Chapter Two – The Prevailing Philosophy

Part One of the book is acknowledging that, “we become what we celebrate.” In the first chapter we looked at the universal hunger the world has for truth and authentic Christian living. In chapter two we look at philosophy and its reflection of our cultures ideas and attitudes.

Most people, other than the time in school when it was a required topic, give little thought to philosophy. This is a topic of the deep thinkers like Aristotle and Socrates who spent their lives contemplating the meaning of life – Who am I? Why do I exist? Where am I going? Matthew points out that we ALL practice philosophy. Each of us has developed and lives out our own personal philosophy each day through the hundreds of decisions we make. Some are as mundane as what we choose to eat while others reflect the very course of our life.

As we gather together to form communities, these gatherings take on our collective philosophies. This is a certainly how we could describe our parish communities – a reflection of how we discuss, value and live out our Christian faith. For Matthew Kelly, there are philosophical trends at play within many communities that he finds very disturbing. While there are many philosophies influencing our lives, Matthew proposes that there are three major ones that our present culture has been formed around.

Briefly, the three philosophies are individualism, hedonism, and minimalism. Individualism is all about “What’s in in for me.” The creed of individualism is all about self – about a false sense of freedom – that we should be able to so whatever we want, whenever we want and with whomever we want without interference from anyone. The fruits of this philosophy for our culture have been greed, selfishness, and exploitation.

The false freedom of individualism leads into the second philosophy of “If it feels good, do it.” Hedonism is the philosophy that pleasure is the ultimate objective of life.  The proponents of this philosophy expound that this newfound freedom is a reflection on our ability to break free from the artificial constraints of mankind on our lives. This unfortunately is not a new philosophy or a new freedom, but merely a replay of what we have seen throughout history - the Roman Empire is a prefect example. The fruits of this philosophy have been laziness, lustfulness, and gluttony. It is as Matthew says, “a passport to enslavement by a thousand cravings and addictions - producing not pleasure, but despair.”

The third philosophy expounds a life that embraces the first two of “What’s in it for me?” and “If it feels good, do it” by simply asking, “What is the least I can do to obtain this?" Minimalism is about seeking to exert the minimum effort and receive the maximum reward. What is the least I can do and still keep my job? What is the least I can do and get passing grades in school? What is the least I can do to keep my relationship alive? What is the least I can do and still get to Heaven? Minimalism is the enemy of excellence and the father of mediocrity. Matthew feels that it has been a key element in what has been eating away at the Church.

The question he poses in reflecting on these three philosophies is for each of us to determine if we have built our culture on solid rock or sand like the fool (cf. Matthew 7:24-27). Matthew sees this as a crisis of ideas – ideas that shape our lives and world. Every individual and community that practices the philosophies of individualism, hedonism, and minimalism, suffers the destructive effects on the body, heart, and soul. 

A Reflection

I think we can all agree that we live and practice our own individual life philosophy. For many of us, this life philosophy has evolved as we have lived our lives. That speaks to the fact that while we might see elements of ourselves in the mirror of the three philosophies above, we do have the ability to change, to live a new and different life philosophy.

Question: What do you see in your life philosophy that is similar or different from the three philosophies of individualism, hedonism, and minimalism? What is your life philosophy?

In peace,
Dan Scofield