We live in a world where it is more important than ever to have a strong mind and a tender heart. The strength of the mind is a necessary power to understand, analyze, discern, and make good decisions without passions or emotions. This force is completed by the tenderness of the heart, which distinguishes evil from the criminal and denounces the evil in society to save the people who compose it. First, I will share my understanding of King’s sermon. Then in a second step, I will show the importance of the two qualities for today’s time. Finally, in part three, I will share my experience of applying this formula in the doctoral research I did for my dissertation during the summer of 2022.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Mt 10, 16)
According to Dr. King, assertive people can unify strongly marked antitheses. Firm mindedness is realistic, sharp, and penetrating, shrewd and clear-sighted, solid and austere, and far from prejudice and fear. It opposes the laxity of spirit and passivity. Nevertheless, unfortunately, society has more mental debility than firmness of the mind. Politicians, media, and dictators know how to take advantage of the weak-minded.
Tenderness of heart completes the distant coldness of firmness of spirit. Hard-heartedness is unable to consider man as an individual, a particular person. In the conduct of the people of Israel, Moses knew how to combine firmness and tenderness of heart. Need for gentleness towards people. The firmness of spirit lies in the ability to claim one’s rights, in rejection of evil, in anger against the negative, wickedness in general, and anything that kills life.
In contrast, tenderness of heart lies in the love of the authors of sin, the negative or wickedness. The greatness of God lies in his firmness (austerity) to enforce his justice, and the Bible even speaks of wrath and in his tenderness of heart through love and grace. He surrounds with justice and cares with tenderness and grace. He punishes Israel but welcomes the prodigal son (King, 1963).
Why firmness of mind and tenderness of heart is essential to our world
Different forms of relativism increasingly plague our societies. In the name of individual freedoms, we tend to claim more rights than duties. In the name of valuing individuals, there is time and space to promote parcels of individualistic societies to the detriment of communitarian societies. In the name of freedom of choice, we value choices that destroy the very power to choose what is good. We have quickly forgotten that we are in a common ship whose purpose concerns us all (Pope Francis, 2015, 2020). To arrive at such a discernment of the truth, one would have to go through the rationality of rigorous discernment. Dr. King has charted the course for us in the context of a segregationist America.
Very early on, Dr. King understood that allowing oneself to be touched by the injustice of a situation presupposes, for those who do it, a good understanding of the problem for which they are committing themselves. It is the heart that leaves itself, but it is the mind that analyzes and makes decisions. Indeed, understanding the facts, the love of the truth, and sound judgment are essential assets to denounce the misdeeds of an unjust society. Endowed with all these qualities, Dr. King was anxious to put his talents at the service of these oppressed fellow citizens. Seasoned in Hegelian philosophy, he was aware that man’s strength lies in his ability to unify strongly marked antitheses. This is how his firmness of mind and the rigor of his reflection born of his contacts with philosophers are combined with the tenderness of the heart of the theologian, who takes pity on the marginalized. Sure, and confident that those who commit themselves to others must be attentive to their needs, King was the spokesperson for a suffering race. In addition, he spent a good part of his life alongside the people he defended in his writings, declarations, sermons, and multiple imprisonments. However, there is no illusion; God fights first to defend those who suffer injustice. “When slumbering giants of injustice emerge in the earth, we need to know that there is a God of power who can cut them down like the grass and leave them withering like the Greek herb” (King, 2010, p. 9). By putting his faith in God, the Baptist pastor inscribes his social commitment in the certainty of a victory of good over evil. If it is necessary to become aware of human rights violations through deep analysis, it is better to denounce the structures that oppress the men and women of society.
It is vital to work to educate our societies in compassion in the face of the suffering of the oppressed, the neglect of freedoms, and the manipulation of lawless politicians. At all levels, one can experience the firmness of the rational in connection with the love of the heart. Moreover, when you start with love from the heart, you open the door to the rigor of the spirit. I had this experience as part of my doctoral research last summer in the village of Gourga located in northern Burkina Faso and hit by terrorist attacks.
Feeling their suffering opened the doors of their minds to me
To collect the necessary data for my dissertation, I traveled to the village of Gourga last summer. Well-prepared with a methodology focused on interviewing people with specific questions, I expected my research to focus only on my needs. I was wrong. When I was listening to the people of the village, I noticed that the framing of their narratives was deeply affected by both desertification and terrorist attacks. Moreover, their psychology was profoundly habited by the current challenges the entire country faces. Terrorist attacks in northern Burkina Faso are a significant variable that impacts all populations in the region. Thousands of people were killed, and over two million others were displaced from their villages. It has altered social cohesion, people’s belief systems, and relationships with their lands, forests, and traditions.
More prepared to interview people in following the requirements of my topic than to listen to people sharing about the impacts of violence on their lives, I was moved by listening to the habitants of the village sharing their pain with me. In the end, when rereading my experience, I understood that the participants in my research wanted me to “faire corps” primarily with their daily reality and experiences. That means they wanted me to become one body with the sufferings they endured during this period of their lives. They wanted me “to smell their smell” before uncovering the motives of my research. To smell ‘someone smell’ is an expression of empathy that means feeling someone’s emotions and attempting to understand how they feel. Throughout this process that demanded patience, they helped me grow from a self-centered researcher to a self effacing researcher. A self-centered researcher is focused on their research questions and is preoccupied with collecting the necessary information to fill their inquiry. This is the mistake of tough-minded people. It is all about their goals.
In contrast, a self-effacing researcher is more altruistic, benevolent, and team-oriented. Their primary concern is to immerse themselves in the context of their co-researchers, the participants, and “faire corps” with them in smelling their smell. That is the best approach informed by tenderness. Where a self-centered researcher collects superficial information, a self-effacing researcher collects accurate and profound information. I succeeded in touching their minds only when their hearts were already opened to respond to the compassion that I deployed to smell their smell.
