The first time I came across the phrase and meaning of "Self-Gift" was on p. 96 of "Love and Responsibility." It was in the context of spousal love and it was immediately understandable for me, but although immediately understandable, it was impossible to render metaphysically and anthropologically since "to be" has come down to us as "substance" ("thing-in-itself?). It was in the confluence of Ratzinger's rendering of the divine Persons (one God) as pure actions of generation, obedience and the Spirit as the Mutuality of the Two, and John Paul II's recovery of subjectivity as experience that matrimony is understood as imaging the divine Trinity. And what seems to be shaping up is the argument that matrimony cannot be validly matrimony when there has been a gift of self (which is the maning of faith as ("death event"). Clearly the culture does not experience or cognize marriage as self-gift, and therefore, one could easily conclude that more than 1/2 of marriages are invalid - with enormous consequences for the future in beefing up marriage to be understood as a way of holiness and not just procreation and mutual love, and annulling quickly and returning to the sacraments those who have divorced and remarried. Much is riding on the cognizance and retrieval of the phrase "self-gift" and crafting a metaphysics that will be fashioned by it. To this end, I believe, Robert Barron is doing precisely that in his thesis (1993) on Paul Tillich and St. Thomas on the notion of creation, and his work "The Priority of Christ."
Someone presumptuous enough to recommend some
readings for those attending the 2015 Synod on the Family could undoubtedly put
together an impressive list of books on marriage and sexual morality. Arguably,
at the top of any such list belongs Karol Wojtyla’s classic work called Love
and Responsibility. An appreciation of marriage as an indissoluble
conjugal union presupposes a proper understanding of romantic or spousal love.
For anyone open to the truth about such matters there is no better place to
look for an exposition of love than Love and Responsibility.
This philosophical meditation was first published 55 years ago
in 1960, when the cultural landscape was quite different. However, it seems to
have anticipated the present code of sexual ethics which recognizes no
constraints on sexual activity other than mutual consent. Love and
Responsibility did not appear in English until 1981, three years after
Cardinal Wojtya become Pope John Paul II. Its limited popularity is probably
due to the fact that it has always been overshadowed by the Pope’s more
prominent work, Theology of the Body.
Thanks to the Daughters of St. Paul, there is a new translation
of Love
and Responsibility that merits close
attention because of its welcome precision. While the original translation was
certainly competent, the new one is more consistent with the personalistic tone
of Wojtyla’s provocative work. The translator, Gregorz Ignatik, has done a masterful
job of capturing the subtleties of Wojtyla’s Polish prose which is not always
clear or graceful. More importantly, this new translation allows the reader to
see more exactly how Wojtyla’s book sheds light on the critical issues at the
center of current debates about marriage and family. Karol Wojtyla meets
philosophers on their own turf in order to persuade his readers that the sexual
moral norms presented in Sacred Scripture can be substantiated by purely
rational arguments. The result is a book that makes a lasting impression: an
engaging response to the creed of absolute sexual liberation and the
deconstruction of marriage.
Wojtyla’s openness to different philosophical paradigms such as
phenomenology gives him a fresh context to deal with these issues even though
he never loses his metaphysical gaze. Love and Responsibility begins
with an account of the human person, which lays the groundwork for his moral
synthesis. Thanks to his or her rational nature, the person is an embodied,
self-determining moral subject. Unlike the rest of material creation, the
person is someone rather than something. The person lives his
or her life “from within” in a way that revolves around the pursuit of truth
and goodness.
There
is a temptation to use persons the way we use material objects, to regard them
as a pawns under our control. However, this moral attitude is inconsistent with
a person’s nature. When we use someone in this fashion we treat that individual
as an object rather than a free subject. Hence, argues Wojtyla, we are obliged
to treat the person as an end and never as a mere means or an instrument. This
requires respect for every person’s morally reasonable, self-chosen ends,
rather than use of a person merely to achieve our own ends.
Wojtyla refers to this supreme moral principle as the personalistic
norm, which serves as the axis about which his discussion on sexual
morality revolves. If this general principle holds, it follows that it is also
morally unacceptable to use people as sexual objects purely for our own
satisfaction, even if the other person consents. With this standard in place,
Wojtyla articulates three themes that serve as the central pillars of his
sexual morality: the existential meaning of the sexual drive, an integral view
of romantic love, and a personalistic vision of chastity.
Misunderstanding
about love and sexuality often begins with confusion about the nature and
purpose of our sexual capacities. The sexual drive is not an irrepressible
instinct but a natural orientation to a person of the opposite sex. Wojtyla
insists that we should not reduce the sexual drive to a biological force at our
disposal. The “liberated” man or woman of the twenty-first century tends to
regard the sexual drive simply as an instinct that should be emancipated from
repressive cultural norms. But Wojtyla understands this sexual drive in a
completely different way.
He
argues convincingly that the sexual drive has an existential meaning, because
the primary end or purpose of this drive is the perpetuation of the human
species. And yet the sexual drive is also the source of spousal
love that leads to marriage. Thus, the sexual drive is the foundation for both
love and procreation. Thanks to sexual reciprocity, this drive opens the way
for a man and woman to fully love each other, and the sexual union formed by
that love is naturally open to new life. Sexual union, love, and procreation,
therefore, are intrinsically linked together.
When
love is forcibly detached from procreation, it loses its “special character”
and can no longer develop properly or come to fruition. Marital love must
always be in harmony with the procreative purpose of this drive or mutual
self-gratification begins to displace a full and fruitful union of persons.
Moreover, thanks to this procreative meaning, there is nothing banal or
ordinary about sexual activity. On the contrary, we must recognize the “proper
greatness” associated with the sexual drive. A married couple experiences this
“greatness” when they freely and conscientiously take up the task of
procreation and provide a being with the gift of existence which is the source
of all other perfections.
But
what is the nature of this love between a man and a woman that is often set in
motion by the sexual drive? Modern culture has grossly distorted the truth
about love and seduced people into forgetting the link between sexuality and
procreation. As a remedy, Wojtyla provides a phenomenological account of love
which slowly discerns its ultimate meaning. His integral conception of love
includes a metaphysical, psychological and ethical analysis. Wojtyla’s
“metaphysical” analysis describes the common elements of human love which
includes fondness (or attraction), longing for the other, and benevolence.
Benevolence brings us close to the essence of love which is altruistic and
always seeking the good of the beloved. Love must be reciprocal, and it must
also include the moral union and commitment of friendship enhanced by the
warmth of sympathy.
The
most radical form of love is spousal love which is more than willing the good
of the other but “giving oneself, giving one’s ‘I.’” This reciprocal
self-giving becomes a total union of two persons, which is expressed and
fortified through the sexual act. Spousal love is the pathway to the perfection
of the human self that comes from the unconditional gift of oneself to another.
Love
also includes a powerful psychological dimension. Spousal love is energized by
sensuality and affectivity. Sensuality represents a spontaneous experience of
the corporeal sexual properties of a person of the opposite sex, while
affectivity is an experience of less sensuous properties such as feminine
charm. While this dimension of love has a role to play, love is often falsely
reduced to its psychological profile. Many people confuse sensuality and
affectivity with the mature, responsible love that comes only from an intimate
personal union and a caring for each other’s well-being.
Finally,
love has an ethical dimension because love is a virtue as well as a passion.
Authentic spousal love is distinguished from counterfeit versions by this
ethical character. There is an enduring commitment as well as an assumption of
responsibility for the other person’s welfare that becomes the basis for the
reciprocal gift of self. Also, love must be unencumbered by sexual compulsion
or obsession so that it can be freely given and received. Without freedom, the
gift of self loses its authenticity and perfective powers. Spousal love, which
goes beyond friendship and benevolence, must transcend sensuality, and it must
be shaped by permanence, exclusivity, and a mutual belonging that allows each
person to find him or herself in the other.
The third pillar of Wojtyla’s sexual morality is his
personalistic vision of the virtue of chastity. Many people misconstrue
chastity as prudishness, and philosophers tend to equate chastity with the
virtue of temperance. But chastity is far more than the regulation of our
desire for sexual pleasure. Chastity is the moral habit of being able to see a
human being of the opposite sex with a certain moral depth so that one always
recognizes that individual as a person rather than an object for use. Love
requires the support of chastity to ensure that sexual relations are never
depersonalized This virtue allows us to look beyond a person’s attractive body
in order to transparently perceive the whole person as a being
with an inner, spiritual life, who is not to be used simply for another’s
gratification.
Only
the chaste person, who affirms the dignity of the other, is free enough from
lust or disordered sensuality to make a sincere gift of himself to
another. Thanks to chastity, the virtue of love is not overwhelmed by
passion or emotion so that unselfish spousal love can flourish.
Wojtyla’s ultimate concern in this treatise is an ethical one:
how does the human person avoid using others for pleasure and live up to the
high calling of love, especially marital love? To answer this question Wojtyla
turns to new sources that allow for a fresh philosophical articulation of love
and chastity coherent with the Catholic tradition. For those who have not
recently read this book, it may be a good occasion to take a second look with
the help of this new translation. For those who are unfamiliar with Love
and Responsibility, a careful reading will uncover a suitable moral
framework that penetrates to the heart of what is wrong with our contemporary
sexual culture.
Richard
A. Spinello is an Associate Research Professor in the Carroll School of
Management at Boston College and an adjunct faculty member at St. John's
Seminary. He is the author of three books on Saint John Paul II, includingUnderstanding
Love and Responsibility recently published by Pauline Books and Media.
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