Metanoia Is at the Core

Metanoia is at the core of Catholic consciousness: usually conveyed as the concept of repentance. However, repentance is only one possible interpretation of the term metanoia, which refers more broadly to any change of mind or heart that positively affects spiritual growth. Repentance can therefore be viewed as a single type of metanoia, but not the only type. A change of mind and heart can follow from a spark of insight or from forgiveness or from a sudden sense of peace that comes from deep prayer. Metanoia is a goal for all practicing Christians but it is a process and not an end: it is an ongoing exercise and is therefore always a part of our faith.

Some Christians would present metanoia less in terms of repentance and more in terms of accepting Christ as Lord and Savior. Catholic doctrine, however, frames metanoia more in terms of how one shifts behaviors, thoughts, and feelings away from sin and toward God. When we repent, we admit our faults and wrongdoings. We take action to rectify them and thereby initiate the process of metanoia. Similarly, metanoia can preclude a change in behavior or even in one's personality. A near-death experience, for example, can create metanoia by causing a whole shift in personal values. The person who nearly dies might suddenly start treating his or her parents better; quit a job; or become more dedicated to the Church. Metanoia is therefore usually evaluated in terms of its effects. That a person repents is of less worth than what happens as a result of that repentance. Metanoia is more than just a change of mind and heart; metanoia is a change of body and soul.

The strong association between repentance and metanoia implies that some sin has occurred or at least that some behavior must be changed. Moving toward the direction of spiritual purity and salvation requires honest self-assessment. When self-assessment reveals personality flaws, flawed behavior, or apparent sin, the next step is repentance. Repentance requires more than lip service in confession, which is one of the Catholic sacraments, can lead to metanoia but only through hard work. Regretfulness or guilt are not metanoia. Full repentance, the type that leads to metanoia, is achieved both via confession and via changes in behavior. It is possible that feelings of guilt and regret psychologically motivate an individual to repent and thus to achieve the deep changes in consciousness that metanoia implies.

In some cases, a change in behavior predates metanoia: hence the concept of "acting as if." For example, a person who wants to quit drinking sometimes has to go cold turkey before his or her consciousness changes to the point that cravings subside. In other cases, metanoia is required before a behavioral change can take root. Recovering from addiction, for example, might demand a strong decision borne of metanoia before the person can go cold turkey and quit. Before metanoia, the person has no psychological motivation to change.

Metanoia naturally implies a change for the better; a change that brings one closer to Truth, Virtue, Wisdom, and to God. A change of mind and heart is not always for the best; some individuals change for the worse and in those cases metanoia has not occurred. Rather, metanoia in the theological sense refers specifically to the movement away from sin and toward virtue. As a fundamental feature of Catholic life, metanoia is about progress and positive change. A whole community or culture can experience metanoia in the same way an individual can. When the consciousness of a culture shifts so that practices like slavery become unacceptable, then metanoia has taken place. Metanoia therefore underlies human progress and evolution on a global scale and does not only refer to individuals. Any paradigm shift, whether within an individual mind or within a society, constitutes metanoia.

What makes metanoia a more relevant term than repentance in Catholic discourse and theology is its forward focus. Repentance refers more literally to the feeling of regret, remorse, or guilt. Those feelings can at times be fruitful in inducing change. However, they are only means to an end; no amount of guilt, remorse, or regret will affect deep change without metanoia taking place. Therefore, the translation from the Greek metanoia to the Latin repentance is not absolute. Metanoia more closely resembles scriptural intent. Metanoia is far more than guilt or remorse; it is the change of mind and heart that occurs after guilt and remorse have subsided. In fact, an individual can little hope to achieve lasting spiritual healing, salvation, or positive change while dwelling on remorseful thoughts. On the other hand, forgiving oneself for sins is a major step toward total transformation.

Repentance can be a useful tool, even sometimes an essential stepping-stone toward metanoia. The person may need to go through a dark night of the soul, ritualized in forms like fasting perhaps, before metanoia can take place. Physical deprivation is therefore a tool commonly used in the world's religions including Christianity to achieve deep changes of body, mind, and soul. Fasting is one ritual activity that illustrates the connection between changes that take place in the body that initiate or parallel changes that take place in the mind and soul. Changing behavior before metanoia takes place is one method of achieving salvation. The act of repentance -- of self-abnegation or even punishment -- is part of the process of metanoia. In the same sense, criminal rehabilitation should be designed with metanoia as the primary goal. If repentance occurs, the inmate has a change of rehabilitating fully in order to return to society healed and free from sin. If repentance does not take place metanoia is impossible and the individual will not be rehabilitated. Repentance for sin and crime is not enough to achieve rehabilitation, though, which is why metanoia should be the guiding principle of criminal rehabilitation programs. An inmate expressing remorse and regret has not necessarily achieved the deep transformation that metanoia represents. Unfortunately metanoia cannot be measured; the only means to access rehabilitation is through careful scrutiny of the individual's behavior. Metanoia implies that the person's entire outlook on life and approach to daily activities has changed to reflect the new, improved state of consciousness.

Metanoia's practical implications are key to the Catholic understanding of the term. A religion bent on community growth and change, Catholicism has endeavored to deliver metanoia to all peoples of the world. Missionaries have been established with this fundamental goal in mind. Saving individual souls is a part of a collective process of societal change. Both individual and collective metanoia are part of the Catholic vision for global transformation.

The purpose of metanoia is ultimately to create the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Each individual experience of metanoia is a step toward that ultimate goal. Every time a community votes together to enact some kind of fundamental change that reflects social justice, the Kingdom of God comes closer to being manifest. The only way to achieve social change is through individual transformations. Individuals vote their conscience and they vote according to the paradigms that prevail in their families, communities, and cultures. Therefore, when an individual experiences metanoia he or she is likely to change voting habits. That person is poised to change his or her lifestyle habits in ways that reflect higher ideals.