Survival of the Spiritual Fittest

This showed up on my Facebook page today:

 

I thought it was a quote from Jesus, but the source claimed that is was from Pope Francis. I agree totally with this statement down to the very core of my being. If you were to destroy every bit of me and leave nothing but my soul (which is indestructible), this belief would still be there.

Jesus said: "What you do to the least of Me, you do to Me." Why is this significant?

At the heart of religion is a yearning to free ourselves from human suffering—at least the kind that does nobody any good. There is a desire for freedom and also for security. These two goals are not always "in synch" with one another. Sometimes, a person is forced to sacrifice one goal to meet the other one. This is because we live in a world where people who try to be free are often deprived of their security. Most people will opt for their security because, often, this means their very survival is at stake. Others will opt for it because they are comfortable and want to stay that way. And still others want to gain and retain their power over other people. The strong prey on the weak in a Darwinian struggle for survival of the fittest.

Indeed, some people cite Darwin's theory as a reason for their consuming lust for power—they want to survive and they want to be on top of the food chain.

Yet, what they do not realize is that Darwin was being descriptive instead of being prescriptive. Is it any wonder that poor Darwin shrank in terror when considering whether or not to publish his theory? He did do so only under duress, after much agonizing soul searching that made him physically sick. The theory was going to come out anyway from another person, so he took responsibility and published it first.

Yet, when we talk about the fittest what are we actually talking about? Physical survival? Status? Domination? Pope Francis invites us here to consider another kind of fitness—spiritual fitness. He suggests that we hurt the very being that we say we worship—Jesus Christ—when we harm the weakest people or dismiss their needs. Although it is not said outright, it is implied that we damage our souls' fitness for spiritual survival when we hurt other people.

Social Darwinist thinking is very much in evidence among Christian fundamentalists.  Calvinist-like, they use the concept of predestination to rationalize their disdain for the poor. The poor are not of the elect, according to this doctrine. And, in this, these fundamentalists are no different than the old Hindus who believed in a caste system. The old Hindus' excuse was that the poor and weakest people had "bad karma."

But, I ask, what's to stop us from helping people who need it? Even if they are not of the elect, even if they have bad karma, what do we really have to lose by extending our hands to help lift suffering people from their misery? Oh we might lose some status or some extra comforts in life. However, we stand to lose our souls in the unholy bargain, if we neglect this spiritual imperative.

Pope Francis reminds us that Jesus fed the poor and healed the sick. Jesus even raised the dead. If we claim that Jesus has a place in our hearts, we need to consider this. While I am no Bible thumper, I still feel that this message resonates with what I know of the Catholic Church's teachings. What is more, this message ALSO resonates with we unchurched souls who work in progressive movements. We don't even have to love Jesus (although I do) or believe in religion (I believe in G-d), to know that our collective purpose on this earth is to help one another. What else do we have to do? I cannot think of anything better.

I've never met a truly happy person who ignored other people's needs. Most of the time, people who just go on their so-called merry way, are angry and miserable. Like  dragons, they hoard their gold for no purpose except to be in caves with it and to spout angry fire at anybody who dares to approach.

Yet, people who help others are happy. The old Bob Dylan quote is true: "You gotta serve somebody."

Once again, Pope Francis, in his ecumenical way, reaches out to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. This is one of those truths that he would identify as rightness graven on the human soul. The rightness can be recognized by anybody.

This unchurched ex-Catholic hears Pope Francis and responds: "YES!"