OP-ED
Spirituality, Identity and Advocacy
By Paul Mansell
The weekends are special for me, Saturday is a day of rest and worship, and Sunday is a day of reflection and chores. I want to share my spiritual thoughts and how they relate to my identity, self-advocacy and systemic advocacy.
I have been free to think, read, and write with my retirement. The subjects that I enjoy reading about most are Philosophy and Theology. These writings challenge my values, opinions, and perspectives. I am struggling to understand what identity means.
As I understand it, a person identifies oneself based on a few key attributes. My studies suggest that as a human, I am rational with the soul’s free will seeking to lead a virtuous life. These are definite attributes I identify with. Being Catholic is another identifying attribute, as scriptures say the greatest commandment is to worship God with all your mind, heart, and might and to love your neighbor as yourself. Another critical attribute is that I am created in God’s image, so I desire to lead a transcended life in service to God, the Church, and humanity, pursuing the ultimate end of contemplating the ideal form of God. As crucial as attributes are in ascribing who I am, my wants, goals, and north star give my life direction, meaning, and purpose.
I hold that God is infinite in all respects, eternal, all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing. Because His love is perfect, He loves Himself. God has freedom of will. He could have rested in that perfect love, but He chose to actively express it through creating the cosmos and everything therein, which he benevolently cares about in perfection. Likewise, as I have already said, I am created in God’s image and love myself.
Because I am created in God’s image, I have free will, and I choose not to rest in my love but to express it by loving my family, friends, peers, and others through my self-advocacy and systemic advocacy–loving others as I have loved myself.
Fortunately, I have been well-groomed for this expression of love with my church origins, education in Political Economy and Philosophy, and experience living in and working in the disability services system. Having lived it, I can advocate for systems change, but my experience does not bind me. I can listen to my peers’ concerns, empathize with them, and support them. I have epilepsy and mental health history, but I can step outside my experience and advocate for those with Autism, CP, and ID. I see their obstacles and challenges and desire to lead a rich, pleasing, independent life reaching their full potential in their community with needed support. I see their need for acceptance, accessibility and inclusion in all its myriad forms.
While I love theory, I can also be practical and problem solves to advise others to meet their challenges. I am grateful that I have a mild, gentle, and humble temperament with little desire to control others or achieve status.
I value reputation and respect, but my happiness doesn’t rest on others but God. It is enough for me to captain my ship with His stewardship and husbandry.
Life has taught me to be tolerant, accept, and challenge my preconceived notions. I may strive to live a rational, virtuous life, but I am not the author of what is right or wrong. That belongs to a higher power.
I believe in democracy, so I believe in the social contract; the government’s authority and power come from its citizens’ free consent. All have inalienable rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A just state equitably orders society so that all may enjoy the common good. The state will use laws, regulations, and institutions to distribute the goods the community offers fairly. Most private goods are distributed through the free market in a capitalist economy. Still, the state provides public goods such as justice, law and order, education, civil defense, and the social welfare net. The government’s order strives to be neither capricious nor random but based on natural law. To create a just state, the society must have an agreed understanding of the common good and the means to achieve it.
God loves order and created a well-ordered cosmos that follows physical and moral laws. Science has amassed volumes of physical rules that guide the universe and can trace its origins back to the original big bang. Sages, commentators, and political leaders have given insight into humanity’s moral or natural laws.
The state, leaders, or courts may say or do one thing, but if it violates natural law, it is unjust, and we are called to challenge it with full vigor. Also, natural law is flexible and bends with the changes in time, circumstance, and place. As values, science, technology, and expectations evolve, so does the expression of natural law in state law, regulation, and funding.
This leads to a discussion of systemic advocacy. The catalyst for such advocacy may be self-interest, but self-advocates must take a step back, pause, and see the big picture for society. We must ask ourselves, how is what we are requesting going to further all citizens to enjoy society’s common good? This is not the time for demonizing. Some people try to build their cause by creating a boogieman. I regard that as short-sighted and counterproductive. Self-advocates must persuade others of the merits of their case and dispel concerns and fears that others may have. We are seeking a fair and just society for all to have the opportunity to achieve their potential in their communities with support and resources as needed.
It is important to remember that systems advocacy and self-advocacy start with us. We light the lantern that will eliminate society to advance the cause of all moderately enjoying the common good of humanity. Self-Advocacy and Systemic Advocacy is a journey we tread with twists and turns that lead us and the rest of society to the just and well-ordered state where all enjoy the fruits of the common good.