Course 3: Individualism
As secularization assists in the spread of the principles of secularism and the dismissal of our spirituality as part of our humanity then we are also striped of our community.
The third vice, individualism, replaces community since science and technology are sought as the “Providence of man” thus freeing us from the bonds that once held us dear, the bonds of love. The Dalai Lama makes a similar observation by stating, “We find modern living organized so that it demands the least possible direct dependence on others.” (Dalai Lama 7) David Orr also notes that, referring to teenagers,“They mirror the larger self-indulgence of a society organized by machines, quick gratification and excessive individualism.” (Orr 174) This is a sad reality since with more knowledge there should be more compassion, and a stronger drive to use our knowledge to help people more, to take better care of our environment; not to degrade ourselves and abuse the environment. In the words of David Orr, “ It makes far better sense to reshape ourselves to fit a finite planet than to attempt to reshape the planet to fit our infinite wants.” (Orr 239) It is ironic that it is the people we deem intellectuals are the same ones that cause the most damage on planet earth. Palmer call this aspect “the failure of modern knowledge.”(Palmer 9)
Peter Maurin, author of Easy Essays,said “Education should not just reflect society but shape it” (Lecture 6/2) Unfortunately American education reflects society more than it shapes it. David Orr agrees with this observation by stating that, “educational institutions, more often than not, reward ...safe conformity to the prevailing standards. Educational institutions are not widely known for encouraging boat rockers....” (Orr 231) So as our culture deifies science and overlooks spirituality, the educational system follows suit and stresses objectivity and dismisses subjectivism instead of emphasizing a combination of the two. Palmer informs us that the root meaning of “objective” is to “put against, to oppose.” He warns, “This is the danger of objectivism: it is a way of knowing that places us in a adversary relation to the world...we are not required to change so that the whole community might flourish; instead, the world must change to meet our needs.” (Palmer 68)
West Jackson said that, “Education should be about the transmission of lasting values.” (Lecture 5/17) Values are spiritual (not physical/material). The Bible says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5. 22-23) There is no law against such values, there is nothing in the constitution that condemn any of those values.
As Wendell Berry would say, “By choosing it what are we choosing against?” (Lecture 4/14) By choosing the secularized route and by adopting the vices of secularism and making them our values we are choosing against those dear values. By choosing to be materialistic we forget our spirituality and that is where true values such as love for our neighbors takes root and thrive. Secularization has stripped off the top soil that is needed for the “fruit of the spirit” to grow.
Practicals
So what can be done within the educational system to change this trend, to stop reflecting society and start shaping it?
As Palmer stresses, “We need “wholesight,” a vision of the world in which mind and heart unite...Only as we can see whole can we and our world be whole.” (Palmer xi)
A “spiritual revolution,”(Dalai Lama 17) needs to take place. So what does a spiritual revolution look like? What does “spiritual renewal” (Orr 59) entail?
->I think that this renewal first starts at the individual level. It starts by everyone taking responsibility for how each of us has contributed to the problems in our culture and in the vices that we have cherished; by admitting that we have neglected our spirituality which is just as much, if not more, a part of our humanity than our physical, material bodies.
->This revolution then proceeds by asking hard questions those questions that we avoid since we may be afraid of the truth that lies behind the question. We avoid asking ourselves hard questions for example, questions about spirituality, because the act of asking them is admitting ignorance,the same ignorance that we thought was cured by education and advances in science and technology. David Orr claimed that it is a “myth that ignorance is a solvable problem. Ignorance is not a solvable problem; it is rather an inescapable part of human condition. We cannot comprehend the world in its entirety.” (Orr 239)
->What's this spiritual revival thing about? And why is it so necessary?
Find out in the last course of the series: The Source & Goal of Knowledge.
No comments:
Post a Comment