I feel therefore, I am. (sentio ergo sum)
First Pain
Summer Camp was a wonderland for me as a kid; it holds some of my first and fondest memories. The early 80s, I was free to fly. I wasn’t held back from any place, unless it was after bedtime and I ran like the wind everywhere I went. To the field to play soccer, to the beach to find limpets, to the pool for cannonballs, everywhere running. There was a tradition at Summer Camp that at the end of the week, when the bus full of campers was leaving, the staff would gather to wave goodbye and they would chase the bus down the steep hill to the main road. It was a hot summer’s day at the end of a great week at camp and I thought it was time for me to join in with the charging parade of staff, the famous bus pursuit down that very steep hill to the main road. Everyone was running so fast; I was about five years old and my little legs just did not go quite as fast as they needed to go. At full tilt and on a significant downslope I dove and slid. No shirt on for the heat, I slid on my chest on the gravel for a meter or two, sliding on dry pavement. This is my first memory of physical pain. The pebbles took a while to pick out.
Yearning for being
The older I was, the more it seemed that my parents wanted to hold on, to control. It seemed like they were trying to protect themselves as they sought to keep me from harm. Perhaps, my tears as a child were to blame?
It is difficult to control that which does not want to be controlled. As a teenager, I did not want to be controlled. I wanted to be free to fly like I did as a little kid. Even, to get hurt and to feel the pain of plucking out the pebbles embedded by a major fall. I would scream for space, reiterating with the hope to be respected, ‘Let me figure it out for myself.’
‘This book is about wisdom and its opposite.’ [1]
This is the opening sentence of the introduction to Lukianoff and Haidt’s collaborated work, The Coddling of the American Mind(note: the opposite of wisdom is either ‘folly’ or ‘stupidity’). A book considered ‘despite its title’ to be in the genre of ‘self-help’, Haidt and Lukianoff target themes and explore stories to do with ‘safetyism, the language of microaggressions, identity politics and intersectionality’ [2]. The authors use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as a method through which to identify the issues and to perceive best navigation through such life-inhibiting attitudes or approaches as these.
Hydra rise
Being risk averse has not been my inclination. Certainly, for those who struggle to keep life simple, free from failure and harm (life whereby the pursuit for achievement and progress is only justified by in being along the the easiest, safest way of least resistance), anything presenting a challenge to balance or that would increase the possibility of losing control or becoming vulnerable is avoided at all cost. Nassim Taleb, in his book Antifragile, writes ‘antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better’ [4]. Taleb considers the robust as like the phoenix, through death rising up the same while those who have become antifragile as a hydra, when attacked and one head is cut off, two heads grow up to take its place. Haidt and Lukianoff determine that a seemingly ever-deepening emphasis on safety within a culture, one that has advanced ‘so far that it equates emotional discomfort with physical danger is a culture that encourages people to systematically protect one another from the very experiences embedded in daily life that they need in order to become strong and healthy.” [1]. In other words, we need to be presented with the possibility of problems and, even to be struck by the problems. This, in order for our growth; the ‘breaking down’ gives opportunity for the ‘rising up’ stronger (a little more versatile/antifragile) than before.
Has the concept or idea of Liberation Theology been at least downplayed (at most, extinguished) out of a political concern for social, economic and/or religious ‘safetyism’? How do people feel when they hear the name Carl Marx? Marxism is considered risky for a number of reasons, all of which I don’t even presume to know. I do know that Marxism is not all bad and, all of the good of it I don’t presume to know. I could say the same for Capitalism however, my reference point for Capitalism is far more informed and viewpoint far more negative than positive (over time, in my opinion, Capitalism is the riskier choice). And, the further into this discussion I press, the less safe I feel.
Romero
So, why might I feel this way? Perhaps, it is that ‘reason’ will become the focal point of attack or that ‘fear ‘could spur a violent rebuttal. And, what if I dropped a quotation of Archbishop Oscar Romero into a conversation on Christian ‘safetyism’?
“Those who, in the biblical phrase, would save their lives—that is, those who want to get along, who don’t want commitments, who don’t want to get into problems, who want to stay outside of a situation that demands the involvement of all of us—they will lose their lives. What a terrible thing to have lived quite comfortably, with no suffering, not getting involved in problems, quite tranquil, quite settled, with good connections politically, economically, socially – lacking nothing, having everything. To what good? They will lose their lives.” [4]
Education real
Fear runs rampant in our world; and, unfortunately some use our proneness to fear for self-centred leverage for certain propaganda (consider Brexit, the COVID-19, the narrative of the media and the stock markets; consider Capitalism). So, what if we were to take a deep breath and learn about fear, the impact of it and the way that our fears can be played with the intention of manipulation? The last sentence rounds up a solution to the problem, ‘This is a book about education and wisdom. If we can educate the next generation more wisely, they will be stronger, richer, more virtuous, and even safer.
Bibliography
[1] Lukianoff, G. and Jonathan Haidt. The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. US: Penguin Books, 2018.
[2] Weigel, M. “The Coddling of the American Mind Review – how Elite US Liberals have turned Rightward.” The Guardian. Last updated: 20.09.1018. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/20/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind-review
[3] Healy, B. “Who’s Afraid of Liberation Theology?” Links: International Journal of Socialist Renewal. September 2006. http://links.org.au/node/528
[4] Taleb, N.N. Antifragile: Things that Gain From Disorder. US: Random House, 2012.
About the Author
Chris Pollock
Dad of Molly Polly Pastor at the Mustard Seed Street Church Trail Runner6 responses to “I feel therefore, I am. (sentio ergo sum)”
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Chris,
You put a lot of thought into this blog and ask a lot of great questions. As I read The Coddling of the American Mind I was struck by the deep need and value of experience both good and bad. I once did a study on leprosy and discovered the biggest issue with that disease it the never damage that causes people not to feel pain. This often lead to severely damaging limbs without realizing it. It is the experience of sorrow the shows us the value of joy. The experience of hate that teaches us the power of love. Turmoil teaches us about peace. darkness teaches us about light. Can we really remove the dichotomies of life and truly learn what it means to be human?
How nice it would be, to be without pain. Sometimes, it just hurts so much. Sometimes, how it beckons immobility and the tossing of the proverbial white flag.
Then, there’s pain without any reason to it. Horrific situations that have no answer, no rhyme it seems at all. Just ugliness.
And, I suppose it’s human to want to be pain-free or, to have all the ugliness accounted for. At the end of the striving and the tension, finally a slackening and release. Here’s the deep breath.
I wonder how antifragility and shalom could possibly be related?
The younger generation may have been taught to be afraid, but their parents and grandparents bear much responsibility for creating that culture. The bulk of the panic around Covid19 in my area is coming from people who are older, which raises the anxiety of those who are younger. My college-age daughter- who is as level-headed as they come- texted me the other day that she was starting to “freak out” over rumors spreading across the campus. I said recently in a Facebook post that the main job of adults right now is to model for the children what maturity looks like. That may not be the whole answer, but I think it’s a start.
Chris,
“It seemed like they were trying to protect themselves as they sought to keep me from harm. Perhaps, my tears as a child were to blame?” Your tears were not to blame. The generations before were taught in many ways to not express emotion, to gloss over the hard. Coming out of world wars and the great depression, gratitude and a sunny disposition were often the go to response for hardship and suffering. I asked my mom if she ever voiced her emotions to her parents. She said no, because it would have been perceived as complaining. People who live numb have a difficult time being around others who are suffering or in pain. So protecting them at all cost (mostly for their own self-comfort) happens. As parents, our pain tolerance must be higher than that of our kids so that we can hold space for them to suffer, hurt, and fail. That’s where learning, wisdom, and growth happens best. As a parent, how are you navigating the emotional weight of life with you daughter?
Chris, I doubt Liberation Theology’s ability to gain traction in the West with the name Marxism tied to it. Following Haidt, people are not rational, able to see some strengths, but emotional and the emotional trigger for Marx is too strong. A question for you: Is liberation theology without some of the Marxist underpinnings still liberation theology?
‘The preferential option for the poor.’ The option, clear throughout scriptures, of the poor in all its forms.
It has never been the intention of Liberation Theology (in my opinion nor, the thought of its theologians) to be compared to Marxism.
Ratzinger drew and promoted such comparisons.
How I connect Liberation Theology is certainly not by its Marxist underpinnings (though I’ve heard and understand to a certain degree the argument) but, by it’s scriptural, Theological and Christological underpinnings. So, yes…despite these connections that have been with Marxism, liberation theology is just that, liberation theology.
Open to work this out further if you like!
Thanks for the question and interest, bro.