A book has been recommended to me a few times recently so I looked into it and downloaded the audio version. The book is Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, by Susan Cain. Previously Cain wrote a book called, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.
You can pick up the direction. Both are books that address the value and essential nature of things that are avoided or deemed of little value in society. I have been impressed by the thoughtfulness of Bittersweet and by its pastoral reach. That is, Cain’s writing and consideration of psychology and history demonstrate not only the worth of avoided emotions, traits and experiences, but also the value and worth of people who don’t strive for the louder, more sanguine, declarative things in life.
In the first chapter, entitled “What is Sadness Good For,” Cain makes mention of humility. Having presented the argument that sadness opens us up to connect with others, she speaks of humility;
“We know from various studies, that attitudes of superiority prevent us from reacting to others’ sadness and even to our own … Amazingly, high ranking people, including those artificially given high status in a lab setting are more likely to ignore pedestrians, to cut off other drivers and they are less helpful to colleagues and to others in need.”
(Parable of the Good Samaritan ring a bell?)
In the current edition of Lapham’s Quarterly, on “Freedom,” there is another “that sounds like something Jesus talked about” reflection. It comes from a Huron Indigenous Chief, circa 1695. He reflects upon his refusal to give into the money system of the Europeans.
“I affirm that what you call silver is the devil of devils, the tyrant of the French, the source of all evil, the bane of souls and the slaughterhouse of the living. To pretend that you can live in the country of money and at the same time save one’s soul is as great a contradiction as for a man to go to the bottom of a lake to preserve his life.”
(Camels through needle eyes ring a bell?)
There are ways in which power and money and status restrict freedom. This does not mean that powerful and wealthy people cannot be compassionate and empathetic, but clearly it presents a challenge.
We can desire things that imprison us rather than set us free, and freedom might be more immediately available than we had imagined.