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.

Religion, Spirituality, Hell & the Crazy Father

Last week I heard a striking comparison:

“Religion is for people who don’t want to go to hell; spirituality is for people who have been there and don’t want to go back.”

The statement captures a valid and important insight – but I was reluctant to post it. People attach so many different meanings to the words, religion, spirituality that the statement is subject to misinterpretation. Posting it, I thought, would get me into comment hell.
The readings from last Sunday changed my mind. They proceed from the same insight. Let’s see how:

Salesian Spirituality

As part of my exploration of workplace spirituality I ran across this long (~26 page)article on THE SPIRITUALITY OF SAINT FRANCIS OF SALES by Mgr Francis Vincent. Here is an extract:

"We ought not to try to increase the number of our desires, or our exercises but the perfection with which we perform these exercises, seeking thus to win more by a single act (as we undoubtedly will) than by a hundred acts performed under our own initiative and affection."[22]
…
If perfection consists in doing what God wants us to do, wherever we may be, then no change of life is needed and holiness no longer is the exclusive privilege of cloister or desert. When Saint Francis first appeared, it was generally held that devotion, in the strict meaning of the work, belonged to specialists and that it was to be sought only in the cloister because communal life in the desert is no longer possible.
…
"It is an error, therefore a heresy, to want to banish a life of holiness from the company of military men, from the workman's shop... from the home of married people."[23]
…
.. What does this mean, if not that each of us must excel in his profession: the worker must be a good worker, the soldier must be a good soldier, the professor a good professor. In the eyes of our saint no one can be a good Christian if he "does not work hard at the duty of his charge."[25] So much a part must one be of one's profession that, when needful, one sacrifices for it spiritual exercises which are of themselves higher and holier. Not only must "the lawyer know how to pass from prayer to pleading, the merchant to bargain, the married woman to the duties of her marriage and the duties of her home";[26] but they must, when necessary, subordinate pious practices to the obligations of their state; without, however, allowing themselves to be deceived.
…
22. "Entretiens," VII.
23. "Introduction," part 1, chapter 3.
24. "Introduction," part 3, chapter 1.
25. Letter of April 20, 1610.
26. "Introduction," part 2, chapter 8.

Systemic Error in Washington Post's Use of Links

The Washington Post has adopted a practice of inserting links to Google whenever a story mentions a major person, place or topic. For example, if I were following this practice, I would insert this link every time I mentioned that I live in Charlottesville. While the practice doubtlessly increases the number of hits on Google's website - good news for Google stock owners - it does little to add context to a story.

I noticed that this story on the most recent Republican presidential debate completely missed the meaning of the phrase "road to Damascus." As a regular reader Terry Mattingly's (and friend's) weblog on how the press just doesn't GetReligion, I suggested the practice as a topic for their website. This posting on Oh, that Damascus road! is the result.

Thanks, Terry. We can only hope that our combined influence (yours is far greater) will improve the coverage at the Post. As you said:

But reader Herb Ely sent the GetReligionistas a note this morning that, if you stop and think about it, seems to break totally new territory. What if the computers at a major newspaper have been programmed in such a way that they don’t “get” religion? How’s that for confusing?

Finding God in a Technical Memo

    In his talk, Bidden or Unbidden, God is Present (audio CD) Gregory Pierce tells a story about finding God. He took his family to an Easter sunrise service in the Grand Canyon. As he says, while it was easy to find God in the Grand Canyon, he doesn’t live there. He lives in Chicago, managing a publishing company, caring for three daughters and a little league team. While he values the teachings of monastic spirituality, he calls for a spirituality that helps us to find God in the midst of noise and at work.

    Physics professor Aileen A. O’Donoghue gives us an excellent example of workplace spirituality in her March 5 America article God in Machines.

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.

Should The “Widow’s Mite” Story Make Us Feel Guilty?

    In Sunday’s gospel reading (Mk 12:38-44 ) we hear three contrasting positions on the use of money:

• The scribes – glory seeking religious leaders of the day – rapaciously consume the savings of poverty stricken widows.
• Rich people who put large sums in the temple treasury
• A widow who gave the last of her meager savings to the temple – “all she had, her whole livelihood.

Through the years, I’ve heard this gospel interpreted as a criticism of the rich for failing to contribute even larger sums. The meaning is different and in many ways more challenging than a surface appeal for more funds. To get to the meaning, it helps to compare this story with the advice of St. Paul, in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, (Chapters 8 and 9.)

Search Engine Enables Comparison of Catholic Blogosphere Interest in War, Sex, and Work

Back in February, I wrote CatholicBlogs to tell them that there search engine would not recognize search requests for three letter words. Searches for "just war theory" (or, perish the thought, "Herb Ely") returned no result. This was, I suggested a serious flaw - at least the inability to search for articles mentioning "culture war" or actual "war."

CatholicBlogs can now find 3-letter words. (Certain 4-letter words are could always be found - but we weren't interested in them.) This is an important upgrade. I urge Catholic (and other) bloggers to use it as a research tool.

A search of CatholicBlogs.com may indicate a comparison of levels of interest. A search for "war" yielded 1926 hits. A search for that other three letter word of great interest - "sex" - yielded 1328 hits. A search for "theology of the body" yielded 161.

Sports has much to teach about the relationships of mind, heart and body. A good coach can teach many spiritual lessons about integrity, anger management, courage, etc. Courious to see if the theology of the body had explored any of these connections, I tried a search for "sports" and "theology of the body", sorted it for relevance and found nothing. This strikes me as a major oversight. As we heard in yesterday's reading from Mk 12: 28b-34 we are commanded to:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.

As an Old Married Guy and father of four, I am glad to see John Paul II's emphasis on the goodness of sex through his writings on Theology of the Body. As a martial arts student, retired federal manager, public speaker and civic leader, I need to point out the obvious but overlooked fact that there is more to the body that just sex. Classroom teachers know that body messages are essential to classroom discipline and effective teaching. We need a much more fully developed spirituality of the body.

For what it is worth, a search on "work" and "spirituality", yielded 191 hits. Less than ten percent of these touch on the practice of spirituality in the workplace, even though most of us will have far more influence on the world through our jobs than we ever will through church inspired work for social justice.

This strikes me as an exact reversal of priorities. It is safe to assume that Catholic bloggers spend more time working than in either of the other two activities.