Pillars of Jesuit Education

Part 2

(Originally published in the Summer 2001 edition of GONZAGA, the alumni publication.)

In the previous two issues of the GONZAGA Quarterly, I discussed the first of four pillars of Jesuit education: The five major areas of Jesuit mission (faith, service, justice, ethics, and leadership). In this issue I will discuss the second pillar of Jesuit education, namely,

dedication to the humanities.

Though the humanities have different methods and contexts, they all are ultimately concerned with meaning and purpose in life. Each discipline, in its own way, addresses the questions,"What makes life worth living?" or "What is an optimally lived life?" or "What is an under-lived life?" The importance of these questions in the Jesuit tradition is reflected in the influential presence of the humanities in the ratio studiorum and the core curriculum of Jesuit universities.

Many of you may have heard me talk about the four levels of happiness which constitute the four major avenues through which we achieve not only happiness, but also identity, purpose, freedom, and love. As Aristotle noted long ago (in the beginning of Nicomachean Ethics), our view of happiness significantly influences the outcome of every decision we make and every goal for which we strive. It is therefore the most important term we will ever define.

The first level of happiness (laetus) arises out of external, physical stimuli. Fr. Spitzer sees and smells the bowl of linguini, lunges toward it, wolfs it down, and goes "yum!" It does not last very long, and does not do much good beyond myself. It does not engage my highest creative powers, but it is immediately, intensively, and apparently gratifying.

The second level of happiness (felix) is concerned with ego gratifications and comparisons. Every time I gain in power, prestige, status or control, I feel my ego feels gratified. Such gratifications are good inasmuch as they produce self-esteem, competitiveness, self-discipline, and high achievement. But when one treats level two gratifications as ends in themselves, they can produce jealousy, fear, suspicion, blaming, self-pity, emptiness, ego sensitivity, contempt, inferiority, superiority, depression, severe anger -- all the things that make life so wonderful. However, if one treats level two gratifications as means to a good end beyond themselves (e.g., power used for the common good, status used to help the marginalized, control used to help my family), level two can induce idealism, creativity, efficaciousness, discipline, commitment, and above all happiness.

A third level of happiness (beatitudo) rises out of making a difference for someone or something beyond myself. Human beings have the peculiar desire to make the world a better place; they want the world to be better off for their having lived. This desire is so strong that people can become "high" on trying to optimize the good they bring into the world or they can become extremely "low" if they believe that their lives have no positive effect in the world. Viktor Frankl's book "Man's Search for Meaning" reveals this contrast in the tragic surroundings of the Nazi concentration camps.

The fourth level of happiness (sublimitas) arises out of being involved in something of ultimate concern. From a Platonic point of view, human beings have an intense concern for ultimate, unconditional, eternal, and even unrestricted truth, love, goodness, justice, beauty and being. Faith identifies these attributes with a personal God. Augustine summarizes this faith perspective at the beginning of the "Confessions" by praying, "For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." Human beings are ultimatizers. They are seekers of the infinite and eternal, and are made to be at home with sublimely intimate and infinite Love. In the Christian view, this last desire can only be fulfilled by God, and once fulfilled, it is consummate.

There are three fundamental lessons. First, to learn a multidisciplinary perspective on the "menu" of happiness, meaning, and purpose in life. Secondly, to appreciate the invaluable lesson that levels one and two taken as ends in themselves will lead to inexorable internal and external strife. Thirdly, to discover that levels one and two done for the ends of levels three and four, give rise to creativity, love, the common good, and even entrance into the life of Unconditional Love.

We are not only devoted to these lessons in the classroom, but also in our liturgies, service and justice projects, residence halls, and every fiber of our collective being.