Encounters with three people last week have stirred in me reflections about real-life spiritual issues. They all share a common drive for intellectual achievement that has carried them to positions of eminence in their chosen fields. But each of the men now finds himself facing a turning point in his life that is la-den with challenges and, perhaps, opportunities.
Two of the men I talked with have been friends or colleagues of mine for several years; the third I have known for much longer. And yet, despite much per-sonal contact, it is not easy to write about them because the spiritual depths of a person always remain so mysterious and inaccessible.
Much of what you find here therefore is guesswork, rather than precise knowledge. After all, if we can arrive at knowledge of ourselves only with great difficulty, how can we know other persons with confidence? Who can ever read the inmost depths of a fellow human being, with the secret desires and hopes that the human heart may cherish?
The first man has recently returned to work after a year’s leave of absence. He formerly was the equivalent of chief operating officer of his organization but was forced to resign that position. The president of the agency acted to remove him because the official had been discovered downloading dubious images on a computer that belonged, not to him, but to the organization. Much discussion fol-lowed upon the president’s action, with commentators split about whether it was justified or, perhaps, overly harsh.
In returning to work, this man has presumably had to swallow his pride and win back his standing in the community where he is still employed. It must be difficult for him to face his colleagues again, this time from a position of reduced power and carrying the humiliation of having been in effect fired.
The spiritual challenge facing this middle-aged man must be to accept what has happened and to turn his new status to advantage. Perhaps he has learned greater humility and self-knowledge; he may have become more open to the presence of grace. As a person of faith, he may believe that good may come out of highly undesirable situations; he may see in what has happened a call to greater devotion to God and community.
The second gentleman has passed his ninetieth birthday and is in obvious physical decline. Visiting him in his stately old urban residence, another friend and I talked with this retired professor about his delicate health and about the many friends we hold in common. The young woman who serves as his caretaker confirmed our view that, overall, he was doing better than previously.
At one point, my companion said to the person we were visiting: “You are the greatest philosopher in the world,” a compliment not without credibility. After pondering this statement with some degree of embarrassment, the old philosopher replied, “Maybe that will help me in my gloomy moments.”
The philosopher does not believe in God, not does he seem to attach much reality to the spiritual life. Over the course of many conversations with him, I have never detected in him an interest in any kind of spirituality unless it be intellectual activity. The philosophy for which he is widely recognized is closer to language analysis and logic than to metaphysics.
The third man is another person for whom reputation looms large. In the course of an extended conversation last week, he made two statements that stick in my memory: “I am very important” and “I am world famous.” Though he was talking with me, an old friend, he oriented much of the conversation around this theme of his own self-importance.
Can this friend now experience peace of soul or any real happiness? His achievements are certainly solid but he seems dissatisfied unless everyone recognizes in him a preeminence that he apparently craves. And what about the future, what will come when he retires and has to face decline?
Again, no one can say with confidence what the interior life of these three men is like; only God can do that. Perhaps the best approach is to trust the resourcefulness of their secret hearts and the incalculable power of grace.
Richard Griffin