Mysticism and Its Curative Powers for Emotionally Impaired Athletes Chadwick Fionn Carlton Thd La Salle University

La Salle University La Salle University Digital Commons Th.D. Dissertations Scholarship 2018 Mysticism and Its Curative Powers for Emotionally Impaired Athletes Chadwick Fionn Carlton ThD La Salle University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/religion_thd Recommended Citation Carlton, Chadwick Fionn ThD, "Mysticism and Its Curative Powers for Emotionally Impaired Athletes" (2018). Th.D. Dissertations. 7. https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/religion_thd/7 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Scholarship at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Th.D. Dissertations by an authorized administrator of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. La Salle University School of Arts and Sciences Graduate Program In Theology and Ministry Dissertation Mysticism and Its Curative Powers for Emotionally Impaired Athletes By Chadwick Fionn Carlton (B.A., University of Maryland; M.S., St. Thomas University; M.T.S., Wesley Theological Seminary; D.Min., Wesley Theological Seminary) Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Theology 2018 Mysticism and Its Curative Powers for Emotionally Impaired Athletes By Chadwick Fionn Carlton Approved By Mentor: _________________________________ Anthony Paul Smith, La Salle University First Reader: _________________________________ Tom Legere, La Salle University Second Reader: _________________________________ Jack Downey, La Salle University Copyright @ 2018 By Chadwick Fionn Carlton All Rights reserved This is dedicated to Jesus Christ, my everything; my wife, Darice, and my kids, Dylan, Dru, and Denver, who haven’t wavered in love or earnest support as I have embarked on numerous quests to interpret God in ways that are intelligible and accessible to all humankind. To my mother, who never gave up on me and, at times worked menial jobs to supplement an expensive parochial education during my early years, which in her mind, would vouchsafe my success. To Uncle Charles, RIP, who made me believe I was bigger than life and that I could do anything! To grandmother, Bassebia Thompson Logan (deceased), who not only was a living epistle, but one of the most intelligent, uneducated people I have ever known. Thank you for showing me Jesus, and teaching me how to negotiate the vagaries of life. To my pastor, the inimitable Bishop Sherman Scott Howard (deceased), I am because you were . Finally, to my father, who never failed to exhibit a tireless work ethic, which I have applied incessantly to the care of my undertakings in the parish and community at large . Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..………………………………………………………………… iv Abstract …………………………………………………………………………….. viii Introduction ………………………………………………………………………….. ix Chapter One: Mysticism: Psychological and Spiritual Binary ……………………… 1 1.1 Mysticism and Healing, A Historical Witness .…………………………… 7 1.2 Summary ………………………………………………………………… 15 Chapter Two: Eckhart, McCall, and Thurman ……………………………………… 18 2.1 Abandonment, Abnegation and Eckhart …………………………………. 29 2.1.1 Change and Revelation: The Deification of Humanity ……….. 37 2.1.2 Purity, Indistinction, and Gelassenheit ………………………… 51 2.2 Adoration and McCall …………………………………………………… 61 2.3 Abandonment and Thurman ………………………………………………72 2.4 Summary ………………………………………………………………… 89 Chapter Three: Pain and Mysticism ………………………………………………… 94 3.1 Summary .……………………………………………………………….. 123 Chapter Four: The NFL and the Casualties of Concussions .….…………………… 127 4.1 Omalu’s Research ….…………………………………………………… 130 4.2 Consonance of Omalu’s Research: Recent Studies and Findings .………136 4.3 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy …141 4.3.1 Mindfulness: A Panacea or Farse …………………………….. 146 4.3.2 Some Realities Concomitant to the NFL ……………………… 151 !i Mysticism and Its Curative Powers for Emotionally Impaired Athletes 4.3.3 Other Sociological Considerations …………………………… 154 4.4 Summary .……………………………………………………………….. 160 Chapter Five: The Remedy of Contemplation, Centering and Silence …………….. 163 5.1 Summary .……………………………………………………………….. 173 Chapter Six: Conclusion - A Theology of Hope .…………………………………… 175 Bibliography …..…………………………………………………………………… 189 !ii Mysticism and Its Curative Powers for Emotionally Impaired Athletes !iii Acknowledgements I sat in my eighth-grade history class at St. John’s College Middle School and was increasingly enamored with the cadence, passion, aptitude, and charisma Brother Joseph Grabenstein, now Archivist at LaSalle University, exuded each day, who, I believe, sparked my initial interest in scholarship. Without his importunity that favored the disciplines of memorization and analysis, I’m not certain if I ever would have been prepared for the rigors of high school. And, to Drs. Krzysztof Szymonik and Raymond Nighan, my high school history and English teachers, respectively, who discerned my potential and thus, piqued my interests in world issues and classical literature. Your impressions served as the first inclination I’d have towards making some form of pedagogy my ultimate vocation. To you, I owe a debt of gratitude. Much of my high school years were spent acting out some unresolved pangs that plagued my innermost being. Accordingly, I consigned my sentiments to frivolous acts of boyish debauchery, which often frustrated the faculty, with the exception of one: Sergeant Major Vincent Fisher. May your soul rest in peace, Sargeant Major, but, moreover, may the piercing intonations of your distinct voice forever ring in my ears as you would say, “Carlton, you could be the mayor of the city if you applied yourself!” I didn’t become the mayor of D.C., Sergeant Major, but I hope you will be proud that your provocations helped me heal and become who I am today. To Dr. Sherry Parks, the first African-American professor I’d ever had, who made me believe - while a student at the University of Maryland - that I, too, could be part of a !iv Acknowledgements small percentage of academically trained people in the world. Thank you, Dr. Parks! The intense dialogue we shared on many days was, indeed, seminal and most resourceful! While in seminary, I met two extraordinary professors who were responsible for refining the depth that I had retained from so many: Drs. Beverly Mitchell and James Shopshire. Not only did you deepen my perspicacity into the woes of domestic and international oppression perpetrated onto the marginalized, but you denied me the veneration others, who were impressed with my potential, offered. Weekly, you challenged my writing and perception and constructively demanded my improvement. For some strange reason, I should hear you speak as I traversed the vagaries of this work. Thank you! Before I relent, I must pay deference to each football coach I ever had, from Coach Larry Hurd, my high school coach, to Coach Joe Krivak (deceased), my coach at the University of Maryland. Gentlemen, your insistence that I persevere, regardless of the impasses of life, was invaluable! I heeded your lessons through every hardship of this process. And, to my beloved kids, Dylan, Dru, and Denver, of whom I’m unworthy to rear. I’ve learned so much from all of you; mostly, that love and life are not expendable. Thank you for your patience, innocence, and distinctiveness. You are truly uncommon children! Finally, to the most impressive and vivacious woman I’ve ever met, my wife, Darice. You have cared, encouraged, and chastised me into fulfilling my dreams. I !v Acknowledgements cannot imagine life without your uniqueness. You’re a quintessential juxtaposition of sweet and sour, but as you would know, I love such a combination, as I would not prefer sweet tea without lemon. May this work in mysticism be a blessing to you as it was to me when introduced to its boundlessness by, in my opinion, one of the most creative scholars and gentlemen I have ever become acquainted with, Bishop Eugene Sutton, my professor in mystical studies, and Bishop of the Anglican Church, from the state of Maryland. I pray that you will agree that your countless hours of patience was well worth the sacrifice. I love you for being you but most of all, for allowing me to seek the sometimes unfathomable mysteries of God in unorthodox ways that may help professional football players, whose brains and emotions have been impaired, subdue the raging impulses proven to be self destructive, menacing to society, and, in many instances, fatal. May we, together, help the sport I spent more than twenty years playing and still love, recover from the stigma that the incidences of concussions and/or perils of social exigencies have precipitated. And, as they, the athletes we relish on Sundays, find rest in mystical praxes, may we, too, find rest in the same as we neutralize the blows of life, and negotiate the specters of our disaffection. !vi Mysticism and Its Curative Powers for Emotionally Impaired Athletes !vii Abstract The National Football League (NFL) has been encumbered with a plethora of brain injury cases due to the incidence of on-field acute linear impact, ostensibly sustained by its participants. According to medical examiner, Dr. Bennett Omalu, these occurrences have spawned the onset of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease, which may be the catalyst to discursive tendencies that are redolent to the occupation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, aggression, and reclusion. Since the majority of professional

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