by. As he approaches Ug, Ug is looking at the animal tooth. Oog copies Ug's gesture, but to do so, Oog needs to hold the tooth. He reaches for the tooth. Ug pulls the tooth away from Oog. Oog imitates Ug, attempting to take the tooth from Ug. Ug responds by pushing Oog away. Oog copies the gesture. Ug responds by hitting Oog. Oog copies Ug and hits him back. Now the scene becomes a prehistoric version of the three stooges, what Girard and Bailie call mimetic violence.

Other nearly human beings who happen upon Ug and Oog's fight get drawn in. At this point, there is no justice system to intervene and stop the violence. There is no developed language to communicate a desire to end the violence. There is just mimetic (copying) activity. We see such behavior when modern and post-modern human beings place themselves in the primitive state of drunkenness in a bar. One drunken man punches someone on the other side of the bar then someone far removed from the original punch breaks a chair over someone's back. Ug and Oog's neighbors behave in the same way. They just mindlessly copy Ug and Oog's violence. They fight with whoever is near them. They may even pick up stones and throw them at each other.

The brawl continues until someone is injured and grunts a startling accusatory gesture at the individual who has harmed him. This accusation is so loud that it is copied by the others. Now a whole crowd is growling at and pointing at one individual. The anger spills over and the mob kills the individual. At once, there is a hush. The crowd is amazed at what it has done: at first each member notices noone is hitting him or throwing rocks at him. Second, each member is shocked by the presence of the corpse. Third, each member is amazed that he was part of some kind of collective act. Before the collective murder, there was chaos. After the collective murder, there is order. In this way, primitive social solidarity was born.

This group remembers the order that came after the group murder. When chaos again appears, they decide to use the collective act that gave them peace: they ritualize human sacrifice. Nearly all of the great human civilizations have engaged in human sacrifice in some form. Their creation myths mirror this: frequently the ancient creation myths (except the Hebrew myths and a few others) report that the world is created from the body of a murdered god.

Many societies left behind the ritual of human sacrifice, but retained the dynamic of collective discrimination: those who did not abide by the rules of the societies were cast out of the society. This is another form of scapegoating. Modern society claimed that it had evolved out of religion only to fall prey to the worst forms of collective violence ever--the Nazi Holocaust and the killing fields and death camps of communism.

Even today in the United States of America, there is scapegoating--of gays and lesbians, immigrants, Muslims, the homeless, people with mental illnesses, people who are religiously and culturally different. In a milder and yet still insidious way, people scapegoat those who belong to a different political party than they do.

Ask yourself: Have I ever scapegoated? That is, have I ever engaged in social bonding at the expense of another? What led me to do so? Was I afraid of being scapegoated myself? Was I unaware of the scapegoat mechanism that was at work in the group?

Do I scapegoat people who belong to a different political party than I do? Do I demonize them? Why?

Now, in prayer consider the story from the Gospel of John about Jesus and the woman caught in the act of adultery (of course, we should wonder about the man who was caught with her). If you feel so moved, use your imagination to enter the scene. Which character are you drawn to? How do you feel about the social bond that the Pharisees have at the expense of the woman?

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.* a
2
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them.
3
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.
4
They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
5
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.* So what do you say?”b
6
They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.*
7
* But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them,c “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
9
And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him.
10
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”d
11
She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.”]e
(John 7:53-8:11)

Do I need to spend some time with Jesus who will gently just tell me "go and sin no more"? If I am not Christian, is there an appropriate text which offers me words of healing now that I am aware of my sin or disorder?

Speak from your heart to the God of your understanding. If you are Buddhist, choose whatever text or meditative approach is appropriate.

Shalom!

Phase One, Week Four, Exercise One: Sin And Disorder

This Exercise is to be experienced between November 27 and November 30:

Having meditated upon the purpose of our lives, we now consider why we fall short of reaching our goal of loving God in all situations. The human story is not just about the successes of the heroes of our various traditions. It also details our failings. In this week, Ignatius encourages us to contemplate the history of human sinfulness as well as our personal sinfulness. We contemplate sin and disorder so that we may undergo conversion and become free.

There are certain classic texts in the Jewish and Christian traditions that deal with sin and disorder. Probably the best known story that helps us contemplate sin is the story of the sin of Adam and Eve. The value of this story is not its historical value. Rather, the value of the story is its rich symbolism. All of the ancient creation stories of the ancient traditions use symbolism to convey their message. What makes this story so insightful is that its symbolism gives us insight into the graces and disorder of human relationships.


As we engage in this exercise, there are specific graces we should ask for. Fr. Skehan suggests that we should ask God for the following:

"Conscious of the high adventure, sublime destiny, and freedom for which I was created and of the vocation to which God invites me, I beg Him for a deep-felt understanding of my sin and of the disordered tendencies in my life that hobble me in my pursuit; that I may feel a need for a change, and so turn to him for healing and forgiveness. I seek to rid myself of every form of greed and lust, of anger and resentment, and of delusion that I may rid myself of all that fetters me" (31).

Now, read through Genesis 2:4b-3:24. I have provided the text below:

Genesis Chapter 2

When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—
5
there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for the LORD God had sent no rain upon the earth and there was no man* to till the ground,
6
but a stream* was welling up out of the earth and watering all the surface of the ground—
7
then the LORD God formed the man* out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.d
8
The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,* and placed there the man whom he had formed.e
9
* Out of the ground the LORD God made grow every tree that was delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.f
10
A river rises in Eden* to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches.
11
The name of the first is the Pishon; it is the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12
The gold of that land is good; bdellium and lapis lazuli are also there.
13
The name of the second river is the Gihon; it is the one that winds all through the land of Cush.g
14
The name of the third river is the Tigris; it is the one that flows east of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15
The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.h
16
The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the gardeni
17
except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die.* j
18
The LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him.* k
19
So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name.
20
The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be a helper suited to the man.
21
So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.l
22
The LORD God then built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman. When he brought her to the man,
23
the man said:
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
This one shall be called ‘woman,’
for out of man this one has been taken.”*
24
m That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.*
25
The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.*

Genesis Chapter 3: Expulsion from Eden.
1
Now the snake was the most cunning* of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?”
2
The woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
3
a it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’”
4
But the snake said to the woman: “You certainly will not die!b
5
God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know* good and evil.”
6
The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.c
7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

8
When they heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day,* the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.d
9
The LORD God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you?
10
He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.”
11
Then God asked: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat?
12
The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.”
13
The LORD God then asked the woman: What is this you have done? The woman answered, “The snake tricked me, so I ate it.”e
14
Then the LORD God said to the snake:
Because you have done this,
cursed are you
among all the animals, tame or wild;
On your belly you shall crawl,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.* f
15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel.* g
16
To the woman he said:
I will intensify your toil in childbearing;
in pain* you shall bring forth children.
Yet your urge shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.
17
To the man he said: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, You shall not eat from it,
Cursed is the ground* because of you!
In toil you shall eat its yield
all the days of your life.h
18
Thorns and thistles it shall bear for you,
and you shall eat the grass of the field.
19
By the sweat of your brow
you shall eat bread,
Until you return to the ground,
from which you were taken;
For you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.i
20
The man gave his wife the name “Eve,” because she was the mother of all the living.*
21
The LORD God made for the man and his wife garments of skin, with which he clothed them.
22
Then the LORD God said: See! The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil! Now, what if he also reaches out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, and eats of it and lives forever?j
23
The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken.
24
He expelled the man, stationing the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword east of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life.


Notice the following about the text before you pray with it:

1) The meaning of the first story, the story of the Garden of Eden, is that human beings are made for relationships of equality and intimacy. Note the following symbols:
a. In 2:7, God makes the man out of clay and then breathes life into man. He does not create him from a distance. God is very close to his creation.
b. In 2:18, God states that it is not good for the man to be alone. The man is made for relationship.
c. In 2:19, God gives man the power to name the animals. In the Hebrew tradition, the ability to name something gives you power over it. This is why the Jewish community does not say YHWH, the name of God. No one can have power over God. God's giving the man the ability to name the creatures symbolizes that God is sharing God's dominion with humanity.
d. In 2:21-23, God creates the woman from the rib of the man. This does not justify male dominance over the woman. Rather, it symbolizes that the relationship between man and woman is to be a relationship of equality and intimacy. The rib is close to the heart, and, for the Hebrew people, the heart is the center of the human person. It is also the seat of wisdom. The mind resides in the heart and is informed by the heart. God did not create the woman from a bone far from the heart. Rather, he created the woman from a bone close to the heart. Man and woman are to live heart to heart, in love and equality. How does male domination enter into the world? We shall see in Genesis 3.
2. The meaning of the second story, the story of the expulsion from Eden, is that sin does not originate from the heart of man. It comes about from the tempter distorting humanity's good heart. Also, sin disrupts human relationships: relationships between the human person and him/herself, between the human person and other persons, between the human person and God, and between the human person and the ecology.
3. In 3:1-7, the serpent, representing the enemy of human nature, sows the seeds of envy in the hearts of the woman and the man (the fact that the woman is portrayed as the one who misleads the man is clearly an example of sexism. The text is not historical. Nevertheless, the text does give us important insight into sin.).

In chapter 2, God engages in the incredibly generous act of sharing his power and authority with the man and the woman, but they end up wanting more. The enemy encourages them to desire what is not theirs--"to be like gods." He sows the seeds of envy into their hearts. This disordering of desire ripples throughout all their relationships. Whereas in chapter 2, the man and the woman enjoy perfect, unencumbered intimacy (they are naked but feel no shame), after they eat of the fruit, they become aware of their nakedness and make fig leaves and loin cloths for themselves. There is now an obstacle between them. They also begin to hide from the God who had been a source of life for them.

4. In 3:16, God tells the woman:

I will intensify your toil in childbearing;
in pain* you shall bring forth children.
Yet your urge shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.

In a lecture at the Catholic University of America, Fr. Alex DiLella, OFM offered the following accurate interpretation: the development of male dominance over women occurs after the sin of Adam and Eve. It is thus not part of God's plan. It is a consequence of the human rejection of God. Our task then is to cooperate with God in the building up of a society that values all human beings--male and female.

Now ask God for the grace to obtain "a deep-felt understanding of my sin and of the disordered tendencies in my life that hobble me in my pursuit; that I may feel a need for a change, and so turn to him for healing and forgiveness. I seek to rid myself of every form of greed and lust, of anger and resentment, and of delusion that I may rid myself of all that fetters me."

Using your imagination, enter into the scenes of Genesis 2 and 3. Are you the man or the woman? Are you a third person observer of the scene?

What is the expression on the face of the man when he explains "this one is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh"? How do you feel his joy? What is the expression on the face of the woman?

What is the expression on the face of the man and the woman when the serpent tempts them to want the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? What do they feel in their hearts? Do they value themselves as they envy what is God's?

How does this scene remind you of your own life? Has sin or disorder disrupted any of your relationships?

Have I degraded a member of the opposite sex? What led me to do so? What kind of healing will lead me to value the opposite sex? Have I allowed myself to be devalued? What kind of healing will lead me to value myself?

How else has sin or disorder affected you?

Do the stories give you any other insights?

At this point in the retreat it is appropriate to participate in the healing and reconciliation rituals of your tradition. If you are Catholic, it would be appropriate to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

If the source of your own personal disorder is not sin, but rather a psychological illness, it would be appropriate for you to find a gifted healer. If the source of your own personal disorder is a neuro-chemical mental illness, it would be appropriate for you to find a gifted psychiatrist.

Prayer In Daily Life Phase One, Week Three, Exercise Two: Final Repitition On First Principle With A Buddhist Monk

This Exercise should be experienced between November 23 and November 26 (Thanksgiving Weekend).

The First Principle is universal. Each wisdom tradition phrases this principle using its own language. For this reason we have spent extra time considering it. We have meditated on Ignatius' version and Abraham Joshua Heschel's version. Now we will pray with a Buddhist version. After that we will learn an Ignatian prayer called the Consciousness Examen.

The Buddhist monk Maha Ghosananda has written:

The thought manifests as the word,
The word manifests as the deed,
The deed develops into the habit,
The habit hardens into the character;
The character gives birth to the destiny.
So watch your thoughts with care,
And let them flow from love,
Born out of respect for all beings.


Now, let's utilize the Consciousness Examen.

With a pen or pencil in your hand, review the previous 24 hours by answering the following:

1. What gifts has God given me during the past 24 hours? On this Thanksgiving weekend, relish those gifts in your memory. Apply your senses. What did you hear, taste, see, feel, smell? Who were you with? Now, in your own words, thank God for each gift.

2. When did I fail to foster gratitude in the past 24 hours? When did I fall into a habit of resentment? How else have I failed to watch my thoughts with care? What thoughts have not flowed "from love, born out of respect for all beings"?
Have I hurt anyone? Ask for God's forgiveness and resolve to do better.

3. Use the previous definitions of consolation and desolation to answer:

A. When did my thoughts and feelings flow from consolation?

B. When did my thoughts and feelings flow from desolation?

4. Looking at my answers to the previous questions, how do I think God is calling me? Am I being called to make a particular decision? Where is God in my prayer?

5. Finally, consider the next 24 hours. What plans do I have? What thoughts and feelings emerge as I ponder the future? Pray with them.

Close with a prayer or a method of reverence that you have learned from your tradition.

Prayer In Daily Life Phase One, Week Three, Exercise One: Repetition Of First Principle With Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

This exercise should be experienced sometime between November 20 and November 23.

We have prayed with the First Principle and we have read about Fr. Tetlow’s analysis of the religious experience that led to the writing of the First Principle. Now we will see just how universal the First Principle is.

First, recall your experience of praying with Ignatius’ phrasing of the First Principle. Did it help you understand the purpose of your life? Now consider how a scholar from the Jewish tradition has thought about the purpose of life.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote:

What is the meaning of my being?
. . . My quest--man's quest--is not for theoretical knowledge about myself . . . What I look for is not how to gain a firm hold on myself and on life, but primarily how to live a life that would deserve and evoke an eternal Amen. (The Wisdom of Heschel, selected by Ruth Marcus Goodhill, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975, p 3)

Pray with the following and write your answers in your journal:

What is the meaning of my being?

Have I ever become obsessed with theoretical knowledge to the detriment of my understanding of the meaning of life?

What aspects of my life would deserve and evoke an eternal Amen? What aspects of my life would not?

Read through the passage from Rabbi Heschel again. What was consoling? Did you experience any desolation? If so, why?

Close with a reverent prayer from your spiritual tradition.

Prayer In Daily Life, Phase 1, Week 2, Exercise 2: Repetition of The First Principle And Foundation

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.

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)?

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.

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.

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.

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).

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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).
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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.

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!

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.

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?