HerbEly

News Flash: Hypocrisy Rooted in High Morals

Live Science staff writer Jeanna Bryner tells us

Morally upstanding people are the do-gooders of society, right? Actually, a new study finds that a sense of moral superiority can lead to unethical acts, such as cheating. In fact, some of the best do-gooders can become the worst cheats.
Stop us if this sounds familiar.

It certainly does. This is but one more example of psychology rediscovering old truths. Bryner, doesn’t refer to it, but her article reminds us of Mt. 6:4-6

So that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

and of Luke 11:37-54.

Bryner suggests why people become hypocrites:

Past research has suggested that people who describe themselves with words such as honest and generous are also more likely to engage in volunteer work and other socially responsible acts.
But often in life, the line between right and wrong becomes blurry, particularly when it comes to cheating on a test or in the workplace. For example, somebody could rationalize cheating on a test as a way of achieving their dream of becoming a doctor and helping people.
In the new study, detailed in the November issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers find that when this line between right and wrong is ambiguous among people who think of themselves as having high moral standards, the do-gooders can become the worst of cheaters.

People who are striving to be good can easily fool themselves and overlook or rationalize character defects and shortcomings. As my teacher, Msgr. Chester Michael has suggested in his meditation on Jesus’ temptations in the desert (Luke 4:1-13), good people can fall prey to one of the "three P's" (Pleasure, Possessions, and Power). As we enter Advent, it is time to pause, consider which of the three is tugging on us, and resolve to practice one of the three remedies (fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.) Go here for a chart on how these are related.

Advent is a time of waiting for the One who can deliver us. As we practice, let us remember with gratitude that none of these temptations need have any dominion over us.

News Flash: Old Truths are Still True

Every now and then major newspapers treat us to new discoveries of old truths. Here are three:
• Living one day at a time really works!
• Gratitude is good for you!
• Leading by example works!

It’s easy to make fun of stories like this. The headline might read: University professor discovers biblical saying is true!!! Yet, the stories reveal new information, even as they fail to mention biblical texts that make similar points.

If you are dieting, budgeting, or just trying to get your Christmas shopping done on time, you are better off to “Count today’s calories …” writes the WaPo’s Shankar Vedantam. He quotes psychologist Carey Morwedge on choosing a shorter time span as our frame of reference when deciding how much we can eat:

The deeper question, of course, is why people choose particular frames of reference. Why not choose smaller frames of reference when it comes to money, time and food, which would allow you to regulate the amount you eat and spend, and make more realistic estimates of the time you need to finish important tasks?

Without their conscious awareness, people seem to choose frames of reference that supply them with the answers they want. By telling themselves they will not overeat at Thanksgiving, but deciding how much to eat based on a weekly or monthly total of calories, rather than a daily number, they get to overeat and feel like they are making a careful decision.
"When I was thinking about eating a sundae I would think of all the exercise I would do in a week and not the exercise I would do that day" to make up for eating the rich food, Morewedge said.

My own experience with Weight Watchers reinforces this. Keeping record of each meal encourages me to concentrate on hitting the point target for each day, not what I’m promising myself for the rest of the week. The old slogan of taking things one day at a time really does work.

We could have saved ourselves a lot of effort and trouble if we had just learned it when it was first preached (See Matthew 6)

11. Give us today our daily bread (and)
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

On to our next great discovery: Give Thanks. It’s good for you. In the Health section of the Washington Post Darrin Kolkow summarizes some of the recent work of positive psychology. Vietnam war veterans are less likely to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) if they score high on tests for gratitude. Students with high marks on gratitude are much less materialistic. (If you like, there is a test for gratitude here.)

This research, one hopes, will prove useful in treating current and future veterans. It a lesson taught in Proverbs 15:13-15

13 A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
14 The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.
15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast

.John C. Maxwell, in People do what People See discusses some revisions to his book, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

1. Followers are Always Watching What Leaders Do
2. It’s Easier To Teach What’s Right Than To Do What’s Right.
3. We Should Work On Changing Ourselves Before Trying To Improve Others
4. The Most Valuable Gift A Leader Can Give Is Being A Good Example

This is all good advice. It is all too easy for us to deceive ourselves, giving advice unaware of our own shortcomings. it is all too easy to make a catalogue of everyone else’s failures whil overlooking our own. While reading Mr. Maxwell we might also ponder James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Remember, it helps to eat for today, not promising ourselves that we will make it up through exercise or diet on Friday. Cope with stress by pausing to breathe and give a prayer of thanks. Ask God’s help in changing ourselves while we let everyone else grow in their own ways and on their own time.

Chuck Colson on Ayn Rand

It is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Like many adolescents of my era, I was very much captured by Rand. Later I learned that one was considered sophomoric when he could explain the entire world in terms of a favorite book.

It took a few more years to realize that Rand’s version of human nature made love – of neighbor, self, God, and country - impossible. The word solidarity made no sense in Rand’s philosophy of objectivism.

Rand’s book was widely read. As Colson notes

A 1991 Book-of-the-Month Club and Library of Congress survey asked members which book had most influenced their lives. As expected, the Bible finished first. Unexpectedly, Rand’s most famous book, the novel Atlas Shrugged, finished second.

Fifty years after its publication and 25 years after Rand’s death, Atlas Shrugged is still read everywhere from college campuses to Wall Street. Given its popularity and its impact, Christians ought to be acquainted with Rand’s work and, especially, her worldview.
…
In Atlas Shrugged and her other writings, Rand articulated a philosophy she called “objectivism.” Among other things, objectivism teaches that man’s “highest value” and “moral purpose” is his own happiness. ...By “happiness” Rand meant “rational self-interest.” For her, “virtue” consisted of doing what “secured” your life and well-being....

Where did that leave altruism and self-sacrifice? As vices….But without altruism and self-sacrifice, how do people relate to one another? Ayn Rand says through exchanges that promote mutual advantage, what she called a “trade.” In other words, as if each of the parties were businesses, not people.

Many, maybe most, people do not only on rational self-interest. If they did, it would be a cold and forbidding world, much like the hellish totalitarian society Rand claimed to be refuting. Fortunately, the human heart is capable of building connections with one another, even to the point of laying down one’s life for another John 10:11 It’s is called unconditional love.. Given the demands of unconditional love, it is easy to see why many would be drawn to a philosophy which does not require it.

Desert Temptations, Beowulf, Cardinal Virtues, and Ethical Crises

    A professional association – for which I am a pro bono contributor – is developing an ethical code. The code in draft form is an excellent aid to practicing the cardinal virtue of prudence, defined as taking the right action at the right time. However, sometimes having a code and identifying the right action, however, are not enough. The virtue of fortitude is also required.

    Temptations to avoid the next right action can be overwhelming. As those of us who work in large corporations or government agencies know, the temptations come in form of the "three P's - power, pleasure and possessions. These are the three basic temptations presented to Jesus in Luke 4:1-13.

    Poet and corporate consultant David Whyte gives a vivid account of how these temptations undermine right decision in his book The Heart Aroused : Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America. On pages 42-46 Whyte quotes from Burton Raffel’s translation of Beowulf. 

On Distractions in Prayer: Advice from the Hasidic Jewish Tradition

    Every now and then it is good to return to books that are old favorites. Old stories often yield new understandings. Over the past week I have returned to Martin Buber’s Tales of the Hasidim These tales are often puzzling and frequently inspiring legends told by the Hasidim – a community of devout Jewish people in 18th century Eastern Europe. Here is “The Limits of Advice,” a tale of the Baal Shem – Hasidim’s revered teacher.

The disciples of the Baal Shem hear that a certain man had a great reputation for learning. Some of them wanted to go to him and find out what he had to teach. The master gave them permission to go, but first the asked him: “and how shall we be able to tell whether he is a true zaddik?” (i.e. spiritual leader of the community)

The Baal Shem replied. “Ask him to advise you what to do the keep unholy thoughts from disturbing you in your prayers and studies. If he gives you advice, then you will know that he belongs to those who are of no account. For this is the service of men in the world to the very hour of their death: to struggle time after time with the extraneous, and time after time to uplift and fit into to the nature of the Divine Name.”

This tale illuminates an important aspect of Centering Prayer It helps us learn to let go of our distractions and turn them over to the care of God. To see how this can workfor the Marthas of this world as well as for the Mary's, please see my review of Cynthia Bourgeault’s Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening . The Baal Shem Tov has much to teach us. True prayer teaches to turn over our distractions to the care of God. This may be, as they say, “job one”. As we gradually learn how to do that, we can seek to know God’s will for us and ask for the power to carry it out.

Cut It Off – but What is It?

    Last Sunday's gospel gives us a startling and challenging image:

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.Mark 9: 43-45

    What is there, in our lives, that so strongly holds us that it will cause us to sin – either by omission or commission? If you want to know, try rephrasing the saying, substituting some other parts of ourselves that might cause us to sin and the nature of that sin.

If your dedication to your job causes you to work 24/7 ignoring your family and your own health, cut it off.

If your desire for power and prestige causes you to fail to tell your boss the truth when the public safety is on the line cut it off. (I suspect that there a large number of Enron employees and Presidential aides who wish that they had heeded this verse.)

If your need for possessions causes you to encumber your own life and home, cut it off.

If your need for esteem and affection causes you sacrifice your legitimate needs in order to gain someone else’s approval, cut it off.

If your need for safety and security causes you to avoid taking up a new profession or changing your lifestyle, cut it off.

The immediate objection is that dedication to job, power and prestige, and “worldly goods” can all be positive goods that help us to care for ourselves, and others, in this world. It is through our jobs that we provide service, care for our families and find ways to be creative.

In order to see past this objection one must discern whether dedication to job, etc. are “causing one to sin.” The best way of discerning this comes from the first principle first principle of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

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.

If we are indifferent to goods, power and prestige, or health and security, we are surely ready to “cut it off.”

    The challenge of the gospel is for us to learn what it is that causes us to sin by omission or commission. Given the power of the human soul to fool itself, we need to understand that it is only with time, prayer and perhaps the help of a spiritual director, coach or trusted friend.

    Cutting it off is a daunting prospect. Gerald May’s Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions is an excellent source of advice, both for distinguishing legitimate needs from disordered attachments and for meeting the demands of Mark 9:43-44 in "cutting it off."

 

Silence vs. Noise

    Thomas Keating quotes John of the Cross: “Silence is God’s first language. Every thing else is a translation." From this premise, one might conclude than to find God, one must retreat into a hermitage, Once there, one can be silent 24/7. This attitude is easily reinforced by the 2nd reading for Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006. The last sentance - James 1:27 reads:

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

If pure religion requires being unstained by the world, perhaps the best course of action is to avoid the world entirely. This leads to the spiritual practice known as contemptus mundi – contempt for the world.

On his audio CD publisher Gregory Pierce replies that a spirituality of silence alone won’t help him. With a publishing company, a family, and little leaguers in his care, he needs a spirituality that helps him find God in the midst of noise.

   A look at Sunday's gospel shows that the conflict is only an apparant one. From Mark 7:15-23  we read:

"..there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.
…
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."

The context of this passage has to do with ancient Jewish dietary laws. However, a moment's reflection leads us to the recognition that there are many things in the outside world what can “go into us” through our senses and perceptions. It is not the outside world that is that is a problem. It is our reaction to the outside world that is the problem. When we react from any of the list of evil thoughts listed, we will be “ .. stained by the world.”

The question then becomes; how do we move from a state in which we react out “evil thoughts” to one in which we can respond to the world out of grace?

Katrina: Post-Traumatic Personal Growth

There are some ghosts in today’s stories about recovery by the victims of Katrina. The GetReligion Blog defines "ghosts."

One minute they are there. The next they are gone. There are ghosts in there, hiding in the ink and the pixels. Something is missing in the basic facts or perhaps most of the key facts are there, yet some are twisted. Perhaps there are sins of omission, rather than commission.
A lot of these ghosts are, well, holy ghosts. They are facts and stories and faces linked to the power of religious faith

Here are two news stories about an ongoing study of the mental health and recovery of victims of Katrina. See if you can spot the ghosts in this story by AP writer Jeff Donn:

In a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, a new survey reveals that the traumatized survivors of Hurricane Katrina forged a surprisingly powerful inner strength that steeled them against suicidal despair.

Maybe This is Why

From Martha, Martha by way of Steve

You must realize that it is the ordinary way of God's dealings with us that our ideas do not work out speedily and efficiently as we would like them to. The reason for this is not only the loving wisdom of God, but also the fact that our acts have to fit into a great complex pattern that we cannot possibly understand. I have learned over the years that Providence is always a whole lot wiser than any of us, and that there are always not only good reasons but the very best reasons for the delays and blocks that often seem to us so frustrating and absurd.
(The Hidden Ground of Love, Letters by Thomas Merton)

Through a long chain of circumstances and unsuccessful attempts at other activites Second International Conference on Intelligence the Ethics of National Security and Intelligence in Springfield VA in January 26-27, 2007. I just got tagged to write a working abstract. For that, see my next post.

Humility Exemplified

Humility and Meekness often seem repellant and barriers to learning and personal change. This poem from Mary Karr's Sinners Welcome: Poems may remove some of the roadblocks.

Who the Meek Are Not

           Not the bristle-bearded Igors bent
under burlap sacks, not peasants knee-deep
           in the rice paddy muck,
nor the serfs whose quarter-moon sickles
           make the wheat fall in waves
they don't get to eat. My friend the Franciscan
           nun says we misread
that word meek in the Bible verse that blesses them.
           To understand the meek
(she says) picture a great stallion at full gallop
           in a meadow, who —
at his master's voice — seizes up to a stunned
           but instant halt.
So with the strain of holding that great power
           in check, the muscles
along the arched neck keep eddying,
           and only the velvet ears
prick forward, awaiting the next order.

From Poetry Daily

Your eMail has a 44% Chance of Being Misinterpreted

Go here to read the story and find out what you can do about it. Of course, the first thing I did is send it to all the president elects in Kiwanis Capital district's division five. As my son, Matt, pointed out: Dad you are sending them an email to warn them that emails are easily misinterpreted.

As the article points out, emai works best when it follows personal communication and when the emotional content of the message is low. Negative messages and disagreements should always be handled in person or by phone.

Ki and the Practice of Presence

    Martial Arts teachers often speak of Ki as an inner force and source of energy that flows through the body. The concept of Ki is vague and unproveable, yet reflection on experience shows that it exists. I certainly can provide no new answers, but here are some personal reflections based on my experience with Centering Prayer and traditional Tae Kwon Do (TKD).

    Before I give my own reflection, here is a discussion of Ki from martial arts faq.

Why Beginning Teachers Leave

Lisa Lambert writes in this morning's WaPo:

According to a new study from the National Education Association, a teachers union, half of new U.S. teachers are likely to quit within the first five years because of poor working conditions and low salaries.

The story reminded me of a long discussion that I had with my wife, youngest son – both teachers – oldest son – an engineer.  I’ve written before about how Education schools are failing to prepare their students in the most basic skill – classroom discipline and management. To me, this was a fraud: after four years of room, board, tuition and expenses, students should have been taught the most basic skill. Our oldest son observed that after four years of engineering education, he still needed extensive support during the first year on the job. He had learned many sub-disciplines in the engineering field. He still needed close supervision when he began his career.

Here, I suggest, is the difference. In most careers a novice is closely supervised and supported during those critical first months. This is absolutely essential. People notice an engineering mistake when a bridge falls down or an airplane falls out of the sky. Beginning teachers, however, are often left on their own. Some schools, particularly inner city or country ones, require special disciplinary skills. If beginning teachers don’t get the necessary support, they are likely to assume that the failure is theirs, get frustrated and leave.

Last night I heard a speaker from a local Wal-Mart/Sam's club talk about how he reduced employee turnover from 45 to 18% over four years. How? He knew the lesson that every first lieutenant learns and school boards have yet to learn: take care of your troops.

In Defense of the Hired Hand

In the past I've heard the reading from yesterday's gospel (John 10:11-18 ) as a criticism of those who do good works in exchange for pay:

12. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

It seems that the criticism was not that he worked for pay but that

13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

It seems to me that this has text has been used to imply that it is a higher calling to be a shepherd than a hired hand. Yet the problem was not that the hired hand earned his own bread by the sweat of his brow (Gen 3:19), it was that he cared nothing for his sheep.

Many people - doctors, teachers, and carpenters both earn their own bread and "care for their sheep." What could be a better life?

As I posted earlier this morning, each of us needs to discern a personal vocation. No "state in life" (i.e. lay, religious, single) is inherently superior to another. What matters is that we honestly discern our calling.

Frederick Beuchner on Discerning One’s Vocation

Wise words on how to make choices concerning career, marriage, and life:

“Vocation comes from the Latin vocare, "to call,” and means the work a person is called to by God. There are all different kinds of voices calling to all kinds of different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of society, say, or the superego, or self-interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this: The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need to do and (b) that the world needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a) but if your work is writing cigarette ads, the chances are you’ve missed requirement(b). If, on the other had, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time your bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only surpassed (a), but probably aren’t helping your patents much either.
Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Frederick Beuchner, Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith Quoted from On-the-Job-Prayers  William David Thompson, p.32.

I’m persuaded by Russell Shaw’s contention in America magazine that we do not suffer from a shortage of vocations to the priesthood but from a shortage of vocational discernment. Here is the quote from Shaw:

Some Sensible Words on …

Sprituality and Health from Duke University’s Dr. Harold Koenig on What Religion Can Do for Your Health.

and on

the Associated Press on historical errors in Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code. The age of miracles is not over. Even CNN and the AP can get a few things right.

Book Review: On-the-Job-Prayers

    Ellen Wulfhort’s story on “workaholism” prompted me to write this short review of William D. Thomson’s On-The-Job Prayers. Small enough to be tucked in a briefcase, glove compartment, toolbox, or top center desk drawer, this book has one hundred brief reflections on spirituality of work, a quote from scripture, and a short prayer. Each page can be read as a meditation in less time than needed for a coffee break. The index provides quick references for work related issues such as “Monday mornings,” happiness,” and “excellence.”
    Later this weekend, I plan a post on how work can be an addiction and a spiritual path to finding balance on one’s life.  For now, here is an extract

Are Leaders Always Out of Touch?

    Peggy Noonan’s column for today touches on a favorite theme of mine. She writes about the 1947 atrocities that followed Pakistan’s independence from India.

    Mountbatten and Nehru and Jinnah were brilliant men who'd not only experienced a great deal; they'd done a great deal, and yet they did not know that the Subcontinent--which each in his own way, and sometimes it was an odd way, loved--would explode in violence, that bloodlust would rule as soon as the Union Jack was lowered.
...
    The leaders of the day did not know that terrible violence was coming because of what I think is a classic and structural problem of leadership: It distances. Each of these men was to varying degrees detached from facts on the ground. They were by virtue of their position and accomplishments an elite. They no longer knew what was beating within the hearts of those who lived quite literally on the ground.

Martha vs. Mary

Spero News has published my review of Cynthia Bourgeault’s Centering Prayer and Inner Healing. (For reasons beyond my understanding of computers, Spero's link to Amazon doesn't work. If you want to support this site by buying the book through Amazon, you can do it here.)

The review reflects a conversation I had with my wife after she returned from her Teresa of Avila study group. The group had struggled a bit with the challenge of adapting Teresa to their working and family lives. Teresa, after all was writing for cloistered nuns. Our conversation reinforced my opinion that the institutional church is missing the boat on the topics of lay spirituality and workplace spirituality.

As I see it, there are two  problems. First, the church tends to interpret the Martha and Mary story as an indication that the contemplative life is a "better part" than the active life of service. Second, those who can see that a life of service is a valid path, assume that service can only be done when working for the church - or maybe a non profit. One of the reasons I keep linking to Gregory Pierce's book is that he sees business as a service and creative. We need a spirituality that helps us to find God where we spend most of our lives.

One of the nice things about having a blog is that I get to put forth my own opinions at a low cost. If you agree with my opinions about the way to connect the active and contemplative life,please support this blog by buying Bourgeault, Pierce or one of the other books linked on the right.

Balancing Work and Life: New and Old Answers

Tuesday I ran across The Inside Out Solution in the Washington Post. I'm glad I restrained my usual snarky comments about psychologists rediscovering old spiritual truths and re-read Douglas LaBier's article.
    He attributes work-family related stress to a lack of balance between inner and outer lives.
    His approach has similarities to the spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and to Bill Wilson’s famous 12 steps. The deep need for this approach can be seen in the film, Alfie, and in the gospel reading for Sunday.
    LaBier writes about the challenges his clients encounter on the job and at home:

Ed-Schools Fail to Teach the Most Basic Skill

    The WaPo op-ed column, Schools of Reeducation by Frederick M. Hess suggests why Universities are failing graduating students who lack the first basic skill of teaching - classroom management. Over the past few months I've had conversations with beginning teachers, including our youngest son. My question to them is this: Why is it that you spent four years in a University and your parents spent approximately 80 kilodollars (or more) and yet you were not taught how to get students to focus on their lessons? 

    My son and my wife spent time developing his "voice" - that quality of speaking and acting which helps him to get students to walk into class, open their music to the right page and pay attention. Without that "voice" he would be out of the classroom at the end of this year.

    Beginning teachers tell me that they were unprepared to manage their classes and had to learn this on the job. Their Unversity schools of education failed them.

    Hess's opening paragraphs suggest why:

For those who have been troubled by the tendency of universities to adopt campus speech codes, a worrisome new fad is rearing its head in the nation's schools of education. Stirred by professional opinion and accreditation pressures, teachers colleges have begun to regulate the dispositions and beliefs of those who would teach in our nation's classrooms.

At the University of Alabama, the College of Education explains that it is "committed to preparing individuals to promote social justice, to be change agents, and to recognize individual and institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism." To promote its agenda, part of the program's self-proclaimed mission is to train teachers to "develop

anti-racist, anti-homophobic, anti-sexist . . . alliances."

The University of Alaska at Fairbanks School of Education declares on its Web site: "Teachers often profess 'colorblindness' . . . which is at worst patronizing and at best naïve, because race and culture profoundly affect what is known and how it is known."

Consequently, the program emphasizes "the interrelatedness of race, identity, and the curriculum, especially the role of white privilege."

    For four years of study, room, board, tuition, and expenses our sons and daughters are learning the "correct" attitudes and cultural values. They aren't learning classroom management. This is fraud.

    Does anyone know of a University or college school of education that prepares students for their first and most basic challenge?

NOTE: this post linked to Outside the Beltway traffic jam for 2/14/06

Christmas Reading

Thanks to my brother in law and author, Jerry Ritter, I spent part of my vacation reading American Brutus : John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies by Michael W. Kaufman. An excellent actor, Booth was a master of deception. Kaufman did a superb job of uncovering Booth's deceptions, botched investigations, and sloppy record keeping. The story reminds me of the advice given by a senior devil in Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. HIgh minded people are best decieved by appealing to their idealism. I can see this approach as Kaufman unravels Booth's background and motivations.

Peace Factories?

David Lynch, the film director who brought us Blue Velvet and the TV series Twin Peaks has a plan to create world peace. According to William Booth in today’s WaPo Lynch is recommending peace factories

"You build a facility like a factory, you house the people, you feed the people, they do their meditation," he says, "and it's a beautiful, beautiful thing for the world."
…
"At least 8,000 beautiful souls working like factory workers doing their program, pumping peace for the world," Lynch says. Why 8,000? That is, approximately, the square root of 1 percent of the world's population, which is the number needed to produce the Global Maharishi Effect for reducing international conflict.”

One wonders how to manage a community of 8,000 meditating factory workers. Maybe Lynch should study a little church history. For starters there is a good rule written about 1450 years ago.

P.S. A course in Transcendental Meditation costs $2500. If that seems a little steep, you can go here to locate someone who will teach Centering Prayer for infinitely less.

Spirtual Exercises On-Line

Creighton University is offering an on-line guide to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. For program, which is planned for 34 weeks, click here.

For discussions of this retreat visit Steve. I'm glad I found his site.

News Flash Numbers 3 & 4

Occasionally the academic world and the news media rediscover some truths that were obvious to middle America all along. For example, See my previous posts:
• News Flash: Good for Children, and
• New Flash: Eating Dinner with Your Teens Helps

Here are two more:

• Family meals, stories boost child confidence. “Research by two Emory University psychology professors(Robyn Fivush and Marshall Duke) shows that families who regularly share meals together have children who know more about their family history and tend to have higher self-esteem, interact better with their peers and show higher resilience in the face of adversity. In addition, families who openly discuss emotions associated with negative events, such as the death of a relative or a pet, have children with higher self-esteem and sense of control.”
• MIT economist Jonathan Gruber asks Is Religion Good for You? "Doubling the rate of religious attendance raises household income by 9.1 percent, decreases welfare participation by 16 percent from baseline rates, decreases the odds of being divorced by 4 percent , and increases the odds of being married by 4.4 percent."

Maybe somebody will do some research demonstrating that there is a high correlation between health, happiness and income for families that go to church regularly, pray at dinner, and talk with each other about the day’s activities. Maybe the mainstream media will report it as a new discovery by modern psychology. Maybe some popular psych guru will write a best seller titled The Family that Prays Together Stays Together

Watch this space. You might read it here first.

A Definition of Unconditional Love

Saturday we listened to Msgr. Chester P. Michael talk about his new book A New Day. We also celebrated his 89th birthday. Fr. Chet” was pastor when we moved to Charlottesville in 1970. His life has enriched ours.

Here is his description of unconditional love:

“When we harness for God the energies of love we endeavor to love with the same unconditional love which God practices. Unconditional love is present when we consistently put the needs of God and others ahead of our desires. Notice, this does not say that we should put the desires of the beloved ahead of our desires, but only the needs of the beloved. Each time we love, unconditionally we have to make a reasonable judgment whether it is a legitimate need the other person has. If so, then it must be placed ahead of our desires.

A problem arises when it is a choice between the legitimate need of the beloved and our own legitimate needs. A decision must be made regarding which need is the greatest and most important.”

Getting Unstuck from Stupid

There is a larger truth in Lieutenant General Russel Honore’s “stuck on stupid” remarks. Getting stuck on stupid becomes an obstacle to grace and to accomplishing the work we are given. Being stuck is a form of insanity, defined as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a better result.

Being stuck is a spiritual condition. There is a way to become unstuck. But first, lets look at the exchange between the blunt speaking General and newspaper reporters.

Emily, Joan and “Old Abe”

Today’s blog scan offers what we used to call a “target rich environment”. Lots of topics, little time. Here are some links and reasons to visit them.

Curt, at North Western Winds, has an excellent post on the new film Emily Rose. It is thought-filled, and includes several relevant links on the mysteries of God’s purpose and suffering. I would like to see what Curt might do with Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, particularly this quote: “the Almighty has his own purposes”.

Kathy clued me in to this GodSpy piece on the TV show Joan of Arcadia. My cynicism towards network attitudes towards religion prevented me from watching this show. Now I learn that it had much to offer about discernment and about how even the smallest of our actions can impact on our own lives and those around us.

Click away. There is much inspiration in all three of these links.

Memo for: Barbara Ehrenreich

I wondered when you called me. From your caller ID I surmised that you were a prominent feminist author. (I’ve not read any of your books.) Yet you gave me another name, saying that you were divorced. You must have dug deeply to find me. My enneagram certification from Jerome Wagner was not widely advertised on the net.

I took your story at face value. Now the WaPo tells me that you were working undercover on your next book. Here are some points that you missed

Katrina: personal preparedness

While we are on the topic, here is a guide to Rational preparedness: lists, communications, kits. I've been reflecting on the failure to prepare - properly and completely - for Katrina. It seems that most of our failures occur one day at a time. That day is always tomorrow. We gain weight a day at a time, always promising that I'll diet tomorrow. Better to start living one day at a time before disaster strikes. A little bit of preparation every day could make the difference.

Time Magazine on Yoga and Catholicism

Time’s article on Stretching for Jesus explores the reluctance of many Christians to accept yoga as a spiritual discipline. When the author, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen/Mahtomedi, turns to Catholicism she writes:

Catholics face a more formidable skeptic. In 1989 the Vatican issued a document saying the practice of Eastern traditions like yoga "can degenerate into a cult of the body," warning Catholics against mistaking yoga's "pleasing sensations" for "spiritual well-being." It was signed by then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger--now Pope Benedict XVI. In a 2003 document the Vatican further distances itself from New Age practices, including yoga. Even so, Father Thomas Ryan, a Catholic leader of the Christian yoga movement, says he interprets the church's position not as a denunciation of yoga but as a reminder to "respect Christian logic" in its practice. "And that's what we're doing," he says.

A couple of comments:
• The operative word in this quote is "can degenerate". Any thing that is good and beneficial can also degenerate. This does not mean that it, it itself is bad. Otherwise, we would be consuming grape juice at Communion.
• Of all the religions in the world, Catholicism ought to be the best at finding disciplines to integrate mind, heart and strength. Our desire to do so should be based on the Great Commandment Dt. 6:4-5 We believe in the Incarnation and the Resurrection of the Body. Rather than resisting disciplines from the East, we ought to be working to integrate them, just as the Church Fathers integrated Greek into Hebrew thought in the early days of the Church.

I’m working on a review of Thomas Ryan’s book on spirituality of the body. Watch this space. For my previous postings on this topic go here and here.
Thanks to Amy Welborn. I don’t usually read Time

Spirituality of the Body: the Basis of Solomon’s Wisdom

Like most enneagram type 5’s, I’ve always adminred Solomon for his wisdom. This morning, as I read 1 Kings 4, I recognized that Solomon’s wisdom came from his heart, not his head. Solomon did not pray to be wiser than everyone else; be a great king; have a long life; or even for his kingdom. Instead he only asked to know God’s will and for the power to carry it out:

Newsweek on Centering Prayer

Jerry Adler starts Nesweek’s lead article on spirituality with this paragraph on centering prayer:

Aug. 29 - Sept. 5, 2005 issue - The 1960s did not penetrate very deeply into the small towns of the Quaboag Valley of central Massachusetts. Even so, Father Thomas Keating, the abbot of St. Joseph's Abbey, couldn't help noticing the attraction that the exotic religious practices of the East held for many young Roman Catholics. To him, as a Trappist monk, meditation was second nature. He invited the great Zen master Roshi Sasaki to lead retreats at the abbey. And surely, he thought, there must be a precedent within the church for making such simple but powerful spiritual techniques available to laypeople. His Trappist brother Father William Meninger found it in one day in 1974, in a dusty copy of a 14th-century guide to contemplative meditation, "The Cloud of Unknowing." Drawing on that work, as well as the writings of the contemplatives Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila, the two monks began teaching a form of Christian meditation that grew into the worldwide phenomenon known as centering prayer. Twice a day for 20 minutes, practitioners find a quiet place to sit with their eyes closed and surrender their minds to God. In more than a dozen books and in speeches and retreats that have attracted tens of thousands, Keating has spread the word to a world of "hungry people, looking for a deeper relationship with God."

If you are interested in centering prayer, check the Contemplative Outreach website. If you are interested and live in Virginia (aka God’s country) go here.

A Provocative Quip

Leopold Stitch, commenting the Playgirl reader preference survey quips that “…if it wasn't for double standards, I'd have no standards at all.”

A Playgirl reader survey of women's preferences in pictures

”Forget waxed chests and rock-hard abs. A new survey finds ladies like their men scruffy, a wee bit chubby -- and definitely not a metrosexual.”(NY Daily News)

Playboy readers, however prefer perfection – and variety.

New York matchmaker Janis Spindel, a self-described specialist at setting up "highly successful, well-educated, attractive professionals," confirmed the survey's findings. "It's scary, but women don't care [about looks]," she said. "Men are very superficial and very shallow."

The quip provokes several questions. Why do double standards exist? What function do they have for us? What does the gospel say about them?

Double standards function as a psychological defense mechanism:

• Double standards make it easy for us to “rant and rave” about the other guy’s shortcomings.
• We can look good at cocktail parties, cleverly pointing out all the problems of society. Talk show hosts and TV preachers can bemoan the evils of society – sometimes being exposed as hypocrites.
• Opinion writers and bloggers can feel self-satisfied while blaming others for societal failings. (See, for example my latest rant about the lack of ethical leadership among the bishops.)
• Double standards enable us to blame others – spouses, bosses, or coworkers – for our own shortcomings. Thereby falsely reaffirming our own self esteem and avoiding the work of “sweeping our own side of the street.”

The gospel cautions us against double standards.

1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Mt. 7:1-3

When we find ourselves being filled with resentment and taking inventory of the shortcomings of others, it is time to pay attention to the plank in our own eyes. If we do, we will be ready to help our brother – who may be in pain and ask to have that speck removed.

To Understand Levada, Try Finkelstein

On reading the story about then Archbishop William Levada's thoughtless legal defense reminded me of Sidney Finkelstein's book Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes.

There has to be an explanation for why the diocese of Portland would offer an explanation that blames the victim - who was only suing for additional child support. It was her fault, the lawyer said. the LA Times quotes the lawyer as saying The child's mother had engaged "in unprotected intercourse … when [she] should have known that could result in pregnancy," the church maintained in its answer to the lawsuit.

For a very short summary of Finkelstein see my March 2004 posting on Why Smart Executives (and Bishops) Fail

But MY Yoke is HARD and MY Burden is HEAVY

I wonder how many of us experience resentment when we hear the verse from Sunday's gospel - For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. (Mt.11:30). “How” we say, “can anyone consider my yoke easy and burden light when I have ____ and ____ in my life?” We look at the lives of friends and acquaintances who are faced with staggering losses and ask: Is her yoke easy and burden light?” As the same time, we know people who are living in the face of horrible, even fatal diseases and express gratitude for their situation.

The answer lies, I suggest, in correctly identifying the antecedent of the pronoun “my.” If we experienced resentment or confusion on hearing this verse today, it may be because we thought the “my” referred to “the burden which I am carrying today.” Just to be clear, let’s look at the preceding verse.

Spirituality of the Body

Spero News has just published my piece on the Theology of the Body. There is a strong scriptural call for a balance among mind, heart and body: Dt.6:4-5

"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Our piety reminds us of all three. When we pray the sign of the cross, we touch our head, heart and shoulders. Each time we pray we recognize the importance of this tripartite relationship.

The ancient Greeks used the image of a chariot to emphasize the importance of balance. In their image, the diriver represents the mind. The driver must have a clear direction. The horse, providing motive power, represents the heart. It must be strong and disciplined. The chariot represents the body. Linking the two, it must be sound.

I've put it in verse form:

Clear mind, skillful driver.
Sound spirit, strong horse.
Strong body, sound carriage.
Mind, body, spirit work as one…
Path to victory is clear

Of course, the path to victory (aka Easter) may be blocked by a few obstacles.

Large Institutions Can Ignore Reality for a Long Time

Brent Bozell comments in this quote. "While the movie industry produced nearly 12 times more R-rated films than G-rated films from 1989 to 2003, the average G-rated film produced 11 times greater profit than its R-rated counterpart."  Institutions, just like persons, can exist in denial  for a long period of time.

A Grand Slam Insight

If finding an insight can, in baseball terms, be called hitting a solid single, finding the same insight in five different spiritual writers is like hitting a home run with the bases loaded. Yesterday, I was listening to cancer recovery stories at the Relay for Life and found this:

Fill your bowl to the brim
And it will spill.
Keep sharpening the knife
And it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
And your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval
And you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

Lao-Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell

a Teacher's Script for TV's Survivor Show

My wife sent this to me:

"Have you heard about the next planned "Survivor" show?

Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped into 3
elementary school classrooms for 6 weeks.

Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school
district's curriculum, and a class of 28 students.

Break!

Yesterday I passed the test for 2nd level green belt (Fifth Kup) in tradtional Tae Kwon Do. Bonny got a good photo just after I did my board breaking (a jump turning heel kick). You can see the two halves of the board still in the holder's hands. We are taught to get the foot back right after the kick - so that the attacker can't grab the foot - a sure way to lose.

Tae Kwon Do, developed to allow Korean Peasants to combat invading horse-mounted Chinese soldiers, is characterized by high jump spinning kicks.

If Charlottesville is ever invaded by midget cavalry mounted on small, slow ponies, you can count on me.

Three Reconciliations in “Lost”

Last night’s episode of ABC’s Lost gave us three incidents in which residents of the island began to come to terms with their past and to make amends for harms they had done:

1. Jin apologies to his wife, Sun for the ways in which he has harmed her and tells her that he is getting on the raft in order to find help and save her. This was a genuine and complete reconciliation.
2. Sawyer gives Jack some information about his father. Jack realized that his father wanted reconciliation with him but, because of pride, was unable call Jack before he died. This was the first unselfish act that Sawyer has made. It was an indirect amends, i.e. it did nothing to undo the harms that Sawyer has done but it undid harms between Jack and his father.
3. Shannon accepts Walt’s offer of his dog. Walt tells her that she can talk to the dog about her brother’s death. In accepting the dog, Shannon implicitly recognizes that she needs to deal with her feelings. This is an important step for her.

Everyone on the raft has taken steps towards undoing harms committed in his past. While what his all will mean is unclear. I’m still following up on a suggestion from my son, David,

”Every character that the show’s featured so far had a reason for being in Australia, and all of those reasons involved confronting demons. Most of them didn’t do a good job of it, and the island is their next chance.”

It seems that Jin, Sun, Sawyer, Michael, Walt and Shannon have all taken steps towards making amends for their past. Based on this theory, they should all fare well in the next episode.

P.S. "Who woulda thunk it?" Here I am writing about a soap opera.

Spotting Reconciliation Ghosts in "Lost"

Get Religion writes about "ghosts" - those religious images hiding behind he ink and pixels in news stories and TV programs. Spotting them aids in understanding the story and viewpoint of the writers.

The story line in ABC's Lost is complex. The response to last week's posting fueled my interest in searching for more ghosts. Spotting them helps to unravel the story line and predict the outcome.

Last night's episode contained the ghost of reconciliation. This was evident when Walt admitted to his dad for his destructive behavior in burning the raft on which they were to escape and apologizes. By the end of the scene, Michael had offered to stay on the island with his son and Walt had agreed to leave. It looks like Michael and Walt are now reconciled with each other.

Our son, David, had suggested that the island is a metaphor for purgatory and that each of the characters must confront demons from their earlier lives in order to get off the island. In this case, Michael and Walt seem to have taken a step that will get them off the island. The other characters look like they are stuck there for a while - at least a few more episodes.

A look at the motives of the other characters wanting to get on the raft suggests that there is much reconciliation to be done. Getting on the raft - at least for the wrong reasons - may be a path to destruction.

Comments, anyone?

"Never Argue about...

politics and religion at the dinner table." Or so our grandparents used to say. They might have added that it is safer to argue about either than it is to argue about diet. Ignoring all of this advice, I need to point out that the latest issue of Consumer Reports rates 11 different diets for 1) nutrition; 2) weight loss; and 3) dropout rate. Weight watchers comes out on top. Slim Fast gets better weight loss but has a high dropout rate. Ornish and Atkins are "losers" in the ratings. South Beach phase one is below average in nutrition; phase two is above average. Consumer reports found insufficient data for other two factors. I refrain from telliing certain relatives and friends that "I told you so."

Easter Tuesday

It is Tuesday morning and we are just emerging from an intense – and joyful five days. (We celebrated the Triduum, were invited to the home of our former pastor for Mass on Sunday, and then a Mass of the Resurrection last night.) I got to thinking that we had better stop going to church so often or it might rub off! At least I now have time for a posting.

This year, a passage from Gerald May's The Dark Night of the Soul captured the meaning of the narrative threaded through Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil:

“The dark night is a profoundly good thing. It is an ongoing spiritual process in which we are liberated from attachments and compulsions and empowered to live and love more freely. Some times this letting go of old ways is painful, occasionally even devastating. But this is not why the night is called “dark” The darkness of the nigh implies nothing sinister, only that the liberation takes place in hidden ways, beneath our knowledge and understanding. It happens mysteriously, in secret and beyond our conscious control.”

Experiencing the narrative in terms of liberation brought joy into our Easter celebration.

Our youngest son, Matt, gave us the additional gift of his trumpet during the Vigil. His four years at James Madison University have developed his skills to a high peak, adding to our joy and pride.

I usually have my iPod set to shuffle songs. Sometimes it picks out songs that seem highly relevant. This weekend I heard Hank Williams’ I Saw the Light and began to reflect. After the blind man saw the light he was filled with joy – but he still had to see the path ahead and then walk it. (Psalm 119:105) . We can’t do this on Easter alone. We need to get to Pentecost and learn how to do “the next right thing” under guidance from the Spirit.

Happy Easter. everyone.

Why God Made Me – Version 2.0

Those of us who remember our Baltimore Catechism know the answer to this question: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in the next” When I was a kid, this was the ultimate urging towards delayed gratification. “Work hard now” they said, “and you will be forever happy at the end of your life.”

If I had had a Jewish grandmother, she might have asked another question: “So what’s wrong with being happy with God in this world?”