Just when I thought my amazement with Pope Francis had run its course, he did it again. In a long interview with an old friend who was writing for an Argentine magazine, the pope put forward a 10-point plan for happiness. From where I sit, it seems, well, pretty damn good if not perfect. Here are Pope Francis' tips for a happy life and my comments on them:
Jay Parini
2. Give yourself to
others. That is, give your money and your time to those in need. Don't
just sit around like stagnant water. Give all you have and then some.
3 Move quietly in the
world. The Pope quotes from a favorite novel by an early 20th-century
Argentine writer, Ricardo Guiraldes, in which the novelist writes that
in one's youth, a person is "a rocky stream that runs over everything,"
but as one gets older, one becomes "a running river, quietly peaceful."
It's very like the Native American suggestion that one should walk "in balance and beauty" on the ground, making the least disturbance.
4. Enjoy leisure. The
Pope says that consumerism has brought with it unbearable anxieties. So
play with your children. Take time off. And don't spend all your time
thinking about your next acquisition. Spend your time well, not your
money.
5. Sunday is for
families. This is actually one of the Ten Commandments. Honor the
Sabbath. (Exodus 20:8) Once a week, give a whole day to meditation,
worship, family life, tending the needs of the spirit. This is healthy
living.
6. Find jobs for young
people. Who would have guessed that job-creation would be on list for
happiness? But the Pope is right. Honest, simple work for young people
is essential to their well-being. Somewhat surprisingly, in this moment
in the interview, the Pope connected job creation to the degradation of
our environment: "the tyrannical use of nature." He links the lack of
good jobs to the lack of respect for ourselves and the Earth itself.
So creating jobs doesn't
mean ruining the environment. It doesn't mean, as the politicians chant,
"jobs, jobs, jobs." Good and productive labor is valuable, and it
doesn't mean you have to have a fancy job description. You don't have to
become rich. You can be ordinary. Happiness lies there. Do
good work,
create good work for others.
7. Respect nature. This
follows from No. 6. "Isn't humanity committing suicide with this
indiscriminate and tyrannical use of nature?" the Pope wonders. Not
surprisingly, this is what Henry David Thoreau, a founding father of the
environmental movement, said. "Most people live lives of quiet
desperation," he said. He went into the woods, to Walden Pond, because
he wanted "to live deliberately" and to "front only the essential facts
of life."
A proper respect for
nature means that you can't pollute the air, poison the rivers and chop
down the forests indiscriminately without suffering greatly. I suspect
that a huge amount of the anxiety and suffering that we see around can
be closely traced to our wanton misuse of our resources. Just look at
any garbage dump and see what is wasted. In a sense, we've wasted our
souls.
8. Let go of negative
things quickly. The Pope tells us not to complain about people who annoy
or frustrate us, to let go of things as rapidly as we can. I have an
old friend who used to say, "Put the bad things in your back pocket and
leave them there." This may sound like escapism or putting your head in
the sand, but it's more interesting than that. Life throws rotten things
our way each day. People say nasty things to us, often about others.
This stuff makes them miserable, of course. It makes us miserable, too.
Flush it.
9. Don't preach your
religion too forcefully. Proselytism brings on paralysis, the Pope tells
us. Wow. I'm a Christian myself, and I don't mind saying so. But each
person sees the world before them in his or her own way. The Pope says
this. As a teaching, it seems to run counter to the so-called Great
Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). Jesus said to get out there and spread
the word. But the Pope takes a relaxed view of this activity, preferring
that we should teach by example. Perhaps that really is what Jesus
would do?
10. Work for peace. The
Pope has preached this message from the beginning of his time as
pontiff. He has gone to Jerusalem and worked to bring together Jews and
Palestinians. He has prayed for peace and worked for peace. He has
listened closely to Jesus, who said, "blessed are the peacemakers."
The Pope asks us to take
in refugees, to think innovatively about how to create peace in the
world. Jesus, of course, invites us to turn the other cheek when struck.
This is a complex teaching. But it's essential to Christian faith. The
Pope, once again, calls on us to take the teachings of the Sermon on the
Mount seriously. This is very hard but crucial work.
Pope Francis has, in
this unlikely venue, given us his own Sermon on the Mount, his Ten
Commandments for happiness and inner peace. One can only be grateful for
his wisdom, which is rooted in a sincere faith, in hard-earned wisdom,
and a very practical knowledge of human needs and potentials.
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