In the philosophy courses that I teach at St. John’s University, in trying to convince the students of the importance of philosophy, I stress that to be a human person is to be involved in a number of relationships. The very nature of a human person is to be relational. There are several ways that this might be expressed. The following are some examples: to be a human person is to be in dialogue with others, to be a human person is to be present to others, to be a human person is to encounter others, to be a human person is to be the unveiler of meaning. We may decide how we will relate, but we cannot determine whether we will relate. Not to choose is to choose. Our nature as human persons is to be relational. This is what God has created us to be: relational beings.
In trying to help students appreciate what it means to be relational, I use the term “world” to express all the relationships that are important to a person — each of us in dialogue with many worlds. I will use myself to illustrate what I mean. I live in the Catholic world, the academic world, the St. John’s University world, the priests’ world, the masculine world, and the senior citizens’ world.
Until I had a knee replacement, I was in dialogue with the athletic world. There is a dynamic relationship between me and my worlds. As I change my worlds change, as my worlds change, I change. At times, the change may be slight, at other times it may be dramatic.
As my worlds deepen and expand, I grow as a human person. If my worlds become shallow and narrow, I “shrink” as a human person. As I grow in depth and maturity, my worlds deepen and expand.
To a great extent, we choose our relationships and our worlds. This is really amazing and perhaps a little frightening. To be a human person is to be a responder. We are responsible for our worlds. I believe that to some extent, we are who we have chosen to be.
We make decisions about whom or what we will relate to and how deeply. Several months ago, I decided that as a university professor, I should engage in some serious reading of literary masterpieces. I decided to read Dostoyevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov,” considered by some critics to be the greatest novel ever written. One critic suggested that a person should read “The Brothers Karamazov” only 15 minutes each day to appreciate its greatness. I followed that advice. It took me about three months to read this literary masterpiece. I benefited greatly from reading it, and I hope my students benefited from my growth as a person.
Because, at least to some extent, we choose what or whom we will relate to, and how deeply we will relate, we are responsible for the worlds that are real to us. This has led me to wonder what we can do to deepen and expand our worlds and, in the process, allow ourselves to grow as persons.
In choosing to read Dostoyevsky’s novel, I hoped to grow intellectually and deepen my presence in the academic world. I hoped this change in me would benefit my students. I began reflecting further on what else I could do to foster my growth and enrich my world. I did not need to reflect for long because it became apparent to me what activity would help us grow as persons and deepen our worlds. That activity is prayer.
In my opinion, nothing can equal the power of prayer to transform us and deepen our relationships. In prayer, we do not read about God or think about God, or focus on an image or idea of God. No! We make ourselves present to the God who is always present to us. We open ourselves to the Infinite Love that God is and allow God to transform us and, in the process, transform our worlds.
Only a few moments of reflection are necessary to realize how much we have been influenced and formed by the human persons who have loved us in some of our worlds. I believe that human lovers can affect us so much that we can think of them as in some way creating us.
If human lovers have had such a profound effect on us, what might happen when we welcome an omnipotent love into our lives? What might happen? I suspect we would grow in holiness, and perhaps there would be no limit to the depth and growth in our worlds.
Father Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University, Jamaica. His new book, “The Cosmic Love Story: God and Us,” is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble.