Life experience and belief

The following is my essay on the interplay of life experience and belief in the life of Christian personalist and social activism Dorothy Day.


Life experience and belief are an interplay of events such as suffering, death, wonder, joy, love, significant life choices and human relationships, and the beliefs that make sense of these experiences and thereby contribute to an individual’s personal outlook and understanding of life.
To demonstrate the effect of life experiences on shaping individual beliefs consider the case of American Christian personalist and pacifist social activist Dorothy Day. Her experiences of suffering in poverty, pacifism and advocating social justice and the rights of the worker were made sense of in the light of the Catholic core belief in One Lord Jesus Christ (Nicene Creed) and his teachings of forgiveness (Mt. 6:14: “If you forgive others sins yours shall be forgiven also”), service (John 13:14-15) compassion, love (John 15:12: “Love one another”), peacefulness (Mt. 5:3-13: “Blessed are the peacemakers”) and social justice (Lk 4:18: “Set the captives free…”)

In her youth, Day accepted communism and the concepts of free love and birth control during the sexual revolution. However, Day’s personal belief in pacifism conflicted with the communist ideal of violent revolution as a means of enforcing social change. This incompatibility in views caused Day to search elsewhere for a belief system that would make sense of her pacifist stance. Day’s initial belief in the concept of free love and birth control was also challenged by her experience of pregnancy and abortion. The pain, suffering and regret of this experience leads Day to question her initial beliefs, particularly regarding unrestrained sexual freedom.

Paramount to Dorothy Day’s metanoia, is the joyous experience of her second pregnancy and the birth of her daughter Tamar. Feeling immense sorrow from the abortion of her first pregnancy, being able to have another child made Day feel a sense of forgiveness, which can attributed to the Catholic belief in “One Baptism for the forgiveness of sins” (Nicene Creed) and the Catholic understanding of a loving God who forgives. It has been remarked that “the stirring of life within her awakened the stirring of God in her own life,” illustrating that this experience of wonder was made sense of in the belief of a loving and forgiving God.

The life experience of pacifism and peaceful non-violent activism is affirmed and made sense of in the light of Jesus’ teaching that “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Mt. 5:3-13) Day applies this belief to her actions and in the face of adversity opposes with non-violence, adhering to Jesus’ command to “Turn the other cheek” when struck by an adversary. (Mt. 5:39) In protesting against unfair employment Day stated that “We must forgive him [the employer] seventy-times-seven just as we forgive our fellow worker and keep trying to bring him to a sense of solidarity…” For Day, her pacifism is the active faith of Jesus’ words. She remarked that her “manifesto is the Sermon on the Mount” (Mt. 5-7), a passage of Scripture in which Jesus advocates peacefulness, humility, forgiveness and compassion.

A significant life choice that Day made in her lifetime was to co-found, with Fr. Peter Maurin, the Catholic Worker movement and the Houses of Hospitality and communal farms which assisted the homeless and unemployed. This action of social justice and compassion is an experience made sense of in Jesus’ teachings to “Love one another” (John 15:12), to serve (John 13:14-15) and to assist the marginalized in society (Mt. 25:36-37) Day explains that she “had found him [Christ] in his Poor” and that “in a moment of joy [she] turned to him.” Day’s encounter with the unemployed and marginalized is explained as encountering Christ in people, as in Catholic understanding, each person is a member of the Mystical Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:12) and therefore Jesus abides within each person. This understanding gave meaning to every acquaintance Day encountered, as in each encounter Day saw Christ. “What you do to the least of my brethren you do unto me.” (Mt. 25:37)

Dorothy Day lived her life in voluntary simplicity. This major life choice came through the synthesis of her belief in Jesus’ teaching to “Store riches for yourself in heaven” rather than earthly wealth and to “Seek the Kingdom first.” These teachings from the Gospels contributed and made sense of Day’s lifestyle experience of voluntary simplicity.

Dorothy Day attributes her metanoia to the experience of joy rather than sorrow. She states that, “it was in those few years when I was alone and most happy that I found him. I found him [Christ] at last through joy and thanksgiving, not through sorrow.” Day believed “that Christ-like self-sacrificing love was the only thing that made sense in a senseless world.” Living this belief through her work with the Houses of Hospitality, pacifism and social activism, Day’s experience is made sense in the belief in One Lord Jesus Christ (Nicene Creed) and his most challenging teaching of all- to love one another. (John 15:12)