What is Truth? Sociology and the Beginning of Anagogical Truth

Sociology, a material approach to “knowing” oneself, is effective as far as one can study the social factors that create the person and who they are. To know or to understand another within their sociological context may be essential in terms of pure knowledge, but that knowledge, in and of itself, is only valuable if that knowledge is used to help develop better relationships with the other or with one who’s sociological background differs from one’s own. It is basically like knowing as much as you can know when you are in the Pit. Again, as with psychology, the relationship between various identifiers suggests the anagogical role relationship plays, not simply in sociology, but in determining the authentic self. Further, it is not only the individual’s combination of identifiers that determines one’s self, but also how that individual relates to others.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary and Middle School in Atlanta, Georgia. The community in which we spent eight or nine years of our formative years not only helped us identify our individual traits; it also introduced us to the people who would help us reveal even more who were are. (photo: Unknown)

What is Truth? Sociology and Indicators of Self

I get more technical with Sociology. According to sociology, an individual possesses Primary and Secondary Identifiers which account for “who” a person is. Primary and Secondary identifiers, in sociological terms, combine to define the character of a person. Primary identifiers are “Internal” Categories/Fixed or Static Dimensions. Primary Identifiers of diversity are those human differences that are inborn and/or that exert an important impact on our early socialization, and that have an ongoing impact throughout our lives. Specifically, Primary identifiers are Age, Physical Abilities/Qualities, Ethnicity, Gender, Race, and Sexual Orientation. Secondary Identifiers are “External” Categories/Fluid or Dynamic Dimensions. Secondary Identifiers of diversity are those that can be changed, or are at least not inborn. They range from things like parental status to religious belief to marital status to job level. As one studies the various combinations of Identifiers in one’s life, one can determine the reasons behind current belief or action. Further, as one studies another person’s identifiers one can better know the other.

This lesson has had to change in recent years as relativism and subjective Truth become more and more popular in modern ideologies. The line between Primary and Secondary Identifiers seems to blur, increasingly, as people seem to “identify” as whatever they wish. I barely mention this in class, not because I am afraid to discuss it, but because, there just isn’t enough academic understanding of the reasons behind this apparent desire in modern cultures to “self-identify”. It appears to be rooted in dogmatic relativism and the idea that “If it is True to you, then it must be True.” Of course, all rational philosophy deems this concept of relative reasoning as lacking any real logical backing. If the class does move into a discussion of this, I have given students some concepts that may help them rationally approach the subject. I ask them to analyze the “self-identifying” trend in our culture today, and to consider where this comes from. Ultimately, I argue, it comes from the same place where all other social identifying schemes come from: the natural desire to belong…to feel like you are part of a group of people and not alone. In this way, self-identifying does share the same transcendent characteristic of relationship that nearly all sociological identifiers possess. The only difference, I argue, is that self-identifying, as a relativistic philosophy, seems, by definition, self-referential and lacking the requisite acquiescence or humility needed in order to relate to what Christianity understands to be God or the Authentic Self. If we do talk about this in class, my only Hope is that students, at the very least, leave with a little understanding of why relativism and self-identifying ideologies cannot be objectively True in Christian Theology as they are inconsistent with the objective Truths of relationships and humility, that is, Agape.

Statue if St. Francis of Assisi at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Denver Colorado. St. Francis understood who he was within the context of his relationship with God, all people, and Creation. (photo P. Smith)

These complex factors of primary and secondary identifiers can be interpreted within the context of a given society in space and time to create dominant and non-dominant categories. Dominant categories are those considered either the majority or the norm in a given society. Non-Dominant categories are those considered the minority or the non-norm in a given society. By studying the dominant and non-dominant assumptions of an individual’s culture, one can better understand an individual’s ideology and assumptions. In this way, one can “know” “the Other”.  Ultimately, this class leads students to the idea that it is not the “self” or the “self-identity” that matters in becoming the Authentic Self; it is the relationships we develop with each other that reveals who our Authentic Self is. Self-referential ideology seems to stop at the self and does not extend to the Other. This is contrary to Christian concepts of who God is and who we are made to be.

What is Truth? Sociology and Metacognition

Sociology uses tools that identify the social factors that contribute to who a person is, materially, and the reasons or motivations for their actions. That is, if one were to study the life and environment in which one is raised, and if they factor the effects those stimuli have on one’s upbringing, one can better understand who one is. I say this more directly to my students: “make a list of the things you value and believe to be True. Now, think about your upbringing and make a connection to how your society conditioned you and what you believe to be True about yourself and your beliefs”. Some teachers could spend weeks doing these sort of exercises, and they would be beneficial. This sort of thought process requires metacognitive functioning and, as a person who thinks most people in our society are painfully unaware of themselves, I would say this is a valuable exercise. Of course, I don’t have all the time in the world to do this, but normally, I give students a writing assignment asking them to begin the process of learning who they are and why they are that way. Of course, as I will show later, who they are based on social conditioning may not be anything like who their Authentic Self is.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Atlanta, Georgia. This church is just a three minute walk from my front yard where I stated really thinking about who I was. In retrospect, I have learned more about myself in relationship with Jesus Christ than in all those hours in my front yard or anywhere. (photo P. Smith) 

            I tell them the story of the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in high school. Almost every night that summer was spent sitting in parents’ front yard, in my puke-yellow sling chair. I listened to music on my brother’s Walkman. I played songs on my cheap guitar that I bought in 9^th grade because playing guitar was going to be “my thing” in high school. I journaled in my own Holden Caulfield way about how everyone I went to school with were “phonies.” I pondered two questions: “Why do people do what they know is wrong?” and “Why do I believe the way that I believe?” I never really answered either of these questions. I had just finished my freshman year in high school, and I had witnessed drugs, drinking, cheating, and all sorts of behavior that I was certain everyone knew was destructive and self-serving. I sat in that ridiculous chair for hours trying to figure out why these “friends” of mine did these things. But I judged myself, too! I tried to figure out why I felt so badly about what my classmates were up to on the weekends. I do not pretend to know the answer to either of these questions. But later I would learn that I was practicing metacognition. I was thinking about how I think. I consider it the most productive summer I have ever had. By the end of the summer, I had developed habits of taking time to myself to just think and think about how I was thinking. This would serve me well later on in life, especially as I tried to figure out what to do with the seizures and how to make important decisions in my life. Students really do appreciate the vulnerability of their teachers. If teachers can share their own high school drama and successes, it can help students feel comfortable in the classroom. There have been times when I have had students come to be after this talk and ask me if I had any answers to the first question. Teenagers know on some level the badness of so many “normal” actions, but they do not know why people persist. This is exactly what Sociology does, in a way; it looks at behaviors of people, in general, and seeks to understand why groups of people act certain ways. The simple answer, I have given my students as to why people do things that they know are wrong is: to belong. The desire to be in relationship drives us to do things we may not want to. This desire to be in relationship, of course, is evidence that we are made to be in relationship. In Catholic theology, we simply say that we are made to look like God who is relationship.

What is Truth? Sociology

Sociology is too large of a subject to be contained in the margins of this page, but to simplify, I will offer a definition of sociology, a description of the Myers-Briggs Personality Index, and we will find that sociology, more overtly than psychology, seeks to define the self in relation to the world and to others. Just as psychology can be seen through Sacramental Vision as a sign pointing to a greater Truth of the Authentic Self, Sociology will show more explicitly how we seem to value relationship with “the Other” as essential to happiness.

Sociology explores social beliefs, traditions, and concepts like marriage and engagements. My wife let me put this picture in this blog (photo P. Smith)

Many of my students don’t know this yet, but in just a few years they will declare themselves to be Sociology majors in college. They will study human cultures and societies. They will discuss, in detail, the formation of norms and social codes. They will write papers about how we are all conditioned by our societies to think and to act in particular ways. They will even make promises to not conform to the standards of the societies and cultures and religions that raised them. But for now, I can at least teach them how, on a fundamental level, all social systems really do the exact same thing: all cultures help members of a given society understand who they are and how they can relate to the world around them. The overarching theology that I teach my students is that we have a natural desire to relate to others; sociology really just studies how we go about doing that.

Simply put, sociology is the study of the development, structure, and function of human societies.  Sociology looks at the factors involved in how people or societies become who they are in terms of religion, politics, economics, etc… If one identifies themselves, or anyone else, in any particular way, sociology seeks to discover what factors have led to one doing so. To restate, if a person claims themselves to be a White, Female, Republican (and there are many other descriptors in sociology), sociology studies that individual in an attempt to understand what factors led them to make this assertion. Similarly, if one claims another person to be, for example, educated, compassionate, and responsible, sociology also seeks to understand what factors would lead one to make this claim about another person. Sociology offers a material and scientific approach to understanding how we define ourselves and how we define our relationship to others. Of course, as I have already described, it is precisely with the context of relationship that we can Truly begin to know our Authentic Self. In this way, Sociology can be viewed Sacramentally. But there is more.

What is Truth? Psychology, Sacramentality, and the Authentic Self

The relationship or balance between id, ego, and superego and the relationship or balance between the conscious mind, the unconscious mind, and the preconscious mind creates for the individual a psychological harmony by which one knows and controls their behavior in response to any given stimuli. That is, psychological health allows for one to not only possess a healthy internal relationship, but also allows for one to develop healthy relationships with the world and especially the people around oneself. The relationship between the id, the ego and the superego and the relationship between the conscious, the unconscious, and the preconscious, itself, seem to suggest that relationship is at the heart of the Authentic Self. Freudian psychology, therefore, is not simply determining who the authentic psychological self is in respect to memory and stimulus, but also preparing one to develop authentic and enduring relationships with the world around oneself. Ultimately, and my students reflect on this concept, Freud helps the patient to know the relationships within their psyche, not just for themselves, but so they can enter into longer more enduring relationships with “the Other”. This is where Freud starts to look more Sacramental.

This sign in Booger Hollow, Arkansas points drivers to a destination, right off the road. In a similar way, psychology is not the destination, itself, but a sign leading us toward the Authentic Self. This is an example of Sacramental Vision. (photo P. Smith)

In terms of anagogical language, one may ask: “to what is Freudian psychology pointing?” If the end-goal is not mental health in and of itself…if the end goal is societal or inter-relational health, then what does that say beyond what is observable in the context of psychoanalysis? Further, if this discussion of psychology suggests that the Authentic Self is somehow connected to more than simply a relationship within oneself (to be at peace with oneself), then what role does relationship with others have to do with the Authentic Self? Perhaps sociology can add to an understanding of relationship and its role in determining the Authentic Self.

To summarize this simply for my students, Sacramentality looks at psychology as a material sign of a deeper Truth of who we are. If we are made in the image and likeness of God and if God is characterized, in part, by relationship, then any relationship we experience in the material world, in the Pit, could be considered a sign pointing to a deeper relationship to which we are called. Some of my students get this immediately. The discussions on Sociology and Philosophy show how this concept is not limited to just psychology.

What is Truth? Sacramental Vision of Freud

While Freud’s id, ego, and superego describe the personality of the person, his concepts of the conscious, the unconscious, and the preconscious mind explain mental awareness and show a similar relationship-centered balance needed for mental health and therefore knowledge of the authentic self, well, at least the material authentic self. The conscious, the unconscious, and the preconscious mind, to Freud, are elements of cognitive processing and memory. The conscious mind refers to the active or “awake” mind. In the conscious mind are readily accessible memories or ideas that may be verbalized and rationalized by the individual. When the individual is presented with various stimuli from their environment, the conscious mind makes sense of that stimuli by associating it, actively, with an accessible memory or idea. If there is no active memory with which to associate the stimuli, the mind seeks any memory it can with which to scaffold the new information. For Freud, any information gathered within a lifetime is stored somewhere, either consciously or unconsciously. I use the infant analogy so my students can understand this a bit more. For an infant, the rational ability to process data does not exist, but that data is stored somewhere. To Freud, that somewhere is the unconscious mind. Later in life, when the individual encounters stimuli that can be associated with the unconscious infant data, the mind automatically makes a connection. The human mind treats stimuli or new data in such a way that in order to make sense of it, it must find some prior knowledge with which to connect it. In psychotherapy, Freud would attempt to access the unconscious mind in order to determine what infant or prior memory is making the adult reaction to certain stimuli what it is. Continuing the infant analogy, if an infant or child experiences sickness when first eating pasta sauce, the mind stores that data in the unconscious as the child does not actively remember at a young age. Later in life, when they are offered pasta sauce, they experience a feeling of sickness as the brain attempts to make sense of the stimuli. The brain accesses the unconscious memory of pasta sauce and the adult behavior is explained. Psychoanalysis is the process by which a therapist attempts to use the preconscious memory of the individual to determine the unconscious memory driving the conscious behavior. The preconscious mind is that part of the mind that can bridge the conscious and the unconscious, although not in a conscious manner. Normally, psychoanalyst use dream therapy, hypnosis, or extensive therapy to activate the preconscious in order for the earliest memories to surface. For Freud, psychoanalysis is vital for determining the reason behind current behavior, for in determining the reason for any given behavior, one can gain control over that behavior, and if it is negative or hurtful behavior, it can be addressed or modified. It is within the relationship between the conscious, the unconscious, and the preconscious that one can determine a balance of self and therefore claim health.

West Rim Train at Big Bend National Park in west Texas. Through interior exploration, one can begin to understand their material Authentic Self. Freud argued that psychotherapy could help us in the process.

            It seems like this might be too complicated for high school students to fully grasp, but I have two things going for me. First, though many modern psychologist and psychiatrists reject most of what Freud taught, his language is still part of modern social vocabulary. So, these are not necessarily new words to them and my students do have some rudimentary understanding of what Freud is teaching. A hundred years of Western culture being influenced by Freud helps me to teach it. Second, I have already scaffolded for my students the idea of relationship as being integral to the Authentic Self. As I teach Freud, I remind students that Freud is really just trying to help patients to discover their Authentic Self, albeit through material means. Because they understand the Christian theological concept of Authentic Self and its connection to relationship, they can start to “see” Freudian Psychology through a lens of Sacramentality.

What is Truth? Psychology and Dialogue with the Transcendent

Sigmund Freud’s terminology of the id, the ego, and the superego describes various parts of the human mind, each responsible for specific behavior. The Id is the primitive or instinctive component of the personality. It is responsible for any primal want or desire. The id functions without the rational or conscious mind. The ego is a part of the id that mediates the primal desires of the id with the realities of the external world. That is, if there are desires that are outside the realms of reality or societal norms, the go places a sense of control on those desires. The superego is the part of the personality that incorporates the social standards or morals and thereby prevents the id from disassociating the individual from the society within which they live. For Freud, the healthy person balances the id, the ego, and the superego in such a way that the desires of the id are not repressed within the context of the superego’s morals. The relationship between the individual’s id, ego, and superego is what psychoanalysis attempts to view. It is still early when I am teaching this to students, but I often will ask: “How can we interpret id, ego, and superego Sacramentally?” Occasionally I will have a student respond, “According to Freud, human consciousness depends on the relationship between id, ego, and superego. Maybe the fact that mental health relies on this relationship can connect to the ideas that we rely on relationship to be our Authentic Self”. That’s pretty good. I don’t want to go too deep into it yet, but they are on the right track. My students are beginning to develop a sort of Sacramental Vision, viewing material Truths like the id, ego, and superego as potential signs pointing to more objective or transcendent Truths. Maybe even more importantly, they are allowing the material Truths which they can understand to be in dialogue with more transcendent Truths which are beyond human comprehension. Freud offers more regarding the conscious, unconscious, and preconscious mind.

The Grotto at Notre Dame, Indiana. I can only imagine the thousands of people who have brought their problems to the Blessed Virgin here, and not just during exams and football weekends. (photo P. Smith)