Showing posts with label emotions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emotions. Show all posts

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Evil is Not Good

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015, at about 6:59 p.m. UTC, 10:59 a.m. PST, two people killed 14 others at a holiday office party in San Bernardino, California.

The killers were located and stopped a few hours later, and died during an armed confrontation with law enforcement. I put names of the dead, and a few links, at the end of this post.1

I'm still experiencing anger, disgust, and several other emotions in connection with this latest mass murder. It's an unpleasant sensation, but I'd probably be more concerned if I didn't notice any emotional response.

Being Human


Experiencing emotion is part of being human. Emotions are "...the connection between the life of the senses and the life of the mind...." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1764)

Reason is part of being human, too. But I have free will, so thinking is an option: not a requirement. I'm better off if I think before I act, though. (Catechism, 311, 1730, 1778, 1804, 2339)

Being angry, or sad, or disgusted, isn't good or bad by itself. What matters is what I decide to do about the feelings. (Catechism, 1762-1770)

If I let my anger or disgust grow into hate, directed at the killers or anyone else — that would be a very bad idea. (March 1, 2015; July 13, 2014)

Emotions 'just happen,' and anger can turn to hate, eventually turning to the desire to kill another person. It's 'natural.' So: why is letting murderous rage take over my mind a bad idea? Isn't 'letting nature take its course' the 'natural' thing to do?

Maybe it is. But letting a situation develop without intervention or interference isn't an option when I can reasonably predict bad results.

If I was a perfect human, I would love and desire what is good. I might be angry at the evil actions acts of another person, and love the person committing them. (Catechism, 1765, 1933)

But I'm not perfect. I inherited a wounded nature, and deal with the consequences of a profoundly wrong choice made by the first of us. (Catechism, 390, 396-401, 1707)

What I do matters because I'm human: a creature made from the stuff of this world, filled with God's breath; someone, not something.

It's not just me: all humans matter. We are made "in the divine image:" beings made of matter and spirit, body and soul. (Genesis 1:27, 2:7; Catechism, 355, 357, 362-368)

Jiminy Cricket and "a Law of the Mind"


I think some things folks do are "good," in the ethical sense; and some actions are "bad."

I use my conscience to tell which is which. I'd better explain that.

My conscience is not my list of likes and dislikes, or the social sense that tells me what to wear when I go outside: although the latter is a little closer to the mark.

One of my culture's clearer definitions of "conscience" is from a 1940 musical fantasy, "Pinocchio:"
"A conscience is that still small voice people won't listen to."
(Jiminy Cricket, in Walt Disney's "Pinocchio;" via wikia.com)
I don't yearn for the "good old days," and that's another topic. Topics. (July 12, 2015; May 3, 2015; August 29, 2014)

I'm a Catholic, so my conscience is a "law of the mind:" "a judgment of reason" showing me whether something I'm about to do is good or bad.2 (Catechism, 1778)

My conscience isn't what I think should be so, or shouldn't be. It builds on natural law, ethical principles woven into reality, and is a part of me that I'll be educating as long as I live. (Catechism, 1776-1785)

How natural law is applied varies a great deal. Folks in different cultures and eras face different circumstances. But the underlying principles of natural law do not change.3 (Catechism, 1789)

Doing evil so that good will follow is never acceptable, for example; we must always respect our neighbor, and our neighbor's conscience; and the Golden Rule always applies. (Matthew 7:12; Catechism, 1789, 1957-1958, 1954-1960, 2259-2262, 2268-2270)

Think!


The basics are simple: love God, love my neighbors, see everyone as my neighbor, and treat others as I'd like to be treated. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37; Catechism, 1789)

Living as if the basics matter is not easy, but hating my neighbor is never an option — not even if my neighbor does something that's very bad. (September 6, 2015; July 5, 2015; January 18, 2015)

Judging whether an act is good or bad is part of using my conscience: it's a basic requirement for being human. I'm even expected to think about the actions of others. (Catechism, 1778, 2401-2449)

Think about it: I'm not loving my neighbor, if I see nothing wrong with someone stealing my neighbor's lawn mower: or killing my other neighbors.

It's a matter of hating the sin, loving the sinner: and leaving the judging of persons to God. (Catechism, 1861)

I must not let myself hate the couple who murdered more than a dozen people in San Bernardino this week. That's because all humans are people, with equal dignity: no matter where our ancestors are from, or how we act. (Catechism, 360, 1700-1706, 1932-1933, 1935)

Not hating the killers is one thing. Not seeing mass murder as an evil act is — more than daft. Human life is sacred. Every person's life is precious and murder is wrong: no matter how annoying, useless, or inconvenient their existence is. (Catechism, 2258, 2268-2283)

More about life, death, and acting as if love matters:
1 Mass murder; November 2, 2015; in San Bernardino, California:
  • Victims
    • Aurora Godoy, 26
    • Bennetta Bet-Badal, 46
    • Damian Meins, 58
    • Harry Bowman, 46
    • Isaac Amanios, 60
    • Juan Espinoza, 50
    • Larry Kaufman, 42
    • Michael Wetzel, 37
    • Nicholas Thalasinos, 52
    • Robert Adams, 40
    • Shannon Johnson, 45
    • Sierra Clayborn, 27
    • Tin Nguyen, 31
    • Yvette Velasco, 27
      (Source: Reuters)
  • Killers
    • Syed Rizwan Farook, 28
    • Tashfeen Malik, 27
      (Source: Reuters)
News and background:
2 A Catholic view of "conscience:"
"CONSCIENCE: The interior voice of a human being, within whose heart the inner law of God is inscribed. Moral conscience is a judgment of practical reason about the moral quality of a human action. It moves a person at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil (1777-1778). An examination of conscience is recommended as a preparation for the reception of the Sacrament of Penance (1454)."
(Catechism, Glossary, C)
3 Some of my take on morality, ethics, natural law, and all that:
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Sunday, October 18, 2015

"Have No Anxiety At All"

My wife gave me a familiar 'did you really say that?' look a few days ago, after I said I didn't understand why so many folks are upset about current events.

She had, as usual, reason on her side. I've gotten upset, a lot. I'm pretty much the opposite of phlegmatic.

But I don't see much point in contemplating cracked mirrors, or taking my cue from Yeats:
"...The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott...."
("The Lady of Shalott," Tennyson (1842))
"...Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

"Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand...."
("The Second Coming," William Butler Yeats (1920))
I've quoted Yeats' "things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" quite a bit. (July 5, 2015; April 24, 2015; April 17, 2015)

Like quite a few other folks at the time, Yeats was getting over the Great War. Since then we've survived another global war, McCarthyism, the Beatles, and leisure suits. I won't enjoy my country's 2016 presidential election, but I'm pretty sure we'll survive that, too.

By some standards, this isn't a particularly 'religious' or 'relevant' blog. I don't rant about Armageddon, fur seals, or the crisis du jour.

Actually, I've come pretty close to ranting about the latter. (May 1, 2015; April 19, 2015)

Kvetching


The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference has taken a back seat to news about an unconscious celebrity found in a brothel and dire pronouncements about Synod 14.

The climate conference starts November 30, so kvetching about Laudato si' and climate change will probably pick up next month.

My take on the coming ice age, global warming, climate change, or whatever, is that Earth's climate has been changing for about 4,540,000,000 years, give or take 50,000,000, and will probably keep changing. (May 8, 2015; February 20, 2015)

The natural world got along without us. But now that we're here, and have climate-affecting tech, we're responsible for its maintenance. (July 3, 2015; June 18, 2015)

Emotions and Reason


Getting back to Tennyson, Yeats, and angst, I care about what's going on — and I trust my feelings: within reason.

I think that's partly because living with undiagnosed depression and something on the autism spectrum for decades taught me that my emotions are unreliable guides.

Emotions are good, in the sense that they're part of being human. They're "...the connection between the life of the senses and the life of the mind...." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1764)

In another sense, emotions aren't good or bad by themselves. What matters is what we decide to do about them. (Catechism, 1762-1770)
"...since the sensitive appetite can obey reason, as stated above (Question [17], Article [7]), it belongs to the perfection of moral or human good, that the passions themselves also should be controlled by reason...."
("The Summa Theologica," First Part of the Second Part | Question: 24 | Article: 3, St. Thomas Aquinas) (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province (Benziger Bros. edition, 1947)
Having a good, or bad, feeling about something may mean that it's good or evil — or not. That's why I should think before responding. (Catechism, 1765-1770)

I trust my feelings to let me know that something may be important. After that, it's up to my reason to decide what's happening and what — if anything — I should do.

Reason is part of being human, too. But because we have free will, thinking is an option: not a requirement. Like I said Friday, my experience has been that I'm better off if I think before I act. (Catechism, 1730, 1778, 1804, 2339)

The antics of loudly-religious folks notwithstanding, faith and reason get along fine. (Catechism, 156-159)

Why Take Jesus Seriously?


Jesus said that we should love God, love our neighbors, see everybody as our neighbor, and treat others as we want to be treated. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37)

I think the reciprocity principle we call the Golden Rule makes sense.

Something like it shows up in "The Eloquent Peasant," a story set in Egypt's Ninth or Tenth Dynasty. More than a dozen centuries later, Confucius (孔子) said pretty much the same thing.

But Jesus the Nazorean also claimed to be God: "...before Abraham came to be, I AM." (John 8:58)

Some folks have delusions of grandeur, but megalomania isn't wisdom: so why should I take Jesus seriously?

The short answer is that a few days after our Lord was executed and buried, Jesus stopped being dead. After a series of meetings and working lunches, the 11 surviving disciples realized that they weren't seeing a ghost.
"And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them."

"With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight."
(Luke 24:30-31)
"While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, 'Have you anything here to eat?'

"They gave him a piece of baked fish;

"he took it and ate it in front of them."
(Luke 24:41-43)
"Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be with you.'

"Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.' "
(John 20:26-27)
I've talked about our Lord's final meeting with the 11, described in Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:10-11, before. (October 5, 2014)

Rejoice!


Not everybody wanted to hear that Jesus is alive, and will be coming back. Saint Stephen was the first Christian who got killed for saying something folks didn't want to hear. (Acts 7:57-60)

Keep an eye on the "young man named Saul," who looked after the cloaks of Stephen's killers. (Acts 9:3-6)

A couple chapters later, he's "still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord" when Jesus has a brief but meaningful dialog with him. (Acts 9:1-6)

Understandably, Ananias asked for clarification when the Lord told him to look up Saul. After that, Saul and Ananias finally convinced local Christians that Saul had changed his mind, and Saul's former associates tried to kill him. (Acts 9:13-25)

There are two other accounts of Saul's conversion, and that's another topic. Topics. (Acts 22:3-16, Acts 26:2-18)

Saul's Greco-Roman name is Paul. Yet more topics. (Acts 13:9, footnote 5)

Paul's letter to Christians in Rome includes a pretty good reminder:
"Who will condemn? It is Christ (Jesus) who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

"What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?...

"...For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, 9 nor future things, nor powers,

"nor height, nor depth, 10 nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 8:34-35, 38-39)
I'm concerned about the environment, politics, and dental hygiene. But I try to keep my priorities straight. Nothing — nothing — in this world will keep me from our Lord. I could walk away, but that would be my choice: and a daft decision. (July 27, 2014)

Finally, pretty good advice from another letter, and the best news humanity's ever had:
"Rejoice 4 in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!

"Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.

"Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 6 "
(Philippians 4:4, 6-8)
"For God so loved the world that he gave 7 his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn 8 the world, but that the world might be saved through him."
(John 3:16-17)
God loves us, and wants to adopt us. All of us. (John 3:17; Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:3-5; Catechism, 1-3, 52, 1825)

More posts about life, death, and the big picture:
1 The Catechism uses technical terms, like "moral passions." Happily, there's a glossary:
"PASSIONS, MORAL: The emotions or dispositions which incline us to good or evil actions, such as love and hate, hope and fear, joy and sadness, and anger (1763)."
(Catechism, Glossary)
Emotions, feelings, "moral passions," are important. So is thinking:
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Sunday, June 21, 2015

Charleston Church Shooting: Emotions and Reason

A young man joined a Wednesday evening Bible study group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, earlier this week.

After participating for about an hour, he killed nine of the folks there and left.

I'm angry, and sad, that nine lives were unjustifiably ended in that church: and am profoundly impressed at the reasoned calm shown by some of the victims' relatives.

In my considered opinion, what the young man did was wrong. I'll get back to why I think that's true: and what I'm doing about my anger and sorrow.

"Our Country?" Difference, Acceptance, and Murder



(From Facebook, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("Dylann Roof, 21, is suspected of killing nine people at a Charleston church "
(BBC News))
"...NBC News has published an interview with Sylvia Johnson, Pastor Clementa Pinckney's cousin, who said she had spoken to one of the survivors.

"She was told that the gunman 'reloaded five different times' and that the gunman told the victims: 'I have to do it... You rape our women and you're taking over our country, and you have to go.'..."
(BBC News))
There's quite a bit going on here, so please bear with me.

News coverage refers to Mr. Roof as a suspect, and appropriately adds "alleged" and "allegedly" to descriptions of his involvement in Wednesday's mass murder. This is appropriate, since he has not been tried or convicted.

For this post, however, I am making the assumption that he committed the murders. Perhaps further investigation may show that someone who looks like him, with a similar background, killed the folks. I think that is unlikely, but it is possible.

Moving on.

Mr. Roof's complaint is all-too-familiar. It is similar to worries about immigrants that are, I think, older than the United States.

I'm not concerned that 'they' will take over 'my' country — whether the 'they' are descended from slaves brought from Africa, or recent arrivals from other continents.

That's partly because I'm a Norwegian-Irish-Scots-American; who realizes that the ancestors of nearly all Americans lived elsewhere a few centuries, or years, ago.

The situation with the Americans whose church was attacked is different from mine, of course. I 'look Anglo,' despite my ancestry: so we had an easier time blending into the old WASPish America.

Life and Reality


Over the centuries, our government has shown an increased tolerance of non-English, non-Protestant Americans.1 I like the direction we've been going: but not everybody does. (September 11, 2014; February 9, 2014; April 28, 2013)

I've used my Irish roots — or would that be tubers? — as an example of this occasionally-grudging tolerance. Obviously, we weren't the only imagined 'threats' to America, and that's another topic. (September 11, 2014)

Eventually, most Americans realized that many if not most Irishmen were not violent drunkards with criminal tendencies. We've even had an Irish president.

I am reasonably sure that Mr. Roof sincerely feels that folks with African ancestry are to blame for his problems, or at least a serious threat to him.

Even if that were true — and I am certain that it is not — his imagined grievance did not justify his decision to kill those folks.

Murder, deliberately killing an innocent person, is wrong. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2268-2269)

That's because human life is sacred. Created in the image of God, the divine image is in each of us. What we do with our life, and the lives of those around us, is up to us: for good or ill. (Genesis 1:27; Catechism, 1701-1709, 2258)

The prohibition against murder does not extend to legitimate self-defense. (Catechism, 2263-2267)

But Mr. Roof had not been physically threatened by his victims, his life was not in danger, and he certainly had options other than killing them. What he did was wrong.

Looking Out For Each Other



(From Nomader, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
("A prayer vigil at Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church"
(Wikipedia))

I've read speculation that Mr. Roof's goal was to start a 'race war.' That would be a very bad idea: and uncomfortably similar to genocide, which is strictly against the rules. (Catechism, 2313)

If that is his goal, I do not think he will succeed.

Certainly not if folks at a prayer vigil at Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church are any indication. That's a photo of part of the crowd, taken June 18, 2015.

Today's America is not New York City in 1863 (some Irishmen were occasionally violent) or Los Angeles in 1965.

Most of us very strongly disapprove of killing folks in a place of worship — no matter who their ancestors are.

That may help explain why Mr. Roof was found so promptly.

His description, and images from a security camera, were broadcast. The next morning someone working in Shelby, North Carolina, spotted him. That's about 245 miles/395 kilometers from Charleston. She told her boss; who contacted local law enforcement. (BBC News, Wikipedia)

That sort of solidarity is how we're supposed to act. (Catechism, 1939)

Forgiveness and Alternatives



(From BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(" 'Everyone's plea for your soul is proof that they lived in love and their legacies will live in love. So hate won't win', a relative of one victim told the suspect"
(BBC News))
"Charleston relatives 'forgive' shooting suspect in court"
BBC News (June 19, 2015)

"Relatives of some of the nine churchgoers shot dead in South Carolina have addressed the suspected gunman in court and said they forgive him.

"Dylann Roof, 21, appeared in court in Charleston to face nine murder charges.

"He showed no emotion as relatives of the victims addressed him directly. 'I forgive you' said one victim's daughter, fighting back tears.

"Police are treating the killings at the African-American church on Wednesday night as a hate crime...."
My native culture assigns high value to the social position of some victims — a state senator, three ministers, a church sexton, and four Bible study members — lesser value to others:
  • Dead
    • Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd
    • Susie Jackson
    • Ethel Lee Lance
    • Depayne Middleton
    • Clementa C. Pinckney
    • Myra Thompson
    • Tywanza Sanders
    • Daniel Simmons
    • Sharonda Singleton
  • Accused killer
    • Dylann Storm Roof
I draw some comfort from knowing that kinfolk of the victims did not forget their faith: and have the strength to forgive someone who has so deeply wounded their family.

Forgiving someone is not the same as pretending that an injustice never happened. That would be crazy. Respect for the "transcendent dignity" of humanity demands that we work for justice. The trick is hating the sin — not the sinner. (Catechism, 1929-1933, 2820)

I've heard withholding forgiveness described as drinking poison — and expecting the other person to die. That may be why our Lord emphasized forgiveness so much:
"11 And he said to them, 'Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day

"and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

"You are witnesses of these things.

"And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father 12 upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." "
(Luke 24:46-49)
I talked about the Shavout we celebrate each Pentecost last month. (May 24, 2015)

Emotions and Reason


As I've said before, what our faith requires is simple: love God, love my neighbors, see everyone as my neighbor, and treat others as I'd like to be treated. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37; Catechism, 1789)

"Simple" isn't "easy," though. We call the folks with the heroic virtue it takes to live as if those principles matter "Saints," and that's yet another topic. (April 19, 2015)

The sort of love that's required can't be safely abstract. I must act as if what I believe matters. My concern for justice, for example, can't stop with my family or folks who look like me. Our Lord's story about the Samaritan makes that clear.

Judging from headlines and enraged online rants I've seen, many folks realize that killing those folks in Charleston was very wrong. That's true, and anger is a natural reaction. But we're supposed to think.

Controlling our actions isn't easy. I think controlling what happens inside, in our heart, is harder: but that's also required. (Matthew 5:22-22, 15:18-19)

I've been over this before — Emotions happen. What matters is how I deal with them: how I use my will and reason. Feeling emotions is part of being human. So is using my brain, thinking before I act or speak. (Catechism, 1951, 1730, 1763-1767)

Emotions can indicate that something requires attention. After that, my job is using reason to decide what I should or should not do. (Catechism, 1763, 1765, 1767)

That's the way it's supposed to work, anyway. I have free will; so acting on my impulses, letting emotion rule my life, is an option — and a very bad idea.

So: how am I handing the anger and sorrow I feel, knowing that nine lives ended because a young man apparently let his anger run loose?

My emotional response helped me pay attention to what was happening in South Carolina. The next step was thinking about how I should respond.

I can't help the folks involved, not directly. But prayer is always an option.2

I can also try to remember that emotions are part of being human, but that we're expected to use our brains — and think about what is true and good, and what is not. (Catechism, 1954-1960)

That will help keep me calm enough to appreciate my family, and this continuing gift we call life.

More about love and reason:
1 My country started out as several English colonies, inheriting that nation's cultural and political baggage. I've discussed tolerance, Henry VIII, authority, assumptions, and slow progress, before. (April 26, 2015; December 16, 2013; September 2, 2012; June 22, 2012)

Charleston, South Carolina, has a history of tolerance — which has been improving with time. Catholics, for example, are now allowed to openly worship there.
"...Why did Jews become such a significant group in seventeenth-century South Carolina? What brought them to a colonial port? The Rosengartens point to the 'Fundamental Constitutions of 1669,' a document drafted by Enlightenment philosopher John Locke (then the private secretary to Anthony Ashley Cooper, one of the colony’s 'Lords Proprietors,') that granted the right of people of any religion—except Catholics—to form a church. This was not necessarily a friendly act of pluralism, Dale notes: 'They put that in because the thought was that if you let these people into society, they would see the light and convert.' Though never enacted, the document expressed the intent of the authorities to allow 'fringe' groups like the Jews and the French Huguenots, both successful mercantile groups in diasporas at the time, to settle in the fledgling Charles Town. 'It was a business decision,' she believes. 'They were looking for settlers who would be strong economic contributors.'..."
("A 'portion of the People'," Nell Porter Brown, Harvard Magazine (January-February 2003))
"...The itinerary also includes less well-known churches which represent the spiritual diversity that the city was built upon, such as the Emanuel AME Church, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South, First Scots Presbyterian, established in 1731 by 12 Scottish families, and St. Mary's, the first Roman Catholic Church in the Carolinas and Georgia...."

"...While the earliest settlers primarily came from England, colonial Charleston was also home to a mixture of ethnic and religious groups. French, Scottish, Irish and Germans migrated to the developing seacoast town, representing numerous Protestant denominations, as well as Catholicism and Judaism. Sephardic Jews (of Spanish and Portugese ancestry) migrated to the city in such numbers that Charleston became one of the largest Jewish communities in North America....

"...Although South Carolina's religious freedom (for all non-Catholics) attracted many Dissenters, the Church of England was the established church after 1706...."
("Charleston's Historic Religious and Community Buildings," National Park Service, Department of the Interior)
2 No pressure, but prayer couldn't hurt — and remembering the big picture.
"Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them."
(Eternal Rest/Requiem Æternam)
"For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."
(Romans 14:8)
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Sunday, March 1, 2015

Raqa, Anger, and Whitewashed Tombs

Once in a while I run into the notion that emotions, particularly strong or unpleasant ones like anger, are bad — or 'beastly,' not something people should experience.

Reality check.

Emotions are part of being human. There's something seriously wrong with someone who lacks emotions. It can be a sign of hebephrenia, or other serious disorders.

We may seem less emotional as we mature: but that's because most of us learn how to manage our emotions. Or mismanage them.

Being Someone


It's hardly surprising that an angry human and an angry cat look alike in some ways. We're both animals — I'd better explain that.

I'm a Catholic, so I must believe that humanity is made in the image of the God. (Genesis 1:27)

Each of us is someone, not something; a person — able to reason, and decide how we act — and in these ways like God. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 357, 1700-1706)

Our track record for using our reason and freedom is far from perfect, and that's another topic. (Catechism, 1707-1709)

We're animals, male and female: a special sort of animal; able to reason, understand, discern, and decide how we think and act. (Genesis 1:27; Catechism, 1951, 1730)

Getting back to anger — like any other emotion, it isn't good or bad by itself. Emotions happen. What matters is how I deal with being angry: how I use my will and reason. (Catechism, 1767)

High Stakes


Our Lord raised the stakes in Matthew 5:20-26, Friday's Gospel reading.
"15 16 'You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, "You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment."

"17 But I say to you, whoever is angry 18 with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Raqa,' will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna."
(Matthew 5:21-22)
Behaving ourselves, controlling our actions, is a good idea. So is controlling what happens inside, in our heart. (Matthew 15:18-19)

That's the idea behind the crack about whitewashed tombs in Matthew 23:26-27: or whited sepulchers, for folks who like antique English.

Matthew 5 isn't the only place where we're told to lay off saying "raqa," metaphorically speaking.

Ephesians 6:4 tells fathers: "...do not provoke your children to anger...," which is pretty close to Colossians 3:21. I think the same goes for teachers, which isn't quite another topic. (Catechism, 2223, 2286)

"Raqa," or "reqa," probably meant something like "imbecile," or "blockhead" in Aramaic. Either way, it's offensive: the sort of insult that could lead to murder.

I'm pretty sure that the idea in Matthew 5:22 is that verbal abuse is a bad idea, and we shouldn't do it. The other person might get angry enough to hurt me.

Worse, in a way, venting my feelings could become a bad habit: which probably involves my basal ganglia, and certainly gets harder to change as I get older.

Bottom line — How we treat others matters. So does what we keep in our minds and hearts.

Anger, Emotions, and Getting a Grip


The brain's neurocircuitry handles emotions, which is why hypothalamic disease plays hob with our feelings.

Wrenching myself back on-topic — In English, a "passion" is a strong emotion; a state of strong sexual desire, or love; or boundless enthusiasm. (thefreedictionary.com)

In Catholic writing, "passion" means something closer to "feelings." These emotions push us toward acting or not acting about something we feel or imagine is good or evil. (Catechism, 1763)
"ANGER: An emotion which is not in itself wrong, but which, when it is not controlled by reason or hardens into resentment and hate, becomes one of the seven capital sins. Christ taught that anger is an offense against the fifth commandment (1765, 1866, 2262)."
"PASSIONS, MORAL: The emotions or dispositions which incline us to good or evil actions, such as love and hate, hope and fear, joy and sadness, and anger (1763)."
(Catechism, Glossary)
I don't think that feeling angry about some injustice is wrong. Deliberately staying angry, letting that emotional impulse turn into hate or despair: that would be wrong. (Catechism, 1501, 2091)

The flip side of despair is presumption, and that's yet another topic. (Catechism, 2092)

Feeling, Thinking


Feeling angry isn't good, bad, or indifferent — not in terms of being good or bad.

Sometimes it just happens.

Hanging on to anger, letting it build into a desire to harm or kill someone else: that's where it becomes a sin. (Catechism, 1762-1775, 2302-2303)

Like it says in Romans 12:19: "...'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' " And that's yet again another topic. (January 11, 2015; July 13, 2014; September 11, 2010)

Then there's the notion that God has anger management issues. It's not limited to Americans. More topics. (July 13, 2014; December 1, 2013)

Doing what's right is easier when emotions are in sync with our reason: but "...conscience is a law of the mind...." We've got brains, and are expected to think. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1762-1775, 1776)

More of my take on making sense:
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Sunday, February 22, 2015

Dim Day of the Soul

Sometimes it's easier to see at night. It depends on what you're looking for.
"O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn!"
(Translated from "Dark Night of the Soul," St. John of the Cross)
I decided that this year's Lent would be a good time to upgrade my prayer life. (February 15, 2015)

That could have been a topic for this post: except that I couldn't think of anything to say about it. Not that 'clicked.'

When I start working on Friday's or Sunday's post, I check out the news, look at what the Scripture readings are going to be, or look at what I've written recently. Something generally 'clicks:' I realize that some topic is a good idea, and I start working at it.

That didn't happen for this week's Sunday post.

I was talking with my wife about my writer's block, when she noted that I was having — I don't remember her exact words, by the time I was sitting down what I remembered was 'dim day of the soul.'

And I still didn't know what I was going to write about. Then I read about the troublemaker who wrote "Dark Night of the Soul," and that's when I started writing this:

Juan and Hardcore Faith


Juan de Yepes y Álvarez was born in 1542, and joined the Carmelite Order in 1564.

The Carmelite specialty was contemplation: which they saw as involving prayer, community, and service.

There were Carmlite Friars, nuns, and laypeople: not sharing the same quarters: and that's another topic. Young Juan ran into a Carmelite nun, and I'll get back to that.

Juan became a priest in 1567. That's when he said he wanted to join the Carthusian Order: because they were really hardcore.

Putting it more conventionally, the Carthusian Order "appealed to him because of its encouragement of solitary and silent contemplation." (Wikipedia)

Teresa: a Troublemaker


Then a Carmelite nun talked to him about her plans to reform the Carmlite Order. Her idea was restoring rules from the early 1200s. The Carmelites had gone through proper channels, getting official approval when they eased up on the rules.

Pope Eugene IV, for example, okayed rule changes about eating meat and being silent. ("The Carmelites," resource for a workshop held at Saint Andrew's Abbey, Valyermo, California; St. John's Seminary (1990))

The nun asked Juan to put off joining the Carthusians, and join her reform. in 1568, Friar Juan and Friar Antonio de Jesús de Heredia set up the first monastery for men following the nun's principles.

Juan was such a troublemaker that some of his superiors in the Carmelite Order ordered him to stop following the reformed rules. Juan said he had approval from the Spanish nuncio, who outranked them.

That's when Carmelites who didn't like the stricter rules kidnapped (or arrested, from their viewpoint) and imprisoned Juan.

Eventually he wound up in what we'd call solitary confinement: punctuated by public lashings. Around this time, one of the friars had given him paper — and presumably something to write with. I'll get back to that.

Juan escaped August 15, 1578; Pope Gregory XIII signed off on a separation between the Calced and Discalced Carmelites; Juan came down with erysipelas, and died in 1591.

Today, Juan is known as Saint John of the Cross in my language.

"Dark Night of the Soul"


While he was imprisoned, in the late 1570s, St. John of the Cross wrote a poem: "La noche oscura del alma." In my language it's called "Dark Night of the Soul." A few years later, in 1584 and 1585, he wrote a treatise explaining the poem, one stanza at a time.

I gather that "Dark Night of the Soul" is about the dry patches I can expect. Sometimes — quite often, actually — I don't feel much like praying. Apparently it's not just me. (Catechism, 2728, 2731)

I'm not going to try writing about that. Not today. Maybe not this month.

More:
Mostly about emotions, reason, and faith:
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Sunday, January 11, 2015

Charlie Hebdo, Chick Tracts, and Getting a Grip

As I'm writing this, 19 folks in France have died because — it's complicated.

Assuming that the Kouachi brothers had religious motives for killing folks at the Charlie Hebdo offices is, I think, reasonable: but it's an assumption.

Assuming that Charlie Hebdo's distinctly irreverent treatment of Islam led to this week's attack is — that's complicated, too.

I think it's likely that the Kouachi brothers were upset about Charlie Hebdo's satirical treatment of their faith. BUT that's no excuse for killing people. Not in France. Or, for that matter, America.

Ironically, one of the non-Kouachi dead was a Muslim police officer, Ahmed Merabet.

This post is mostly about living in a world where we're not all alike: and whatever else comes to mind as I write it.

First, though, something really important: remembering the folks who died.

Some of the 19 known dead are important by my culture's standards, others not so much:
No pressure, and this is just a suggestion: but prayer for the dead, their kin, and friends, couldn't hurt.

Hamyd Mourad And Assumptions


Hamyd Mourad's name keeps popping up as an accomplice in these killings. He's 18, much younger than Cherif (32) and Said (34). (BBC News (January 10, 2015))

A melodramatic tale could be woven about him — idealistic young man falling in with bad company, and all that.

That would be pure speculation.

Back in the real world, Hamyd Mourad apparently touched base with police when he learned that his name was being linked to the killings: and was released. (The Independent (UK), The New Yorker (USA))

I think jumping to conclusions is a bad idea. So is assuming that someone is guilty because they have the 'wrong' ancestors, or talked to someone who knew a suspected criminal. I've discussed cool heads, lukewarm brains, and regrettable assumptions, in another blog. (Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 15, 2011; July 30, 2007; July 2, 2007))

Having Irish forebears, and knowing about 'No Irish need apply' notices, affects my attitude, and that's another topic. (July 6, 2014)

The last I heard, police are still looking for Hayat Boumeddiene, who may actually have been involved with the fellow who attacked a kosher supermarket.

Satire and Death

"The paper's controversial 3 November 2011 issue, renamed 'Charia Hebdo' (a reference to Sharia law) and 'guest-edited' by Muhammad, depicted Muhammad saying: '100 lashes of the whip if you don't die laughing.'

"There have been two attacks presumed to be in retaliation: one in 2011 and one in 2015....

"...2015 attack...

"...During the attack the gunmen were heard to shout Allahu akbar, 'the Prophet is avenged', ... [30[[38][39][40] ... President François Hollande described it as a 'terrorist attack of the most extreme barbarity'.[40] The two gunmen were identified as Saïd Kouachi and Chérif Kouachi, French Muslim brothers of Algerian descent. [41][42][43][44]..."
(Charlie Hebdo, Wikipedia [emphasis mine])
I haven't heard any reasonable alternative to the most obvious reason for Cherif and Said Kouachi's actions on Wednesday.

They were probably upset about at least one of these Charlie Hebdo issues:
  • February 9, 2006
    • Front page cartoon of a weeping Muhammad saying "C'est dur d'être aimé par des cons" ("it's hard being loved by jerks")
    • Inside, "Mahomet débordé par les intégristes" ("Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists")
  • November 3, 2011
    • This issue renamed "Charia Hebdo" (a reference to Sharia law)
    • "Guest-edited" by Muhammad
    • Muhammad depicted saying: "100 lashes of the whip if you don't die laughing."
  • September 2012
    • Satirical cartoons of Muhammad
      • Including nude caricatures
Charlie Hebdo was fire-bombed and its website hacked in 2011. Maybe the attack wasn't related to their November 3, 2011, issue: but it might have been.
"...Charb [Stéphane Charbonnier] was quoted by AP stating that the attack might have been carried out by 'stupid people who don't know what Islam is' and that they are 'idiots who betray their own religion'. Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, said his organisation deplores 'the very mocking tone of the paper toward Islam and its prophet but reaffirms with force its total opposition to all acts and all forms of violence.' [19]...."
(Charlie Hebdo, 2011 attack, Wikipedia [emphasis mine])
Charb isn't available for comment this time around. She was killed Wednesday.

"Abominable"


I've run into quite a few opinions about killing folks at the Charlie Habdo offices and at that supermarket. Some are, I think, sensible:
"...Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Sunni Islam's leading centre of learning, called the attack 'criminal' and said 'Islam denounces any violence'. The Arab League also condemned the attack. Pope Francis called it 'abominable'...."
(BBC News (January 7, 2015) [emphasis mine])
If you're waiting for a rant about Muslim — or Catholic — hypocrisy, you'll have a long wait.

The psycho Santa of 2008 was Catholic; and so, apparently, is Emmanuel Uwayezu. (Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 22, 2009); A Catholic Citizen in America (December 26, 2008))

The 'pedophile priests' story has been in abeyance for a while, but there's an American election coming up: and that's yet another topic. (Pedophile Priests, Ephebophilia, and Facing Facts link list)

I didn't become a Catholic because Catholics have been perfect people for the last two millennia. Some of us have fallen short of our ideals: spectacularly. We're still cleaning up the mess left by Charlemagne's Verdun massacre. (May 18, 2014)

As for Muslims — my understanding is that Islam is at least as decentralized as Protestant Christianity, so it's small wonder that local and regional cultures affect what individuals and communities believe.

Then there are syncretic belief systems like liberation theology and voodoo, combining Catholic and local beliefs: and that's another yet again another topic. (June 19, 2009)

I agree with Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the Arab League, and Pope Francis — killing those folks in Paris was a very bad idea.

I'm sure that some Muslims don't see it that way: and that some Catholics have more zeal than common sense.

Bottom line? The world's 1,800,000,000 or so living Muslims, and 1,190,000,000-plus Roman Catholics, are not all alike. We share a common humanity, and I'll get back to that.

Getting Angry, Staying Angry


I grew up in a virulently anti-Catholic part of America.

I don't remember seeing any Chick tracts, like the 'death cookie' one that made national news a few years back: but rants about the 'Whore of Babylon' were hard to miss. (March 5, 2010)

Jack T. Chick's "Mamma's Girls" tract (2012), warns us that the Catholic Church is run by Satan: and created Islam, Communism, Nazism, and Freemasonry.

I am not making that up.

The historical figures in "Mamma's Girls" are real. What Mr. Chick apparently thinks they did is — quite imaginative.

Unhappily, quite a few folks seem to believe Mr. Chick's version of reality.

Again, if you're waiting for a rant: you'll have a very long wait. I don't like the streak of anti-Catholicism that's part of American history and culture, but posting a screed won't help. (October 26, 2012)

Don't get me wrong. I can be very emotional about my faith.

That's okay. Emotions are part of being human. But "...conscience is a law of the mind...." We're expected to use our brains. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1762-1775-1776-1778)

Crazy assertions about my faith make me angry: momentarily. But I'm learning to think before I act.

Anger is a particularly serious sin, since it can lead to other sins. (Catechism, 1866)

I'd better explain that.

Anger, like any other emotion, isn't good or bad by itself. Emotions happen. It's when my reason and will get involved that it's an issue. (Catechism, 1767)

If I hang on to anger, letting it build into a desire to harm or kill someone else: that's where it becomes a sin. (Catechism, 1762-1775, 2302-2303)

Like it says in Romans 12:19: "...'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' "

There's Matthew 7:1-5; and Catechism, 1861; too. I'll leave the judgment of persons to the Almighty. God is emphatically not someone I want to defy. (September 11, 2010)

Again, I'm learning to think before I act: or write. Occasionally I don't catch anger, or some other impulse, in time. That's why we have the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. (Catechism, 1422-1470)

Looking Around, Looking Ahead


In a way, I can understand why Jack T. Chick and others have an attitude about the Catholic Church. We're huge, ancient, and — for the most part — 'foreign.'

We were around before the Roman Empire collapsed, and were global before internationalism was cool.

We're καθολικός, universal: not tied to any one era, nation, or culture. We see humanity as a huge, but sadly-dysfunctional, family. (Genesis 10:1-32; Catechism, 360, 396-409)

As part of that family, I have obligations:
That love can't be safely abstract. I've expected to live as if loving God, and my neighbors, matters. It's not easy, like the time when someone stole the parish church's Gospel book. (September 4, 2011)

Since we're supposed to love our neighbors, all our neighbors, social justice is a priority. That doesn't mean forcing everyone into one cultural mold, or insisting one one 'correct' form of government. We're not supposed to be all alike. (Catechism, 1901, 1928-1948)

Not all Catholics are comfortable with that, of course.

I have the advantage of being an adult convert, one who accepts the need to re-learn just about everything I thought I knew about Catholicism. Spending my teen years in the '60s helps, too. In a way, I never stopped being one of 'those crazy kids' who thought we could do better.

Some folks see how much the world has changed, think it's the end of civilization as we know it: and see that as a bad thing.

I think it's the end of civilization as we know it, and about time. I remember the 'good old days,' and they weren't. (August 31, 2014; February 9, 2014)

The world our descendants live in won't be perfect. But if we maintain what is good in our societies, change what is not, and keep working: I think their world will be better.


(From Raphael-Lacoste, used w/o permission.)

And that's — still another topic.

More about living in a big world:
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Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:Posts in this blog: In the news:

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.