What blocks the common good from doing things the right way

I found out about the separation of church and state in a different way. Just starting college, I went to a public library to see what books were available by Thomas Aquinas about rational psychology. There were none in the philosophy section. The librarian told me if it was availabe it would be in the religion section since it was a religous subject. She caught me by surprise. Apparently philosophy that is in sync with the principles of the church is consider religion and not philosophy. It was not available in the religion section either.

I wondered how a society could function if it can not make a distinction between the study of being as being aside from the study and pursuit of faith. Obviously, it is apparently the problem today too with the economic crisis. The common good has been fractured and there is no one that seems to know what do to about. My problems broaden since I worked in several factories while going to college at the same time. I found a vast void between the factory floors and the college classroom. There seemed to be no linkage between the two. ( See link below ref. Communications by Rank. )

Jacques Maritain which to me is the last real philosopher of our times, called for a new social order more than fifty years ago. This was before all the talk about a new world order. We heard about it at the Council on World Affairs back then but it had a different connotation then it has today. If you want to get into it deeper, there is a new webpage by the Bildenbergers who now boldly state their position about a so called new world order. It sounds like gibberish to me and lacks the common sense thinking of the common man. See link to site at our http://tapsearch.com/communications-by-rank At this web page we get into the problem of workers having no voice in the process of free trade and Globalization which are the centerpiece for the so called new world order.

So far we have a state that does not know the difference between philosophy and religion, and a world economy where workers are the core of society but do not have any voice in its outcome with the common good shuttered in an uncommon way. Evidently Pope Benedict does not even think about a new world order in a Bildenberg connotation and most likley caught off guard like I was many years ago in the public library. People of good will tend to miss things like this especially when they make a distinction others do not. It is obvious Jacques Maritain never thought he was implying a new world order when he spoke out about a new social order. How can things work right when people say it is only human nature to shop for the cheapest price without considering the suffering behind the price.

The biggest problem I found with Thomas Aquinas was all about application. People of good will and the church can set the principles in place but then the laity who are on the front lines have to apply them to the everyday world as it is and as it should be. It has to be a solid pragmatism based on the old adage from the bible - do unto others has you would have them to do you.
We need to apply this with what we got now and what we should pursue in terms of a new social order.

I followed the Catholic Workers movement for many years and this is the jist of the problem. They want to take a giant leap into a new social order while those who are caught by circumstances of family life have to deal with things as they are while pursuing a conversion to something better. It comes down to common sense thinking by the common man and it has to grow from the bottom up and not from the top down. I think this is what Pope Benedicts means when he speaks about subsidiarity. I know the Catholic Workers are right about most everything. However, I also found out that you have to be part of poverty yourself to understand what it is . It is very difficult to serve the poor if you are in the middle class or rich. You can give to charity but this is only part of a very large contest.

Some of us who graduated from John Carroll U., a Jesuit University, with a minor in philosophy hit a wall when we tried to apply Thomas Aquinas to the workday. ( My top five professors were all Jesuit priests. Things did not come together. Some classmates tried to apply it to circumstances that were out of reach with the teaching of Aquinas and the common good and this affected their families in negative ways. I reacted by making the Cursillo. The Cursillo is three days filled with talks, action, dynamics and deep spirituality. It is followed by what is known as the 4th day which is the rest of your life. Those who made the Cursillo gathered in groups and went to weekly meetings called Ultreyas. The movement flourished during the 1960s and 1970s across the world. It intiated many surges towards the common good in several nations across the globe. Still it could not match up with the odds against it. Too many fathers found it impossible to fit it in with the workday as it is. At one corporation, I was told by a Vice President that he made the Cursillo too but I had to change. He told me that everything about the Cursillo was well and good but that I had to adapt to the real world. This did not stop him from using me in matters where he knew I could not compromise by principles for reports that required complete honesty.

I found many who I led into the Cursillo, who just gave up trying. The work world won. They lost.

So now I explore futher into this void we find ourselves today and explore the latent response of religion and philosophy to the global economic arena. See http://www.therationale.com Note:

Common sense thinking and the Common Good

1) Excavating Liberalism

(46 votes) The Rationale Quest

A Real Dig ! Excavating Liberalism for the sake of the Common Good The old philosopher called it bonum honestum - seeking good for its own sake - Liberalism tends to divide the Common Good. The aim of society can not be just a...

2) Excavating the Common Good

(35 votes) The Rationale Quest

By Ray Tapajna, editor and artist at Tapart News and Art that Talks - and note other pages here at The Rationale Quest about our pursuit of the common good. I'm back at my dig again excavating the common good ( and the common law ) which have...

3) Common Good ransacked again

(42 votes) The Rationale Quest

It is time to explore the common good again due to the 2008 financial money crisis. By Ray Tapajna, Editor and Artist at Tapart News and Art that Talks It is time to find out why big money is being bailed out while millions who have lost every...

4) Workers are - commoditized - in global arena

(40 votes) The Rationale Quest

By Ray Tapajna, Editor and Artist at Tapart News and Art that Talks see mobile user friendly summary of articles Free Trade and Globalization have "commoditised" workers. Have workers become the "stepchildren" of philosophy and religion ? ...

5) Liberalism and Rugged Individualism

(48 votes) The Rationale Quest

Continuing the discussion of Liberalism from notes from Father McQuade survey course of Philosophies and Religions with updated commentaries by Ray Tapajna, Tapart News and Art that Talks Editor and Artist Liberalism crashes when it reaches an...

6) Common Good is uncommon

(58 votes) The Rationale Quest

I wanted to start a study today about the Common Good but rather chose to ramble on about it for awhile setting up my brain for a more formal study. In our times the Common Good has been stripped of its meaning. After all democracies are ruled...

7) Rush Limbaugh thrashes human dignity and the common good

(37 votes) The Rationale Quest

This continues Ray Tapajna 's article from Rush Limbaugh Could have saved the world - untold story behind our 2009 economic crisis From his bully pulpit from his top daily broadcast, Rush Limbaugh said in 1993, I do not care if a 64 year old...

8) The Common Good can't be branded

(54 votes) The Rationale Quest

I still must defer my study of the common good. We live in an age of branding and imagery. It is like a painting with no central theme. Everything is splattered over our canvas of life. We then put a label on these splatterings and it is supposed...