When the Homily is about Immunology

Cultivated Depravity

Despite the Darwinian "selfish gene" determinism that dominates the nature vs. nurture argument these days, I am a firm believer that humans are more than the sum of their genes...in fact I don't see how a Christian could believe otherwise. The ethic dejour is generally that if we were born a certain way, then it is acceptable to "be" that way. But of course, if we follow this notion to its logical conclusion then we are forced to say the same of the murky waters of pedophiles and the chronically violent - perhaps they were born this way? Maybe I was born with an inclination to have sex with as many women as I possibly can...certainly a presupposition supported by many evolutionary biologists - it makes sense and is the best way for my slefish gene to be propegated.

Well, I think it's generally nonsense. I think depravity (oh how judgmental of me to refer to my sexual inclinations as depraved!) is cultivated. It might perhaps be planted in our genetic garden (an issue that I think can also be explained by the Fall...genetic mutations) but we are the ones who water, feed, and tend to it.

I suspect it begins with parents. Do we cultivate depravity or do we check it - weeding the garden as it were? It is a frightening prospect - believe me as a struggling and sinful father of four! I recall hearing that Jeffery Dahlmer's dad said nothing to his son when he was going out and killing animals and doing what most folks would consider macabre down in the basement...turning a blind eye. And we hear all the time about seemingly absent parents being surprised to find that their pre-teen children were building pipe bombs in the garage. Unchecked depravity in children, it seems, cultivates it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not laying all the blame on parents, but let us not downplay the importance of parents either. If we believe good parents have a positive effects on kids' lives, then we must also believe that bad or absent parents have a negative effect. Any of you who are parents know that we must TEACH kids at the earliest age to do things like: Share. Has anyone ever had a kid who was born with an inclination to share their toys or food? And selfishness is a form of depravity, is it not? In fact, it is the very SEAT of depravity and we as parents must check it...perhaps check it like a hockey players checks things. :)

As adults we hopefully graduate into the battle, fully prepared to at least try and war against our own depravity. We all know it isn't easy...but without even the most basic of training (e.g. "Bobby you have to share your toys.") I think you end up with a much greater uphill fight...a fight that it seems some folks just give up on (or maybe never fought at all.) For my own part, I have had stages in my life when I have not fought the "passions" (as we like to call them) and it seemed to me that it was like giving up running on a never ending treadmill. The minute you stop, the further behind you get and you will never stop moving further, or rather deeper, into a depraved state.

At some point you rationalize the depravity, you justify it, you begin to think: it's not really that bad...it's not hurting anyone etc etc etc. But the treadmill keeps moving you backwards. Sometimes we even turn around and walk or run with the direction of the treadmill...we lose more and more inhibition, we may even lose our original concern about hurting others, or at the very least we ignore or deny the injury to others. It gets worse and worse and worse...there is NEVER a plateu - similar to drug addiction.

This is the pathway to monsterhood. I suspect it is the pathway that people like THIS have tread, having long since abandoned the battle against what might be the genetic treadmill thay were placed on. Likewise, the genetic garden is not weeded, good fruit and veggie plants are cultivated along with choking weeds...and as any gardner will tell you, the weeds will always win such competitions.

Oh dear...I've rambled into two different analogies (treadmills and gardens)...please forgive me. But I think they are acccurate. We all have varying levels of monsterhood in us...it's when we give up fighting that we spiral into taking the form of a monster that perhaps even the unillumined can recognize. And while we might not all start with seeds of pedophilia or violence...whatever seeds we do have are not going to be pretty if we don't get off our lazy asses and weed the garden and run the treadmill.

Weeding the garden and running the treadmill, we are told in a roundabout way by St. Seraphim, will save many around as well. Whew...a positive note to start the weekend on!