This is a combined edited article for BT Songs 1183 and 1184. Although I initially wrote separate comments, I asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT to combine them into one cohesive article, and this is the result.
BT Song 1183: Examining Poverty and Wealth
Philip Yancey, in his book Soul Survivor, concludes Dr. Robert Coles’ various researches, particularly on poverty and wealth, with a thought-provoking summary:
What was he to make of it all? He dare not glorify poverty, for his field research had taught him the folly of that romanticism. Nor dare he glorify wealth, which he now saw as a distraction or actual impediment to what matters most. That is when he turned to a few select men and women who had made spiritual matters their entire lives’ focus. Dr. Robert Coles, the social scientist, continued to pursue his work diligently, even as a new role also opened up: teacher of spiritual literature at Harvard.—Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor, New York, Galilee Doubleday, 2001, p.111
Before this conclusion, Yancey notes:
“Among the poor he had expected defeat and despair; he found some, yes, but he also found strength and hope and courage. Among the rich, he expected satisfaction, and instead found boredom, alienation, and decadence.” (p. 109)
Yancey further shares Dr. Coles’ insights:
“…As Coles explored the mind of the privileged ones, he realized he was exploring his own mind. To his shame, he found within himself many of the same troubling tendencies. Comfortable people, he noticed, were apt to have a stunted sense of compassion, more likely to love humanity in general but less likely to love one person in particular… Ultimately, he came to believe that the most dangerous temptation of all is the temptation of plenty. In the same breath, wealth curses what it blesses. Being privileged, Coles concluded, tends to stifle compassion, curtail community, and feed ambition.” (p. 110)
Ironies and Reflections
What confused me is this:
“Reviewing the rich and poor people he had come to know, Coles was struck with the ironies. It was true the poor were cursed… Yet in a strange but undeniable way, the poor were also blessed, for whatever reason, with qualities such as courage and love and a willing dependence on God. The irony: Good humanists work all their lives to improve the condition of the disadvantaged, but for what? To raise them to the level of the upper classes so that they too can experience boredom, alienation, and decadence?”—p. 109
This research, or the conclusion Yancey reached based on it, really confused me. I have never experienced the luxurious life of a rich man, nor a life of utter poverty, though I have tasted poverty to some extent. While observing the poor closely in India, where Karma and Time have the final say, most of the poor resign to their fate. How far we can universalize such research is my question.
Reflecting on these points, I wrote BT Song 1183, which might indirectly endorse Dr. Coles’ research.
BT Song 1184: Counseling and Human Relationships
When anyone, particularly a family person, comes to me for counseling, my standard advice is: “If you cannot learn from your parents, elders, relatives, friends, and neighbors, then you cannot learn anything new from me.” This does not mean I am against giving counseling. A single person is not equipped to counsel family members, and if he happens to be a sannyasi, he should keep quiet in this area.
To me, every human problem revolves around one issue: INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS. The universal solution is: JUST ADJUST.
Personal Satisfaction in Service
Reflecting on Yancey’s insights, I began to meditate:
“Coles talks a lot about his own failures and inadequacies. He feels he must, to keep at bay the sins of pride and arrogance that stalk a place like Harvard. ‘Everyone wants to find a way to solve a problem, or silence a question,’ he says. ‘The students are demonstrating for this or that. Those same students won’t walk across the city and have a conversation with people who live in similar conditions to the folks on whose behalf they’re demonstrating.
‘Like the Pharisees, we want to prove ourselves clean and righteous. But Jesus and the prophets keep the questions up in the air. If you don’t murder; do you hate? You don’t commit adultery; do you lust? We like to analyze “the problem of the poor.” But what are we doing for one poor person?’”—Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor, p.114
Even if you manage to help one poor person, do you serve with their need and interest in mind, or for your own satisfaction? The moment you feel satisfied, you have used the poverty and need of another person to serve your purpose. This should not stop us from serving the poor and needy, but we must be aware of the subtle snare of personal satisfaction.
Karma and Service
In discussions, some argue that suffering helps people get rid of past karmas, and interfering might cause future consequences. I counter this by saying that if we fail to act, it will become our future karma. His past karma becomes our present karma. This chain won’t break forever.
Conclusion
Yancey further shares Dr. Coles’ thoughts:
“I have known human beings who, in the face of unbearable daily stress, respond with resilience, even nobility. And I have known others who live in a comfortable, even luxurious environment and yet seem utterly lost. We have both sides in all of us, and that’s what the Bible says, isn’t it? The Bible shows us both hope and doom, the possibility and the betrayal. In its stories, sometimes the favorite becomes fatally tempted and sometimes the lowly and obscure one becomes an agent of hope if not salvation. I believe those stories are a part of each one of us. We walk a tightrope, teetering between gloom, or the loss of faith, on the one hand, and a temptation toward self-importance and self-congratulation on the other. Both extremes lead to sin.
‘Some reviewers criticize me for saying the same old things about the nature of human beings: that we are a mixture of good and evil, of light and darkness, of potentiality toward destruction or redemption. They want some new theory, I suppose. But my research merely verifies what the Bible has said all along about human beings.”—pp. 115-16
We all have to agree with Dr. Coles. His research and insights resonate deeply with the complexities of human nature and our responses to poverty and wealth.
Revised on 7-7-2024
Gurukulam
This is a combined edited article for BT Songs 1183 and 1184. Although I initially wrote separate comments, I asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT to combine them into one cohesive article, and this is the result.
BT Song 1183: Examining Poverty and Wealth
Philip Yancey, in his book Soul Survivor, concludes Dr. Robert Coles’ various researches, particularly on poverty and wealth, with a thought-provoking summary:
What was he to make of it all? He dare not glorify poverty, for his field research had taught him the folly of that romanticism. Nor dare he glorify wealth, which he now saw as a distraction or actual impediment to what matters most. That is when he turned to a few select men and women who had made spiritual matters their entire lives’ focus. Dr. Robert Coles, the social scientist, continued to pursue his work diligently, even as a new role also opened up: teacher of spiritual literature at Harvard.—Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor, New York, Galilee Doubleday, 2001, p.111
Before this conclusion, Yancey notes:
“Among the poor he had expected defeat and despair; he found some, yes, but he also found strength and hope and courage. Among the rich, he expected satisfaction, and instead found boredom, alienation, and decadence.” (p. 109)
Yancey further shares Dr. Coles’ insights:
“…As Coles explored the mind of the privileged ones, he realized he was exploring his own mind. To his shame, he found within himself many of the same troubling tendencies. Comfortable people, he noticed, were apt to have a stunted sense of compassion, more likely to love humanity in general but less likely to love one person in particular… Ultimately, he came to believe that the most dangerous temptation of all is the temptation of plenty. In the same breath, wealth curses what it blesses. Being privileged, Coles concluded, tends to stifle compassion, curtail community, and feed ambition.” (p. 110)
Ironies and Reflections
What confused me is this:
“Reviewing the rich and poor people he had come to know, Coles was struck with the ironies. It was true the poor were cursed… Yet in a strange but undeniable way, the poor were also blessed, for whatever reason, with qualities such as courage and love and a willing dependence on God. The irony: Good humanists work all their lives to improve the condition of the disadvantaged, but for what? To raise them to the level of the upper classes so that they too can experience boredom, alienation, and decadence?”—p. 109
This research, or the conclusion Yancey reached based on it, really confused me. I have never experienced the luxurious life of a rich man, nor a life of utter poverty, though I have tasted poverty to some extent. While observing the poor closely in India, where Karma and Time have the final say, most of the poor resign to their fate. How far we can universalize such research is my question.
Reflecting on these points, I wrote BT Song 1183, which might indirectly endorse Dr. Coles’ research.
BT Song 1184: Counseling and Human Relationships
When anyone, particularly a family person, comes to me for counseling, my standard advice is: “If you cannot learn from your parents, elders, relatives, friends, and neighbors, then you cannot learn anything new from me.” This does not mean I am against giving counseling. A single person is not equipped to counsel family members, and if he happens to be a sannyasi, he should keep quiet in this area.
To me, every human problem revolves around one issue: INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS. The universal solution is: JUST ADJUST.
Personal Satisfaction in Service
Reflecting on Yancey’s insights, I began to meditate:
“Coles talks a lot about his own failures and inadequacies. He feels he must, to keep at bay the sins of pride and arrogance that stalk a place like Harvard. ‘Everyone wants to find a way to solve a problem, or silence a question,’ he says. ‘The students are demonstrating for this or that. Those same students won’t walk across the city and have a conversation with people who live in similar conditions to the folks on whose behalf they’re demonstrating.
‘Like the Pharisees, we want to prove ourselves clean and righteous. But Jesus and the prophets keep the questions up in the air. If you don’t murder; do you hate? You don’t commit adultery; do you lust? We like to analyze “the problem of the poor.” But what are we doing for one poor person?’”—Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor, p.114
Even if you manage to help one poor person, do you serve with their need and interest in mind, or for your own satisfaction? The moment you feel satisfied, you have used the poverty and need of another person to serve your purpose. This should not stop us from serving the poor and needy, but we must be aware of the subtle snare of personal satisfaction.
Karma and Service
In discussions, some argue that suffering helps people get rid of past karmas, and interfering might cause future consequences. I counter this by saying that if we fail to act, it will become our future karma. His past karma becomes our present karma. This chain won’t break forever.
Conclusion
Yancey further shares Dr. Coles’ thoughts:
“I have known human beings who, in the face of unbearable daily stress, respond with resilience, even nobility. And I have known others who live in a comfortable, even luxurious environment and yet seem utterly lost. We have both sides in all of us, and that’s what the Bible says, isn’t it? The Bible shows us both hope and doom, the possibility and the betrayal. In its stories, sometimes the favorite becomes fatally tempted and sometimes the lowly and obscure one becomes an agent of hope if not salvation. I believe those stories are a part of each one of us. We walk a tightrope, teetering between gloom, or the loss of faith, on the one hand, and a temptation toward self-importance and self-congratulation on the other. Both extremes lead to sin.
‘Some reviewers criticize me for saying the same old things about the nature of human beings: that we are a mixture of good and evil, of light and darkness, of potentiality toward destruction or redemption. They want some new theory, I suppose. But my research merely verifies what the Bible has said all along about human beings.”—pp. 115-16
We all have to agree with Dr. Coles. His research and insights resonate deeply with the complexities of human nature and our responses to poverty and wealth.
Revised on 7-7-2024
Gurukulam
Leave a Reply