Article April 16, 1977 Issue

What Is Normality?

JEANETTE S. McGUINESS

What is normality? This question has puzzled humanity through the ages. Our age is no exception.

Parents wonder what is and is not normal in establishing their homes and raising their families. Businessmen struggle over shifting theories and standards as to what are and are not normal business practices. Government leaders find themselves caught up in the subtle and not so subtle pressures stemming from contradictory and conflicting human demands. And society in general is often bewildered as it tries to sort out the normal from the abnormal with respect to moral, educational, and cultural issues.

The confusion arises from the attempt to understand normality from a human or material point of view rather than from a spiritual point of view. From this latter viewpoint, normality is understood to describe all that is good, perfect, healthy, beautiful, intelligent, pure, just, merciful, and harmonious—all that expresses God's perfect will for man and the universe.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Recognizing Substance in All We See and Do