An Ethical and Psychological Worldview, a Biographical Post

I was a Catholic kid living in a small Protestant town in Kansas during the 1950s and 1960s, which was very prejudiced against us Catholic kids. They didn’t like us! Why? Why not? We were a minority—a religious minority. And it didn’t get any better as I grew older, until we moved to an even smaller town in Kansas. However, we were not a minority there, but the prejudice never seemed to stop. This marked the beginning of years of persecution for being not only a Catholic kid minding my own business but also a truth-teller, later discovering that I faced autistic challenges as well.

I have memories of my childhood walking home from Catholic school, always needing to stay alert for the Protestant bullies who would wait to attack us on our way home in the afternoons. Being the oldest in the family, I was the apparent target. As a good kid, I didn’t understand the behavior directed at me. Was it because I looked odd in my school uniform, or was it due to being a Catholic kid in the minority facing racist behavior? I didn’t know why they wanted to be so cruel to me!

As I entered my teenage years, I realized I was one of those kids who viewed the world differently than my siblings and other children. I remember a neighbor, a professor at a local college, asking my mother if he could administer an intelligence test to me to see how I would perform. He found that I did exceptionally well, leaving the adults in my life speechless! Later, in my adult years, I tested again and discovered that my score was much higher than the average of those I lived among.

Humanity's greatest tool for addressing personal pride and greed is scapegoating those who genuinely seek good things for our loved ones, including siblings and parents. I was one of those family scapegoats, emotionally and physically beaten down like a sacrificial lamb. They needed a scapegoat to project their issues onto and feel better about themselves. This behavior originated with my parents and eight siblings and extended to three children and two ex-wives.

I will include this in part four of the Worldview series, “An Ethical and Psychological Worldview.” This combined post covers Ethics and Psychology, so sharing my understanding and experiences with the human race is essential, even though they haven’t been very positive.

I have my ontology to manage and fully understand what that entails. Even in this pursuit, I am on a solitary journey. From what I can see, I don’t know anyone who is seriously dealing with their human nature, including those who have passed away, taking their savage humanity with them. God rest their souls. For years, I haven’t heard from any of my family, so to speak. Their pride keeps them from calling to ask, “How are you doing?”

I have come to understand human nature, right and wrong, after seventy years on this planet, and it looks like this: I am reminded daily, while reading the Liturgy of the Hours, that the human race is and has been troubled by two things. Ontologically speaking, we live in rebellion on a planet that belongs to the Father of Lies. Every morning in my reading, I'm reminded that we are a “lost” people in need of salvation. The psalms clearly articulate this fact. The memories of my childhood and the subsequent scapegoating by those I cared about deeply were simply manifestations of a lost humanity that has been given every opportunity to be touched by our Messiah, who came to offer salvation and the Holy Spirit, which desires to take residence in our very flesh to transform us into holy people. My experiences were predictable, yet I did not understand what to expect at the time. Not one person in my life was there to help me become wiser and more aware of what was unfolding. I was the truth-teller and later recognized how autism created the challenges I faced. These are the reasons scapegoating began: I was different, taller, more intelligent, and kinder. I was also autistic, which brings its own set of challenges for a dysfunctional family. I have witnessed how individuals have been scapegoated by their families or spouses and ultimately were ruined or, worse yet, died young due to trauma, pain, anxiety, and substance abuse. I know of a young man who disappeared when he could no longer cope with the abuse from his family of origin and hasn’t been heard from since; God bless him. The choice is to either continue living in this cycle of abuse or move on to save yourself and recover from years of emotional and often physical or sexual abuse.

The human race will never thrive on its own. We require substantial support, and a Messiah has been provided to guide us through this ontological dilemma we are all born into.

This is how humanity lives. They can’t seem to grasp their most significant challenge and, as a result, resort to the next best thing: projecting their issues onto an innocent scapegoat, a sacrificial lamb. (Sounds like what the Israelites were up to.) This has occurred for centuries, yet few will stand up to the mob for fear of being crucified themselves. Nevertheless, Jesus spoke out against the problem humanity has ignored since the expulsion from the Garden.

Conclusion

I don’t usually get this deep into the weeds, but I believe this topic needs to be discussed because I know many people who have faced ongoing challenges with their families or spouses. Of course, I have been defining a worldview perspective and have had to explore several rabbit holes to get this far.

This exercise has greatly benefited me and will significantly impact my future. The Liturgy of the Hours has become a lasting part of my life, and I am grateful to my life partner for introducing me to it.