The Culture of Individuality

Paragraphs sixty-one through sixty-seven of the Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, are entitled "Some cultural challenges." Citing the various conferences of bishops throughout the world, the Holy Father looks at some of the issues that have weakened the influence of the Church in our secular society. The challenge that seemed to surface more than once in this section was that of "individualism."

Individualism takes many forms and affects various cultures in several different ways. However, at its root is the fact that our secular society seems to have adopted the motto once used as an advertising slogan for a famous beer company; namely, "You only go around once so go for the gusto." Another advertising slogan that comes to mind is that which the U.S. Army used in recruitment: "Be all that you can be." While there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to excel or in wanting to cultivate personal strengths, one can run into a problem if it means advancing one's own agenda without regard for others. Such thinking lies at the core of many moral ills that plague our world today. We find ourselves speaking of an individual's right to choose whatever path he or she deems appropriate without examining the consequences for how those choices affect the lives of others.

One of the surest signs of this is what social scientists call a lack of self-awareness. When a person lacks self-awareness, they fail to see how their actions affect others. My "rights" become the only thing that matters. Take, for example, the litter that has created unsightly street corners and streets. The individual claims that it is his right to dump his trash wherever he pleases without regard for the unsightly mess that such actions create. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the so-called right to choose to abort an unborn child. The right of the woman to govern what happens to her body outweighs the right of the unborn child. I purposely chose to use examples that are on opposite ends of the spectrum simply to illustrate that self-awareness is part of all our actions and decisions. In each instance, being self-aware makes it possible to gauge the appropriateness of our actions.

People who lack self-awareness focus on their rights. It is my right to play my music as loudly as I please and to aim the stereo speakers at the open windows so that the music carries through the neighborhood. It is my right to carry a concealed weapon even in places that prohibit it. It is my right to be able to say whatever I please even if my words will scar another individual. While the U.S. Constitution might provide us with these rights, a sense of self-awareness would temper those rights with concern for others.

The Scriptures were written in a society and a culture that sees the individual as a member of a group. Individuality is really a concept that is foreign to the Scriptures, to the preaching of the prophets and to the mission of Jesus. The ramifications of this phenomenon are myriad as the Holy Father so deftly points out.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator