What Makes a Righteous Man or a Righteous Woman? – J. Persico and Metis (AI Assistant)

19 Jul 2026 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I want to talk about the idea of righteousness in my blog today.   Of course, I did not invent this concept.   But I do have my own definition for the concept.   I am going to give you my definition and then some popular definitions from other perspectives.   

A righteous person consistently places truth, justice, compassion, and integrity above personal gain.  They willingly sacrifice wealth, comfort, reputation, or even life itself when necessary to protect others, uphold justice, or defend what is right.  They serve others without expecting reward, listen with humility, admit mistakes, practice self-control, and continually strive to become a better human being.  They freely share credit, accept responsibility, and recognize that most worthwhile human achievements are built upon the efforts of many rather than the glory of one.  Their character inspires trust because their thoughts, words, and actions remain aligned even when doing so comes at great personal cost.  Following are a few examples from history of righteous people who were not afraid to die for their beliefs and actions. 

Martin Luther said, “Here I stand.  I can do no other.” 

Socrates said,  “And if you say to me, “Socrates, we will let you go free but only on condition that you stop your questioning,” then I will reply, “Men of Athens, I honor and love you.  But I must obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I will never stop doing philosophy.”

Jesus said: “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above.” Pontius Pilate had claimed that he had the authority to release or crucify Jesus.

Nelson Mandela said, “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society… It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Sophie Scholl, shortly before her execution by the Nazis said, “I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation.  I therefore do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences that result from my conduct.

Now let us look at how some religions with considerably more wisdom than I have define the idea of a Righteous Person. 

✡️ Judaism

Perhaps the religion that has done the most to bring the concept to the attention of the world.   In Judaism, a righteous person (tzaddik) is someone who strives to live according to God’s will as revealed in the Torah.  Righteousness is demonstrated through faithful obedience to God’s commandments (mitzvot), justice (tzedek), mercy, humility, honesty, and compassion.  A righteous Jew seeks to honor God not only through worship but also through ethical treatment of others, caring for the poor, welcoming the stranger, and pursuing peace (shalom).  The Hebrew prophets consistently taught that righteousness is measured as much by moral conduct and social justice as by religious observance.  While no person is considered perfect, the righteous continually repent, grow in character, and seek reconciliation with God and others.  Righteousness is ultimately expressed in covenant faithfulness, integrity, and living a life that sanctifies God’s name.

✝️ Catholicism

In Catholicism, righteousness is living in a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, participation in God’s grace, and cooperation with that grace through a life of holiness.  While salvation begins as God’s free gift, righteousness is nurtured through the sacraments, prayer, scripture, charity, and faithful obedience to God’s commandments.  A righteous person seeks to imitate Christ by practicing the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, along with the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.  Genuine righteousness is reflected in love for God and neighbor, concern for the poor, forgiveness, humility, and a commitment to justice.  Catholics understand righteousness as both an inner transformation by grace and an outward life of good works inspired by that grace.

✝️ Protestantism

Most Protestant traditions define righteousness primarily as being made right with God through faith alone (sola fide) in Jesus Christ.  Human beings cannot earn righteousness through good works; instead, Christ’s righteousness is credited to believers through faith.  Good works do not produce salvation but naturally flow from genuine faith as evidence of a transformed life.  A righteous person trusts in God’s grace, seeks to obey Scripture, grows in holiness through the Holy Spirit, and demonstrates love, integrity, compassion, forgiveness, and service to others.  While Protestant denominations vary in emphasis, they generally agree that righteousness begins with God’s grace, is received by faith, and is demonstrated through a life increasingly shaped by Christ’s character.

🕉️ Hinduism

In Hinduism, righteousness is living according to dharma—one’s moral, spiritual, and social duty in harmony with the cosmic order.  A righteous person practices truthfulness (satya), nonviolence (ahimsa), self-discipline, compassion, generosity, and respect for all forms of life.  Because dharma may differ according to one’s stage of life and responsibilities, righteousness involves faithfully fulfilling one’s obligations while acting without selfish attachment to results, as taught in the Bhagavad Gita.  Such a person seeks spiritual growth through right action, devotion, knowledge, or meditation.  By cultivating virtue and reducing selfish desires, the righteous gradually purify their karma and move toward liberation (moksha), the ultimate realization of unity with the Divine.

☸️ Buddhism

In Buddhism, righteousness is not defined by obedience to a creator God but by living in accordance with the Dharma—the truth about reality and the path that ends suffering.  A righteous person cultivates wisdom, ethical conduct, compassion, mindfulness, and mental discipline.  They follow principles such as the Noble Eightfold Path, avoiding actions that produce harm while developing loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), generosity, patience, and equanimity.  Right intention, right speech, right action, and right livelihood are central expressions of righteous living.  Rather than seeking divine approval, the righteous Buddhist seeks to overcome greed, hatred, and ignorance, benefiting both themselves and others while progressing toward enlightenment (nirvana).

☪️ Islam

In Islam, righteousness (al-birr) is wholehearted submission to Allah through faith, obedience, and sincere devotion.  The Qur’an teaches that righteousness includes belief in God, His prophets, revealed scriptures, angels, and the Last Day, along with faithful performance of prayer, charity (zakat), fasting, honesty, justice, patience, mercy, and kindness.  A righteous person possesses taqwa—a deep awareness and reverence for God that guides every aspect of life.  Following the example (Sunnah) of the Prophet Muhammad, they strive for purity of heart, integrity, generosity, forgiveness, and compassion toward others.  Righteousness is measured not only by religious rituals but by moral character, social responsibility, and sincere intentions.  Ultimately, the righteous seek to please Allah in both private and public life.

✴️ Bahá’í Faith

In the Bahá’í Faith, righteousness is living in harmony with God’s will while recognizing the unity of humanity and the progressive revelation of God’s messengers.  A righteous person reflects divine attributes such as truthfulness, justice, compassion, humility, trustworthiness, generosity, and love.  Bahá’ís believe that spiritual growth occurs through prayer, service, moral discipline, and continual self-improvement.  Righteousness is expressed not only in personal virtue but also in active efforts to promote peace, eliminate prejudice, advance equality between women and men, pursue justice, and contribute to the betterment of society.  Service to humanity is regarded as a form of worship.  A righteous person strives to align thought, word, and deed with God’s teachings while fostering unity among all people, regardless of race, nationality, or religion.

Looking at the above definitions might lead one to conclude that there are several common principles that all have in common.  You would be right.  I have summarized them in the table below and then provided a description following the table.  I hope that as you read this, it will not be strictly an academic exercise.  I think the concept of being a “righteous” person is an excellent concept to live by.  Ask yourself, which of these principles reflect beliefs and more important actions.  Then apply these to the next lawyer, politician or anyone else you decide to work with. 

Here are six principles that are found, in one form or another, in every one of these religions.

Universal PrincipleJudaismCatholicProtestantHinduBuddhistIslamBahá’í
1. Moral Integrity (Truth & Honesty)✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
2. Compassion & Love for Others✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
3. Justice & Fairness✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
4. Self-Discipline / Self-Control✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
5. Service to Others✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
6. Personal Spiritual Growth✓✓✓✓✓✓✓

1. Moral Integrity

Every religion insists that righteousness begins with being truthful and honest.

  • Judaism: obey God’s commandments honestly.
  • Christianity: live truthfully before God.
  • Islam: truthfulness is a mark of taqwa.
  • Hinduism: satya (truth) is one of the highest virtues.
  • Buddhism: Right Speech forbids lying.
  • Bahá’í: Truthfulness is called “the foundation of all human virtues.”

Without integrity, none of the others consider a person righteous.

2. Compassion

Every religion teaches that righteous people care about others.

This may be called

  • Love
  • Mercy
  • Compassion
  • Loving-kindness
  • Charity
  • Benevolence

but it always means putting another person’s welfare ahead of selfishness.

Interestingly, compassion is probably the single most universal religious virtue.

3. Justice

All seven religions insist that righteousness requires fairness.

Examples:

  • protecting the weak
  • honesty in business
  • fairness in judgment
  • defending the oppressed
  • respecting human dignity

Justice may be defined differently, but no religion praises selfish exploitation.

4. Self-Control

This one surprised me when I first start studying the different religions.

Every one teaches that righteousness requires mastery over one’s own desires.

Examples include

  • resisting temptation
  • controlling anger
  • avoiding greed
  • practicing humility
  • moderation
  • discipline

In Buddhism this means overcoming attachment.

In Christianity it is resisting sin.

In Islam it is submission to Allah.

In Hinduism it is mastery over desire.

Different language—same principle.

5. Service

A righteous person does not merely avoid evil.

They actively do good.

Examples include

  • helping the poor
  • generosity
  • charity
  • hospitality
  • kindness
  • community service
  • peacemaking

This principle appears almost universally.

6. Continuous Spiritual Growth

No religion says,

“You’re righteous now.  You’re finished.”

Instead they all teach continual growth.

Judaism:
Become more faithful.

Catholicism:
Grow in holiness.

Protestantism:
Sanctification.

Islam:
Increase in taqwa.

Hinduism:
Purify karma.

Buddhism:
Progress toward enlightenment.

Bahá’í:
Develop divine virtues.

Every religion sees righteousness as a journey rather than a destination.

An Even Deeper Commonality

Looking at these traditions side by side, they all point toward one overarching principle:

A righteous person is someone who continually seeks to bring their inner character and outward actions into harmony with the highest moral reality they recognize.

For Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá’í Faith, that highest reality is God.

For Hinduism, it is dharma and ultimate reality (Brahman).

For Buddhism, it is the Dharma and the true nature of reality.

The metaphysical foundations differ, but the practical direction is remarkably similar: transform yourself so that your thoughts, words, and deeds consistently express truth, compassion, justice, self-control, and service to others.

I find it striking to think that if you met seven truly righteous people—one from each of these religions—you might notice their theological differences, but you would likely recognize many of the same virtues in their character. That shared moral core has been one of the enduring insights of comparative religion.

Go back now and review my definition?  Does it hold up?  Does it reflect any or some of the principles noted in the religions named? 

Conclusions:

I want to end with some questions.  Years ago, I always ended my blogs with questions but somehow I lost this idea.  It is especially important because questions help us to reflect on life.  “The unexamined life is not worth living,” it is a decent quote to live by.  Here then are some questions to help you lead an examined life. 

Are you a righteous person?  Why or why not? 

Would others say that you are a righteous person?

Do all of the above principles apply to your actions as well as your stated beliefs?

Do you know when you are being a hypocrite or when you stray from your beliefs?

How charitable would people say that you are if you included charity to the entire human race and not just your tribe, religion, friends, or family?

How many friends do you have that you would say were righteous people?

Are you satisfied that you are on the right moral, ethical and spiritual path? 

In Defense of Atheism or So You Don’t Really Believe That I am an Atheist?

27 Apr 2026 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

Introduction: 

I meet many people who seem shocked when I tell them that I am an Atheist.  From best friends to strangers, they almost always say “No, you are not!”  They seem to think that my moral and ethical beliefs or even some of my spiritual beliefs are inconsistent with being an Atheist.  Sometimes as when Karen joined the Presbyterian church up here, they will say “Well, I will watch over you and help God to change your mind.”  This was told to me by various church elders.

The letter below which led to this blog was sent by a good woman friend who has a spirituality group which I joined and which meets once a month.  We study different thoughts from different religions and belief systems about specific topics such as kindness, gratitude, mercy, forgiveness and many others.  It is a great group, and our leader Dorothy is well versed in several different religions and very open minded about spirituality and where it could come from.  Nevertheless, I think even Dorothy doubts that I truly and really do not believe that a God exists or at least as I have claimed, seventy five percent of the time, I do not believe in a God.  Lately, this belief has risen to about 99 percent of the time.

Thus, I was not totally surprised to receive an article from Dorothy (Name changed for privacy reasons) regarding biases affecting Atheists.  I enjoyed reading the article, but when it came to the author’s reason for people being an Atheist, I found that not one of them fit for me.  Many people think Atheism is a default belief system.  When all else has failed someone or when someone has had major trauma in their life shaking their faith in God, they default to a neutral or some might say a negative position, i.e. Atheism.

I once joined an Atheists group years ago.  Karen and I went to a few of their meetings.  I expected to find kindred souls.  People with a firm logical and rational non-belief in God.  Not angry or discouraged people.  Not people who believed in conspiracies.  Not people who believed that all religions were evil.  Sadly, these meetings discouraged me from ever wanting to join an Atheist group again.  I am going to sound judgmental here but most of these people were wacky.  After having lunch and time together, I was ready to get on my magic carpet and fly away.

So, after reading the article that Dorothy sent to me, I felt I wanted to respond to the ideas and theories that the author’s Gervais and Majle suggested where the reasons for Atheism.  The following is the complete text of my letter back to Dorothy.

Hi Dorothy,

Thanks for sharing the article and study.  I find it interesting but not surprising that the study by Gervais and Majle found a built in cultural bias against being an Atheist.  These biases exist for many reasons including the following.  I will list eight that I can think of but no doubt there are more.

  1. Morality has historically been linked to religion

For most of human history:

  • Laws
  • Social norms
  • Oaths
  • Punishments

were tied to divine authority.

So many people carry an implicit mental shortcut:

“Belief in God → moral restraint → trustworthy person”

Even if they consciously know that’s not logically necessary.

  1. Fear of “no cosmic surveillance”

Psychologists call this the supernatural monitoring hypothesis.

If someone believes:

  • “No God is watching”
  • “No afterlife punishment”

Some people assume that a person has fewer reasons to behave morally.  This seems to be the case among many people, but I think there is no empirical evidence to show that people are more immoral now than before many mainstream religions started to decline.  And even if there was, ,for instance “The Death of Character” author claims a decline in morality since 1900 in the USA, but he does not define a cause.  Perhaps it was the “God is Dead Movement” or perhaps it was the “Prosperity Gospel?”

But this ignores:

  • empathy
  • social contracts
  • evolutionary cooperation
  • internalized ethics

—all of which are powerful moral drivers.

  1. Minority status effect

Atheists are a small, stigmatized minority in many societies.

Research shows minorities are often:

  • seen as less trustworthy
  • perceived as norm-violating
  • judged more harshly for the same behavior

This is a classic out-group bias, not a moral evaluation.

  1. Cultural narrative, not evidence

In the U.S. especially, moral language is often coded in religious terms:

  • “God-fearing”
  • “Judeo-Christian values”
  • “One nation under God”

Atheism gets framed as: “outside the moral tradition”

—even though that framing is sociological, not factual.

  1. The irony: Atheists judging atheists

This study mentioned that even Atheists show the bias in some studies.

That’s actually common in psychology:

People can internalize cultural stereotypes about their own group.
It doesn’t mean they believe them rationally—it means the stereotype is culturally pervasive.

  1. What the data on morality actually shows

Across large studies:

  • Atheists score similar to religious people on measures of empathy and fairness
  • Secular societies (e.g., Scandinavia) have low crime and high social trust
  • Moral reasoning does not require belief in God

From a Deming perspective (which I highly value), morality is largely:

  • a system outcome
  • shaped by education, environment, leadership, and culture

—not by a single belief variable.

  1. A systems view (my natural lens after working with the Deming philosophy)

If we apply a socio-technical / Deming framework:

The problem is not:

  • Atheists
  • believers

The problem is a cultural system that equates morality with religious identity

That’s a classification error—confusing:

  • belief → with → behavior

which is exactly the kind of faulty measurement logic Deming warned about.

8. Philosophical bottom line

Morality can come from multiple sources:

  1. Religious command ethics
  2. Humanistic ethics
  3. Social contract theory
  4. Virtue ethics
  5. Evolutionary cooperation

Atheism simply removes divine authority as the source.
It does not remove:

  • empathy
  • reason
  • compassion
  • responsibility

In some cases, it can even increase the emphasis on human accountability:

“We are responsible for each other because no one else is.”

The article Dorothy sent me hits on many reasons that many people allegedly have for NOT believing in a God.  None of these reasons resonate with me.

Going back to the article that Dorothy send me, I want to take each of the three major reasons that the authors claim Atheists use for rejecting God and give you my own rebuttal for these explanations.

  1. Religion often controls people and Atheists are merely trying to reject control:

All systems of thought control people.  I have no doubt that whether I believe in Communism, Capitalism, or Christianity there will be biases that control my behavior.

  1. Organized Religion is often hypocritical:

I wrote a blog on hypocrisy a few years ago.  I consider most of the world’s religions infected by hypocrisy not just Atheism.  I have met people of all religions who are hypocrites, so I do not reject God because of this idea.  I rather reject the rationality and integrity of many people who seem to substitute religious dogma for reason and logic.

  1. Science does not support the existence of God:

This would be the last refuge I would take for not believing in God.  Science is not infallible.  It self-corrects if followed properly but it takes decades for this to happen.  I think people who put their FAITH in science and technology are often more foolish than those who put their faith in a God.

This brings us to the question, “Why than do I reject the idea of God or why don’t I believe in God?

Dorothy, I think my reasons are very simple.  They are as follows:

  1. I don’t need a God to run my life.
  2. I would hate to think that any kind of omniscient or omnipotent being could actually be responsible for letting the stuff happen on this planet that humanity is subjected to on a daily basis.
  3. Do I need a God to explain the universe and beauty that we often find in it? I don’t think so.  Perhaps it is all the cause of some natural phenomenon that we still cannot explain?  I have a feeling that we will never find the answer to this question.
  4. I don’t believe that any God would bother to create “MAN” in his own image. Rather “Man” created God in his image and a very sad God it has been for the most part.
  5. I have been in many situations where I had to look death in the face and felt that my end was near. Not once, did I stop to pray for a God that I don’t believe in or that I think never existed.  Perhaps, my one area of non-hypocrisy has been my steadfast belief (somewhat tempered by the cognizance of my own limited intelligence) that perhaps I am wrong and that God really does exist.

Finally, my desire to ignore God does not pertain to the beliefs of others.  Much like I hope that I can do some good for the human race before I die, I hope a heaven exists. I hope a beneficent God does exists who can provide comfort and succor to those people that really need or want it.  I think there are many people in this category.  I hope that I do not ever downgrade their beliefs, and that I can stick to mine without tearing down the beliefs of others.

Karen was once asked “How can you live with an Atheist?”  She replied, “He respects my religious beliefs and I respect his.”

So Dorothy, thank you very much.  I hope that I did not bend your ear to much, but the article offered me a chance to explain myself and my beliefs.  I think many people just walk away from me because they think that I am some kind of an immoral person.  Or that it is not worth knowing anyone who holds (in their mind) a radical belief that there is no God.

Conclusions:

It is a very sad world when we all have to believe the same things about life and love.  I don’t dispute the idea that there are some things we can all agree on and that we call these things facts.  I also believe that not all belief systems rely on facts and logic.  As long as your belief system allows my belief system to live, we can be friends.  However, if your belief system makes my belief system wrong or evil, I fear we will never walk this earth together in peace and harmony.  The great prophets have all said the same thing.  Love is the key.  It has been said that without a vision, the people will perish. 

The real truth is that without love, people will perish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Makes a Great Leader?  —  More Thoughts about  Leadership!  By Metis (AI Assistant)

09 Mar 2026 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Introduction:

During the 80’s when  I was in grad school at the University of Minnesota, I took several courses which discussed leadership.   I had to write several papers on leadership.   I noted at the time, that if you went into the card file of any library in the state, the most numerous entries would be for the subject of either Christianity or Leadership.   Not sure if they had any deeper connection except to be subjects that most people were interested in.   How can I get to heaven and how can I be a better if not great leader?  So here I am almost fifty years later writing another article (now called a blog) on leadership.   The difference is that this time, I am relying on my AI assistant Metis, to provide the dialogue.   She is an unbelievable helper who can search reams of data to put the “write” words in the mouths of the right people.

I selected several people for a round table discussion on leadership.   Each of these people is in some way an expert on leadership.   Either because their thoughts have guided leaders for centuries or because they themselves are recognized as great leaders.   I am calling this discussion:

A Conversation Across Time

Participants:

Confucius – Chinese philosopher of moral governance.   Perhaps no one in history has had more influence on the proper behavior of both leaders and subjects.   The words and thoughts of Confucious still guide the lives of millions of people across the world.

Plato – Greek philosopher of the ideal state.   If Confucius is the most eminent philosopher in the Eastern world, Plato easily ranks as the most eminent philosopher in the Western world.   A student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle, the ideas of Plato have shaped Western philosophy for centuries.

Abraham Lincoln – U.S.  President during the Civil War.   Considered by many to one of the two greatest presidents in American history.   Lincoln led a divided nation through the bloodiest war in American history and sought to heal the nation when it was over rather than exact retribution or revenge.

Simón Bolívar – South American revolutionary and liberator.   Bolivar was a Venezuelan military officer and statesman who led what are currently the countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela to independence from the Spanish Empire.   He is known colloquially as El Libertador, or the Liberator of America.   He is regarded as a hero and national and cultural icon throughout Latin America.   The nations of Bolivia and Venezuela (as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) are named after him, and he has been memorialized all over the world in the form of public art or street names and in popular culture.

Nelson Mandela – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist and statesman who was the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.   He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial.   All total, Mandela spent more than twenty seven years in prison for fighting the apartheid state of South African.   After leaving prison in 1990, Mr.  Mandela became the country’s first Black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.   Globally regarded as an icon of moral leadership, peace, democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize.   He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and described as the “Father of the Nation”.   Mandela is widely considered one of the greatest and most admired figures of the 20th century.

So, there you have it.   A brief history of some of the panelists who have agreed to cross time and borders and sit down together for a discussion on “What makes a great leader?”   This is no trivial subject.   I hope that you will read what they have to say and take it to heart.   Please feel free to share their thoughts with anyone you think might benefit from them.   We live in a perilous time, not the least of which is due to a failed conception of “What makes a great leader?” 

The Setting

In a quiet hall outside of time, five figures gather around a circular wooden table.   Each has carried the weight of leadership, whether through philosophy or action.   They have come to discuss a single question:

What makes a great leader?

Confucius Speaks

Confucius:
If we wish to speak of great leadership, we must begin with virtue.   A ruler who governs by virtue is like the North Star—steady in its place while all the other stars revolve around it.

A leader must cultivate ren, benevolence toward others.   Without benevolence, power becomes tyranny.   Without moral example, laws alone cannot guide the people.

In my teachings I often said that if the ruler is upright, the people will follow without orders.   But if the ruler himself is crooked, then even many commands will not bring harmony.

Thus, the foundation of leadership is self-cultivation.   One must first govern oneself before attempting to govern others.

Plato Responds

Plato:
Confucius, your emphasis on virtue aligns closely with my own reflections.   In my dialogue The Republic, I argued that societies decay when leadership falls into the hands of those who crave power rather than wisdom.

The ideal leader, I proposed, is the philosopher-king—a person who has pursued truth and understands justice.   Such a leader does not govern for personal gain but for the good of the whole society.

Most political systems fail because they elevate ambition rather than wisdom.   The loudest voices, the wealthiest men, or the most cunning politicians often rise to power.

But true leadership requires something rarer: knowledge of the good.

Without wisdom, authority becomes merely a contest for domination.

Lincoln Reflects

Lincoln:
Gentlemen, I must confess that I never considered myself either a sage or a philosopher-king.  I was a country lawyer who found himself presiding over a nation tearing itself apart.

Yet I agree that moral purpose is central to leadership.  During the American Civil War, the question before us was not merely political—it was moral.  Could a nation founded on liberty survive while millions remained enslaved?

A leader must sometimes make decisions that will divide the country and bring great suffering.  The responsibility weighs heavily.

What sustained me was a simple principle: government must remain accountable to the people, and its purpose must be to expand human freedom.

But I would add something else.

A great leader must possess humility.

The presidency taught me daily how limited one man’s understanding can be.  Listening to critics—even harsh ones—can prevent terrible mistakes.

Bolívar Enters the Debate

Bolívar:
President Lincoln, your words resonate with my own experience in the wars for independence in South America.

I fought for decades to free nations from Spanish rule.  In those struggles, leadership required not only ideals but also relentless determination.

Armies had to be organized.  Alliances had to be built.  Revolutions had to survive betrayal, fatigue, and defeat.

I dreamed of a united Latin America—a federation strong enough to resist foreign domination.  But I learned that political freedom alone does not guarantee stability.

Nations newly freed from tyranny often struggle with factionalism and chaos.

Thus, leadership must balance liberty and order.

Too much authority risks dictatorship.  Too little authority invites anarchy.

Finding that balance may be the hardest task any leader faces.

Mandela Speaks Quietly

Mandela:
General Bolívar, your words about balancing liberty and order remind me of the moment South Africa emerged from apartheid.

For many years I was imprisoned by a government that denied basic rights to the majority of its people.  When freedom finally came, our nation faced a choice.

We could seek revenge—or we could seek reconciliation.

Leadership in that moment required restraint.  Anger can mobilize people in a struggle, but it can also destroy a fragile peace once victory is achieved.

A leader must understand the emotions of the people yet not be ruled by them.

I learned something during my years in prison: the greatest leaders are those who can transform bitterness into hope.

Without forgiveness, nations remain prisoners of their past.

Plato Raises a Question

Plato:
Mandela, your example is admirable.  Yet I wonder: can we rely on moral character alone to produce wise leadership?

History suggests that societies often choose leaders poorly.

Should we not design institutions that ensure the most capable and knowledgeable individuals rise to power?

Lincoln Answers

Lincoln:
Your concern is well taken.  Democracies do not guarantee wise leaders.  They merely allow the people to choose them.

But I would argue that democratic systems possess a corrective mechanism.

Bad leaders can eventually be removed.

Autocracies, even when led by brilliant rulers, risk catastrophic failure if the leader becomes corrupt or delusional.

The challenge is not simply choosing great leaders—it is building systems that survive imperfect ones.

Confucius Returns to Virtue

Confucius:
Systems are important, yet institutions alone cannot create harmony.

If those who occupy positions of authority lack virtue, even the finest laws will be twisted to serve selfish ends.

Therefore, the education of future leaders must emphasize moral character as much as knowledge.

In my time I believed that officials should be selected based on learning and ethical conduct.

Without moral cultivation, leadership becomes a contest for wealth and status.

Bolívar Reflects on Power

Bolívar:
I must add a warning drawn from bitter experience.

Revolutions often begin with noble ideals.  Yet the exercise of power can corrupt even those who once fought for freedom.

I myself was accused of becoming too powerful in the nations I helped liberate.

A leader must constantly guard against the temptation to believe that only he can save the nation.

History is filled with such figures—and they rarely end well.

Mandela Adds Perspective

Mandela:
That temptation is real.

One of the most important decisions I made was to serve only a single term as president.  Many urged me to remain in power longer.

But institutions must grow stronger than individuals.

A great leader should prepare the country for a future in which he or she is no longer necessary.

Plato Considers the Human Condition

Plato:
Listening to all of you, I begin to see a pattern.

Great leadership may not come from a single quality but from the balance of several virtues.

Wisdom, moral character, humility, courage, and restraint.

The tragedy is that these qualities rarely appear together in one person.

Lincoln Smiles

Lincoln:
That may be why history remembers so few truly great leaders.

The office itself does not confer greatness.  Many hold power; few rise above it.

Leadership reveals character under pressure.

Confucius Concludes the Moral Lesson

Confucius:
If I may summarize: a leader must first become a good human being.

Virtue inspires trust.

Trust creates legitimacy.

Legitimacy produces harmony.

Without these elements, authority becomes fragile.

Mandela’s Final Reflection

Mandela:
And perhaps the most important truth is this:

Leadership is not about elevating oneself above others.

It is about lifting others so that they may stand on their own.

When ordinary people believe they can shape their own destiny, leadership has succeeded.

The Table Falls Silent

The five figures pause.  Across centuries and continents, they have approached the same question from different paths.

Great leadership, it seems, is not merely the exercise of power.

It is the disciplined use of power in service of justice, unity, and human dignity.

As the discussion ended, it became clear that these leaders—though separated by centuries, cultures, and political systems—shared a surprising degree of agreement about the foundations of leadership.  Each had experienced power in very different circumstances: revolution, civil war, philosophy, moral teaching, and national reconciliation.

Yet when their insights are distilled, a common set of principles begins to emerge.  The following leadership lessons reflect the areas of strongest consensus among them—qualities that appear again and again whenever history produces a truly great leader.

Leadership Principles Emerging from the Dialogue

  1. Moral Character is the Foundation of Leadership

Confucius emphasized that leadership begins with personal virtue.  Without integrity, authority becomes self-serving and corrupt.  A leader’s behavior sets the tone for the entire society.  When leaders demonstrate honesty, restraint, and compassion, these qualities tend to spread throughout the institutions they govern.

  1. Leadership Requires a Commitment to Justice

Plato and Lincoln both stressed that leadership must ultimately be guided by a commitment to justice.  Power without moral direction easily becomes tyranny.  Leaders must pursue what is right for society as a whole rather than what benefits themselves or a small elite.

  1. Wisdom Must Guide the Use of Power

Plato’s idea of the philosopher-king reminds us that leadership is not merely a popularity contest or a struggle for dominance.  Effective leadership requires thoughtful judgment, careful reasoning, and an understanding of complex consequences.  Decisions made without wisdom often create long-term damage even when intentions are good.

  1. Humility is Essential

Lincoln emphasized humility as one of the most important safeguards against catastrophic mistakes.  Leaders who believe they possess all the answers often stop listening to others.  Humility encourages consultation, debate, and learning—qualities that improve decision-making.

  1. Leaders Must Balance Liberty and Order

Simón Bolívar highlighted a problem faced by nearly every nation: how to preserve freedom while maintaining stability.  Too much concentration of power can destroy liberty, but too little authority can produce chaos.  Great leaders must continually balance these competing forces.

  1. The Ability to Unite People is Crucial

Nearly every participant touched on the importance of social unity.  Lincoln sought to preserve the American Union, Bolívar tried to unify newly liberated nations, and Mandela worked to reconcile a deeply divided South Africa.  Leadership often requires building bridges across differences in order to maintain a functioning society.

  1. Restraint and Self-Control are Marks of Great Leadership

Mandela emphasized the importance of restraint, especially after victory in political struggles.  Leaders must sometimes resist the emotional pressures of revenge, anger, or triumphalism.  The ability to step back and choose reconciliation over retaliation can determine whether a nation heals or descends into new conflict.

  1. Institutions Matter as Much as Individuals

While much of the dialogue focused on personal qualities, Lincoln and Mandela both emphasized the importance of institutions that outlast individual leaders.  Democracies and stable governments depend on systems of accountability, laws, and norms that limit abuses of power.

  1. Great Leaders Prepare the Next Generation

Mandela’s decision to step down voluntarily illustrated an important principle: leadership should strengthen society so that it does not depend on one person.  Great leaders cultivate future leaders and ensure that institutions remain strong after they leave office.

  1. Leadership is Ultimately Service

Perhaps the most powerful theme emerging from the discussion is that leadership is not about personal glory or domination.  At its best, leadership is an act of service to others.  Leaders succeed when they help citizens flourish, protect their freedoms, and create conditions in which people can build meaningful lives.

Hannah Arendt Arrives

Hannah Arendt is one of the most brilliant philosophers and thinkers of the twentieth century.   Her book “The Banality of Evil” is one of the great analyses in history of what leads men and women to unspeakable acts of cruelty and immorality.   Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of wealth, power, fame, and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, tradition, and totalitarianism.   She is also remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, for her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase “the banality of evil”.   Her name appears on the names of many journals, schools, scholarly prizes, humanitarian prizes, think-tanks, streets, stamps and monuments; and is attached to other cultural and institutional markers that commemorate her thought.

Hannah Arendt:  

I realize that you men are too smart to have forgotten a women’s perspective, so I will simply assume that somehow my invitation to this discussion was lost.  However, arriving late does have its advantages.  It allows me to listen carefully to what each of you distinguished gentlemen has said—and as often happens when one arrives last, it appears I will also have the final word.

Now I do not claim to be a great leader.  My life has been spent mostly observing politics rather than practicing it.  Yet in studying the rise and fall of governments, revolutions, and the darker episodes of the twentieth century, I have learned something about the nature of power and leadership.

Professor Confucius reminds us that virtue is essential.  Plato insists that wisdom must guide authority.  President Lincoln speaks of humility and democratic accountability.  General Bolívar warns of the fragile balance between liberty and order.  President Mandela demonstrates the extraordinary strength required for reconciliation.

All of you are correct, and yet I would add an important distinction that history repeatedly teaches us: power and leadership are not the same thing.

Power, in the political sense, does not arise from a single leader’s virtue or intelligence.  True power emerges when people act together, when they recognize a shared purpose and agree to build something in common.  Authority imposed from above may command obedience for a time, but it rarely endures.

The greatest leaders therefore do something quite subtle.  They do not merely rule or persuade; they create conditions in which citizens themselves become participants in the public life of their society.

When leadership succeeds in this way, power no longer resides in the leader alone.  It resides in the collective will of the people.

And that, I believe, is the only form of power that can sustain a free society.

In Summary

John:

The conversation suggests that great leadership is not defined by charisma, popularity, or raw power.  Instead, it arises from a combination of moral character, wisdom, humility, and a genuine commitment to the well-being of others.

Across centuries and continents, these thinkers seem to agree on one central truth:

Leadership is not about ruling over people—it is about guiding a society toward justice, stability, and human dignity.

The End

 

 

 

 

 

The Sacred Triad: How Truth, Goodness, and Beauty Shape Our Humanity — Part 1

12 Oct 2025 11 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I made my 42nd retreat at the Demontreville Retreat Center in Lake Elmo this past September.  Two strong influences on my life have since passed away who were connected to my retreats.  The first was Father Sthokal S.J.  A man who spent 54 years of his life at this center.  Thirty-four of my retreats were spent with Father Sthokal at the center.  Father Sthokal died in 2020.

This year a new dormitory was built in his memory and named Sthokal Hall.  I was fortunate enough to have a room in this new hall.  With the air conditioning, outside patio and coffee bar it was quite a pleasure.  The memories of the words of Father Sthokal infuse the entire retreat center but perhaps more so in the new hall.

The second great influence on my life was Pope Francis who died in April of 2025 this year.  Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was ordained Pope in 2013.  When he became Pope, the Catholic Church was facing a major crisis.  I read about the new Pope at my retreat that year and thought “surely they are going to assassinate him.”  He posed a challenge to an established and often corrupt Vatican administration which was mired in the past.  Pope Francis set about to change the order of things at the Vatican.  He did this to a surprising degree.  He was also a profound and prolific writer.

At the retreat center, we have a small library full of books dealing with all aspects of spirituality.  The year that Pope Francis was ordained, I picked out a book that he had written. I could not put it down.  I read it on my walks around the monastery as a means of reflection and contemplation.  Every year when I came back, I found something else that Pope Francis had written.  His writings made a difference on my life.  His thoughts on mercy and justice and social responsibilities still ring in my head.

This year, I went looking for something by the new Pope Leo XIV in the library but could find nothing.  I had read everything by Pope Francis and thought that surely the new Pope would have some writings.  We also have a little kiosk of sorts at Demontreville where you can purchase sundries including rosaries, candy, prayer books and some bathroom items.  While passing by the kiosk, I stopped to look at the prayer books thinking that I had purchased most of them in the past.  Then I saw one that I had not seen before.  It was called “A Year with Pope Francis” and it included a series of daily reflections from his writings.  I purchased it and brought it back to my room.  The day was September 20th and the reflection for that day was “Always remember that truth, beauty and goodness are inseparable.” 

This thought really struck me.  I did not know what it meant.  How could they be inseparable?  How did they fit in with the life that one needed to live to find meaning and purpose?  Following my retreat, I started tracing the etiology of Pope Francis’s thoughts.  As with many subjects, the history of this idea goes back centuries.  In this blog and the one following, I want to share some of the impact that this idea had on me and can have on the lives of all of us.  I have used a combination of my own ideas as well as research and reflections with ChatGPT.  I go back and forth with my AI partner to discover thoughts and ideas and to refine my thinking.  Many of these ideas come from saints, philosophers and other thinkers from the past.  My channel to the past is Pope Francis and AI.

When Pope Francis spoke of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness as inseparable, he was not offering a poetic slogan.  He was reminding us that these three values — long revered since Plato and Aquinas — describe the full stature of the human soul.  When any one of them is lost or diminished, the others soon fade.  Truth without goodness becomes cold and cruel.  Beauty without truth becomes deceptive.  Goodness without beauty becomes joyless duty.

In the modern world, we have grown accustomed to fragmentation.  We analyze without compassion, feel without understanding, and act without reflection.  But life only finds meaning when our thinking, feeling, and doing are woven together — when the mind, heart, and hand move as one.  The harmony of these dimensions is not a luxury for saints or philosophers; it is the quiet work of becoming fully human.

I. Thinking, Feeling, and Doing — Three Dimensions of Being

Human beings are triadic creatures.  We live through three interlocking faculties:

  • Thinking – our capacity to seek truth, to question, to discern what is real.
  • Feeling – our capacity to sense beauty, to be moved, to connect and care.
  • Doing – our capacity to enact goodness, to choose and to build what should be.

The philosopher’s triad (Truth–Beauty–Goodness) and the psychologist’s triad (Thinking–Feeling–Doing) are not two separate models.  They describe the same reality from different directions.  One names the qualities we seek; the other names the faculties we use to reach them.

Thinking without feeling leads to cynicism; feeling without doing leads to sentimentality; doing without thinking leads to folly.  When all three are united, the result is wisdom — not the kind found in textbooks, but the lived wisdom that radiates from people who see clearly, love deeply, and act justly.

II. The 3×3 Matrix of Integration

To visualize their relationship, imagine a simple grid.  Across the top: Truth, Beauty, Goodness. Down the side: Thinking, Feeling, Doing.
In each cell lies a different way of being human — nine ways of aligning the head, heart, and hand.

Truth Beauty Goodness
Thinking Wisdom — understanding reality as it is Wonder — perceiving harmony and meaning Conscience — discerning what ought to be done
Feeling Empathy — sensing truth through others’ eyes Joy — feeling beauty in all things Compassion — feeling goodness as care
Doing Integrity — acting in truth Creativity — embodying beauty through action Justice — realizing goodness in the world

This matrix is not an abstract diagram; it is a mirror. Each of us can find ourselves somewhere within it on any given day.

III. When the Triad Fractures

The modern world often tears these apart.

Truth without goodness becomes sterile knowledge — the scientist who measures everything but values nothing, the pundit who knows every fact but forgets every face.
Beauty without truth becomes vanity — the glossy perfection of advertising or social media, beauty used to manipulate rather than to inspire.
Goodness without beauty becomes moralism — well-intentioned people who do right but radiate no joy, whose kindness feels obligatory rather than free.

Likewise, when our own inner triad splits, we feel lost.
We may think brilliantly but feel numb.
We may feel deeply but never act.
We may act endlessly but without understanding why.
Each imbalance carries its own suffering — confusion, anxiety, or burnout. The cure is not more effort but more integration.

IV. Thinking Aligned with Truth

The first step toward wholeness begins with how we think. Truth asks us to see the world as it is — not as we wish it to be.  Thinking in truth means facing facts, admitting mistakes, and refusing to let ideology replace inquiry.

But truth is not limited to intellectual accuracy. It is also moral clarity — a refusal to lie to ourselves. When we think truthfully, we free ourselves from illusion.  We develop what the ancients called Sophia — wisdom.  Wisdom joins knowledge to humility.  It recognizes that truth is not possessed but pursued.

V. Feeling Aligned with Beauty

Beauty, said Dostoevsky, will save the world. But not the beauty of cosmetic perfection.  True beauty awakens wonder and gratitude.  It is the radiance of harmony — a sunset, a melody, an act of forgiveness.  Feeling beauty means allowing the heart to be touched, even wounded. It calls us to empathy — the ability to enter another’s experience and still see the light within it. In a cynical age, this is an act of resistance.

When feeling is shaped by beauty, life regains texture and meaning.
We begin to notice small miracles: the laughter of a child, the discipline of a craftsman, the resilience of someone who refuses to give up.  These glimpses of beauty soften us.  They remind us that beneath the noise and ugliness of the world, there is still something worth cherishing.

But feeling must not end in sentimentality.  Beauty moves us to love, and love — if it is genuine — demands action.

VI. Doing Aligned with Goodness

Goodness is truth and beauty made visible.
It is what happens when we act from conscience, not convenience.  Doing good is rarely glamorous.  It often means small, consistent acts of courage: listening instead of judging, volunteering when no one notices, speaking truth to power even when afraid.

Goodness without action is merely intention.  To “do” goodness is to give it form — through justice, kindness, and creative service.  A teacher who inspires curiosity in children, a nurse who comforts a frightened patient, a neighbor who plants trees for the next generation — all are artists of goodness.

Goodness is contagious.  One act done well invites another.  In a divided world, each small deed of integrity pushes back against despair.  As Pope Francis reminds us, “Reality is more important than ideas.” The good we do embodies the truths we believe and the beauties we feel.

VII. The Intersections — Where Wholeness Is Born

Each intersection in the matrix is a doorway to transformation.

  • Thinking × Truth → Wisdom
    To think clearly in a confused age is a moral act.
  • Feeling × Beauty → Joy
    To let beauty move us is to say yes to life.
  • Doing × Goodness → Justice
    To act rightly even when inconvenient is the seed of renewal.

But the deeper magic lies in the crossings between columns:

  • Thinking + Goodness (Conscience): we discern what should be done.
  • Feeling + Truth (Empathy): we understand others from the inside.
  • Doing + Beauty (Creativity): we make the world more radiant.

When these elements feed one another, we experience alignment — a state of inner peace that radiates outward. We stop living in fragments and begin living as whole persons.

VIII. Everyday Applications

How might this integration appear in ordinary life?

  1. In Conversation
    Before reacting, we think (truth), we feel (beauty through empathy), and we act (goodness through restraint or honesty). The result: communication that heals rather than divides.
  2. In Work
    Whatever our craft — teaching, building, healing, writing — we can strive for accuracy (truth), care (beauty), and fairness (goodness). Excellence becomes not a competition but a form of love.
  3. In Community
    A society guided by truth builds trust.
    A society that celebrates beauty cultivates joy.
    A society committed to goodness ensures justice.
    When one of these is missing, culture decays. When all three flourish, community becomes communion.

IX. The Spiritual Thread

The unity of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness is not just psychological; it is spiritual.  Each reveals an aspect of the divine image within us.

  • Truth reflects the Mind of God — the eternal Logos, the pattern behind all creation.
  • Beauty reflects the Heart of God — the harmony and joy woven into being.
  • Goodness reflects the Will of God — the self-giving love that sustains the world.

To live these values is to participate in the divine life, whether we use theological language or not.  I am an Atheist but every human being, consciously or unconsciously, seeks these three.  Call their reflections God, or Karma or Goddess or Divinity, they are the compass points of the soul.

X. Reweaving the World

Our age suffers not from lack of knowledge but from disconnection.  We have mastered the science of information but lost the art of integration.  We are clever but not wise, expressive but not empathetic, busy but not good.

Reweaving the world begins with reweaving ourselves. Each time we align our thoughts with truth, our feelings with beauty, and our actions with goodness, we mend a small tear in the fabric of humanity.

Start simply. Ask three questions at the end of each day:

  • Did I think truthfully today?
  • Did I feel beauty and let it move me?
  • Did I do at least one thing that was good?

Over time, these questions become habits, and habits become character. The goal is not perfection but harmony — to be a person through whom truth shines, beauty blossoms, and goodness flows.

XI. Closing Reflection

The poet John Keats once wrote that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty — that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”  Pope Francis extends that vision: when beauty and truth walk hand in hand, goodness inevitably follows.  The three are not separate paths but a single road leading home.

To think rightly, to feel deeply, and to act justly — this is the trinity of human wholeness. Each of us, in our own small sphere, can live this harmony.  When we do, we not only become better people; we help the world remember what it was always meant to be — a place where truth enlightens, beauty delights, and goodness redeems.

In Part 2 of this blog, I want to weave the relationship between Goodness, Truth, Beauty with Art and Music.  I attended a wonderful workshop/performance a few days ago by Mark Ochu at the Desert Rose Bahai Institute in Eloy Arizona.  Mark is a “Visionary Pianist” who was presenting  “A Listen and Learn” Piano Concert reflecting on the life of Franz Liszt.  Mark weaves in art, history and music to tell the story of Franz Liszt and his relevance to modern music.

Mark combines piano and lecture.  His performance made me realize that in my earlier reflections on Truth, Goodness and Beauty,  I had not included the role that music and art play in life.  In Part 2, I want to weave this into the texture and fabric of the mosaic that I am trying to create.  Much like my wife’s quilts or perhaps the kaleidoscopes that I love, life can be a beautiful tapestry that brings all of us joy and meaning.  We have only to put the elements in place in our lives to bring out the true nature of humanity.  A nature that transcends violence, vengeance, war and retributions.  Watch a concert sometime and look at the peace and harmony that the performers share with each other.  Now imagine that every soldier in the world was carrying a flute or violin or oboe instead of a weapon of destruction.

Author’s Note

Portions of this essay were developed in collaboration with “Metis,” an AI writing partner powered by OpenAI’s GPT-5.  The ideas, direction, and final reflections are my own, shaped through a dialogue intended to illuminate and refine the themes explored here.

Only God Can Save You!

17 Oct 2024 13 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

This past year marks my 41st Jesuit Silent Retreat.  I may be the only Atheist at the retreat.  Each year brings new insights and thoughts.  I wonder if I have grown any during my retreats.  I can’t say that I feel any closer to God, yours or theirs.  I wonder if there is a God but I doubt it.  I wonder if there are multiple Gods.  A God for each religion.  Is the Muslim God and the Catholic God and the Jewish God the same entity?  Were the Romans, Greeks, Hindus and many others more on the mark with different Gods for different functions?

This year reading as I usually do many of the assigned Gospel readings and many other Gospel passages I was struck with how many of the old prophets emphasized the need to believe in God’s goodness.  Only God can save us and we must have faith in God’s goodness.  God has a plan for all of us if we will only listen to him or perhaps her.  God knows what we need but we ignore his/her messages.  Pray to God.  Love God, for God loves us.  He loves us so much that he sent his only “begotten” son (Not sure what a begotten son is) to save us.

Exodus 33:18-19 (NKJV)

“And he said, ‘Please, show me Your glory.’ Then He said, ‘I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’”

Frankly, I still don’t get it.  Many people have taken a shot at saving my soul, but I still don’t see any value in God.  During the past five years, he/she has allowed Global Warming to destroy much of the climate that I once loved.  He sent a scourge called Covid 19 to help ruin the last few years of my life.  And to top it off, he allowed a low life called Trump to run for President again.  I guess I am lost to the damnations of hell fire, but I still don’t see a God that is going to save me.  If so, he/she is about 78 years past my patience.

C. S. Lewis was the great “converter.” The conversion of an Atheist to a Theist is an aphrodisiac for the devoted religious. I suppose it justifies their belief in a future fiction that requires a complete abandonment of reason and logic.  A place called Heaven where we can all live happily ever after.  Just as long as we are willing to listen to daily sermons about how good God is for us.

“[God] will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of heaven as a shortcut to the nearest chemist’s shop.” — C.S. Lewis

But “Only God Can Save You” has a ring of truth to it.  No one on earth can save you from death.  No one can be trusted to be by your side forever regardless of the consequences.  Friends and lovers come and go like shadows in the night.  One day someone loves you, the next day they hate you.  One day someone is your friend, the next day they unfriend you on Facebook.  Tragedy of tragedies.  Loneliness is a Satan stalking all of us all of our lives.  I would wager more people have committed suicide out of loneliness than any other reason on earth.

Psalm 107:8-9 (NKJV)

“Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”

Only the concept or idea of an All Knowing, All Seeing, All Powerful and All Compassionate God can guarantee us that we will never be alone.  Never be forgotten.  Never be forsook.  One popular song goes:

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

This song was first written by Oscar Hammerstein II and composed by Richard Rodgers for their musical Carousel, which was released in the USA in 1945.  It has since become one of the most popular funeral songs (Next to Amazing Grace) of all time.  Many people interpret it to have faith.  Faith in friends.  Faith in lovers.  Faith in a God who will always be with you in time of trials and tribulations.  It is a song to give hope to people in time of grief and suffering.

But where does one find such a God?  The Bible shows us at best an arbitrary God.  Sometimes belligerent.  Sometimes vindictive.  Sometimes vengeful.  Sometime cruel.  A God that many of us see in the world wreaking havoc on humanity for any number of transgressions.  From Sodom and Gomorrah to massive floods to sending his “Chosen people” into slavery.  A God who threw Adam and Ever out of the Garden of Paradise because they dared eat an apple.  A God who destroyed cities because they did not live up to his/her expectations.  A God who sent a flood to wipe out humanity.  This is a compassionate loving God?

Psalm 31:19 (NIV-84)

“How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.”

Or is it a God who feeds his people.  A God who watches out for his Chosen ones.  A God who rewards those who obey him/her.  A God who destroys the enemies of those who worship him.  A God who is loving, kind and compassionate.  I wonder what God really is.  Here are some questions that still nag at my Atheist beliefs.

  1. Do I think that I am smarter than all the wise and great people who believe in God?
  2. Who or what created us?
  3. What if there is a God? What does he/she think of me?
  4. What if there is no God?
  5. Is God simply a metaphor for “Unconditional Love?”
  6. Is God Death or Life or Both?

The Atheist by Martin Braun

Science defines my virtue.

Factual and fictional books are my domain.

Don’t speak to me of pixies, fairies, and unicorns,

Or of your monopoly on morality, love, faith, and shame.

I am what I am

And of what I do I claim my own.

I fight for my survival

Of which need not be told, judged or shown.

There is no all knowing

Or an immortal god of my fate he will judge.

For when my heart ceases to beat

It will return from whence it came, a kind of primordial sludge.

Everybody is in a Hurry Today to go Fast

16 Apr 2024 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

download

Everybody is in a hurry today.  Nobody has any time today.  We do everything we can to keep busy today.  The hell with everyone else.  The hell with tomorrow.  The hell with life.  I am busy so you can just get out of my way.  The roads are full of maniacs passing on double yellow lines.  Other maniacs riding your bumper to the next stop sign about 100 yards away.  Passing on the right, then left, then right again until they wind up next to you at the next red light.  Where are the cops these days.  Speed limits and time seem to have no meaning anymore.

When I first came down to Arizona, I would ask people “How are you doing?”  “Living the dream” was a common reply.  “What is living the dream?” I would ask them.  “Well, I can golf everyday now.”  Ah, yes, you retired so that you could stay busy hitting a little round ball around 18 holes.  So that you could try like hell to hit the tiny ball into the tiny hole eighteen times.  What a life!  At first I did not understand.  When you retire, shouldn’t you make some time to just relax?  Karen says well maybe they relax by swinging their expensive golf clubs.  I doubt it.

Years ago, I learned that one can be or do and life is a balance between each.  Being involves spiritual activities that make us better people.  It is meditating.  It is going on a retreat.  It is praying.  It is reading a good book.  Doing is moving.  Doing is animated.  Doing is hitting a pickle ball back and forth over a net.  Nothing is wrong with doing but something is wrong with a life that is filled only with doing.  I have met too many people that spend time doing but spend no time being.

“Hi, Paul, would you like to get together for a coffee next week?” “Gee, John, I would love to, but I am really busy next week.”  “Well, than how about the week after that?”  “Sorry, but my great aunt and her son are coming over that week and I need to get the house cleaned.  Tell you what I will check my calendar and get back to you.  Not sure but I think I have an opening next year.”

cyan-minimalist-t-chart-3

There is a mania in this country with going nowhere fast and doing something all the time.  I rush to get somewhere so I can get busy staying busy.  The business of America is more about staying busy than doing anything really useful.  The country band Alabama penned a song many years ago which went as follows:

I’m in a hurry to get things done

Ohh I rush and rush until life’s no fun

All I really gotta do is live and die

Even I’m in a hurry and don’t know why?

Don’t know why?  I have to drive so fast

My car has nothing to prove

It’s not new

But it’ll do zero to sixty in five point two

Ohh, I hear a voice

That says I’m running behind

I better pick up my pace

It’s a race and there ain’t

No room for someone in second place

 I wonder what life would be like in America if more people meditated and less people were in a hurry.  What if people spent more time praying than watching TV?  I would give you better than ten to one odds that if more people prayed and/or meditated that we would have less crime, less war, and less violence.  Society and the world would be more peaceful if people spent more time meditating.  We would have more time for friends.  More time for settling differences peacefully.

The average USA citizen spends the following amount of time in each of these activities each day: — Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022

Sleeping                      9.02 hours

Eating:                         1.23 hours

Shopping:                   .66 hours

TV:                               2.79 hours

Religious/Spiritual      .13 hours

Volunteering:             .10 hours

Educational:               .44 hours

Working:                     3.23 hours

You can see from the above chart that the average USA citizen spends approximately 8 minutes per day in religious or spiritual activities.  I wonder whether this statistic would find any greater amount of time spent by the religious right in America doing prayers or meditating than for the average person.  The time spent per person is just about enough time to say a blessing at supper time.  To repeat what I said above “What if people spent more time meditating and praying and less time rushing to get somewhere?”  Would we have a better country?  I believe we would.  We would probably have:

  • Less road rage
  • Less drug use
  • Less alcoholism
  • Less traffic accidents
  • Less wars
  • Less violence

On the positive side, just imagine how relaxed people would be.  If people were more relaxed, there would be nicer people walking around.  Imagine the following scenarios:

Ariana:  “You just took the parking spot I was going to drive into.”

Alex:  “Oh, I am very sorry.  I did not see you waiting there.  Just give me a second and I will pull out and park elsewhere.”

Ariana:  “No, that’s ok, I can find another spot.  There is plenty of spaces in the parking lot.”

 

President Biden:  “Look, President Putin.  I am sorry for all the names I called you in the past.  I have so much on my plate and too much to do.  Sometimes, my age gets in the way.”

President Putin:  “I did not want a war with Ukraine, but you kept bad mouthing us and surrounding our country with more and more NATO members.  We just want to survive like you do.”

President Biden:  “I think it is time for peace talks now.  We can back off and leave Ukraine alone if you can promise to pull troops out and restore Ukraine to its former territories.” 

President Putin:  “Lets start the peace talks now and see what agreements we can come to.”

Well, you can call me Pollyanna and laugh if you want but if Putin and Biden could sit down and meditate together and then pray together for peace, I seriously think the world would be a different place.  Maybe we could even get Netanyahu to pray and meditate some.

 

The Four Baskets of Life Needed on the Path to Happiness and Success

27 Jul 2022 3 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

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We are all born with four baskets of life.  We are born with these baskets, and we will die with these baskets.  Our happiness and success will depend on how we fill these baskets and what we fill them with.  It might seem unfair, but no two people are born with the same size baskets.  Some of us have bigger baskets and some of us have smaller baskets.  Ironically, bigger baskets can be more of a burden than smaller baskets.

The four baskets are known as, mental, physical, socio-emotional, and spiritual.  When we are born, our baskets are almost empty.  We have rudimentary materials that are put in each basket at birth.  However, no human can grow to maturity without adding more into each basket.  Given the size limitations of our baskets, our challenge is to fill each basket with the appropriate goods that we need for a happy successful life.

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Mental/Cognitive Basket

Some of us are smarter than others.  However, smartness or intelligence is not merely related to IQ.  Each of us can be smart at different things.  Some people are good cooks.  Some people are good mathematicians and others are good carpenters.  Regardless of what skill sets you may have; your mental basket needs some basic knowledge to help you navigate in life.  Many of the skills needed are gained in schools or by teachers who help fill your basket.  Many of the skills we need are gained by experience.  Regardless of whether you add to your basket by experience or formal learning in a school, the goods you put in your basket need to match your knowledge, skills, and abilities.  Your interests are the motivation for what you desire to find and add to your basket.  One should go through life adding stuff to their basket and occasionally removing stuff.  Knowledge is not static.  It changes with the times as well as with your own needs.  I used to tell my business students, that the only value they had to their company was between their ears.

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Physical Basket

Clearly we are all born with different physical assets and abilities.  Nike says everyone is an athlete.  Unfortunately, too many people do not see any reason to add goods to their physical basket.  They admire people like Michael Jordan, Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin, Usain Bolt,  Michael Phelps, Misty Copeland, Anna Netrebko and Tom Brady.  If you asked most people, they would readily admit that they do not have the physical skill sets that these champions have.  However, too many people grow old with the nearly same basket that they were born with.  I know too many people who stopped exercising or practicing after they left high school or college. “Oh, I used to run but I gave it up.”  “I used to play the clarinet, but I lost interest.”

If any of the people I noted above had not practiced and practiced and never given up, they would not have achieved the greatness that they did.  We all have different size baskets particularly when it comes to physical attributes but without practice and more practice filling up our baskets, we can never know what we are capable of.  At the very least in terms of increasing our physical attributes, we might live to an older age still able to walk, run, hike, play, and sing.  Instead too many people can only dream about the days gone by when they still could do these things.
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Socio-Emotional Basket

Covid 19 devastated many people who depend on emotional connections to help manage their lives.  It is true that some of us are less dependent than others when it comes to emotional attachments.  Some of us are introverts and some are extraverts.  Nevertheless, I know of no one who can go through life without a desire for love and friendship.  The socio-emotional basket may vary in size for many of us but it is still a basket that we must try to fill to meet our needs or we remain isolated and lonely.

A number of years ago, the idea of EQ or Emotional Quotient to measure how well people do at managing their interpersonal relationships entered the mainstream of social science.  “The term first appeared in 1964.  It gained popularity in the 1995 best-selling book ‘Emotional Intelligence’, written by science journalist Daniel Goleman.” — Wikipedia  The basic idea is that we all need to cope with our emotions and learn skills and techniques to help us better deal with the stresses of life.  Everyone has days of being up and down.  We all suffer from mild to strong depression at some time in our lives.  Thoughts of suicide are more prevalent than most people realize.  However, the goods that we put in our socio-emotional basket can determine how well we cope with these stresses.  Even the “greatest” of lives have succumbed to a weak basket and gone to drugs or drink to try to deal with the ups and downs of life.  History is littered with the deaths of good people who just did not have the socio-emotional coping skills to handle what life was throwing at them.  I have had two cousins who committed suicide and a best friend who also took his life.  Most people thought they had a lot to live for but apparently they disagreed.

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Spiritual Basket

The spiritual basket is the most difficult to fill and the most problematic.  Unless we fill the spiritual basket we will never find peace and happiness.  It is the basket of fulfillment.  It is the basket of true love.  Without the right ingredients in this basket, we remain lonely and unloved.  It does not matter how much we put in the other baskets, we must put the right stuff and enough of the right stuff in this basket or we will lead a life of “quiet despair.”  There are two paths typically taken to fill this basket.  One path is secular.  The other path is sectarian.  There are problems with each path.

GreedThe secular path is the path of the world.  It is the path that says you need to have more of the things of the world to put in your basket.  Getting more of the world’s stuff is heralded as the secret to filling your basket and achieving success and happiness.  Some of the things people try to get more of include:  Food, drugs, alcohol, fame, fortune, money, medals, accomplishments, status, power, knowledge, youth, health and titles.  While some of these things might be useful in your other baskets, in this basket they simply do not work.  The spiritual basket is immune to the things of the world.  It is a truism that all of the great prophets and philosophers and thinkers have extolled.  Sadly, it is a path that is promoted by too much of the world because it is driven by greed and financial profits.  Buy that new truck and you will be happy.  Buy that giant house and you will be happy.  Read the latest diet book and you will be happy.  How many times do people have to go down this path before they will realize that it only takes them in the wrong direction?

The other path to fill the spiritual basket is the sectarian path.  This is the sacred path or the path of religion and sects.  It is a path of meaning and purpose.  It is a path of prayer and meditation.  It is a path of Gods, prophets, and spiritual leaders.  These leaders tell their followers that the path to happiness and success comes from following their teachings.  Often they include meaning and purpose as tools necessary for your spiritual basket.  Some believe in the power of meditation and prayer for your spiritual basket.

prophetsThe great spiritual leaders like Mohammed, Jesus, Buddha and  Baháʼu’lláh all had followers and tried to teach their followers by various means.  It seems that the goal of enlightenment, samadhi or nirvana was achieved by each of the great leaders and even by some of their followers.  Unfortunately for humanity and for most organized religions, these gurus and religious teachers all missed one important truth.  “You cannot teach enlightenment.”  Enlightenment can only be learned by example.  We learn from our parents by the example they set for us.  We learn by observing how they treat other people.  We learn by what they do rather than what they say.  The followers of the great prophets and gurus were learning their spirituality from what their teachers were doing and now what they were saying.

The words that were left by some religious teachers like Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa, OSHO, Krishnamurti and the writers of the Old Testament and New Testament have no doubt inspired many people to try to reach heaven or nirvana.  For the most part, I doubt that many followers have ever achieved much enlightenment.  If they did, it was not by the reading of words but by the life that they led.

I think having had 39 silent Jesuit Retreats that prayer, mediation, solitude, and contemplation have a role in finding peace and happiness.  I do not think that they will lead anyone to nirvana or enlightenment.  Unless I am an extreme outlier, after 39 years of a three-day silent retreat full of prayer and meditation, I am still pretty much just your normal unsaintly unholy guy.  I am still waiting for most of my prayers to be answered and I am still waiting to sit peacefully in my car full of good will and cheerfulness when some jerk is tailgating me on the freeway.  I am much more likely to wish that I had an invisible ray gun that could make the impatient driver and his/her auto just disappear.

You can not teach how heat feels.  Description is futile.  You must feel it.  You cannot teach fulfillment or enlightenment you must experience it.  Words are useless.  The most important ingredient in a spiritual basket is love.  Love for yourself and love for others.  Love for all others and not just people who are like you.  Not just people who think like you.  If you do not feel love for yourself, you cannot feel love for others.  But there is a paradox here.  It is that love from others can help you feel loved.  Love for others, love for yourself, love for yourself and love for others are the Yin/Yang of a spiritual basket.  Purpose and meaning are good things, but they are transient.  They will come and go and change with the times.  Love never changes.  Jesus said:

“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” – John 13:34-35 (KJV)

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If you want enlightenment, follow a good person, do good deeds, be kind to all people and love yourself.  Being a person of integrity and honor leads to self-love.  Self-love leads to love for others.  We are all born with an empty spiritual basket.  In order to become complete, we must fill this basket with as much love as we can.

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75 % Atheist and 25 % Percent Agnostic

31 May 2021 9 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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I grew up in an Italian Irish family.  What else would I be except a devout Catholic?  The bigger question is how did I go from being a Catholic to an Atheist or at least a 75% percent Atheist?  I now claim I am seventy-five percent Atheist and twenty-five percent Agnostic.  I will explain this formula later.

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Well, my journey from one God to no God started many years ago and perhaps mimics the trajectory of many a lapsed Catholic.  Went to a Catholic school.  Lots of Catholic theology.  Bible study each week.  Surrounded by priests and nuns.  Confession on Fridays followed by ten “Our Fathers” and twenty or so “Hail Marys.”  Church and communion on Sunday.  Back to being bad, masturbating and thinking dirty thoughts about the girl in the pew next to me on Mondays.  She kept wearing skirts that hiked up above her knees when she sat down.  The nuns kept telling her that her skirts were too short, but she somehow ignored their admonitions.  I was personally awfully glad that she did.

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Sounds a little bit like I should have been a priest.  Sadly, I did not even make altar boy. Along the way, my questions about God received the standard answer.  Question, “Who made God?”  Reply, “God always was and always will be.”  Just before my 12th birthday, a godly priest damned me to hell for taking an unauthorized ride at a carnival that was set-up for a Catholic fund raiser.  Between bull-shit answers about God, condemnations for horny thoughts and being damned to hell, I decided to leave Catholicism for (as they say) greener pastures.

HuffP1-1Like Dion DiMucci’s “The Wanderer,” I spent years wandering from church to church and religion to religion to explore other venues for spirituality.  Dion was my favorite pop singer in the sixties.  As I write this, he is still alive and performing.  One of his most popular hits was a song called “The Wanderer.”  The lyrics grabbed every guy I hung out with, and we all dreamed of being macho and tough like the guy in the song.

Oh well I’m the type of guy who will never settle down
Where pretty girls are well, you know that I’m around
I kiss ’em and I love ’em ’cause to me they’re all the same
I hug ’em and I squeeze ’em they don’t even know my name
They call me the wanderer, yeah the wanderer
I roam around, around, around.

Oh well I roam from town to town
I go through life without a care
‘Til I’m as happy as a clown
With my two fists of iron and I’m going nowhere.

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I suppose I had somewhat of Dion’s attitude towards religion.  To me they were all the same.  One God, their God, their rules.  You bought into their shtick, or you did not belong.  The price of admission.  Sell your soul for their traditions, their beliefs and their theology and you will be saved and adored and admitted into the flock.  Ask any questions, challenge any favorite tropes and excommunication and hell fire awaits you.  Their God always reigned supreme, and any other Gods were fake.  That is why the term for parishioners as a flock is so appropriate.  Most people are like sheep who flock together and have little stomach for questioning authority.  I have to say most, or my spouse will jump on me for a really gross generalization.  She helps to keep me in line when my cynicism towards the world outruns reality.

After not finding any religions that met my standards of objectivity and open-mindedness, I came to reject organized religions as evil and dangerous.  Witness the many wars fought in the name of someone’s God.  I started defining myself as an Atheist.  I despised all religions.  I sought out other Atheists but paradoxically found that I did not fit in with the Atheist groups that I met.  Atheists profess a strong orientation towards science, logic, and evidence as a basis for spirituality, but many of the Atheists I met were narrowminded, bigoted and worst of all made decisions without sound evidence or data.

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My faith in Atheism was shaken many times by highly religious people who had more in common with my beliefs than the Atheists I had met.  For instance, when Sister Giovanni was interviewing me to teach at Guadalupe Area Project, I informed her that I was an Atheist.  She replied, “I don’t care what you are as long as you are a good teacher.”  I still could not find any evidence for God, heaven, hell, or an after life not rooted in hopes and dreams but nevertheless my Atheistic roots over the years have continually been shaken.

Some of the things that have shaken my beliefs are the many good people who passionately believe in God and their religious obligations towards others.  Jesus said:

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” — Jesus Christ, English Standard Version (Luke 6:27–31)

I have met people who follow these beliefs in a variety of religions.  I came to accept that religions have done much good as well as much bad for the world.  Not being God, I have no way of knowing or proving whether the bad or the good outweighs the other, so I have simply stopped judging most religions.  I say most because there are still some religions that I see as hypocritical and even evil.  The idea of a “Prosperity Gospel” strikes me as a justification for greed and selfishness.

Another finding that has shaken my moorings as an Atheist are all the really smart people who believe in a God.  I weigh myself against such people and come up noticeably short.  If these people are so much more intelligent and accomplished than I am, maybe, just maybe, I might be wrong.  How can I sit here and argue that they are wrong?  It would be arrogant to think that I have all the knowledge and information to assert that “there is no God” when much greater thinkers than I have affirmed and argued a belief in God.

I started calling myself an Agnostic to reconcile some of the above dilemmas.  The definition of an Agnostic is, “A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.”  Being an Agnostic, I could go happily through life never having to attack or defend my convictions concerning the existence of God.  This position has certain benefits, but it is not without constraints.  The biggest constraint is being seen as a copout or wishy washy.  Someone who straddles the fence because they are afraid of taking a position.

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I want to avoid being seen as wishy washy but some days I feel like an Atheist and other days I feel like an Agnostic.  If there were a continuum between Atheism and Agnosticism it varies from day to day for me.  Today, I feel like I am 75 percent Atheist and 25 percent Agnostic.  Tomorrow I might be fifty-fifty or sixty-forty.  Life is a process that is continually in flux.  Change is inevitable.  Our moods change, our likes and dislikes change, our aches and pains change, our joys and sadness’s change.  It only makes sense to me that my affinity for one religious position or another should change.

So, if you ever want to know what religion I am, it will probably be somewhere between 100 percent Atheist and 100 percent Agnostic.

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”  ― St. Thomas Aquinas

“As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.”  ― Bertrand Russell

The Story of My First Demontreville Retreat in Lake Elmo, Minnesota

10 Apr 2020 6 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

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34 years ago, I made my first retreat at Demontreville.  Demontreville is a Jesuit Retreat Center in Lake Elmo Minnesota.  I was not a Jesuit or even a practicing Catholic when I made my first retreat.  In fact, I hailed myself as an atheist or sometimes an agnostic.  I like agnosticism since it is a “just in case” religion.   Just in case there is a heaven, hell, devil or god, I can always claim that I did not totally disavow him/her.  This might give me a chance to get by the pearly gates.  Anyway, I did not go to Demontreville for the religious experience.

WintertrailIt was January of 1986.  I had finished all my course work for my Ph.D. degree.  It had already been a long and cold and snowy Minnesota winter.  I had finally collected all the data I needed to finish my dissertation.  Four years in school, working part-time, divorced, no money and writing a dissertation had just about wrung me out.  I needed a vacation but had no money.  Someone told me about this place called Demontreville which they described as a sort of place to get away from life.  They had beautiful facilities, private rooms and some really nice ski trails.  You could get three free meals for four days and there was no charge.  It was all based on voluntary donations.  Weekend retreats ran from Thursday evening to Sunday evening.

This sounded too good to be true.  I packed my knapsack with some fun reading.  Threw some schoolwork in and loaded my skis on my car ski rack.  Just in case, the trails were not very good, I brought alone my running gear.  Off, I went from St. Paul to Demontreville in Lake Elmo, Mn.

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I arrived at a beautiful (I thought resort) nestled in an old pine forest.  I drove down a wonderfully secluded road and past a horse stable.  “Wow,” I thought, “I might even be able to get some horse back riding in.”  The weather was cold, and snow covered all the grounds and buildings.  It was a scene out of paradise.  I could not believe my good fortune.  Of course, I still wondered whether or not there was a fixed charge in which case I was screwed.  I had brought fifty dollars with me and just in case a check book.  However, my bank account was about zero.

I was directed by a young man in front of a large garage at the end of the road on where to park my car.  I took my suitcase and followed a bunch of older men down a hill and into what appeared to be a large conference center.  It was about 6 pm.  I had been told that arrival time each week was between 6 PM and 7 PM on Thursdays and that I could leave after dinner on Sunday night.  I was perfectly willing to spend three days here.

maxresdefaultWhen I went into the “conference” center, there were many men milling around and talking in small groups.  I am not the most social guy in the world, so I took a seat on a couch by myself and commenced reading a magazine called America.  This is a magazine published by the Jesuits each month and to this day I always enjoy reading it.  depositphotos_201877558-stock-video-male-friends-are-talking-toAt about 6:50 PM or so, a Jesuit priest arrived and after a loud hand clap, announced that dinner was being served.  We first said a short prayer called the Angelus and then went into the dining hall which is connected to the conference center.  The “conference center” is really just a large room to relax in.  It has numerous chairs and sofas scattered about a well-lit room with large windows looking out over the grounds.  It is one of the most peaceful places in the world to sit, reflect and enjoy a coffee.  The conferences (Which I learned about later) are all held in the chapel which is also connected to the dining hall.  The only time you have to leave the building is to go to your room.  I was given a room assignment upon entering the conference center.

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Tables are organized in the dining center with places for four or five people at each table.  We were advised that once we had a seat, that was where we were expected to stay for the weekend.  We were asked to fill out a dining card specifying what we wanted to drink with each meal (alas, no beer) and any dietary preferences or restrictions.  Once we put this on the table, we needed to take the same table and the same seat for the duration of the retreat.

Things were still going along fine.  Most of the other men who had joined me at a dining table were older men.  I had just turned forty.  We did some chit chat about where we were from and what we did and of course, how many retreats we had done at Demontreville.  One guy at my table had done 40 retreats.  I was astounded that anybody could keep coming back to the same place for that many years.  On the last night of each retreat, awards are given to men who have made 20 or more retreats.  Oh, I should also mention that there were NO women at the retreat.  It is a male only enclave.  I figured that this was my first and last retreat.  I could not see myself as an old guy here getting an award for attending twenty retreats never mind forty or more.

Dinner, the first night was roast beef.  Meals are almost always the same at each retreat.  For 34 years now, I have had roast beef on Thursday night and Prime Rib on Sunday night.  Other meals are also fixed.  One breakfast will include pancakes, one will have French toast and one will include omelets.  The same predictability is true for lunch and supper meals.  Many men can tell you exactly what will be served for each meal.  You soon figure out that consistency is an important concept at Demontreville.  I actually look forward to the meals each day as they are always plentiful and very well prepared.

Lecture or sermons (hard to tell the difference) are on a fixed schedule every day.  We have some in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the evening.  There are of course the Catholic worship services every day.  These include prayer sessions every morning and a full mass at 5 PM each day followed by Benediction at 8 PM.  Oh, please don’t let me forget to mention the all-important cookies and coffee which are served every morning and afternoon at the same time each day.  If you don’t like the wonderful cookies that are served, there are always bananas and oranges to eat.

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So here I sit, my first night at Demontreville.  We have finished eating and desert has been served.  We are almost done with desert when a thunderous voice rings out followed by a loud hand clap.  I turn to see a short but rugged looking little priest named Father Ed. Sthokal, SJ.  Father Sthokal is the Retreat Director.  Father Sthokal was born on January 20, 1922.  He was ordained a Jesuit in 1954 and came to Demontreville in the late fifties.  He was an icon at the Retreat Center due to his longevity.  When he finally retired at the age of 95 to a Jesuit community in Wisconsin, he had served almost sixty years at the Retreat Center in various capacities.  He struck me as a drill sergeant when I first met him.  Tough, no nonsense but with a total dedication to helping the men attending Demontreville to “make” a good retreat.

“Good evening” Father Sthokal said.  He then launched into a mini sermon which in my nearly 30 retreats with him never seemed to vary, except for this first night.  Of course, it was my “virginity” at the time which caused his message to seem very personal.  In actuality, his themes never seemed to change from year to year, but they were always inspiring, funny and somewhat caustic every time I heard them.  He talked about discipline, making a good retreat, being “disposed” and responsibility.  Tonight though, what I heard was this.

“Okay, some of you men are here for the first time.  Well let me tell you, this is not the place for a vacation.  I see some of you guys have brought your work with you, well maybe that is why you can’t get your work done, because you have no boundaries in your life.  Some of you have brought ski’s (Oh MY GOD, he is talking about me!), well this is not a ski resort. The trails are there for you to walk on and meditate on about your reason and purpose in life and what God wants for you in your life.  Some of you have brought fiction books to read so you can escape the daily grind of your boring humdrum lives, while this is not the place for that.  If you want to escape life, go get a room at a hotel and spend the week in a hot tub reading.”

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“We are here this weekend, to spend time reflecting and thinking and praying and meditating.  You will get the most out of this retreat if you are disposed and do not have any agenda.  Let God come into your life and talk to you.  Open your heart and mind to what God has to say to you.  This will allow you to make a good retreat.  Oh, and we expect silence from this point on in the retreat until supper on Sunday night.  One of our key rules is no talking.  This allows each man to listen to God and not to the chatter and gossip that is typical of communication outside of these walls.  We have no radios, no TVs, no internet and no news from the outside for you.  In the event of a family emergency, we will contact you.  Until then, don’t call your wife and kids or friends to chat.  Put your phones away.  Observe silence.  Please adjourn now to the basement where we have some ground rules to go over and we will ask for volunteers to help out with certain parts of the retreat.”

Oh my God!  Except I don’t believe in God.  What am I doing here?  I wonder if I can sneak out when no one is looking.  He must have x ray vision.  How did he know that I had work and books to read?  This is another fine mess I have gotten myself into!

I stayed for the entire retreat.  I have come back for 34 more.  I now stand up with the old timers when they get awards and recognition for retreats made.  I cannot believe I am still coming.  I am still an Atheist or on some days an Agnostic.  To me Jesus Christ is a great religious leader along with Moses, Muhammed, Baháʼu’lláh, Buddha, Krishnamurti and Osho.  I cannot totally describe how much these retreats have meant to me.

In my next blog, I would like to discuss my 2019 retreat and what it taught me.  In many ways, this retreat was very typical of my other retreats.  Every year, I take notes and jot down reflections.  I would like to share with you some of the insights and thoughts from my 2019 retreat.  These insights were and are very meaningful to me and I hope they may also be meaningful to you.  In any case, they will give you a better idea of why I keep coming back to these retreats.  Father Sthokal once joked that it simply takes some of us longer to “get it” than others.  Perhaps, I am one of those men.

For any of you who might be interested in attending a retreat:

  • The Silent Retreats are held 47 weekends a year at the Demontreville Jesuit Retreat House, 8243 Demontreville Trail N., Lake Elmo.
  • The retreat house is not open on the weekends of New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
  • Men of any denomination are welcome to attend. Free-will donations are accepted.
  • For more information, call 651-777-1311 or go to demontrevilleretreat.com.

Once Upon a Time Humans Created God in Their Image

26 May 2019 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Probably one of my least Christian blogs but one of my best in my opinion at dissecting this idea of a Christian god.

Dr. John Persico Jr.'s avatarAging Capriciously

god imageOnce upon a time, there was a group of creatures called humans.  They evolve and live out their lives on a place they call Earth.   Earth is basically a spheroidal rock that revolves around a Class 3 star (called a sun) in a galaxy named the Milky Way.  No humans know where they came from, how they developed or why.  This is a subject of endless debate and speculation that has led to a plethora of social organizations which humans call religions.

Humans have a limited capacity to think and a very short life span, given the eons that the universe has existed.  Most humans live less than 100 earth years.  A year is the length of time it takes the Earth to revolve around the sun.  Humans seem to have two major characteristics that are shared throughout all members, clans and tribes of the species.  The first is called

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