The 7 Virtues for The Post-Modern World - Temperance!

Christ in the Wilderness by Stanley Spencer

Starting with this post, I will start a series on the 7 virtues! Exciting huh?

The seven virtues are hardly spoken of outside the walls of catechism. Perhaps they elicit in us horrid memories of old school nuns beating these virtues onto our bodies with human sized rulers. Perhaps they remind us of medieval, ascetical, and rigid spirituality.

But virtues matter. We shouldn't keep them in "medieval consciousness" boxes stored in our cultural attics. They should be unboxed, discovered, and be given a place in our 21st century homes.

As I will explore in these upcoming posts, these virtues are immensely necessary to our 21st century society. The postmodern world needs them more than ever. I will also offer practical ways to practice them in an urban context.

For today's post we will start with Temperance!

What is Temperance?
Temperance can be described as self-restraint or self control. It is connected with discipline. It evokes images of a moderate person who is not overrun by emotions and passions. Negatively, it can bring up images of a stoic individual who seems dry, joyless and lacking in emotional expressions.

True temperance, however, should bring joy. This negative aspect of the virtue is more connected with someone who practices temperance for temperance's sake, while forgetting the end goal of practicing virtues in general: theosis, or union with God.

Interestingly enough, temperance (and the practice of it) has a wide range of applications. We can practice temperance not only with material goods, but also with our emotions. We practice temperance, for example, when in anger we decide not to engage in violence but instead we practice non-violence and forgiveness.

With this example, we start seeing how temperance is hugely important in our modern world and its struggles towards social justice.

Temperance & The Holy Spirit
Temperance is also connected with the self-control, which is the last  fruit of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:22-23.) I believe this list of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is hierarchical, meaning that each fruit builds on top each other.

The apostle Paul lists self control at the bottom of the list, since it is not only the one we should start practicing with, but also the base where the Holy Spirit can build up the other gifts. It is for this reason that I wanted to start this series of the 7 virtues with Temperance.

The Virtue of Temperance for a Post-Modern World
There are many ways we can practice temperance in our urbanized world.

First, the practice of temperance encourages us to lead a simple life and to fight our senseless materialism that is sucking the precious resources of our earth. A study suggested that, if the rest of the world were to consume like Americans, we would need 4 planet earths!

Temperance, or self-control in materialism will help offset this senseless consumption of resources. It will teach us that we are not more entitled to these goods than people in other developing nations.

Secondly, temperance will help us in our struggle towards environmental justice. We practice self-control by making the sacrifices needed to reduce our carbon footprint. Like I've written in the past, the problem is not just the government, but we also bear a personal responsibility in destroying the environment.

Thirdly, temperance will also give us self-restrain in the things we do buy. We can practice it by paying attention to how our purchases affect the world around us and by showing self-restrain from buying goods that are probably cheaper, but they are built on maquilas or factories that are abusive to its workers, and even have child labor.

Since buying fair-trade goods is probably more expensive, this will require that we consume at a lower rate than we currently do. We will buy less things, but the ones we do will probably be of better quality. Sometimes less is more.

All of this, of course, require discipline. It is easier to go with the flow and simply buy what is convenient. It is easier to not think of what we are consuming instead of showing self-control by restraining our over-consumption.

In what other ways is temperance relevant in our post-modern world?

What St. Francis Taught Me About Reforming the Church

Photo by Jim Linwood

St. Francis has been an inspiration for me since my conversion 14 years ago. Reading one of his biographies was an instrumental piece of my conversion to Christ. I recently read another biography of him, and his life is once again full inspiration and deep insights for me.

In my recent reading of his life, however, I was able to appreciate more his efforts of reforming the Church. St. Francis, in my opinion, is one of the great reformers of the Church, and those called to the business of reforming the Church should do well in studying his life.

Speak No Evil

Before I start sharing what St. Francis taught me about reforming the Church, I want to share an experience that I had last night while praying with my wife, and how this experience changed radically the direction of this blog post.

My original idea for writing this blog was to pit St. Francis' way of reformation vs. Martin Luther's. I wanted to show how much I preferred St. Francis' way over Luther's, but I do not wish to do that anymore.

As my wife and I were praying, she asked the Holy Spirit to highlight anything to me for tomorrow. Immediately I heard the words Speak no evil. As I heard those words I felt God was telling me not to pit St. Francis against Martin Luther in my blog. I was, at that moment, filled with great compassion for Martin Luther, and I desired no longer to speak evil against the man.

Pitting St, Francis against Martin Luther after all, as I shall explain later, would contradict the spirit of St. Francis.

The Way of St. Francis

St. Francis didn't set out to reform the Catholic Church. When he heard Christ's call to repair His church at San Damiano, Francis undertook this calling quite literally and started repairing the crumbling small chapel.

Photo by Michael 1952.

St. Francis started restoring other crumbling small churches around the area as well. Slowly, other people, moved by his radical simplicity and humility, joined him in his efforts. The little brothers, as they were called, not only joined him in restoring these little churches, but also in imitating the way of St. Francis. They forsook material possessions, they practiced humility and obedience.

St. Francis' call to obedience is an essential part of his way of life. We can romanticize St. Francis as a humble lover of nature and poverty and ignore other characteristics that were integral part of him: his call to obedience to the Church.

He spoke no evil of the Church in a time where evil abounded in the Church. He remained obedient to the Church until his death. In an age where aversion to authority is common, this is indeed a hard pill to swallow.

The Way of Holiness

Ultimately, St. Francis' call to obedience is linked with his call to humility, and ultimately, his call to holiness. His love for the Church restrained him from speaking evil to a Church that probably deserved it, and instead he chose to give his life in service for the Church. St. Francis did not come to condemn the Church, but to give his life for her.

This way of holiness is deeply connected with the way of Christ, who, in like manner, didn't come to condemn the world but to save it. This is not to say that St. Francis (or Jesus, for that matter) didn't speak against evil. The way he did so, however, was from his personal example and his persistent call to penance. It is interesting to note that the word "penance" meant more a call to conversion or metanoia, which is a radical new way of thinking, than simple medieval self-flagellation. 

St. Francis, instead of condemning the Church, became a great example for the Church. He denounced greed in his preaching, while at the same time showing the way by being the way. Criticizing evil is easy. Becoming holy not so much.

St. Francis is Still Reforming the Church

The spirit of St. Francis is still reforming the Church. 

It is amazing to witness the incredible patience of God. When we want change, we want it now. There is nothing wrong with desiring change now. The problem is our propensity to force immediate change with violence, condemnation and divisions.

I believe God desires change now, but the way He chooses to deal with it is not always immediate. Sometimes we cannot make changes and reforms immediately without creating violence, hurt and divisions.

I have no doubts that God chose St. Francis to reform the Church. This reform, however, was not and it is not immediate. It is still happening, and God is still using St. Francis to reform the Church. 

Pope Francis, in choosing St. Francis as his namesake, is calling the Church to reform. You can clearly see how the example of St. Francis is still reforming the church, 800 years later.

And we have a part to play. During this season of Lent, we are called to reform ourselves, and by doing so, reform the Church. What the Church needs more of is not people who are condemning and pointing constantly to the need of reform verbally. Of those we have abundantly. What the Church needs more are examples of holy living and for us to lead the way of Christ, by not coming to the Church to condemn it, but to save it.

What Walking in The Rain Taught Me About Entitlements

This past Wednesday it rained heavily. It didn't rain for most of the day, despite what the weather forecast told us. No, it started raining just as soon as I left the office to head to my evening appointment.

To make matters worse, I hadn't driven my car to work and to get to my appointment, I had to walk 40 minutes between transit stations. Not only that, but the heavy winds made it impossible for me not to get soaking wet, despite my sizable umbrella.

As I walked, I started to get understandably upset. After I got upset, I started to feel sorry for myself. I'm fighting a cold, and now I'm walking in the rain I thought. After feeling sorry for myself, I felt that an injustice was being done to me. I grew bitter, looking for someone to blame.

And then, I remembered to give thanks for the rain.

My Comfort is Important!
We live in a place where most of us are accustomed to certain comforts that we take for granted. Most of us have a place to take shelter from the elements. Most of us can take a hot shower when we need it. Most of us have a warm bed waiting for us at night.

Most us are used to these comforts.

After so many years of living with these comforts, I must confess that I not only take them for granted, but I take them as my rights and entitlements. I have grown accustomed to expect those comforts, and when I'm deprived of them (like the day I found myself walking in the rain) I feel that an injustice has been done to me.

What's irrational about this whole situation is that I felt this way despite the fact that California is going through a drought, and we desperately need the rain! My comfort was more important than California's need for rain.

St. Francis is Wrecking My Life

I've been reading a biography of St. Francis and it has made me question how I'm living my life. When St. Francis started his order, the Little Brothers adhered quite strictly to the rule of poverty. They didn't own anything. They walked barefooted. Many times the brothers slept on the streets during winter, fighting the merciless cold weather.

And yet they were filled with joy and contentment.

Why is it that the Little Brothers, who forsook all comforts and dealt with worse circumstances than I ever have, found themselves with greater joy, while on the other hand I, when I found myself in an uncomfortable situation, was angry, filled with self-pity, and felt as if my rights were taken away?

The answer to that question is because I felt entitled. I have grown so accustomed to my comforts that they almost became an idol, and when they are taken away from me, my joy and peace lose all their bases for being.

We, The Entitled People
We are told that as Americans, we are an entitled nation. Whether this is true or not, it is undeniable that we are blessed with more comforts than many other developed nations in the world. I believe that the overabundance of these comforts breeds and feeds our sense of entitlement.

As Lent is well underway, the Church calls us to times of abstinence, penance, and almsgiving. What a perfect opportunity this is to shave away so many of the things we feel are our rights!

I invite you then, to fully go into this time of Lent and embrace all of its practices, not out of a mere sense of obligation, but out of a sense of love for God and others. Joyfully give up what you discern are entitlements, and give them to others who need it. Abstain not for the sake of abstaining, but as a spiritual practice that will chip non-essentials out of your life.

As you do this, see if you begin to shift your attitude towards those things you are abstaining from. See if you still consider them as entitlements, rights, or worse as deserved, or if instead you begin to see them as gifts of pure Grace from God.

Give abundantly and eagerly. Deny yourself and carry your cross. Give thanks to God in all things. This is our call for Lent.

Media Fast: An Experiment in Digital Simplicity!

My wife and I took a solitude retreat this past weekend to one of our favorite retreat places by Point Reyes. We brought minimal entertainment supplies: two books each, and of them was the Bible.

A little apprehensive with the horrid expectation of being bored out of our minds, we went to our retreat place ready for some change of scenery.

And then Rest Happened
As life's frantic pace took a rest, and as the complexities of event and creative time management gave way to a simpler schedule (sleep, pray, eat, read, repeat) the restlessness gave way to a deep rest.

We started to enjoy more whatever we were doing, without thinking about the myriads of things we should be doing. We started to enjoy the present moment, without thinking of whatever big and exciting event was around the corner.

Despite my meager entertainment choices, I don't remember ever getting bored. I realized that my fear of getting bored is borderline paranoia. Boredom is not out to get me. There is no need to fight it off with an army of gadgets.

Media Fast!

After our retreat, my wife and I decided to make Tuesdays our media fast. This past Tuesday was a day when we didn't watch any TV. We missed not having our evenings filled with Parks & Rec, New Girl or Call the Midwife, but we enjoyed the conversations, the friends we had over for dinner, and just the quiet moments to reflect and meditate.

This is something that I encourage all of us to do: pick a day out of your week and fast from media. How this looks like may be different for all of us. Fasting from media may mean not watching any TV for that day. Maybe it is not checking any social media, phones, or (oh the horror!) the internet.

Experiment and adjust as necessary, but whatever you do, give yourself and your mind a break.

Paralyzed by Choices: The Freedom of Simplicity

The entertainment choices that I have are endless. I have limitless choices of what to watch on TV, thanks to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and some other apps I can cast to my TV. If I count all the options available, it is well over a million.

And then, there are books. I literally own close to 200 hundred books, and I have read maybe a third of them. If I were to read all of the books I haven't yet read in my library, it would take me close to 960 hours to do so, or about 40 non-stop days.

Additionally, I have Podcasts. I recently deleted 5 gigs' worth of Podcasts that I haven't listened to for lack of time. Those Podcasts were slowing down my phone to the point that I couldn't do much with it.

It is no surprise that I feel increasingly restless and unsatisfied with my free time to the point that I actually dread it, while at the same time long for it.

I feel paralyzed by too many choices.

The Debilitating Paradox of Choices

According to psychologist Barry Schwartz, in the western world we live under the assumption that in order to increase personal freedom we need to increase our choices. Unfortunately, the more choices we have, the less satisfied we are.

Why? Schwartz claims that when we have too many choices, we have the expectation of making the one perfect choice. Even if we make a good choice, we still feel that a better choice is out there in the world. This nagging feeling of missing out on the best choice actually prevents us from enjoying the choices we do make.

We can spend many hours making a choice, and in the end we feel that maybe we could have chosen something better.

Not only that, but if the choices we made don't meet our ridiculously high expectations of perfection, we only have ourselves to blame. When we are presented with only one choice, and if that choice is unsatisfying, then we naturally blame outside forces for it. If we make a choice out of endless choices and we are still unsatisfied with it, then we are the only ones to blame.

As you can see then, having too many choices not only paralyzes us and raises our expectations to unhealthy and unrealistic levels, but also prevents us from enjoying the choices we make and makes us feel bad about ourselves when those expectations aren't met.

What to Do? The Liberating Boundaries of Simplicity

I believe our call to simplicity is an answer to the tyranny of too many choices. Our culture teaches us to rebel against boundaries and in this process of rebellion we sell our freedom to the ruthless forces of licentiousness and liberties.

Simplicity also enables us to truly concentrate on our inner life, by freeing us up from the addictions of our endless choices. The less time you spend obsessed over what to watch, play, or read, the more time you can spend in single-minded pursuit of God and His purposes for you.

Fortunately, simplicity offers us a model where we can regain our freedom by the liberating act of freeing ourselves of endless choices.

Here are 3 things you can do to reduce your choices and practice simplicity:

1. Declutter! Start a 3-day experiment of decluttering your living spaces of things you don't need, and only keep those that bring you joy. On day 1 start with clothes, day 2 books, and day 3 media (DVDs, CDs etc). This will narrow the choices that you have to the things that really bring you joy, and will bring greater simplicity and satisfaction to the choices you make.

2. Schedule and plan your entertainment! I'm not advocating that you get rid of your Netflix subscription, or all of your entertainment options in order to experience freedom. We all need times to relax and unwind after a stressful day. In order to get the most out of our entertainment we need to schedule and plan for it. Instead of wasting time on trying to decide which movie or episode to watch, spend some time planning what you'll watch this week, and schedule that time in your calendar.

3. Stick to one book per week. If you have a big library and a desire to read many books, chances are that you're reading too many books at once, and only finishing half the books that you start. As you are reading a book, instead of enjoying it your mind is thinking of the 3 other books you are reading at the same time. To prevent this, pick one book that you want to read for a week (or two weeks, depending on how fast you read) and stick to it! One week is short enough of a time frame that if your mind starts thinking of other books you wish to read, you'll know that you can get to them soon, liberating you to enjoy the choice you made for this week.

That's it for now! Do you have any other advice on how to simplify your life?

Decluttering! An Experiment in Simplicity

Ever since I became a follower of Jesus I have been fascinated by simplicity.

Leading a simple life, with all the romantic and idealistic connotations that it inspires, is a passion of mine. This passion, unfortunately, often comes into conflict with other passions I've nurtured: technology, media, books, and many other forms of entertainment.

As the years went by, I slowly collected an impressive array of entertainment options. It would probably take me a lifetime to consume all of it!

This brought an incredible amount of clutter to my life, and the weight of it all was becoming unbearable. My dreams of simplicity took space in the back burner of my mind, slowly simmering and nagging me as the years went by.

A Book & The Beginning of an Experiment
And then I bought a book by Marie Kondo on the Japanese Art of Decluttering & Organizing that everyone in my office was talking about. Hmm...I thought, why not? And in capitalistic irony, I sought my solution to decluttering from media by buying one more book.

As I read the book, I found it peculiar. Kondo is quite the odd cookie, to put it mildly. Her KonMari method (you guessed it, the method is named after her last and first name) seemed to make sense however, and talking it over with my wife, we decided to plunge into a scary and yet exciting experiment. Let's try it out, we said, armed with book in hand, fear and determination.

Day 1: Clothes
The book recommends starting with clothes. We gathered all of our clothes into the living room. Every. Single. Item.

As we gathered our clothes from different rooms in our home, the disturbing explosion in our living room was convicting. It looked as if a GAP suddenly imploded in our living space. How did we get this amount of clothes? our shocked eyes seemed to express.

Then, we proceeded by grabbing each item, holding it, and asking ourselves, "does this spark joy?" We found the simple question to be powerful, and as we went trough every single item, we found that we owned a lot of clothes that we didn't even like.

After two hours of rummaging through our beloved wearables, we managed to purge a third to a half of our clothes. Some of them we got rid of, the gently used ones (sans underwear) we donated.

Day 2: Books
Gosh darn it to heck! I knew the day would come when I needed to go through the pride and glory of my media collection: books.

My dear and beloved books, how could I get rid of you? You have brought so much inspiration, laughter, and tears to my life. And yet I look at y'all with apprehension at the thought of moving again: the unbearably heavy boxes we put you in did no favors to my back and my manhood!

As this heart-wrenching day started, we again gathered EVERY SINGLE BOOK into the living room. The process itself took longer than we thought. We struggled to find an open space to put ALL the books on, and even our chairs and couch had to do double duty.

As I asked myself the question, "does this book spark joy?" it became more and more difficult to answer. Who cares?! I thought I want to read it someday! 

Slowly, however, my wife and I were able to get rid of a third of our books. We filled 5 heavy boxes of them, and yet we still managed to keep a sizable collection to ourselves.

The book purge wasn't as successful, but we felt pretty good about the end result: an organized library by category, and an awareness of so many good books we really want to read, but that were forgotten.

We Still Have Much More to Do
We are still not done with our experiment. We are very pleased, however, at the changes this has brought us.

I have been reflecting on the effect the endless choices of media and entertainment that I have. I believe this ultimately has a negative effect on our spirituality, and it can actually detract from it.

I have been convicted in my prayers about how much stuff I actually own, and I am more aware now of how those things wear me down and bring unnecessary stress to my life.

Stay tuned for a follow-up post this Friday about how too many options distract us from the inner life and our walk with God, and how a commitment to simplicity will aid us in this journey of faith.