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Taking a Break
Posted on June 8th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Due to final exams and my upcoming wedding, I have not written a post for some time and it will probably be another month before I do so again. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Technical Difficulties
Posted on February 19th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Uncategorized.
My blog has a bug that I have not yet been able to fix. Some of the posts go missing for a few hours; and some of the titles are mixed up. Sorry for the inconvenience; I will try to get it fixed when I can. In the meantime I will still be putting up posts, below this message.
Culture
Posted on February 19th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: History, Philosophy.
“…Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
In the last fifty years there has been a resurgence of interest in education among Christians. This is clearly a good thing; but we must be careful to remember that there is more to the life of the mind than merely what is received during one’s youth. And there is more than merely being a “lifelong learner.”
What I am referring to is culture, especially what is called “high culture.” I will not attempt a full definition of culture in this article (which would be a substantial task), but rather discuss it’s role in corporate and individual human life.
A cultured person is one who has a mind that has been “cultivated”– over many years– by what is good, and true and beautiful. A cultured individual moves easily in the realms of knowledge and art, and has a “taste” that has been developed through extended moral effort (i.e. “Learning to appreciate” things). The culture of a society consists of the mode of intellectual cultivation held in common by a substantial group of people.
Culture is “high” when the length of time required to participate in it is great, and when higher moral capacities must be invoked in order to receive it. Thus Baroque music is higher than the popular music of the 1940’s America, though both are examples of good culture.
There have been several high cultures in history– most great civilizations have had one (and indeed, culture is inseparable from civilization). The Babylonians, the Persians, the Hebrews, the Indians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Greeks and Romans, are the best early examples of this. The last two millennia in the Western world has seen various forms of Christian culture, culminating (unfortunately) in the materialist culture of the early 20th century. In a limited way other civilizations could be included in the mix– perhaps the ancient Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas, as well as some of the Barbarian tribes of Northern Europe early in the Christian Era. These had some limited arts, astronomy, and perhaps some mathematics.
Next to the rare, ecstatic enjoyment of God, culture and the aesthetic instances of it are the sources of the deepest and highest pleasures available to human beings. They are deepest because they touch on our very hearts and souls, and highest because they lift our minds to a level of greatness that they do not otherwise reach.
Culture is not a “nice” but unnecessary part of human life. It is an important part of human happiness, individually and corporately which is based upon the spiritual and intellectual nature of a human being. It is a training ground for the moral capacities needed for national life, and one of the essential rewards of being a good person. It is also the public arena of good and evil.
The greatest ancient cultures were the Hebrew and classical Greek and Roman cultures. The Greeks and Romans attained an unprecedented level of civilization, with some of the deepest insights into goodness, truth, and beauty that exist. Under strictly human and angelic capacities, they did the best. The Hebrews in fact had a less extensive culture, but the principles upon which their culture was based were matters of supernatural revelation, and thus exercised more power over human life.
But it is the Christian culture which succeeded the classical world which was highest overall. Armed with the moral and spiritual insights of the Old and New Testaments, “classical” civilization was reinterpreted and expanded for many centuries. The great philosophy of the Middle Ages, the art of the Renaissance, and the political advancements of the 18th century are some of the greatest instances of this high culture.
Because culture is so important for our lives, it is one of the main things that God is interested in on the earth. It is also something that Jesus draws us into as we follow him. In itself it is intrinsically valuable, and part of what makes human beings so precious.
There are various ways of participating in culture. They are all good, but have different degrees of pleasure and effort associated with them. The first is simple exposure to culture: reading a dialog of Plato or going to a museum or musical performance for example. Next is reception and study of culture: learning to play a classical piece on the piano, studying art history, or learning physics or chemistry. This second step requires discipline and begins to work a substantial change on our minds and hearts. The third and greatest involvement is contribution: sculpting a man or woman under Renaissance principles, writing a piece for the piano, or (as interests me) developing new theorems and theories in mathematics.
We are now in a situation under which we can appreciate the role of the university in Modern society. It is the center of high culture. Those who train there and “research” there make their contribution to human culture itself, or perhaps to a more adequate understanding of it. Theology, philosophy, history, literature, art, science, mathematics– these are the disciplines under which goodness, truth, and beauty have come to the Western world. And perhaps there is no more effective way.
Because of what we have said about the order of cultural value, we can see that teaching in a cultural area is not as important or enjoyable as deeply penetrating a single discipline, and making a unique contribution to it. To recover a “Christian culture” young Christians with high ideals must go into the core fields, and learn from Jesus there how to take their stand for goodness, truth, and beauty.
But as has been said, this is not merely a service to the world, it is a source of great happiness, and an important means of preparing or own souls for eternity. Much of what is in our spirits is a matter of what we love and what we do not love. If Christians seriously pursue this they will, as in other ages, find the help of God and renew our actual Western culture, which deeply needs the life of God.
Discipleship
Posted on February 15th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Theology, History, Philosophy.
“The true Light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” John 1:9
“All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The Great Commission
The New Testament picture of a believer in Christ is that of a disciple. Though others have written at length on this topic, it is so important that to neglect to give it a place on my blog would be a disservice to my readers.
As we have said several times on this blog, human beings have a deep need for knowledge, especially knowledge of ultimate reality and the means to human happiness. There is so much important stuff for us to know that it is impossible to figure it all out on one’s own– even if one devotes his or her entire life to it.
The idea of a disciple is one which comes down to us through both sacred and secular history. The great philosophers of ancient Greece, Rome, and China all had a little band of followers into whom they poured their knowledge and character. The same could be said of some of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets. Jesus, as the greatest philosopher and prophet, does not deviate from this model. In his earthly life, he too had twelve intimate associates and several hundred serious students. To be a disciple of Jesus during his earthly ministry had a meaning that would have been clear to anyone who lived in the ancient world. This model of discipleship, however, is not unique to the classical world, East and West. It continued through the Middle Ages, and well into the Modern period.
One could of course still be a disciple of Plato or Lao-Tse today, in the sense that one could make the teacher’s writings, sayings, and example the basis upon which one lives his or her life. This is in fact done more frequently than one might imagine. In the same way, one could be a student of Jesus: using His life and teachings in the four gospels as a pattern for life. Since Jesus is the greatest of the ancient teachers, this would be a particularly intelligent thing to do. This is in fact the starting point for anyone who wants to be disciple of Christ today.
But there is more to Christian discipleship than this. As has been said already, the Son of God has a Divine nature as well as a human nature. He is present throughout the entire Universe, and he lives at every place and time. He is the expression of the nature of God, and the One who knows everything. A person has the option to become His disciple, to learn from Him how the world works and how to live one’s life.
The most important biblical example of this is the Apostle Paul. More than any other human being, he learned how to live his life from Christ, although he, presumably, did not know Jesus while He lived in Palestine. Paul is in fact a good model for us as to how discipleship should progress– although he had a unique calling which few of us could endure. In some important respects, each of the great Western and Eastern teachers were disciples of Christ. Studying their writings and lives will, I think, reveal that they learned much of what they knew from the Word of God teaching them. The Father teaches us of course, but so do the Word and the Spirit, as the opening quotes suggest.
This vision of things can allow us to see the place that reading the great teachers (mostly Western, although there are a few good ones from the East) has in discipleship to Christ. Although we learn from Him first and foremost, one of the ways that he teaches us is through those who have already begun to learn from Him. Ideally these would be people we know personally, but to some extent we can receive from those now dead men and women who left their writings and their example in the record of history.
As an aside, near the very top of the list are the Stoic philosophers. Although they were not Christian by any means, they distilled much of the wisdom that the classical world had discovered and made it available to ordinary human beings. While this is not the place to establish it, the apostles Paul and John both learned a significant portion of what they knew from the Stoics. The early monasticism made use of the example of the Stoics as well: I have heard that when the hermits first took to the desert they were sometimes called philosophers. We can confidently assert that a great help to Christian discipleship is available through the life and writings of men such as Zeno, Cleanthes, Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius.
But this takes us a little afield from the present topic, and I plan to write a post on the Stoics sometimes soon. What should be clear is that part of how we learn from Christ is through our teachers who are strictly human. The great Christians of history clearly belong to this crew, but those Christians we know who are farther along give us something special as well. Christ teaches about our teachers, and then we can learn from them properly.
What remains to be discussed are: the “material” that we are to learn from Christ, the means and progression of our learning, and God’s ultimate intention for discipleship.
Law and Relations
Posted on January 24th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Theology, Philosophy.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Psalm 19
“The law of the spirit of life has made me free from the law of sin and death.” St. Paul
Having discussed the nature of the soul’s relations a few weeks back, it is now possible to clarify the nature of law: natural, moral, and political. Because law itself is a kind of relation; and its purpose is to govern the common relations of life.
Everything is governed by law in some way. This is part of what it means for the universe to be ruled by God. In his authority and wisdom he has established certain relationships between things and persons. Angels, men, animals, plants, and matter in general have there own particular relations; and in particular each has a relation to God.
Natural law then is the relations that material objects have among themselves. These relations are established by persons; God above all but to some extent by men and angels. A “miracle” consists of a higher law being invoked by a person for the sake of good or evil. I think that there are many persons involved in the government of galaxies and planets: each establishing his or her rule by law. Thus the angels are ruled by God; God and the angels rule man; and God, angels and man rule the physical and psychical universe. In normal conditions, the person (or Person) behind the natural law is present and acting through his or her command. This is true of the universe as a whole and also of specific physical acts like a ball hitting a baseball bat or an engine burning fuel.
It is the consistency and harmony of such physical relations that makes it possible for human beings and animals to act in the physical world. A bear can stick his paw in a stream and find a fish; a pilot can exploit the relation of speed, shape, and the atmosphere to fly great distances across the earth.
As was said earlier, it was originally God’s intention that mankind would be fully in charge of the animal kingdom. This mostly meant that we would establish and uphold proper relations between men and women, and among the animals and plants of the earth.
Moral and political law consists of the proper relations of persons living under God and with one another. A commandment is higher or lower depending on the importance of the relation that it rules. As everyone knows, the relations of human beings and angels amongst themselves and between them and God are very often not what they should be. God’s law and political law are attempts to rectify the situation by making available a proper relation: one that we often cannot see on our own, because of our ignorant and twisted condition.
The greatest men in history then are the Lawgivers: those who knew how things among people should be related and who made those possible relations available to individuals, group, and nations. This is why the law profession has such dignity and power; while the actual practice is often rife with corruption. This is what Moses, the prophets, Jesus and the apostles knew best. They knew how things should be related in order for human beings to be happy.
But the many great political law givers should be included in the list also: Hammurabi, Solon, Plato, the early Roman Senate, up to our great founding Fathers, and the subsequent lawgivers in our dear American history.
It is this understanding of law that led people in past generations to think of a good law as a discovery, and not an invention. There are possible relations between free beings (and including their possessions) which are good or evil. To find a good law is to know the mind of God and to get at the true nature of human life. A bad law consists of an improper relation being prescribed by someone in authority. Of course, depending on the severity of the evil it is proper to sometimes submit to, and to sometimes resist a bad law. If the person who made the law is genuinely in authority one should try to change his or her mind, and if this fails, be willing to submit to punishment for breaking the law, appealing to God “for the rectitude of [one’s] intentions.” (But here I digress to the nature of authority; Perhaps that would be a good post at some point.)
Thus there is an easy way to characterize evil: it is breach of the Law– moral or political. “Sin is lawlessness,” St. John said. And it is precisely the disrespect of law which most threatens Modern life. This comes unfortunately from our religious, intellectual, and political histories. Man is a spiritual and social being; he must live in relation to others under good law or else be alienated and destroyed.
The special relation that law has to the soul should also be mentioned. As the human soul is made primarily of qualities and relations, good law restores proper order to the soul. This strengthens it and enlivens it. In fact, the soul thrives upon good law– and withers under bad.
The greatness of God’s Law as given in the Old Testament and through Jesus and the apostles consists of its power to bring human beings into proper relation to God and to each other. The greatness of American law (at least up until very recently…) is what makes knowledge of political law and love for it so basic to a proper secular education. As Lincoln saw long ago, if the laws are good and the people love and keep them, all goes well for a nation.
When thinking of what we can do to make our lives and the lives of those around us better, we can confidently assert that knowing, keeping, loving and doing God’s Law is one of the first and foremost things that we should consider.
From a practical standpoint one should mention that Law generally does not have its impact on the soul immediately; one must dwell in God’s Law through his or her thoughts for an extended period of time. Over weeks and months its sweetness and power will seep into our soul, in a way that we will certainly notice, and certainly enjoy.
The Stability of the Heart
Posted on January 15th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Theology, Philosophy.
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” –Proverbs 4
Although we are all conscious of that part in us which chooses, the spirit, we may not be as certain as to its nature. It is non-physical, a “breath” that is received directly from God. And in any given choice, we are likely to find that the choice itself feels very free.
And clearly there is significant freedom of the will. This is simply a fact of common human experience. The biblical and classical traditions both affirm it as well. But there is also a sense in which the will is not entirely free.
I am not talking primarily about the influence of other parts of the person on the will. Of course the mind, body, soul, and social relationships can “drag” the will into doing things which, on its own, it might not have chosen. But even in the moments in which we act the most freely, the will is “set” in a certain mixture of something between spirit and thought and feeling. This is what is meant by character. It is the natural inclination of the will. Perhaps the best way to describe this is to say that the will itself has a substance distinct from its specific acts.
This fact is widely misunderstood. Our choices do not have only external effects, but rather they determine the “bent” or inclination of the will for future choices. It is also why we cannot ultimately change our life merely by will-power. In the background at any given time is what we might call our baseline character; and choice alone cannot completely restructure it.
And it is this fact that makes salvation and damnation possible, and necessary one way or another. When we reach maturity in our lives, the evil from around us has “sunk” into our will to such a degree that consistent love is not possible. There seem to be only a handful of exceptions to this in human history, and what makes them possible should be clear from what follows. This evil foundation of our spirit will continuously fester throughout our whole lives, if something is not done to change it.
Because we are faced with the problem of evil in our wills, our very cores, the most desperate human need is for something positive to be done to change it. There have been many attempts at this throughout history, with varying degrees of success. And it is here that the superiority of the Christian revelation is perhaps most clear.
It is tempting to say that it is only a lack of knowledge that makes this happen, and with certain qualifications and from a certain perspective that statement could be true. But what I am referring to is the dark presence which infects the will and makes it sick. This evil is a positive reality, not merely an absence of good.
Hell is the ultimate destination for a sick will. The evil in the will, if unchecked, will more or less completely set the spirit against God and His Kingdom. This may take many years. Damnation consists of the act of God that gives the will of an evil individual final, immovable character.
The two greatest attempts at changing the will have been through knowledge and spirit, the classical and the biblical traditions, respectively. The biblical tradition involves knowledge of course, and the classical tradition involves spirit, so we should think of the distinction as one of emphasis.
As a human being comes to know what is good and right and the nature of ultimate reality, he or she has a basis upon which to make good choices. This can bring powerful healing to the entire soul, although it is usually unable to root out the evil at the deepest level. This is why the classical attempts at redemption usually failed, especially for those who were far along in their personal corruption.
The way that God has made possible through his hosen people, and Jesus above all, is redemption by the Spirit. God’s will has a power which includes but is deeper than both thought and feeling. As the Spirit moves upon the human will, the evil is disrupted. This generally happens rather slowly, because the operation requires gentleness so that the human will is healed and brought back to life. God alone can initiate this process, usually through speaking to the soul directly or through his servants.
As the will heals it has more and more strength to offer itself to God, and to receive of His Spirit. As soon as the will first comes to life, it is able to receive what it needs from the Word of God, and the Spirit working with and through that Word.
Hence reading and meditating on Scripture are fundamental to redemption. As the word warms our heart, the callouses, bruises, and puss that penetrate it can be washed off and and the spirit can be restored to life. Disciplines for the spiritual life, such as fasting and solitude, open the mind so that the God’s speaking and Spirit can work on us at the level of our heart.
We all find ourself at some place in this process. If we are literally dead to God, our will not functioning at all within His life, we must do what we can to think about God and to hear his word, in the hope that He will enliven it by His grace or action. If we find that our will is alive (and there is significant difference in our experience once the will comes to life) we can and should take the steps to receive more grace. We must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.”
With those who have a redeemed will, a positive process occurs. Goodness and truth progressively seep into the deepest part of the will, making it less likely that we will do evil. The stability of the heart becomes an advantage, and at Judgment the good bent of the will is forever confirmed.
Career and Calling
Posted on January 15th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Theology, Philosophy.
Almost everyone must work in our world in order to make a living. This is something God has set up; as the Apostle said, “He who will not work shall not eat.” Thus working and having a job are moral issues; our willingness to work is a part of our character.
But beyond a job there are two other options within a civilized society: career and calling. These are higher moral possibilities for a human being, beyond mere work.
First we should be clear about some basic aspects of career or calling. The goal of a career is not to make a name for oneself or to become well-off financially. Neither is that of a calling. Often times a successful career or calling brings renown and wealth, but this is a lesser thing than the actual career or calling itself, and is relatively incidental. One cannot have an effective career or calling if one’s goal is merely to make a name for oneself or to make money; it is a law of the mind and spirit. This is of course more emphatically true of a calling than of a career.
A career is a chosen path of work that requires the development of ones mind over a lengthy period of time. It is an attempt to do something good that requires effort over many years, and the realization of one’s intellectual and perhaps physical capacities. Examples of careers are: running one’s own business, practicing medicine or law, and training as a professional athlete. The career develops who we are in a way that a mere job cannot.
Accordingly success in a career is a matter of accomplishing the good which one had set out to do, in a manner which is itself good and right. Dishonesty or laziness in one’s career brings failure in the sense that it prevents us from the realization of the personal qualities that make a career precious. Another kind of failure is when, because of circumstances or the decisions of others, we are prevented from accomplishing the good which we had intended. This kind of failure is of course not one’s own fault.
A calling is something different, something beyond career in the way that career is beyond a job. Calling is a path of self sacrifice merely for the service of others and the full realization of ones moral and intellectual capacities. Some of the main callings are religious ministry, political service, artistic expression, and intellectual discovery, as in a university.
It is not wrong merely to have a job. There is dignity in all work; and there are other important aspects of doing good that are somewhat outside either career or calling: such as raising a family or submitting to the instruction of those who are in authority in some way.
One of the key things about both a career and a calling is that they must be consciously chosen as long term goals, usually when one is rather young, say before the late 30’s.
I have written this post mostly for the sake of believers, because the church does not currently give helpful advice on this matter. Often career is taken to mean something that one does for oneself apart from God; whereas calling is simply identified with being a pastor.
Instead, career and calling, because they are long term goals, are an effective way to bring one’s soul in contact with God, because to properly execute a successful career often requires God’s help, especially in our current world. The same is even truer of a calling: in a calling one is pouring oneself out for others; this is a very basic way of discovering the Life of God.
Often one can only have a career or calling if one has been given certain opportunities. In reality, everyone who wants this should be given the opportunity. In this world that is often not so.
It is with reference to career and calling that one can see more clearly the nature of good and evil. In general, evil things can deflect us from a successful career or paralyze us while executing our calling. Love of pleasure of course withdraws the soul from the goodness of the work to be done; avarice prevents us from honestly and wholeheartedly pursuing it (especially by making us distrust God); desire for fame or respectability traps us in hypocrisy. One can read the works of the great moral philosophers and theologians as means to effect a great career or calling. Perhaps the ancient Stoics were the best at this.
When one understands the nature of career and calling, one can see the place that ambition appropriately holds in human life. We are meant to have our lives count– as much as we will decide to pursue it. The good of society and the world itself depends upon people pursuing ambitious careers and callings. The destruction of a nation comes in part from a lack of people attempting to take such a high path. The same is true of people pursuing “careers” and “callings” merely for themselves or their desires. Instead, we should plan to realize our capacities in a way that is helpful for others, working it all out with God in the process.
Fasting
Posted on January 10th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Theology, Philosophy.
One of the core disciplines for life in the Spirit is fasting. Solitude, silence, prayer, study, and scripture memorization/meditation are central of course to any program of Christian growth, but today what is less understood is the place that fasting has in the life of the believer. While not an authority on such matters (I will defer to Willard and Foster), it may be helpful to some if I describe what I do know about practicing fasting.
Like all the disciplines, there is more than one reason to pursue fasting. I would argue that there are key reasons that a Christian in particular should fast, but I should mention the general effects on the mind, soul, and body which will be experienced by anyone who attempts to make this a part of his or her life. Undoubtedly there are more reasons than I am mentioning here.
For anyone, fasting increases the sensitivity of the mind– both in thought and in feeling. One is more sensitive during the fast, but increasingly so at all times after one has made fasting a habit. Extended fasting (e.g. three days) can in fact make it possible for the basic ideas of the mind to be altered, for better or for worse. Thus we want to be in the presence of good ideas and images when we first attempt such a lengthy task. Because of these effects on the mind, fasting was a part of most Greek and Roman educational plans in the ancient world, as well as in the Christian Philosophy of the first few centuries A.D. The Hebrew prophets and Christian saints fasted in part because it can actually open the mind to visions of things beyond our normal experience.
The body too receives good things from a fast. Although, as everyone knows, when one first goes without food one feels miserable and weak, those experienced in fasting actually find a certain strength, as the soul begins to recover and fill the body. Apparently those who are advanced in the practice of fasting feel a special rejuvenation through it.
The soul of man is not in full health when one first starts to practice spiritual/ philosophical disciplines. But as we fast (and do other things) the soul begins to be purified from some of the corruption that inhabits it. This leads to an improvement in our overall quality of life.
The spirit too gains strength and determination as it acts upon the body without the energy that comes through food.
Because of these general effects of fasting on the soul, body, mind, and spirit, fasting is found in virtually every religion: from Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism, to Native American religion, and the more familiar Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Ancient religion, including classical paganism and classical Philosophy, heavily incorporated fasting in their programs for delivering the mind from ignorance and purifying the soul from the structures of evil that inhabit it under normal conditions.
The Christian of course has greater resources than these general ones when he or she fasts. To those who believe, Christ and His Spirit begin to fill the body and bring to the surface the evil in our wills. This is not always pleasant, but usually the lasting effects are well worth the effort. The Word of God, both as Christ and the Scriptures, has a spiritual energy and order to it. When one uses fasting in conjunction with study and meditation on the Scriptures one finds strength that one never knew was there. The way that fasting opens up the mind makes meditation a more profitable experience for several days after the fast.
The second benefit that a Christian receives from fasting is in conjunction with work and service: spiritual power. As Jesus said “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me.” This power is primarily a matter of God’s Spirit upholding our soul, spirit, and body, but also to some extent and after some experience the Spirit proceeds out from us to those whom we serve or with whom we live.
How does one practice it? Unless one’s soul is in some state of emergency it is best to learn how to do it slowly. Choose one day a week and only have fruits and vegetables. After several weeks try skipping a meal once a week; and several weeks after that skip two. When one is fasting a full day regularly (once, twice or three times a week) one can in general experience many of the things that have been described in this post. We should be sensitive to God’s speaking to our souls and minds at this time. When one is a beginner one should be gentle, and not try to be a hero. For the first few times fast on Saturday, and get plenty of rest before, during and after. This will maximize the positive effects on the body and soul.
Some people seem to be called to extended fasts; Moses, Elijah, Jesus, and men like St. Francis went 40 days without food on some occasions. But fasting is very powerful, and one would usually be severely injured if one tried to do it for that amount of time. Unless God speaks clearly to us, we probably should limit it to a maximum of three days, and usually only one day at a time. Methodist ministers in the 18th and 19th centuries were required to fast twice a week, separating the two days with a day or two of eating.
I do not claim to have had all the experiences I have mentioned; much of what I have said comes from observing and listening to others, and from reading. But hopefully it can encourage some to be experimental with the practice, and to find more of God’s life through it.
Immortality and Incorruption
Posted on January 8th, 2008 by admin.
Categories: Theology, Philosophy.
“For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality.”
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
–The Apostle Paul
We have discussed on several occasions the continuity between this life an the next. The biblical and philosophical traditions emphasize that we take with us our understanding, character, and relationships into our future in the universe, beyond our own physical death. This fact is essential to convince us of the importance of the kind of person we become in our short life on earth, and the meaningfulness of our earthly experience.
But there is also a profound discontinuity between our experience here and hereafter, and I believe it is this discontinuity that makes it difficult to speak with much assurance of the world to come. This difference could be described as the difference between mortality and immortality or corruption and incorruption. I would like to draw out some of the implications of these distinctions.
On the most fundamental level, mortality refers to the fact that all (a few biblical exceptions notwithstanding) human beings die. Corruptibility refers to physical and biological entropy, that is, the inevitable process by which the life cycle of an organism comes to a close by breaking down. This corruptibility is shared by us with plants, animals, and the physical conditions of the universe. Sequoia trees, some of the longest living organisms on earth, eventually reach the end of their life span and die. Stars decay over billions of years, and planets slowly become uninhabitable. Human beings themselves enjoy a short youth, and soon reach a maturity that comes at the price of the breakdown of the body.
These are not merely physical facts, but in fact have spiritual significance.
Much of conscious human experience is determined by mortality and corruption. Each day comes to a close, followed by night. We grow tired, and must sleep. We grow hungry, and must eat. The earth and its inhabitants experience four seasons every year; with plant and animal death following life, and life following death. Several of the great Psalms focus on this mortality in nature.
Thus the environment in which we live is defined by mortality and corruption; but so are our bodies and even perhaps our souls. Our senses are most powerful as a child and youth; slowly they begin to lose their clarity. Romantic love especially goes through phases: first the infatuation of childhood, then the blossoming of young love, and finally the mature love of older men and women. Families are defined by the various stages of corruption and mortality in human life– grandparents, parents, and children receiving their places in life in a measured, temporary way. Civilizations are born, prosper, and come to an end. The body itself loses its natural powers in the evening of life, finally succumbing to death in one way or another.
There is something deeply meaningful here, and yet also perhaps something morose. It can be comforting and depressing at the same time. The life cycles of the created universe are beautiful; but in the face of human aspirations much experience of those cycles is humanly tragic. A young person may die in a car crash, for example.
What we want to consider is what the promises of immortality and incorruption have to offer us. Imagine a world in which no one ever dies. War, famine, murder, and suicide have no place there. The human body is constantly refreshed and continually in a healthy state. Relationships continue indefinitely, and over time we know more and more other people. A life’s work does not come to an end, but rather develops into something greater time and time again. Government no longer maintains itself by threat of death. These are some of the basic properties of the world to come; and when one thinks about it one can see how vastly different human experience will be.
Perhaps one can see this best by considering art in such a world: high art as well as popular art. Art as we know it on earth is very much wrapped up in the earthly human experience. Romantic love and marriage, family, death, history, war, and the rectification of evil are some of its most important subject matter. But in the age to come we will die no more, marry no more, and human history as we know it will come to an end. What then will be the subject of art? I think that there must be some kind of beauty beyond current human experience, which will be the subject of art for the age to come.
Our interests and the condition of life will one day be totality determined by eternal factors; and as Romans 8 suggests, humanity in its immortality will bring God’s incorruption to bear upon the rest of the cosmos.
Thus it is our destiny to enter into eternity, and to stay there permanently. One could think of this as a person trapped in a small room opening the door to a vast landscape such as the Grand Canyon. In this field of divine and human activity the limitations which we assume in our current state will be removed. As was said in the Middle Ages, “the creation in time is a revelation of the eternal acting of God.” May we all find ourselves well prepared for such a future.
Gender and Relations
Posted on November 29th, 2007 by admin.
Categories: Politics, Philosophy.
As I am an unmarried man, it may seem presumptive for me to discuss the nature of marriage, and indeed I claim no personal authority except as a semi-educated, amateur philosopher. I am not sure whether to do a post on marriage first, and then homosexuality or the other way around. The contemporary moral and political issues and ambiguities surrounding each are closely related. I think I will discuss them both in terms of the nature of gender.
As I have discussed sexual immorality in some detail, the inordinate desire which accompanies the practice of fornication and homosexuality will not be here considered. My main intention is to show that marriage is a moral and spiritual reality that meets the specific relational needs of the soul. I am concerned here with “immorality” only in so far as it disrupts the natural relations of the human being.
Gender is something we as human beings share with much of the animal kingdom; and it is likely that the higher beings such as angels do not share in it, at least in quite the same way. This is because gender as we know it is to a large part a matter of the dispositions, capacities, and needs of an animal body capable of reproduction. Whether we marry or not, the possibilities for biological human life remain a part of us, and indeed they shape who we will be forever. Our bodily properties and relations are a large part of our lives.
Gender is defined by means of a relation. If there were only one gender or one possible gender, sexuality would not be a very useful kind of thing. The nature of the male and female emerges in the male’s relation to the female, and vice versa. This is best seen in the actual act and maintenance required for procreation, though one can speak of it a little more generally.
Marriage is a matter of mutual giving and receiving, but with an emphasis on the man giving himself to the woman, and the woman receiving him in turn. This is not passive on the part of either. To realize his full capacities, a man must confer himself, and his whole life on a woman. Similarly to realize her own capacities a woman must actively receive and welcome the a man and his love. When this is done well, a beautiful arrangement is formed and healthy children emerge from this matrix of effective love. Studying the traditional marriage service from the Book of Common Prayer bears out some of the details.
Marriage is a special relation, created by God either directly or indirectly. The oaths of the traditional service activate it, as well as the pronouncements of the priest, judge, or minister who administrates the vows. Thus, ‘What God has joined together, let no man separate.’ This bond is a biological, spiritual, and civil state into which one enters, although today it is thought to be merely a civil reality, or perhaps rather trivial biological needs.
Today the battle rages over the legal issues surrounding marriage, in particular whether or not it should be extended to homosexual unions. And if marriage were merely a civil or legal matter, one would have to say of course it can and should be extended to homosexuals.
But it is in fact true that marriage cannot be extended to homosexual unions, because its profound biological basis. The deep need that it meets is the giving and receiving for the other person’s sake. This is deeper than the affections one has for the other, the sexual fulfillment provided, or one’s own preferences. The ontological relations behind gender make it so.
And here I think, is the important point of Jesus where he says that in the resurrection men and women will neither marry nor be given in marriage. He meant that the physical reality of procreation and the succession of generations would no longer be what it is now. This does not mean that those who are married here will not enjoy a special relationship in the hereafter. But it does mean that marriage as we know it is intimately bound up in the process of generation and corruption, i.e. biological life and death.
A man is suited psychological and physically to be the head of a household. The woman is suited physically and psychologically to administer the intimate level of care that a young child needs. This is a matter of the way in which the two sexes are oriented towards each other, as well as oriented outwardly in general. It is not dependent on the feelings, intelligence or intentions of the man or woman. (Here I would quickly say that I do not think either men or women are inferior to the other in terms of intelligence and moral/spiritual capacities. But that is a story for another time.)
Although marriage is very much a matter of mutual giving and receiving, as philosophers have pointed out through the ages the man has a fundamental need to give himself and be received, whereas the woman has a need to receive and be given to. Marriage meets these needs and brings life from them.
Beyond that, it has an essential place in the broader relations of life. Every person is a son, or a daughter and a grandchild, most are brothers or sisters, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, and cousins. But central to all of these relations is the capacity to be a husband or wife, a father or mother, and a grandfather or grandmother. A union (whether homosexual or heterosexual) which is not conferred by God or society upon an honest oath and confession is a violation in one way or another of these broader relationships. It is out of place in the cyclic, mortal, and physical order in which we now live. And it is devastating to those who stand in relation to the members of the false or superficial union.
This is a major part of why living with a woman with whom one is not married is wrong. It violates the wider relations of the soul; and it also takes something from the other person which was not appropriately given in the realm of the spiritual needs and possibilities. This violation of the landscape of natural relations is the basis of the wrongness of cohabitation and same sex marriages (Now with what we have said about gender, I think that homosexuality is much more damaging, to all involved, than mere fornication or cohabitation. But it is best to do neither).
Now in some circumstances adoption may be the best course, but in general it is best for a child to be raised by the same people who physically gave him or her life. That is part of the psychological needs of a human being. A same sex union cannot do this, even with all of the advances in modern medicine.
And in particular, a same sex union deprives the child of either a mother or a father, and often of many of the wider relationships, depending on the particular situation.
But beyond this, an cohabitation or homosexual union deprives others of many of the peripheral and stabilizing relationships of life. It is to step out of the reality of siblings and siblings-in-laws and all of the other relationships already mentioned. And a willful neglect or defiance of such relationships results in ruptures in the most fundamental structure of the soul. For one’s own sake, sex should be done only in marriage, and no one should seek a homosexual union.
I must say, loudly and clearly, like in the previous post about abortion, my intention is not to show that God shakes his fist at sexual deviancy. That may or may not be true; there certainly is some evidence that these things are taken into account at the day of judgment. My intention rather is to demonstrate or suggest that the very relations of the soul require a special care in issues such as gender. As said earlier, this is because gender and sexuality form the basis, directly or indirectly of the most important life relations. To ignore this is to saw off the branches which uphold us.