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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 9/22/15

Pope Francis and Jean Houston: Brother, Can You Paradigm?

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In his short book translated as THE MEANING OF HOLINESS, translated by Dorothea O'Sullivan, with an introduction Dom Illtyd Trethowan (London: The Catholic Book Club, 1954), Lavelle devotes a chapter to discussing St. Francis of Assisi (pages 28-48). But Lavelle does not discuss St. Ignatius Loyola or Jesuit spirituality.

I also recommend Lavelle's conceptually accessible but not easy to read essay Those Who Are Separated and United" in his book EVIL AND SUFFERING, translated by Bernard Murchland (New York: Macmillan, 1963, pages 93-152).

So far as I know, the only other book by Lavelle translated into English is THE DILEMMA OF NARCISSUS, translated with an introduction and notes by W. T. Gairdner (London: George Allen & Unwin; and New York: Humanities Press, 1973). This was published as part of the book series known as the Muirhead Library of Philosophy.

For an accessible introductory survey of Lavelle's thought, see James Collins' article "Louis Lavelle on Human Participation" in the PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW, volume 56, number 2 (March 1947): pages 156-183).

Concerning St. Francis of Assisi, also see Eloi Leclerc's book THE CANTICLE OF CREATURES: SYMBOLS OF UNION: AN ANALYSIS OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, translated by Matthew J. O'Connell (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1977; orig. French ed., 1970).

Arguably finding God in all things involves the participation mystique that the French philosopher Lucien Levy-Bruhl writes about in his famous book HOW NATIVES THINK, authorized translation by Lilian A. Clark, with a new introduction by C. Scott Littleton (Princeton University Press, 1985).

Arguably finding God in all things involves encountering and engaging the life-force that Jean Houston writes about in her book LIFEFORCE: THE PSYCHO-HISTORICAL RECOVERY OF THE SELF (New York: Delacorte Press, 1980).

Now, in his recent eco-encyclical, Pope Francis has criticized the technocratic paradigm in global capitalism and called for a change. But he stopped well short of calling for an alternative economic model (e.g., a socialistic economic model or a communistic economic model) to replace the capitalistic model of the economy.

Thus Pope Francis is, in effect, calling for a paradigm shift away from the technocratic paradigm. But he does not happen to use the expression "paradigm shift" (associated with Thomas Kuhn). Nor does Pope Francis spell out in detail exactly what a shift away from the technocratic paradigm might involve.

Now, just as I said above that I did not want to try to put words into Dri's mouth, so too I do not want to try to put words into Pope Francis' mouth.

Nevertheless, I do want to say that Jean Houston of the Human Potential Movement, which is devoted to empowering people, has been working diligently for years to encourage people to cultivate a paradigm shift in their lives that involves a shift away from the technocratic paradigm. She is a past president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology.

Now, in the book LIVING HISTORY (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003, pages 264-265), former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (born in 1947) recounts her famous consultation with Jean Houston (born in 1937) in the White House.

Jean put Hillary up to carrying on both sides of an imaginary conversation with the long-deceased First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

But when the journalist Bob Woodward heard about this, he turned it into a sensationalistic account that was excerpted in NEWSWEEK magazine for his then-forthcoming book.

However, unbeknownst to Bob Woodard, in the cookbook-like instructions in the SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, St. Ignatius Loyola repeatedly includes instructions for Jesuits and other making retreats following his guidebook to carry on both sides of an imaginary conversation with a biblical figure such as Jesus or Mary.

Therefore, it is probably safe to say that Bob Woodward never made a retreat following the SPIRITUAL EXERCISES. But Jean Houston had.

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Thomas James Farrell is professor emeritus of writing studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). He started teaching at UMD in Fall 1987, and he retired from UMD at the end of May 2009. He was born in 1944. He holds three degrees from Saint Louis University (SLU): B.A. in English, 1966; M.A.(T) in English 1968; Ph.D.in higher education, 1974. On May 16, 1969, the editors of the SLU student newspaper named him Man of the Year, an honor customarily conferred on an administrator or a faculty member, not on a graduate student -- nor on a woman up to that time. He is the proud author of the book (more...)
 

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