After having, in the course of the last 4 articles, exposed the nature of the virtue of chastity and stressed how paramount this vow is to the Church, to the society and culture in general, I did not want to stay only in the world of ideas and ideals. We, the clergy, frequently speak on this theme in a very generic and idealistic way, giving the impression that it is an easy matter. In this last article on this subject I would like to come down to reality, to the problems and difficulties one faces in living out this vow. I don’t want to ignore, nor hide, nor sweep under the carpet the real experience of taking this vow, lest it invalidates everything I’ve said before.
False chastity
Do I counsel you to chastity? Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many almost a vice. These are continent, to be sure: but doggish lust looketh enviously out of all that they do. Even into the heights of their virtue and into their cold spirit doth this creature follow them, with its discord. And how nicely can doggish lust beg for a piece of spirit, when a piece of flesh is denied it! Ye love tragedies and all that breaketh the heart? But I am distrustful of your doggish lust. Ye have too cruel eyes, and ye look wantonly towards the sufferers. Hath not your lust just disguised itself and taken the name of fellow-suffering? Nietzsche
To live out chastity, as a formal and physical continence, it brings to mind the gospel passages of the coerced obedience the older brother of the prodigal son felt for his father, as well as the one who lacking in commitment in life hid his talent. Nietzsche explains this type of chastity with a skillful subtlety; it is in fact a sexual energy, poorly sublimated, that escapes the conscious control of the individual and is manifested, in the bearings of a pseudo chaste person, in a thousand and one ways.
Since it can no longer have flesh, that is, any physical expression, because it is repressed by the willful continence of the individual, sensuality begs for a crumb of the spirit, in other words, it satisfies itself with substitute manifestations which are oftentimes eccentric; it is like a reversed or negative sublimation
Omnia munda mundis - To the pure person, all things are pure and everything that he touches becomes purified; to the impure, all things are impure therefore everything he touches becomes tainted; that is, the way the impure relate to people suggests right away that their sensuality is not sublimated, but simply repressed, and as such shows up unbeknown to them in their relations with others. It is this to which Nietzsche said in a crude way: the uncontrolled sensuality is like a dog that licks everything that comes its way.
In this text, Nietzsche reveals his depth as a psychoanalyst. In fact, any unsatisfied passion, that is poorly channelled, has a tendency to self-compensate in a thousand and one ways by poisoning the soul. As the result, the pseudo chaste are irritable, neurotic, moody, hard, cold, proud, uncompromising and egocentric. Little by little, in their deeds and behaviour, these are revealed in far too many quirks and eccentricities.
Limits of sublimation
It is clear that the process of substitution, or channelling of energy, cannot continue to infinity, the same also cannot occur in the transformation of heat into mechanical energy in our machines. Sigmund Freud
Freud was referring to the steam engine, the only machine known in his days that operated by a kind of sublimation process that is, changing heat, from the water boiler heated by charcoal, into mechanical power. According to Freud, it is impossible to sublimate the entire heat; that is, to change all the heat generated into mechanical energy; some heat has to follow its natural course. Freud gives yet another example of the farmer who was training his donkey to live without eating and when he thought he had succeeded the donkey died.
The same happens in the metaphor of the dam; a certain amount of water can be channelled to the fields, while others to the production of energy; however there are days when it rains too much, and the floodgates have to be opened to let the water flow freely, through the natural riverbeds to the sea, lest we lose the dam.
Still using the metaphor of the dam; just as it is hard to contain the heavy downpour of water during the rainy season by not opening the dam, chastity is also more difficult to be achieved at younger ages, when the heavy rain of testosterone and progesterone takes place inside the body; it was not for any other reason that St. Francis of Assisi used to roll naked in the snow but to resist temptation...
To commit themselves socially to the structures of civilization, human beings, according to Freud, sacrifice a portion of their individual happiness for the common good. This is essentially an economic decision; we exchange immediate gratification for long-term stability. In other words, we renounce the immediate and full payment of pleasure, for payments done in instalments over a long period of time.
After favourably describing and showing the process of sublimation, Freud alerts us to the fact that excessive repression of Eros produces suffering and neurosis. In general, total celibacy, he said, produces people who are well “behaved”, but without vitality; it does not produce wise thinkers, bold liberators or intrepid reformers. And he adds that the relation and equilibrium between what is possible to sublimate and the necessary sexual activity vary, of course, from individual to individual.
For those who feel that the deficits and failures of the celibacy practice invalidate it entirely, I say like Freud, "No one like I, who presume to fight against the forces of darkness inside of us, can hope to leave unharmed from the fight. (Freud, 1905/1953a). Despite his history of failures and betrayals, the accomplishments and conquests of the celibate in the name of human race are substantial, and I foresee that it will continue to be so. PETER GAY The historian, 1986
True chastity is not a repressed and neurotic continence of someone who detaches himself from life. The truly chaste, as they are committed to life, can even dirty their hands once in a while and learn from their mistakes. A saint is not someone who never gets dirty but someone who always washes himself.
For men it is impossible, but for God all things are possible. (Mt. 19, 26)
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away.” (Deut. 30, 11)
The Church, also the society and culture, accepts no less than the ideal in that the chaste person has to be fully chaste; however science, on the nature of Eros, says that this is not possible without creating neurosis and other behavioural deficiencies. As there isn’t any sort of institutionalised chastity that is in accordance with what science says, the chaste or the celibate are on their own in the solution of this incongruity.
“For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.” (Mt. 19:12)
Those who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom are not doing so on their own account nor at their own risk. Because they have chosen to seek first the Kingdom of God they know that all these things will be given to them as well (Mt. 6:33). Those who have chosen to sacrifice their affections for the Kingdom know that they can depend and count on the divine grace which can transform everything that is humanly impossible to perfectly possible. They are assured that their needs will be fully satisfied. “God gives cold depending on the clothes you have”; He does not call anyone to a Mission without first equipping him or her with the necessary talents to accomplish it well. Chastity for God is only possible with God.
True Chastity
In truth, there are people who are chaste in the core of their being: they are meeker of heart, laugh more heartily and more often than others. Laugh also at chastity, and ask: "What is Chastity? Isn't she silly? But this foolishness came to us, we didn't go to her. We offer shelter and affection to this guest: now she lives with us -- and will stay till she wants." Nietzsche
A chaste person is always someone who is totally devoted or ‘married’ to a human or cultural enterprise, such as art, music, entertainment, sports, science, medicine, education of the young, fighting for justice and peace, adventure, revolution etc. This all-encompassing cause, to which the chaste person devotes himself or herself to, leads naturally to changes in how the person spends most of his or her time and energy, as in the case of parents with young children.
The world population hasn’t stopped increasing; for this reason the world is ever more in need of adopted fathers and mothers than of biological ones; these are people who, having renounced their biological paternity and maternity, dedicate themselves heart and soul to a human cause as was done before by Jesus of Nazareth and so many others after him… Mother Teresa of Calcutta never had biological children and yet no one would deny her maternity.
Any human cause is sufficient justification for the sacrifice of our emotional energy. There are in fact people who started off by dedicating part of their time and energy to a human project and then eventually committed themselves fully and ended up “putting all the meat on the grill”, as a Spanish saying would have it. Mahatma Gandhi was a married man; when he realized that his lifelong project required all his energy he took a vow of chastity with his wife.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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