Spiritual accompaniment

I came upon this The Person…Readings in Human Nature – edited by William O Stephens – recently in a Little Free Library. While skimming through it at the Little Free Library, I found the book to be – as per the book’s description – be an anthology of modern and historical perspectives on “personhood” from well-recognized writers and philosophers over the centuries (our modern view of personhood is actually a fairy recent perspective….).

I’ve always taken an interest in the psychology of human development. I brought home this particular book as it speaks to a particular interest I have at the moment: the distinct impact of living a Christian life on the human person (and, how a person lives their life).

Many of the historical and contemporary thinkers whose perspectives are included in this book are secular. One of them is St. Thomas Aquinas (13th century). The opportunity to look at these multiple perspectives is interesting…..

Anyone who has ever sat in a church pew knows that what we hear of Christianity on Sunday is suppose to be applied in our lives…. And, that it isn’t always applied in people’s lives Monday through Saturday.

Last Wednesday, I was at mass listening to an Ash Wednesday homily. During the homily, it occurred to me that the perspective was a perspective that has infused my life “more than I had realized.” I found myself noticing that the perspective offered in the homily was a perspective that I had learned growing in my denomination and that it had fundamentally become part of my worldview….. Several years ago, I was struggling through a difficult period. Myself and the people around me were trying to make sense of my situation and how I might move out of the difficult period. I was away from church at the time and simply saw my perspective at the time as “my perspective” (and, a perspective – if you would have asked me at the time – was a perspective no different than anyone else’s. Or, since we all have a perspective, I might have thought my perspective to be a secular one since I wasn’t religiously active at the time)….. As we searched for ways to mentally frame both my situation and a solution, I noticed that myself and secular folks around me at the time were framing an effort to find a solution very differently. I didn’t have a sense at the time of what those differing perspectives were…… Later – during last Wednesday’s Ash Wednesday homily – I realized that the perspective I was applying at the time was rooted in a very Catholic perspective; even though I wasn’t religiously active at the time. Having grown up Catholic, I had absorbed a world view that was more distinct than I had realized. Fish don’t realize they are swimming in water as water is what they know.

A solution to my above-mentioned challenge was found later – in the Catholic pews to which I had returned. Allowing God to work in my life brought me to a solution to a vexing challenge.

I am looking forward to reading at least several sections The Person…Readings in Human Nature. I look forward to reflecting via this book – from the perspective of “how we live in the world as persons” – the distinctiveness of the worldview I pondered on Ash Wednesday. How well I apply that worldview to living well and being of service is always up for review…..

Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechist and The Books of the Ages (and a member of the Association of Catholic Publishers). If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them (thank you!). You can also support this blog by clicking here when you are going to shop on Amazon (that lands A Parish Catechist a commission on Amazon sales).