"Spiritual Progress and Spiritual Regress".

John Henry Frenster, M.D. 

We may work for progress in our spiritual concerns, but we cannot ignore the spiritual regress of allowing cultural alienation into our lives. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition (1997), defines alienation as:

"1: a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object or position of previous attachment; estrangement (~… from the values of one’s society and family).
2: a conveyance of property to another."

Some of the more marked examples of cultural alienation found in our current and recent history include:

    1. Alienation of our time and effort, while working for hire.

    2. Alienation of our thoughts and dreams, while watching commercial TV.

    3. Alienation of our political and social freedoms, while adjusting to tyranny.

Working for hire may be for an hour, a day or a lifetime, but we are free to regain our freedom from dictation by walking away from the job. As we walk away , we may feel a sense of liberation, leaving behind a time during which we were obliged to do things that we would not personally approve. A change of scene, a change of employment, may be sufficient to restore our sense of integrity.

Watching commercial TV is full of surprises, most of which are contrary to our usual sense of fair play and decency, but we are always free to regain our freedom from distraction by shutting off the set. We may find that our thoughts have been interrupted and our dreams have been distorted by the TV exposure, and we may experience lingering effects on ourselves and our family before restoring our sense of integrity.

Finally, adjusting to tyranny usually results in a loss of political and social freedoms. Tyranny tends to grow further if unopposed, and can only be restrained or defeated by countervailing power. Such liberating power takes its time to analyze, organize and mobilize, which often allows even worse conditions to occur before tyranny is finally defeated. The struggle is not painless, the course to victory is often difficult, and the conditions of combat may produce new problems, but the defeat of tyranny is usually both necessary and sufficient for a new phase of life to begin.

The actions of these alienations of our time and effort, of our thoughts and dreams, or of our political and social freedoms thus can have definite regressive effects on our spiritual concerns, even as we are overcoming the root causes of these problems. Spiritual progress requires openness and willingness to think of others as well as of ourselves. Combat and its complications are the antithesis of such desired progress, but many transitions are difficult, and success against these alienations will bring its own spiritual rewards. 

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John H. Frenster, M.D.
Menlo Park, CA 94026-7338 

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