Year Faith

of
2012-2013
27 January 2013

Supporting an Integral Humanism

Integral Humanism??? What is that? An integral humanism is when we look at the individual as a whole person, with their many different aspectsphysical, intellectual, emotional, psychological and spiritual. When thinking about what is good for a person we must consider all of these aspects, the whole person, to make a decision about what is going to be good for them. An example of this how a school operates. While the teachers focus on the intellectual development of the students, the school also hires psychologists, physical education teachers, nurses and others to ensure that whole student is provided for. An Isolated Humanism in an Inhuman Humanism There are many ideologies and practices which do not look at the whole person. Take for example, an employer who overworks his/her employees because he sees them as merely physical labor to make a profit. In this case the employer does not have a vision of integral humanism because he/she is only looking at one aspect of the person. When we isolate one dimension of a person or one part of their personality, we no longer have a humanist approach, but rather reduce the person to a stereotype (not seeing them as they really are) or, worse, reduce them to an object and treating them as a means to an end. Sadly, there are many examples from around the world and in our own lives where people are not treated as persons, but rather reduced in some way to workers or some other demographic. Turning the Tide We do not have to accept a world and a country that does not support a view of the whole person. We can and should expect more from one another and from ourselves. Why should we embrace an integral humanist view? Why should we seek to support the whole person? Jacques Maritain answers this for usit is for the sake of a better life for their fellows and for the concrete good of the community of human individuals: so that the humble truth of brotherly love may advance...to the permeation of the social order and the structures of common life. (True Humanism) If we our world is to be reborn, we must improve how we see and treat one another. In order to do this we must reawaken our cultureart, music and dramawhere we can see the beauty and goodness or each human, as a whole and complete person.

The ultimate goal is a full-bodied humanism. And does this not mean the fulfillment of the whole man and of every man? A narrow humanism, closed in on itself and not open to the values of the spirit and to God who is their source, could achieve apparent success, for man can set about organizing terrestrial realities without God. But "closed off from God, they will end up being directed against man. A humanism closed off from other realities becomes inhuman." Populorum progessio, 42

This new humanism...is all the more human since it does not worship man, but has a real and effective respect for human dignity and for the rights of human personality.
Jacques Maritain, True Humanism

CHALLENGE
This week, take an inventory of your whole person. How are you doing spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, psychologically and physically. What is one thing you can do start doing to improve in each area? Eat healthier? Pray every day? Start reading a book?