THROUGH UNTRUE

We are creatures of desire. While many set their hearts on earthly wealth, glory, and fame, others yearn for spiritual experiences that endure beyond time. Desire can influence the way we think, behave, and live. But when desire deteriorates into obsession, it can lead us astray, causing harm to ourselves and others. Unfortunately, academic institutions do not offer courses to help students educate their desires.

In the past, the home, school, church, government, and society mutually complemented each other in their educative roles. What was taught in school was reinforced at home, in the church, by the government, and through societal norms. Together, these institutions helped people align their desires with values and long-term goals that promoted the common good. But with the rise of rabid liberalism and relativism, the education of desire has largely been left to the individual.

Today, schools and churches teach that if students seek long-term results, they must learn to appreciate the value of sacrifice, discipline, and self-denial. Yet movies, television, and social media popularize an ethic that justifies immediate gratification of desires. Schools encourage students to value long hours of study, but the internet and social media offer an artificial substitute for intellectual stimulation, leading to superficial knowledge rather than an in-depth understanding of everyday realities.

Schools generally teach students to value lasting relationships, as well as religious and patriotic traditions. However, business and consumerism promote commodities that are quickly purchased and discarded, conditioning us to devalue long-term commitments like life, love, marriage, and family.

In his insightful book, Excellence Without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future? Harry Lewis, a former dean of Harvard College, observes that American students are often spoiled, lazy, driven by the internet and entertainment, and care mostly about themselves. Addicted to pop culture and social media, they desire college life to be one perpetual happy hour. Lewis blames the American education system for perpetuating this mindset.
He argues that Harvard education promotes “excellence without a soul” because it excludes humanities subjects that shape a student's sensibilities and instill basic human virtues like honesty, discipline, and compassion. Instead, the curriculum offers a smorgasbord of subjects emphasizing skills and technological or technical know-how. This drives students to pursue success, popularity, and wealth, often at the expense of their soul.

Today's gospel reading resonates with Lewis's call for schools to prioritize the education of our desires. Jesus declares, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35). Here, "bread" symbolizes the spiritual nourishment that satisfies our deepest "thirst" and "hunger." To "eat" this bread means to accept and internalize Jesus's teachings, to believe in Him, and thus become worthy of a life that transcends physical death.

In essence, Jesus reminds us that when we chase after things that cannot truly satisfy our deepest needs, we experience lingering dissatisfaction. This gap between what we desire and what we genuinely need results in a cycle of perpetual longing, where no achievement or possession is ever enough to satisfy.

Educating our desires means learning to hunger and thirst for things that genuinely nourish us and recognizing that true fulfillment comes from within rather than from external sources. Furthermore, educating our desires helps us align them with the right values and Christian principles. For example, a person might desire power or influence, but through education, he can learn to channel this desire into leadership that benefits the community, rather than perpetuate himself and his family in a position of great wealth and influence.