Willmm J. Byron, S.J.
Unconnected Self Interest -Reflections on Alienation and Religion. Alienation permeates our culture, persuading man that he is alone. lost, unconnected, incomplete. Religion speaks to this central feature of human existence. If religion says anything at all to modern man, it tells him
he is not alone. Religion ties man back to (religare) Something or Someone who transcends the limitations of space and time, who speaks to him, who gives ultimate meaning to his life, who is accessible through prayer, ritual and the happenings of life. By contrast, if alienation has anything to say to man, it tells him he is alone--estranged, lost; unconnected, incomplete. Now believing, as I do, that reconciliation is the work of religion, I would want to suggest in this essay that religion should not merely coexist with but counteract the alienation which permeates our culture. I shall use the term alienation to cover four situations: alienation from God (theological alienation) ; alienation from self (psychological alienation) ; alienation from the group or community (sociological alienation) ; alienation from work (technological alienation). In the category of alienation from
269