The Road to Success

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Contemporary society, seems to me, is obsessed with the idea of success.

Financial firms say their products will help you achieve a “successful retirement.” Universities and business schools offer courses to achieve “successful graduates.” Political campaigns promise to produce "successful leaders."

 

And luxury watches, vehicles and homes are signs of this success.

 

People who aren’t particularly successful in these terms are “underachievers” or worse, “losers.” And society is always placing in front of us new goals for success, like the recent news of humanity’s first “trillionaire.”

 

Who Asks Such a Question?

But what does it really mean to be “successful?” (We “losers” are the only ones who would ask such a question.) I would say that more important than being successful financially or in business or with a skill or talent, is whether we’re successful as human beings – assuming agreement on what it means to be human.    

 

I like the view of Pope Leo IX. More than any pope in my lifetime, Leo IX often speaks on behalf of humanity, asking “what makes us human” and “how can we stay that way.” And being God-like, it turns out, is the most important ingredient.

 

Recently, in a flight within Spain, Leo discussed – as the Catholic News Service put it – “the deeper and darker … questions punctuating human life.” These questions include his statement that “human dignity does not depend on success, productivity or a flawless past, and that God does not abandon people in suffering or define them by their mistakes.”

 

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Humans have dignity, his church teaches, simply because they are children of God, made in his “image and likeness.” We don’t have to “earn” this dignity. We don’t have to do anything to warrant it. Even when we mess up, we’re still human and still children of the God who “makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t strive to “be perfect” as our heavenly Father is perfect, as Jesus also says. It’s just that our dignity as human beings doesn’t depend on whether we are or not.

 

This is not an easy concept to accept, given the horrible things we do to each other. But the church insists on promoting Jesus’ message, including those that are the most difficult to accept. And if we Christians are to take Jesus’ message seriously, we can’t bask in indifference and inactivity.

Instead of "chasing relentlessly after profit, performance and perfection," the Pope said, "...people (must) learn to pause and value what is important … allowing themselves to be enlightened by the Gospel. They (must) also develop a critical perspective on a social system that does not put people first.

Culture of Individualism

“(God) has endowed us with intelligence and will, given us a conscience," he said, encouraging people to take responsibility to confront injustices "both personally and as a society. …We must question the dynamics of our society, the culture of individualism and the temptation of violence.”

Social scientists have consistently described contemporary, western culture as individualistic. That’s illustrated by people who remark that they “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps” and “worked hard for everything they have,” as if the poor and disfranchised haven’t done that as well but with little “success.”

Individualism is also expressed in comments such as “me first” or “my country first.” I don’t believe our loving, generous God would look kindly on such statements.

"God loves you just as you are,” the pope said, “but he dreams of you being even better!"