Jean Vanier and the L'Arche Community for the Mentally Disabled

Jean Vanier was born in Switzerland on September 10, 1928 to Canadian parents.  His father functioned as a military advisor to his nation’s delegation to the United Nations stationed in Geneva.   Vanier’s maternal grandmother‘s ancestors had emigrated to North America in the 1730’s.  Therese de Salaberry Archer was an intensely religious woman.  Vanier’s maternal grandfather moved to the city of Quebec at the age of 42.   The two were married and had one child, Pauline, who was a nurse during World War I.  Pauline Archer met Georges Philias Vanier in Montreal.  Georges Vanier was a lawyer by profession who had fought in World War I; while in the midst of battle, he was grievously wounded in the right leg.  As a consequence of this injury, his leg was amputated.  Upon his discharge from service, he returned to Canada and subsequently met Pauline.  They were married in 1921

Vanier had four other siblings.  Their family was deeply devout Catholics.  His father served as the Canadian minister to France (1940-1941) at the time of the Nazi invasion and takeover of that country.  He was able to flee to the U.K. and eventually returned to Canada. 

As a very young man, Vanier decided he wanted to join the Navy to help in the war effort.  He asked his Dad for permission and got it; after joining, he was dispatched to England.  He lived there from 1942-1950.  Vanier was educated at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire.  As a young man, Vanier experienced the horrors of war directly and was deeply impacted by that experience.  France was eventually liberated by the Allied Forces in 1944 and Georges Vanier returned to his diplomatic post, stationed in Paris.

In retrospect, Vanier described his experience in the navy in the following way, “When I was in the navy, I was taught to give orders to others.  That came quite naturally to me!  All my life I had been taught to climb the ladder, to seek promotion, to compete, to be the best, to win prizes.  That is what society teaches us.  In doing so, we lose community and communion.” 

Vanier witnessed the liberation of the Jews from Nazi concentration camps – Dachau, Buchenwald and Ravensbrook.  He saw first-hand the extent of the horror, the anguish, the pain and the fear experienced by those Jews who had survived the Holocaust.  He also was personally devastated by the news of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and its horrific aftermath.  In speaking of these events Vanier said, “A few months after the liberation of Paris, I accompanied my mother, who was in the Canadian Red Cross, to the Gare d’Orsay in Paris – the train station where hundreds of men and women arrived like skeletons in their striped blue and white uniforms, from Dachau, Bukenwald, Ravensbrook, and other concentration camps.  We became very conscious of the capacity of humanity to destroy itself.”

Deeply troubled by these experiences, Vanier began to formulate and refine his thinking.  He was also profoundly affected by Thomas Merton’s book entitled, Seven Story Mountain (published in 1941).  Within this autobiography, Merton refers to the two weeks he volunteered at Friendship House in Harlem, New York.  Friendship House was a Catholic interracial center that served the poor, homeless, unemployed and addicted members of the local community.

Friendship House was originally founded by a Catholic social reform advocate, Catherine de Hueck Doherty in the 1930s in Toronto Canada.  Friendship Houses were subsequently setup in other Canadian cities, including Ottawa.  Doherty’s views regarding racial equality were viewed unfavorably by certain members of the Church leadership, however, and the establishment was closed in Toronto in 1936.  She was eventually asked to open one in Harlem in 1938.  Vanier was so impressed by this idea of community that he visited Harlem’s Friendship House and was deeply moved by the experience reinforcing in his own mind the value of community; an idea that would  grow and eventually find significant expression.

Vanier underwent a personal transformation that would lead him to embark on a thirty day retreat in which he followed the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius - a collection of meditations, prayers, and practices developed by St. Ignatius Loyola to assist individuals in their pursuit of a relationship with their God.  Following this retreat, he made a monumental decision – he resigned his Navy position in 1950 and his life took on a spiritual direction .

His mother, Pauline, introduced him to her spiritual mentor – A Dominican priest, Father Thomas.  This relationship between Vanier and Father Thomas would assist Vanier in shaping what would ultimately become his life’s work. 

In regards to his mentor, Father Thomas founded a community he called, Eau Vive in 1947.  This community was designed as a place where students of philosophy and theology could pursue their academic careers while living in a community based on love, reconciliation and good works.  It was an austere community to which all were welcomed regardless of ethnicity or religious belief.   Vanier’s stay at Eau Vive had a profound effect upon him.  Father Thomas was ultimately removed from his position by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church on the grounds that his beliefs and methods were considered unorthodox.

In pursuit of a new direction, Vanier decided to work towards a doctoral degree.  He was so influenced by the works of the famous Greek philosopher, Aristotle that he entitled his doctoral thesis, Happiness as Principle and End of Aristotelian Ethics.  Vanier felt that Aristotle’s ethics were based on the innate human desire for a fullness of life.   It was Aristotle who said, “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Armed with his doctoral degree, he began teaching at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto in January of 1964.  However, he could not forget the suggestion made by Father Thomas that he could do something meaningful to help alleviate the suffering of the afflicted.  He also remembered the misery and pain he had witnessed in post-war France.  As Vanier saw it, his life could be seen as consisting of three distinct phases.  According to him, “…Then during the third phase, I discovered people who were weak, people with mental handicaps.  I was moved by the vast world of poverty, weakness, and fragility that I encountered in hospitals, institutions, and asylums for people with mental handicaps.  I moved from the world of theories and ideas about human beings in order to discover what is really meant to be human, to be a man or women. “

 From the time Vanier resigned his position in the military and his promising career in 1950 to the 1964, he spent a great deal of time immersed in studies and contemplation.  The culmination of this hiatus led him to concentrate his energies and efforts upon being of service to the poor.  On August 5, 1964, Vanier founded the L’Arche Community and was joined by Raphael Simi, Philippe Seux and a man called Dany - these were gentlemen who had severe mental disabilities and who had been previously housed in a mental institution.  The original lodgings were so small and so austere that there was no toilet – merely a bucket – and the accommodations lacked electricity.  Since its simple beginnings, the L’Arche Community is a live in institution whose purpose is the care and rehabilitation of the mentally disabled.  During the first months of residing in L’Arche, Vanier was deeply moved by the lives of these individuals deeply perturbed by the internal chaos that is the hallmark of mental illness – “I sensed how their hearts had been broken by rejection, abandonment, and lack of respect.  At the same time, I was beginning to discover some of the beauty and tenderness of their hearts, their capacity for communion and tenderness.  I was beginning to sense how living with them could transform me, not through awakening and developing my qualities of leadership and intelligence, but by awakening the qualities of the heart, the child within me.”

By the end of the year, he had an opportunity to move into a bigger house; he was asked, in fact, to become director of the mental institution at Val Fleuri after the staff had resigned.   In March of 1965, the transition was completed.  Suddenly, thirty-two additional disturbed individuals joined what was previously a small quiet community.   Word of his work grew and with encouragement from such renowned individuals as Mother Theresa, the number of L’Arche Communities subsequently expanded around the world; now there are approximately 150.  Vanier is currently involved in speaking engagements describing the nature of his work and has written numerous books, including Becoming Human and Befriending the Stranger in which he clarifies and expands upon his fundamental message of caring and compassion for those in need.

In spite of the fact that the scientific disciplines of Neurobiology and Neuroscience have elucidated many of the biological and biochemical mechanisms that are responsible for the galaxy of symptoms that are collectively regarded as mental illness, there remains a great deal of suspicion and the resulting stigma that is associated with those who are afflicted by mental illness.  Like Dorothea Dix who preceded him, Vanier is determined to look upon those suffering from disease originating within the human brain as worthy of respect, compassion and caring.  For this reason, he has done a great service to humanity. 

Violence and Death in Egypt – A Personal Lament

The hundreds of Egyptian civilians being killed and grievously wounded in Egypt as a result of the military’s decision to suppress all opposition to its usurpation of political power is the kind of news that causes me considerable mental anguish.  The decision to implement the wholesale use of violent aggression and unadulterated military power in order to enforce a particular vision of what should constitute Egyptian values and culture runs counter to reason and will fuel the cycle of retribution and violence that apparently continues to haunt human history.  

I believe that the particular issues in this conflict that seem to drive such impassioned feelings are less important than the failure to resolve deep social and cultural divisions through peaceful means.  This particular crisis is emblematic of the failure of humanity to more fully utilize the wondrous human capacity for compassion, understanding, reasoned judgment and, most importantly, love.  There are many examples of similar conflagrations throughout the human world that mirror this particular crisis.  Yet, in spite of this abysmal historic record, the drums of hatred, aggression and war continue to beat and the savagery seems unabated.

There are many reasons for such a societal breakdown that underlie the usual political analysis.  Fear plays a dominant role in the dissolution of those ordinary societal constraints that make community possible.  Fear is a powerful emotion that can readily kill the intellect.  Fear can have numerous origins – when personal safety and security seem threatened; when economic factors make living inordinately stressful; when population pressure is such that everyone must aggressively compete for the basic necessities of life; when a particular set of ideas and principles make peaceful compromise impossible 

The great tragedy that seems represent such an integral part of the human experience is that in spite of the vast amount of advanced knowledge and information that typifies the 21^st century that should enlighten us, humanity remains rooted in a darkness of its own making.  In spite of all the wisdom that can be gleaned from the human experience, humans continue the unabated assault of members of their own species.  In spite of all the information that warns of the harm we pose to the natural environment, we continue to endanger the future with our present behavior.  In spite of the enumerable voices that echo throughout human history reminding us of our failings, humanity remains rooted in the darkness.

In my mind, all these harsh and unforgiving realities are cause to lament.   The questions that inevitably face us as a species are quite simple – are we really smart enough to remain viable in the coming centuries, or will we ultimately fail this evolutionary experiment?  Are we collectively up to the challenge of facing divisive global issues with the intent of finding tangible solutions that allow for a peaceful and enduring future for the human race?

Jane Addams - Passionate Advocate for the Liberation of Women

Jane Addams was born on September 6, 1860.  Her father was John Addams a noted politician; he was the Senator in the state of Illinois.  The family lived at the state Capitol in Cedarville, Illinois.  When Addams was only 2 and1/2 years old, her mother had a serious accident while pregnant – assisting in a neighbor’s childbirth – and she subsequently lost the baby she was carrying and lost consciousness.  After five days, the mother died.  The young Addams never had the opportunity to see her mother during this brief illness, for she was not permitted to enter her mother’s bedroom or attend the funeral.  She had four other siblings.  Her oldest sister, Martha, died of typhoid at the age of 16.  When Addams was 20 years old, her father passed away.

Religion played a strong role in Addams’ young life.  Although the family went to church every week – they were Presbyterian – her father refused to have any particular religious affiliation.  He viewed himself as a “perfectionist” Christian.  He believed that all deeds should be for the benefit of others.  As Addams was growing up in this religious environment, she began to take issue with the idea of predestination, for she felt that human actions had definitive moral consequences.  She was influenced by her father’s intellect.  She remembered one of his admonitions to her, “Do not pretend to understand what you don’t understand and you must always be honest with yourself inside, whatever happens.”   These words resonated with the young woman.  In addition, she befriended Elias Hick, an influential Quaker and John Noyes – founder of the utopian Oneida Community in the western region of New York State.

John Addams joined the Republican Party in 1854.  He believed that the government had a meaningful and necessary role to play in protecting the vulnerable and strengthening the economy.  He was against slavery and even took on the role of a “conductor” in the Underground Railroad – a system set up to assist slaves in breaking the yolk of slavery by secretly leaving the South.  Addams was 4 and 1/2 years old when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; her father was profoundly impacted by this tragic event.  At the age of 12, she read about Robert Owen and the community of New Harmony in Indiana.  Owen had a vision of a classless society whose members worked together to meet everyone’s needs.  At the age of 15, she read a long series of articles about John Brown – the radical abolitionist.  In her later years she became familiar with the life of Lucy Stone –a well-known abolitionist and suffragist - a woman she came to admire, deeply.  All these myriad influences in her life, convinced her to pursue a career in social reform. 

As the young Addams matured, she became enthralled with politics; this should be no surprise since she grew up within that arena.  She was especially interested in the Presidential election of 1876 – the election was between Samuel J. Tilden form New York and Rutherford B. Hayes from Ohio.  Tilden won the popular vote but an electoral controversy had to be resolved in the US House of Representatives where Hayes was declared the winner. 

As she was formulating the direction her life would take, Addams decided to practice medicine among the poor.  In order to achieve this goal, she was determined to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.  Although from today’s perspective that does not seem like a formidable task, in that era less than .75% of women went beyond high school.   Unlike her three sisters, Mary, Martha and Alice, Addams wanted to attend the recently opened Smith College for women.  Her father refused to send her there; he cited her duty to her family.  Addams was not happy with her situation; she  felt personally  thwarted.

Regarding the spiritual dimensions of her life, Addams identified herself as a deist – she did not believe in the Son of God, but envisioned that God was everywhere.  It is this kind of independent thinking and resolute behavior that set Addams apart from her contemporaries.  In addition, she drew inspiration from a number of free thinking women.  Among them was a teacher, Caroline Potter, who believed that the study of history taught about character, for it was character, she believed, that shaped history.  Potter and Addams were also deeply influenced by Margaret Fuller’s book - Women in the Nineteenth Century published in 1845.  A major thesis in this work was that the division of society into rigidly defined gender spheres damaged both men and women and that for human beings to thrive requires expanding the mind.  Fuller went on to conclude that women must discover their masculine aspect, energy, power and intellect as well as the feminine side.  Potter believed that her mission was to groom women for what she believed was a new age.

All this input convinced Addams to find an all-consuming passion in a role that would be self-sacrificing.  She was determined to shatter the perception that women were, by nature, limited in their minds; she refused to succumb to the notion of women’s inherent powerlessness.  On account of her father’s obstinacy, however, she postponed her desire to go on to higher education and received a collegiate certificate in 1881 from Rockford Female Seminary when she was 20 years old.  That same year, during the summer, her father died from acute appendicitis. Each child inherited roughly $50,000 (about $1.2 million in today’s economy).  Following her father’s death, Addams and family moved to Philadelphia.   It was there that she began to fulfill her dream of going to medical school.  However, she suffered a long illness (1881-1883) that severely limited her energy and she had to drop out of school.

 

Undaunted, Addams decided to expand her horizons and traveled to Europe; the year was 1883.   She traveled through Ireland, England, Holland, Italy Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France.    In London, considered to be biggest city in the world with a population of 4.7 million people, she witnessed extreme and devastating poverty.  There, she visited the Mile End Road Market – five miles long that on Saturdays at midnight sold decaying meat, fruits and vegetables to the poor for pennies.  Addams was deeply impacted by what she saw.  She became obsessed with the suffering of the poor. 

In 1885, she returned to the US.  Addams read Leo Tolstoy’s My Religion and was deeply taken by what she read.  She felt redeemed and wished to emulate Tolstoy’s example and that of Adin Ballou regarding passive non-resistance to evil.  She was also influenced by a book entitled, The Duties of Man by the Italian revolutionary, Giuseppe Mazzini.  Accordingly, Addams came to believe that serving humanity was a higher calling than serving one’ country or one’s family and that to attain true democracy a person should interact closely with as many individuals as possible.  Another writer that had a marked influence on her thinking was John Stuart Mill, especially his book entitled, The Subjugation of Women (1869), in which the author argued that women should have complete latitude in choosing their work.  Addams ultimately converted to Christianity, joining the Cedarville Presbyterian Church.

While in London, Addams had the opportunity to visit Toynbee Hall, a so-called settlement house.  It was located in London’s East End.  It was established by the Anglican Clergyman, Samuel Barnett.  Fifteen young graduates from Oxford University moved there, living in an exceedingly poor neighborhood.  The purpose of this arrangement was to serve the poor.  The model upon which this was based was innovative in that those who were serving the indigent did so on an equal social footing.  Addams was so enamored of this idea that together with her good friend, Ellen Gates Starr started a settlement house in Chicago; it came to be called Hull House.

Each day Hull House served the under-privileged including mothers leaving their children in its nursery and the young and the elderly attending classes and social clubs.  The policy of Hull House, under Addams’ guidance, was to serve all of those seeking assistance.  Addams describes it in the following terms, “The memory of the first years at Hull House is more or less blurred with fatigue, for we could of course become accustomed only gradually to the unending activity and to the confusion of a house constantly filing a refilling with groups of people.”  Hull House endured many setbacks but had many successes and helped draw attention to the plight of the poor.  It endured for twenty years under her aegis.  The work of Hull House exposed many deficiencies in public policy in regards to child labor and the working conditions of the poor.  These revelations helped in the overall reform effort and, ultimately, the State of Illinois remedied many of these situations with appropriate legislation.

Addams, due in large part to her eloquence as a public speaker and sharp uncompromising intellect, became a spokeswoman and ally in regards to the issues of peace, social justice and women’s suffrage.  She was so influential that she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.  Addams was hospitalized that same year and was unable to receive her prize and give an acceptance speech.  In its stead, the following excerpt is from the presentation speech given by Halvdan Koht, a member of the Nobel Committee on December 10, 1931.

“It must be said, however, that the United States is not the power for peace in the world that we should have wished her to be. She has sometimes let herself drift into the imperialism which is the natural outcome of industrial capitalism in our age. In many ways she is typical of the wildest form of capitalist society, and this has inevitably left its mark on American politics.

“But America has at the same time fostered some of the most spirited idealism on earth. It may be that this idealism derives its vigor from the squalor and evil produced by social conditions, in other words from the contrasts within itself. It is certainly an undeniable fact, which must strike anyone who knows the country that the American nation has an instinctive and profound faith in what the philosophers of 100 or 150 years ago used to call human perfectibility, the capacity to become more and more perfect. It is a faith which has provided the foundation for some of our greatest religions and one which has inspired much of the best work for progress. It was proclaimed by Jesus Christ; it inspired the work of men like Emerson and Wergeland1. To the American mind nothing is impossible. This attitude applies not only to science and technology but to social forms and conditions as well. To an American an ideal is not just a beautiful mirage but a practical reality the implementation of which is every man's duty. American social idealism expresses itself as a burning desire to devote work and life to the construction of a more equitable society, in which men will show each other greater consideration in their mutual relations, will provide stronger protection to the weak, and will offer greater opportunities for the beneficent forces of progress.

“Two of the finest representatives of this American idealism are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today. Both have worked assiduously and for many years to revive the ideal of peace and to rekindle the spirit of peace in their own nation and in the whole of mankind.

“In honoring Jane Addams, we also pay tribute to the work which women can do for peace and fraternity among nations. The old concept implied that woman was the source of nearly all sin and strife on earth. Popular tradition and poetry would also have it that women were frequently the cause of the wars waged by kings and nations. I know of only one legend to the contrary, the story of the Sabine women who threw themselves between their Roman fathers and brothers and their Sabine husbands.

“In modern times the poets, starting with Goethe, Ibsen, and Bjørnson 2, have seen women in a different light; in their eyes women reflect the highest and purest moral standards of society. And no man has placed greater faith in the work of women for the cause of peace than did Bjørnson. It is this new position acquired by women in the society of our time, their new independence in relation to men, that gave us reason to anticipate that they would constitute a new force in the work for peace. Bjørnson seemed to see women as bringing «the spirit of calm to the tumult of battle», with the prayer that love should prevail over the passion to kill, and to believe that when women obtained power in society and in the state, the very spirit of war must die.

“We must nevertheless acknowledge that women have not altogether fulfilled the hopes we have placed in them. They have allowed too much scope to the old morality of men, the morality of war. In practical politics we have seen too little of that love, that warm maternal feeling which renders murder and war so hateful to every woman. But fortunately we have seen something of this feminine will which revolts against war. Whenever women have organized, they have always included the cause of peace in their program. And Jane Addams combines all the best feminine qualities which will help us to develop peace on earth.

“Twice in my life, once more than twenty years ago and now again this year, I have had the pleasure of visiting the institution where she has been carrying on her lifework. In the poorest districts of Chicago, among Polish, Italian, Mexican, and other immigrants, she has established and maintained the vast social organization centered in Hull-House3. Here young and old alike, in fact all who ask, receive a helping hand whether they wish to educate themselves or to find work. When you meet Miss Addams here - be it in meeting room, workroom, or dining room - you immediately become poignantly aware that she has built a home and in it is a mother to one and all. She is not one to talk much, but her quiet, greathearted personality inspires confidence and creates an atmosphere of goodwill which instinctively brings out the best in everyone.

“From this social work, often carried on among people of different nationalities, it was for her only a natural step to the cause of peace. She has now been its faithful spokesman for nearly a quarter of a century. Little by little, through no attempt to draw attention by her work but simply through the patient self-sacrifice and quiet ardor which she devoted to it, she won an eminent place in the love and esteem of her people. She became the leading woman in the nation, one might almost say its leading citizen. Consequently, the fact that she took a stand for the ideal of peace was of special significance; since millions of men and women looked up to her, she could give a new strength to that ideal among the American people.”

Addams died in 1935 and her funeral was held in Hull House, a fitting location.   She was a remarkable woman whose life journey is a testimonial to courage, persistence, intellect and an unflinching dedication to a life of service.  

Dorothea Dix - One Woman's Tireless Struggle to Reform the Nation's Attitudes and Public Policy Towards the Mentally Ill

Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802 in Hampden, Maine that was part of the state of Massachusetts at the time.  Her parents were Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow; she was the eldest of three children.  Joseph Dix was a traveling Methodist minister; he journeyed throughout the New England frontier attempting to make converts to the church.  The family lived in a one-room cabin.  There were a total of 150 people in the town; it was a harsh environment and a hard life in modern terms.  The physical environment consisted of oil-paper windows, dirt floors and few amenities.  The economy of the region supported such industries as the timber trade, trapping of fur-bearing animals and agriculture during the summer months.  In such an austere atmosphere there was little time to be a child and no time to play – everything was geared towards survival. 

Joseph Dix was one of eight children; he was considered to be “delicate” in nature.  His father, Elijah Dix, was an only surviving son; he had six brothers who died prematurely.  Elijah moved his family to Boston in 1795.  Initially, the family had inherited wealth.  Joseph Dix, Dorothea Dix’s father, went to Divinity school but was eventually expelled and also failed in medical school.  He married Mary Bigelow on January 28, 1801.  Mary came from an impoverished family.

When Joseph Dix converted to Methodism, he suffered a serious and irrevocable break with his father who considered this branch of Christianity to be crude and doctrinaire.  This family schism would have a profound effect upon Joseph and his family.

During Dix’s young years, she felt the oppressive impact of her father’s strict and unbending religious beliefs.  As a young child, she was compelled to confess her faith, show repentance for all of her alleged sins and was constantly punished whenever she became obstinate.  Dix was, by nature, a strong-willed and independently-minded individual.  Given these qualities, she needed to escape her father’s oppressive influence and find relief from all the hardship and unhappiness she endured.

Dix remembered the enjoyable time she had with her grandfather, Elijah Dix who taught her about healing herbs and medicine; Elijah, however, was murdered in 1809.  At the age of thirteen she left home and moved to Boston, hoping to live with her paternal and wealthy grandmother in Boston.  Once she was gone, she was never to see her immediate family again.  As a matter of fact, she would often refer to herself as an orphan.  Her father passed away in 1821.

When she arrived unannounced, she pleaded with her grandmother to allow her to stay at Orange Court – a stately mansion; her grandmother relented.   Her new life at Orange Court was dramatically different from her experience growing up.  Her grandmother tutored the young Dix in the ways of society and how to be a “lady.”   Dix found this somewhat irritating, for she was stubborn and headstrong.  Not only was she schooled in the social graces of her time, but she also received an excellent education with accomplished tutors.

In 1821, she opened a charity school at Orange Court with the help of her grandmother.  In that era in New England there was an open intellectual environment with a free exchange of ideas.  The role of women was in a state of flux and the social causes that women became involved in included temperance and the abolition of slavery.  Dix devoted her energies to education and at the age of 22 (1824) she published a manual for teachers entitled, Conversations on Common Things, or a Guide to Knowledge that was published anonymously.  This book actually went into its sixth edition by 1829  

In regards to her spirituality, Dix gravitated towards Unitarianism and frequented sermons delivered by Dr. William Ellery Channing – considered to be the father of Unitarianism.  He gave very moving and charismatic sermons in which he encouraged his parishioners  to help the poor.  Channing   had a marked influence on her thinking.  He became her friend and mentor and she actually lived as a governess in the Channing household (1827). 

In 1831, she started a school dedicated to young women in Boston.  This school existed for five years; until, Dix began to suffer from health problems.  As a consequence of her ill health, Dix decided to find rest through travel – she journeyed to England.   There, she happened to meet and befriend the Rathbone family and was invited to spend a year with them at their mansion in Liverpool - referred to as Greenback. 

The members of the Rathbone family were devoted and practicing Quakers and were deeply immersed in social welfare issues.   In the company of the Rathbones, Dix had an opportunity to meet many progressively-minded reformers who felt that the government should play an active role in issues of social reform.  It should be remembered, that Dix was a contemporary of Charles Dickens, who graphically revealed the extent of social malaise that existed in England at the time.   She also was exposed to the methodology employed to detail the horrific conditions of mental asylums.  The results of some of these investigations were presented as reports to the House of Commons.  The totality of this experience had a marked effect on Dix and would help her choose the path she would take in regards to social reform.

During her lifetime, there was a very influential philosophical movement around Boston that influenced Dix’s thinking and that was Transcendentalism.  It was point of view that emphasized the intellectual and spiritual life.  Its proponents were such notables as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller.   She was also influenced by the work of Rev. Henry Furness - a theologian, reformer and abolitionist.   He was responsible to a considerable degree in the establishment of the public school system in Philadelphia.  Dix was also in the midst of the abolitionist movement – the movement to end slavery – typified by the work of William Lloyd Garrison.  Paradoxically, Dix had no interest in the issue of slavery.

After Dix regained her health, she began to investigate the treatment of the mentally ill in earnest.  She began by visiting the UK’s most progressive insane asylum, York Retreat, built in 1796.  It looked like a private residence.   Within its walls, individual patients were treated with dignity and respect for their person.   Dix was struck by the compassionate care provided and realized that patients when treated with care and compassion could recover.  Physical restrains were seldom employed and isolation proved unnecessary.  She returned to Boston in 1837 with a passion for reform.  As a result of an inheritance following her grandfather’s death, Dix received $3000 a year – a substantial amount of money for that time.  With this resource in hand she decided to travel.

She was encouraged to do philanthropic work in Boston.  However, her impassioned belief in the role government should play in tackling the problem of mental illness, inspired her to move to Washington DC .  There, she visited schools, orphanages, almshouses and jails meticulously recording her observations.  When her brother Charles was lost at sea in 1839, she returned to Boston.  The issues that were on the public radar in those days were: a woman’s role in society, abolition of slavery and temperance.   Unlike Jane Addams she did not view slavery as an issue that should occupy her attention – this is somewhat perplexing given her affinity to issues that gravitated around social reform.  She chose instead to focus entirely on the care and support of the mentally ill.  In this regard, she had the support of Senator Charles Summer of Massachusetts, who played a key role in the anti-slavery movement.

Dix continued her travels throughout the New England States gathering information on the care and treatment of the mentally ill.  What she discovered and reported was particularly disturbing.  The institutions that housed the mentally ill often left the patients under their care isolated, often under-nourished and medically unattended.  In the worst cases, individuals were shackled; the sanitary conditions in such abysmal settings were hard to imagine.

Her ability to gain the attention of state legislators and persuade them to make substantial changes in state policy regarding the mentally ill was quite extraordinary.   As an example of the strategy she so successfully employed, in Massachusetts she obtained letters of introduction and credentials from Harvard Medical School with the help of Walter Channing.  In this way, she gained admission to jails and asylums throughout the state.  As a result of her efforts, The Boston Lunatic Hospital was opened in 1839, modeled after the York Retreat in England that had so influenced her thinking.  In 1841, Dix visited the Lowell Almshouse outside Boston and recorded her observations.  In New England an almshouse was house for the poor and indigent supported by the local town.  In many instances, the poor were required to work.  In 1842, she sent the following letter to the Massachusetts State Legislature. 

“About two years since leisure afforded opportunity and duty prompted me to visit several prisons and almshouses in the vicinity of this metropolis. I found, near Boston, in the jails and asylums for the poor, a numerous class brought into unsuitable connection with criminals and the general mass of paupers. I refer to idiots and insane persons, dwelling in circumstances not only adverse to their own physical and moral improvement, but productive of extreme disadvantages to all other persons brought into association with them. I applied myself diligently to trace the causes of these evils, and sought to supply remedies. As one obstacle was surmounted, fresh difficulties appeared. Every new investigation has given depth to the conviction that it is only by decided, prompt, and vigorous legislation the evils to which I refer, and which I shall proceed more fully to illustrate, can be remedied. I shall be obliged to speak with great plainness, and to reveal many things revolting to the taste, and from which my woman's nature shrinks with peculiar sensitiveness. But truth is the highest consideration. I tell what I have seen--painful and shocking as the details often are--that from them you may feel more deeply the imperative obligation which lies upon you to prevent the possibility of a repetition or continuance of such outrages upon humanity. . . .”

In 1843, Horace Mann and Samuel Gridley Howe invited Dix to present a Memorial, petition, to the Massachusetts legislature.  Since, women were not allowed to speak in the legislative chamber, Howe presented it for her.  The following is an excerpt from that petition that graphically illustrates the treatment of the mentally ill and Dix’s passion for reform.

“I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast. I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane, and idiotic men and women; of beings sunk to a condition from which the most unconcerned would start with real horror; of beings wretched in our prisons, and more wretched in our almshouses. . . .

“I must confine myself to few examples, but am ready to furnish other and more complete details, if required.

“If my pictures are displeasing, coarse, and severe, my subjects, it must be recollected, offer no tranquil, refined, or composing features. The condition of human beings, reduced to the extremist states of degradation and misery cannot be exhibited in softened language, or adorn a polished page.

“I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience. . . .

“It is the Commonwealth, not its integral parts, that is accountable for most of the abuses which have lately and do still exist. I repeat it, it is defective legislation which perpetuates and multiplies these abuses. In illustration of my subject, I offer the following extracts from my Note-book and Journal:--

“Springfield. In the jail, one lunatic woman, furiously mad, a State pauper, improperly situated, both in regard to the prisoners, the keepers, and herself. It is a case of extreme self-forgetfulness and oblivion to all the decencies of life, to describe which would be to repeat only the grossest scenes. She is much worse since leaving Worcester. In the almshouse of the same town is a woman apparently only needing judicious care, and some well-chosen employment, to make it unnecessary to confine her in solitude, in a dreary unfurnished room. Her appeals for employment and companionship are most touching, but the mistress replied she had no time to attend to her. . . .

“Lincoln. A woman in a cage. Medford. One idiotic subject chained, and one in a close stall for seventeen years. Pepperell. One often doubly chained, hand and foot; another violent; several peaceable now. Brookfield. One man caged, comfortable. Granville. One often closely confined; now losing the use of his limbs from want of exercise. Charlemont. One man caged. Savoy. One man caged. Lenox. Two in the jail, against whose unfit condition there the jailer protests.

“Dedham. The insane disadvantageously placed in the jail. In the almshouse, two females in stalls, situated in the main building; lie in wooden bunks filled with straw; always shut up. One of these subjects is supposed curable. The overseers of the poor have declined giving her a trial at the hospital, as I was informed, on account of expense...

“Besides the above, I have seen many who, part of the year, are chained or caged. The use of cages all but universal. Hardly a town but can refer to some not distant period of using them; chains are less common; negligences frequent; willful abuse less frequent than sufferings proceeding from ignorance, or want of consideration. I encountered during the last three months many poor creatures wandering reckless and unprotected through the country. . . . But I cannot particularize. In traversing the State, I have found hundreds of insane persons in every variety of circumstance and condition, many whose situation could not and need not be improved; a less number, but that very large, whose lives are the saddest pictures of human suffering and degradation.”

Dix’s petition was ultimately successful: the Worcester Asylum received an additional $65,000 – a substantial sum of money in that era.   Invigorated by this kind of success, she traveled throughout New England and New York with her notebooks.  She garnered the support of NY Governor William Seward.   She spent a considerable amount of time and energy in Rhode Island where no facilities existed for the mentally ill.   In 1844, Nicholas Brown, founder of Brown University, left the state of Rhode Island $30,000 upon his death for the establishment of an asylum for the Insane.  Dix encouraged the state legislature to establish a “lunacy commission” in order to review and address the plight of the mentally ill.  Following her persuasive testimony, they did so.   Building considerable momentum, Dix had appreciable success in Tennessee, Kentucky and Pennsylvania as well.

In 1847, Dix took her quest to the federal government in Washington D.C.  There she petitioned the U.S. in 1848 to dedicate 5 million acres of federal land for the exclusive use of asylums for the mentally ill; this would include a parcel of land for each state.  The states, for their part, would be required to build and operate their own facilities.  Dix had the support of Daniel Webster from Massachusetts and Vice President Millard Fillmore.  A bill addressing her petition came out of the Congress – revised bill H.R. 383.  A month earlier, President Zachery Taylor died and was succeeded by Vice President Fillmore.  In 1851, the bill passed in the Senate but was defeated in the House.

Despite this setback, Dix continued her reform efforts  in Canada, especially Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Montreal.    After repeated efforts to pass the bill that she worked so hard for in DC failed, she left for Europe feeling disheartened.   She carried her reform efforts to the U.K., France and even visited Pope Pius IX, distressed by the conditions of mental health institutions in Rome.   She subsequently returned to the US in March of 1857 with James Buchanan as President; civil war looked imminent.  John Brown attacked the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in West Virginia and attempted to incite a massive slave rebellion.  In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected sixteenth President of the US and soon thereafter, the Civil War began. 

In order to assist in the war effort and relieve the suffering of the wounded, Dix enlisted as a nurse for the War Department.  She ultimately became the First Supervisor of women nurses in the US army.  She wished to emulate the selfless service as exemplified by Florence Nightingale’s work as a nurse during the Crimean War between Russia and Turkey.  Louisa May Alcott, famous author of Little House on the Prairie, worked alongside Dix.  By 1872, Dix, at the age of 72, was stricken with malaria.  She recovered from this illness and began her travels once again.  On July of that year, Dix died.

Dix was undoubtedly a remarkable woman who was not dissuaded by the societal constraints placed upon the women of her generation.  She was driven by a singular and consuming passion – addressing the horrific treatment of individuals suffering from mental illness.  She was remarkably eloquent, persuasive and successful.  By the time of her death, Dix helped found 32 state-run mental hospitals and one federal institution, St. Elizabeth’s in DC.  

Pacem In Terris

The following are excerpts taken from Pacem In Terris- an encyclical of Pope John XXIII, entitled On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty delivered on April 11, 1963.  This document reveals the unswerving dedication of this man to the causes of world peace and universal social justice and demonstrates the truly visionary scope of his thinking.

Note: for full text click Here

Peace on Earth—which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after—can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order.

Order in the Universe

2. That a marvelous order predominates in the world of living beings and in the forces of nature, is the plain lesson which the progress of modern research and the discoveries of technology teach us. And it is part of the greatness of man that he can appreciate that order, and devise the means for harnessing those forces for his own benefit.

An lmperative of the Common Good

85. But one of the principal imperatives of the common good is the recognition of the moral order and the unfailing observance of its precepts. "A firmly established order between political communities must be founded on the unshakable and unmoving rock of the moral law, that law which is revealed in the order of nature by the Creator Himself, and engraved indelibly on men's hearts . . . Its principles are beacon lights to guide the policies of men and nations. They are also warning lights—providential signs—which men must heed if their laborious efforts to establish a new order are not to encounter perilous storms and shipwreck." (54)

In Truth

86. The first point to be settled is that mutual ties between States must be governed by truth. Truth calls for the elimination of every trace of racial discrimination, and the consequent recognition of the inviolable principle that all States are by nature equal in dignity.
Each of them accordingly has the right to exist, to develop, and to possess the necessary means and accept a primary responsibility for its own development. Each is also legitimately entitled to its good name and to the respect which is its due.
87. As we know from experience, men frequently differ widely in knowledge, virtue, intelligence and wealth, but that is no valid argument in favor of a system whereby those who are in a position of superiority impose their will arbitrarily on others. On the contrary, such men have a greater share in the common responsibility to help others to reach perfection by their mutual efforts.
88. So, too, on the international level: some nations may have attained to a superior degree of scientific, cultural and economic development. But that does not entitle them to exert unjust political domination over other nations. It means that they have to make a greater contribution to the common cause of social progress.
89. The fact is that no one can be by nature superior to his fellows, since all men are equally noble in natural dignity. And consequently there are no differences at all between political communities from the point of view of natural dignity. Each State is like a body, the members of which are human beings. And, as we know from experience, nations can be highly sensitive in matters in any way touching their dignity and honor; and with good reason.

In Justice

91. Relations between States must furthermore be regulated by justice. This necessitates both the recognition of their mutual rights, and, at the same time, the fulfilment of their respective duties.
92. States have the right to existence, to self development, and to the means necessary to achieve this. They have the right to play the leading part in the process of their own development, and the right to their good name and due honors. Consequently, States are likewise in duty bound to safeguard all such rights effectively, and to avoid any action that could violate them. And just as individual men may not pursue their own private interests in a way that is unfair and detrimental to others, so too it would be criminal in a State to aim at improving itself by the use of methods which involve other nations in injury and unjust oppression. There is a saying of St. Augustine which has particular relevance in this context: "Take away justice, and what are kingdoms but mighty bands of robbers "(56)
93. There may be, and sometimes is, a clash of interests among States, each striving for its own development. When differences of this sort arise, they must be settled in a truly human way, not by armed force nor by deceit or trickery. There must be a mutual assessment of the arguments and feelings on both sides, a mature and objective investigation of the situation, and an equitable reconciliation of opposing views.

The Treatment of Minorities

94. A special instance of this clash of interests is furnished by that political trend (which since the nineteenth century has become widespread throughout the world and has gained in strength) as a result of which men of similar ethnic background are anxious for political autonomy and unification into a single nation. For many reasons this cannot always be effected, and consequently minority peoples are often obliged to live within the territories of a nation of a different ethnic origin. This situation gives rise to serious problems.
95. It is quite clear that any attempt to check the vitality and growth of these ethnic minorities is a flagrant violation of justice; the more so if such perverse efforts are aimed at their very extinction .
96. Indeed, the best interests of justice are served by those public authorities who do all they can to improve the human conditions of the members of these minority groups, especially in what concerns their language, culture, ancient traditions, and their economic activity and enterprise. (57)

A Cautionary Note

97. It is worth noting, however, that these minority groups, in reaction, perhaps, to the enforced hardships of their present situation, or to historical circumstances, frequently tend to magnify unduly characteristics proper to their own people. They even rate them above those human values which are common to all mankind, as though the good of the entire human family should subserve the interests of their own particular groups. A more reasonable attitude for such people to adopt would be to recognize the advantages, too, which accrue to them from their own special situation. They should realize that their constant association with a people steeped in a different civilization from their own has no small part to play in the development of their own particular genius and spirit. Little by little they can absorb into their very being those virtues which characterize the other nation. But for this to happen these minority groups must enter into some kind of association with the people in whose midst they are living, and learn to share their customs and way of life. It will never happen if they sow seeds of disaffection which can only produce a harvest of evils, stifling the political development of nations.

Need for Disarmament

112. Hence justice, right reason, and the recognition of man's dignity cry out insistently for a cessation to the arms race. The stock-piles of armaments which have been built up in various countries must be reduced all round and simultaneously by the parties concerned. Nuclear weapons must be banned. A general agreement must be reached on a suitable disarmament program, with an effective system of mutual control. In the words of Pope Pius XII: "The calamity of a world war, with the economic and social ruin and the moral excesses and dissolution that accompany it, must not on any account be permitted to engulf the human race for a third time." (59)
113. Everyone, however, must realize that, unless this process of disarmament be thoroughgoing and complete, and reach men's very souls, it is impossible to stop the arms race, or to reduce armaments, or—and this is the main thing—ultimately to abolish them entirely. Everyone must sincerely co-operate in the effort to banish fear and the anxious expectation of war from men's minds. But this requires that the fundamental principles upon which peace is based in today's world be replaced by an altogether different one, namely, the realization that true and lasting peace among nations cannot consist in the possession of an equal supply of armaments but only in mutual trust. And We are confident that this can be achieved, for it is a thing which not only is dictated by common sense, but is in itself most desirable and most fruitful of good.

V. PASTORAL EXHORTATIONS

146. Here once more We exhort Our sons to take an active part in public life, and to work together for the benefit of the whole human race, as well as for their own political communities. It is vitally necessary for them to endeavor, in the light of Christian faith, and with love as their guide, to ensure that every institution, whether economic, social, cultural or political, be such as not to obstruct but rather to facilitate man's self betterment, both in the natural and in the supernatural order.

And so, dear brothers, with the ardent wish that peace may come upon the flocks committed to your care, for the special benefit of those who are most lowly and in the greatest need of help and defense, lovingly in the Lord We bestow on you, on Our priests both secular and regular, on religious both men and women, on all the faithful and especially those who give wholehearted obedience to these Our exhortations, Our Apostolic Blessing. And upon all men of good will, to whom We also address this encyclical, We implore from God health and prosperity.

Getting off the Wheel

For thousands of years, human history has been punctuated by a continuous chain of aggression, conflict and wars.  These conflagrations are far too numerous to effectively catalog without requiring documentation on such a massive scale that it would be more than enough to depress even the most stoic and dispassionate of historians.  Some of these conflicts span decades due to a seemingly endless cycle of aggression followed by violent retaliation and retribution that inspires the adversary to further atrocities and on and on it goes until either side or both are so decimated and exhausted by conflict that the hostilities end.  This cessation of hostilities does not preclude, however, the possibility that the conflict would be reignited at some future time.  This story is all too familiar and the human cost is staggering beyond imagination.  It has been estimated that World War II alone resulted in the loss of 50 million human lives worldwide.

What needs to happen for this cycle to be finally and irrevocably broken?  This is a question repeatedly asked by those who have actively pursued peace and social justice over the centuries.  The answer remains elusive.  Having this discussion is vitally important if the species is to endure for a prolonged period of time especially given the strain on natural resources on planet earth created by the material needs of a population of over 7 billion individuals - a population that continues to grow and further increase the pressure placed on those essentials for survival – clean water, clean air, shelter and adequate nutrition.  These issues are enormous and do not include the ramifications of unchecked climate change as a result of the combustion of so-called “fossil fuels.”

In my opinion, in order to radically change the trajectory of human history, transformation must be approached from within.  It is the cultural and societal assumptions that we have all been taught to adhere to - whether through overt or more subtle means – that must be examined and ultimately reformed.  It is through self-discipline and self-analysis that individuals can examine their motivations and more accurately define the internal forces that drive them.  It is through such a process that raw emotions - through which rage and aggression operate – can be successfully constrained and ultimately supplanted by reasoned judgment and tempered by love.

This process is not foreign to human experience.  Quite to the contrary, we have witnessed within the current era the evolution of thinking and behavior around the areas of race, women’s issues and matters relating to sexual preference.  It is my fondest hope and expectation that over time – the time required in this instance may be considerable – humanity will discard the pernicious idea that conflict is resolvable through violent means and embrace peace as being an integral and necessary part of the human experience.  When this transformation actually occurs, then and only then will social justice and true equality of all persons be an undeniable reality.   

The Real Nature of Power

In contemporary culture, power has become associated with economic strength as measured by the accumulation of wealth.  This essential conception regarding the nature of power is embraced by nation states, communities and ultimately by individuals.  Nations pursue their global economic interests by any means at their disposal including the unabashed use of military might with the ultimate aim of utilizing and accumulating wealth and, therefore, power.  This has become the standard model through which nations measure their own success and standing in the world community.

Within this social ethos, individuals have likewise been conditioned to assess their own personal development and success in life in completely analogous terms.  Individuals tend to rate their own measure of success and standing within the community by the amount of wealth accumulated and the conspicuous display of such wealth.  Conversely, a failure to enhance one’s material riches is taken as evidence of personal failure and, by implication a measure of a flawed personality – in modern parlance, such a person is often described as a loser.  The news media reinforces this point of view by paying special homage to those individuals possessing great wealth and influence and elevating the most trivial aspects of their lives to special scrutiny at the expense of reporting on those aspects of living that are of a more essential nature.  The net result of this kind of exposure is to ultimately trivialize that which is of importance and exaggerate that which is trivial.

An inevitable consequence of this worldview is the development of a hierarchy of power that can be represented as a pyramid with the wealthiest individuals occupying the rarefied atmosphere at the top with the remainder of this pyramid occupied by those who have been deemed of far less significance.  Those at the top have come to regard themselves as uniquely different than those “below” them and inherently superior.  Within this narcissistic view, they have come to regard themselves as living outside the boundaries of ordinary reality and not subject to the usual societal constraints on behavior.  They have deemed themselves to be free from feelings of compassion, caring and love that ordinarily serve to moderate behavior motivated by self-interest.

In reality, this conception of supremacy is more reflective of impotence than real power.  Real power cannot flow from material acquisition no matter how masterfully or skillfully accomplished.  Real power does not emanate from the barrel of a gun no matter how big or how deadly it might be.

An individual exhibiting genuine power does so naturally through the ability to be present within the moment – to be essentially grounded in reality without the desire to redefine or reshape what is imminently evident to fit a self-generated image of what that reality should be.  Real power requires the ability to see clearly – both eyes wide opened – and to allow the senses to reveal the true nature of the external environment.  It is such power that allows the possibility of true self-knowledge and ultimately self-realization.  Real power requires the capacity to listen and to be effected by what is heard, seen and felt.  Real power is, after all, the natural product of love stemming from a profound compassion and deep-seated humility – hubris effectively diminishes power by making those who carry such a burden blind to the real and tangible relationships that actually exist in the world.  Avarice and greed – from which hatred naturally flows – overlay reality with artificial conceptions and, therefore, introduce a formidable obstacle to true human progress.

The unfortunate burden of the accepted idea of the nature of power is the horrendous and unnecessary suffering that it imposes upon both the world of humans and the natural world we inhabit.  Such a conception is fundamentally flawed and inherently false; it is an idea that has not served humanity well.  Whether or not the human kind possesses the aptitude to discard what is patently false and develop a new social and ethical paradigm that is more confluent with the true nature of reality is matter open to serious question.