Truth Determined by....Emotions?

Emotions. We all have them, all experience them, what to do about them? Ignore them? Indulge them? Or is there a balance?

I propose that us humans strive to find balance between our emotions and what we hold to be true and real. All too often, it seems that we (myself included) get so caught up in our emotions and feelings that we lose sight of our ability to reason. And this has led to our culture of Relativism, where reality and truth are determined by what feels good to each individual, while ignoring the law of non-contradiction (meaning ignoring that the differing beliefs contradict each other and ultimately cannot all be true). For example, when it comes to God, Christians proclaim that Jesus Christ is God, while Muslims perceive Jesus as only a prophet and reject that God exists as a trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- how can both beliefs be correct? And then atheists/agnostics/secularists reject God altogether. Yet, ultimately, stripping all else away -- Jesus is either God or not; it is impossible for Him to be God for some people and simultaneously not God for others. This cannot be determined by feelings though. Feelings change (quite quickly at times *ahem mood swings*) and if I based reality on my feelings, chaos would ensue.

As humans, we are created with an intellect and will and must strive to order both towards the good. But what is "good"? Hence why God exists outside of ourselves, He transcends humanity, and IS existence itself. As such, He is the measure of what is good; He doesn't change and only wants what is truly in our best interests. As St. Augustine once wrote "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord". It is only in God that we find fulfillment. Notice how often you may be left with a sense of emptiness after a pleasurable experience -- our hearts yearn for the infinite, selfless love of God and we must not let our emotions interfere. We must train our emotions the way athletes train their bodies.

Now, all this is coming from someone who has struggled with emotions for most of my 26 years of life. I remember, as a teenager, being drawn to television shows such as Everwood and The OC which were chock full of emotional experiences for the characters - now I honestly do not enjoy either show anymore -- partially because I'm no longer a teenager and partially because I've learned to overcome my strong emotions. I still get emotional quite often yet I try to recognize my emotions and not give into them - it's tough, I don't always succeed, but I never forget what place emotions have in my life.

So my challenge for YOU, dear reader is to seek truth, but please don't allow your emotions to cloud that search. Catholicism does not always feel good but what keeps me going is acknowledging that I cannot stop truth from being true; I could walk away from Catholicism at any moment, yet I would only be hurting myself, as the old saying goes, it's true "whether I like it or not".

Until next time, may God bless you ❤

Catholicism and.....Criminal Minds?!?

With the early, shocking demise of my beloved Chicago Blackhawks from the Stanley Cup playoffs, I've recently have returned to an old favorite television show to "binge watch" -- Criminal Minds, currently finishing up its 12th season (which I have not yet watched; I stopped at the end of the 11th season and am now starting at the beginning watching all the episodes; I'm up to the end of the 3rd season).

I typically avoid television shows and movies that involve blood, gore, violence, etc. So how the heck is Criminal Minds one of my favorite shows? Alas, it's because of the familial aspect to the show's ensemble cast of characters: the profilers of the FBI's Behavior Analysis Unit (BAU). It's the well-crafted character development that has drawn me in and I more or less tolerate the violence. It's also the critical analysis, the studying of the minds of criminals in figuring out the reasoning behind their decision to commit murder. Although the show has the usual liberal slant, I do enjoy catching glimpses of selfless love shown by the characters.

I recently watched an episode where the unsub (BAU term for "unidentified subject"...the bad guy) happened to identify as gay, which, thus prompted this blog post (shocking I know, right? Margo getting fired up about homosexuality?! lol) The gist of the plot was that the 20-something-year-old man's murders were fueled by his Christian father's wrongful hateful attitude towards his son for "being gay". *sigh* Now, I do have to say that other episodes of Criminal Minds have treated Christianity quite fairly. However, this particular episode unfortunately played the "Christians believe homosexuals are dirty" card. NO NO NO! People who find themselves romantically/sexually attracted to members of the same sex are not "dirty" -- the ACTION of gay sex is indeed dirty -- but that doesn't mean the people committing that act are evil; they're misled. They're searching for love and settling for affection that will never fully satisfy their longings.

My other thought is finding it interesting that the whole point of Criminal Minds is to critically analyze cases in an objective (non-biased) manner. So why isn't homosexuality treated in that manner? Why can't homosexuality (the action, not the person) be considered wrong/harmful? Why do the rules seem to change when it comes to matters of sex??