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March 13, 2002
Journey of life tells a meaningful story, philosopher says
Author-priest urges Christians to tell `the story only you can write'
By Roxanne King
Life isn't a series of episodes void of meaning, rather, Christianity teaches that each person's life has unique purpose and an ultimate goal — union with God. Each life, then, is a meaningful story of that journey.
At a public lecture March 6 titled "The Human Person as Meaningful Story" renowned author and philosopher Father W. Norris Clarke, S.J., urged Christians to be mindful of their story and its significance.
"To be a Christian is to recognize that life is a journey with a focus and a goal," Father Clarke said. "It turns out to be a story. And no one likes a story with no point to it."
Our consumerist culture has convinced many that buying bigger and better things will lead to happiness, the Jesuit priest said. Sharing a conversation he had with a New York taxi driver, who imagined aloud what he would do with a million dollars, Father Clarke said the man stopped the cab in the middle of traffic when he realized that his dream to get out of debt, buy a beautiful home, travel and acquire companionship would never bring ultimate fulfillment.
The priest recalled that the cab driver asked, "`Say, what am I really looking for? I can't seem to get to the bottom of it.'"
What consumerism does is create discontent, Father Clarke said, only God truly satisfies.
"He suddenly understood it," the priest said about the cab driver's epiphany. "He saw himself searching over and over again and never satisfied. The type of bad story that can never be a fulfilling story is consumerism."
Like Homer's hero Odysseus, we're on a journey homeward, Father Clarke said, but to get there we must go through trials and tribulations.
"We're embodied spirits," he said. "And we're homesick for God."
God himself came to earth to show us the way back to him, the 86-year-old priest said. Our story, then, is woven into a second one — the story of salvation.
"Jesus himself helps us to overcome our weakness, sin and fear by his own sacrifice. He shows us how to pass through suffering and into life. His great story transforms our story," Father Clarke said. "The general search is the same: we have to go through challenges and sufferings and sacrifice, and only through the cross do we come to the resurrection."
Through Christ our story expands and becomes part of the vast chronicle of the people of God traveling toward him, the priest said. Eucharist is the bread of life to nourish us on the trip.
The purpose of each person's journey, Father Clarke said, is to make manifest the unique image of God impressed on our souls that only that individual can convey.
"Get down in prayer and ask the Lord to tell you what's special in you to express his fullness," he urged. "What is the story that only you can write? That's what life is all about: Witness God's presence."
Humans are called out of love and must bear witness to that love, Father Clarke said. That means moving out of a self-centered point of view to an other-centered one.
All the great religions of the world teach the same fundamental paradox of Christianity, he said, that the person who loses their self finds their self.
"Life becomes full when we give it away. That's the secret," Father Clarke said. "That's God's expanding self. The more you forget yourself, the more you become like God."
Psychologists say, he added, that the people who are the most satisfied are those who seek the good of others.
"It's not a theory, it's a fact that those are the ones who are the happiest," the priest said.
The entire cosmos is itself on a journey and our individual story, joined with that of Jesus and the people of God, is united with that story, too, he said.
"The material world needs us," Father Clarke said, adding that humans are caretakers of the cosmos. "That's our tremendous human dignity — the universe needs us."
A question/answer period followed the talk.
What might God think of cloning, one person queried.
"God is immensely creative, I don't know that he wants repetition of stories," Father Clarke said. "The whole idea that imitating me is the best way to be human is incredibly conceited."
What about genetic research and its potential to aid humanity?
"You have to move carefully there," Father Clarke said. "It may be able to do great things, but we have no right to take a living being, the start of a person's journey, and kill it to further someone else's journey."
What are his thoughts on the environment?
"We can respect or destroy it. We have a responsibility for the earth — that's part of our story," Father Clarke said. "We should reverence it. We can use it, but in harmony or we will destroy ourselves."
Philosophy student Angela Hummel, 26, said she is acquainted with Father Clarke's work and wanted to hear him in person.
"It was very insightful," she said. "I'm always struck by philosophers who've `got it' — it's not just ideas anymore. His integration of ideas with life is beautiful."
Kathleen Mara, 35, a lawyer, said she drove all the way from Longmont to hear the priest.
"Both the most liberal and the most conservative philosophers I know told me he was great," she said with a laugh. "I thought he was very inspiring."
Seminarian Anthony Arinello, 23, said he did his senior thesis on Father Clarke and is impressed with the philosopher's ability to address contemporary ideas born in Eastern traditions and modern thought with time-honored Catholic teaching.
"He builds bridges with a mystical base," Arinello said. "He's wonderful, and a priest with a joyful heart."
Father Clarke is professor emeritus at Fordham University. The author of five books, including "The Philosophical Approach to God," his works are available at local bookstores and on Amazon.com. His talk was part of the biannual Cardinal Stafford Lecture Series held at the John Paul II Center.
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