Five I’s for the IGen: Imagination, Introspection, Integrity, Intentionality, Incarnate
Carrie Eben, MSEd, Ozark Catholic Academy Commencement, May 18, 2024, St Raphael Catholic Church, Springdale, Arkansas
Thank you, Mr. Rocha, for asking me to speak. It is a great honor to be a part of the Ozark graduating class this year. I have watched Ozark Academy grow since 2018, and I have been honored to work with Mr. Rocha on the Central Consortium for Classical Educators Conference the past two years
It seems like yesterday that I was where you all are right now. Yesterday feels like a blink even though the body says differently. So many things that mattered to me when I was your age don’t matter to me now. And if I told you to not worry about them, I realize that might be impossible for you to do. This is where you are, so I hope you just embrace it.
I am unapologetically from the GenX generation. I created mix tapes, dialed a rotary phone, and used a card catalogue. I adored Michael Jackson before he went weird, and I wore penny loafers and sparkly socks in his honor. I had incredibly high, swoopy peroxided bangs, and I wore a Swatch and Genie pants. Growing up in Long Beach, CA, I attended a little private Baptist school until 6th grade, and then I was bused to an inner-city school in for junior high and high school where my fellow classmates were Cameron Diaz and Snoop Dogg. By “fellow classmates,” I mean I did not have any classes with them, and they did not know I existed. They were way too cool for this AP choir nerd, and they were a year or two older than I. My childhood was idyllic. I roamed my neighborhood freely. My best neighborhood friend who lived across the street was Catholic and attended Catholic school, and I used to go to all her school festivals. I learned early on that Baptists were boring and Catholics knew how to party, but that didn’t stop me from trying to convert her.
Even though I own my Generation—the good and the bad—I also adore the Gen Z generation, your generation. I teach Gen Z students at John Brown University, and I raised two of you. I have a 24-year-old married son and a 20-year-old daughter who attend JBU. I describe myself in regards to motherhood as a recovering Aphrodite/Venus who aspires to be more like the saint, Mary. I know you have all read the ancient epics of Homer and Virgil, and you know that Aphrodite/ Venus was a rescuing helicopter mom in The Iliad, and a meddling matchmaker in The Aeneid. While I would not say I was a helicopter mom or a matchmaker, I did my fair share of rescuing and meddling. Today, my heroine saint is Mary, the mother of Christ, who faithfully watched her son be who he was supposed to be even when that meant suffering and dying for her sins. If anyone from my generation complains about your generation, you have my permission to look them in the eye and ask them which part they are responsible for: rescuing or meddling?
I want to let you know how lucky you are. As Gen Zers, you have a unique vantage point on the world. You are the first generation who does not remember life without the internet. While many might think this is a setback for your character, you fluidly maneuver digital platforms for your advantage better than the generations before you. In addition, according to a recent study by Stanford University, you prefer “in person” communication over any other form of communication.[1] Covid 19 made you thankful for people.
According to this same study, a typical Gen Zer is a “self-driver who deeply cares about others, strives for community, is highly collaborative and social, values flexibility, relevance, authenticity and non-hierarchical relationships…”[2] You are the first IGen. You have lived with the dominance of iPads, iWatches, iPhones, etc. I became curious about what the “i” in these things really stood for. I found that it stands for not just one “i,” but five:
Internet
Individual
Instruct
Inform
Inspire
While the Apple “i” s are not unholy, they do not guide a Gen Zer towards what to love. They do not cultivate loving what is “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy” as St Paul says in Philippians 4:8. Our world, the world that Apple says “instructs, informs, and inspires” the individual through the internet, often presents us with what is false, base, unjust, tainted, disagreeable, despicable, mediocre, and dishonorable. How can we possibly know what the beautiful things are to pursue that will help us live well?
As Ozark Catholic Academy graduates, you have a head start. With a liberal arts education steeped in the beautiful Catholic tradition, you have already been introduced to beautiful liturgy and literature that embody the things that matter. You have encountered many “types” in your curriculum over the past four years: how to be a good friend from Samwise Gamgee in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the consequences of being less-than-human from Caliban in Shakespeare ’s The Tempest, the duty of Aeneas in Virgil’s Aeneid, and the steadfast nature of Penelope in Homer’s Odyssey. The curriculum you encountered offers better “i” s than that of Apple. I will highlight five:
Imagination
Integrity
Introspection
Intentionality
Incarnation
The first one is imagination. I recently returned from a trip to Prince Edward Island to visit all the things related to Anne of Green Gables. It was an embodied literature trip where I experienced with my “bosom friend” how the author LM Montgomery’s imagination was inspired by her time and the place of PEI. Anne, the heroine in her story, was always looking for more “scope for imagination.” This imagination is what separates us from all other creatures. We can create beauty just as our Creator creates since we are made in His image. We were also given a moral imagination implanted in our soul to know how to live well. It is cultivated through the teaching of our parents, our churches, and the best stories given to us in God-inspired scripture as well as other stories. Our moral imagination is the compass which directs us toward God. It sees the world in an order. And within that order, it helps us create, just as God creates. It helps us love the things worth loving and guides us with an inner check. It is up to us to decide what to do with that check. We are independent creatures and God gives us the freedom to choose right and wrong. Chesterton says, “The power which makes a man able to entertain a good impulse is the same as that which enables him to make a good gun; it is imagination.”[3] The trick is, we must decide what to do. Is what we create and imagine going to contribute to the good, or are we going to contribute towards destruction? How do we cultivate our imagination? For one, we continue reading. So many students who graduate high school and even college never open another book for the sake of learning or pleasure. Mark Twain is attributed in saying that “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” Whether he said it or not, it speaks truth. Today, Netflix and Hulu compete for our imagination. Go ahead and watch a show on these streaming services, but make sure you balance it with a continuation of good books like those you read at Ozark. C.S. Lewis bids us to read an old book for every new book we read. Let’s at least start with a more attainable goal: I challenge you to read ANY good book for every Netflix program or two! Cultivate your imagination.
Another “I” to remember is integrity. Integrity is the extent to which we live out the moral imagination. This is not just knowing the right thing to do; it is upholding the right things in all circumstances. It is being the person that everyone can count on to be consistent, trustworthy, and in holding things up to the highest standard. This sounds incredibly high-minded, but if you can be consistent in your standards, you will stand out above everyone else. You will be a beacon of influence. It brings comfort to the body of humans who surround you. People like consistency and standards. Their souls crave it even though their bodies might reject it. Our souls truly want the order of the moral imagination lived out in integrity. It helps our anxiety. Consider “father” Aeneas. While I almost never forgave him for deserting Dido, I came to understand his piety as a form of beautiful duty to integrity. Aeneas did what was right, even though it cost him greatly.
Another principle that I hope you continue is introspection. Jesus bid us to love God with our hearts, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31) and Socrates bid us to live the “examined life.” Christian introspection requires us to examine our lives as Socrates says, in the presence of God, and his purpose with our fellow neighbors in mind. We must look first upward to receive our purpose and then horizontally to integrate God’s purpose in the world toward our fellow neighbors. Introspection does not mean to focus on our own egoism. It does not mean to focus on our selves first. Introspection is understanding our relationship to God and the gifts that he has given us so that we can serve our human neighbors beginning with our families, fellow Christians, and the world. I remember the wise words of my mother, who, ironically avoided introspection, but was wise, nonetheless. She said: “The best way to cure the blues” is to serve someone else.” She was not wrong. When I feel anxious or depressed, I can immediately change the synapses of my brain when I do this (along with taking a walk, praying, and creating and beauty or order within my control). When you quit obsessing about yourself and focus on God’s people, your identity in Him is revealed. So, introspection does not mean just “me time.” Introspection means taking the time to review your virtue and vices and align your soul with the essence of the Creator.
Fourthly, be intentional! Intentionality naturally follows introspection because it requires a design or purpose for a particular end. Ask God, listen, and then move. Movement in your life requires intentionality. It is the force that gets an object to no longer stay static. For an object to move, it needs an outside force to act upon it (Newton’s First Law). The Lord God our Creator intentionally created us. Before he created, the intention was there. He thought of us with action in mind. Before Christ went to the cross for our sins, His intention was to save us. There is a big difference between just having good intentions and moving with intention—for intention requires a plan for movement. Moses intended to obey God, so he returned to Egypt. Hector intended to live up to his honor, so he faced Achilles. Odysseus intended to go home, so he left Kalypso’s island and ventured to Ithaca. Aeneas intended to fulfill his destiny, so he sailed from Carthage to found Rome. True intention discovered through introspection has a purpose followed by movement.
Last, but not least, be incarnate! Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the human Mary, became a human incarnate for us—for our benefit. There is something very special about incarnation. It is real. Be real for the people around you. Don’t give pretenses. Sit with them. Walk with them. As Stephen Covey says in his book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (a great book to read immediately as an adult), “seek to understand” them. Be present. When we do this, we imitate Christ and His presence within us. He is the Logos, the Word, the Truth in which everything centers around. He is the author and the perfector of our faith. When we love and imitate the incarnate Jesus, His power and love will work through us. I think of one of my favorite children’s books that you likely read: Frog and Toad. Toad often felt melancholy, so Frog SAT with him. Sometimes our attentive incarnate presence is all that is needed.
Also, being incarnate means enjoying experiences!! Relish the sensory powers that God gave you. Enjoy his creation in nature. Smell the saturated scents of a humid summer evening, listen to the wind whip through the trees, savor the sensation of freshly washed sheets, taste the difference in the bread you made, and finally, gaze at a sublime sunset over a body of water. Make sure that when you leave here, you don’t forget to LIVE and carpe diem, “seize the day.” Don’t do it in the sense of indulging in Epicurean pleasures. Enjoy the life that God gave you, who He made you to be, and seek to find His special purpose for you.
In summary, I encourage you to contemplate the alternate five “I” s to Apple: imagination, integrity, intention, introspection, incarnation. These virtues will leave you more content and joyful as you navigate the next phase of your life. Thank you.
[1] Stanford Report. https://news.stanford.edu/2022/01/03/know-gen-z/#:~:text=In%20summary%2C%20a%20typical%20Gen%20Zer%20is%20a,has%20to%20be%20done%20to%20address%20those%20issues.
[2] Ibid.
[3] G.K. Chesterton. “Humanitarianism and Strength” http://www.online-literature.com/chesterton/all-things-considered/27/.
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