From: GEVANS613-AT-aol.com Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2003 06:27:28 EDT Subject: Godt, Wahrheit und Mother Teresa In a message dated 12/09/2003 19:05:58 GMT Daylight Time, crifasi-AT-hotmail.com writes: Subj: Re: Date: 12/09/2003 19:05:58 GMT Daylight Time From: crifasi-AT-hotmail.com (Anthony Crifasi) Sender: owner-heidegger-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU Reply-to: heidegger-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU To: heidegger-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU Jud wrote: Some years ago - ten - fifteen - maybe twenty - time is relative to a non-Dasein, there was a two-page spread in a British Sunday newspaper by a British Catholic Volunteer Nurse who had been on Mother Teresa's staff in India. This nurse exposed the woman in a dramatic article, and said that she obviously 'got off' on the dying of these poor souls, and that a funny expression came over her face and her lips became moist in a most weird [almost sexual] way in the presence of death. That apart, the reason she left was that MT in spite of the millions of pounds she received in donations, deliberately withheld the provision of pain-killing drugs from the dying in spite of the protestations of the assistants, saying that it was 'God's Will' , etc., and even on occasions withheld drugs from those whose lives could have been saved from their use. Anthony Crifasi: I read this a long time ago. The best response to this was articulated by Christopher Hitchens himself (Free Inquiry Magazine, vol. 16, No. 4), who is hardly a friend of Mother Theresa: Hitchens: I hesitated to cover this in my book, but I decided I had to publish that she has said that the suffering of the poor is something very beautiful and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering. FI: A horrible thing to say. Jud: I am intrigued to discover the basis/origins of the belief of 'many Christians' that the suffering of the poor is something very beautiful, and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering. Is it something that Christianity inherited from Judaism or is it a peculiarly Christian phenomena? Is the suffering of Jesus on the cross seen by Christians as 'beautiful?' Is this beauteous view of pain and suffering confined only to the poor, or are the sufferings of the well-off [say a lawyer dying of aids] also included in the classification of agonised yet attractive spiritual transportation? If MT claimed she was poor, why did she sign herself in to one of the most expensive clinics in USA, when she herself was in need of medical treatment, and why did she as a religious role model not refuse the painkilling drugs she allegedly refused others, and in doing so help the world? Hitchens: Yes, evil in fact. To say it was unChristian unfortunately would not be true, although many people don't realize that is what Christians believe. It is a positively immoral remark in my opinion, and it should be more widely known than it is. It wasn't so much that it showed that her facilities weren't any good, but it showed that they weren't medical facilities at all. There wasn't any place she runs that she could go; as far as I know, their point isn't treatment. And in fairness to her, she has never really claimed that treatment is the point. Although she does accept donations from people who have fooled themselves into thinking so, I haven't found any occasion where she has given a false impression of her work. Jud: If a rich man dying of cancer and selfishly eager to participate in 'something very beautiful' and being keen to 'help the world' in a show of nobility by the example of his misery and suffering - gave away all his money, could he attain this state? Would his selfish motives debar him from this bliss and therefore negate the enjoyment of the spiritual experience of the rapturous observers around his bed? Is the suffering of the poor as something very beautiful, beautiful only to those that suffer it, or only to the onlookers, or do both sufferer and onlooker enjoy the show equally? If death is so beautiful and efficacious for the world, why hide the act away in hospices - why not wheel the dying out onto balconies or viewing platforms and parade them there for all to see? The arm-waving supplications of the dying, as screaming in pain they begged for painkillers might then be interpreted as friendly, nonchalant waves of goodbye, or triumphal gestures of self-satisfied spiritual bliss? Is the acceptance of pain relief an unrighteous act on the part of the poor? If it is not a sin or an unChristian act for a poor person to accept pain relief, then is the person who denies that relief a sinner? Maybe some Pope has pontificated upon this point, for any uncertainty must set up conflicts in the minds of Catholic nurses and doctors - whether to help the patient with analgesics, or whether to help the greater world of human society by throwing wide the ward doors and inviting the public in to watch the painful exits of the patients? Hitchens: : Yes, evil in fact. To say it was unChristian unfortunately would not be true, although many people don't realize that is what Christians believe. It is a positively immoral remark in my opinion, and it should be more widely known than it is. It wasn't so much that it showed that her facilities weren't any good, but it showed that they weren't medical facilities at all. There wasn't any place she runs that she could go; as far as I know, their point isn't treatment. And in fairness to her, she has never really claimed that treatment is the point. Although she does accept donations from people who have fooled themselves into thinking so, I haven't found any occasion where she has given a false impression of her work. Jud: If the suffering of the poor is something very beautiful to the faithful, [and I suspect something very nasty in the Heideggerian woodshed here too] and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of wretchedness and anguish, why does not the Catholic Church encourage the disestablishment of social welfare schemes that assist the poor and the suffering and those in pain? Surely if from a Christian point of view, the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering, the more examples of human pain and suffering we are exposed to the better? Perhaps if the poor, sick and the dying were allowed to lie on the pavements of Times Square or Sunset Boulevard and pedestrians had to step over them as the entered the expensive shops, it would provide a constant reminder of the earthly exquisiteness of sordid death and excruciating pain, which the lucky sufferers will soon escape as the ascend upwards in a heavenward direction? ================= Anthony Crifasi __ Cheers, Jud. <A HREF="http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/ ">http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/</A> Jud Evans - ANALYTICAL INDICANT THEORY. <A HREF="http://uncouplingthecopula.freewebspace.com">http://uncouplingthecopula.freewebspace.com</A> --- StripMime Warning -- MIME attachments removed --- This message may have contained attachments which were removed. 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