Master 214: Phenomenology of the Good Life, also On Anger
While in Jerusalem for a Jewish festival, Jesus visited a pool, called Bethesda, near the sheep gate. There were a number of people suffering from various illnesses and debilitating physical conditions.
"A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, 'Do you wish to get well?'" (John 5:5-6)
This is an extremely important question: "Do you wish to get well?" You simply can't take it for granted that a person who finds himself in difficult circumstances will actually be interested in doing what is required to get out of those circumstances, even if given the opportunity. Maybe you've known people who, in spite of severe illness or pain, simply refuse to take medication or receive help from doctors. Sometimes people who are trapped in cycles of poverty will simply refuse work. People who suffer from depression or serious psychological disorders sometimes don't want to do what's necessary in order to become well. People make these kinds of decisions for a number of reasons. Sometimes they don't trust the people who are dispensing the remedy. Sometimes the remedy requires more work and effort than they are willing to exert. Sometimes the sense of despair that is associated with their difficulty defeats their will. And sometimes people simply aren't aware of or have a hard time seeing that they actually have a problem.
Whatever the causes, it's pretty clear that if a person does not want to get well, he probably will not get well. Especially where the trouble is not purely physical--where it involves a person's psychology, self-image, circumstances, relationships, etc.--wholeness and wellness just cannot come to a person who isn't willing to apply themselves to pursuing the cure.
So allow me to put the question to you: "Do you wish to get well?" You might respond to this question in a number of ways. Maybe you're not aware of any sickness in your life. Maybe you're aware of sickness in your life but don't know whether it's possible to be cured. Maybe you've been sick for so long (thirty-eight years or longer) and you've long since given up hope of ever being well. How strange, then, for someone to come along and say, "Do you wish to get well?" Maybe you'll want to get clear on what cure I'm recommending before you commit yourself? Or might this be some kind of sick joke: I ask you if you want to get well. You say, 'Yes,' and then I reveal that there actually is no cure.
I won't address all these issues here. Instead I want to zero in on one example in order to illustrate the general idea that I am trying to convey and I'll leave you to think about that.
--
"Do you wish to get well?" Again, you might not even be aware that you're sick. When I was growing up, I used to get pretty bad headaches. I don't think they were migraines but they'd be bad enough that I'd sometimes have to lie down for a couple hours a couple days a week. One day, I was lying in bed with one of these headaches and my dad came into the room. "Have you asked your doctor about these headaches?" he asked, "Because, you know, this isn't normal." It was one of those simple, yet absurdly profound, insights--for me. Was it really not normal to suffer with these kinds of headaches? I was so used to dealing with them that they had just become a part of my life--something that I had to deal with. Had the thought ever occurred to me that there might be a cure or remedy--that there might be a way of living better than this?
I had to learn that I was sick before I could even contemplate pursuing a cure. I had to realize that my condition was not 'normal' before I could even conceive of changing. Now I might have discovered that there was no way to cure my headaches--that I would always have to live with and deal with them. That was a possibility. But it was an important step for me to even recognize that there might be an alternative to the kind of life that I was living.
In the same way, when it comes to life in general, we can get so used to the way things are that we lose sight of the fact that things could go differently. Even when we're broken and dysfunctional, we may just settle for that. The challenge, then, for those of us who believe that there is a better way and believe that there is a reliable path to that better way, is to open people's eyes to this alternative. That, of course, is not the only thing that we have to be concerned about. We also have to get clear on what the method and cure and remedy are. But, as I pointed out earlier, the remedy and cure will not help anyone unless he or she actually wants it. So, for this entry, I'll just focus on painting a small picture of the alternative--a phenomenology of the good life.
To present a phenomenology of the good life would be to exhibit the important features, aspects, and dimensions that are part of the experience of the good life. What is it like to live the good life--that is what a phenomenology would seek to describe. A phenomenology, at the outset, would not focus on the features that underlie those experiences or the conditions that make those experiences possible. Rather, it would seek to get right the descriptions of the experience. So consider a maxim like, "It is better to give than to receive." That may be a sound principle of human life and we might judge that it is an important feature of the good life--but how does it go with many people's experience of the implementation of that principle. Do many people experience the blessedness of giving? In so many cases, giving is experienced as a burden or obligation. It is accompanied even by feelings of resentment. Can this possibly be a description of the good life? Can a person who is giving but constantly burdened with this sense of obligation possibly be living the good life? Unfortunately, many people see this as the best that they can hope for. Or, at least, they are willing to stay at that level and accept that kind of experience as the status quo. And it can be quite a shift for such people to actually realize that it is possible to enjoy giving.
Now one of the challenges that faces any attempt to offer a phenomenology of the good life is that what constitutes a good life will vary, in many of its dimensions, from one person to another. So there's a danger that our phenomenology will be too narrow or shallow. For some people, the good life includes travel and seeing lots of exotic places. For others, it doesn't. And so there's a serious challenge--what experiences are core or essential to the good life. Again, I won't take on this whole task, but I'll consider what small part of another person's phenomenology of the good life.
Jesus offers a phenomenology of the good life. It's called the Sermon on the Mount. A lot of people have a hard time understanding what Jesus says here, and I won't take time to exposit the whole text, but I'll just focus on one small section and invite you to consider what it would be like if we lived life differently than we do.
"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder,' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." (Matthew 5:21-24)
Unfortunately, many people find only condemnation and judgment in a text like this and completely miss out on what Jesus is doing. Jesus seems completely unreasonable. Jesus is supposed to offer freedom from the law (or something like that--people are usually a bit vague on that point) but his "demands" sound completely ridiculous. The "law" was at least reasonable--don't murder. But Jesus says don't even be angry, or else you'll get thrown into the fiery hell.
Why do so many people see Jesus' teaching here as an impossible burden? Answer: because they don't think that it's actually possible to live without anger. Just like I was dealing with headaches and had just accepted that that was normal, so most people find themselves dealing with anger and they just tacitly accept that that must be normal. So when someone like Jesus comes along and teaches that anger is a really bad thing, he's immediately dismissed as unreasonable.
So let's think about this: Do you believe that anger is a really bad thing? Do you? Now immediately some people will start pulling out examples and cases where anger seems to be a good thing. If someone threatens to kill your wife and children, isn't it right and appropriate to get angry? Wouldn't a lack of anger show that you don't really care about them? Others will point out that Jesus got angry and that God is described as getting angry. So anger must be an okay thing, right? Now people might be correct in making these observations, but I think they ultimately just distract us from the issue. Many people will make these points just as excuses in order to avoid having to take a serious look at their own anger issues. And that's what I want to do here. So let's set aside these few "good" cases of anger and consider what anger does to most people in most of the world.
Think for a moment, what would a world without anger be like? How many of the world's problems would be eliminated if you eliminated anger? How many murders would be committed if anger were eliminated from the world? How many other violent crimes, cases of abuse, etc. would disappear if anger were to disappear from the world.
Now, that's all well and good but it's still a bit abstract. So let's think about how your life would be changed if you eliminated anger. How would your marriage be affected if you eliminated anger? There are an awful lot of couples out there who have simply accepted that anger and strife are part of their relationship. The first words that are exchanged between them when they wake each morning or when the husband comes home from work are angry words. And here's the crazy thing: they think this is normal. Or at least they've come to accept that and aren't doing anything to change it. Some couples will make excuses: "Well that's just how we relate to one another." "We both understand." "Well, that's just the way it is." And they just accept that. They don't consider, for instance, what affect their anger is having on their children. They may not realize until it's too late. One day their daughter will start dating a guy who treats her terribly. Her parents will wonder how she could possibly go out with such a guy. And only maybe they'll realize that the guy she's dating is the spitting image of her father. How much time is wasted in arguments. If you were to eliminate the anger from some households, they wouldn't know what to do with all the free time. Husband and wife would sit down to dinner and just stare at each other and not know what to say because dinners always used to be filled with bickering and fighting. Maybe, in the silence, they would rediscover their love for one another. What could people accomplish if they didn't have to deal with the after-effects of anger and hatred? How much more time would they have build relationships and be creative and touch lives for good?
Are you getting the picture? It's so easy for us to just accept that anger and bitterness and contempt and resentment are part of our world. But Jesus understands that that kind of life can only end hellaciously. Do you think that you can be angry and bitter towards people and avoid hurting them, causing suffering, and wounding people? Just look at the track record of history. People who think that they can control there anger always end up being controlled by their anger. It consumes them, kills the joy in their lives, creates barriers between them and other people. When you confront all these implications squarely--wouldn't you like to be free of anger?
Again, there are still serious questions that need to be dealt with: Is it possible to live free of anger? How can one eliminate anger from one's life? But for now I just want you to seriously think about whether it would be a good thing if you could live without anger? Is that something that you would like?
Do you wish to get well?
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
"A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, 'Do you wish to get well?'" (John 5:5-6)
This is an extremely important question: "Do you wish to get well?" You simply can't take it for granted that a person who finds himself in difficult circumstances will actually be interested in doing what is required to get out of those circumstances, even if given the opportunity. Maybe you've known people who, in spite of severe illness or pain, simply refuse to take medication or receive help from doctors. Sometimes people who are trapped in cycles of poverty will simply refuse work. People who suffer from depression or serious psychological disorders sometimes don't want to do what's necessary in order to become well. People make these kinds of decisions for a number of reasons. Sometimes they don't trust the people who are dispensing the remedy. Sometimes the remedy requires more work and effort than they are willing to exert. Sometimes the sense of despair that is associated with their difficulty defeats their will. And sometimes people simply aren't aware of or have a hard time seeing that they actually have a problem.
Whatever the causes, it's pretty clear that if a person does not want to get well, he probably will not get well. Especially where the trouble is not purely physical--where it involves a person's psychology, self-image, circumstances, relationships, etc.--wholeness and wellness just cannot come to a person who isn't willing to apply themselves to pursuing the cure.
So allow me to put the question to you: "Do you wish to get well?" You might respond to this question in a number of ways. Maybe you're not aware of any sickness in your life. Maybe you're aware of sickness in your life but don't know whether it's possible to be cured. Maybe you've been sick for so long (thirty-eight years or longer) and you've long since given up hope of ever being well. How strange, then, for someone to come along and say, "Do you wish to get well?" Maybe you'll want to get clear on what cure I'm recommending before you commit yourself? Or might this be some kind of sick joke: I ask you if you want to get well. You say, 'Yes,' and then I reveal that there actually is no cure.
I won't address all these issues here. Instead I want to zero in on one example in order to illustrate the general idea that I am trying to convey and I'll leave you to think about that.
--
"Do you wish to get well?" Again, you might not even be aware that you're sick. When I was growing up, I used to get pretty bad headaches. I don't think they were migraines but they'd be bad enough that I'd sometimes have to lie down for a couple hours a couple days a week. One day, I was lying in bed with one of these headaches and my dad came into the room. "Have you asked your doctor about these headaches?" he asked, "Because, you know, this isn't normal." It was one of those simple, yet absurdly profound, insights--for me. Was it really not normal to suffer with these kinds of headaches? I was so used to dealing with them that they had just become a part of my life--something that I had to deal with. Had the thought ever occurred to me that there might be a cure or remedy--that there might be a way of living better than this?
I had to learn that I was sick before I could even contemplate pursuing a cure. I had to realize that my condition was not 'normal' before I could even conceive of changing. Now I might have discovered that there was no way to cure my headaches--that I would always have to live with and deal with them. That was a possibility. But it was an important step for me to even recognize that there might be an alternative to the kind of life that I was living.
In the same way, when it comes to life in general, we can get so used to the way things are that we lose sight of the fact that things could go differently. Even when we're broken and dysfunctional, we may just settle for that. The challenge, then, for those of us who believe that there is a better way and believe that there is a reliable path to that better way, is to open people's eyes to this alternative. That, of course, is not the only thing that we have to be concerned about. We also have to get clear on what the method and cure and remedy are. But, as I pointed out earlier, the remedy and cure will not help anyone unless he or she actually wants it. So, for this entry, I'll just focus on painting a small picture of the alternative--a phenomenology of the good life.
To present a phenomenology of the good life would be to exhibit the important features, aspects, and dimensions that are part of the experience of the good life. What is it like to live the good life--that is what a phenomenology would seek to describe. A phenomenology, at the outset, would not focus on the features that underlie those experiences or the conditions that make those experiences possible. Rather, it would seek to get right the descriptions of the experience. So consider a maxim like, "It is better to give than to receive." That may be a sound principle of human life and we might judge that it is an important feature of the good life--but how does it go with many people's experience of the implementation of that principle. Do many people experience the blessedness of giving? In so many cases, giving is experienced as a burden or obligation. It is accompanied even by feelings of resentment. Can this possibly be a description of the good life? Can a person who is giving but constantly burdened with this sense of obligation possibly be living the good life? Unfortunately, many people see this as the best that they can hope for. Or, at least, they are willing to stay at that level and accept that kind of experience as the status quo. And it can be quite a shift for such people to actually realize that it is possible to enjoy giving.
Now one of the challenges that faces any attempt to offer a phenomenology of the good life is that what constitutes a good life will vary, in many of its dimensions, from one person to another. So there's a danger that our phenomenology will be too narrow or shallow. For some people, the good life includes travel and seeing lots of exotic places. For others, it doesn't. And so there's a serious challenge--what experiences are core or essential to the good life. Again, I won't take on this whole task, but I'll consider what small part of another person's phenomenology of the good life.
Jesus offers a phenomenology of the good life. It's called the Sermon on the Mount. A lot of people have a hard time understanding what Jesus says here, and I won't take time to exposit the whole text, but I'll just focus on one small section and invite you to consider what it would be like if we lived life differently than we do.
"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder,' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." (Matthew 5:21-24)
Unfortunately, many people find only condemnation and judgment in a text like this and completely miss out on what Jesus is doing. Jesus seems completely unreasonable. Jesus is supposed to offer freedom from the law (or something like that--people are usually a bit vague on that point) but his "demands" sound completely ridiculous. The "law" was at least reasonable--don't murder. But Jesus says don't even be angry, or else you'll get thrown into the fiery hell.
Why do so many people see Jesus' teaching here as an impossible burden? Answer: because they don't think that it's actually possible to live without anger. Just like I was dealing with headaches and had just accepted that that was normal, so most people find themselves dealing with anger and they just tacitly accept that that must be normal. So when someone like Jesus comes along and teaches that anger is a really bad thing, he's immediately dismissed as unreasonable.
So let's think about this: Do you believe that anger is a really bad thing? Do you? Now immediately some people will start pulling out examples and cases where anger seems to be a good thing. If someone threatens to kill your wife and children, isn't it right and appropriate to get angry? Wouldn't a lack of anger show that you don't really care about them? Others will point out that Jesus got angry and that God is described as getting angry. So anger must be an okay thing, right? Now people might be correct in making these observations, but I think they ultimately just distract us from the issue. Many people will make these points just as excuses in order to avoid having to take a serious look at their own anger issues. And that's what I want to do here. So let's set aside these few "good" cases of anger and consider what anger does to most people in most of the world.
Think for a moment, what would a world without anger be like? How many of the world's problems would be eliminated if you eliminated anger? How many murders would be committed if anger were eliminated from the world? How many other violent crimes, cases of abuse, etc. would disappear if anger were to disappear from the world.
Now, that's all well and good but it's still a bit abstract. So let's think about how your life would be changed if you eliminated anger. How would your marriage be affected if you eliminated anger? There are an awful lot of couples out there who have simply accepted that anger and strife are part of their relationship. The first words that are exchanged between them when they wake each morning or when the husband comes home from work are angry words. And here's the crazy thing: they think this is normal. Or at least they've come to accept that and aren't doing anything to change it. Some couples will make excuses: "Well that's just how we relate to one another." "We both understand." "Well, that's just the way it is." And they just accept that. They don't consider, for instance, what affect their anger is having on their children. They may not realize until it's too late. One day their daughter will start dating a guy who treats her terribly. Her parents will wonder how she could possibly go out with such a guy. And only maybe they'll realize that the guy she's dating is the spitting image of her father. How much time is wasted in arguments. If you were to eliminate the anger from some households, they wouldn't know what to do with all the free time. Husband and wife would sit down to dinner and just stare at each other and not know what to say because dinners always used to be filled with bickering and fighting. Maybe, in the silence, they would rediscover their love for one another. What could people accomplish if they didn't have to deal with the after-effects of anger and hatred? How much more time would they have build relationships and be creative and touch lives for good?
Are you getting the picture? It's so easy for us to just accept that anger and bitterness and contempt and resentment are part of our world. But Jesus understands that that kind of life can only end hellaciously. Do you think that you can be angry and bitter towards people and avoid hurting them, causing suffering, and wounding people? Just look at the track record of history. People who think that they can control there anger always end up being controlled by their anger. It consumes them, kills the joy in their lives, creates barriers between them and other people. When you confront all these implications squarely--wouldn't you like to be free of anger?
Again, there are still serious questions that need to be dealt with: Is it possible to live free of anger? How can one eliminate anger from one's life? But for now I just want you to seriously think about whether it would be a good thing if you could live without anger? Is that something that you would like?
Do you wish to get well?
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 11:20 AM
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