Ignatian Decision-making
d. Three senses of Magis and Indifference
d. Three senses of Magis and Indifference
A Jesuit theologian delineates three senses of Magis and the Indifference proper to each. First is the carefully evaluating Indifference of the Principle and Foundation. This is surpassed by the readiness (indifference) to share in the suffering of Christ, the readiness to serve under the banner of the cross. And this love of the cross is in turn surpassed by a total surrender (as seen in the indifference of the Third Class of Persons) to the incalculable disposition of God’s love. Another way the latter is expressed is the readiness for the Third Degree of Humility - the following of the crucified Christ provided the honor of God is not diminished (See SpEx 147 & 168). The theologian locates Ignatius’ characteristic way of following Christ in this third sense of Magis and Indifference. He says that Ignatius realized in his own life the following of the crucified Christ that was always with a discretion peculiar to him.
A Jesuit theologian delineates three senses of Magis and the Indifference proper to each. First is the carefully evaluating Indifference of the Principle and Foundation. This is surpassed by the readiness (indifference) to share in the suffering of Christ, the readiness to serve under the banner of the cross. And this love of the cross is in turn surpassed by a total surrender (as seen in the indifference of the Third Class of Persons) to the incalculable disposition of God’s love. Another way the latter is expressed is the readiness for the Third Degree of Humility - the following of the crucified Christ provided the honor of God is not diminished (See SpEx 147 & 168). The theologian locates Ignatius’ characteristic way of following Christ in this third sense of Magis and Indifference. He says that Ignatius realized in his own life the following of the crucified Christ that was always with a discretion peculiar to him.
e. The Election
e. The Election
How do we arrive at this third sense of Magis? Certainly, it is not by allowing our disordered desire to decide the matter. Examples of this can be found in the story of the Rich Young Man (Mk 10:21-22) and the parable of the Great Dinner (Lk 14:15-24) - the idea comes from Fr. Horacio de la Costa’s homily entitled Good Excuses. Notice that the things the people are attached to are good in themselves. In the case of the rich man, it is his wealth; in the case of the quests, a property that needs to be surveyed, going on a honeymoon, and so on - all excuses for not accepting the invitation to the Great Dinner. So, we are not talking here about being attached to things that are objectively bad. We don’t discern whether to kill someone or not. We know killing someone is bad! We discern between two goods. You discern, for example, whether to marry X or not. Objectively speaking, there is nothing wrong if you don’t marry X just as there is nothing wrong if you marry X. But, why discern then if either option is good anyway? It is clear that such an attitude is not what we see in Ignatius or in the one who makes the long retreat in the hope of finding God’s will. The problem with good choices is that we could be attached to them. And when we are, it would be impossible for us to respond to God’s invitation.
How do we arrive at this third sense of Magis? Certainly, it is not by allowing our disordered desire to decide the matter. Examples of this can be found in the story of the Rich Young Man (Mk 10:21-22) and the parable of the Great Dinner (Lk 14:15-24) - the idea comes from Fr. Horacio de la Costa’s homily entitled Good Excuses. Notice that the things the people are attached to are good in themselves. In the case of the rich man, it is his wealth; in the case of the quests, a property that needs to be surveyed, going on a honeymoon, and so on - all excuses for not accepting the invitation to the Great Dinner. So, we are not talking here about being attached to things that are objectively bad. We don’t discern whether to kill someone or not. We know killing someone is bad! We discern between two goods. You discern, for example, whether to marry X or not. Objectively speaking, there is nothing wrong if you don’t marry X just as there is nothing wrong if you marry X. But, why discern then if either option is good anyway? It is clear that such an attitude is not what we see in Ignatius or in the one who makes the long retreat in the hope of finding God’s will. The problem with good choices is that we could be attached to them. And when we are, it would be impossible for us to respond to God’s invitation.
One good story that illustrates the danger of being attached is the story of a man hanging on to a branch by a precipice. If he lets go of the branch, he would fall to certain death. God tells him to let go so that He can pull him up and rescue him. But the man is too afraid to let go because as far as he is concerned the moment he lets go, it will be the end. So, he hangs on to his dear life unable to trust God who is the giver of life. Someone says that what we desire we invariably fear losing. A sign that there is an inordinate attachment to a thing is when there is fear - when we can’t think of being without it, of losing it. God has to teach us, as He did Ignatius, how to trust in Him alone, how all things (however important to us) have their value only in God.
One good story that illustrates the danger of being attached is the story of a man hanging on to a branch by a precipice. If he lets go of the branch, he would fall to certain death. God tells him to let go so that He can pull him up and rescue him. But the man is too afraid to let go because as far as he is concerned the moment he lets go, it will be the end. So, he hangs on to his dear life unable to trust God who is the giver of life. Someone says that what we desire we invariably fear losing. A sign that there is an inordinate attachment to a thing is when there is fear - when we can’t think of being without it, of losing it. God has to teach us, as He did Ignatius, how to trust in Him alone, how all things (however important to us) have their value only in God.
If not by attachment, is it then by way of detachment that we find the Magis? Ignatian indifference isn’t merely detachment. Indifference is not being passive, not being stoic, not having little or no desire.* It is definitely not what Ignatius did at the early part of his conversion when - not knowing how to proceed - he let his horse decide for him. Whatever detachment means, indifference is not running away from our personal responsibility, from making a decision that is truly ours. We can’t leave the direction of our lives to a horse, to a coin tossing, or to circumstances. If in an attached person, what decides is his attachment; in a detached person, what decides is chance.
If not by attachment, is it then by way of detachment that we find the Magis? Ignatian indifference isn’t merely detachment. Indifference is not being passive, not being stoic, not having little or no desire.* It is definitely not what Ignatius did at the early part of his conversion when - not knowing how to proceed - he let his horse decide for him. Whatever detachment means, indifference is not running away from our personal responsibility, from making a decision that is truly ours. We can’t leave the direction of our lives to a horse, to a coin tossing, or to circumstances. If in an attached person, what decides is his attachment; in a detached person, what decides is chance.
So, what is the Ignatian way of decision-making? To find some answer we have to expound on the three senses of Magis and Indifference that we touched on earlier. To understand the first we have to understand it in the context of the two ways of doing the Third Time Election. Magis is arrived at by diligently weighing the pros and cons, doing the four-column method, to determine which side has the weightier reason. Then the option with the weightier reason is tested in some kind of a role-play to check if the person finds a certain sense of fitness with it. This is not easy as it sounds since we need the exacting indifference proper to it. While the third time of election is certainly an indispensable part of the process of the Ignatian decision-making, it is clear that for Ignatius, the discernment proper happens through the application of the rules of discernment on one’s experience of consolations and desolations. The prerequisite to this process is the indifference of the Third Class of Persons mentioned above. Think of our Lord in the garden pleading with his Father to let the cup of suffering pass. Then he prays: Not my will, but yours be done.
So, what is the Ignatian way of decision-making? To find some answer we have to expound on the three senses of Magis and Indifference that we touched on earlier. To understand the first we have to understand it in the context of the two ways of doing the Third Time Election. Magis is arrived at by diligently weighing the pros and cons, doing the four-column method, to determine which side has the weightier reason. Then the option with the weightier reason is tested in some kind of a role-play to check if the person finds a certain sense of fitness with it. This is not easy as it sounds since we need the exacting indifference proper to it. While the third time of election is certainly an indispensable part of the process of the Ignatian decision-making, it is clear that for Ignatius, the discernment proper happens through the application of the rules of discernment on one’s experience of consolations and desolations. The prerequisite to this process is the indifference of the Third Class of Persons mentioned above. Think of our Lord in the garden pleading with his Father to let the cup of suffering pass. Then he prays: Not my will, but yours be done.
A Jesuit philosophy teacher loved to say: After everything is said, the most important thing is that which can’t be said. Ignatius tells the retreat-giver that in so far as one is engaged in the Exercises, he should not get in the way between God and the exercitant, but he should allow God to directly communicate his will to him. What decides in this process is God, making clear to the soul in search of his will that everything is grace. God draws the person to His love without destroying the person’s freedom, but making it what it truly is - a gift from the inscrutable riches of His love.
A Jesuit philosophy teacher loved to say: After everything is said, the most important thing is that which can’t be said. Ignatius tells the retreat-giver that in so far as one is engaged in the Exercises, he should not get in the way between God and the exercitant, but he should allow God to directly communicate his will to him. What decides in this process is God, making clear to the soul in search of his will that everything is grace. God draws the person to His love without destroying the person’s freedom, but making it what it truly is - a gift from the inscrutable riches of His love.
Thanks to Johnny Go, SJ for these drawings. The caption is mine
These two drawings represent the personal journey God invited the Pilgrim to take. First, God led him to go to Jerusalem; then later, He led Ignatius to serve Him in the Church.
*In English, indifference means lack of interest, concern, or sympathy. Certianly this is not the indifference we have in the Exercises. That is why to distinguish it from the dictionary meaning, some qualify it by referring to it as holy or Ignatian indiffence. Some use the word freedom to refer to it, but qualify it by referring to it as affective freedom or interior freedom. As we have seen in the Exercises, it refers to the indifference of the person of the principle, of the standard of Christ, and of the 3rd class of person/3rd degree of humility. Put simply, it is the openness of the person to God's love in Christ.