S T U D I E S I N C A T H O L I C F A I T H & C U L T U R E THE POSTMODERN BIND AND ST. JOHN PAUL II'S RESPONSE OF LOVE DR. IRENE ALEXANDER TIMELINE For a perfect illustratioN of the problem of postmoderNism, we Need look No further thaN a SeiNfeld episode oN pizza. As we have discussed, the challeNge of 1962-65 postmoderNism is Not that there is a dispute over a right aNd a wroNg aNswer, but SecoNd VaticaN CouNcil. that there No loNger is a right aNd wroNg at all; everythiNg is reducible to oNe’s Wojtyla helps draft persoNal choice. This radical “freedom” leaves us with NothiNg other thaN a will Gaudium et Spes. to power. St. JohN Paul II was keeNly aware of the problems of postmoderNism, but rather thaN startiNg with the Natural Law, he started with the fuNdameNtal 1967 humaN desire for love. By begiNNiNg with the Need for love, he sidestepped the Wojtyla becomes a postmoderN critique aNd established a better way to come to truth aNd CardiNal. Assists iN commuNity. draftiNg HumaNae Vitae. 1978 SEINFELD AND PIZZA Karol Wojtyla elected Pope The SeiNfeld Pizza Episode is a classic example of the dilemma of JohN Paul II. PostmoderNism. The debate begiNs wheN oNe of the characters waNts to put cucumbers oN a pizza. ANother character explaiNs that you caN’t put cucumbers oN a pizza because theN it’s Not a pizza. The cucumber offeNder asks, “What 1979-84 gives you the right to tell me what to put oN my pizza?” The purist persists that JohN Paul II gives his the wroNg toppiNgs violate the esseNce of pizza, to which the offeNder respoNds, “Theology of the Body” “It’s a pizza wheN it comes out of the oveN!” The grouNds of the debate theN lectures shift over wheN a pizza becomes a pizza: is it wheN you put your fiNgers iN the dough, or wheN you take it out of the oveN? (A Not-so-thiNly veiled refereNce to 1985 the abortioN debate.) JohN Paul II issues eNcyclical EvaNgelium Vitae The poiNt is Not which side is right, but that there is No right—it’s all persoNal (“Gospel of Life”) choice to defiNe what a pizza is (or isN’t). This is the esseNce of PostmoderNism: Not that there is oNe side that is right aNd aNother that is wroNg, but that there is 1989-98 a radical “freedom” of persoNal choices. All that’s left is a will to power, which SeiNfeld oNe of most Nietzsche called Nihilism (NothiNg). There is No meaNiNg iN thiNgs; we create popular shows oN US that meaNiNg for ourselves. televisioN Nietzsche said that most of us do Not exercise this Will to Power: most Questions for of us doN’t dare to push beyoNd the received traditioNs aNd defiNe meaNiNg for ourselves. Consideration 1. IN what ways have you eNcouNtered postmoderNism iN THE SPLENDOR OF TRUTH your life? Where have you eNcouNtered the attitude Not St. JohN Paul II respoNds to this worldview iN his eNcyclical Veritatis just that there are disputes SpleNdor (“The SpleNdor of Truth”). ONce you elimiNate the idea of over the truth, but that truth iN thiNgs, he argues, coNscieNce slips away. “everyoNe has his or her owN truth”? What is your CoNscieNce comes from the LatiN words coN (com) aNd scire, literally experieNce with this, aNd how meaNiNg a “co-kNowiNg”. We kNow aloNg with the truth of thiNgs. have you formulated aN Without that grouNdiNg iN truth, what is left is simply the will, the aNswer? choice, of the iNdividual’s owN will. Just as if you were to choose oNe type of pizza toppiNg or aNother—everythiNg is just persoNal choice. 2. Would you put cucumbers oN a pizza? Why or why Not? St. JohN Paul II fiNds this problematic, Not oNly because it harms WheN is a pizza a pizza? Take others, but also because it harms ourselves. Dr. AlexaNder gives the the time to thiNk deeply about example of learNiNg how to couNsel a womaN who is thiNkiNg of haviNg defiNitioN here. aN affair. Her professor maiNtaiNed that the oNly really uNethical thiNg to do iN such a situatioN would be to impose oNe’s values oN someoNe 3. JohN Paul II aNswers else. This presupposes that we each have our owN values, aNd that there postmoderNism by startiNg is No commoN uNderstaNdiNg of humaN Nature. So to impose oNe’s owN with the uNiversal humaN values oN someoNe else is to go agaiNst their will—agaiNst their self- desire for love. IN your owN creatioN. experieNce, does that aNswer work? Why or why Not? Is this iNdividual “will to power” truly goiNg to satisfy the humaN heart? IN order to aNswer this questioN, we Need to uNderstaNd the 4. Why is love more humaN persoN. primary, or more importaNt, or more sigNificaNt, thaN freedom? SEEING THE TRUTH How do we come to kNow the humaN persoN? For example, aN optometrist looks iNto your child’s eye at a routiNe eye exam. Later, you look iNto your child’s eyes duriNg a coNversatioN. Who sees more of the humaN persoN? The optometrist sees the empirical truth: the health of the structures of the eye. If this is the oNly truth, a humaN beiNg is esseNtially aloNe. Empirical kNowledge gives us No seNse of meaNiNg of our place or our missioN, leaviNg it to us iNdividually to determiNe the meaNiNg of reality for ourselves. IN the laNdmark case PlaNNed PareNthood v. Casey, Justice ANthoNy KeNNedy wrote: “At the heart of liberty is the right to defiNe oNe’s owN coNcept of existeNce, of meaNiNg, of the uNiverse, aNd of the mystery of humaN life.” The logical coNsequeNces of this statemeNt are absurd aNd ultimately chaotic. St. JohN Paul II was deeply aware of the problems of postmoderNism, aNd he kNows that happiNess comes from seeiNg the Natural law writteN oN our hearts. But he also realizes that a discussioN of Natural Law will Further Reading Not work iN a postmoderN world. ANd so he must begiN the coNversatioN from a differeNt place. and Additional Resources LOVE'S RESPONSE TO POSTMODERNISM St. JohN Paul II. Love aNd RespoNsibility. St. JohN Paul II begiNs with love. He says, “MaN caNNot live without love. He remaiNs a beiNg iNcompreheNsible to himself if he does Not _____. Veritatis SpleNdor experieNce love, if he does Not make it his owN, if he does Not (The SpleNdor of Truth). participate iNtimately iN it.” Christopher West. Theology The real deep desire of the persoN is to be giveN aNd received iN love. of the Body for BegiNNers. How do we live out this love? IN the vocatioNs of marriage, the priesthood, or religious life. Love reveals to the humaN persoN who he or she is, aNd it reveals his or her worth aNd digNity. He also waNts to say that the coNceptioN of freedom iN postmoderNism is somewhat misguided. Viktor FraNkl argues iN his book MaN’s Search for MeaNiNg that the Statue of Liberty should have a twiN oN the West Coast: the Statue of RespoNsibility. IN his book Love aNd RespoNsibility, JohN Paul II says: “Love coNsists of a commitmeNt that limits oNe’s freedom.” This may seem to be a Negative, but love makes it a positive, joyful thiNg: as JohN Paul II says, “MaN loNgs for love more thaN for freedom. Freedom is the meaNs, but love is the eNd.” So, JohN Paul II respoNds the crisis of PostmoderN freedom aNd Nihilism by iNvitiNg us iNto Love. The great iroNy is that we will fight for our freedom, but we doN’t kNow what to do with it wheN we have it. Freedom ofteN leaves us isolated aNd brokeN. JohN Paul II iNvites iNto love iN relatioNships, our society, our families. Above all, he calls us to recogNize that God is love, aNd that He loved us first. He iNvites us to taste that love, aNd theN give of that love to others. 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