When I was very young, The Red Balloon was one of my favourite movies. In this classic film, a child has no friends but a balloon. When the "thug" kids in the neighborhood become jealous and destroy the red balloon, the balloons of the city come and take the boy away.
The story is poignant at many levels.
One of the main characteristics of an adult is the ability to face reality and hardships without running away.
In common parlance, the "fight or flight" syndrome is a real issue of people under stress. Physical symptoms can be attached.
But, a recent study in the United States indicated that up to 60% of Americans have an addictive personality, which means that flight can be a running into drugs, television, computer games, compulsive lying, alcohol, excessive shopping, even promiscuity and pornography. All of these addictions can result in negativity, as one is never satisfied with the object of the addiction, be it television or drugs. This negativity becomes a habit, and destroys faith, hope and love.
What has escapism to do with the lack of holiness?
The person who is trying to pursue holiness must be grounded in reality.
The problem with so many Catholics is that they have lost the ability to live in the present moment, which is the only moment in which we meet God.
Escapism, or running after other things, which become idols, take people away from God and substitute the things for His love.
Sometimes fear or anxieties push people into addictive behavior. And, much of it is condoned by the public.
I know, for example, one young person who saw three movies with friends over the Thanksgiving break.
This may be considered normal by some but indicates an emotional reliance on passive entertainment.
I know a family which watches television six or seven hours a day. This reveals to me an addiction, an escape.
Perhaps these people are escaping loneliness, or truth in their lives.
According to studies, people who watch more than four hours of television a day have a television addiction which keeps them from socializing with others and being involved in meaningful activities.
All of these addictions take a person away from God. But, our entire culture in America does not see the spiritual dangers of such behavior. In this culture where noise and entertainment fill up hours of the day and night, the times for reflection and prayer are wasted away.
In addition, as noted on this blog not too long ago, the passive capacity for contemplative prayer is ruined, as the brain function created by God is filled with nonsense.
Holiness cannot be found in escapism. Holiness is rooted in who we are interacting with other people and being involved in activities which feed the soul.
Starting in the early 2000s, I used an book called Bowling Alone in some of my classes. The author, Robert Putnam, showed, in extensive research, that America had changed from community-minded, socially localized groupings of people to a harsh world of individualism, loneliness, and the breakdown of relationships. Some of the results of these breakdowns of normal human activity was the falling away of communal, physical entertainment and the falling off of volunteerism. But, the family was also infected with gross individualism.
The effects of the decay of the community, and the family, which is the unit of community, has many causes.
But, for the sake of this short article, how Catholics are affected is my concern.
The call to Catholicism is one of community. The call to Christ brings one into the community of the Church. A person becomes a brother, a sister, in Christ.
I see a hardening of hearts across both America and Europe which interferes with the family relationships which should be seen in the Church.
For example, my diocese has had no Catholic Charities for years.
Several friends of mine who are very poor cannot find help for severe financing difficulties and no one in their parishes help them. I know of a family with a person with mental problems who has been ostracized by the family and by the Church community because of the difficulties.
Escapism allows people to ignore and turn away from suffering. Escapism creates false worlds of stupor and unreality.
Without God as the center of our lives, escapism becomes the route to solving the questions of suffering and pain.
The Denial of Peter is in the Gospels for a reason. God wanted us to see a person who tried to escape pain and suffering by lying, by deceit. That Peter repented and came to know the love and forgiveness of God is a direct result of his faith in Christ. He stopped running away twice. Quo Vadis, Petrus?
Can we help those who are escaping stop and see that Christ loves them?
Sadly, many of those who are running away do not want to hear the Gospel, the Good News.
Salvation is not merely for the afterlife, it is for now. God wants us whole and healed. The Church needs strong, healthy, holy people
As long as Catholics run away from pain, from quiet, from reflection, they will not be able to see God and become holy.
Of all the problems of the Western World which have caused the demise of the family and the apostasy of the laity and the clergy, escapism may be the biggest problem.
A disconnection with reality, with one's own soul, with the souls of others are states which are destroying our country. Those who are disconnected are now running the show. Narcissism is a form of disconnection.
Those who are disconnected have voted in the disconnected....
God is in the details of our daily lives. Do not run away.
To run away from life is to run away from God.
I am seriously considering giving up movies, which I really enjoy, as a penance for those who are addicted to tv and movies.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/12/quo-vadis-domine.html
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slave-mentality-quo-vadis.html
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-great-evil-of-entertainment.html
to be continued....
