Expand Our Egos to . . . All!

Abstract

Expand our Egos to ... all! But, that is the exact opposite of what I was taught as a devout Catholic in the 1930's by Monsignor William and Sister Mary in parochial school. We were taught that we should suppress our Ego so Jesus could come and live in its place. We were supposed to mortify our flesh, our lower selves, by fasting, abstinence, and penance--giving up good things. I (my Ego) must die so God could live in me. My Ego was bad. It led to egotism. All this teaching was negative. Well, that whole mentality turned out, in my judgment, to be not only wrong, but even exactly wrong. We should not shrink our Egos; rather, we need to expand them--infinitely! Catholic Christianity, of course, was/is not alone in this negative approach to life--though recently the humorous note has spread that when Catholics meet non-Catholics the standard form of introduction is: Hi! I am Catholic, and I'm sorry. Catholicism, and all those in serious contact with Catholics, were significantly moved beyond this negativity by Vatican II's officially embracing dialogue with other Christians, adherents of other religions, and even agnostics/atheists--and the modern world. This more positive approach was significantly retrenched by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI in their restorationist efforts, but now with the winds of Vatican II once again blowing strongly behind our backs, encouraged by Everybody's Pope Francis, that open enthusiasm is flowing around the world once more. Francis has again been harking back to and lifting up Vatican II with its embrace of the modern world in respectful/critical dialogue; it was he told Catholic youth to make a mess, who, in referencing gay priests said, who am I to judge! and recommended that if you are at a stalemate, dialogue, dialogue! I was moved to reflect on these thoughts by a recent article in the New York Times by three social scientists (1) who, on the basis of research, rejected the until-then-prevalent idea that (vicariously sharing others' experience) is a 'parochial narrow-minded' emotion--one that 'will have to yield to reason if humanity is to survive.' Their experimentation-based research found the assumption, One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic, mistaken. Their research led them to conclude that empathy is only as limited as we choose it to be. This brings me back to the Ego. The ethical principle at the foundation of all major--and not-so-major--religions and ethical systems is the so-called Golden Rule, the first known expression of which is found in both Zoroaster and Confucius in the sixth century B. …