somebody stop me

Evangelium Vitae, by Pope John Paul II

I did it again. I cracked yet another book. Starting books is the new speedreading.

Anyway, this book reminds me of A Christian Manifesto in that John Paul II attempts to paint a broader picture of our culture in the modern age, and to detemine the root of the problem. He does this largely in theological terms, although he does discuss government a bit in sections 21, 22.

Quotable quote which stuck out to me:

The values of being are replaced by those of having.

Here the John Paul II was talking about the way that man’s refusal to acknowledge God leads him to an existence which is oriented toward gratification, and that in so doing, he becomes detatched from his own life. His ultimate aim is control; every aspect of life under his control, and even the circumstances of his death are, by his right, under his control. It conjured for me a picture of modern man watching himself live his life literally from outside himself, almost as if he were manipulating a doll. He does not feel what he ought to feel, because the only sensations he accepts are pleasurable ones.

Indeed, what JPII says about suffering is reminiscent of Victor Frankle. JPII says:

In such a context suffering, an inescapable burden of human existence but also a factor of possible human personal growth, is “censored,” rejected as useless, indeed opposed as an evil, always and in every way to be avoided.

This reminds me of Frankle largely because of the potential meaning it proposes for suffering. I’d round that out with a good Frankle quote except it is stinkin’ late and I have to get up in oh-so-few hours. I leave the Frankle quotation as an exercize for the interpid reader/commentor who wishes this task upon him or herself.