Virtual-itis Five

MC: I see you have returned. Do you mind if I ask you a question for a change? 

V. Please do. 

MC.  Why do you come to me when I am asleep? And how do you know when to return?

V. Sleep creates a different attitude in you. Your dreams make you more open to Mystery than your distracted, daylight mind. In your dreams you are even capable of wonder. Also, you don't suppress memories. Do you remember when I compared your mind to a cargo crate filled with a lot of stuff? When you sleep, the sides of the crate are down. While the sides hold things in, they also keep things out.  When your defenses are down, more can get in. So I am able to plant a little bit of truth in you. You will not let that happen when you are awake.  That, by the way is the answer to your second question too, the question about time.   You asked how I know when to return, remember? It depends on how long it takes for the truth to take root in you.  Whether in a few days, or a few weeks, I return when the truth has taken root, because that is the right time. 

MC.  But how do you know when the truth has taken root?  That is what I want to know. 

V. Ah, you are beginning to wonder.  You are using your mind to ponder and marvel about what you do not understand. 

MC. Don’t take that superior attitude. And don’t patronize me!  I just want an answer to my question.   

V. Of course you do. But you want an answer you are going to understand, one that fits within the walls of the "cargo crate", an answer that is a bit of data you can store away in your memory bank, one more piece of information that gives you more control. What you do not want is an answer that will wake you up, or make you see you are sleep-walking in your daily life. You do not yet see is that truth is alive. It is not dead data.  Truth can only take root in you and grow because it is alive, and your mind is able to grasp it and grow, because your mind is alive, too. Your mind comes alive by letting the living truth in. You come alive by living the Truth you receive. You become the Truth you live. That is why you must let Mystery be the measure of you. On the other hand, if you reduce truth to store-able ideas, you deprive yourself of the life it offers. That is what happens when your mind reduces itself to a cargo crate, a memory bank, or storage space. 

MC. I sense you are telling me something important. It seems real and beautiful. I want to believe it. It excites me.  It seems true, but at the same time it seems too good to be true. I do not understand it.  How can what you say be true?  It is too, I don’t know, too poetic, to make sense.

V. Do not reduce the truth to what you can comprehend.  The truth is greater than that.  Sure, some of it is understandable to us,  or accessible to us; it is intelligible and reasonable.  That truth is a priceless treasure.  But an ever greater treasure is the truth that is inaccessible to us, the truth beyond our comprehension,  the truth above all that is,  the foundation of all,  and source of all.  That truth is Mystery.  We live in its light, but can never absorb all of its light.

MC. But why? Why  can't we see it all?  We discover more and more facts all the time.  It seems reasonable to assume one day we will know everything.

V. If mankind survives long enough, it is possible, in theory, for us to discover all the truth that is commensurate with human nature. But we will never penetrate the truth that is beyond our nature. There is no way for us to see into its inner workings.

MC. Huh? You're losing me.What is the difference between these two kinds of truth? 

V. We're just repeating ourselves now, like a record that gets stuck and goes over the same phrases over and over. I'll come back when you might be able to absorb more.

MC.   No, answer me now! What gives you the right to come and go as you please! 

V. The only way to get beyond an impasse is to love the truth we cannot yet see, love Truth in all its Mystery. You still want to be in control of it instead of submitting yourself to it. Truth is the measure of your mind,  you are not the measure of it. Absolute Truth is beyond your or any mind's measuring because it is Mystery. 

MC. Go! Leave. All this talk about Mystery is just mystification.

For the Fun of it: Karl Stern

Here is a sentence that made me laugh out loud:

"....Many of us read entire libraries of philosophy and theology from St. Augustine to Karl Adam.

Before we know it we have attained a kind of mental obesity instead of spiritual growth."

Saints for Now,  edited by Clare Boothe Luce, chapter on St Therese of Lisieux by Karl Stern, p.326

Virtual-itis Four

V. Do you wonder about the wonder of your mind? 

MC. Huh?  How can I answer a question like that?  Why should I wonder about my mind? I’m not suffering from mental problems.  

V. Sure you are: virtual-itis, remember? Still, the human mind is a marvel; even your mind, which you hardly use and don't appreciate! Your mind is a wonder you should be in awe of. The fact that you are not even aware of this shows how little you appreciate the miraculous power you have going on in you.

  MC. Oh, don’t exaggerate. Today Science has explored the brain inside and out; science knows what every lobe of the brain does.  Science can even influence the brain’s workings with various drugs and stimulants.  The brain is no longer the mystery that it was in ancient days.  

V.  That’s true for the brain as an organ, but not true for the mind, which is the spiritual power of your soul at work in you.  Science does know more and more about the brain, but not enough about the mind. I bet you don’t even know what powers your mind has. 

 MC. Sure I do. Memory and reason.  

V. Fine. Let’s start with those two. How does memory work?  How does it happen that you can have a memory buried in your brain from, say, forty years ago, something you have long forgotten, and suddenly it pops up in your head out of the blue? Ever wonder about that?  How is it that brothers or sisters or twins can go through the same experience and yet have a different memory of it?  On the other hand, how does the spoken memory of one person sometime wake up the sleeping memory of the other?   Why does memory play tricks on us with the passage of time, so that details we would swear are true prove to be false?  

MC. You're confusing me with too many questions. I suppose the brain is something like a computer that has only so much storage space in its memory bank and sometime the data gets mixed up, garbled, stored wrong, or the storage space runs out,  or the wiring gets frazzled, and the computer crashes. 

V. You keep talking about the brain.  Remember, I am talking about your mind, not just the physical organ!The mind is greater than the brain! Also, the mind existed before the computer, remember? The human mind invented the computer. Like most moderns, you are more impressed with one of the mind’s creations, the computer, than you are with the minds that created it. If you could, you would probably  reduce the brain to a computer. 

 MC.  What makes you say that?   

V. You find computers more interesting than your brain.  Do you remember what we discussed about virtual-itis?  The virtual world is the computer world.  You have limited your world by living in the ego bubble, and then made it even more of a prison by encasing yourself in the computer world of virtual reality. 

MC. Another exaggeration!  I’m in contact with the real world out there.  I breathe real air, eat organic food, drink good wine, and I have honest relationships with everyday people.  

V. You are deluding yourself if you think that is the case. No matter what you do, you do it inside the parameters of the ego ecosystem. That is why I am talking to you about your mind. I want to show that you have the intelligence to break out of your confinement.  Try to stay with me and follow what I am saying.  When I asked you what your mind can do, what two things did you tell me?  

MC.  I said memory and thinking.  

V. Good. Can you come up with anything else?  

MC. Not off-hand. Those are the two big things the mind does, right? 

V. What about imagination? Does your imagination manage serve up an smorgasbord of delights , or is it dead?? Where does creativity come from?

MC. I don't know.

V What about free will?  How does an immaterial thought move you to concrete action?  What about consciousness and self-consciousness, knowing the world  around you and being aware of yourself in the act of knowing? Has science explained the mind to you:  memory, reason, imagination, and will? Consciousness and self-awareness?  Freedom?

MC. No....  

V.   The mind is mysterious! Wonderful! Awe-inspiring!  

MC. Okay, okay, I see your point. But so what?  What does it matter?

V. If you begin to wonder at the marvel of your mind, you will find your way out of your ego bubble and get back in touch with reality again.  

MC.  How so? I know plenty of intelligent people who are on ego trips all the time.

V. Does their error make it right for you to do the same thing?

MC. Maybe not, but it sure makes it easier. Go away and let me sleep.

Litany to Our Lady of Cana

Mother of the Unexpected
Mother of the Unpredictable,
Mother of surprises
Mother of the mundane
Mother of the ordinary and the sublime
Mediatrix par excellence
Mother of our glorification
Mother ever present
Mother of new beginnings
Mother of our mission in life
Mother of our inspirations
Our Lady of Grace
Mother of our insights
Mother of our growth
Mother of our individuality
Mother of our obedience,
Mother of our freedom
Mother of our trust
Mother of our solidarity
Mother of our present and our future
Our Lady of Suffering
Our Lady of Glory
Watchful Woman
Caring Lady
Gentle Nudger
Intuiter of our needs
Co-Sufferer
Mother of our love for one another
Compassionate Lady
Mother of future graces
Mother of future generations
Mother of Embryo and Infant
Mother of Stillborn and Newborn
Mother of the Miscarried
Mother of Slaughtered Innocents
Mother of Human Life
Our Lady of Superabundance
Mother of overflowing fullness
Mother  of ourTransformation
Mother of the Best Wine
Wineskin of the New Creation
Mother of Christ
Our Lady of the Christ Event
Our Lady of the Divine Presence
Mother of Divine Gifts
Mother of our spiritual growth
Mother of our human enjoyments
Mother of our natural satisfactions
Mother of our hunger for more
Mother of married couples
Mother of priests and sisters
Mother of God's Family
Our Lady of the Sacraments
Mother of the living and the dead
Mother of the glorified
Mother of all fruitfulness
Source of New Wine
Mother of the Word Enfleshed
Mother of the Marriage between God and Man
Mother of our Beginning and End

Virtual-itis Three

MC. Back  again?  What made you return? 
V. Your need to know yourself. You do suffer from virtual-itis, you know. 
MC. Really How did I get it?
V.  You received a low-grade dose of it as a child, when television first came on the scene. Even more than movies, TV  has made  the act of seeing into a spectator sport.   Now, with the rise of the internet, virtual-itis has taken over  the popular culture. Today we are so involved with virtual reality that we prefer it to the real thing..

MC. That's because the real thing isn't as interesting as the virtual. The virtual is more controllable, pleasant, and entertaining.  Virtual reality helps us escape from the harshness of real life.
V. But as a result, when you have to enter real life, you do so in way that is detached from the reality and focused on yourself. You are in a “spectator mode,” and don’t make real contact with life.  You remain out of contact while you are conscious and alert, and seem to be in contact.  You respond, but are not really present to the people and things around you.

MC. Huh? I don't get it. What do you mean?  How can I be out of contact while I am conscious and alert?    
 V.It's because you refuse to forget yourself, refuse to let go, to enter into the flow, to dive into the ocean of living and loving. You need to be in control at all times. That's why virtual reality is more appealing than the real thing.  Think back to how unself-conscious a child is,   how a child enters into the world of play and loses himself in it, how present he is to what he is playing at,  how he loses himself in it, and you will see what I mean. As a modern adult  you are unable to do that.
MC. So that's your diagnosis, huh? And what do you think the cure is?

V: Since the disease is caused by our focus inward, the cure is to focus outward.  Excessive self -regard is remedied by self-disregard.

MC. That's ridiculous. We have to focus on ourselves, develop our minds,  and work hard and  to get ahead! We have to be aggressive and competitive. No one is going to stand up for me if I don’t stand up for myself. The world out there is dog eat dog.

V. I agree.  The world is competitive.  And you should be competitive, too. That is not the issue. The issue is what you should strive for and compete at.

MC. Look, I don’t want to listen to you anymore. Go away.  

V. Ah, I hit a raw nerve, a sensitive spot. Why don't you roll over and snooze for a while. Put this unpleasant dream behind you. We can continue later....
(after an indeterminate amount of time)

MC.  You again? How do you manage to make yourself present to me?  

V "How" does not matter."Why" is more important. I'm her to help you take another small step in the journey of self-discovery.
MC. What are we supposed to do this time?

V. Actually, we will cover the same ground as last time, but from a different angle. We will focus on your resistance to self knowledge.

MC. I think I know myself pretty well. 
V. If you truly did, you would not resist my invitations to dig into yourself nor continually brush me aside. For example, when I first asked you what was bothering you, you said you were having a hard time making decisions. Do you remember that? 

MC. Yes. 

V. But did you get into what kinds of decisions? No.  Did you explain what you were feeling? No. Are you aware of the inner conflicts going on within you? Do you know what you are afraid of? No.  Do you sense that you are detached from reality and afraid to swim around in it? Yes. Are you competitive and ambitious? Yes, you say you are.  But you don't know what to strive for. You are an able talker, but so what? Your talking is a diversionary tactic. You talk do automatically, aggressively, defensively, as a way of not exploring your mind and heart and learning about yourself. When I point out what you are doing, you perceive me as a pest and dismiss me.
MC. Wow. You can be aggressive too, you know. Why don’t you try being more empathetic and understanding? You do get more flies with honey than with vinegar, after all.

V. Honey wouldn’t work with you. You are too manipulative and narcissistic for that to reach you. You need the cutting edge of sharp truth. The sharper the better, to pare away all the phony postures, poses, and pretensions in which you have cloaked yourself.

MC.  Look, I will cooperate with you, or at least I will try. Just one thing first, please. Will you explain to me why this self-knowledge is so important?  Why do you keep harping on that? 

V. You still do not realize how much you are cut off from reality, how deep and profound the separation is, how completely you have insulated and isolated  yourself.  You know what a terrarium is, correct?
MC. Yes, a terrarium is an artificial environment, kind of a microcosm of the world around it, but not really connected to the world. 

V. Well, that is you. You live inside a bubble, a plastic cover encases and separates you from everything and everyone else.  That bubble is your ego, your self-centeredness.

MC. But everybody is self-centered;  everybody has an ego just like I do. 

V. Yes, everyone lives inside an ego-bubble. We all start life that way.  But some people break out of the bubble.  You, on the other hand, have made the situation worse.  You have reinforced one plastic lid with another layer of insulation that makes your separation even worse: virtual-itis.  And you live so comfortably inside this double bubble that you do not even know the problem exists. 

MC: Look, if everyone lives in a personal bubble, an ego eco-system,  this must be the normal state of affairs for the human race.  It is reality. So what is the problem?

V:  Precisely what you just said. So long as one is inside this artificial bubble, the bubble does not seem artificial, or isolated, or controlled. Everything seems to function and work well, so no problem is perceived. And no one wants to break out of the bubble, or even to think outside of the box, as the modern expression puts it. Creativity is fine. So long as everything stays in the bubble.  But then it is not real creativity, only conformity to prevailing cultural standards.
MC. Hey, it works for me. Come back when you can prove to me that it doesn't work, and I might listen to you. Till then, leave me alone.

Giussani: Christ and Man

 " ........nothing is more important than the question of man's true situation. It would be impossible to become fully aware of what Jesus Christ means if one did not first become fully aware of the nature of that dynamism which makes man human. Christ proposes Himself as the answer to what "I" am and only an attentive, tender, and impassioned awareness of my own self can make me open and lead me to acknowledge, admire, thank and live, Christ. Without this awareness, even Jesus Christ becomes just a name." 

At the Origin of the Christian Claim,  p.6

Question: Is this why human formation has to be the basis of spiritual formation, why sound Anthropology is such a great help to true Spirituality, why Reason undergirds Faith, why Theology needs an adequate Philosophy underneath it? The dizzy heights human nature reaches to, the Omega that disorients it, cannot even be grasped at unless I undertake "an attentive, tender, and impassioned awareness" of my own self in relation to Him.

Christ Happens to Me Now!

      The following is a running reflection on two paragraphs from an address by Fr. Julian Carron entitled "Christ Is Something That Is Happening To Me Now". It was published in TRACES  magazine, and first delivered at the presentation Fr. Luigi Giussani's book At The Origin of The Christian Claim in Milan on Jan. 25, 2012. The address in its entirety can be found  on the Communion and Liberation website, in English and Spanish. I read the whole article twice, slowly, before it began to sink in, and the two short paragraphs below several times more before their depths started to unfold. You might benefit from reading the bold print only,  before reading my thoughts on the text, which are in italics. How does Christ happen to you?


     "In order for man to be able to grasp fully what Jesus Christ means, he has to stand before Him with all his humanity. That means me, of course, and you. I have to stand before Him with "all of my humanity". How in the world do I do that when I scarcely know myself and am far from fully aware of myself? 

Without this humanity, without this attentive, tender, and impassioned awareness of myself, I will not be able to recognize Christ. Why? Why won't I be able to recognize Him? Why must I have this "attentive, tender. and impassioned awareness of myself"? Why isn't my normal, distracted, strung out, rough, unfeeling self enough for recognizing Him?

The reason is simple - because Christ presents Himself as an answer to what I am. I like that. He is the answer to what I am. I am a human being. But as a human being I am not fully alive. Nor can I say that I am totally  fulfilled, in spite of all the help psychology and technology give me. I  am a puzzle to myself,  a question that I cannot answer, an unknown. So my temptation naturally is to think there is no answer, instead of thinking that He is the answer.

Without this awareness, even the name of Jesus Christ ends up becoming merely being a name. I end up reducing Him when I  approach Him as if  my humanity were the measure of Him, instead of acknowledging Him as the full measure of me.
     
        It's hard to find a higher estimation of the person than that offered by Christianity. Hard? That word isn't strong enough. 'Impossible' would be better. I defy you to find a 'estimation of the person' anywhere that is 'higher' than Christ's.

Christ does not mean to secretly enter into a person's life, as if taking advantage of a distraction. He is not going to slip in on me when I'm not looking, or take me over in a moment of weakness when I let my guard down.

He wants to enter a man's life through the main door, passing through his humanity, a fully conscious humanity, made of reason and freedom. Wow! a humanity, a human being, (me, you) that doesn't use reason and freedom to become as conscious as it can is less than human, is subhuman!

Christ submits Himself to scrutiny by man's inborn criterion, his heart. Okay, now think I see where he is going: to the heart of the matter, the human heart, my core, what is deepest in me, where my reason, freedom, and His Grace meet in my yes and become one, or where I say no and we separate. Coming into me any other way would be an invasion, an intrusion, or a takeover.

Without this scrutiny, there is no Christian experience, and Christianity would have no chance of succeeding. If I do not scrutinize Him, examine, question, and explore, ask and seek and knock, ponder and wonder, with all that is in me, I am doing Him and me and injustice, treating both of us as less than we are, and giving Him less than his due.

The American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr pointed out the reason clearly:'Nothing is more unbelievable than the answer to a question that is not asked'. Proposing Him as the answer to humanity makes Him an irrelevant, preposterous, transcendental cliche, if He is not happening to me now. If  I am  not reaching out to Him with all the reason and freedom of my head and heart, then He is only a historical footnote from the past, an abstract value I try to live by, but not really my Lord. I show his irrelevancy to me when the empty way I mouth His name reveals He has no place in my life.

Virtual-itis Part Two: Spectator Mentality

V. Good evening my friend. I am here to continue our conversation.
MC. Hmmmm,  I can see that.  Tell me, why do you come when I am asleep?  
 V. Because your defenses are down, and it is easier to get through to you. During your dreams I have a chance to help you see things a different way and grow in self -knowledge.
MC. Really? I think I am a sensitive, open-minded person. I'm not closed or defensive.
V.True enough in your dreams, perhaps!  But awake? No. When awake you are open, only so long as nothing pulls you out of your Comfort Zone. Take, for example, how much  you embody a spectator mentality. It has become your way of life.
MC. What do you mean by that? What's a 'spectator mentality'?
 V. Your attitude of looking, checking something out, being entertained or amused or turned off by it, but not getting personally involved.  For example, a man says he want to go out and “scope” some girls.  Or, a woman wants to “scope” some guys.  Scoping is done with mild interest or curiosity, but personal detachment.  Even sexual activity does not mean involvement or commitment. That's the spectator mentality you have. You see relationships as useful and convenient, or as useless and therefore inconvenient.  It's a utilitarian approach to life . Love does not come into the picture.  Nor does friendship. 
MC. That seems like common sense to me. It's safer to make acquaintances, not friends. You save yourself a lot of grief. 
V. That's one way a person who has a spectator mentality justifies it to himself. But he actually doesn't save himself grief. By confining yourself to  the immediate false comfort a spectator mentality gives you, you only insure yourself the loneliness, emptiness and grief that you are trying to avoid! In the long run a distant or detached life ends up being a superficial and empty. 
MC. Tell me, this Comfort Zone and spectator mentality you talk about,  are they one and the same thing? 
V. No. Comfort Zone is a general category. Spectator mentality is a specific application. Comfort Zone refers to the parameters within which you operate without getting stressed or strung out. Your personal parameters begin broad but get narrow in.
 MC. How can parameters be broad but narrow too? 
V.Broad in the sense of covering everything superficially, narrow in the sense that any relationship which demands depth gets excluded. In your case,  you look to see what you can get, or what's in it for you, instead of really being open to all a personal relationship can offer.  And you check yourself out as you are doing that.You pride yourself on being superior and knowledgeable in relating to others in order to hide that you are actually afraid. So you end up being controlling, utilitarian and self indulgent You're trying to get without giving. That's your spectator mentality.
MC. That's a serious charge! Got any proof of what you're saying? 
V. Sure. You were at the gym today, remember? After you left the exercise bike and were walking to the weight room, do you recall the young woman walking in front of you? 
MC. Of course!  I had a nice flirtation going. It was fun.
V. Think back to what happened: you were a few steps behind the woman, staring at her buttocks and her walk, when suddenly she turned around and said to you, 'Like what you see?'  Do you remember that?
MC. Yes I do. That's how our conversation got started. I was surprised that she spoke up like that, and I started laughing. 
V. Do you remember why she turned around? Why didn't she keep walking forward in the direction she was going ?
 MC. She had forgotten something, her keys, and had suddenly remembered she left them at the exercise machine. 
V. Right. That's what she told you as you laughed and started to walk back with her. But, more important than the keys was her question if you 'liked what you saw'.
MC.  Why is that important? She  just wanted to know if I found her figure attractive.
V. No. She could already see that by the way she caught you staring at her backside. She  asked her question to see if you would  be embarrassed to admit it
MC. Oh. I didn't catch that. 
V. No you didn't, because you weren't embarrassed, just a little bit surprised because you hadn't expected her to turn around like that.
MC. So what? What does it matter? Don't guys stare at women's bodies all the time? 
V. Yes, but some men see more than a body.They see a person. How you stare is what makes the difference. A look can be based on attraction or calculation. Attraction is a spark of interest that opens doors.  Cold calculation keeps doors firmly shut. Think of a man at the deli counter in a supermarket looking at pork chops and chicken breasts. He's deciding which piece of meat he will take home to eat. That's calculation aiming to satisfy its hunger. Attraction  goes beyond physical hunger and thinks "I would like to get to know this person." 
MC. I know all that stuff! It is the difference between love and lust. Attraction can grow into love but lust doesn't  grow into anything except a self consuming appetite.
V. Of course you know that. You know it theoretically, but not existentially. The distinction is in your head as a concept, but in real life your look is that of a hungry wolf. That's why the woman in the gym chatted with you but declined to go and have a cup of coffee. She sensed what you were interested in. 
MC. That's nonsense. A glance doesn't reveal that much!
V. The glance, the laugh, the charming chit chat about nothing,  all that told her you are not able to be yourself, to let other people into your mind and heart, and that you have no interest in getting into their minds and hearts. All that gave her the message that you were playing her, playing with her, not engaging  in a conversation at a genuine human level. That's why she walked away from you after she picked up her keys.
 MC.I don't agree with you. You're making too much of a casual encounter. 
V.  You're waking up.That's enough conversation for now. I can see I'm hitting a tender spot. Don't worry, when you awaken, you'll be able to brush all this away.