Love, Our Moral Witness

"Love is the necessary condition of justice" Caritas in Veritate, by Pope Benedict

In a world increasingly influenced by the click of a mouse and the "viral" transmission of ideas, some ideas still, even today, travel slowly. Writing in his recent encyclical [essay], the current Pope and spiritual leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics, Pope Benedict, writes in Caritas in Veritate [Love in Truth] that not only is God love, but that we too are to love one another. This is not news for many who are familiar with the Christian teachings. But then in this piece of writing he goes on further to say, "the development of peoples depends, above all, upon a recognition that the human race is a single family."

Well, many would have not even considered this a teaching originating from this community; they will be surprised to know its continuing work for justice. The exhortation that the human family is one is in fact, a long time teaching coming from this body, the same body that is instrumental in shaping the now standard and accepted "human rights" doctrine embraced by the United Nations and most others world-wide. It is this same institution to whom the Pope addresses himself, as well as to others, christian or otherwise.

As a Catholic Christian, Benedict wishes to clarify that the teaching of his brethren is inclusive; it is encompassing race, and culture. He reminds his reader that 'anyone who says, I love God, and then hates his brother is a liar.' 1John 4:20
The takeaway from Caritas in Veritate is summed up as something like: the fundamental attitude we take towards others is akin to our regard for a brother, our neighbor and family. He reminds and instructs that this fraternal attitude is not limited to one's intimates and family, but to society in general. This attitude he insists, is fundamental to the economic development of a just, civil society.

While some will dismiss this notion out of hand as mere sentimentalism, the Pope is steadfast. A highly educated scholar, he makes salient argument in areas beyond and including theology for the good of all, his prime interest. Recalling the struggles of those living under a-theistic communist regimes, the struggles for racial justice in the United States and elsewhere, Benedict echoes the words of  Martin Luther King who said, "Justice is really love in calculation. Justice is love correcting that which [would want] revolts against love."
As these two world leaders teach, love is indeed the necessary condition of justice. On a person to person level, if we love someone, will will likely insist that they be treated fairly, both within personal relationships and within the larger community. This realization brings us to affirm that love is at the very heart of a true and faithful witness.

Personalism as Belief, as Philosophy

"So then in love, in freedom, there is a conscious will for another person's good, an unqualified good, a good unlimited, that is a person's happiness." --author unknown

Personalism stands great as a philosophy and a compass for modern man. It is what the modern, current of 'human rights' stands upon; it supports the modern view of relationships, especially marriage, and it advocates the rights of animals and children to name a few areas in which Personalistic philosophy has something to say about man and modern, life values.

The ideas and ideals of personalism came into the fore with the increasing developments of science and technology during previous centuries. While often identified with Christian values, personalism is a wider concept and practice. The Hindu, Ramanuja of the 12th century advocated for it; elements of the philosophy are tangible in Judaism and other religions of the East.

While many of us encounter personalistic attitudes on a day to day basis, for example in areas like human rights, very few of us consider the basis for such a belief or practice like 'human rights.'
Most simply stated the notion of personalism necessarily carries that a person is a created being of worth and dignity; that all persons are valuable, none are expendable and all must be regarded as one, whole and complete. Personalism believes, protects and advocates for natural life in every and all instances.

Personalists regard every person as a creation of free will, possessing agency of the self, a personality unique and distinct. Personalism regards the role of metaphysics as the right justification of the person; through self awareness and knowledge-experience, one grasps value and meaning by these same experiences. In the metaphysical realm, the experience and understanding of a creative force, a god who created the self along with the universe is first contacted and known through the experience of a unified, whole and complete, giving love.

The French writer, nobleman and adventurer, Antoine de St. Exupery follows this personalistc mould closely. He writes in his book, Wind, Sand Sea and Stars that it is love, finally, when the will enters into the equation, providing a conscious commitment of one's freedom in respect to another person, in recognition and affirmation, providing a creative contribution of the love that develops between the persons. Thus love is between persons, existing in a space that is neither one nor the other, is created, and not possessed. So then in love, in freedom, there is a conscious will for another person's good, an unqualified good, a good unlimited, that is a person's happiness.

"Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction. "           --Antoine de St. Exupery

We desire moreover to make the beloved happy, to please them and see to their good. It is this precisely that makes possible for a person to be re-born in love, to become alive, aware of the riches within himself, of his creativity, his spirituality, of his fertility. The person, in love, compels belief in his own spiritual powers; it awakens the creativity and the sense of worth within the individual. And yet for all its lofty abundance, human lovers must learn to translate their highest impulses into the everyday world. Personalism carves a way for this sense-experience and translates it into life experiences borne of justice, peacefulness, friendship, compassion and love.