Healing the Culture

I remember asking patients who would come to the doctor office, “What brings you in today?” To which a string of replies would follow: headache, runny nose, joint pain, abdominal pain, etc.  In order to get to make a proper diagnosis and treatment plan, medical professionals need to know what the problem is, its symptoms, underlying causes, and its cure. If this method works for healing a person, maybe it works for healing a culture too (Peter Kreeft expresses a similar point in his book Back to Virtue). How can we diagnose what is going on in the culture today in order to make a path toward toward healing?

Here are two of the underlying causes for our cultural sickness, some of their symptoms, and their cure.

1) Utilitarianism. This simply means that the number one good and factor to consider when making a decision is whether or not  something is useful to you. Nothing else really matters. Especially in our culture, pleasure often determines the usefulness of an action. Will this or that bring me more pleasure? Pleasure becomes our “end”. Some symptoms include: hook-up culture, pornography, toxic relationships, divorced families, selfishness, laziness, and many others. How can it be remedied and healed?

Rooted in the Gospel, Karol Wojtyla proposed a cure: the personalistic norm. This norm explains that persons cannot be treated as merely a means to an end. Persons are to be respected for their own sake because God has created them in his image with unfathomable dignity. Make a resolution to love people and use things (not the other way around).

Reflect: Do I use people to get what I want from them? Do I pay attention to each person that I encounter?

2)  Narcissism. The narcissist cries, “Everything is about me!” It’s self-absorption. Selfie-culture tells me that this is alive and well today. The narcissist dictionary includes only three words: “me, myself, and I.” Symptoms include: lack of empathy, lack of understanding, over use of the words “me, myself, and I”, obsession with one’s social media accounts, constant need to be the center of attention. How can we cure this?

John Paul the Great proclaimed that each one of us will only truly find ourselves when we make a sincere gift of ourselves. This is the Law of the Gift. We are made to give of ourselves to others. This is why narcissism is so toxic to the human heart! It is the opposite of what we are made for. The answer to narcissism is to get out of ourselves and love others (those in our daily path and those in need).

Reflect: How often do conversations with friends center around me? Am I concerned about others or just myself? What can I do in my daily life to make myself a gift to others?

To summarize,  many of us today are living as narcissistic individuals who are trying to use others to get as much pleasure as we can. This is the result of original sin and our personal vices rooted in pride. The only path toward healing the culture is to recalibrate our own hearts. We must strive to love each person as the great gift that they are; and, in turn, make a gift of ourselves to others.