Philosophy
More
Our sense of timing is incredible. Consider the level of comfort that we experience daily, with technologies and services that our predecessors could never have imagined. You might even be reading this article on a computer that fits into your pocket.
Although we have many vices, through the benefit of history books and the Bible, we can see that these vices have always existed. The prophet Jeremiah wrote about troubles all around him, and the troubles are still with us. Hatred, violence, and injustice are threads that weave throughout the story of humanity.
Raising young children is a master class in human psychology. They come into the world possessing nothing, and as they grow, they seek to build their collection. My children literally beg me to keep trash for their use, whether it be empty bottles or used shipping boxes. They seek more. We’re the same as adults.
The desire for more can easily run us into a ditch. Overspending, overconsumption, and overworking are all a grasping for more.
The real problem is that we’re reaching for the wrong “more.” We seek a net increase in the quantity of our possessions and social stature. We should instead be investing our energy into a life of the good mores.
More virtue, more contentment, more prayer, more passion, more freedom, more dedication, more fidelity, more wellness, more connection, more relationships, more thoughtfulness, more mindfulness; these are the mores worth pursing.
Lulled into comfort, gorged on food and possessions, we trend toward a life of less. This was not the life that God planned for us. He wants the very best for us, but we can only attain that if we align our thoughts, habits, and activities towards gaining the right kind of more.
The Idea
Jesus is most commonly thought of as a religious figure, but in reality, his core message a fundamental change in human thinking. Jesus’ contribution to philosophy is the single most important idea in history.
The ancient world was a difficult place. Tribalism ruled the day, an understandable coping mechanism for the chaos of lawlessness. Societies formed around common ancestry or geolocation and fought viciously to subjugate neighbors and members of opposing groups.
There were a few good leaders, sparks of an idea that life is about more than absolute power. Cyrus, for example, rode in from Persia to destroy Babylon and freed the Jewish people to return to their homeland. Hammurabi established a legal code granting rights to common citizens. In spite of these outliers, across nations and societies, there was an embedded caste system that could not be dismantled.
Jesus presented a philosophical revolution that has changed the baseline of human thinking. It was a single, simple idea that in the millennia since he presented it, his followers have spread throughout the entire world. It has crossed borders, cultures, and even religions.
All people have inherent dignity and worth.
The Greeks are lauded for their wisdom, but in their ideal world the family unit had to be destroyed for the good of the state. Romans could take unwanted newborns outside of town and dispose of them, leaving them to die of exposure in the elements. Even those societies that treated people with dignity and respect often only afforded that privilege to members of their own nations and tribes.
From the first twelve apostles, Jesus’ idea has slowly spread throughout the world, carried by the Catholic Church. Imperfectly, we have convinced the world of this dignity of the human person through our words and actions. It’s the core idea that caused us to open the first university in 1188 and bring public education to all people. It’s the core idea that caused us to develop public healthcare to extend the healing ministry of Jesus to all people.
Children are no longer viewed as disposable, but are wrapped in society’s tightest legal protections. A multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural nation, the United States of America, built the world’s most durable and long-lasting democracy. Righteous outrage bubbles up in the global community when nations and leaders commit crimes against humanity.
This sea change was all possible because of Jesus’ simple philosophical idea that changed everything. It’s the idea that built the modern world.
Summits
Many years ago, shortly after turning 18 , I went on a church field trip with our young, and very athletic, priest. We set off early in the day to climb a mountain, on a trail not quite built for beginners. As the hours wore on, the younger kids kept asking, “Are we almost to the top?” Every time, our priest would reply, “Keep going, we’re almost there.”
Each crest seemed like the peak, but instead was just one more scenic overlook along the way. Although they were not the ultimate summit, they were stopping points where we could see how far we’d come, and gaze at what lay before us.
The trip ended in a massive thunderstorm and a multi-jurisdictional rescue by federal, state, and local agencies when one member of our group suffered from heat exhaustion near the summit.
Though this story happened over sixteen years ago, I can still remember the struggle of the ascent. The false hopes of false summits, and the exhilaration of finally reaching the true summit.
In every journey, and along every path, we find waypoints as we struggle to reach our ultimate destination. Then, when we’ve reached the summit and accomplished our mission, we look out to see God’s creation from a whole new vantage point, and the new challenges that lay before us.
Reaching the summit is a moment to savor, but like those false summits before it, it’s just a stopping point. There is so much journey and adventure still to conquer.
Create Beauty
There’s so much darkness and ugliness in the world. The links that get clicked and shows that get watched thrive on it. We almost indulge the darkness.
But when we look up from our screens, when we behold the world around us as it truly is, there’s nothing but beauty. Colors, textures, weather, and creation changes from moment to moment. Each morning, the sunrise is different from the morning before. On many evenings, the gradient of the sunset delights the eyes and soothes the soul. Animals come and go, along with the seasons. We’re treated to a buffet of beauty, a world always in motion bringing new sights to our doorsteps.
We have a duty to not give into the darkness, but to bring beauty into the world. We should create beautiful art, to speak beautiful words, and share beautiful actions. We must be more intentional about creating beauty in a dreary world.
The Year It’s Been
The final two weeks of the year always feel the same to me, and it’s a feeling that I love. Calm, peace, and finality set in as major projects wind down. My thoughts turn to what is about to begin.
We already tend to pause around this time, the end of year holidays are a time for rest, enjoyment, and fellowship. It’s a period of reflection when we all get a bit more pensive. New plans bubble up in our minds and the grand aspirations that we have for ourselves and our lives come back into the fore.
This was a remarkably crazy year for me. I started back to work for the first time in eight years, and had to adjust to the new reality. It was incredibly fulfilling, but keeping tabs on my reading, my physical health and other routine tasks became difficult. There were times that I had to cancel those essential daily duties to attend to my work.
We tend to think of our days, weeks, and years in terms of a continuous elapsing of time. Really, they’re moments strung together. Whether we make the most of them, or choose to focus on the important things, is up to us. Regardless of how we interact with the passing of time, it continues on.
As the calendar turns over to another year, it’s the perfect reminder to check ourselves. Are we using these moments well, or do we need to yet again set down the things that are holding us back and embrace the daily rituals that take us one step closer to the people that we aspire to be?
Time to Care
It’s easy, when time is tight, to cut the things that benefit us. Exercise, meal prep, prayer, these are activities that seem disposable, but are in reality the secret to our success. We’re responsible for the care of others, but we won’t be successful unless we first take the time to care for ourselves.
This is a recurring them that I’ve contended with over the past nine years, and more. The standard set of daily activities that I need to live a balanced life and be prepared for the responsibilities of my day. The life of any adult, let alone a parent, is exhausting. There are the weekly tasks like menu planning and laundry. There are the daily tasks, like meal prep and cleaning. Sprinkled in between is work, play, and so much more. Add into that managing the lives of your children, and it quickly becomes overwhelming.
I think the reason this remains so unsettled is that we hesitate to commit. It takes commitment to take care of ourselves, but the paradox is that the more that we cut into these essentials, the less we have to give. The more protected time and effort we give away to work and other things, the less we can respond to the daily needs of our families.
Like the oxygen mask on the airplane, we need to take a moment to secure our mask before we help others. The same is true for our daily lives. We must eat, pray, exercise, and relax, or we’ll be hopeless when managing the daily stresses of caring for those we love most.
Enjoy Today
Living life day-to-day is not easy, nor is it simple. In many ways, it’s boring and mundane. I never look forward to Monday because I know the busyness of laundry, school, and work that awaits me. It can be easy to think of life like a game of the Sims, wishing I could just fast-forward to bedtime, call it a day, and move on to something new and different tomorrow.
Each day may not feel like a gift, but they all have little treasures buried deep inside. The way to find the treasure is to be present, and dig. It may be a funny quote from one of your kids, a completed project at work, or just one of your smallest children climbing into your lap and falling asleep.
Although days may have the same rhythm and feeling, developing a sense of awareness can help us to enjoy the experiences of today. We want to rush from task to task, project to project, and goal to goal, but that’s not the point of life.
Our lives are 3,000 days of the same general structure. It’s not the waking and sleeping that makes those days so valuable, it’s the things that happen during our waking hours that make life worth living. Spend less time focused on what’s the same, and look for the treasure that’s right in front of you.
The Emperor Has No Clothes
Hypocrisy is part of what it means to be human. We’re deeply flawed. To have the expectation that we can live our lives with the rock solid integrity of Atticus Finch is unreasonable. The real problem is not when we find that we have erred, but when we refuse to admit the reality. No where does this play out more clearly, or more publicly, than in the political world.
Politicians sell narratives as a part of their bid to keep their jobs and maintain power. On both sides of the aisle, we see people making fools of themselves because they refuse to admit reality and course correct.
Denying reality only delays remedies. The longer we refuse to acknowledge the difficulty, the harder it is to fix. We enjoy the worlds of whimsy that we create because they fit our narrative and keep us warm at night. The real trouble comes when the wisps of fog dissipate and all that’s left is the cold, hard truth. The sooner we accept our growing waistline is becoming problematic, the sooner we can hit the gym and get back in shape.
The truth is, people respect those who admit their faults and make corrections. Silently, we all wish that we had the courage to do the same. Events can transpire outside our control, but if we refuse to pick up the mantle and get to work resolving our issues, they’ll only become bigger.
In the political world, and in our lives, we need to shine a bright light on our faults and take the steps that are necessary to live better, more authentic lives. Pretending to have clothes serves no purpose, especially when someone has the courage to point it out the fallacy.
The Sexualization of Everything
I have to imagine that there was a time in human history when every human relationship wasn’t sexualized. No doubt, we’ve always had a certain fascination with sex, but not to the point where it must apply to everything. We’ve forgotten that love emits of degrees; rediscovering that simple truth could significantly improve all relationships.
We’ve so intertwined sex and love that the two are inseparable. There’s a basic flaw in that idea. Sex is absolute: it is, necessarily, a complete and total gift of self. It can be abused, perverted, or misused, but it’s integral in and of itself. Love, on the other hand, emits of various degrees. There’s the love of a parent, of a sibling, of a friend, of a neighbor, of a love interest, and of a spouse. Those different degrees have different features, privileges, and benefits. They’re love, but they’re all a different kind of love. The Greeks understood this concept and reflected it in their language. Sadly, the English language never carried it over.
When we consider both sex and love to be absolute, and the two are completely intertwined, we maim those human relationships that are not between spouses. Two friends of the same gender cannot be affectionate or express their love for each other because our societal conception states that relationship must also be sexual. As a result, there may not be a clarity or strength of bond between those friends for fear of being misconstrued.
The confusion doesn’t stop among friends. Uncommitted relationships suffer because there’s the expectation that the relationship must become sexual. Even if neither member of the relationship desires nor intends that end while in an uncommitted state, external influences will begin to inquire, assume, or pressure.
True human connection is authentic, emotional, and comes out of a deep desire for community. Our sexuality is an integral part of who we are, but it’s not a prerequisite for having a meaningful human relationship. Human sexuality is most properly suited for the married state. If we unwind the notion of sex and love being mutually exclusive, and if we recognize that love emits of degrees while sex does not, we can enjoy a new era of human relationships. Unbound by this foolish notion, people can be free to love each other appropriately, to express appropriate compassion and empathy, and ensure that all know that they are loved.
Sex is always love, but love is not always sex. This essential truth must be acknowledged if we wish to forge the depth of relationship that our ancestors once enjoyed.
A Single Spark
There’s a funny thing about inertia. It stands in our way and holds us back until the moment that it doesn’t. It’s all or nothing; it’s a concrete jersey barrier or completely nonexistent. A single spark in our life is all that it takes to vanish.
Back-to-school time is thought by some to be a second new year. We begin a new grade level, new family activities, and new routines as more children become active in different ways. It’s one of the many fresh starts on our calendars, a chance for us to try something new.
Many of us want to live better, more active lives. We would like to be engaged in our parishes, physically healthy, and growing intellectually, but inertia holds us back. It tells us that our plans are so big, it’s unknowable where we should start.
That’s the funny thing about inertia; it’s so hard to overcome, but is completely broken by a singular step. Once you’re on the other side, momentum builds, and you start to wonder why it was ever able to hold you back.
You just have to be brave enough to create that single spark to launch you into the next phase of your life.