Faith is the Pierless Bridge…

It bears the Soul as bold 

                – Emily Dickinson

Those of us in the City of San Francisco are blessed by the scenery of the Golden Gate.  Its pierless bridge is suspended by an invisible force of strength that is intrinsic to the bridge’s visible towers and cables. This sight, which inspired The Lane Center to name its magazine Pierless Bridges after Emily Dickinson’s memorable poem, is spectacular at sunset, evoking what Immanuel Kant recognized as sublimity in mathematical thoughts and aesthetic emotions.1 The mission of the University of San Francisco and its Lane Center for Catholic Social Thought and the Ignatian Tradition also evokes sublimity in its ongoing conversations with contemporary experiences.  This mission educates hearts and minds in a faith that promotes justice, seeking to do ever more  – magis – by thinking critically and acting ethically.  

The mission is also advanced faithfully and intentionally through this magazine. As a member of the Lane Center Advisory Board, I am grateful for the invitation to reflect on the Lane Center’s mission in light of faith as illuminated by three spiritual visionaries who embody Dickinson’s “Souls as Bold”: St. Ignatius of Loyola, Emily Dickinson, and Viktor Frankl. From Ignatius of Loyola we appreciate the intensification of faith, from Emily Dickinson we appreciate the introspection of faith, and from Dr. Viktor Frankl we appreciate the inspiration of faith. All three have implications within the context of the 21st century and the four compelling Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preferences (https://www.jesuits.global/uap/):

  • Showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and their practice of discernment.
  • Walking with the poor, the outcasts of the world, and those whose dignity has been violated, in the mission of reconciliation and justice.
  • Walking together with young people, to build a hope-filled future.
  • Working together to care for the earth, our common home. 

Faith Intensification: Ignatius of Loyola

Just as the San Francisco Bay and its bridges inspired The Lane Center magazine, so too was St. Ignatius of  Loyola (1491-1556), in the context of 16th century at Basque Spain, shaped by the scenery that fashioned the “Soul as Bold.” As a Catholic and military knight at the Battle of Pamplona, Ignatius was severely wounded.  During his convalescence, he read The Life of Christ by Ludolph of Saxony. This book helped Ignatius experience an existential evaluation of his life and faith by assessing movements both away from God (desolation) as well as towards God (consolation). He experienced faith conversion as a turning point (metanoia) by renouncing his military vocation and announcing his religious vocation. He engaged in a deeper faith transformation (metamorphosis) by growing from inherited faith to an intense faith as a “Contemplative in Action ” for the Greater Glory of God (Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam).

Ignatius discerned the invisible yet intrinsic strength of the First Principles, the Suscipe Prayer, and the discipline of discipleship. Examples of such discipline were excellence (arête), the Gospel Beatitudes expressed in Catholic Social Thought (Matthew 5:1-12), the Spiritual Exercises, the Examination of Conscience, or Examen, the three evangelical vows, and a unique fourth vow to the Pope and Church. Ignatius would go on to become the Founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), author of its Constitution, and a participant in the Catholic-Counter Protestant Reformation. The fact that Ignatius became a canonized saint implies he was a “Soul as Bold” with the force of faith by intensification.  My appreciation for this aspect of the faith of Ignatius of Loyola was augmented later by the insights on faith I acquired from Emily Dickinson.

Faith Introspection: Emily Dickinson

The context of 19th century America in the New England town of Amherst, Massachusetts was the scenery that fashioned the “Soul as Bold” of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).  She was influenced by the Puritan Great Awakening of Christian Revival in the Calvinist Congregational Church.  Both during and after her attendance at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Emily was challenged by new influences in contemporary society. The religion of Transcendentalism, the writings of Emerson, the Walden experiences of Thoreau, and the science of Darwinism revealed new perspectives and diverse experiences of God, nature, and human nature. 

Emily engaged in an existential evaluation of her life and faith by introspection (soul-searching). It moved her to a faith conversion from an inherited faith that focused on heavenly matters to an intuitive faith that focused on earthly matters.  This faith conversion was expressed initially and significantly by choosing not to use the Bible nor the Heavenly Gate in her interpretation of an illustration, “We Walk by Faith Alone” 2 in Emblems and Allegories. Ironically, this faith conversion moved Emily to faith transformation in her poems in the cathedral of nature. She was shaken by floods and ice that often swept away local bridges. Such a pattern of construction, destruction, and reconstruction caused economic and emotional distress to Emily because her father was a stockholder in the Sunderland Truss Bridge.  This distress was manifested in her faith and poems by paradoxes 3 associated with inventions, bridges, and planks. These paradoxes were contradictions: invincible and vulnerable, disillusionment and hope, ugliness and beauty, reason and imagination, beliefs and disbeliefs, soul and society, sunsets and sea, physical and metaphysical, mortality and immortality.  

Her unique writing style revealed excellence (arête) as a poet in enigmatic compression, punctuation dashes, trimester meters, slant rhyme, and vivid imagination. She applauded the sublime wonders of nature and pondered faith in movements both away from God (desolation) as well as towards God (consolation). By doing so, Emily was a “Soul as Bold.” This insight on the introspective faith of Emily Dickinson was augmented later for me by insights on the faith of Dr. Viktor Frankl.

Faith Inspiration: Dr. Viktor Frankl

The context of the 20th century was the scenery that fashioned the “Soul as Bold” of Dr. Viktor Frankl (1905-1997).  He was born and reared in Vienna, Austria where his inherited faith was Judaism.  After completing medical school, Frankl initiated his practice by discerning a new motivational theory of purpose, outlined in his manuscript The Doctor and the Soul. He believed that human nature is motivated by the search for a life purpose. Frankl’s theoretical principles and therapeutic praxis of logotherapy is the pursuit of that meaning for one’s life. He was able to put these principles into practice while being victimized in four Nazi concentration camps. In this context, Frankl demonstrated his character as being a “Soul as Bold” in five ways, the focus of this reflection. 

First, care of the whole person (cura personalis) was a priority for Frankl.  He emphasized the human spirit that included God as interpreted uniquely by each religious believer. Second, the search for God was real for Frankl.  In that search, he would experience both desolation (away from hope and light) and consolation (toward hope and light) by witnessing the stark sights and sounds of inhumanity vs. humanity, evil vs. good, cruelty vs. compassion, regression vs. progression, food stolen vs. food shared, swine-like behavior vs. saint-like behavior, treatment with instrumental value as It (Gesellschaft) vs. treatment with intrinsic value as Thou (Gemeinschaft). These paradoxes inspired Frankl to write his 1946 memoir Man’s Search for Meaning. Third, discernment was a way of obtaining spiritual guidance for Frankl. “In God’s Will, I Stand Still” 4 echoed his love of fate. 5 He made the choice to stand up and step up, faithfully and intentionally, in order to serve others (cura apostolica) in the Nazi concentration camps.

Fourth, Frankl experienced prayer in nature by the sublimity of sky, stars, and sunsets 6 as well as in huts and trucks. He also experienced his unshakeable faith in Judaism with a spiritual elasticity or conjunctive faith. Thus, he recited the Shema Yisrael Prayer with Jewish believers and the Our Father Prayer with Christian believers. Fifth, the radical Golden Rule was identified and applied as, “Do not injure others, even if you have been injured.” 7 Frankl practiced this rule and broke the chain of hate by living love unconditionally and selflessly, better known as agape. By doing so, Frankl can be recognized as a “Soul as Bold” with the force of faith by inspiration. My insight into the faith of Dr. Viktor Frankl will be augmented by the foresight of faith in the 21st century. 

Faith Implications: The 21st Century

The context of the 21st century is the scenery that will fashion new “Souls as Bold” by embracing the four compelling Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preferences. How?

  1. A diversity of people in world religions and philosophies 8 will enrich the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises by “God in all elements,” 9 and “Actions Most Excellent.” 10
  2. Church communities and civil societies will collaborate as stockholders and stakeholders to provide resources for basic human needs of people and promote honor in the marketplace. 11
  3. Using materials such as Howard Gardner’s Five Minds for the Future will assist educators in creating a hope-filled future for youth.  An example of this mindfulness can be found in an editorial written by a young woman named Addie Muller. 12
  4. Imitating Dr. Viktor Frankl, our Earth Community will stand up with the force of love as agape to overcome the force of hate. This force of love will be observed when “Souls as Bold” live by the Gospel Beatitudes of Social Ethics (Matthew 5: 1-12), Corporal Works of Mercy (Isaiah 8:6-7, Matthew 25:35-40), Contemporary Work of Non-Violence by Pope Francis SJ, Catholic Social Teaching, and Catholic Prayer of St. Francis.  This force of love for justice will also be needed in order to counteract the crimes and cries of injustice. The defiant power of the human spirit in “And Still I Rise” 13 and restorative justice by the parents of murdered student Amy Bielh. 14 demonstrate this counteraction.

Good Samaritan: Go and Do Likewise (Bonum Samaritana) (Luke 10:25-37) — might we imagine such an entitled encyclical to be published as the journey of the 21st century continues? This encyclical would be a challenge to value people as neighbors rather than strangers.  By doing so, it would intersect with cultures, religions, histories, and politics.  In the writing of this encyclical, it would be significant if the Pope were to use data from the Webb Space Telescope, as it may reveal new discoveries in science and spirituality far beyond our current comprehension.    

So… How and why will YOU become a “Soul as Bold”, with the force of faith and love that will advance justice and equality in the four compelling Jesuit Apostolic Preferences?

 

Carol Miller is a native San Franciscan and a Sister of Notre Dame. She earned graduate degrees in education from USF, and psychology and theology from Santa Clara University and GTU Pacific School of Religion. Her studies, publications, and presentations at some World Congresses of Logotherapy focused on Dr. Viktor Frankl. Before coming to USF, Carol was an educator in six schools and a counselor in Santa Clara County at the United Way Centre for Living with Dying and prosthesis laboratory at Valley Medical Center. Additionally, she co-facilitated the Parents of Murdered Children Support Group. During the past twenty-seven years, Carol has served USF as an educator and administrator in the program of Interdisciplinary Studies along with being a founding member of the Lane Center, Jesuit Foundation, and the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises. She has been a long-time volunteer at the Children’s Hospital at Stanford and donor at its Blood Bank.

 

  1. Immanuel Kant, “The Critique of Judgment.” Great Books of the Western World, edited by Robert Hutchins, 2nd, 42, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1988, 496-12.
  2. William Holmes, Emblems and Allegories (London: William Tegg and Company, 1854), 100.
  3. Susan Van Zanten, “Bridges Often Go: Emily Dickinson’s Bridge Poems,” The New England    Quarterly 85, no. 3 (September 2012): 526-40.
  4. Viktor Frankl, Recollections: An Autobiography (Cambridge: Basic Books, 2000), 26.
  5. Ibid,  Man’s Search for Meaning (New York: Washington Square Press, 1985),  75, 77, 79, 82, 89.
  6. Ibid, 11, 56, 111.   
  7. Ibid, 113; Sevier Frost, The Sacred Writings: The World’s Great Religions (New York: McGraw Company, 1943), 401-02.
  8. Erin Cline, A World on Fire: Sharing the Spiritual Exercises with Other Religions (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2018; USF University Ministry, Prayer and Reflection (San Francisco: University of San Francisco Press, 1998).
  9. Johann Goethe, “Westostilicher Divan,” in Goethe Werke (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1981), 99.
  10. Abdullah Al-Mamun Al-Suhrawardy, Sayings of Mohammad (New York: Paragon Press), 89.
  11. Marcus Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, translated by C.D. Yinge (New York: American Book Company), 166. 
  12. Addie Muller, “How the Young Deal with the Virus,” New York Times March 29, 2020, http://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/opinion/letters/uscoronavirus-young/html
  13. Maya Angelou, “And Still I Rise,” Complete Book of Poetry (New York: Random House, 2015), 159.
  14. Stephen Gish, Amy Bielh’s last Home: A Bright Life, a Tragic Death, and a Journey of Reconciliation in South Africa. (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2018).