Hearts and Brains and Courage – Oh My!

Austrian psychotherapist Alfred Adler may have died two years before the film release of The Wizard of Oz, but he probably would have been a fan.

Adler famously counseled that in any human endeavor we should follow our hearts – but we must also take our brains along with us.

L. Frank Baum’s masterpiece drilled a little bit deeper and found courage, too, a critical element. All three harmoniously work their magic together – the heart leads while the mind counsels and courage finds a way.

This generation may have forgotten what it takes. It’s all too easy to permit our hearts alone – our feelings – to guide us. In matters of religion, politics, and personal relationships, we more often abide by our heart while we turn aside the counsel of our head.

We may well know better, but our feelings have permission to dominate. We act as if all of our feelings are pure, our hearts are innocent, and our desires always lead to truth. We need to believe that whatever the heart alone seeks is necessarily good.

But none of this is true innocence, where guilt is absent and the soul is free of discord. No. It’s naiveté. It’s foolishness. And it’s certainly not biblical.

We are called, as are the saints, to be clever, and brave, and prudent, and wise, as well as innocent. We are never called to stupidity.

We shouldn’t check our brains at the Church door, and it is disastrous to do so when we engage in public discourse or otherwise enter into the public square:

Remember, I am sending you out to be like sheep among wolves; you must be wary, then, as serpents, and yet innocent as doves.  Do not put your trust in men (Matthew 10:16).

The seemingly paradoxical parable known as the Unjust Steward sheds more light on the point (Luke 16:1-13):

A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said “What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.” The steward said to himself “What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.” He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said “How much do you owe my master?” He replied “One hundred measures of olive oil.” He said to him “Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.”

And on he went. But isn’t this embezzlement, theft and fraud? Yes – and yet, the master’s reaction was not what we may have anticipated:

And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”

Clever and prudent. The unjust steward was both. He survived. And Christ approved – yet He didn’t deny the steward’s dishonesty. There must be something more here for us to grasp.

Christ seems to be twice admonishing that it’s not enough for our hearts alone to guide us through this world. We must also be clever, and brave, and prudent, and wise. We are called to tap the God-given power of our minds, and be all the more willing to use it, just as the saints have done throughout the ages.*

We have to know and understand our world by seeing what is, not by what we want it to be. Content to rely upon our feelings, we have allowed ourselves to grow lazy, and indulgent, and selfish. More often than not delusion trumps truth, naiveté trumps innocence, and silence trumps action.

The brilliant and rather blunt Rev. George W. Rutler, Pastor of St. Michael’s Church in NYC and occasional EWTN program host, had this to say about the horrifying events now raging throughout the Middle East (Weekly Column, September 14,2014):

We are now engaged in a war, whether or not some politicians hesitate to call it that, and it must have priority over all other interests. The war is being fought by enemies of God, deluded by conceit that they are fighting for God. This is so hard for an indulged and selfish culture to accept, inasmuch as it means acknowledging that good and evil exist, though many would prefer to ignore the latter. Christians are being martyred in the Middle East, and public officials still find it hard to mention that those who are being crucified, beheaded, and driven from their homes are suffering because they are Christians. The auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, Shlemon Warduni, said on Vatican radio: “We have to ask the world: Why are you silent? Why do not you speak out? Do human rights exist, or not? And if they exist, where are they?

More:

As this suffering continues, many in the United States are willing to tolerate heresy and moral decadence in a vain attempt to “get along” with others. While Christians must “love the sinner and hate the sin,” there are an increasing number of people who are intimidated into enabling the sinner to advertise his sin . . . The holy martyrs in the Middle East honor the Church and atone for our degeneracy. Their bishops are willing to struggle and die with them. They must be amazed that bishops and people in other places have their priorities so wrong.

We can all too easily dismiss and ignore the evil closing in on us because we would rather not believe that it actually exists. Our hearts compel us in one direction even as our heads may sense the warning signals coming from another. Courage fails us.

We have chosen silence, inaction, and delusion instead of heeding the call to courage, prudence, and wisdom. Clearly, we’re not in Oz. We’re not even following the yellow brick road.

This story in particular – if the details prove accurate – may well serve as an ominous warning about the unfortunate direction that we are now rapidly heading.**

We seem to have heart in abundance. But these times call for the wisdom and the courage of saints.

Despite Francis’ recent warnings, count me among those who are not very optimistic that we have sufficient will to engage rapidly enough to confront the evil that we now face. I hope that I’m wrong.

Pray that I am.

Peace

* Inspired by, and adapted from, the teachings of Fr. George W. Rutler, Christ in the City (Season V, Disc 1)

** Hat tip: Doug Giles and Clash Daily

NOTE: Further reflections on the Unjust Steward parable, where Christ is Himself considered the steward, can be found in this Patheos post from 2011.