E
Edwyn
Guest
I think it is apparent to everybody that the ability to recognize one’s own and others’ emotions and handle them appropriately, a skill called “emotional intelligence”, is vital to living well. However, it seems to me that there is a lack of information on how we, as Christians and particularly as Catholics, are to achieve this within our own religious traditions and tenets.
As far as my research goes, this topic is very much alive and handled well by Eastern Catholics and the Orthodox Christians because of how focused their theologies and pastoral efforts are in managing out-of-control emotions, which they call the “demons” or “passions”. But for Catholics and other Christians, the recent books and other resources I have been reading and listening to are more and more heavily borrowing from psychology and even Buddhism. Now I am not disparaging the great advances and help the medical sciences have given to people having emotional issues of all severities, nor the numerous insights into the workings of the minds and hearts Buddhism has given us. What I am trying to say is: isn’t it weird that the Catholic Church, the “expert in humanity” as it has called itself, and her members seem to have little to draw from their own traditions and teachings about “emotional intelligence” aside from “do not fear”, “trust in the Lord”, “pray often” (especially for many Catholics, “pray the Rosary” or whatever is their favorite devotion) and other such commandments, advice, and sayings?
It was G.K. Chesterton who showed me how wrong I was about the Catholic Church. She really is the expert on humanity, because she has a way of “emotional intelligence” that is unique to all the world. The world seeks to control emotions by limiting their intensity: the behavioral sciences through correct thinking and, if needed, medications; Buddhism and other philosophies like the Stoics through correct perception and mindfulness. But the Catholic Church does not want her children to have blunted emotions. For her, the way to control emotions is to give them places to go forth and be wild and free.
In the virtue of Love you can love God without limit.
In the virtue of Hope you can hope in God without limit.
In the virtue and Sacrament of Penance you can hate sin without limit.
In the virtue and acts of Reparation you can be sad for sins without limit.
In meditating Hell you can despair for the lost souls without limit.
In meditating Heaven you can desire for eternal happiness without limit.
In God you can rejoice without limit.
In the gift of the Fear of the Lord you can fear without limit.
In the gift of Fortitude you can be courageous without limit.
The Catholic heart is a wildlife preserve.
As far as my research goes, this topic is very much alive and handled well by Eastern Catholics and the Orthodox Christians because of how focused their theologies and pastoral efforts are in managing out-of-control emotions, which they call the “demons” or “passions”. But for Catholics and other Christians, the recent books and other resources I have been reading and listening to are more and more heavily borrowing from psychology and even Buddhism. Now I am not disparaging the great advances and help the medical sciences have given to people having emotional issues of all severities, nor the numerous insights into the workings of the minds and hearts Buddhism has given us. What I am trying to say is: isn’t it weird that the Catholic Church, the “expert in humanity” as it has called itself, and her members seem to have little to draw from their own traditions and teachings about “emotional intelligence” aside from “do not fear”, “trust in the Lord”, “pray often” (especially for many Catholics, “pray the Rosary” or whatever is their favorite devotion) and other such commandments, advice, and sayings?
It was G.K. Chesterton who showed me how wrong I was about the Catholic Church. She really is the expert on humanity, because she has a way of “emotional intelligence” that is unique to all the world. The world seeks to control emotions by limiting their intensity: the behavioral sciences through correct thinking and, if needed, medications; Buddhism and other philosophies like the Stoics through correct perception and mindfulness. But the Catholic Church does not want her children to have blunted emotions. For her, the way to control emotions is to give them places to go forth and be wild and free.
In the virtue of Love you can love God without limit.
In the virtue of Hope you can hope in God without limit.
In the virtue and Sacrament of Penance you can hate sin without limit.
In the virtue and acts of Reparation you can be sad for sins without limit.
In meditating Hell you can despair for the lost souls without limit.
In meditating Heaven you can desire for eternal happiness without limit.
In God you can rejoice without limit.
In the gift of the Fear of the Lord you can fear without limit.
In the gift of Fortitude you can be courageous without limit.
The Catholic heart is a wildlife preserve.
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