In the present-day world of bioethics, it is commonplace for people to believe that they can make morally valid decisions based on the notion that they are “autonomous” beings who act for themselves alone and not persons who are called to love others in a personal way.
Consequently, many believe that they have a “right” to have a baby, to take but one example, and to the technology that could satisfy their desires. The “autonomous” person would also have a “right” to abortion, contraception, and other questionable bioethical procedures.
From the article: The Person and the Personal: Two Modes of the Same Being – Truth and Charity Forum.
Servus Fidelis ~ The Faithful Servant 
Bunches of deep truth here, SF.
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Yes, it explains a lot of what has happened in modern culture and society. We have obtained isolated individualism that has separated the person and the personal so that we are not longer able to live a life that is congruent to our very nature as human persons.
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Very true.
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Lot to think about here. Would a ramification of the modern individualism be the phenomenon pushed by the media of one’s faith being like a jacket that can be taken off when not needed or desired?
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I think the real ramification is that “society be damned” I’m going to do whatever I want and I will interpret things as I want and live my life as I want. It is a wholly self realized existence. So yes, I think you’re right V, if it suits the person and the moment they just distance themselves from their faith and embrace it when it is advantageous to them.
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So….someone distancing themselves from their faith when it’s advantageous to them at the moment, or doing whatever one wants without restraint, those are examples of the disconnect between the person and the personal? Was Pope John Paul saying that acting thusly was denying the personal for the sake of the person? Or am I reading it wrong?
Sorry, my brain has a hard time with theological or philosophical concepts in the morning. 😀
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Sorry to confuse you, it is probably me. JPII seems to be saying that our person and our personal lives are bound in love and thus are not self-serving but interactive with others. This isolation of the individual then, becomes totally self-serving and distances the person from his personal life. A person who acts in such a way becomes totally self loving and therefore isolated from who he really is. Therefore, everything that is sacrificial and giving in a person is focused on self rather than others or on God. That is how faith might be spoken of as being used only in accord to how I want to believe it. When it agrees with me, great. If it doesn’t I will make it fit how I feel and distance myself from it. Isn’t this how many of our neighbors now think when it comes to contraception or abortion? They plug their ears from the teachings and act like Biden or Pelosi in trying to validate their own take of the faith – one that fits with their personal choice.
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