Freshman year, my theology professor told me that all good theologians make up words. Therefore:
By the power vested in me
by the paper in my file designating me,
Emily Marie Clark,
as a theological studies major,
I hereby declare "enoughness" a word
to be given equal respect and consideration
as all other formerly declared words.
Now that that's cleared up,
not that anyone was questioning the legitimacy of my vocabulary,
let's get down to business.
I wrote the synthesis paper for my independent study this past weekend. Dr. Julie Rubio and I had been reading about and discussing various ethical problem areas of modern American society and asking ourselves how we, as Catholics, are called (or if we are called) to respond? I was not going to be satisfied with vague or flimsy answers. I wanted practical suggestions that were flexible enough to tailor to my life experience but firm enough to stand the test of time and the scrutiny of Catholic morality.
For the paper, I was to hash all that out in 12-15 pages.
We read over a dozen books.
We touched on at least five different problem areas (I call them 'isms').
And so my process looked like this:
I didn't have enough time or space to write anything close to what I wanted to write, but I wrote 20 pages anyway. And around page 5, I explained what I've come to recognize as the driving force, the common denominator that connects all these 'isms' (individualism, racism, consumerism, materialism, classism, environmentalism). I call it the theory of enoughness...if you hadn't already guessed that.
Here's what I wrote:
Through the
books I have read and other personal experiences I have had as a member of
American society, I have observed a struggle within the culture characterized
by an inability to sense when enough is enough. I am not the first to
acknowledge a societal focus on “having” enough rather than “being” enough but
perhaps I may be one of the first to point to a problematic element in the
existence of a focus on either form of “enoughness” The shift from “being” to “having”
has likely occurred because “being” falls to qualitative rather than quantitative
measure which seems subjective and, therefore, inadequate or, at least,
unreliable. As a result, Americans tend to lose their sense of Self while
yearning for conformity and ‘the next big thing.’ With no sense of Self ‘having”
allows people to overly-rely on external gauges to guide their determination of
what is enough. The difficulty in measure, however, does not come from the need
to be or to have but rather the context of enough. The ‘isms’ represent a
dysregulation of the American sense of “enoughness”. Becoming desensitized to
and struggling with “enoughness” causes power issues with relationship, food,
sex, money, and goods. We see this power issue expressed in the stereotypes,
discrimination, and oppression of others and ourselves that results from a
disconnected relationship with the sense of enough.
GOT IT?
Here's the skinny:
Americans are on this treadmill of "the more the merrier" and "bigger is better."
The treadmill makes you work hard but never gets you anywhere.
Meaning: you're in a race that doesn't really matter, racing for things you'll never get.
But culture forgets to tell you that.
And so your endorphin high keeps you from knowing when to stop.
So your sense of what is enough dies.
And you end up hurting yourself and others in the process.
So, step 1 to making things different:
Remember it.
Believe it.
Live it.
And tell everyone about it.
Until next time,
may you find peace.
Merry Christmas.
