Latest / Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza / Ep.104 - The Paradise of Individualism Is Actually a Nightmare with Anthony Schratz | Earnscliffe | Mentoring | Virtue Formation1

Transcript

Ep.104 - The Paradise of Individualism Is Actually a Nightmare with Anthony Schratz | Earnscliffe | Mentoring | Virtue Formation1 · Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza

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  The paradise that is promised by radical individualism leads to
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  loneliness, leads to bitterness, leads to depression, substance
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  abuse, ill health. This is Virtuous Leaders, the
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  podcast for based Catholics who will speak truth, do Good or die
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  trying is the show. You've been mentoring young
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  people for 40 years. What do you think is the biggest
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  challenge facing young people? The biggest challenge is that
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  they don't read. That's one of the big ones, this
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  new generation, they they're on the Internet, but try and give
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  them a book to read. It's very difficult.
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  So that's one. And so they lack the the depth
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  of the intellectual tools that they need in order to defend
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  their faith. This is they often take their
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  faith for granted. They've got some basic
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  catechism, but they don't have a deep knowledge.
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  And when they're faced with challengers, they often are not
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  able to, they, they lack the intellectual tools that they
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  need in order to answer those objections.
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  And so they, they come to me and ask me, how do I answer this?
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  With the advent of ChatGPT, of course, this has helped them.
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  They're able to put their questions in there and often get
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  a very good answer if they if they frame their question well.
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  But still, it's not in depth, right?
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  It is simply rather surface level answers to to objections.
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  So that's certainly a big one. They're influenced by this
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  individualism that their friends are touting as the the best the
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  world view. And, you know, they know there's
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  something wrong there, but it's hard for them to put their
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  finger on it because their friends are saying our worldview
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  is, you know, freedom. We allow for everyone to do
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  whatever they want to do. For people who want to get into
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  a same sex relationship, that's fine.
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  If they want to choose their gender, that's fine.
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  Freedom for everyone. The Catholic Church is
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  intolerance, dogmatic and authoritarian.
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  And so trying to impose its views and everyone thinking it
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  only it has the right answer or the true the truth.
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  And so they come to me and say, how do we answer this?
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  And that's why I wrote my book. I wanted to give people a
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  simple, accessible tool that they would be able to use to
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  understand where these people are coming from, their friends,
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  their colleagues, their classmates and how to dialogue
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  with them in a in a respectful, respectful way.
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  What are the top highlights of your book?
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  Well, I think one of the key ones is that this worldview, of
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  course, does not lead to justice and happiness and equality, and
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  it certainly doesn't lead to fulfillment.
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  I wonder the the paradise that is promised by radical
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  individualism leads to loneliness, it leads to
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  bitterness, it leads to depression, substance abuse, ill
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  health. The the stats are there if you
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  just look at them. Why?
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  Because it it violates human nature.
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  We are made for relationships, we're made for love.
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  We're made to you know, we really flourish in when we give
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  ourselves to somebody else in self sacrificing love,
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  individualisms, selfish and selfishness always leads to
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  unhappiness. And so I think that's one of the
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  key takeaways of the book is that this paradise doesn't, it's
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  a nightmare and it cannot fulfill the deepest aspirations
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  of the human heart. It's always going to leave
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  people looking for meaning in their lives because being
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  self-centered simply doesn't do it.
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  It leaves you lonely. We have to build relationships.
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  That's the key to happiness. Hence the title of the book
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  Paradise Cancelled. Right, Yeah, let's see.
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  Hence the title of the book. Yes.
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  Jordan Jordan Peterson said that the great innovation and
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  discovery of Western civilization is the importance
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  of the individual. And.
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  That and that sounded true. I mean, that resonated with me
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  at the time, but subsequently from partly from reading the,
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  the letters of the documents of Pope Leo the 13th, which are
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  extraordinary and which support your argument.
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  I, I wonder if it's a little bit misplaced, like maybe there's,
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  we should be emphasizing the family even more so than the
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  individual. But what do you think about
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  that? Well, certainly the Christianity
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  is responsible for the invention of the individual, there's no
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  doubt about that. Human rights, personal sanctity,
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  all of that really is important, right?
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  But as everything else, it is this radical individualism.
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  It's an ideology. What an ideology always does
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  take some aspect of the truth and it blows it up so that it
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  becomes the only the supreme value.
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  And so it's taken it out of context.
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  So it is important, of course, individualism is important, I
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  think. And I, as I say, before
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  Christianity, it was the clan, it was the, the tribe, it was
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  the ascended family was the, the unit.
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  And Christianity gave importance to the individual.
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  But also, of course, you know, the family is the, the basic
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  unit of society. And if you begin to undermine
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  the family, then you do you undermine the, the society.
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  One of the points that I make in my book is that in some ways
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  Christianity sowed the seeds for its own, not of course, not
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  destruction, but for the opposition, because it began to
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  give by emphasizing the individual and the importance of
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  of reason and frowning the universities.
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  It gave people tools, intellectual tools, to attack
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  the faith which they didn't have before.
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  How long do you think we've been in the new Dark Age?
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  Well, I'm not sure it's a dark age.
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  I wouldn't go quite that far. My book is very optimistic,
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  right. It's certainly accelerated in
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  the in the early 60s, I would say probably.
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  So we're looking at the 60 years more or less.
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  OK, so. You do have you have thought a
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  lot about the formation of young people.
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  It's not as I mean, if you identify the problem, the
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  solution to implement the solution is not so easy.
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  What what is your strategy for implementing it?
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  Well, we have residents here at Durstwood.
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  I'm the director of University residents and the people who
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  come here they are. We help them through a
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  one-on-one mentoring, one-on-one mentoring every week.
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  We help them with the get. We have guest speakers, but also
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  the whole context, the entire atmosphere of our center of our
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  residents here is it fosters that that understanding of the
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  cushion message and of our stated purpose is to form
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  virtuous leaders. And everything that we do,
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  everything that we do here, it promotes that furthers that the
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  residents here commit themselves to come to have supper with us
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  every day in a family gathering. We have a family get an informal
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  gathering, a get together every evening, which they commit
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  themselves to attend. And so they are really in a in a
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  family atmosphere here which fosters this virtuous
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  leadership. So they're well taken care of.
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  And there are also many people who come here to attend
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  activities who are not living here.
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  And they also are well taken care of.
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  But of course, it is hard. That's why I wrote the book,
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  right? So I can get this message out to
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  a larger group, a larger network of people, not just to the
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  residents and the people who come to my center.
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  But I think that certainly a guide is important, right?
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  You're not, you're not going to be able to navigate your way
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  through all this just on your own, especially young people
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  who'd lack these tools, they're not going to be able to see to
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  see just how to do this. So I think a mentor, spiritual
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  director or guide of some sort of coach is, is crucial that
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  somebody really wants to, wants to break free from and to
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  understand well this individualistic mindset and to
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  see what's wrong with it and, and to develop habits and
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  virtues that will help him to, to grow in his Christian faith.
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  How is a virtuous leader formed? He's formed through one of the
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  one-on-one mentoring, giving goals every week, trying to
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  focus on one virtue or another, helping him to put a best
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  practices for those virtues and then following him up the next
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  week and see how we did. It's, it's, it's an ongoing
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  process. It takes, of course, spirit of
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  sacrifice from each one. The it's not easy.
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  It's your base like physiotherapy.
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  You know if it hurts in order to overcome.
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  You know, if you want to grow in self-discipline or in temperance
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  or in order or punctuality, if you want to, growing in all
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  these different virtues, cheerfulness, good humor, study
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  habits, all of these. It takes an effort to do that.
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  And we try to help someone on one, one, one baby steps or one
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  step at a time. We have these people usually for
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  three or four years, so we're able to help them over the long
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  run. Perhaps my favorite moral virtue
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  is magnanimity, but as sometimes I I get the sense that if
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  someone is not naturally attracted to it, it's really
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  hard to waken their desire for it in pursuit of it.
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  Of course, yes, the, the people who come here, it's because
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  they've seen that they need this.
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  So we've already, they're already well disposed.
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  Many people. I mean, we, we advertise, we
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  have a website and people will sometimes write in as saying I
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  want to know more or I want to apply to Ernst Cliff.
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  Then I write them back explaining who we are and what
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  we do. And nine times out of 10, I'll
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  never hear from them again. You know, the, the last thing
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  they want to hear about is a, you know, a structure or
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  schedule or curfew. That kind of thing just doesn't
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  resonate with someone who is not really interested in growing in
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  virtue and then doesn't want to make the sacrifices.
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  So you said something early in the conversation that offended
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  me deeply, which is that? So you don't think we're in a
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  new dark age? So I I just have to ask you
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  what, what is the difference between a dark age and what
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  we're experiencing currently? Oh, I think that they're in
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  spite of the this individualism that is rather pervasive, there
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  are it is still my my the last chapter of my book shows that it
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  is perfectly possible to live your faith with the fold to
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  flourish, to evangelize in the in the current context.
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  And you know, if you do it a little bit, just with a little
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  bit of prudence, you are going to be able to this is not going
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  to affect you all that negative. You just have to be somewhat
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  prudent in in the way you act. So I think that there's room
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  for, you know, they're saying Thomas Moore said the times are
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  never so bad that a good man can't flourish in them.
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  And I think that that's true here.
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  So yeah, of course, you know, they're the atmosphere is
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  somewhat anti clerical. I think actually it's changing
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  from what I can see. For example, in this last
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  Easter, there were many more baptisms throughout Europe and
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  and North America than there have been more and more young
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  people are seeing that there's this individualism with a dead
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  end and they're looking for for something.
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  They look to people like Jordan Peterson, they look to people
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  like Bishop Baron, who, who are very prominent on the on the, on
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  the Internet and they are seeing another on an alternative to, to
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  this. So a dark age would be where
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  it's you're really persecuted for being, for holding your
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  values. And I don't think we're quite
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  there yet, certainly not in North America anywhere, not in
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  Canada anyway. In the US, you know, it's very
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  polarized, right? But if you want to associate
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  with your own, you're on group, then you can do that and then
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  you're not going to be cancelled or.
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  Whatever what What is your strategy for helping young
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  people break out of smartphone addictions?
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  Well, for example, we we help them.
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  For example, here at Ernst Cliff, no phones are allowed in
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  our get togethers or in our in our meals.
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  If they're walking around the house, they're not allowed to
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  use earphones. You know, they're supposed to be
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  able to greet people that they meet on in the way.
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  They're not supposed to be that, you know, completely engrossed
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  in their own music or whatever it is they want.
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  So they don't use earphones. And we encourage them.
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  We really encourage them. Go to bed at night.
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  You'd leave your phone out of your room to get an alarm.
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  You didn't have an alarm clock. Get an alarm clock cost $10.
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  We'll even give them 1. And I have alarm clocks here for
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  them. No, no alarm clock, no phones in
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  their room at night. And then we encourage them to
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  not just negative and then a negative way, but to read, to
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  have hobbies, to pick up, pick up things to that will fill
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  their time and not to be going on to their phone whenever they
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  have a free moment. So it's a, it's an, it's an
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  ongoing battle, but we win it. We little by little, they
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  understand the harms, the harms that they come from too much,
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  from addition to phones. They've experienced them.
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  You do some family catechism groups in Canada.
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  What is that exactly? It's basically families come and
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  you'll be for Aftermath on Sunday, for example, or on a
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  Saturday morning, different groups of different schedules.
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  The whole family goes there. There are class catechism
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  classes for the younger people, for the older people, for the
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  parents, and some of the parents are trained in order to give the
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  catechism classes. So it becomes a family event
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  where they can, where they can grow in their knowledge of the
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  faith. And afterwards they might have a
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  picnic lunch or they bring their lunches or potluck and some of
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  the some of the younger people will play sports.
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  So it's, it's every two weeks usually.
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  And it's a, it's a family outing where and we call it the family
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  catechism. There's groups all over, all
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  over Toronto. Yeah, there's probably four or
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  five groups in, in Toronto and it's yeah, it's very successful.
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  Very because it's he doesn't take anyone away from their
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  family. It's a it's a family event and
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  the same time it's formational. So it's not easy to, you know,
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  we have family camps also, right.
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  As opposed to you do as well in the summer there's a 5 or 6 day
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  camp where the family will go there and they'll have daily
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  mass and have the rosary together at night and things
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  right. So it's it's a formula that has
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  been very successful in in Toronto and I think mainly
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  because of that it's a combines a family event with the
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  formation. You said one of these catechism
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  meetings, it brings 200 families together every.
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  Week in in London, Yeah, London, ON.
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  It's about a couple of hours from here.
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  Yeah, there's a there's one fellow who organizes that who's
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  just a a genius at this fanatic for years.
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  You started up a school. He he organizes our family like
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  guest speakers and he brings them in and he gets hundreds and
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  hundreds of people to attend for parenting talks and things.
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  It's pretty amazing. Yeah.
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  They either mover and shaker, right?
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  You We need more people like him.
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  Absolutely. Do you?
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  Have any last words for us? I think, yeah, I would say that
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  what's important in all of this is a good humor, understanding
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  people who don't agree with you. Trying to get a trying to look
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  for for common ground, friendship, charity, bitter
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  confrontation is not the way to go.
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  All right, My book. In my book, I don't have a
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  single bitter word for anyone. And I, I really try to, I really
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  tried to, you know, to win people over.
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  For example, my chapter where I, I describe expressive
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  individualism. I describe it in a way that
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  anyone who holds that position would say, yes, you said it
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  better than I have. You know, there's not a single
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  judge mental comment there in that particular chapter.
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  And so it helps people to really understand where these people
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  are coming from. And when I yeah.
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  Throughout the book, I try to point out that it's possible to,
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  you know, to thrive, to flourish without making enemies and
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  without bitter confrontation. It's all, you know, this really
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  is. And it's the best way to go.
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  There's too many books about this where they, they're just
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  very defensive, negative, bitter.
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  I don't like that at all. You know, he doesn't.
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  You don't get anywhere with that.
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  So I now I would always encourage people, you know, to,
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  to reach out, try to put their heart into their relationship
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  with other people, be empathetic, really make an
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  effort to understand where the other person is coming from.
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  I think my, that chapter 2 of my book really tries to, to do
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  that. And it shows in a sympathetic
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  way what the, what people who are sort of more with a, what
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  they believe. And I think that that's, that
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  has to be the way to go. It's really a, it really is the,
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  the way to make progress. And you'd be surprised.
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  And I've seen so many people who come here skeptical and over the
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  years and little by little, they're won over by the
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  friendliness and the cheerfulness of the people here.
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  They don't feel judged ever. And I'll say Pope Benedict there
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  said that, right? No one who meets us should ever
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  feel judged. And I'm a firm, firm believer in
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  that. So that's what I would be.
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  My my concluding remark would be that good humor, friendliness,
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  empathy, really try to to win people rather than to be
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  confrontational. Thanks for listening.
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  Please like, subscribe and share with your friends.
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  See you next time.