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In one of my all-time favorite speeches, Mortimer Adler, a
philosopher and professed “pagan who wrote for pagans” most of his
adult life, told members of the audience seated before him in 1941:
The health of a culture, like the health of the body, consists in
the harmonious functioning of its parts….But if these parts have not
been properly distinguished, they cannot be properly related; and
unless these parts are properly related, properly ordered to one
another, cultural disorder—such as that of modern times—inevitably
results. When a culture is unhealthy, its members cannot understand
what is wrong, for the simple reason that this would require them to
understand what is wrong with their own mentality. (italics
added)
For at least the past three decades, we have been told that
something is very, very wrong with our culture—and that means both
you and me. As late as 2004, Pope John Paul II warned the bishops
of the United States that the culprits are relativism, materialism,
and consumerism. Taken individually and collectively, these beliefs
threaten the members of the Church in the United States, John Paul
II said, to the point that we are danger of forgetting our spiritual
roots and yielding to what the Pope called
“a
purely materialistic and soulless vision of the world.”
But, if Adler is correct, we—the people of the Church in the United
States—don’t even understand what is wrong with our mentality so as
to do anything about the threat posed to us by relativism,
materialism, and consumerism.
What are these grave dangers that we have been alerted to because
they threaten the health of our culture?
Relativism
is the belief there is no such thing as truth. What do exist are
individual and cultural beliefs, none of which is superior to any
other. That relativism has infected our minds evidences itself in
the fact that many of us haven’t
thought this proposition through. If
truth is relative and anyone’s truth is just as true as anyone
else’s truth, that statement itself has to be true. How can it be true,
however, if nothing is true? That’s how relativism gives rise to
skepticism. If nothing is true: there cannot be one true God―so
religion is largely irrelevant;
there is no such thing as true and permanent love―so
living together is just as good, if not better than being married;
and, no child can be absolutely sure that one’s parents truly are one’s parents―after
all, as we all know from media accounts, mistakes do happen in hospitals.
Materialism
is the belief that happiness is discovered in things. The goal is
to be self-sufficient and to surround ourselves with things so that
we will experience ecstasy. That materialism has infected out minds
evidences itself in the fact that we host garage sales, yard sales,
and block sales where we sell all of those things we have cleaned
out our closets, attics, basements, and garages so that we have a
little extra cash and plenty of additional room for all of those new things we
are intent on purchasing. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself: “Why
didn’t all of those things give me true and lasting happiness?”
Consumerism
is the belief that each “newer” and “improved” version of all those
material things is so superior to the “older” and no longer “good
enough” versions that we decide we need all of those new and
improved things…you know, “I just can’t live without x, y, or z….”
That consumerism has infected our minds is evident in the
frustration we experience with all of those older and not good
enough things. What are we ever to do with them? Have you ever given thought to how all of those
giant landfills where we dispose of all our junk—so big that New
York and New Jersey ship all of their junk out of state—give
testimony to a culture whose members possess such a voracious
appetite for everything they want that most of them no longer
even know what they need?
In one way or another, relativism, materialism, and consumerism all
promise to decrease the burdens of life. But, if we just think
about it (or, as Adler said,
“to think about our own mentality”)
for just one minute, it becomes evident that
relativism, materialism, and consumerism have only increased the
size and weight of our burdens as we run after the false happiness
promised by these false beliefs.
In his classic study of suicide, the French sociologist Émile
Durkheim found that suicide is more prevalent among the wealthy not
the poor. We think: Aren’t the poor more likely to commit
suicide because, after all, doesn’t their lack of what we believe
to constitute “the good life” increase the likelihood of suicide?
Not so, Durkheim found in the 1800s and continues to be the case
today. When traditional social institutions—like religion—can no
longer regulate and meet a person’s social needs because these
institutions don’t stand for truth but merely one among many truths,
when a person recognizes that one has wasted one’s life that living
solely for oneself, and as wealth proves itself insufficient in
providing happiness, people experience anomie. And, it is the wealthy not the poor who
experience the spiritual impoverishment that is the consequence of
relativism, materialism, and consumerism. The burdens of life
become completely overwhelming and, because people ensnared by these
false beliefs don’t think rightly, life itself becomes too painful
to endure. And, don’t
forget: we in the United States comprise the wealthiest society on the face of planet Earth!
Pope John Paul II made note of this reality in modern culture in a
homily he delivered to psychiatrists on November 14, 2003:
The spread of depressive states has become disturbing. They reveal
human, psychological, and spiritual frailties which, at least in
part, are induced by society. It is important to become aware of
the effect on people of messages conveyed by the media which exalt
consumerism, the immediate satisfaction of desires and the race for
ever greater material well-being. It is necessary to propose new
ways so that each person may build his or her own personality by
cultivating spiritual life, the foundation of a mature existence.
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you
rest,” Jesus exclaimed.
All of us labor and all of us experience burdens. But, the question
today’s gospel puts before us is: “Where do you go to find your
rest?” In relativism? In materialism? In consumerism? If you
have in the past (and, by the way, most of us have), did these deliver on their promises to make you truly happy?
Or, as is most likely the case, have they enslaved your mind so that you don’t even know that you
are enslaved and unhappy?
In 1941, Adler reminded those seated in his audience that if the
parts have not been properly distinguished, they cannot be properly
related; and unless these parts are properly related, properly
ordered to one another, cultural disorder—such as that of modern
times—inevitably results. When a culture is unhealthy, its members
cannot understand what is wrong, for the simple reason that this
would require them to understand what is wrong with their own
mentality. Adler made that statement almost 70 years ago and
it was pagans he was worried about!
For many people today, living according to the dictates of the flesh
promises to offer the greatest number of advantage miles and premium
rewards. Evidently, it was the same for many in St. Paul’s day,
too, because he reminded the Romans: “You will die.” We, too, will die as the yoke of relativism, materialism, and
consumerism weigh down upon our shoulders. “But if by the Spirit
you put to death the deeds of the body,” St. Paul reminded the
Romans―and he reminds us,
too—“you will live.”
The challenge before us is to understand what is wrong with our
mentality so that we can properly distinguish what we need and,
then, knowing the source of what is weighing both us and our culture
down, we can order the various parts of our lives properly.
Where are we to turn to meet this challenge?
In a homily dated March 1, 1998, Pope John Paul II noted, “Christ
alone can free man from what enslaves him to evil and selfishness:
from the frantic search for material possessions, from the thirst
for power and control over others and over things, from the illusion
of easy success, from the frenzy of consumerism and hedonism which
ultimately destroy the human being.” “The task,” he later said, “is
to present Jesus Christ to those whose faith has grown weak under
the pressures of secularization and consumerism and who tend to
regard the Church as just another of the many institutions of modern
society that influence people’s thinking and behavior” (Address to
the Church in Oceania, November 22, 2001).
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me….and you will find rest for
yourselves,” Jesus said. “For my yoke is easy, and my burden
light.”
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HOMILY
