G's thoughts: I am determined to discipline myself to read the chapters in order without skipping ahead to see where O'Murchu takes us and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. But the incessant social critique gets to be a bit much. Just when I read a line that intrigues me like page 23 "We need to mourn the loss of those systems and institutions that served us well in the past but are not longer capable of doing so", O'Murchu is telling me where that idea is supposed to lead me. Last week when I read chapters 1 & 2 on holiday I wrote in my journal. "I feel like a donkey being hit over the head with a two by four."
To my eye, O'Murchu's generalizations about humans and human systems are hyperbolic and unfair and sometimes downright insulting. Not that there isn't an element of truth in them, but whose truth? Page 27 - "Most people do not realize anything like their full adult potential." When I tested that one out by applying it to my siblings and close acquaintances, I quickly realized that I agree with O'Murchu only as long as I invest my critique of their lives with accuracy and truth. Gratifying? Yes. Fair? Not so much.
So, I'd be interested in hearing from others what they're learning and whether they find O'Murchu's approach to be as distracting as I do.
I am also going to go on his website in order to learn more about the man. I enjoyed his personal disclosures on page 1 because these gave me a sense of him as an individual. I am interested to know more about him personally. I'd much rather hear about his life experiences and actions than his opinions and conclusions. Then I think I'll have a better understanding of his habits of mind.
And, as my son pointed out, if you only read people you like or agree with, "how else do you grow?"
posted by bjp I too find O'Murchu's approach distracting...and sometimes irritating. I have long been critical of colleagues in Sociology for framing their arguments in the style of: Then...they... But now...we... . More often than not such arguments unfairly diminish the past while giving undue credit to an assumed superiority of us,today. I am no less critical of O'Murchu in this respect. His involved discussion of adulthood I found more confusing than illuminating. Is adulthood so special, so ideal that it needs to be quite so parsed? What would a similar discussion of being human lead to - that some are less human than others? I find his discussion of governance and patriarchy similarly overblown. .....and I don't quite know where this leads me....
posted by EWL I am finding that my reading is going in two directions, those being, what is being said and how it is being said. To me O’Murchu is writing with a directional intensity. I have never thought of my self as a radical person, but there is a factor of relevancy that I am responding to and it has a radical edge. For me growth as a Christian can be summed up on page 15 “For the adult person of faith, it is the horizon that forever beckons us toward new vistas of meaning and possibility.” And on page 28 “in order to give birth to a new paradigm that will honor the vision of creativity and adulthood.” That speaks to me with expansive potential. Without movement to the horizon we will remain centred on a flat earth.
G's response to EWL I think that intensity is a good word to describe the author's prose. It's likely the directional part that's distracting me. And that's really too bad because when I went on O'Murchu's website, I can see that he's a person of action who works to help those in need. My guess is that his life is more eloquent than his words. He's also quite a thinker. There are some interesting essays there, including one about a more fulsome understanding of celibacy in the context of religious life. Quite thought provoking.
I agree with you that adult growth for a Christian (or anyone else for that matter) involves ever moving towards new vistas and being open & responsive to what you call expansive potential. The reference you point out on page 28 also embeds the essence of Christianity, the notion of "risking even life itself" to give birth to something new. That is, after all, a central Christian motif. But the question is what is one moving towards? What is on the horizon? What is the direction? I would be interested to know your answer. For me the horizon is not a new political order, which is what O'Murchu seems to be urging. And the horizon is not a place of judgment where I reserve my compassion and concern for a segment of humanity that I think is worthy. I don't want to set myself up as the world critic. That's just hubris.
G's thoughts:
ReplyDeleteI am determined to discipline myself to read the chapters in order without skipping ahead to see where O'Murchu takes us and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. But the incessant social critique gets to be a bit much. Just when I read a line that intrigues me like page 23 "We need to mourn the loss of those systems and institutions that served us well in the past but are not longer capable of doing so", O'Murchu is telling me where that idea is supposed to lead me. Last week when I read chapters 1 & 2 on holiday I wrote in my journal. "I feel like a donkey being hit over the head with a two by four."
To my eye, O'Murchu's generalizations about humans and human systems are hyperbolic and unfair and sometimes downright insulting. Not that there isn't an element of truth in them, but whose truth? Page 27 - "Most people do not realize anything like their full adult potential." When I tested that one out by applying it to my siblings and close acquaintances, I quickly realized that I agree with O'Murchu only as long as I invest my critique of their lives with accuracy and truth. Gratifying? Yes. Fair? Not so much.
So, I'd be interested in hearing from others what they're learning and whether they find O'Murchu's approach to be as distracting as I do.
I am also going to go on his website in order to learn more about the man. I enjoyed his personal disclosures on page 1 because these gave me a sense of him as an individual. I am interested to know more about him personally. I'd much rather hear about his life experiences and actions than his opinions and conclusions. Then I think I'll have a better understanding of his habits of mind.
And, as my son pointed out, if you only read people you like or agree with, "how else do you grow?"
G
posted by bjp
ReplyDeleteI too find O'Murchu's approach distracting...and sometimes irritating. I have long been critical of colleagues in Sociology for framing their arguments in the style of: Then...they... But now...we... . More often than not such arguments unfairly diminish the past while giving undue credit to an assumed superiority of us,today. I am no less critical of O'Murchu in this respect.
His involved discussion of adulthood I found more confusing than illuminating. Is adulthood so special, so ideal that it needs to be quite so parsed? What would a similar discussion of being human lead to - that some are less human than others?
I find his discussion of governance and patriarchy similarly overblown.
.....and I don't quite know where this leads me....
G said
DeleteWell, I think that leads us to Chapters 3 & 4!
posted by EWL
ReplyDeleteI am finding that my reading is going in two directions, those being, what is being said and how it is being said.
To me O’Murchu is writing with a directional intensity. I have never thought of my self as a radical person, but there is a factor of relevancy that I am responding to and it has a radical edge.
For me growth as a Christian can be summed up on page 15 “For the adult person of faith, it is the horizon that forever beckons us toward new vistas of meaning and possibility.” And on page 28 “in order to give birth to a new paradigm that will honor the vision of creativity and adulthood.” That speaks to me with expansive potential. Without movement to the horizon we will remain centred on a flat earth.
G's response to EWL
ReplyDeleteI think that intensity is a good word to describe the author's prose. It's likely the directional part that's distracting me. And that's really too bad because when I went on O'Murchu's website, I can see that he's a person of action who works to help those in need. My guess is that his life is more eloquent than his words. He's also quite a thinker. There are some interesting essays there, including one about a more fulsome understanding of celibacy in the context of religious life. Quite thought provoking.
I agree with you that adult growth for a Christian (or anyone else for that matter) involves ever moving towards new vistas and being open & responsive to what you call expansive potential. The reference you point out on page 28 also embeds the essence of Christianity, the notion of "risking even life itself" to give birth to something new. That is, after all, a central Christian motif. But the question is what is one moving towards? What is on the horizon? What is the direction? I would be interested to know your answer. For me the horizon is not a new political order, which is what O'Murchu seems to be urging. And the horizon is not a place of judgment where I reserve my compassion and concern for a segment of humanity that I think is worthy. I don't want to set myself up as the world critic. That's just hubris.
G