Jesus confirms love is essential for peacemakers, “Remain in my love… I have told you so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment, love one another as I love you.” Love is more than a personal emotion shown only to family or like-minded people. Love is the essence of each person shown to all and creates personal and social peace. Jesus’ Way of love replaces Caesar’s justification of anger that results in war.
Lisa Feldman-Barrett, Professor of Psychology, is the author of How Emotions are Made. Drawing on the most recent studies in brain science, she diverges from how humanity has classically understood emotions. The classical view is that emotions are “built-in from birth,” “artifacts of evolution.” She asserts part of that view is that we “automatically” react, physically, to external stimuli; an interfering in-law, an abusive boss. Emotions are “a kind of brute reflex, very often at odds with our rationality.” The author proposes the irrational “automatic” and “at odds” view of emotions is unfortunately “entrenched in our culture,” “embedded in our social institutions.” She asserts we need not be foolishly reactive or at odds; heart to head, emotion to thought. We can be wisely harmonious in how we “construct” emotions. The “constructed view” is Feldman-Barrett’s view. Criticism of constructionism includes that it rejects essentialism which proposes a shared human nature and shared emotions of our human nature like anger, sadness, fear, disgust, joy (think Pixar’s Inside Out). Also, constructionism is critiqued for diminishing the inner self (think conscience), and reduces us to being reflections of our environment, molded as its controllers decide. Constructionists assert emotions “emerge as a combination of the physical properties of (our) body, a flexible brain that wires itself to whatever environment it develops in, and (our) culture and upbringing.” Emotions are real like “money is real” – “a product of human agreement.” Proposing “constructionism” as a radically different view of emotions, the author proposes it as an opportunity “for a radically different view of what it means to be a human being.” Might we take a radically different view of the emotion of anger? We can consider anger as constructed. It is built up from patriarchy’s masculine stereotype that uses anger to hide hurt. Hurt is a natural human emotion, essential. But men often fear expressing hurt and showing the vulnerability and tears that accompany it, expressing the forgiveness that is called forth from it. Not so hurt’s cover emotion of anger and what is constructed around it; defenses and armaments. Patriarchy “constructs” anger as righteous, justifying a father-controlled family, or listening to only like-minded media for our emotional well-being, or waging verbal or physical war on others while we self title as Christ-like / Christian. But anger hinders Christ Jesus’ call to love. Relinquishing angry reactions and constructing a healthy loving witness in personal and social conflicts can impact warring conflicts across the world – English / Irish, Israeli / Palestinian,… – and across the U.S. – white / black – and across time. Feldman Barrett asks us to consider age-old conflicts as constructed. Youths in the U.K., in the occupied West bank, in the U.S., and across the world are having the emotion of anger and the waging of war repeatedly constructed for them. It is irrational. We can make deliberate rational choices to change our concepts about expressing anger and acting violently in conflict, especially war. We can decide not to participate in war. We and media can stop justifying and presenting as rational multi-generational war. Warring conflicts of old can be stopped. War itself can be ended. We can witness the dynamic interplay of our essentially loving peaceful human nature with an essentially loving peaceful culture.
“The whole world now is but the minister Of thee to me: I see no other scheme But universal love… This world is unto God a work of art, Of which the unaccomplish’d heavenly plan Is hid in life within the creature’s heart,… I will be what God made me.” (The Growth of Love – Robert Seymour Bridges)
Prayer: Spirit, breathe in us love for all.
Question: Towards whom do I need to stop expressing anger and start expressing love?
May 09, 2021 Gospel John 15:9-17 Sixth Sunday of Easter