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September 28, 2023
President Peñalver offered the following reflection at Seattle University’s annual Mass of the Holy Spirit, held Sept. 28 at Immaculate Conception Church. The Mass is an opportunity for the SU community to gather and ask for blessings upon the new academic year.
Why are progressives so unhappy?
That question sort of came out of nowhere.
Let me provide some context.
In recent years, various metrics of unhappiness have been increasing across the board in our society. Whether we are talking about loneliness, anxiety, depression or self-harm, people of all kinds increasingly describe themselves as unhappy.
When we dig into the data, we find that unhappiness, like so many other things, is not evenly distributed.
For example, unhappiness has been increasing faster among young people than among older people. It is increasing faster among girls than among boys.
One 2021 study finds that liberal girls have seen the highest increase in depression in recent years, and conservative boys have seen the least.
Interestingly, it finds that liberal boys are more depressed than conservative girls. In other words, political viewpoint seems to dominate gender difference when it comes to our shifting mental health landscape.
So, with that context in mind, I ask the question again, why are progressives so unhappy?
One response is that progressives are unhappier than conservatives because they are more aware of injustice in the world. In addition, many people are acutely aware of injustice because they are on the receiving end of it. People of color, poor people, and LGBTQIA people all report higher levels of unhappiness and depression.
But this leads to something of a puzzle. Mental health experts have observed that elevated depression and anxiety can reduce our ability to cope with and overcome challenges.
Can we hope to turn the tide against injustice if the people most aware of the need for change are increasingly experiencing anxiety and depression?
Today’s readings offer a path through this puzzle by affirming the importance of practices that can help us to remain joyful and resilient, even as we confront a world full of injustice.
In the Gospel, Jesus launches his ministry by announcing “glad tidings to the poor.”
Glad tidings . . . to the poor.
Not glum tidings. Not grim tidings.
Glad tidings.
But what is there for the poor to be glad about? And, if the world is in such sad shape, how can we avoid feeling powerless and depressed?
Are feelings of gladness or glumness even something we can control? Isn’t our outlook merely an inevitable consequence of the injustice and evil all around us?
Would embracing joyfulness mean letting go of our passion for justice?
The techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy suggest that we can hold on to our recognition of injustice even while turning away from feelings of despair and powerlessness.
Cognitive behavioral therapists offer techniques that allow us to reframe our emotional responses to external stimuli, treating them as something over which, with practice, we can exercise a degree of control.
Another way we can build our capacity for happiness and resilience is by making time for fun and play. Neuroscientists have found that, in children, opportunities for “unstructured play [are] closely tied to healthy brain development as well as better social-emotional and cognitive skills.”
But the importance of play is not limited to children. These same neuroscientists have also found that play in adulthood “has a range of benefits, including stress relief and increased creativity.”
So one message I want to convey to you, as you begin this new academic year, as you plan your schedule and your activities, is to encourage you to try to save some time for play.
But today’s readings offer us another important tip for finding happiness in a troubling world.
We can improve our well being – and our efficacy – by attending to the life of the Spirit.
If we look for the Spirit, we will surely find her, as the reading from Jeremiah reassures us: “When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me.”
And the fruits of this process of searching and finding the Spirit will be, as Paul tells us in a different letter than we heard today, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.”
Glad tidings.
Contemporary research affirms this 2000-year-old insight. In her recent book, The Awakened Brain, Columbia University psychologist Lisa Miller presents evidence that people who attend to their spiritual yearnings demonstrate higher levels of happiness and lower rates of anxiety and depression.
Interestingly, however, along with a greater tendency to express unhappiness about the state of the world, progressives are also less likely to be active participants in faith communities.
Among the benefits of faith communities are the opportunities and collective encouragement they afford their members to engage in time-tested methods for experiencing the life of the Spirit.
Many American progressives embrace what the Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor has called “exclusive humanism,” a worldview that rejects faith communities and even the very concept of the transcendent.
This rejection can hinder its adherents from experiencing the joyful fruits of the Spirit.
To avoid being misunderstood, I want to emphasize two important points.
First, as the Jesuit Kevin O’Brien reminds us, there are many ways to engage with the Spirit outside of faith communities and other traditional religious forms of expression. These might include walking in nature or practicing mindfulness. Such valuable activities can be important opportunities to experience transcendence.
The flip side of this is that merely participating in traditional religious practice is no guarantee that we will encounter the Spirit.
So, my first point is that seeking the Spirit does not equate with religious observance. But seeking the Spirit does require that we make an intentional effort to engage in the search.
My second point is that seeking the joyful fruits of the Spirit does not mean giving up on our quest for justice.
To the contrary, in today’s reading from Ephesians, Paul counsels us to “speak the truth to our neighbors.” He does not even tell us not to become angry. Sometimes, anger is the appropriate response to injustice. In those cases, Paul says, go ahead, “[b]e angry.”
But he encourages us not to let our anger consume us – or, as he puts it, not to let the sun set on our anger. He counsels us not to succumb to “bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling” or “malice.”
Sometimes, those most keenly aware of the depth of injustice can come to view bitterness or fury as righteous virtues. The more anger we express, the more we are acknowledging the imperfection we see.
The flip side of this perspective is the idea that happiness or joy are signs that someone just does not get it.
I have sometimes been guilty of this sentiment in my own life, as my wife likes to remind me.
But the joy that flows from engaging with the Spirit is entirely consistent with a clear-eyed understanding of the sorry state of the world.
Indeed, the joy and good humor that come from the Spirit give us the strength to persevere. And coupling our message about the need for change with some joy or good humor can make our message more attractive to those we seek to persuade.
Glad tidings are far more sustaining and appealing than grim condemnations.
As Pope Francis put it in his 2018 Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate: “Hard times may come, when the cross casts its shadow, yet nothing can destroy the supernatural joy that . . . brings deep security, serene hope and a spiritual fulfilment that the world cannot understand or appreciate.”
This “joy,” he concludes, is and ought to be “accompanied by a sense of humour. . . . Ill humour,” he admonishes, “is no sign of holiness.”
The reason that ill humor is not a sign of holiness – the Pope explains – is that it smacks of ingratitude. It suggests a failure to acknowledge the beauty and love that abounds in the world around us even amidst darkness and injustice.
As we begin a new academic year, let’s work – through our research and study – to grow in our knowledge and understanding of the world so we can see it with clearer eyes.
But, even as we survey darkness and injustice in the world, let’s not fail to appreciate the beauty and love we also see in that same world, and in this academic community.
And let’s express our gratitude for that beauty in glad tidings – in the joy and good humor we bring to our study, our work . . . and our play.
Pictured: SU's newest administrators receive a special blessing during the university's Mass of the Holy Spirit. (Photo by Yosef Kalinko)