My chapter has a sub-group, The Truth and Charity Study/Discussion Group. Last night we had a wicked awesome discussion. We started talking about St. Bernard of Clairvaux's four degrees of love. We ended by discussing Kant. I found out that I'm pretty Kantian. I believe that if you make a deliberate choice to love, as opposed to doing just what come natural, you have loving in a more worthy way.
I'll give a specific example. You love your work with Downs Syndrome children. For some reason, I just can't see it. In fact, looking at a Downs child turns my stomach. I think badly about myself for being this way. So I decide to change. I volunteer to work with you. Soon I become use to the Downs kids. I learn to know them individually. In fact, they work their way into my heart. Guess what. I have grown to love them. Hence, I think, in a way, that my love is better than yours because I chose, even forced, myself to love them. You just did what came naturally to you.
Is that Kantian?
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