Analyzing a Monastic Opinion
With all the conflicts and pressure on the earth-today, everyone sounds smug and seemsnot to listen to the other parties. Values such as humility and forgiveness have almost ceased to exist. Qualities like accepting others’ opinions seem to disappear, even though people pretend to have those qualities. Kathleen Norris who is a Benedictine choose to speak and clarify some of the American society’s mistakes as she believes, Kathleen sees the monastic way as a solution to overcome those mistakes, and enjoy our lives as it was meant to be. She wrote an article called “the secret ingredient” discussing some of those issues, and giving solutions to them. A summary that includes the main points of Kathleen Norris’ article, my own vision followed by the points of difference and points of agreement will be the focus of this essay.
In the Article “The Secret Ingredient” written by Kathleen Norris, Norris discussed some notable subjects in American society. She began her article with Thomas Merton’s “I don’t care”that she employed as a mantra to protect herself from being groomed by media and commercials.Norris argued that marketers have a tremendous impact on the American society that there is nothing has not been touched by marketers. Norris said that marketers contributed in making a mountain out of a molehill by letting product brands become keys to our identity rather than mere things; she went farther to say “we have willingly embraced a form of slavery” when we“allowed our bodies to be used as free advertising” (Norris, 108). Norris moved to underline some of the causes that negatively impact the quality of the language. She points her finger atmarketers, saying that when they reverently present products with fake slogans that excite feelings as if they were religious icons, it is an influential factor in the loss of the value of the word.(Norris, 109-111)
Another sensitive issue that Kathleen Norris wrote about was the way that the sexual part in our lives has been defined. She claimed that sex has been exploited as a marketing tool, which lost the actual meaning of sex. She said that adolescents are now free to dress like hos and pimps unaware that they made themselves vulnerable to abuse; she supported her opinion by saying “we have turned the very act that gives us life into our most obscene” (Norris, 113). She wrote that the monastic perspective which was honed by the practice of celibacy described people as slaves of their sexual compulsions, which means that people have to look for real freedom that arises out of charity and loving others in order to enjoy human sexuality as it was meant to be. Regarding freedom, she questioned what type of freedom people think they live with while they are being controlled by the technology they created. She wondered how people can live free without a car, or why should a poor man pay more when he write a check to pay his bills rather than paying his bills online (Norris, 113-114). After that, Kathleen Norris moved to write about some monastic manners and values and compare them to the American manners. Norris said “in contemporary America people are effectively discarded once they are ill, unless they can afford private medical insurance. And when they become old, they simply cease to exist” (Norris, 114).In monasteries that does not happen, because Benedict insists that ill and elderly be listened to and cared for. According to Norris, another advantage of living in a monastery is that everyone equally infamous and has the same value and importance as everyone else; also she described the hospitality of Benedict and how it is natural and not exotic. She raped up her article saying “Monastics are on the front lines here, and I trust that they will be resolute about refusing toallow spiritual practice, which traditionally has been aimed at sharping our awareness of the legitimate needs of the world, into becoming just another layer of insulation from it” (Norris,117).
Resentful, protester, and cynical: this is how I would describe myself and the judgment I made on Kathleen when I read the article for the first time. After the “four corners debate” exercise we had in class, I immediately decided not to agree with any point Norris wrote. However, when I deeply thought of what she wrote and tried to embody her thoughts on our real world, I found that I agree with her more than I thought. One point that I highly support is that we have started to lose the value and the credibility of the word due to several reasons she mentioned. One of those reasons was when she threw the blame on propagandists as Merton said “they’ve –the words- all been reduced to the level of commercial. To say ‘God is Love’ is like saying, ‘Eat Wheaties.’”(Norris, 109). For example, healthy food nowadays is presented as if it is presumed to help us live forever, just like if they were the elixir of life or the way to eternity. I believe that our ages are limited and had been already written by God, so the kind of food we eat will not make us live longer, but it will make us live healthier. Another kind of manipulationNorris wrote about was when the word is used to seemingly say something, but convey another. She gave an example by saying “A company called itself ‘Natural Solutions’ to hide the fact that it disposes of hazardous waste” (Norris, 111). Let’s use energy drinks as an example here: most of them are given names that send positive messages. In order to makes your unconscious mind forget all about the side effects, and forget about the fact that those drinks ruin your health.
Another point that I share almost the same thoughts with Norris on when she argued about the meaning of sex today. Norris wrote “When it comes to sex, we are certainly free to exploit it as a marketing tool”(Norris, 113). She made a good point here by pointing out the factthat sex is been used as a tool to attract people. By way of example, you cannot find any perfume ad; or a music video that does not include some sort of sexual suggestions. All that sexual suggestion process contributed to change the whole idea of sex to a process of satisfying the desire.
On the other hand, Norris made some points that I totally disagreed with. One of those points that stopped me for a while was when she claimed that by thinking about materials,quality, and supporting different kind of brands we became like slaves for that brand. Norris said“we have willingly embraced a form of slavery is to go way over the top, but that is exactly where we need to go” (Norris, 108). People do not become slaves because they wear this brand or love that, it does not even have anything to do with being slaves. People have the right to buy whatever they want since they have their reasons, and since it is not something will affect others. Let’s discuss Merton’s “I don’t care”: did he do the right thing by responding that way? Doesn’the know that toothpastes come with different properties based on the user needs? If he still doesnot care, that means he does not care about his own health.
In conclusion, Kathleen Norris seems to have a lot of experiences and stories worth hearing in her life since she covered all those different topics. She talked about the negative impact of marketing, and then listed some factors that reduced the quality of the language and
would weaken the use of the word. After that she explained how important things such as sex has been changed over time through the use of media, and then she came to her conclusion which I saved to be used as a final message of this paper as well. Norris unveiled her “Secret Ingredient” which was love, “the love of God, of the neighbor, and the self, is the only ‘secret ingredient’ worth caring about. Life is too short, and too valuable, for anything else” (Norris, 117).
Works Cited
Norris, Kathleen. Reading for ENG 100: The Secret Ingredient. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s Print.
written by/ Abdullah Alrefaie
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