tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79648200380876217872024-03-16T11:49:56.458-07:00Disfigured Praise Affliction for the Comfortablejonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.comBlogger209125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-7569982045939527172023-04-29T17:14:00.007-07:002023-04-29T21:53:34.521-07:00The science of the Body of Light in Tibetan, Sufi & Christianity <p style="color: #262626; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></p> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvgFy8r6tRWLaU2SkDhP9cJXZ7owjXEprW-Jfm6JVsDbEwHQiIVkXYGq6u8t37skt3hH59CUj6_D_-rwMl5AMsHUxfA-3mOHIIubi9n-knTzQU3qoczY5fxb46FZONxDlKOUIJxpkQnssyafrkypifZDBs8zPBrsKxRJWLMcNFZP8dbjJDNdmeg9r/s1000/flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvgFy8r6tRWLaU2SkDhP9cJXZ7owjXEprW-Jfm6JVsDbEwHQiIVkXYGq6u8t37skt3hH59CUj6_D_-rwMl5AMsHUxfA-3mOHIIubi9n-knTzQU3qoczY5fxb46FZONxDlKOUIJxpkQnssyafrkypifZDBs8zPBrsKxRJWLMcNFZP8dbjJDNdmeg9r/w480-h640/flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8-2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />IF one can go without a single negative thought for between 13-30 yrs, say the Tibetan's, one's body upon death will shrink, sometimes leaving only hair & teeth, and sometimes dissolve into pure light, achieving a "Rainbow Body".<br /><br />The physical elements of the body are said to fully revert into what are called the five lights of jñāna, which is their original form.<br /><br /><br />Head of the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, the Karmapa shared the same status and importance as the Dalai Lama.<br /><br /> Dr. David Levy, his attending Doctor gave the following report upon his heart failure on the monitors. The medical team tried to revive Karmapa, but gave up after about 45 minutes. “We began to pull out the tubing, but I suddenly saw his blood pressure was 140 over 80. A nurse screamed, ‘he has a good pulse!’” Levy said.<br /><br />Levy said, “it was clearly the greatest miracle I had ever seen.”<br /><br />Levy reported that 48 hours after the time of death, Karmapa’s chest was still warm. “My hands were both warm, but his chest was warmer,” he said. “If I moved my hands towards the side of his chest, the body was cold, but the area around the heart stayed warm.” He also reported that there was no odor or decay, which typically set in quickly after death. “He stayed in deep meditation for three days, then it ended — he became cold and the process of death set in. The atmosphere changed as well,” Levy said.<br /><br /><div>In the 1970s, Karmapa traveled throughout the U.S. giving the public Black Crown Ceremony empowerment, an attendee snapped a picture. When the film was developed, the image of the Karmapa was transparent .<br /><br /><br /><div><span face="Avenir-Roman, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(74, 74, 74); color: #4a4a4a; font-size: 18px;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTq_1NDq3x0zYUiLV-N6WytMVxCAsBmw1ZzpGJy9vo2vk579tgHYVoId9J9vsTj1x_P68-YR34U1AqeX4GvekCLNNtyJn3c6rfJcQwHdOz8aE5BUFu21RXUBRWd-UmvqqTYxnRawEx-bQlPuDxpNJU_Y8WJjzRrKAS_vH7m2tNuy4oRuFfmRVNZ_VU/s674/16th_karmapa_rainbow_body_975x625-674x432-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="674" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTq_1NDq3x0zYUiLV-N6WytMVxCAsBmw1ZzpGJy9vo2vk579tgHYVoId9J9vsTj1x_P68-YR34U1AqeX4GvekCLNNtyJn3c6rfJcQwHdOz8aE5BUFu21RXUBRWd-UmvqqTYxnRawEx-bQlPuDxpNJU_Y8WJjzRrKAS_vH7m2tNuy4oRuFfmRVNZ_VU/w640-h410/16th_karmapa_rainbow_body_975x625-674x432-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div>Material bodies dissolving into light is the subject of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Body-Resurrection-Attainment-Dissolution/dp/1583947957 ">Rainbow Body and Resurrection</a> by Father Francis V. Tiso, a priest of the Diocese of Isernia–Venafro who holds a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism. </div><div><br /><br />In 1984, when Tiso was meditating with his eyes open in a chapel in Italy, he, too, had an extraordinary vision. Jesus Christ, he says, appeared before him in the form of a violet light-body. At that time. Tiso was considering taking a teaching position in the United States, but in this vision Christ indicated he should stay in Italy. "It was important not to make a mistake at that point in my life," reflects Tiso. "I did stay in Italy, where I was eventually ordained, and I lived in a hermitage chapel for almost twelve years."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnsq-Gflc0VjRZfgPmhvNThtnJvp9UpGD0b_zgKNR_QdzOt7bEtXA0keY7wLQrFV1U9oShou1XBHfcPzdwToEo8Lef_I-TAS125qp8O6QQ0KN8mXs4qs0AO669GpR21ZTTJg8vTYfav6RRa2rZRncTmivNur1J94Q6-S5JKtlShagSmnO70AnYU1vc/s737/achuk-rainbow-body-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="508" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnsq-Gflc0VjRZfgPmhvNThtnJvp9UpGD0b_zgKNR_QdzOt7bEtXA0keY7wLQrFV1U9oShou1XBHfcPzdwToEo8Lef_I-TAS125qp8O6QQ0KN8mXs4qs0AO669GpR21ZTTJg8vTYfav6RRa2rZRncTmivNur1J94Q6-S5JKtlShagSmnO70AnYU1vc/w442-h640/achuk-rainbow-body-2.jpg" width="442" /></a></div><br /><span face="Avenir-Roman, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(74, 74, 74); color: #4a4a4a; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Photograph of Lama Achuk</span><br /> <br /> Francis Tiso remarks that one of his most intriguing interviews was with Lama A-chos. He told Tiso that when he died he too would manifest the rainbow body. "He showed us two photographs taken of him in the dark, and in these photographs his body radiated rays of light."<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sDyu39FCAMk" width="320" youtube-src-id="sDyu39FCAMk"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><br />An individual who achieves a fully perfected Light Body or Rainbow Body in this very life is like a hologram, a gossamer web of photons, a powerful electromagnetic field that holds to human form until that allotted moment when it is time to leave the bubble of flesh behind. <br /><br />While alive, it is said that the bodies of these beings do not cast a shadow in either lamplight or sunlight; at death, signs include their physical bodies dramatically shrinking in size, and their corpses exuding fragrances and perfumes rather than the odors of decomposition. A common Tibetan metric for the shrunken corpse of a body gone rainbow is the “length of a forearm.” In the case of Khenpo A Chц, as Father Tiso notes, the local Chinese press reported that his body “shrank to the size of a bean on the eighth day and disappeared on the tenth day. What remain are hair and nails.”</div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-N9wFLY_BTrYCwqVS3D3b5D1McO6toNAgZy2K9yt4AP7U8urky2Tk2QZufK6b3ADpMhqWbkaVdMXHwkKIoFVy0wvVLKZ_8hIxKGx9c67tefXhdCHQP0FkwiiAZMuL5AYsQmYDdxGSWmLt_dB0m7t2s__h1d8hHpm6Gkv4LfJerS7wrwUC6EsCEDs_/s1100/oj0r8ruqp6m61.jpg.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1100" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-N9wFLY_BTrYCwqVS3D3b5D1McO6toNAgZy2K9yt4AP7U8urky2Tk2QZufK6b3ADpMhqWbkaVdMXHwkKIoFVy0wvVLKZ_8hIxKGx9c67tefXhdCHQP0FkwiiAZMuL5AYsQmYDdxGSWmLt_dB0m7t2s__h1d8hHpm6Gkv4LfJerS7wrwUC6EsCEDs_/w640-h436/oj0r8ruqp6m61.jpg.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div>Lamo R. Tashi Lamo’s body after death, 60 cm<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlObE8UHSivpUaNueVlJtus-KoyD5ex5oMJZu6W3vybhUGBcGubXuF91TnF7QRRT2dczxZsJjr2CpJ5k7pHoJCQcydktDGzmLE1CnBwilH2zTX3LlJ8nFPcPi_vTVf1iJAPPm2_1_2rDc0X6nnv5rkfivLCiWGcbu0fzgUPlE0jeaKEIkJ774pEdP/s728/Lama%20thubsher2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlObE8UHSivpUaNueVlJtus-KoyD5ex5oMJZu6W3vybhUGBcGubXuF91TnF7QRRT2dczxZsJjr2CpJ5k7pHoJCQcydktDGzmLE1CnBwilH2zTX3LlJ8nFPcPi_vTVf1iJAPPm2_1_2rDc0X6nnv5rkfivLCiWGcbu0fzgUPlE0jeaKEIkJ774pEdP/w440-h640/Lama%20thubsher2.jpg" width="440" /></a></div><br /></div>60 cm rainbow body of Lama Thubsher<div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Tiso suggests that the rainbow body of Christ which blasted him out of the tomb becomes materialized for us in the consecrated bread; and so Eucharist is the Christian technique to achieving the rainbow body.</div><div><br /></div><div><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ii ij hp ik b il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf hi bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="288c" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">David Bentley Hart in <a class="af jq" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621386937/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag%C3%AClectorthod-20&creative%C2%9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN21386937&linkId%C3%8404202258ca7ead7e5534b69139de7c" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="jw" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Roland in Moonlight</span></a><span class="jw" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"> has </span>Roland ask :</p><blockquote class="jx jy jz" style="box-shadow: rgb(41, 41, 41) 3px 0px 0px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px -20px; padding-left: 23px;"><p class="ii ij jw ik b il im in io ip iq ir is ka iu iv iw kb iy iz ja kc jc jd je jf hi bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c2b4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">I mean, is there truly a gulf of difference between Buddhism’s <span class="hp" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: normal;">sambhogakaya</span>and St. Paul’s absolutely fleshless <span class="hp" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: normal;">soma pneumatikon</span>? Or between the transfigured, radiant body of the risen Christ, or at least the resplendent bodies of the hesychasts, and the radiant flesh of Swami Premananda walking through the marketplace in an ecstasy of love for God’s beauty? And who’s to say Swami Ramalingam didn’t in fact experience full bodily transfiguration and divinization in this life, growing constantly physically more luminous and translucent as his fleshly body changed first into the <span class="hp" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: normal;">suddha deha</span>, the pure body, and then into the <span class="hp" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: normal;">pranava deha</span>, the body of the primordial <span class="hp" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: normal;">OM</span>, and then into the <span class="hp" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: normal;">jnana deha</span>, the body of perfect divine grace, or that he didn’t finally vanish away one day in 1874 into pure, immaterial, spiritual corporeality, and didn’t thereafter appear to his disciples in this … resurrected form? (324–325)</p></blockquote><figure class="jh ji jj jk fu ic fi fj paragraph-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="fi fj kd" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 327px;"><picture style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 327px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/format:webp/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/format:webp/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/format:webp/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/format:webp/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/format:webp/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:654/format:webp/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 654w" style="box-sizing: inherit;" type="image/webp"></source><source data-testid="og" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 327px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:654/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg 654w" style="box-sizing: inherit;"></source><img alt="" class="bg id ie c" height="417" loading="lazy" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:654/1*Y6hynrLszoLJXcApaBTjzw.jpeg" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 327px;" width="327" /></picture></div><figcaption class="if dn fk fi fj ig ih be b bf z dl" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #757575; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 728px; text-align: center;">Swami Premananda</figcaption></figure><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ii ij hp ik b il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf hi bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="bbde" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Swami Ramalinga, or Ramalingam Swamigal (1823–1874) was a Tamil saint who, according to his hagiography, was assumed into a higher state of existence from within a locked room on January 30th, 1874, leaving behind no traces or evidence of escape.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ii ij hp ik b il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf hi bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9b76" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Swami Ramalingam (Vallalar) himself says, “Life of eternal bliss is union with God. Those who have achieved this will have transmuted this impure carnal body into a pure golden body, and again have the pure body transformed into a super-sensitive, spiritual body”.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ii ij hp ik b il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf hi bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5ebf" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">in his later years, his physical body had become tenuous and translucent. Disciples have recorded that it cast no distinct shadow. It has been reported that several attempts were made to photograph him, but since light passed through his body, no clear image could be obtained. What could be seen were only his clothing and a very misty vision of his face and limbs, and from such a translucent body made so by pure living, dematerialization was but a few steps away.</p><figure class="jh ji jj jk fu ic fi fj paragraph-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="fi fj ke" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 200px;"><picture style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 200px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/format:webp/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/format:webp/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/format:webp/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/format:webp/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/format:webp/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:400/format:webp/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 400w" style="box-sizing: inherit;" type="image/webp"></source><source data-testid="og" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 200px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:400/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg 400w" style="box-sizing: inherit;"></source><img alt="" class="bg id ie c" height="252" loading="lazy" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:400/1*T6GlG6Dz8H-VSgH86UsIZA.jpeg" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 200px;" width="200" /></picture></div></figure></div><div><br /></div><div><p style="color: #0d0e0e; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The physical elements of the body fully revert into what are called the five lights of jñāna, which is their original form.<br />
<br />
The reason for this transformative possibility in the first place is that the Five Elements exist within us in a multi-layered context. We contain the five material elements, but also the five original, pure Wisdom Elements, the cosmic spark as it were. The Hindu tradition describes five <i>koshas</i> or levels of existence, from gross to subtle, from bioenergetic to pure consciousness. The Buddhist world speaks of three bodies or <i>kaya</i> in a similar spectrum. The Kabbalah describes five worlds in a descending chain of existence. <br />
<br />
Traditionally, the Buddhists perceive each of the Vajrayana chakras as the center of gravity of one of the elements—but containing an inner structure of five subelements. And so we have elements within elements waiting to be impregnated with divine radiance and to ascend to their true potential.<br />
<br />
The <b>Five Pure Lights</b> is an essential teaching in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen"><span style="color: #274ec0;">Dzogchen</span></a> tradition of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon"><span style="color: #274ec0;">Bon</span></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhism"><span style="color: #274ec0;">Tibetan Buddhism</span></a>. For the deluded, matter seems to appear. This is due to non-recognition of the five lights. Matter includes the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah%C4%81bh%C5%ABta"><span style="color: #274ec0;"><i>mahābhūta</i></span></a> or classical elements, namely: space, air, water, fire, earth. Knowledge (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigpa"><span style="color: #274ec0;">rigpa</span></a>) is the absence of delusion regarding the display of the five lights. This level of realization is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_body"><span style="color: #274ec0;">rainbow body</span></a>.</p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQm-JNRmHNLqUKSLI0aNmdhIcOzSSbWf2FQf4luIMxK_RUeAW775zzjRRBhqGz1sADLBTHRb-ACmKPQF5cl5izUakNK9LE81vySHjCDy0Etl5-EMqlGIDqE-t4QBcvbAjLxg_j2j7aSEWCKAfVDNZLlmwBMD_6KcyizGKqCXLvbGTGtEutxjgRY7F1/s774/st-john-maximovich-serving-in-tunis-1952-surrounded-by-the-uncreated-light.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="593" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQm-JNRmHNLqUKSLI0aNmdhIcOzSSbWf2FQf4luIMxK_RUeAW775zzjRRBhqGz1sADLBTHRb-ACmKPQF5cl5izUakNK9LE81vySHjCDy0Etl5-EMqlGIDqE-t4QBcvbAjLxg_j2j7aSEWCKAfVDNZLlmwBMD_6KcyizGKqCXLvbGTGtEutxjgRY7F1/w306-h400/st-john-maximovich-serving-in-tunis-1952-surrounded-by-the-uncreated-light.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>St John Maximovitch of San Fransisco <br /><br />After all Elijah as carried up to heaven by a chariot of light, and Moses who exuded divine light during his lifetime (as we read about in Exodus) and whose body eventually transformed fully into colorful light when he died, according to some legends. So when Peter, James, and John see two other mysterious men bathed in glorious light next to a wonderfully transfigured Jesus, they were wise to deduce their identities to be that of Moses and Elijah. </div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCTowKlNhuEXe7NQp_2eYBgjxRol5zAU88k0HRAGlu5NhzVjq1YyDZMXIoGJYBGp3qjpViL2DHxmhx5Jx2YubL7rUbY1SEEDyuM_Rvb5pqACa96UDO8hOD8gRnEGQs-cKrxHGM1JCMx_3i2xr8OHnFqV8toPOLbIrH82vs7kcvr1ejDLvboyFeNEQ/s1600/Icon-of-the-Transfiguration-of-Christ.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1492" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCTowKlNhuEXe7NQp_2eYBgjxRol5zAU88k0HRAGlu5NhzVjq1YyDZMXIoGJYBGp3qjpViL2DHxmhx5Jx2YubL7rUbY1SEEDyuM_Rvb5pqACa96UDO8hOD8gRnEGQs-cKrxHGM1JCMx_3i2xr8OHnFqV8toPOLbIrH82vs7kcvr1ejDLvboyFeNEQ/s320/Icon-of-the-Transfiguration-of-Christ.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />John the Evangelist uses the expression God is Light (1 Jn 1.5) In the Orthodox tradition presented in first-hand accounts in Symeon the New Theologian, Seraphim of Sarov, Archimandrite Sophrony, a this is an experience of the ‘Uncreated Light’, the divine energies, and is a foretaste of union with God, ‘deification’ or theosis.<br /> <br /> Many believe this is how the Shroud of Turin was created.<br /> <br /> Valuable <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2076443/Turin-Shroud-created-flash-supernatural-light.html ">research</a> has been carried out by Paolo Di Lazzaro and others on the colouration of linen by ultra-violet radiation. In 2010 the researchers concluded that:<br /><br />“Our results demonstrate that a short and intense burst of directional deep-UV radiation can provide a linen colouration having many peculiar features of the Turin Shroud image, including hue, colouration of only the outer-most fibres of the linen yarns and lack of fluorescence”</div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJtaJ_Y0Hmm8zQZyrWBcLo7yP-TFgqLjktEAZIn5z9FmZAk8wKYhCEz1sPOVRduJCcN0ubcof5WcljHdJQxsQW2S4HL17hnakHmMVbFX1ejck_G3jXGIbM5jtP96TNFjmDueVFLJGhs8j9m1E2NIZ_2KqukfDFxB8aOFlxVbGg7DqumhGuT-Jiyp7N/s580/29997_maxresdefault_205040.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="580" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJtaJ_Y0Hmm8zQZyrWBcLo7yP-TFgqLjktEAZIn5z9FmZAk8wKYhCEz1sPOVRduJCcN0ubcof5WcljHdJQxsQW2S4HL17hnakHmMVbFX1ejck_G3jXGIbM5jtP96TNFjmDueVFLJGhs8j9m1E2NIZ_2KqukfDFxB8aOFlxVbGg7DqumhGuT-Jiyp7N/s320/29997_maxresdefault_205040.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /> <br />In April 2019 a paper in A<a href="https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/anc-oxley-pap2.pdf ">pplied Optics</a> described how femtosecond pulse laser processing in the infrared came close to reproducing a 2-dimensional image of the face on the Shroud.<br /><br />It seems therefore that different radiation in different frequencies can produce some of the characteristics of the image, but to date there has been no successful attempt to produce the image in its entirety. This research has used radiation in frequencies close to that of visible light.<br /> Dr. Silverman is a leading scientific expert on the so-called Shroud of Turin, which is the cloth traditionally said to be the burial shroud of Jesus and which holds an imprint of his face. </div><div><br /></div><div>In his book, A Burst of Conscious Light. Near-Death Experiences, the Shroud of Turin, and the Limitless Potential of Humanity, he presents with evidence that this imprint actually was produced by a blast of radiation which the author links to the light of consciousness itself. Similar phenomena have been observed in relation to Near-Death-Experiences and this leads us to reconsider the power of human consciousness and the laws of nature.<br /></div><div> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZb-6yK5eu2OfT0SqFih9KB6Bf-cgNLCFJVZfwcZqX9t6bETQ8zeksocGtygHfBiwlD5DSbq4ysfP-vv-r-2DN_GXZHEmQUEqfmtIeizknRneyr09b1-ypg-JkNlOJ5IAkJhgYrg08PwwszcY0VXZvs_MmUksz0ho2uV6nNeBz-W7ksCQcwopCIbyC/s2048/r424671_2022049.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1207" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZb-6yK5eu2OfT0SqFih9KB6Bf-cgNLCFJVZfwcZqX9t6bETQ8zeksocGtygHfBiwlD5DSbq4ysfP-vv-r-2DN_GXZHEmQUEqfmtIeizknRneyr09b1-ypg-JkNlOJ5IAkJhgYrg08PwwszcY0VXZvs_MmUksz0ho2uV6nNeBz-W7ksCQcwopCIbyC/s320/r424671_2022049.jpg" width="189" /></a></div><br /><br /> <br /> When researcher Fritz-Albert Popp (b. 1938) first discovered that all living cells emit light—biophotons—he could not have anticipated the revolution this would create in the fields of both biology and physics.<br /><br />Apparently biophotons are used by the cells of many living organisms to communicate, which facilitates energy/information transfer that is several orders of magnitude faster than chemical diffusion. According to a 2010 study, “Cell to cell communication by biophotons have been demonstrated in plants, bacteria, animal neutriophil granulocytes and kidney cells.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Researchers were able to demonstrate that “…different spectral light stimulation (infrared, red, yellow, blue, green and white) at one end of the spinal sensory or motor nerve roots resulted in a significant increase in the biophotonic activity at the other end.” Researchers interpreted their finding to suggest that “…light stimulation can generate biophotons that conduct along the neural fibers, probably as neural communication signals.”<br /><br />Stored in cell DNA, these messengers are the main communication network of the body, connecting cell parts, tissues, and organs.<br /><br /> Already they have been shown to regulate the growth, differentiation, and regeneration of cells. Coherent biophoton fields could prove to be the basis of memory and even consciousness, as suggested many years ago by Karl Pribram, David Bohm, and others.<br /><br />Channels of light<br /><br />An equally remarkable development is the re-discovery of the primo vascular system (PVS), after being overlooked for 30 years. This system of microscopic channels, which differ from the lymph, blood, and nervous tissues, qualifies as the actual tsa, nadi, or psychic channels utilized within Vajrayana, yogic, and Daoist traditions of meditation. The microscopic PVS is everywhere, even following the course of nerves and the brain itself.</div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21R0V9NM0-CeUcrrcxBgYIBqeR0KQJA4ZsrmiAon3ABfTeBiwnYMs4sDj8xPyLm_5KRmJ9WpJFReWbNQM7Zp03RMeNXiGxNOiDCXod1GWmJ-Nfa-T82hArJ-orS3HO4W6r_YOL6u7dG6d62CV7vg0Qec9u6yzRI4gXKS9HYBC6GS4Zj1SG8x1Ultp/s715/8a11f9ed555eda0736fccae6bb3178bb_715__2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="715" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21R0V9NM0-CeUcrrcxBgYIBqeR0KQJA4ZsrmiAon3ABfTeBiwnYMs4sDj8xPyLm_5KRmJ9WpJFReWbNQM7Zp03RMeNXiGxNOiDCXod1GWmJ-Nfa-T82hArJ-orS3HO4W6r_YOL6u7dG6d62CV7vg0Qec9u6yzRI4gXKS9HYBC6GS4Zj1SG8x1Ultp/w640-h440/8a11f9ed555eda0736fccae6bb3178bb_715__2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <br /> Now, biophotons are photons, bits of light, that are generated spontaneously by most living cells. Research suggests that biophotons are created in the DNA that resides in the mitochondria in your cells. They are created in the 98% of each DNA molecule that is not used for genetic coding of behavior. The genome project referred to this as junk-DNA because they had no idea about its use.<br /><br />Biophotons are important carriers of information in the brain, along with well-known electrochemical signals—neurotransmitters and nerve impulses (waves of ionic depolarization).<br /><br /> What this means is that each living cell is giving off, or resonating, a biophoton field of coherent energy. If each cell is emitting this field, then the whole living system is, in effect, a resonating field-a ubiquitous nonlocal field. And since biophotons are the entities through which the living system communicates, there is near-instantaneous intercommunication throughout. And this, claimed the original founder of biophotons Dr. Popp, is the basis for coherent biological organization — referred to as quantum coherence. <br /> <br /> <br />Well respected Biophysicist Mae-Wan Ho describes <a href="https://www.i-sis.org.uk/prague.php">HERE</a> how the living organism, including the human body, is coordinated throughout and is “coherent beyond our wildest dreams.”</div><div><br /></div><div> It appears that every part of our body is “in communication with every other part through a dynamic, tuneable, responsive, liquid crystalline medium that pervades the whole body, from organs and tissues to the interior of every cell.”<br /><br />". . . the visible body just happens to be where the wave function of the organism is most dense. Invisible quantum waves are spreading out from each of us and permeating into all other organisms. At the same time, each of us has the waves of every other organism entangled within our own make-up. . . . We are participants in the creation drama that is constantly unfolding. We are constantly co-creating and re-creating ourselves and other organisms in the universe. . . "<br /><br /> There have been experiments that have studied the output of biophotons among people who are engaged in deep, contemplative practice, in heart-centered prayer in which one simply bathes in God’s love and light (like the prayer described in The Cloud of Unknowing). </div><div><br /></div><div>And the output of biophotons for people in deep prayer was extraordinary! Not just twice as much as the normal output, but hundreds of thousands of times more than the normal output. So, this suggests that when we are engaged in prayer and worship right here (when we are fulfilling our primary mission which is to glorify God), we are actually heightening a biological process that takes place in all of our cells. We are emitting biophotons of light from our bodies. <br /> <br /> The knowledge that human DNA can be influenced and modulated by frequencies (sound, light, language, and thought) is likely to have been known to various spiritual traditions, mystics, and teachers over the ages. This is perhaps why a variety of exercises have existed that utilize thought focus (prayer), sounds (music, chanting, singing), light (both natural light and produced light, such as in stained glass), and language (specific recitations such as a mantra and zikr).</div><div><br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0Uo59gyPNJYzSmVTWp7w3awofxjG_6wNqJ1n_KQ68_xx7wqVNEGJVREXHkcMg3tE0A-5x1EvXF1fMZ_oLB_DDcIW4b55JPc6XClMPyMYJ5Lmov0Vke5wrlnBUZ8PJ8bD1xS7GTSoZo16qtQsBnrdQseQ3QUztq1uC0LUbjqV1jD8JcXOB2ZjrE1_/s1600/Picture-Miraj-15th-century-1600x1419.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1419" data-original-width="1600" height="568" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0Uo59gyPNJYzSmVTWp7w3awofxjG_6wNqJ1n_KQ68_xx7wqVNEGJVREXHkcMg3tE0A-5x1EvXF1fMZ_oLB_DDcIW4b55JPc6XClMPyMYJ5Lmov0Vke5wrlnBUZ8PJ8bD1xS7GTSoZo16qtQsBnrdQseQ3QUztq1uC0LUbjqV1jD8JcXOB2ZjrE1_/w640-h568/Picture-Miraj-15th-century-1600x1419.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /> <br /> This is very evident in Sufism, read <a href="https://ghayb.com/tag/sufi/ ">HERE</a><br /><br /><br />The Dua Of Light; the Prophet (saws) often prayed in Sujood, “O Allah, place light in my heart, and on my tongue light, and in my ears light and in my sight light, and above me light, and below me light, and to my right light, and to my left light, and before me light and behind me light. Place in my soul light. Magnify for me light, and amplify for me light. Make for me light, and make me light. O Allaah, grant me light, and place light in my nerves, and in my body light and in my blood light and in my hair light and in my skin light.” (Bukhari)<br /><br />One of the most treasured practices of the Sufi path is zikr, the remembrance of Allah. To be in unity with Allah is to be in a constant state of remembrance of the source of all creation.<br /><br /> The various names of Allah are repeated several, often hundreds of times in unison by a group in the exactas of adoration. Certain movements, such as swaying back and forth or turning from right to left, are incorporated into the activity during the intonations, and are likewise performed in unison. In some tariqas a prayerful rotation of the whole body, arms extended while pivoting on one foot, is traditional.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinOu88kNeT2Urnjv2rISof3E-0SDvhh1qUG5J78xanfnfxySvwiq1oD0cfvkYh_Qmz_-OyI-l9bumrwm4FZ2AW9Poqj-lYB4bUDsZbbVNYn0wUjZ56LH5FYD0iYDu4BNIPzYIvwGQG_Nc7zvmne5RzfGK14y4BYGTjtbRHE5QfIONx3OiQKHSPLIdb/s492/rum.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="492" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinOu88kNeT2Urnjv2rISof3E-0SDvhh1qUG5J78xanfnfxySvwiq1oD0cfvkYh_Qmz_-OyI-l9bumrwm4FZ2AW9Poqj-lYB4bUDsZbbVNYn0wUjZ56LH5FYD0iYDu4BNIPzYIvwGQG_Nc7zvmne5RzfGK14y4BYGTjtbRHE5QfIONx3OiQKHSPLIdb/s320/rum.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /> And indeed, a study published found that Sufi's practicing Zakir, the Holy Names of God, emitted 100's of times more biophotons than normal, as Francis Tiso references in this interview.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-StGkzjVlM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-StGkzjVlM</a> <br /> <br /> <br /> Research at the University of Kassel in Witzenhausen, Germany, in 1997, showed that it is possible to produce visible light from the chest area under certain conditions. The first condition is that the meditation technique must be heart-centered, not transcendent. Secondly, a specific person with an actual need must be identified as a receiver of the transmitted light. Under these conditions, a sustained light emission of 100,000 photons per second was measured, where only the background count of 20 photons per second was observed without meditation.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> That’s 100,000 biophotons vs 20 !</span><br /> <br /> You can read the paper <a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/seemj/index.php/seemj/article/view/56 ">HERE</a> or <a href="https://www.academia.edu/65125451/Visible_Light_Radiated_from_the_Heart_with_Heart_Rhythm_Meditation ">HERE</a> “Visible Light Radiated from the Heart with Heart Rhythm Meditation” by P. Blair.</div><div><br /></div><div>In full disclosure, this study has been controversial, with other scientists claiming this is impossible. It has not been replicated, however other studies of meditation has proven such practices induce increased Biophoton production, check out this paper <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16086532/">HERE</a> and on transcendental meditation <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16494566/">HERE</a>.<br /> .<br /><br /> INVOCATIONS OF DIVINE LIGHT <br /><br />These are Sufi meditations that use chanting, out-loud and silently, to create vibrations that stimulate the heart and third eye. Specifically, the Arabic words Nur and Mu-now-win are spoken slowly, with emphasis on the vowels, placing the resonance of the sound in the throat and chest. They produce the sensation of having a miniature sun in the chest. <br /><br />DIHKR <br /><br />The repetition of the Arabic phrase, "La illaha illa 'llah Hu" is an ancient prescription for entering into the consciousness of the One and Only Being. It is performed with attention on the heart as the center of the experience and results in a feeling of profound heart-centeredness. <br /><br />The great Sufi Scholar Henri Corban wrote in The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism about the divine inner light, the “Sun of the heart,” the Sun of the mystery,” the “Sun of the Spirit,” the “initiatic light.” <br /> <br /> For Suhrawardi, the quest culminated in the visio smaragdina, the outburst of emerald light heralding ‘the secret of the mystery of Mysteries.’ The emerald light is described in Revelation: <br /> <br /> “round [God’s] throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.” <br /><br />This re-ascent of light to light, the ascent of the ‘column of Light,’ this mystical experience fills a function of cosmic salvation. “To attain fully to this Illumination is salvation.”<br /> <br /> Corbin emphasizes that “the terms light and darkness, clarity and obscurity, are neither metaphor nor comparisons. The mystic really and actually sees light and darkness, by a kind of vision that depends on an organ other than the physical organ of sight.”<br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEins9LfFv6olEIXuVqzhTMGRcMVnbIbKqlMoPnwU8cMHz21vLjFXBBIksxjluOSiOnTS5diBSrbloxDaQv6Nb9UCeB8nlDWY6wyDox81XSI_oArUmsJiNKN4_zlgoNfbv7x4Jh7GSYQhoej4zWWWIeuMHGmMSZsuLbPiDlm1yqP7eWCSil_38mcWcU8/s2506/William_Holman_Hunt_-_Christ_and_the_two_Marys_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2506" data-original-width="1994" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEins9LfFv6olEIXuVqzhTMGRcMVnbIbKqlMoPnwU8cMHz21vLjFXBBIksxjluOSiOnTS5diBSrbloxDaQv6Nb9UCeB8nlDWY6wyDox81XSI_oArUmsJiNKN4_zlgoNfbv7x4Jh7GSYQhoej4zWWWIeuMHGmMSZsuLbPiDlm1yqP7eWCSil_38mcWcU8/w510-h640/William_Holman_Hunt_-_Christ_and_the_two_Marys_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="510" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /> <br /> In any case, the “body of light” is well alive in religious traditions.</div><div><br /></div><div>See also -</div><div><br /></div><div>Yan Sun, Chao Wang, Jiapei Dai. Biophotons as neural communication signals demonstrated by in situ biophoton autography. Photochem Photobiol Sci. 2010 Mar ;9(3):315-22. Epub 2010 Jan 21. PMID: 20221457<br /><br />F A Popp, W Nagl, K H Li, W Scholz, O Weingärtner, R Wolf. Biophoton emission. New evidence for coherence and DNA as source. Cell Biophys. 1984 Mar;6(1):33-52. PMID: 6204761</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-41309748032994482782023-04-10T18:02:00.007-07:002023-04-11T11:31:27.557-07:00Schopenhauer or Christianity ?<span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFnt78YC4Zzhpo6Y2OTG-gP6kbfZobcpr__TvoDUPKFyP7DK09uQsRKHmXLi4FK5XM50FS-x48v9MYjGucYYdAMvhzv4kctPGxmnuCSJKXsE5TNl7TZej-F6VJwcrDnOW0FmnSJpGdBCfxMziZHwnMTr6M_XZMP0aP8rJXQK_lGgrblWgoAJZQ8gV/s1200/arthur-schopenhauer-philosophy-art-youth-mourning.jpg.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="1200" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFnt78YC4Zzhpo6Y2OTG-gP6kbfZobcpr__TvoDUPKFyP7DK09uQsRKHmXLi4FK5XM50FS-x48v9MYjGucYYdAMvhzv4kctPGxmnuCSJKXsE5TNl7TZej-F6VJwcrDnOW0FmnSJpGdBCfxMziZHwnMTr6M_XZMP0aP8rJXQK_lGgrblWgoAJZQ8gV/w640-h368/arthur-schopenhauer-philosophy-art-youth-mourning.jpg.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br />Schopenhauer’s philosophy has not fared well, his aesthetic insights are still worthy, and his basic idealism, however his idea of “will” - by which he really meant force - has been more or less dismissed.<br /> <br /> Nevertheless, he paints a picture of reality, ravenous and hellish, that contemporary man feels all too accurate.<br /> <br /> Here I compare Schopenhauer to Christianity, and find some major common ground.<br /> <br />Schopenhauer thought that the world as a whole is fundamentally will, from gravity to sexual impulse, nothing but blind idiot will. His proof ? Look inward, he says, you will find this unrelenting force in oneself.<br /> <br /> Hence the only way out is freedom from this will.<br /> <br /> Of course, the ancients had a different view, the truest freedom is to live as we were meant to live; to love the true, the good, and the beautiful because they’re worth loving; the right goal is not the annulment of our freedom, but its fulfillment.<br /><br />First, recall Schopenhauer married his philosophy to Newtonian physics and its determinism, which we know to be false. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Besides which, hard determinism is rather silly, for if it were true, one would not be able to come to that conclusion rationally, but be determined to believe it; hence destroying both rationality and truth.<br /><br />Also, since Schopenhauer opened himself to Platonic metaphysics, we can note the Platonic mystics too looked inward, but found, beneath all the noise and chaos, something else. “A Platonic man,” George Mavrodes once wrote, “who sets himself to live in accordance with the Good aligns himself with what is deepest and most basic in existence.”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSE-tQBKg3zpoWDyWTIWVGLwSJvQDukJ1-6_0eG002W8d4rPrR_xIQQwcT0DYykri-CWZb67qtTS-cIH_X83KscVXkdLWvmiJlszz9nb27mywmO3aEexL5XFMDWLfjcqoINaG6vc5jVQPjJhn1GuX_C_HVqhqSINppXPeqXjafODYNfZyfsWf5NX0/s1798/30740119_1129201377220479_6237868573516103680_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="1798" height="509" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSE-tQBKg3zpoWDyWTIWVGLwSJvQDukJ1-6_0eG002W8d4rPrR_xIQQwcT0DYykri-CWZb67qtTS-cIH_X83KscVXkdLWvmiJlszz9nb27mywmO3aEexL5XFMDWLfjcqoINaG6vc5jVQPjJhn1GuX_C_HVqhqSINppXPeqXjafODYNfZyfsWf5NX0/w640-h509/30740119_1129201377220479_6237868573516103680_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Drawing I myself did - Self & Soul<br /><br />The power and unruliness of the sexual drive was, for him, the clearest manifestation of the will to live and the way it brings about unhappiness. It mercilessly pushes us into romantic illusions, irrational decisions, and the compulsive scratching of an itch that only ever reappears, all for the sake of bringing about new people who will in turn only suffer the way we do. <br /><br />Schopenhauer’s chapter on “The Metaphysics of the Love of the Sexes” in The World as Will and Idea is worth quoting:<br /><br />“This longing, which attaches the idea of endless happiness to the possession of a particular woman, and unutterable pain to the thought that this possession cannot be attained – this longing and this pain cannot obtain their material from the wants of an ephemeral individual; but they are the sighs of the spirit of the species… The species alone has infinite life, and therefore is capable of infinite desires, infinite satisfaction, and infinite pain. But these are here imprisoned in the narrow breast of a mortal. No wonder, then, if such a breast seems like to burst, and can find no expression for the intimations of infinite rapture or infinite misery with which it is filled…”<br /><br />Well, that’s perfectly reasonable. But then again, one can take the exact same facts and reach a very different conclusion, In Mere Christianity, Lewis writes:<br /><br />"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> In his essay “On Suicide,” he notes that “Christianity carries in its innermost heart the truth that suffering (the Cross) is the true aim of life.” But Christianity nevertheless insists that “all things [are] very good,” so that suffering serves an “ascetic” purpose in properly orienting us toward the ultimate good that will redeem it. Schopenhauer shares <a href="http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-first-world-problem-of-evil.html">Christianity’s view that suffering is central to human existence and ought to be faced ascetically</a>, but he rejects the thesis that all things are very good. Hence whereas Christian asceticism is motivated by hope, Schopenhauer’s is motivated by despair.<br /> <br /> Ed Feser, the Catholic philosopher remarks,<br /><br />"From a Christian perspective, he is living a kind of hell because he denies that there is a real object for our infinite desires. There is no fulfillment of desires or infinite satisfaction as he says. No resting in God. This is the cornerstone of Christian self understanding - that our desires, our wills, our sexuality, our appetites, are all disordered because they are not directed or submitted to the one entity that can bring them to fulfillment. And this is God."<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVd6wILbz7tYnMHnyR6rhjiJ6V_Euy5SMsGz7hvdeXNjPApM2JaEJSc5eF6CnAaIeZD1tRPAEQCeY8DPTDhkEMqcboRI9OXXdQZKnySLIJ4VRjvTWAQxxKr4ovYAWF-CNe2Up2KNbGcKxix1vb5B6JPgxkwW_3Ncw9rMC68K4PbqUTFjEIiF5ATwzf/s571/untitled-1.png.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="571" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVd6wILbz7tYnMHnyR6rhjiJ6V_Euy5SMsGz7hvdeXNjPApM2JaEJSc5eF6CnAaIeZD1tRPAEQCeY8DPTDhkEMqcboRI9OXXdQZKnySLIJ4VRjvTWAQxxKr4ovYAWF-CNe2Up2KNbGcKxix1vb5B6JPgxkwW_3Ncw9rMC68K4PbqUTFjEIiF5ATwzf/s320/untitled-1.png.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />Schopenhauer, as I say, thought that the world as a whole is fundamentally will, offering examples like the following: <br /> <br /> “The one-year-old bird has no notion of the eggs for which it builds its nest; the young spider has no idea of the prey for which it spins its web; the ant-lion has no notion of the ant for which it digs its cavity for the first time. The larva of the stag-beetle gnaws a hole in the wood, where it will undergo its metamorphosis, twice as large if it is to become a male beetle as if it is to become a female, in order in the former case to have room for the horns, though as yet it has no idea of these. In the actions of such animals the will is obviously at work as in the rest of their activities, but is in blind activity.” <br /><br />Interestingly, such obviously goal-directed tendencies interwoven throughout nature don’t lead Schopenhauer to affirm teleology in the world, but to deny it. The will in question is characterized as “will without a subject.” . Examples of seemingly teleological instances of the world are an odd choice to drive home a point denying its reality.<br /> <br /> Really, the existence of both stable natural laws and our ability epistemically to access them count evidentially more in favor of theism than atheism, a personal universe rather than an impersonal one.<br /> <br /> That the universe is fine tuned is undeniable. There is order. And yet, there is obviously chaos. <br /> <br /> What could explain this ?<br /> <br /> Well, the Christian explanation avoids denying either. The story is that the Cosmos was made from nothing, and presently it is in a state of birth, groaning toward true existence when God will be all in all. A thing truly exists when it is filled with Logos, with True Life, with God, and therefore acts in an ordered way. Meanwhile, everything exists in a mix of nothingness and being, meaning breaks down, the Creation falls apart and tends toward chaos, it acts irrational, yet there is clearly a rationality there.<br /> <br /> After all, St. Paul states that creation was made “subject to futility”<br /><br />The Orthodox Theologian John Zizioulas asserts the following:<br /><br />"Athanasios the Great wrote in his work “On Incarnation” that Creation has “nil” and “death” within its nature. Therefore, “death”, in the sense of “elimination of Creation” is something that is embedded in Creation.". <br /><br /> Or as the Orthodox Theologian David Bentley Hart put’\s it,<br /> <br /> “...It may seem a fabulous claim that we exist in the long grim aftermath of a primaeval catastrophe—that this is a broken and wounded world, that cosmic time is a phantom of true time, that we live in an umbratile interval between creation in its fullness and the nothingness from which it was called, and that the universe languishes in bondage to the “powers” and “principalities” of this age, which never cease in their enmity toward the kingdom of God—but it is not a claim that Christians are free to surrender.”<br /><br /> Or as the Orthodox Theologian John Behr says,<br /><br /> “…the world we inhabit as material beings is not created by God, it is made, or at least strictly conditioned by the choices of His creatures and regulated by his providence…<br /> <br /> Creation is strictly only the unimpeded expression of God’s rational will…for something to be God's creation it must reflect His will…”<br /><br /> “This world, as we know it, from the Big Bang up until today, has been the world of death,” David Bentley Hart tells us.<br /><br /> Schopenhauer does see some truth in the Eden story, he writes, <br /> <br /> “The myth of the Fall of man is the only thing in the Old Testament to which I can concede a metaphysical, although only allegorical, truth: indeed it is this alone that reconciles me to the Old Testament. Thus our existence resembles nothing but the consequence of a false step and a guilty desire.”<br /> <br /> In any case Ed Feser concludes,<br /><br /> “ The stripping away of teleology is also the stripping away of inherent goodness and purpose. Nature loses its character as an icon or a quasi sacrament that points to God. And so, we are not taught to properly appreciate our own nature and its various ends either. We are taught to see our nature as completely devoid of goodness in a Manichean flight into pure spirit. Or, in reaction to the flight to the spirit, is an opposing reaction which is a flight to naturalism. An excessive focus and naive belief that the limited natural ends of our human nature can bring us true happiness without reference to our ultimate good.”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnT2_zVOsPOz0DYo4mQnkm9ay9dJdNWtfvNaZ8DYQSWZghq3U7t9fHbfSpvjGYnlhCDMzWjLXCcz00uXLcr2qPgCXLIBtwzI09Nl6KwD-tSj-8eLmZIGKf6J4sqfidm-IYCR-71Jp2ZbDU1mDYjCeCYLCCaNAu2w_Nm4yuBAEpm5GZemoT6CnUWjdp/s640/b87861e8ba47ab1fdeb4ed56558e2396.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="558" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnT2_zVOsPOz0DYo4mQnkm9ay9dJdNWtfvNaZ8DYQSWZghq3U7t9fHbfSpvjGYnlhCDMzWjLXCcz00uXLcr2qPgCXLIBtwzI09Nl6KwD-tSj-8eLmZIGKf6J4sqfidm-IYCR-71Jp2ZbDU1mDYjCeCYLCCaNAu2w_Nm4yuBAEpm5GZemoT6CnUWjdp/s320/b87861e8ba47ab1fdeb4ed56558e2396.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">However, the most convincing thing about Schopenhauer, to me, is his vision of life, its absurd irrational horror.<br /> <br /> However, Christians would never deny this. <br /> <br /> Elder Nazarius tells us,<br /> <br /> “Beguiling and deceptive is the life of the world, fruitless its labor, perilous its delight, poor its riches, delusive its honors, inconstant, insignificant; and woe to those who hope in its seeming goods: because of this many die without repentance. Blessed and most blessed are those who depart from the world and its desires.”<br /> <br /> And in his “A complaint against the world,” St Ephraim the Syrian writes :<br /> <br />"No advantages do you offer those who love you, O world, you dwelling-place of sorrows. <br /><br />All who draw near to you do you seduce with your treasures and with all your delights, but in the day of death both the fair countenance of the beautiful and the might of the strong will be cast down into the grave. Woe to him who loves you and is loved by you, for his joy will be transformed into cries.<br /><br />O, if only I had never set foot in you, O world that deceives all who enter! those who love you enjoy no pleasures, and those who hate you weep not.<br /><br />Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and righteous is thy judgement that condemns the world and those who love it! <br /><br />I have become mired in filth; the waters of the world are drowning me, they do not let me break loose to catch my breath. May Thy Cross, O Lord, be my staff and my support on the path along which I walk.”<br /> <br /> And check out this brutal opening of St Silouan’s biography by St Sophrony :<br /><br />"Revelation concerning God declares, 'God is love,' God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.''<br /><br />How difficult for us mortals to agree with this! Difficult, for both our own personal life and the life of the world around us would appear to testify to the contrary.<br /><br />Indeed, where is this light of the Father's love if we all, approaching the end of our lives, in bitterness of heart can lament with Job, 'My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart . . . If I wait, the grave is mine house . .. Where is now my hope?' And that which from my youth my heart has sought secretly but fervently — 'Who shall see it?'"<br /><br />Christ Himself attests that God is concerned for all creation, that He does not ignore a single small bird, that He clothes the grass of the field,"' and His concern for people is so incomparably great that 'the very hairs of our head are all numbered.<br /><br />But where is this Providence that is attentive to the last detail?<br /><br />We are all of us crushed by the spectacle of evil walking unrestrained up and down the world. Millions of lives that have often hardly begun — before they are even aware of living — are strangled with incredible ferocity.<br /><br />So why ever is this absurd life given to us?"<br /> <br /> Christians often point to the absurdity of existence, Seraphim Rose writes <a href="https://deathtotheworld.com/articles/subhumanity-the-philosophy-of-the-absurd/ ">HERE</a>,<br /><br /> “In the end we shall find that absurdism, quite against its will, offers its own testimony to this faith and this truth which are... Christian.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><b>The absurd could not even be conceived except in relation to something considered not to be absurd; the fact that the world fails to make sense could occur only to men who have once believed, and have good reason to believe, that it does not make sense</b>. Absurdism cannot be understood apart from its Christian origins.<br /><br />Camus was quite right when he said, “We must choose between miracles and the absurd.” For in this respect Christianity and absurdism are equally opposed to Enlightenment rationalism and humanism, to the view that reality can be reduced to purely rational and human terms."<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBeotaK8VKsLAcBebEMntSvRekp_c75_pWjntHz5Q1W8SphGEwZtY_ZZD_tFrEqjXTz4ZKXn85QuJACNCoH5aYsVbxQgL6XbBKqPp6uG8e_6u3M61nFdrvAc7si_w7gSw0fd6pHwBu_Qs4M6p3Ag7bAJdKG5Bu7GLLbepVpKyvVWnTDiYMmcbD0Zbl/s775/5c05204890375eec0352face_143467.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="622" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBeotaK8VKsLAcBebEMntSvRekp_c75_pWjntHz5Q1W8SphGEwZtY_ZZD_tFrEqjXTz4ZKXn85QuJACNCoH5aYsVbxQgL6XbBKqPp6uG8e_6u3M61nFdrvAc7si_w7gSw0fd6pHwBu_Qs4M6p3Ag7bAJdKG5Bu7GLLbepVpKyvVWnTDiYMmcbD0Zbl/w321-h400/5c05204890375eec0352face_143467.jpeg" width="321" /></a></div><br />Still, what of God’s providence ? It certainly doesn’t look like anyone is in control. Writing about the tsunami <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/article/2005/03/tsunami-and-theodicy">HERE</a> David Hart writes,<br /> <br />"The Christian understanding of evil has always been more radical and fantastic than that of any theodicist; for it denies from the outset that suffering, death and evil have any ultimate meaning at all. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps no doctrine is more insufferably fabulous to non-Christians than the claim that we exist in the long melancholy aftermath of a primordial catastrophe, that this is a broken and wounded world, that cosmic time is the shadow of true time, and that the universe languishes in bondage to "powers" and "principalities"--spiritual and terrestrial--alien to God. <br /><br />Whatever one makes of this story, it is no bland cosmic optimism. <br /><br />When confronted by the sheer savage immensity of worldly suffering--when we see the entire littoral rim of the Indian Ocean strewn with tens of thousands of corpses, a third of them children's--no Christian is licensed to utter odious banalities about God's inscrutable counsels or blasphemous suggestions that all this mysteriously serves God's good ends.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> We are permitted only to hate death and waste and the imbecile forces of chance that shatter living souls, to believe that creation is in agony in its bonds, to see this world as divided between two kingdoms--knowing all the while that it is only charity that can sustain us against "fate," and that must do so until the end of days."<br /> <br /> After all Christianity does in fact make existential sense, Hart says,<br /><br /> "As for the Christian vision of reality in which the human person really is a center of spiritual gravity. The vision in which the God who is God is also the man who dies in utter abjection. That is the story I inhabit. The story that makes sense of all reality for me. And the story that has been confirmed--confirmed, not proven--by personal experiences and reflections on history."</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4HcCdIIrQvFYn1xuyTgwrv50PS67m8XSEonS6YNxPdk7_Mcg5mZZSrPFZ3HLu4olfIaNQxdPMwyGXhX8evJpM5zxGly4GCPRqmOhIBxD7N_pKE_9UlEkDvxE7YlhFUfVqcJK7EpKlDgwoSRce7iteZd5sUmHm0Mc41s6VWlNH4fgb_T407SpA_TVp/s1582/340280431_245357714715799_2400537043723945966_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1582" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4HcCdIIrQvFYn1xuyTgwrv50PS67m8XSEonS6YNxPdk7_Mcg5mZZSrPFZ3HLu4olfIaNQxdPMwyGXhX8evJpM5zxGly4GCPRqmOhIBxD7N_pKE_9UlEkDvxE7YlhFUfVqcJK7EpKlDgwoSRce7iteZd5sUmHm0Mc41s6VWlNH4fgb_T407SpA_TVp/w436-h640/340280431_245357714715799_2400537043723945966_n.jpg" width="436" /></a></div><br />Finally, Schopenhauer extols compassion, and indeed is a very moral philosopher. <br /><br /> However, the existence of a "true and pure love" attainable by philosophy and self-denial seems to be inconsistent with the premises of Schopenhauer's system. For how can there be a selfless love when all that exists is the selfish Will to live? Indeed, for Schopenhauer "existence, life, is itself a crime: it is our original sin. And it is inevitably expiated by suffering and death."<br /> <br /> Since for Schopenhauer there is no paradisal innocence, but only original sin, there can be no escape from sin, and no return to paradise, but only the vain and self-contradictory attempt of existence to deny itself, of being not to be.<br /><br /> As Nietzsche clearly saw, if all the world is this ravenous will, whence compassion ? Nietzsche rightly notes that there is no room for his morality or goodness, and that Schopenhauer is borrowing from a Christian worldview. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> And indeed his own life bears this out. A proponent of compassion and moral philosopher he himself notoriously threw an old washer lady down the stairs for making too much noise !<br /><br /> Schopenhauer bases his view by looking within, and finding this ravenous will, yet mystics the world over, from all times and cultures, have likewise looked within, and indeed have found something like this terrible will - but also something else, something higher.<br /><br />Schopenhauer's philosophy can neither be lived out , nor can it validate affect as pointing to something higher. <br /> <br /> We all know there is a spirit, however drowned out by the chaos and bloody horror all about, of purity and goodness. What we make of it depends upon us, but to deny it utterly is surely foolish.<br /> <br /> In any case, Christianity is a way of life, one trusts in it little by little, is shaped by liturgical living, and can discover in himself the truth of this reality. After all, faith is not optional, we are all walking toward one way or another. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Of course, one cannot think oneself out of this predicament, or by mind alone verify one thesis over the other, one must CHOOSE what one wishes to believe, and then partake of those practices to experientially verify its truth.</span></div></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Habits shape the mind, if one lives like an atheist, or liturgically, this will shape how one receives the world....</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">"For the religious, knowledge depends not only upon rationality and clarity but also upon ethical living, participation in prayer and liturgy, practices of fidelity, and openness to the Spirit. This is chiefly because in knowing God, we seek to know a person and persons must reveal themselves through cultivated relationships."</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">- Francis Martin</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">As I write <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2020/01/biblical-knowing-path-to-enter.html">HERE</a>, Christianity is a way, a direction, not an explanation...</span></p></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-8296279312211947202023-04-06T13:51:00.001-07:002023-04-06T15:02:35.139-07:00The Buddha's Fire Sermon, Plus Jack Kerouac & AI Art<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUoL_Mc3KHfSOJOKsm2E-yzd00HTMWU4eJZl-AgAU-sWiTpB--HIEW44G745Es93hvgUx7bSKOVwQBVMRWltXABLE8O3Ou4VUhAKWzvaJBEt4jYOsdIiWriMsHXlNoh-zZUHurTNYAzR_BlqN1eGquDjaRnFLXWvmp3tDGtA1H9Y-Yn00as0lQG6t/s1024/338705493_590471056472811_5587752622729547722_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUoL_Mc3KHfSOJOKsm2E-yzd00HTMWU4eJZl-AgAU-sWiTpB--HIEW44G745Es93hvgUx7bSKOVwQBVMRWltXABLE8O3Ou4VUhAKWzvaJBEt4jYOsdIiWriMsHXlNoh-zZUHurTNYAzR_BlqN1eGquDjaRnFLXWvmp3tDGtA1H9Y-Yn00as0lQG6t/w640-h640/338705493_590471056472811_5587752622729547722_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />After the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest ever preached was perhaps the Buddha’s Fire Sermon, also known as the Adittapariyana Sutta.<br /> <br />Below I include my two favorite translations, followed by a more modern poem of Samsara by Jack Kerouac…Plus a bunch of cool AI artwork.<br /> <br /> I ought to note that T.S. Eliot titled the third section of his great poem The Wasteland, “The Fire Sermon.”<br /><br />The last five lines of “The Fire Sermon” read as follows:<br /><br />To Carthage then I came<br /><br />Burning burning burning burning<br /><br />O Lord Thou pluckest me out<br /><br />O Lord Thou pluckest<br /><br />burning (307-11)<br /><br />In his “Notes” to the poem, Eliot writes, “The collocation of these two representatives of eastern and western asceticism, as the culmination of this part of the poem, is not an accident.”<br /><br />The first, third, and fourth lines above are references to St. Augustine’s Confessions, while the second and fifth lines refer to Buddha’s Fire Sermon. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">St. Augustine speaks in a similar way to the Buddha's sermon :<br /><br />TO CARTHAGE I came, where there sang all around me in my ears a cauldron of unholy loves. I loved not yet, yet I loved to love, and out of a deep-seated want, I hated myself for wanting not. I sought what I might love, in love with loving, and safety I hated, and a way without snares. For within me was a famine of that inward food, Thyself, my God…</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">For this cause my soul was sickly and full of sores, it miserably cast itself forth, desiring to be scraped by the touch of objects of sense… For I was both beloved, and secretly arrived at the bond of enjoying; and was joyfully bound with troublesome ties, that I might be scourged with the burning iron rods of jealousy, suspicion, fear, anger, and strife. (St. Augustine, Book III, Ch. 1 p. 1,)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />How did I burn then, my God, how did I burn to re-mount from earthly things to Thee, nor knew I what Thou wouldst do with me? For with Thee is wisdom. But the love of wisdom is in Greek called “philosophy,” with which that book inflamed me. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Some there be that seduce through philosophy, under a great, and smooth, and honourable name colouring and disguising their own errors… (St. Augustine, Book III, Ch. 4 p. 8, )<br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The first translation of Buddha's Fire Sermon is from <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Translations">Buddhism in Translations</a> , by <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Henry_Clarke_Warren">Henry Clarke Warren</a>, which Eliot thought highly as poetic literature :</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5B3aTj3WInFfxQ_wdhWorvO_ypTfdj0USMCzifmcrozwUTu0fFhPwoDH0iXx03Rpcfj52tlZahw_LIziVTj4YsmyzPCEK1StVRAfl5jOh_HEWB0pf720sKhvf83DY1hh3Sn9U0ezucFcT5Sipz_ejxP0mNW-tZ9VEJkPzu9xJgbk6t-H_UEdIBrK/s960/339885981_155826237112571_1437788762584780595_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5B3aTj3WInFfxQ_wdhWorvO_ypTfdj0USMCzifmcrozwUTu0fFhPwoDH0iXx03Rpcfj52tlZahw_LIziVTj4YsmyzPCEK1StVRAfl5jOh_HEWB0pf720sKhvf83DY1hh3Sn9U0ezucFcT5Sipz_ejxP0mNW-tZ9VEJkPzu9xJgbk6t-H_UEdIBrK/w640-h640/339885981_155826237112571_1437788762584780595_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />THE FIRE-SERMON.<br /><br />Translated from the Maha-Vagga (i. 211)<br /><br />Then The Blessed One, having dwelt in Uruvelā as long as he wished, proceeded on his wanderings in the direction of Gayā Head, accompanied by a great congregation of priests, a thousand in number, who had all of them aforetime been monks with matted hair. And there in Gayā, on Gayā Head, The Blessed One dwelt, together with the thousand priests.<br /><br />And there The Blessed One addressed the priests:—<br /><br />“All things, O priests, are on fire. And what, O priests, are all these things which are on fire?<br /><br />“The eye, O priests, is on fire; forms are on fire; eye-consciousness is on fire; impressions received by the eye are on fire; and whatever sensation, pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent, originates in dependence on impressions received by the eye, that also is on fire.<br /><br />“And with what are these on fire?<br /><br />“With the fire of passion, say I, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of infatuation; with birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair are they on fire.<br /><br />‘‘The ear is on fire; sounds are on fire; . . . the nose is on fire; odors are on fire; . . . the tongue is on fire; tastes are on fire; . . . the body is on fire; things tangible are on fire; . . . the mind is on fire; ideas are on fire; . . . mind-consciousness is on fire; impressions received by the mind are on fire; and whatever sensation, pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent, originates in dependence on impressions received by the mind, that also is on fire.<br /><br />“And with what are these on fire?<br /><br />“With the fire of passion, say I, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of infatuation; with birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair are they on fire.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdp0Q6Ba111aVClI6aiD3bjzV5ZWqq3rcQtwaICuO3x6q-52QsDhqfqBy3g-CoRFd9Y5zzzB_sIK1rt9RN6cPIuUvzXyifGMEe_w17ugPNS4IZdtQIfAc9jlZDyR_lUfJmROo7ptxSWXdMLddRGvsf6lN9QIZcfYYdjURafL2CPqndUZHO20slVvim/s1024/Fs-vmafWcAAUlh9.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdp0Q6Ba111aVClI6aiD3bjzV5ZWqq3rcQtwaICuO3x6q-52QsDhqfqBy3g-CoRFd9Y5zzzB_sIK1rt9RN6cPIuUvzXyifGMEe_w17ugPNS4IZdtQIfAc9jlZDyR_lUfJmROo7ptxSWXdMLddRGvsf6lN9QIZcfYYdjURafL2CPqndUZHO20slVvim/w640-h640/Fs-vmafWcAAUlh9.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />“Perceiving this, O priests, the learned and noble disciple conceives an aversion for the eye, conceives an aversion for forms, conceives an aversion for eye-consciousness, conceives an aversion for the impressions received by the eye; and whatever sensation, pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent, originates in dependence on impressions received by the eye, for that also he conceives an aversion. <br /> <br /> Conceives an aversion for the ear, conceives an aversion for sounds, . . . conceives an aversion for the nose, conceives an aversion for odors, . . . conceives an aversion for the tongue, conceives an aversion for tastes, . . . conceives an aversion for the body, conceives an aversion for things tangible, . . . <br /> <br /> conceives an aversion for the mind, conceives an aversion for ideas, conceives an aversion for mind-consciousness, conceives an aversion for the impressions received by the mind; and whatever sensation, pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent, originates in dependence on impressions received by the mind, for this also he conceives an aversion. <br /> <br /> And in conceiving this aversion, he becomes divested of passion, and by the absence of passion he becomes free, and when he is free he becomes aware that he is free; and he knows that rebirth is exhausted, that he has lived the holy life, that he has done what it behooved him to do, and that he is no more for this world.”<br /><br />Now while this exposition was being delivered, the minds of the thousand priests became free from attachment and delivered from the depravities.<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJl9sf0wFgqMx_IvOhblINSy9yZCkq37pUqqyqUuIeaKsKBsrqhFu06uykbGEIQSoEwLvMA0TJhJUX2jZcRqKnKz4EiQH9d23peHXoNc7MdGPiERMr8Hitzd0gnkamVg2M6DrmhjSpJCM08enOQpAaoe3VP_3hUWSIrsDHjk-bD-SrCA2kyzC8-62N/s1024/Fr1LQbsWYAEYDwG.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJl9sf0wFgqMx_IvOhblINSy9yZCkq37pUqqyqUuIeaKsKBsrqhFu06uykbGEIQSoEwLvMA0TJhJUX2jZcRqKnKz4EiQH9d23peHXoNc7MdGPiERMr8Hitzd0gnkamVg2M6DrmhjSpJCM08enOQpAaoe3VP_3hUWSIrsDHjk-bD-SrCA2kyzC8-62N/w640-h640/Fr1LQbsWYAEYDwG.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Here is In <a href="https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn35/sn35.028.nymo.html">Nanamoli Thera</a>‘s English translation :<br /><br />Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Gaya, at Gayasisa, together with a thousand bhikkhus. There he addressed the bhikkhus.<br /><br />“Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what is the all that is burning?<br /><br />“The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.<br /><br />“The ear is burning, sounds are burning…<br /> “The nose is burning, odors are burning…<br /> “The tongue is burning, flavors are burning…<br /> “The body is burning, tangibles are burning…<br /><br />“The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLcEr2w01a3ipvV0EdNaC787GTRZ4NnHnE8csVPJ26ID7H37r_ZVuNARbydX3WYO6_DJf02DkjzYMcZfbaQhVz6acl72IYTbLOVCtoSlHcxvk9UASB9qpL7wrsDiRzunEZLi4Ae8Og55POwIjt_lLd32oOSjmOVrcjpSftukBzq4cG4s1jDLA0Mceb/s1024/Fs-253aXwAE2XgY.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLcEr2w01a3ipvV0EdNaC787GTRZ4NnHnE8csVPJ26ID7H37r_ZVuNARbydX3WYO6_DJf02DkjzYMcZfbaQhVz6acl72IYTbLOVCtoSlHcxvk9UASB9qpL7wrsDiRzunEZLi4Ae8Og55POwIjt_lLd32oOSjmOVrcjpSftukBzq4cG4s1jDLA0Mceb/w640-h640/Fs-253aXwAE2XgY.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />“Bhikkhus, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, he finds estrangement in the eye, finds estrangement in forms, finds estrangement in eye-consciousness, finds estrangement in eye-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he finds estrangement.<br /><br />“He finds estrangement in the ear… in sounds…<br /> “He finds estrangement in the nose… in odors…<br /> “He finds estrangement in the tongue… in flavors…<br /> “He finds estrangement in the body… in tangibles…<br /><br />“He finds estrangement in the mind, finds estrangement in ideas, finds estrangement in mind-consciousness, finds estrangement in mind-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he finds estrangement.<br /><br />“When he finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, he is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge that he is liberated. He understands: ‘Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.'”<br /><br />That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus were glad, and they approved his words.<br /><br />Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand bhikkhus were liberated from taints through clinging no more.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1rN7ct6Y8E5nZ5oM7ED9iHT4GZkR7r00DEv47bCplM_GXbuGk_C9WwXZLBLe7se3gca-2XnBi0Kh5z093YEk4A7v5_kiYfX6Ubyo4KtDPmjq1HfJHXYnVl0SWFy-7vrrtoUWas_Y8RhgZXh4K3Fa90-NGxmuwCjKXdoDhcprpubIVBvo_5J90TRLN/s1024/Fs4BiEgXgAI1kR7-2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1rN7ct6Y8E5nZ5oM7ED9iHT4GZkR7r00DEv47bCplM_GXbuGk_C9WwXZLBLe7se3gca-2XnBi0Kh5z093YEk4A7v5_kiYfX6Ubyo4KtDPmjq1HfJHXYnVl0SWFy-7vrrtoUWas_Y8RhgZXh4K3Fa90-NGxmuwCjKXdoDhcprpubIVBvo_5J90TRLN/w640-h640/Fs4BiEgXgAI1kR7-2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Finally, a modern poem of Samsara, by Jack Kerouac :<br /> <br /> <a href="https://allpoetry.com/211th-Chorus">211th Chorus</a><br /><br />The wheel of the quivering meat<br /><br /> conception<br /><br />Turns in the void expelling human beings,<br /><br />Pigs, turtles, frogs, insects, nits,<br /><br />Mice, lice, lizards, rats, roan<br /><br />Racinghorses, poxy bucolic pigtics,<br /><br />Horrible unnameable lice of vultures,<br /><br />Murderous attacking dog-armies<br /><br />Of Africa, Rhinos roaming in the<br /><br /> jungle,</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_vtT1crFn8F3UYClZ4DaIGe_1XNzC28rr0muN_GXUZHXNlzQ-t9CvV1I1S0Jp3F8gIhGayEZK3mlLl7FlZKORapEN5fooCvTvAl3dEn4OpxzI3zrdLcftF1LpmZ4lgfEffvNO0QgtZwETDrvl5VAqOqh7ziCDides7K0LtO6Emak3T7FfmAohW--/s1024/Fs46VzqX0AImJ1I-2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_vtT1crFn8F3UYClZ4DaIGe_1XNzC28rr0muN_GXUZHXNlzQ-t9CvV1I1S0Jp3F8gIhGayEZK3mlLl7FlZKORapEN5fooCvTvAl3dEn4OpxzI3zrdLcftF1LpmZ4lgfEffvNO0QgtZwETDrvl5VAqOqh7ziCDides7K0LtO6Emak3T7FfmAohW--/w640-h640/Fs46VzqX0AImJ1I-2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /> <br />Vast boars and huge gigantic bull<br /><br />Elephants, rams, eagles, condors,<br /><br />Pones and Porcupines and Pills—<br /><br />All the endless conception of living<br /><br /> beings<br /> <br /><br />Gnashing everywhere in Consciousness<br /><br />Throughout the ten directions of space<br /><br />Occupying all the quarters in & out,<br /><br />From supermicroscopic no-bug<br /><br />To huge Galaxy Lightyear Powell<br /><br />Illuminating the sky of one Mind—<br /> <br /><br /> Poor! I wish I was free <br /><br /> of that slaving meat wheel<br /><br /> and safe in heaven dead.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMfsAzbRkMqYt4tivfURFPIMhyZoahlj4PNlFK_f3clrAkPKK_mQhyZfONBrGcJMoZ7a-w-4K7kAGRAdm4rhJ7sYqDNvExJ_Ah-OgZ9rYaC7HfZXG5L-ijrejxPQxm0bgqtTxFdXEo2IdMBliEXL2JCH_pkDjVxnDKaRMjgz4NUzvjmNAUvScGpJL/s1024/Fs-0BWQXoAI6b2H.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMfsAzbRkMqYt4tivfURFPIMhyZoahlj4PNlFK_f3clrAkPKK_mQhyZfONBrGcJMoZ7a-w-4K7kAGRAdm4rhJ7sYqDNvExJ_Ah-OgZ9rYaC7HfZXG5L-ijrejxPQxm0bgqtTxFdXEo2IdMBliEXL2JCH_pkDjVxnDKaRMjgz4NUzvjmNAUvScGpJL/w640-h640/Fs-0BWQXoAI6b2H.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></span><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #10131a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-3229898613989354292023-03-21T13:18:00.001-07:002023-04-10T18:19:22.975-07:00Could the Cosmos be a Person ?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjOlRm7s0JtRFzQ5w2TBPOIglme907_vi21GGYKLOIvIReTuseXej2RKSoa6znN9SBkDULQMpdzGEOr2JwW1uOmSBN6fCZDi3lbxSReVIMo1ubNfKT6JoBjNLHc-orgToxxVGJ5KrfseNTOt3lUMO2FDhEk09Z-G-fivOE8ZKXDgr_5jXc2SWy0tl/s770/1*-DsLxJ80M7mN95DV8qbv1g.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="770" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjOlRm7s0JtRFzQ5w2TBPOIglme907_vi21GGYKLOIvIReTuseXej2RKSoa6znN9SBkDULQMpdzGEOr2JwW1uOmSBN6fCZDi3lbxSReVIMo1ubNfKT6JoBjNLHc-orgToxxVGJ5KrfseNTOt3lUMO2FDhEk09Z-G-fivOE8ZKXDgr_5jXc2SWy0tl/s320/1*-DsLxJ80M7mN95DV8qbv1g.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="cb17" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">“If the whole cosmos was created in the image of the invisible God, in the First-born of creation, by him and for him, and if this latter resides in the world through the Church of which he is the head, then the world is in the final analysis a ‘body’ of God, who represents and expresses himself in this body in virtue of a principle of union that is not pantheistic but hypostatic.”<br />- Hans Urs von Balthasar<br /><br /><span style="color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Reality itself is personal, and only discloses its true nature to those that approach it as such, intending a loving relationship.</span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="cb17" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Rather than personhood being something attained at a certain level of evolution or development in the cosmos, Norris Clarke claims that existence itself is personal, and all things that are not persons — rocks, dirt, your old car — are not persons because they are constricted in their being.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />It is as if some constraining device diminished the personal aspects of beings, so they only existed in some diminished form.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Norris Clarke tells us,</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="14af" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">“…. the person is not something added on to being as a special delimitation; it is simply what being is when allowed to be at its fullest, freed from the constrictions of subintelligent matter.”</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a5b6" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">There’s also a way in which the cosmos being a person is quite literal, Stephen R.L. Clark in his God, Religion and Reality writes :<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />“A human person requires a cosmos to sustain it: of anyone it is literally true that the whole world is her body, since the light of the sun, and the respiration of algae, are essential to her bodily survival.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9bd6" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">If there is a human person who is God, then the whole world, centered on that person, is God’s body.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="b85e" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">As further elements of that one body become obedient to God, the world is healed: we may, bizarrely, speak as if God’s body is at present maimed by human or demonic rebellion. On this account, perhaps, God renews His involvement with the world of finite things by making them His body (as once, before His limbs rebelled, it was). <br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Only because He is more than the cosmos can He heal the cosmos.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="f80f" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Incarnation gives us all that honest pantheists can really want: at present we are not God, but hope to join Him.”</p><figure class="ii ij ik il ft im fh fi paragraph-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="fh fi it" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 653px;"><picture style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 653px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/format:webp/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/format:webp/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/format:webp/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/format:webp/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/format:webp/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1306/format:webp/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 1306w" style="box-sizing: inherit;" type="image/webp"></source><source data-testid="og" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 653px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1306/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg 1306w" style="box-sizing: inherit;"></source><img alt="" class="bf ir is c" height="900" loading="lazy" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1306/1*agJv9SaM-W_-QpslCjTTDA.jpeg" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 653px;" width="653" /></picture></div></figure><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="ac5d" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">St Maximos famously said that the Cosmos is fractured in five distinct ways.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1c1e" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">We now live with the dualities of created and uncreated, intelligible and sensible, heaven and earth, paradise and universe, male and female.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1b93" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Man, being microcosm and mediator of the spiritual and material, is called to heal these divisions within himself.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="46fb" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">To unite heaven and earth by virtue, to unify the tangible and intelligible worlds by acquiring angelic gnosis, and to reunite by love the created and the uncreated.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="ac36" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">We heal the Cosmos, Being itself, by letting God’s grace overcome these divisions within our own being<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Andrew Louth writes that, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />“All the divisions of the cosmos are reflected in the human being, so the human being is a microcosm, a ‘little cosmos’ (a term Maximus does not use explicitly here, though he does elsewhere).</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="101f" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">As microcosm, the human person is able to mediate between the extremes of the cosmos, he is a ‘natural bond’ (physikos syndesmos), and constitutes the ‘great mystery of the divine purpose’.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1325" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Christopher Alexander is a British-American architect and designer, in his monumental study called The Nature of Order he claims that “life” is a quality not just of organisms, but of space, and therefore in some sense universal. He says :<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />“There is a sense in which the distinction between something alive and something lifeless is much more general, and far more profound, than the distinction between living things and nonliving things, or between life and death.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="e24d" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Things which are living may be lifeless; nonliving things may be alive. A man who is walking and talking can be alive; or he can be lifeless. Beethoven’s last quartets are alive; so are the waves at the ocean shore; so is a candle flame; a tiger may be more alive, because more in tune with its own inner forces, than a man.”<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />So, perhaps there is a sliding scale of both “aliveness” and “personhood” potentially sleeping in all matter.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3586" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Peter Leithart writes about the Irish philosopher William Desmond’s project :</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="708e" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">“Thinghood has been de-selved, objectified, reified in a homogeneous neutralization of thereness; selfhood has been abstracted from things in their concretenes and hovers mathematically over the quantitative homogeneity of exeternality, ready to impose the categories of its mathesis on that homogeneity.”<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />As an alternative, Desmond suggests that we have to learn to think “beyond univocity,” and recognize the “aesthetic presencing” of things that “present themselves” and are recognized as such “when the mind as other is in proper community with them, in proper rapport with things.”</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="30a3" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">This is similar to Norris Clarke’s vision, as if things disclosed themselves to us by way of signs and symbols — he says beings are self-symbolizers.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="2ef3" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Basically, he says beings are dynamic, relational, and self-comunicative byway of action and “signs”.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d111" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Just as phenomenology points out consciousness is intentional, of something, so too beings intend, or point to, some knower as signs.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5c06" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Clarke says :</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="da78" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">“Hence every self-communication of one being to another through action of one on the other necessarily brings forth a self-imaging, a self-expression, one might say a self-symbolization, of the cause in the effect.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="fc3d" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">If every being, then, turns out to include a natural dynamism toward self-communication through action, we can say truly, in more than a metaphorical sense, that every being is naturally a self-symbolizer, an icon or image-maker, in some analogous way like an artist, expressing itself symbolically, whether consciously or unconsciously. “</p><figure class="ii ij ik il ft im fh fi paragraph-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="in io di ip bf iq" role="button" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: zoom-in; position: relative; transition: transform 300ms cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0.2, 1) 0s; width: 680px; z-index: auto;" tabindex="0"><div class="fh fi iu" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 948px;"><picture style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/format:webp/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/format:webp/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/format:webp/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/format:webp/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/format:webp/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/format:webp/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 1400w" style="box-sizing: inherit;" type="image/webp"></source><source data-testid="og" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg 1400w" style="box-sizing: inherit;"></source><img alt="" class="bf ir is c" height="709" loading="lazy" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*6PBlcJEQI5wIRN0P6d7cVA.jpeg" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 680px;" width="700" /></picture></div></div></figure><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="217a" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The great Catholic theologian Stratford Caldecott, in his essay, Is Life a Transcendental? broaches this subject, he writes,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />“A stone, in other words, possesses a kind of interior life of low degree, which is related to the fact that God creates it from within, not without. It has a nature, into which God breathes existence: it receives the power of self-gift in the measure of its own essence.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c0a0" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">It plays a part in the whole, and it may be fashioned into a statue or a building whose form is given to it by another. Its degree of aliveness increases depending on the ways in which it receives and gives itself. A beautiful, harmonious pattern contains more self-gift than an ugly or broken one. An animal contains more kenosis than a stone, or even a statue.”</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="e537" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Caldecott goes even further though, noting,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />“my own existence implies that of others, and my flesh is porous to the influences and elements of the environment around me. In fact it is only for that reason that I am able to live at all, since the war against entropy depends on my not being a closed system.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="e6bf" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">This means that the whole world, in a sense, can be seen as an extension of my own body. The fact that I am alive, and that other creatures are alive, is a function of our connectedness to the world, including the inorganic world.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d090" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The inorganic is necessary to the organic; one might even say that it is given a meaning or brought to fruition by the organic, just as the organic (a Christian philosopher might add) culminates in the personal and is given a meaning by man.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="af03" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Which is to say, if I may complete this thought, that the word as a whole must be alive if we are alive, since all inorganic elements are parts, more or less remote but nevertheless essential parts, of an organic process. In themselves, of course, viewed in isolation, these elements lack an animating soul.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="60c6" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">But this is only one way of viewing them. In reality they are part of something much greater, to which we also belong, and this greater whole is alive. We recall that Plato in the Timaeus (at 30b) describes the world formed by god as “a living being, endowed thanks to his providence with soul and intelligence.”</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9fc0" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">He then explains his particular Catholic vision, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />“An interior relationality binds the whole world together, and this is made explicit in the liturgy of the Church. It is by participating in man as priest of creation, and in his sacrifice perfected in the Eucharist, that all creatures, including the inanimate elements, achieve the fullness of their own being by giving themselves to God and thus sharing his eternal life.”</p><figure class="ii ij ik il ft im fh fi paragraph-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="fh fi iv" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 630px;"><picture style="box-sizing: inherit;"><source sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 630px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/format:webp/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/format:webp/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/format:webp/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/format:webp/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/format:webp/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1260/format:webp/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 1260w" style="box-sizing: inherit;" type="image/webp"></source><source data-testid="og" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 630px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1260/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png 1260w" style="box-sizing: inherit;"></source><img alt="" class="bf ir is c" height="318" loading="lazy" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1260/1*UHpt3AH4x_EcgHJ1Su1g7g.png" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 630px;" width="630" /></picture></div></figure><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="82bf" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">One can either think of this as the Person of God speaking through the Cosmos, or in a panentheistic way (NOT pantheism, the idea that the cosmos IS God) — that is, God and the world are inter-related with the world being in God and God being in the world, which many have squared with St Maximus the Confessors philosophy.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="30a9" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">This is certainly true upon more idealist philosophy’s, that matter, as many Quantum physicists say, arises from mind, as Rolland, David Bentley Hart’s dog, puts it,</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c006" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">‘If you believe that everything arises from an infinite act of mind — the rock over there no less than the intelligence in you — then you believe there’s a presence of a… of an infinite knowing logos within the discrete logos that constitutes each thing as what it is.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a09d" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">There’s a depth — even a personal depth, so to speak — in everything, an inner awareness that knows each reality from inside … or from deeper than inside — an act of knowing it’s *interior intimo suo*. There is *one* who knows what it’s like to be a rock.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7724" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">And wouldn’t that infinite personal depth have to express itself, almost of necessity, in a finite and personal interiority of sorts? Surely the knowledge of what it is to be a rock is already the spirit of the rock *as* a rock — the rock knowing itself.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="2c2f" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">So isn’t that very knowledge of ‘what it’s like’ already the reality of a finite modality of personal knowledge, a kind of discrete spiritual self? A personal, reflective dimension as the necessarily contracted mode in which the uncontracted infinite act of mind is exemplified in that thing? <br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />….All part of an endlessly complex, infinitely divisible hierarchy of conscious perspectives, containing and contained, reflecting and inflecting in one another. And the subjectivity of persons, too, like me — and I suppose you too, in a manner of speaking — would be one mind of modal contraction within the total hierarchy of modes of mind, an ever more particular and ever more comprehensive subjectivity and autoaffection and intentionality.”</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph hi hj hk hl b hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic id ie if ig hd bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="55fc" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Stratford Caldecott ends his own reflections thus :<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />“Briefly put, even if the world as a whole cannot convincingly be said to be “alive” right now, it will be alive when it attains its end. <br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />It is not alive yet, because the cosmic Fall has introduced death into it. Life — the life of God, that is, Trinitarian life — has not yet been fully revealed.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Death has not yet been defeated, except in principle, by Christ. It is the eschaton that will reveal the true nature of the world that, right now, is still “groaning” to be born.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />We might speak of a “personalized” cosmos, a world that through union with Christ becomes a kind of theological person — namely the Church in her cosmic extension. <br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />And if the world is, or is becoming, a person, it is also, or is becoming, alive. The Holy Spirit is coming to “renew the face of the earth,” by filling all things with the life of God — and “death shall be no more”.</p>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-76742533035612032842023-01-17T12:31:00.007-08:002023-01-19T12:21:13.146-08:00The Trauma Generation, 5 ways to heal, #1 with the Divine Maternal <div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCaevPa5WSjtN9N_L8KMsV0TxoW_DH1yJruixfW51j-GtboOFZ-UWUDXl04olqR0piPGSSRHLrMCgOCfVCl5KRq9Z0KOO7qsjp98rls7qJLzWDv3NJab9pT-7PE8XGGC9HTXVbuN2SAPqHBXRhKDoushZYAhu8dYYfUJOq6T15NjBXCLHccCH6mK_m/s660/THEWOMAN_Guadalupe-2S-e1652549979761.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCaevPa5WSjtN9N_L8KMsV0TxoW_DH1yJruixfW51j-GtboOFZ-UWUDXl04olqR0piPGSSRHLrMCgOCfVCl5KRq9Z0KOO7qsjp98rls7qJLzWDv3NJab9pT-7PE8XGGC9HTXVbuN2SAPqHBXRhKDoushZYAhu8dYYfUJOq6T15NjBXCLHccCH6mK_m/w303-h400/THEWOMAN_Guadalupe-2S-e1652549979761.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Painting, by artist <a href="https://www.visualgrace.org">Kate Caputo</a>, is titled, “The Woman", she had a vision of Mary cradling and covering a suffering sister, read more <a href="https://youaremadenew.com/2022/05/16/this-is-how-we-fight-our-battles/">HERE</a> <br /><br /><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">For Depth psychology most of us are living with trauma, it happens when the pain caused by insecure attachment in childhood - from divorce, a BPD mother, an absent father, neglect, or actual abuse - causes a split.<br /> <br /> Demons, or complexes, rise up to protect the injured child, they provide defenses to keep the child safe from experiencing that sense of abandonment again.<br /> <br /> Hence, one part of the personality matures quickly, perhaps a world weary street wise personality, or a precocious autistic-like intelligence, and one part remains a child.<br /> <br /> Hollywood and entertainment is pushing this and normalizing this.<br /> <br /> Look at all the toughest guys, rappers and rock stars and e-girls, or autists, and their love for anime.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKUY6vWpxJ7MZrCZInhw57ym3kQe2yZLRyjh1f-Ka6gvVnzqYuqBXCiVh7amIyrYiKBfrYlkPUQ3ArKixy5mpTuFdnvgNdWUr28o0uF-o786L4A_OK_MzRmZbR3U8nAdVYWGjF4pTGbczUF3f3QEEs5AooxkL94OYMOLHzdjqlIIpGXBihC6HNWml6/s721/DjoKyUTWwAAMnNd.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKUY6vWpxJ7MZrCZInhw57ym3kQe2yZLRyjh1f-Ka6gvVnzqYuqBXCiVh7amIyrYiKBfrYlkPUQ3ArKixy5mpTuFdnvgNdWUr28o0uF-o786L4A_OK_MzRmZbR3U8nAdVYWGjF4pTGbczUF3f3QEEs5AooxkL94OYMOLHzdjqlIIpGXBihC6HNWml6/s320/DjoKyUTWwAAMnNd.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">All the big tik-tok stars on the one hand talking about killing a bitch, on the other being a cartoon character. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br /> Like Corpse, hyper violence with cute cartoons !<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vqRPYn19zMc" width="320" youtube-src-id="vqRPYn19zMc"></iframe></div><br /><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;">Or Freddie Dread with more evil devil girls</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/chLDLK0Wjs8" width="320" youtube-src-id="chLDLK0Wjs8"></iframe></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Or DeadPool - an 8 yr old boy in a violent man’s body, joking about being molested by uncles, competing with his girlfriends trauma of being sexual molested by multiple family members. All good fun and normalized. </span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br /> Ironically, just last week I joked with a girl about being chained to the toilet as a child, “Ah, my nanny, ol’ chainy, I miss her…”<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjctU3uFLH0V1EHXOQfyPVNQDdPEoAX6X3qKWJxCnfT62bSYkHpce9UuQrorQpJHaK9_zuFcVRrJR96iMbwjvxN5EoBWwV5tgEYrScH3Fq8lUig4SKsiiBAtxuKGBuk0Zueepqs1PFEbCBsCq35PtIDCy5GKh-cv8pZmeYQY9Y4iRmjrpMI2ein8U8-/s1280/maxresdefault-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjctU3uFLH0V1EHXOQfyPVNQDdPEoAX6X3qKWJxCnfT62bSYkHpce9UuQrorQpJHaK9_zuFcVRrJR96iMbwjvxN5EoBWwV5tgEYrScH3Fq8lUig4SKsiiBAtxuKGBuk0Zueepqs1PFEbCBsCq35PtIDCy5GKh-cv8pZmeYQY9Y4iRmjrpMI2ein8U8-/w400-h225/maxresdefault-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />Gen Z is the first to experience the full consequences of WW1 and the industrial revolution destroying multi-generational families and communal living, now our primitive brain tells us we live in a world where our tribe has been decimated, and without it, as outcasts we will surly die…<br /> <br /> So, what can we do ? 5 things.<br /><br />1) <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/d00140374e7217f704c44ed1191a6068/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750">Divine Recollection</a> <br /><br /> Make friends with the Divine Mother. An archetype in Jungian psychology, a goddess in religions, and the Virgin Mary in Christianity.<br /><br />Dr. Donald Kalsched in his book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inner-World-Trauma-Archetypal-Bibliotheca/dp/0415123291 ">The Inner World of Trauma</a>,” writes about a young woman who was abused by her father every Sunday when her mother went to church. The woman endured this sexual abuse for a long period of time. To get through it she used to have an out of body experience, so she could separate herself from the trauma to survive. In therapy one day Kalsched asks her, “I wonder where you went during that time.” She burst out in tears and exclaimed, “I was in the arms of Mother Mary!”<br /> <br /><a href="https://youaremadenew.com/2022/05/16/this-is-how-we-fight-our-battles/">She holds our shattered self</a>, while we go about our daily life. We are “dispirited” and are never really incarnated in our body to exist authentically with other people in real life, we cannot connect to them. But, if we can have a numinous experience with the Divine Mother, she can secure our attachment.<br /> <br /> Check out his interview :<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E6ihlZ9y7Bk" width="320" youtube-src-id="E6ihlZ9y7Bk"></iframe></div><br /><br />2) Make friends with your demons.<br /> <br /> Truth is they are trying to protect you from being triggered of the original abandonment, to 'kill' outer relations in an effort to prevent further trauma </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">Say, perfectionism. This defense will not allow you to be loved until you are perfect. So…thank it, dialogue with it, tell it you no longer need it. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">This is the Internal Family Systems method, which you can do by yourself, see <a href="https://selftherapyjourney.com">HERE</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Self-Therapy-Step-Step-Cutting-Edge-Psychotherapy/dp/0984392777">HERE</a> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"> 3) Be loved.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> One needs to be loved *first, in order to love, despite common wisdom. A challenge, because we often run away, throw up defenses, act aggressive - and the other person must put up with it until we are assured they will not leave us and we can finally feel safe enough to accept their love.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> For many, this will only happen with a therapist. So get one.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">4) Forget all that and find your purpose. Ask what your soul wants from you, and own it. Of course, you will also need the opportunity and power to carry out that purpose.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> 5) If all else fails, resign yourself to living in trauma world, your soul exists in hell. However, you can help others, articulate their condition, hear them when they speak without judgment or the silly evasions of "but you have so much to live for !" BS.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGnLl_2K_ecanM2sxBduQ8-crhTcrnPphK2qC16JmSUvq7DtH8D_RNoVXom9WQAGl5WBnfFMzKwEG0FT6KwutkCkxaZ_tEzZNXkpgWzkzbmZid8cpD1OupVoP0wgLqNxw_TGPVQEyUtJwGKyWtQsDyMFCY9tV0IrtJe0sJxQJbdeNa4xaBBg9P-AK/s620/web3-black-madonna-scars-kris551000-youtube.jpg.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="620" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGnLl_2K_ecanM2sxBduQ8-crhTcrnPphK2qC16JmSUvq7DtH8D_RNoVXom9WQAGl5WBnfFMzKwEG0FT6KwutkCkxaZ_tEzZNXkpgWzkzbmZid8cpD1OupVoP0wgLqNxw_TGPVQEyUtJwGKyWtQsDyMFCY9tV0IrtJe0sJxQJbdeNa4xaBBg9P-AK/w640-h360/web3-black-madonna-scars-kris551000-youtube.jpg.webp" width="640" /></a></div></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span>I pray to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://aleteia.org/2017/08/26/why-does-the-black-madonna-of-jasna-gora-have-scars-on-her-face/">Our Lady of Czestochowa with Scars</a> that yours may be healed.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-69420882008288724742023-01-15T10:24:00.014-08:002023-01-16T11:05:41.697-08:00The Intimacy Epidemic<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5_woNLu-kCI3aiUMvGy0RzyZ_ggh_aTu6KvyMJOl8TNkkv5DdsgI3VqKNT5YkptPh4G1K_wzBtgylQjv5-Yfw4Z52x3w1L2lx_yToOs6MeFYMSmf_Ovxu8fwTtS3iWjjzuvXHACe3A915c-sto3hezeKpckNOJRWK8hfynKh76QIEvJJ77ERNTZj/s1800/key-1.jpg.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1743" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5_woNLu-kCI3aiUMvGy0RzyZ_ggh_aTu6KvyMJOl8TNkkv5DdsgI3VqKNT5YkptPh4G1K_wzBtgylQjv5-Yfw4Z52x3w1L2lx_yToOs6MeFYMSmf_Ovxu8fwTtS3iWjjzuvXHACe3A915c-sto3hezeKpckNOJRWK8hfynKh76QIEvJJ77ERNTZj/s320/key-1.jpg.webp" width="310" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I get messages and calls from men every week reading to take the razor to their throats - no one understand them.<br /> <br /> Here is the explanation.<br /><br />First, women too are suffering, society is terribly broken for them as well, but this will focus on men.<br /><br />Psychologically, for millions of years, people would leave their front door, see friends, a supportive tribe, women they grew up with, and dozens of family.<br /> <br /> Now, we don’t.<br /> <br /> For the primitive brain, it’s AS IF, our tribe has been decimated, we live as outcasts, and without a strong community, we are going to die….regardless of our financial well being.<br /><br />An old Russian saying - the only thing a man can do alone…is die.<br /><br />Also, boys have initiation rituals…they prove you can persevere and will produce more than you consume.<br /> <br /> A man who cannot will destroy the tribe - their is no “extra food” for most of human living - that goes to women, the elderly, and the sick.<br /> <br /> A woman, to feel secure, needs to know a man is part of the group, is respected and accepted by the group of men, and has support.<br /> <br /> Women aren’t stupid, men set up the games of social proof, and women choose the men who prove their worth - think of all the girls lining up to cheer on Nascar race winners. These girls are not Nascar fans - they see these men are respected by other men and are “winners.”<br /> <br /> This is smart. These men have admirable characteristics - hard work, competency, mastery of the world, the respect of the tribe. <br /> <br /> If a man does Not have a girl, that means no women saw this. He has not been accepted by the tribe of men, he is an outcast among his tribe, and his primitive brain tells him he has been rejected, an outcast, and without acceptance will surly die.<br /> <br /> Hence, young men *feel utterly decimated. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">(As for the reality of the dating scene for men, it IS grim, I wrote about it <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2022/12/women-without-restraint-social-cost.html">HERE.</a>)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">There is no secure attachment. This started in the industrial revolution, in WW I it broke, and only with the zoomers has it finally become a complete lived reality - no family home, no family etc</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <br /> Adam Lane Smith breaks it down <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PdjmhEu9JQ ">here</a>, he also has an “Attachment group” on discord, classes, and offers coaching, <a href="https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjonIfamMr8AhWU3sgKHSeRC2YYABAAGgJxdQ&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESauD2ruLmg3xGXfZam02Bq-mmpZhAypRE-L6D9E3s1GIxH1RAxh7gbBwYLEq_EfLwkInn7ZPvmCL2m_447vUv8lFqSgCz_zzUw9gLvP1Fb7H82nGbM2l_mArkhOkTMxp9JoUBkNaEu3QrvV8&sig=AOD64_19QZl8NM5p1IY9K1yPGV8oOB2xSg&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwiDvv7ZmMr8AhVoMlkFHTP-CMsQ0Qx6BAgIEAE&nis=8&dct=1">HERE</a>, highly recommended, he says :</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-family: times;">"…all of these men have been raised to believe that the world is ending that we're in a total collapse that there's no such thing as a loving family that there's no such thing as a loving marriage there's no such thing as unconditional love there is no such thing as security there's no such thing as Financial Security there's no such thing as a home you can rely on..<br /><br />…our brains are telling us we live in a scenario where our culture has been absolutely obliterated our family is dead our village is destroyed everything is overrun by strangers and we now live in a hostile environment…<br /> <br /> … it's as if our village was killed we're the only survivor and we've been stolen by slavers who are now raising us as a stranger in their culture…<br /><br />…men can't be secure they can't have a family they can't own a home they can’t just get a plot of land build a house have a wife raise kids and be together that's what most men want…<br /><br />..we're blocked from doing that and we have a hundred years of broken system that has erased the memory of being able to do that so it’s no longer mentally even possible those aren't even possibilities anymore so the things that are natural to us that our brains are designed for it is impossible for us to have them…<br /><br />..a generation of young men who just want even the smallest scrap of kindness stability love warmth the brain says I should be marrying the Girl Next Door she should be my friend as we play together and throw rocks and fight with sticks and and catch frogs and then we'll marry her someday and we'll have kids that's what the brain is saying and it's not happening, you gotta fight on Tinder to try to have sex with a girl who has had sex with more men than you have ever met and that's the culture now and men don’t want that so they're just retreating..”</span><br /><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_PdjmhEu9JQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="_PdjmhEu9JQ"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-80923046124366171512022-12-15T10:26:00.085-08:002024-03-15T18:01:24.895-07:00Why men feel hopeless, the dating scene & other blackpills <p><br /></p> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAt5Qvzzk3Ijlen_CAdBu_USoDxoHZPNhQsAtxlFEoa7cktFUV6GNumYvMineAUCyTu6dVNOf1ANuqGAt1W6yT0V0jKbgkMLCC5VEdMHHzJmPIqZOppnzJrk_DdhWqDc8eL-9Rn-wMGNzZDMu5Fyv7iG3onsumJ1ejg5WEFDyk8Gi9mnUWJPqAbfC1/s661/342053014_918000109445122_7196070373608185092_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="635" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAt5Qvzzk3Ijlen_CAdBu_USoDxoHZPNhQsAtxlFEoa7cktFUV6GNumYvMineAUCyTu6dVNOf1ANuqGAt1W6yT0V0jKbgkMLCC5VEdMHHzJmPIqZOppnzJrk_DdhWqDc8eL-9Rn-wMGNzZDMu5Fyv7iG3onsumJ1ejg5WEFDyk8Gi9mnUWJPqAbfC1/w614-h640/342053014_918000109445122_7196070373608185092_n.jpg" width="614" /></a></div><br />A gentleman does not critique women, especially respecting their own suffering, amd how many get off on bullying the fairer sex. <div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, a freind in despair asked me to write something from the perspective of young men that he could show his older parents.</div><div><br /></div><div>1) Men will use this to spread misogynistic hate, as certain women will with male stats, this is not the bolgs intention.</div><div><br /></div><div>2) Men will use these stats to excuse they're own weaknesses and failure. I know.</div><div><br /></div><div>3) Men too need to own up responsibility, but this is about women.</div><div><br /></div><div>4) These stats need context, often which takes the bite out of them, but this is a blog not a dissertation, so tale it with a grain of salt.</div><div><br /></div><div>If one has the emotional maturity, then read on with the above in mind, otherwise please skip.<br /><p>First some stats,<br /><br />"More than 60 percent of young men are single, nearly twice the rate of unattached young women..." <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/3868557-most-young-men-are-single-most-young-women-are-not/?fbclid=IwAR3cHBc1M7tqOON28X2Qr0mXdohyoJZxslN7CxRdAq3B-El5bFKTwWCihuE">HERE</a> <br /><br /> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzvonIgqXhFGx9FjqzxXnicXzdjUGEvTHno1hWKl7YQPxmimwlcBoi7A_A9e370sxoZbWYIJWbEh63PeEbE94UgLPaf9Npi6aDueYbD08846mslwFhKhS2PaQtjeLTnRB1yzamtvo-49oP2ErfGF8JZIqUYKkpDZB4Oxr_YUfAcUyQBNwidjfSnyx/s1032/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.37.08%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="764" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzvonIgqXhFGx9FjqzxXnicXzdjUGEvTHno1hWKl7YQPxmimwlcBoi7A_A9e370sxoZbWYIJWbEh63PeEbE94UgLPaf9Npi6aDueYbD08846mslwFhKhS2PaQtjeLTnRB1yzamtvo-49oP2ErfGF8JZIqUYKkpDZB4Oxr_YUfAcUyQBNwidjfSnyx/w474-h640/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.37.08%20PM.png" width="474" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><p></p><h1 class="pw-post-title is it iu bd iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je jf jg jh ji jj jk jl jm jn jo jp jq bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3845" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: -0.016em; line-height: 40px; margin: 0.6em 0px -0.27em;"><span class="ak" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">The Number Of Sexless Men Has *Tripled* In 10 Years </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/03/29/share-americans-not-having-sex-has-reached-record-high/">HERE </a></h1><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQk-tI5h7fBAkXDIaSIz2ituntSRt7-A1iuxXgMO7Ap7lvimlcPiFNRVSZFtE4ABq9dutEB64Rb4M-nm7k1OKX2zxhIqJXyWg2Hek0ptm9xa0ggmUdB0np0Soi9VTy3dscWGGjr2K8TGrf2IY4Of2D3L3H-aUmalrj-fx6DurpLyeIYejp-aRobm7-/s1368/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.42.31%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="1368" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQk-tI5h7fBAkXDIaSIz2ituntSRt7-A1iuxXgMO7Ap7lvimlcPiFNRVSZFtE4ABq9dutEB64Rb4M-nm7k1OKX2zxhIqJXyWg2Hek0ptm9xa0ggmUdB0np0Soi9VTy3dscWGGjr2K8TGrf2IY4Of2D3L3H-aUmalrj-fx6DurpLyeIYejp-aRobm7-/w640-h452/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.42.31%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><br /><br />Also, male virginity is on the rise :<br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE-7N9rQaRWlzY9w2ra9laj_CK_mMFXjmWLe_UlQi6oQ2qw5xG54wzm6fdTLSEu7YCQ3cAReQCCVO4iLdm-UZonm6UQBPOkVhcP6uf3CAoDTL3MrrUDAdsMF2MLfo35cO7Q5hnbuR4t47FB1MUTmcqvy_RvmVweH3Pxmfg4Gr1uy7ty_T9DIFn8hC_/s1392/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.41.01%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="1392" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE-7N9rQaRWlzY9w2ra9laj_CK_mMFXjmWLe_UlQi6oQ2qw5xG54wzm6fdTLSEu7YCQ3cAReQCCVO4iLdm-UZonm6UQBPOkVhcP6uf3CAoDTL3MrrUDAdsMF2MLfo35cO7Q5hnbuR4t47FB1MUTmcqvy_RvmVweH3Pxmfg4Gr1uy7ty_T9DIFn8hC_/w640-h474/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.41.01%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p>Men are often bad, and sinful, and violent.</p>What happens when you remove large forms of social constraint on men ? They form gangs, they become criminal, they kill themselves.<br /><br />Now, what happens when you remove social constraints for women ? Nothing ? Is not Eve fallen as well ?<br /><br />Whenever one critiques women, men come out of the wood work to defend them naturally, it is the make instinct, women come to shame such people, call them incels. <br /><br />But, if we are equal, then women too must have SOME bad aspects.<br /><br />Since people keep asking me, here are a few.<br /><br />Most PUA guys will simply hammer home that guys learn these 3 points :<br /><br /> • Hypergamy (She only dates up)<br /><br />• Solipsism (Her feelings are her reality)<br /><br />• Briffault's Law (No value, no relationship)<br /><br />"Once you understand these concepts...It's laughably easy to predict their behavior," they say.<br /> <br /> Well....sort of, but let's not get too incelly here.<br /><br />Men love idealy, just the girl. They can hunt and make huts and are *free to love so.<br /><br />Women (until 60 yrs ago) cannot hunt a mammoth w a 2 month old baby on her back.<br /><br />She must love the man, AND his ability to get bread and meat. That aspect will be part of her love.<br /><br />Men want ideal love, women will never understand that, or understand men's sacrifice...just as men will never understand the hard difficulty of motherhood, or insecurities.<br /><br />Different genders, different loves, and neither understands what love is for the other.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfy8Mv-EQGCB3nfqckiexEy1SPMmSElNST8wIg1IXOfwInWopLQDgkreWvOzbf19nM74VUwEaO4x1dboiT7G_DTgmxAguoVXlcfdVZocpOW2h1zYLv4-B_UBhifrD1yqnQEm_xqqVTe2zEafOAN1SAhuqQx5Rxcd39lYTI7zetLESCcze0FJuXxYAe0Lc/s490/432284164_7303028416399464_5713214461013588697_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="490" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfy8Mv-EQGCB3nfqckiexEy1SPMmSElNST8wIg1IXOfwInWopLQDgkreWvOzbf19nM74VUwEaO4x1dboiT7G_DTgmxAguoVXlcfdVZocpOW2h1zYLv4-B_UBhifrD1yqnQEm_xqqVTe2zEafOAN1SAhuqQx5Rxcd39lYTI7zetLESCcze0FJuXxYAe0Lc/w640-h430/432284164_7303028416399464_5713214461013588697_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /> <div><br />Really, this is obvious, and what virtually every society has told us since the dawn, every common man knows this, and intellectuals must be given endless proof of what is well known...everything Rollo says was said thousands of years ago in Assemblywomen by Aristophanes in 391 BC....<br /><br />These stats actually make sense when you look at how vulnerable women have been historically, see <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2769593/HALF-women-fall-partner-standby-fancied-case-current-relationship-turns-sour.html?fbclid=IwAR0Iu7_D-e3V-AFO8yg8UrMmqT43k6IT_WBZ2zL2KIgPyl7P2NVQwUzGuFA ">HERE</a> :<br /> <br /> Half of women in relationships report maintaining a 'back-up' partner in their social circle<br /><br />43% of women reported having a back-up partner.<br /><br />80% were in contact with the back-up partner.<br /><br />50% said their partners were aware of this potential replacement.<br /><br />25% said they had feelings as strong for their back-up partner as they do for their primary partner.<br /><br />15% said their feelings were stronger for the back-up then for their primary partner.<br /> <br /> It's true women usually only date sideways and up.<br /><br />These are the results of <a href="https://medium.com/@worstonlinedater/tinder-experiments-ii-guys-unless-you-are-really-hot-you-are-probably-better-off-not-wasting-your-2ddf370a6e9a">a study of Tinder and OKCupid swipes</a>, which suggested that the top 78% of women are only interested in dating the top 20% of men.<br /><br /><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6uy8aH77ZpxMzV9B7x6XEy4chX5QYcX35VkfECCS1jWyPfLiWZr4uZmGbP-rrmL66iv8dX53ug32IponFLOWOKnjNvOSayKGTI4MKZMKhDspwlPXsI-eazxKFg8EQ60P1VqcIz-znk6sSPYhNd7wB8jzJj1YV53SAgH3RWkga0qvutZa8FJ1nFSB/s1464/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.44.51%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1464" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6uy8aH77ZpxMzV9B7x6XEy4chX5QYcX35VkfECCS1jWyPfLiWZr4uZmGbP-rrmL66iv8dX53ug32IponFLOWOKnjNvOSayKGTI4MKZMKhDspwlPXsI-eazxKFg8EQ60P1VqcIz-znk6sSPYhNd7wB8jzJj1YV53SAgH3RWkga0qvutZa8FJ1nFSB/w640-h376/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.44.51%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /> <br /> <br /> "The top 78% of women are competing for the top 20% of men"<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlLhRZDLf5k1yzh8CX6jusNgKNdcMkrnw5jVVrnkwJrIx40oM7_0_lsC5PEEb381lfbdDBYV-Zj-iKsSJsMxN3f7ys1tElMkDEJDou32BREmaRIemd666FxqofcDx3fX_8nQ9-XY3gUPmZp3wzC-hoHmRLd6n11kTzUkYrs5nEqf9ZCqa1WvDjQ_k/s1070/319278825_2554494061357863_4289804720523726999_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1070" height="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlLhRZDLf5k1yzh8CX6jusNgKNdcMkrnw5jVVrnkwJrIx40oM7_0_lsC5PEEb381lfbdDBYV-Zj-iKsSJsMxN3f7ys1tElMkDEJDou32BREmaRIemd666FxqofcDx3fX_8nQ9-XY3gUPmZp3wzC-hoHmRLd6n11kTzUkYrs5nEqf9ZCqa1WvDjQ_k/w640-h526/319278825_2554494061357863_4289804720523726999_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><br /><br />Here, women were asked to rate the attractiveness of a man’s online dating photos, and 80% of men were rated as below average attractiveness.<br /><div><span face="source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(41, 41, 41); color: #292929; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzKvQ63HAhaBSbCgSc5MTE-P8rvSAHEv-fh3oa-aHFg0cdVqwk9xxB1GOACHfAbbLRr0i6JoaTSScBAeQPamw6mnIbNaxJEUd2Zfad9RVyZx1p86ZiylvtokolCl5-Bdb2J7eyT2zOCeS03-KLaURN_mAvHxVbMA0e9gu1sa3zyEGBUU-VUAJ5FAC/s836/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.47.16%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="836" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzKvQ63HAhaBSbCgSc5MTE-P8rvSAHEv-fh3oa-aHFg0cdVqwk9xxB1GOACHfAbbLRr0i6JoaTSScBAeQPamw6mnIbNaxJEUd2Zfad9RVyZx1p86ZiylvtokolCl5-Bdb2J7eyT2zOCeS03-KLaURN_mAvHxVbMA0e9gu1sa3zyEGBUU-VUAJ5FAC/w640-h506/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.47.16%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /> "A man of average attractiveness can only expect to be liked by slightly less than 1% of females"<br /> <br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA0HjrRkCE59g_VMUMxmypRyA6friOP57QN6wgxWwIG-fWW0BieJoASXeVaammzdV5UtSiKxSbPklMuovbRAkUnxKvxscef-MevJ2fbtuwVMrviwJHYNMV9HRZ7rgLGK0RAWDxBX3yGAdDirDfBi2Wa-yTIBW4ATpkJYKu5rBiQ6OjWh_CKWEAqmdP/s526/319271233_2554494634691139_8359640919730733808_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="526" height="548" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA0HjrRkCE59g_VMUMxmypRyA6friOP57QN6wgxWwIG-fWW0BieJoASXeVaammzdV5UtSiKxSbPklMuovbRAkUnxKvxscef-MevJ2fbtuwVMrviwJHYNMV9HRZ7rgLGK0RAWDxBX3yGAdDirDfBi2Wa-yTIBW4ATpkJYKu5rBiQ6OjWh_CKWEAqmdP/w640-h548/319271233_2554494634691139_8359640919730733808_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />Pareto principle, 80% of women going for top 20% of guys. <br /><br />There is no hierarchy, class, or caste system to regulate this anymore.<br /><br /> <br /> Pareto principle checks out against the data. Women rate 80% of men as “below average attractiveness”.<br /> <br /><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheUZ9_gW-HUU--BrHFEfoc4Dhqvj9sRFlR5-4UkuodypAuo3xdKaBsfJAlh10RGPIP_niFERvuQ1KWT7AOhL5C3tkRXBDmP_BkRrRAJLAw5WZNRJ8IK4uyL0cp8Xl_l3lRz5FLp6cbJUdUUodKCRcvJVxpKFkNA8uYOpAnJOTQBM7CpgiJ82nIKXf5/s644/292794555_1236190847138714_3361851548411990781_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="503" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheUZ9_gW-HUU--BrHFEfoc4Dhqvj9sRFlR5-4UkuodypAuo3xdKaBsfJAlh10RGPIP_niFERvuQ1KWT7AOhL5C3tkRXBDmP_BkRrRAJLAw5WZNRJ8IK4uyL0cp8Xl_l3lRz5FLp6cbJUdUUodKCRcvJVxpKFkNA8uYOpAnJOTQBM7CpgiJ82nIKXf5/w500-h640/292794555_1236190847138714_3361851548411990781_n.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /> Gender gap is nothing, check out the height gap<br /> .<br />"A 6-foot man earning $62,500 per year is, on average, as desirable as a similar 5'6" man who earns $237,500.<br /><br />In other words, those six inches of height are worth about $175,000 in salary on the dating market.<br /> <br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqBb54KnpWBH3EUWW06qtPjQxWqzCj4mG1INibybDpN4EVkJDrDcEbvVJU7v0VcBfWEEUvnIHNuGx1ttku_pLHc9n6KF2wk8XUJANo8iGcBNwFkv3gs5I-nveMYRtim7zU5Dc0rig3-t-WzxaJHIlNceFC0wzW9MLCL75Fs4Xb2zUYhcQi5PofoPnp/s521/293881641_2423972354410035_8074965249375741882_n-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="521" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqBb54KnpWBH3EUWW06qtPjQxWqzCj4mG1INibybDpN4EVkJDrDcEbvVJU7v0VcBfWEEUvnIHNuGx1ttku_pLHc9n6KF2wk8XUJANo8iGcBNwFkv3gs5I-nveMYRtim7zU5Dc0rig3-t-WzxaJHIlNceFC0wzW9MLCL75Fs4Xb2zUYhcQi5PofoPnp/w640-h386/293881641_2423972354410035_8074965249375741882_n-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br />Read <a href="http://home.uchicago.edu/~hortacsu/onlinedating.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0C85z7ZKFkr0EzxEdWpoFVX2cdqObuDqNtAH5ElWh-_Vuwyhgs-hve1F0">HERE</a> and <a href="https://quillette.com/2019/03/12/attraction-inequality-and-the-dating-economy/?fbclid=IwAR1HmDunpkZxVb0V2lBKeDNZ3Nx5J7okN8NyehJTh9abVM_bSGdv2rN9Uz8 ">HERE</a> </div><div><br /></div><br /><br />"A situation emerges in which most men are desperate for wives, but many women are just as desperately throwing themselves at a very few exceptionally attractive men"<br /><br /><br />"Once monogamy is abolished, no restriction is placed on a woman's choices. Hence, all women choose the same few men" <br /> –F Roger Devlin, Sexual Utopia in Power (2006)<br /><br /><div><br />Women are human, and humans want power. Yes, mostly its men who are power hungry, but now women have joined them. Feminism *these days wants the best of all possible worlds: rights without responsibilities; privileges without obligations.</div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZ5aUldg6m-gG6XIL8rPpp74S9rbUfgwiewb9MLFHaCLAIXmCGBjHcZ9-0aUeZ7rVXe3aFCeNYh__AzFt2gSO4V1mdsj40dd4ePMfNl6ezBeIns4b2hSf-n9nsMPCfZwuubiiWrTvl2ENQLh0t92aSJxoh4zGk9in_unZYP--0VfzpcYeSoJEaC84/s1596/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.52.33%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="1596" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZ5aUldg6m-gG6XIL8rPpp74S9rbUfgwiewb9MLFHaCLAIXmCGBjHcZ9-0aUeZ7rVXe3aFCeNYh__AzFt2gSO4V1mdsj40dd4ePMfNl6ezBeIns4b2hSf-n9nsMPCfZwuubiiWrTvl2ENQLh0t92aSJxoh4zGk9in_unZYP--0VfzpcYeSoJEaC84/w640-h466/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%202.52.33%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Psychologists also point to the Great Girl syndrome, women being constantly told they deserve better.<br /><br /><br />"Women are more egocentric and narcissistic than they used to be, according to extensive research by two psychologists in the US. <br /><br />More women think the universe revolves around them, with a deluded sense of their fabulousness, and believe they are cleverer, more talented and more attractive than they actually are.<br /><br /><br />According to the American research, there has been a 67 per cent increase in it over the past two decades, mainly among women. "<br /><br /><br />Read more <a href="https://gulfnews.com/lifestyle/more-women-succumbing-to-the-ego-epidemic-1.524205">HERE</a> and <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1213212/The-ego-epidemic-more-inflated-sense-fabulousness.html">HERE</a>.</div><br />Also, women have more friends, a wider social circle, and more social support, Read <a href="https://madamenoire.com/1107309/why-women-have-more-close-friends-than-men/">HERE</a>.<br /><br /><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIg1Jr9nl98xBXdvUP1bdyskT_NJH_-7A51Eu2M-YbFjq866Q5XPO5nrZ24XF-gofhFsDAS8SfslrygeB-VY6BANggxGjOtupSKoO1j7G9h1sGTZecBo2__sL8JRj1wiOjYt6yVdHqG04zyQPCk4qLvxCiRzgFCg3jNS8G4QQMhi_yeODtu_0ABVR/s960/342198058_4246011562290739_1797981680213988213_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="960" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIg1Jr9nl98xBXdvUP1bdyskT_NJH_-7A51Eu2M-YbFjq866Q5XPO5nrZ24XF-gofhFsDAS8SfslrygeB-VY6BANggxGjOtupSKoO1j7G9h1sGTZecBo2__sL8JRj1wiOjYt6yVdHqG04zyQPCk4qLvxCiRzgFCg3jNS8G4QQMhi_yeODtu_0ABVR/w640-h352/342198058_4246011562290739_1797981680213988213_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Furthermore, women are incentivized to divorce, not only alimony, and an entire industry egging them on, but also the idea of a new fresh relationship, and dozens of men vying for their attention is tempting for anyone.</div><div><br /></div><div>Social media too - it's not easy for a man to compete with thousands of thirsty fella's commenting on a gal's instagram page, practically worshiping her, not to mention the extreme egoism this induces.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, men are afraid of divorce.<br /><br /><div>Contrary to common assumptions, divorce today seldom involves two people mutually deciding to part ways. According to Frank Furstenberg and Andrew Cherlin in Divided Families, 80 percent of divorces are unilateral, that is, over the objection of one spouse. The woman.<br /><br />Now, According to the Department of Health and Human Services , “Children of single parents had a 77% greater risk of being harmed by physical abuse, an 87% greater risk of being harmed by physical neglect, and an 80% greater risk of suffering serious injury or harm from abuse or neglect than children living with both parents.” Britain’s Family Education Trust reports that children are up to 33 times more likely to be abused in a single-parent home than in an intact family.<br /><br />So, we’d expect a woman to be in incredible danger, and initiate divorce only in the most desperate of circumstances.<br /><br />No. Not because they are beaten or abused, but, according to <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-new-resilience/201508/women-initiate-divorce-much-more-men-heres-why">Psychology today</a> , they divorce because men fail to meet “expectations for <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/gender">gender</a> equality.”<br /><br />These are not girls breaking up with their boyfriends. These are marriages. Children are involved.<br /><br />The reasons given are laughably abstract and inconsequential - the woman aren't treated equal enough etc - mistreatment or abuse is not mentioned at all.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnEocYBJAxlFWIPoCGUQgQK1mY7Pb8O6onpSa379cCWhIJRps_9yuIalKLS7w3wqk2VxbECQAqSlXaAEICRZ4IFPmMDLAzkoZF7GQLrFmZPadm69mXBqMK16tX8J8WORG104T8nv08niRDzWA2QZUbw85zCVtLDMCO5aO-F44U81kPomtm_6LrSYqI/s1122/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-22%20at%207.17.46%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1122" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnEocYBJAxlFWIPoCGUQgQK1mY7Pb8O6onpSa379cCWhIJRps_9yuIalKLS7w3wqk2VxbECQAqSlXaAEICRZ4IFPmMDLAzkoZF7GQLrFmZPadm69mXBqMK16tX8J8WORG104T8nv08niRDzWA2QZUbw85zCVtLDMCO5aO-F44U81kPomtm_6LrSYqI/w640-h432/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-22%20at%207.17.46%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />What ? Only 30% of men can meet reasonable expectations of a marriage, to the point where entire families are dismantled justifiably.<br /><br />While 70% of women CAN meet reasonable expectations of men ?<br /><br />And this is not the fault of women having unreasonable expectations.? This is simply because the vast majority of men act so horrifically that the family must be broken up, with all the terrible consequences suffered by the children that entails ?<br /><br /> That many children are harmed by parental conflict is not in doubt, nor is the fact that some children benefit from parental separation because it lessens their exposure to conflict. But Amato and Booth estimate that at most a third of divorces involving children are so distressed that the children are likely to benefit. The remainder, about 70%, involve low-conflict marriages that apparently harm children much less than do the realities of divorce. <br /><br />Moreover, Amato and Booth estimate that, as the threshold of dissatisfaction at which divorce occurs becomes ever lower, an even higher proportion of future divorces will involve low-conflict situations in which divorce will be worse for children than the continuation of the marriage. This reasoning leads to a startling conclusion, especially coming from two liberal social scientists: For that majority of marriages in trouble that are not fraught with conflict, "future generations would be well served if parents remained together until children are grown."<br /><br /> Here’s another statistic: Divorced and separated men are two and a half times <a href="http://lists101.his.com/pipermail/smartmarriages/2000-March/000110.html">more likely to commit suicide</a> than married men. Divorce, however, doesn’t seem to lead more women to commit suicide. Separated and divorced male suicides outnumber their female counterparts by 4 to 1.<br /><br /> Women are overwhelmingly the ones who don’t want to honor the marriage vows. This is confirmed by the academic study <a href="http://www.unc.edu/courses/2006fall/econ/586/001/Readings/Brinig.pdf">“These Boots Are Made for Walking”: Why Most Divorce Filers Are Women</a> and the <a href="https://dalrock.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/why-a-womans-age-at-time-of-marriage-matters-and-what-this-tells-us-about-the-apex-fallacy/">data on the age of wife at the time of divorce</a>. <br /><br />Putting this together, divorce reform is all about redistributing power from the husband who wants to honor the marriage vows to the wife who doesn't.<br /><br /> Why ? Basically, wives are now incentivized to divorce by the alimony retirement plan racket, the anti-male divorce industrial complex, and the practical guarantee of child custody. </div></div><div><div> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNmwWkkpBvjgGbUQMXJuASNNSmXIOz06AStJL6Yx1U-au2Yc3sy-oWyD2GXcNfB1RIUAicAyhc47c9fB4pH3slLONNPI30dD_Od0cjB9yRH9lZEa0XYiXHE27l_85P3AXhnxvHCikc7FpI6oSCXiBX2F3qRE2idgXkPL8LcFqxDdvQ39zgwnSLK8j/s1416/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%208.44.37%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1416" data-original-width="1002" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNmwWkkpBvjgGbUQMXJuASNNSmXIOz06AStJL6Yx1U-au2Yc3sy-oWyD2GXcNfB1RIUAicAyhc47c9fB4pH3slLONNPI30dD_Od0cjB9yRH9lZEa0XYiXHE27l_85P3AXhnxvHCikc7FpI6oSCXiBX2F3qRE2idgXkPL8LcFqxDdvQ39zgwnSLK8j/w452-h640/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-18%20at%208.44.37%20PM.png" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Men have it tough, but women don’t see thew bottom 80% of men, they look at the top 20% in society and indeed it is mostly men, but the bottom 80% of men are just as “oppressed” and denigrated as women, who, in general live in the middle, the bottom 40% of society, in prison or homeless, is mostly men.<br /> <br /> Norah Vincent disguised herself as a man for 18 months to see what it was like...2 weeks ago she committed suicide, partially due to the psychological scars of how difficult life was as a man.<br /><br />She was shocked how cruelly women treated her as a man....and how as a man she was constantly and mercilessly scrutinized for weakness or inadequacy, and judged.<br /><br />A brave woman. Read <a href="https://archive.ph/SPHsp">HERE </a> </div><div><br /> Here's the real issue :<br /><br />1) Women's problems are societies problems, and delt with as such.<br /><br />Men's problems are their own, and male fraternities & friendships are dying.<br /><br />2) Women are encouraged to voice problems, even get male attention & sympathy.<br /><br />Men are despised and judged for the same, rightly I think.<br /><br />3) As the Psychologist Rollo May said, women will never understand a man's problems, and will lose respect if they are voiced....A woman's problems, however, must be also his, listend and attended to, in relationship.<br /><br />4) As the author writes, her manhood was constantly scrutinized, by women, men, and even children, for weakness, and judged harshly instead of engenduring sympathy or help.<br /><br />And by most meterics, men have it harsher, prison, poverty, mentally illness, suicide, health, dangerous work etc etc<br /><br />Both suffer differently but equally, only men have no support, but this strengthens them.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, history has seen this before, I've blogged on it <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2017/01/feminism-and-progressive-sexual-morals.html">HERE </a></div><br />A man needs attachments and purpose. A family provides both. Plus respect, significance, and a place in society. Also approval from Mother Nature - your genes are worthy - and from the the community of men. Studies have shown how men without families are distrusted by other men. Without a family, one's sense of worth vanishes, in society's eyes as well.<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_PdjmhEu9JQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="_PdjmhEu9JQ"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><div><p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Adam Lane Smith breaks it down </b><span style="color: #0000e9; text-decoration: underline;"><b>here</b></span><b>, he says :</b></p>
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<p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"…all of these men have been raised to believe that the world is ending that we're in a total collapse that there's no such thing as a loving family that there's no such thing as a loving marriage there's no such thing as unconditional love there is no such thing as security there's no such thing as Financial Security there's no such thing as a home you can rely on..</p>
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<p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">…our brains are telling us we live in a scenario where our culture has been absolutely obliterated our family is dead our village is destroyed everything is overrun by strangers and we now live in a hostile environment…</p>
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<p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">… it's as if our village was killed we're the only survivor and we've been stolen by slavers who are now raising us as a stranger in their culture…</p>
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<p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">…men can't be secure they can't have a family they can't own a home they can’t just get a plot of land build a house have a wife raise kids and be together that's what most men want…</p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgoAs1913a1h1xlPk4WLwZaBymjHIVUdAOtJVNee_d835sy_iGU8aGNvv3KWmvoNiuMIgGFjAq1x6xMYKAmCNKVX3gIQNRctaRitxGZvwLyG3RGgnRRgdbAnvq_XiAoavS8jX9EDJJkixJGFitMyucdWXevZ3igFaS97ddXKJNaGkw1LEHMUZ5k1sG/s960/331505486_3542166806011859_7414762294032378693_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="960" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgoAs1913a1h1xlPk4WLwZaBymjHIVUdAOtJVNee_d835sy_iGU8aGNvv3KWmvoNiuMIgGFjAq1x6xMYKAmCNKVX3gIQNRctaRitxGZvwLyG3RGgnRRgdbAnvq_XiAoavS8jX9EDJJkixJGFitMyucdWXevZ3igFaS97ddXKJNaGkw1LEHMUZ5k1sG/s320/331505486_3542166806011859_7414762294032378693_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
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<p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">..we're blocked from doing that and we have a hundred years of broken system that has erased the memory of being able to do that so it’s no longer mentally even possible those aren't even possibilities anymore so the things that are natural to us that our brains are designed for it is impossible for us to have them…</p>
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<p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">..a generation of young men who just want even the smallest scrap of kindness stability love warmth the brain says I should be marrying the Girl Next Door she should be my friend as we play together and throw rocks and fight with sticks and and catch frogs and then we'll marry her someday and we'll have kids that's what the brain is saying and it's not happening, you gotta fight on Tinder to try to have sex with a girl who has had sex with more men than you have ever met and that's the culture now and men don’t want that so they're just retreating..”<br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And of course I haven't even touched on the endless articles blaming men and the "patriarchy" for everything from global warming to the rising price of blueberries, the "cancel men" movement, the Future is Female, and a thousands other movements devitalizing young boys. The amount of hatred and demoralization, from denigrating fathers on TV, to film routinely portraying men as weak and incompetent, had one psychologist I know say to me, "It's open season on men, and these boys I see get the message loud and clear : your bad, your not wanted, and your garbage."</p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of course they're ready to hang themselves.</p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqM4Ln5n_GCzp_jnHuy75l9pJk6z4579waLpRGFQ0OWEKxTXQHNRrm7aeAbmX3ArUgCtlOIDkAJqrfoVK9wBnSE9B-WdeHqW1MlLIE4UcfPs-BUXO-jAjydZqF60WXDVsQz7urgTp-vXYA1qsPKn4jEAQJIJ2fRWKSSfZK1giFrwyuvJ9BPtQTzJ9/s1080/293109672_2423816057758998_7960234259939393536_n-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="1080" height="638" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqM4Ln5n_GCzp_jnHuy75l9pJk6z4579waLpRGFQ0OWEKxTXQHNRrm7aeAbmX3ArUgCtlOIDkAJqrfoVK9wBnSE9B-WdeHqW1MlLIE4UcfPs-BUXO-jAjydZqF60WXDVsQz7urgTp-vXYA1qsPKn4jEAQJIJ2fRWKSSfZK1giFrwyuvJ9BPtQTzJ9/w640-h638/293109672_2423816057758998_7960234259939393536_n-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And despite claiming the desire for equality, women seem to have no problem with the bulk of low paying or dangerous jobs going to men.<br /><br /><br />Plus 2/3rds college graduates are female.<br /><br /><br />Female share of BA Degrees by College Major, 1971-2021. Women earn the majority of degrees in 10 fields and are near parity with men in 4 other fields and are only a minority in only 2 fields: Engineering and Computer Science, the only two gender disparities we ever hear about.</div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibD2mHoVb79_egEbkiNnjtZ7OegXU5NQxMTg1eIAs2y6Lcn1AmJAM0U8PC8GTqEWQL5or5ll1QgF7tILsycdKbOHLnwZObu92egqRiXxL0m11jwKTBxbT-BLnKDCghH9cXrCUjT1w20hzdZNGPdsvUnzaF60aLNsc9OJPkkAqZUNOBpAeKo1Hg-2KA/s1600/FuBD7jpWIAEKWTd.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1600" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibD2mHoVb79_egEbkiNnjtZ7OegXU5NQxMTg1eIAs2y6Lcn1AmJAM0U8PC8GTqEWQL5or5ll1QgF7tILsycdKbOHLnwZObu92egqRiXxL0m11jwKTBxbT-BLnKDCghH9cXrCUjT1w20hzdZNGPdsvUnzaF60aLNsc9OJPkkAqZUNOBpAeKo1Hg-2KA/w640-h600/FuBD7jpWIAEKWTd.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Clinical psychology doctoral programs are now 79% female. When the reverse was true for law and medical schools, we talked about the systematic exclusion of females from those professions and the harm that caused clients/patients.</div><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix-k20iRLBmem_eHe3QaEu87YqX7HZoTNkYuWY-RCNDtdDCeC6aModYTjHu5anq7j0LLK2Aa8YSvvHAmLsXMUwVwBIwYl5U14jntGvUsz7TC8eKdWTuzCxuOTL6gdhKjCmQCv3seBMNG9j-n_0mR1ufPrXramKwWg5SuQ53awkeh1dofyLTDRzoQ8s/s1200/FnUpmp1X0AMf8UR.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix-k20iRLBmem_eHe3QaEu87YqX7HZoTNkYuWY-RCNDtdDCeC6aModYTjHu5anq7j0LLK2Aa8YSvvHAmLsXMUwVwBIwYl5U14jntGvUsz7TC8eKdWTuzCxuOTL6gdhKjCmQCv3seBMNG9j-n_0mR1ufPrXramKwWg5SuQ53awkeh1dofyLTDRzoQ8s/w480-h640/FnUpmp1X0AMf8UR.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><br /></div><br /><br />Only 5 percent of American psychologists who are thirty years of age or younger are male !<div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); caret-color: rgb(15, 20, 25); color: #0f1419; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); caret-color: rgb(15, 20, 25); color: #0f1419; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); caret-color: rgb(15, 20, 25); color: #0f1419; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0YtBSAPN3nIaXugPwZrDS7SgghgAMjKYKT3aSlyF_Ek8_FgLJFj0RVHbXwmXDIlZvHQNOkYQQaq74cJ9bABcQBK8USN0gRXiFIZtNMzDP9XzUpAZgw1vsTtAvh88D_0R8ZkENcIdUF0vxtoawvkkUC9fmagmla6ihFH4-LYUo5kZMyABHlZl51oOt/s778/FkHSYkOWQAEr0eC.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="778" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0YtBSAPN3nIaXugPwZrDS7SgghgAMjKYKT3aSlyF_Ek8_FgLJFj0RVHbXwmXDIlZvHQNOkYQQaq74cJ9bABcQBK8USN0gRXiFIZtNMzDP9XzUpAZgw1vsTtAvh88D_0R8ZkENcIdUF0vxtoawvkkUC9fmagmla6ihFH4-LYUo5kZMyABHlZl51oOt/w640-h418/FkHSYkOWQAEr0eC.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div></span></div><div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); caret-color: rgb(15, 20, 25); color: #0f1419; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Source: American Psychological Association, 2020.</span></div><br /><br /><br /><br />"In every country studied, girls are more likely than boys to climb the income ladder...75% of American daughters escape the lowest quintile—not unlike girls in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Fewer than 60% of American sons experience similar success." https://city-journal.org/html/boy-trouble-13615.html?utm_source=pocket_mylist<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivl0XI18hYzMPEwe1NZPZRXIXjM_lp3CkpUeKMdKpVqDNLohrpEAVJoXaziDHir8YuzhXUXYEpOVE9cRyNRx9dwbJkz-Ot37fZZ5fOmncW-8_b4ebmZDHHyvtBoRBJ608mfdVPOtVLmonZKSOlAcnk5x9BG7oIYVTyIBtXxowQ3gZTP_sOH2v4U8-P/s1199/FDs5-bHWQAUpnew.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="1199" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivl0XI18hYzMPEwe1NZPZRXIXjM_lp3CkpUeKMdKpVqDNLohrpEAVJoXaziDHir8YuzhXUXYEpOVE9cRyNRx9dwbJkz-Ot37fZZ5fOmncW-8_b4ebmZDHHyvtBoRBJ608mfdVPOtVLmonZKSOlAcnk5x9BG7oIYVTyIBtXxowQ3gZTP_sOH2v4U8-P/w640-h394/FDs5-bHWQAUpnew.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br />WHY are boys doing worse ?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, prejudice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, as in most studies, when actually studied the prejudice nearly always favors women against men, in hiring as well :</div><div><br /></div><div>"Boys Lag Behind: A comparison of gender-blind vs. non-blind test scores reveals a teacher marking bias in favor of girls. </div><div><br /></div><div>This appears to be part of the reason that boys fall behind girls at school.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Without teachers’ [marking] bias in favor of girls, the gender gap in choosing a science track would be 12.5% larger in favor of boys."</div><div><br /></div><div> doi.org/10.1016/j.econ…8</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKYZcl-0B5pZB9BOKLI7zZZ_Q1qICFYysIM1afjLL1jtqX3rIyQvKK8zpJ_2HFO6Rmlc9i2s3FwWz8F5ViT9Y2D0VN5oEceotJ9dkPx2wy1pDZZ3YaEpmw7zQ5xiUup4_NjDj-endhXn36akIe_kk86spPs0eBdfwE2UgEPwDJO--zfEiqJzCnf3R/s775/20230421_090057.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="775" height="594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKYZcl-0B5pZB9BOKLI7zZZ_Q1qICFYysIM1afjLL1jtqX3rIyQvKK8zpJ_2HFO6Rmlc9i2s3FwWz8F5ViT9Y2D0VN5oEceotJ9dkPx2wy1pDZZ3YaEpmw7zQ5xiUup4_NjDj-endhXn36akIe_kk86spPs0eBdfwE2UgEPwDJO--zfEiqJzCnf3R/w640-h594/20230421_090057.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /><br />The Village Theory.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anthropologists theorized that in a village of 60, you'd expect to see less grand love affairs than a modern city of 60,000.</div><div><br /></div><div>But no.</div><div><br /></div><div>A person has 2 or 3 true loves.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is as if the human brain has only 2 or 3 slots for an in depth partner.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, young women fill theirs early.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, with many partners you are training your body for infidelity. The more partners a women has, because of oxytocin production, the harder it will be for her to pair bond.</div><div><br /></div><div>In youth we mound ourselves to the other, multiple partners yield past impressions making long term attatchment tough.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the 1970s, only 6% of women had 4-5 premarital sex partners, and only 2% had 10 or more. In the 1990s, 16% of women had 4-5 premarital sex partners, and 10% had 10 or more. Fast forward to the 2010s, and 18% have 4-5 premarital sex partners, and 18% had 10 or more (that's almost double the amount in the 1990s). </div><div><br /></div><div>The sexual revolution may have begun in the 1970s, but the effects show up significantly in the data at the start of the new millennium. In the 1970s, 21% of brides were virgins. In the 2010s, only 5% were. Again, we can only imagine how much that number has lowered in 2020.</div><div><br /></div>I could go on...and on...and on...and on....<br /><br /><br />Parents are noticing, even forming "mom groups" to help their sons, but don't understand the why :<div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnHf08K69-U6GR9LLF_xf-dJVA5G-J3_GmYVQ3Yp6qtnL_8rBMBvuvz2tUCESfKGxfrLINrqbs8S0wAmqIrREiAWuArzdhNec7ZumeoRrraGawlcAObn3eMgakc_UKqMIZatSFdh0tNOm_O07q8c_Fcq_qGRn-xWCFYfMtAEeAZT-qoYesCVYdgKGL/s1320/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-22%20at%207.11.47%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="1216" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnHf08K69-U6GR9LLF_xf-dJVA5G-J3_GmYVQ3Yp6qtnL_8rBMBvuvz2tUCESfKGxfrLINrqbs8S0wAmqIrREiAWuArzdhNec7ZumeoRrraGawlcAObn3eMgakc_UKqMIZatSFdh0tNOm_O07q8c_Fcq_qGRn-xWCFYfMtAEeAZT-qoYesCVYdgKGL/w590-h640/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-22%20at%207.11.47%20PM.png" width="590" /></a></div><br /><br />It is a common trope that men sought to repress women's sexuality, the opposite is true !<br /><br /><br /><br />Sexual Economics, Culture, Men, and Modern Sexual Trends<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12115-012-9596-y?fbclid=IwAR1NRB_95JD3q1S--5n5tbVgb9GvhGtLOZhN3YiYoZat3w8yzPTeecYxGKI#auth-Roy_F_-Baumeister">Roy F. Baumeister</a> & <br /><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12115-012-9596-y?fbclid=IwAR1NRB_95JD3q1S--5n5tbVgb9GvhGtLOZhN3YiYoZat3w8yzPTeecYxGKI#auth-Kathleen_D_-Vohs">Kathleen D. Vohs</a> <br /><br /><br />This is one the of best studies out there.<br /><br /><br />..."men have collectively put themselves at structural disadvantages in the organizations that men have created....<br /><br /></div><div><br />The large social structures that comprise the worlds of business, government and politics, economic relations, science and technological innovation, and the like are male creations, and yet the young men entering any of them are required to accept formal policies that women will be treated preferentially at each step. How can we account for this remarkable, ironic twist of history?<br /><br /><br /> We have even concluded that the cultural suppression of female sexuality throughout much of history and across many different cultures has largely had its roots in the quest for marketplace advantage (see Baumeister and Twenge <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12115-012-9596-y#ref-CR6">2002</a>). Women have often sustained their advantage over men by putting pressure on each other to restrict the supply of sex available to men. As with any monopoly or cartel, restricting the supply leads to a higher price.<br /><br />The giant trade thus essentially involved men giving women not only easy access but even preferential treatment in the huge institutions that make up society, which men created. Today most schools, universities, corporations, scientific organizations, governments, and many other institutions have explicit policies to protect and promote women. It is standard practice to hire or promote a woman ahead of an equally qualified man. </div><div><br /></div><div>Most large organizations have policies and watchdogs that safeguard women’s interests and ensure that women gain preferential treatment over men. Parallel policies or structures to protect men’s interests are largely nonexistent and in many cases are explicitly prohibited. Legal scholars, for example, point out that any major new law is carefully scrutinized by feminist legal scholars who quickly criticize any aspect that could be problematic or disadvantageous to women, and so all new laws are women-friendly.<br /><br /><br /> Nobody looks out for men, and so the structural changes favoring women and disadvantaging men have accelerated (Baumeister and Vohs <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12115-012-9596-y#ref-CR7">2004</a>).<br /><br />"...the evidence overwhelmingly indicated that the cultural suppression of female sexuality is propagated and sustained by women ... Similar to how OPEC seeks to maintain a high price for oil on the world market by restricting the supply, women have often sought to maintain a high price for sex by restricting each other’s willingness to supply men with what men want."<br /><br />"....men want sex, indeed more than women want it. Women, meanwhile, want not only marriage but also access to careers and preferential treatment in the workplace.<br /><br />The giant trade thus essentially involved men giving women not only easy access but even preferential treatment in the huge institutions that make up society, which men created."<br /><br />Read the study <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12115-012-9596-y?fbclid=IwAR1NRB_95JD3q1S--5n5tbVgb9GvhGtLOZhN3YiYoZat3w8yzPTeecYxGKI">HERE </a><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>As far as the explosion of male suicide, which I once made a post on and had, literally, hundreds of women up in arms astonished that I'd dare suggest the powerful oppressors deserve our sympathy, I'll simply quote Rollo Tomassi :</div><div><br /></div><div><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: white; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;">"Men will always be more disposable than women, and women instinctively understand this. As such, the female psyche evolved to reconcile men’s disposability to move on from the discomfort of men’s sacrifices. Today, nothing serves that rationalization better than the meme of “toxic masculinity.” </span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: white; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;">Men’s suicides can never be attributed to anything less than their fragile egos. This makes them victims of their socially implanted “toxic” masculinity. A female narrative would have men put a noose around their necks to live up to a socially constructed definition of masculinity. </span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: white; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;">Therefore, the male suicide rate is attributable to men’s fragile egos, self-pity, and inability to live up to being a ‘real man’ caricature that some nebulous Patriarchy created for them. Toxic masculinity is the perfect social convention to absolve women of the guilt of men’s sacrifices. Men are hardwired for self-sacrifice, so women had to evolve psychological adaptations to help them clear the red from their life’s ledger...</span></p></div><div><br />Men are 2 to 3 times more likely to kill themselves after a job loss and eight times more likely to commit suicide after a divorce. In addition, 7 in 10 suicides are men between 45 and 65. <br /><br />Gynocentric media waves away these stats with toxic masculinity and men’s so-called stubbornness in seeking psychiatric help for depression because “men think it makes them look weak.” Again, this absolves women’s complacency but ignores any conversation about what would motivate men, particularly in this demographic, to commit suicide. There’s no attempt to understand the underlying reasons for male suicide. Any associated guilt, remorse, or cognitive dissonance about men’s deaths is assuaged with easy cultural narratives about pathetic maleness. <br /><br />There has never been a generation of more purposeless men than today. From an evolved psychological perspective, men need a function."</div><div><br /></div><div>As far as the effect modern consumeristic culture has had on women's dating and marriage, I've blogged <a href="https://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2017/01/feminism-and-progressive-sexual-morals.html">HERE</a> and <a href="https://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2017/06/women-destroy-entire-civilization-sort.html">HERE</a><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-89919767126398570162022-12-11T11:17:00.009-08:002022-12-11T11:34:38.627-08:00Bataille : by Sacrifice we Sanctify <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4jx1phBIcQx_GOjLrxg7INwE1fkBJzxe1qpsTkVYWzouioSona56mPrpRENTczhgf9_fVuqWqyKi1a93W0s4vfw-Ziyl1C1VkBWLCwVj-JdNaxyQNi82iBONAVyQd3_QXLWo696RF9bMqvSTqAlOWMpwJxybURaVfwFGc0bovzXiWOGqa1ikDlVcZ/s900/crucifixion.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="900" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4jx1phBIcQx_GOjLrxg7INwE1fkBJzxe1qpsTkVYWzouioSona56mPrpRENTczhgf9_fVuqWqyKi1a93W0s4vfw-Ziyl1C1VkBWLCwVj-JdNaxyQNi82iBONAVyQd3_QXLWo696RF9bMqvSTqAlOWMpwJxybURaVfwFGc0bovzXiWOGqa1ikDlVcZ/w640-h494/crucifixion.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />By sacrificing a thing to God, we "de-thing" it, and it returns to us as blessed, no longer mere matter, but a vehicle of the Divine. We go from a pure economic economy to a gift economy, God's economy of grace. Bataille, with qualifications, has much to teach us on this.<br /><br />Bataille, of course, makes the blunder of most intellectuals when he takes the sacramental lived experience of sacrifice, or the intimacy of eating, and disembeds, and therefore disfigures, them from biblical narrative, creedal formulae, and the praxis of an embodied faith community. <br /><br /> Christ, of course, came not to give a doctrine, but His body, the Church, to share us in to a particular type of person whose form of life naturally shapes how how perceive and receive the world - as gift.<br /><br />Bataille did rightly recoil from any theology that proclaimed eternal life could be possessed in a way that did not actually involve this world :<br /> <br /> “One cannot posit divine intimacy unless it is in the particular, without delay, as the possibility of an immanence of the divine and of man.”<br /> <br /> Indeed, in the prologue to his Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, St. Bonaventure also says that “no one is in any way disposed for divine contemplation that leads to mystical ecstasy unless like Daniel he is a man of desires (Dan. 9:23).”<br /> <br /> Bataille did consider medieval sacred festivals, monuments, and architecture to function as at least partial replacements for the reality of immanence, so that Protestantism with its anti-sacramental cosmos and reformed doctrine of justification, having definitively severed the order of intimacy from the order of things, was for him practically identical with the death of God and the rise of industry .<br /> <br /> I don’t think his criticisms of authentic Catholic, and Orthodox, ways to the divine, quiet hit the mark as essential, he’s used to the bland fleshless rationalism we see all too much today, but it is a valid criticism of Protestantism, and elements clearly within lived Catholic life that we need to be conscious of of fight against.<br /> <br /> Against the “fall” into the utilitarian “order of things” Bataille opposed the “order of intimacy” which he interchangeably called “life,” “the holy,” “the sacred,” “the mythic”, or even “salvation.” Bataille believed religion was at its most effective when it breaks through the utilitarian order and demands sacrifice—an act of consumption that negates any further use.<br /> <br /> <br /> “The opposite of project is sacrifice. […] And where only the result counts in the project, in the sacrifice, the act consecrates value in itself. Nothing in sacrifice is put off until later;”<br /><br />— Bataille<br /><br /> And, if Christianity is true, then Christ’s sacrifice has indeed sanctified the world, by removing all things, including people, form utilitarian “thing hood” and conferred infinite value, sanctity, and all things. Another way of saying the is we are all Priests, and must offer up, sacrifice, the things of the world, ti be returned as blessed by God, no longer objects of mere use for ourselves, but now as means and vehicles to and of the the Divine; sacrifice and gift, are ultimately One - but that is only if indeed there is a divine telos to the Cosmos, which Bataille denies, despite all desire phenomenologically intended toward the good necessarily.<br /><br />The point of a sacramental sacrifice, in rational Christianity, IS to unite the flesh and spirit in an erotic way that does not degenerate in violent and chaotic multiplicity. <br /> <br /> Bataille’s criticisms of reason as a pale discursive faculty have little to do with Christianity’s traditional stance, after all, regardless of what we see today. It is the liturgy which shapes how and what we desire, affirming that true discourse of the God who cannot be grasped by thought must be related to by an open heart in communal praise, charity, and thanksgiving.<br /> <br /> This is the sin of Protestant thought, with its “faith commitments” to mere creeds, informational knowledge apart from transformational embodied knowing experience in embodied liturgical forms of life.<br /> <br /> Catholic thought, utilizing Platonic philosophy, always knew better than to separate or oppose desire from intellect, after all, one can only know what one loves, one must wish to know a thing first to intend one’s attention to that thing, hence all knowledge begins in the heart. <br /><br />Think of King David - “I will not give to the Lord what costs me nothing” or the woman who broke an alabaster jar of ointment over Jesus’s feet instead of giving money to the poor. <br /> <br /> David’s sacrifice was a destruction of utility and the woman at Bethany recognized that worship does not justify itself by anything other than itself.<br /> <br /> Unfortunatly, Bataille refused to accept that sacrifice was in any sense teleological, or that it resonated with the peace of God rooted in the goodness of Creation. <br /> <br /> Ultimately, without a proper doctrine of the fall, he ends up in a kind of reverse Gnosticism, divinizing the agony of our present incarnated fleshly existence, and extolling what amounts to yet another death cult, for there is nothing real outside the game for desire to pursue, yet in reality, at the end of discursive thought, it is only true eros which risks the leap of faith past what the mind can grasp to land into the abyss of God’s love.<br /><br />Naturally, his thought led to his work with the Acéphale (‘Headless’), a human sacrifice-themed secret society, but for Christians Christ is the head of Logos, not a logos severed from eros, but one rational BECAUSE it is first embedded in the story of Christ, the God who sacrificed out of love, and it is this narrative that creates the grammar and "rules", the spirit, of Christian erotic rationality. <br /><br /><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOCGw_klPOZWHgDh-4o8uPUhImmRmOxiHRHvqFy-KE9mdUel6q3DGSj5G_i7jjI3vwfwL0P9_pVFl5Ro_OCEXtDTYiqfwRTJCIh-6KGeU1mvARYN76wuZSBO1Oq96CapyAsV96tjbrpe_tKivBqcJ77W7dwE6h191JmfLu6HicDpjzc2zGLrxRCxp/s1600/Fd2Xk5YXkAENciv-2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1388" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOCGw_klPOZWHgDh-4o8uPUhImmRmOxiHRHvqFy-KE9mdUel6q3DGSj5G_i7jjI3vwfwL0P9_pVFl5Ro_OCEXtDTYiqfwRTJCIh-6KGeU1mvARYN76wuZSBO1Oq96CapyAsV96tjbrpe_tKivBqcJ77W7dwE6h191JmfLu6HicDpjzc2zGLrxRCxp/w556-h640/Fd2Xk5YXkAENciv-2.jpeg" width="556" /></a></div><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 20, 25); color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 20, 25); color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-78405685261903890082022-11-22T15:14:00.003-08:002022-11-24T09:28:10.205-08:00Let loving the beautiful be your morality<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtB3849SxJzE9tiKqTx40H7AQkWdBvY8eeDw-1pQQ-hcQWQEKV-aMLuGkyntkI_9tlZ6qKXU76Uxb9GDegNi71uUIjliBrfvwe3XcDAL5VPtW_Yd8Cewe7LKykM8J8BznD8bxCwTVnpv-PrnybI47TtczDRCskcykd_Z6C8L0iBY6ADSkgJbAav5C8/s2448/CMsQXU4WUAAFcx9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="2448" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtB3849SxJzE9tiKqTx40H7AQkWdBvY8eeDw-1pQQ-hcQWQEKV-aMLuGkyntkI_9tlZ6qKXU76Uxb9GDegNi71uUIjliBrfvwe3XcDAL5VPtW_Yd8Cewe7LKykM8J8BznD8bxCwTVnpv-PrnybI47TtczDRCskcykd_Z6C8L0iBY6ADSkgJbAav5C8/w640-h640/CMsQXU4WUAAFcx9.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><br />Without the power of desire there is no longing, and so no love, which is the issue of longing; for the property of desire is to love something. And without the incensive power, intensifying the desire for union with what is loved, there can be no peace.<br /><br />—St. Maximus the Confessor, The Philokalia<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;">Orthodox Christian theologian Timothy Patitsas has written a beautiful book,</span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51277312-the-ethics-of-beauty">The Ethics of Beauty</a>. In the West, he says the intellectual sins like pride were taken as primary, while in the East, the sensual sins were taken as primary. </span><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br /> In Orthodoxy, first the passions must be cleansed, then we can perceive and fall in love with true Beauty.<br /> <br /> Moved by Beauty the will now desires to embrace Goodness.<br /> <br /> Lastly, we are ready to bow down to Truth.<br /> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The modern world operates in the opposite way, stop being ignorant and just do the right thing.<br /><br />It’s not about moral reform, to will yourself to do good. You’ll naturally wish to do good when you perceive it to be desirable. What causes you to desire something ? When you see it as beautiful . For that, you first need to cleanse the nous to perceive what’s truly beautiful and fall in love with it, thereby embracing the Good you now see as Beautiful.<br /><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> The following are excerpts from an interview he did <a href="https://www.academia.edu/25134284/A_Feeling_for_Beauty_The_Aesthetic_Ground_of_Orthodox_Ethics?fbclid=IwAR1EgK_NUv32Sd_NOcH51CSvW4QNSw638Vk--bPedr8jZ4KqkShWZumeNrA">HERE</a> :<br /><br />“….in Orthodoxy first comes the battle with concupiscent passions, which we win by fasting—in other words, by falling in love with Beauty itself, and not with false beauty. But what is this real Beauty, but Christ himself in a moment of self-emptying love? And so through Beauty we learn the Goodness of the Cross—that is to say, Ethics—and we ourselves long to pour out our life for our brothers, sisters, enemies, and all of creation. To contemplate this good-ness, to be illumined, we must give alms. We are then illumined in both senses—we contemplate correctly, and our light “shines before men.” <br /><br />The healing of the soul begins with noticing God’s many theophanies, and with falling in love with them. In other words, it begins with Beauty.<br /><br />After this we can discuss Goodness. By embracing what we ind within authentic Beauty—the crucified Savior and the Cross—we attain Goodness and become good, and ind our communion to others restored. <br /><br />Finally, through these two steps we are brought to the gates of Truth, by a purified feeling. I mean a theological sensing, the innate ability we have to recognize theophany even in its hidden manifestations. In relying on that intuition, or in recognizing that within the Beautiful story of Christ is goodness, and therefore almost certainly truth—we fall in love with beauty and step out in faith toward it. <br /><br />Is faith any different than eros? Abraham stepped out of his land and onto a journey of exile not because he worked it out intellectually, but because he had received a theophany! Perhaps faith is just the memory of theophany, the continuing to launch out towards that divine supernova when it seems to have gone dark? <br /><br />And when we ind within Beauty the miracle of empathy, and contemplate this Goodness by imitating it, we see that the irst feeling is not left behind. Rather, it is amplified and becomes contemplation, a feeling that includes discursive thought—a faith that is expressed as reason. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">And Finally our sense of truth is but an amplification of our sense of Beauty and our sense of Goodness or morality. The three are just one clear channel, one pure stream—from feeling to contemplation to knowing Truth directly. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">This is why Orthodox theology looks the way it does, so pure and free, so elegant and aesthetically satisfying—rather than cold, logical, and hard. <br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Your sense of the beautiful is already an intellectual power, and your initial knowing of truth will still be a falling in love with the beautiful through feeling. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gEEYUzgZ6kLKkvTocPAwkOClmXH7RagWcaJXtNlld7lNq0qJc6EdvdrrvvGT6-QFF5QzgaLooVQ_Gk8pbgljcaSUJekB7Q6jAJ8dUVTYjrn7OeqYPU33z_M4Q0HvjPeEcRmm8IRXkD5EmpTe7zzbhqELNNbfHRRa-pldObbCyntTfIz-AXaSr8qa/s786/71so8f-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="786" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gEEYUzgZ6kLKkvTocPAwkOClmXH7RagWcaJXtNlld7lNq0qJc6EdvdrrvvGT6-QFF5QzgaLooVQ_Gk8pbgljcaSUJekB7Q6jAJ8dUVTYjrn7OeqYPU33z_M4Q0HvjPeEcRmm8IRXkD5EmpTe7zzbhqELNNbfHRRa-pldObbCyntTfIz-AXaSr8qa/w640-h408/71so8f-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />This is why Orthodox ascetic struggle, and Orthodox theology and ethics, do not begin with intellect and truth, nor with the intellect investigating goodness. Or, they may temporarily begin there if challenged to do so, but they will always return to their real beginning, which is Beauty, followed by Goodness, then the appropriation of the self-revelation of God. We begin with theophany, then add correct praxis, and inally we investigate dogma. <br /><br />Imagine an ethics that was nothing more than Truth investigating Goodness, with no thought for Beauty? Who would even care about what it discovered? But isn’t this exactly how we deine Ethics today? <br /><br />Or, imagine a psychotherapy in which Truth investigates Truth, asking only whether what we feel is true, always seeming to denigrate concern for Beauty and Empathy in the form of its very practice? Can there even be a Truth without Goodness and Beauty? Well, this is just what we call “objectivity,” and it is just a kind of hell. <br /><br />We begin with theophany, then add correct praxis, and finally we investigate dogma. <br /><br />Purification, illumination, deification .<br /><br />Deification comes not from moral struggle, but from ascetic struggle—the attempt to fall in love with Christ and him alone, to be chaste, to energize our eros. And Illumination is a contemplation not yet of theological truths, but of goodness, of the empathy and compassion at the heart of beauty. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Thus to purify our reasoning, we emphasize not logic, but the giving of alms; only this will clarify our judgment about goodness and render us Illumined.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> Deification is not separate from the others. To attain Eros (Beauty; the first commandment of Christ's two greatest commandments) and Agape (Goodness; the second of these two commandments) is already to be Deified.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> Or, we must see that even the first rays of Beauty in our lives, represent the onset, incipient but real, of our deification. We know the theologian to be deified because when he speaks, it is God speaking with him, with one voice human and divine. He is theologos be-cause he has found his own logos in the Logos who is Theos. This could be anyone."</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-13863761782516883022022-11-12T13:19:00.007-08:002022-11-20T16:25:29.965-08:00Man as Microcosm Healing the Fractured Cosmos<span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8k7sqmqpqOStsv66Ai2BUVD1ZIiUqkyxjeRVrlhpdpwBecL5_i3c6UOtbrzrZ4efyy0wG32yFF3vPNs1dOZGddDgpBedQX41kFMwv5cCPaqwtCQ3elwaLLZGieJzSLe5KXc2J2xdk9oDB1YF_iIrudpUK78ZkSweCRtljE-dpA-YG-4M689ZG2Rr3/s1023/16194768221_caa8bf232d_b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="754" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8k7sqmqpqOStsv66Ai2BUVD1ZIiUqkyxjeRVrlhpdpwBecL5_i3c6UOtbrzrZ4efyy0wG32yFF3vPNs1dOZGddDgpBedQX41kFMwv5cCPaqwtCQ3elwaLLZGieJzSLe5KXc2J2xdk9oDB1YF_iIrudpUK78ZkSweCRtljE-dpA-YG-4M689ZG2Rr3/w472-h640/16194768221_caa8bf232d_b.jpg" width="472" /></a></div><br />For most of the eastern religions the Cosmos is mind. So too for many <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-universe-is-mind-not-machine.html">quantum physicists</a> and some <a href="https://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-physics-of-salvation.html">idealist leaning Christians</a> - all is consciousness.<br /> <br /> If so, it offers an explanation of The Fall - that God’s energies were creating the Cosmos as pure gift. Everything filled with Logos - logic, ie every thing acting in accord to God’s will. Then something disrupted this flow of gifting. An intention arose in some being. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">To narrate this spiritual truth in images the Bible tells us that Man made a counter-intention to God’s will. Instead of accepting the fruit at the proper time when mature as a gift, Man took. This disrupted the flow of grace, and the Cosmos fell.<br /><br /> St Maximus tells us that Man is a Microcosm of the Cosmos, and within him is contained 5 fractures of being.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />We now live with the dualities of created and uncreated, intelligible and sensible, heaven and earth, paradise and universe, male and female.<br /><br />Man, being microcosm and mediator of the spiritual and material, is called to heal these divisions within himself.<br /><br />To unite heaven and earth by virtue, to unify the tangible and intelligible worlds by acquiring angelic gnosis, and to reunite by love the created and the uncreated.<br /> <br /> As Andrew Louth puts it,<br /> <br /> “…through accomplishing all the stages of the spiritual life, the human person achieves, not simply union with God, but also fulfils what is the essentially human role of being the natural bond of all being, drawing the whole created order into harmony with itself, and into union with God.”<br /><br /> The healing is also reflected in the Eucharistic liturgy, St Maximus tells us in his Mystagogia.<br /><br />Basically these divisions are echoed by correspondences in the Church. Sanctuary/nave is reflected in invisible/visible, heaven/earth, soul/body, mind/reason, New Testament/Old Testament, meaning/text. <br /> <br /> So the movement between sanctuary and nave in the liturgy interprets and is interpreted by movement between the other divisions. <br /><br />So the liturgical movement celebrates the healing of the five divisions.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXHtsmveZ1JebFrABV8_ritrSABSxGynApLMYjevtohf4KL_jzhuwIu4XuXu8W-b4h_9wK2vxwU6NL3FwBzY9tZcD1LBxTW2UnoeAnUY7V0b804FKq5Rl2_Bg5yXVAt3jPGeJ3agv1aw127KkVqWmJ5T_2tJjczeN9alxMXiUw0C9bLo5EEDHYBHbD/s1348/Screen%20Shot%202019-01-03%20at%205.46.22%20PM-2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="1348" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXHtsmveZ1JebFrABV8_ritrSABSxGynApLMYjevtohf4KL_jzhuwIu4XuXu8W-b4h_9wK2vxwU6NL3FwBzY9tZcD1LBxTW2UnoeAnUY7V0b804FKq5Rl2_Bg5yXVAt3jPGeJ3agv1aw127KkVqWmJ5T_2tJjczeN9alxMXiUw0C9bLo5EEDHYBHbD/w640-h192/Screen%20Shot%202019-01-03%20at%205.46.22%20PM-2.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Another way to think about it is that the cosmos is Mind, which is “funneled” (incarnated) into brains.<br /><br />The disharmonious FALSE patterns of chaos in the cosmos (incarnated as passions and conflict) are attuned within us to the TRUE patterns in harmony with God’s loving will. <br /><br /> Think of it as being in accord with the Tao, the Way. What is “true movement?”</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Well, right now we exist as biological beings, and get our energy from dead biological beings - animals and plants.<br /> <br /> This is life as bios.<br /><br />However there is another type of life energy : zoe, or spiritual life.<br /><br />It’s often missed in translation, but Christ came to give us zoe, true life, which is eternal, and animates not our biological body but our soul.<br /> <br /> Our biological body moves in three dimensions, up and down etc, and also in the fourth dimension, time.<br /> <br /> Our soul does not move this way. Our soul moves by desire. Think of when you move toward someone in your intention, in love. This is an invisible movement of your soul.<br /> <br /> This movement is exercised by virtue.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Order *IS* love.<br /><br />The incarnation basically injected this<a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2021/03/to-be-holy-one-must-learn-to-sing-as.html"> harmonious pattern</a> in perfect accord with God’s will (because Christ IS God) into the disharmonious patterns of our world and universe.<br /> <br /> Kind of like a<a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2020/05/is-universe-made-of-poems-creation-as.html"> harmony</a> injected into a cacophony that gradually harmonies all those discordant notes with God's perfect song.</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />As David Bentley Hart says <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-song-of-creation.html">HERE</a>,<br /><br />"...virtue is, he [Augustine] argues....is the establishment of the soul's proper rhythm; and the soul that is virtuous is one that turns its rhythms not to the domination of others, but to their benefit. "<br /><br />Christ then draws all contradictions into Himself, purifies and harmonies them.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />In Jordan Daniel Wood’s superb new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Whole-Mystery-Christ-Incarnation-Confessor/dp/0268203474">The Whole Mystery of Christ:</a> Creation as Incarnation in Maximus Confessor, he puts it like this :<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: medium;">“Every creature’s motion, sinful or not, generates time. <br /> <br /> False motion renders existence more crudely finite, slavishly borne along with the flow of phenomena. <br /> <br /> True motion—the motion of virtue, knowledge, love of God in Christ—brings creaturely motion nearer its term and thus cessation, and hence takes leave of the provisional necessities of spatiotemporal existence… <br /><br /> But those logoi carry potentialities that are themselves actualized for the first time in one hypostasis, Jesus of Nazareth.”</span><br /></div></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">.</span></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-47415569680585491502022-11-11T14:07:00.015-08:002022-11-11T18:18:08.890-08:00Inability to Love & Avoiding God's Love<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2oMTE5XTybeam0D1BI73y_ffrKpwKrf2EwIktHJma9mkgHqfXHcHeADiOhznicTuVlnA2XmkD0UT4ARoTyMqoUcVUqEIJeMYy2EM-nJK6gLaa0PLpxBty2_x-692TbkyLVDhg5tXGOFq33VZOTxVJ4Y-4_MHcEhCbB3MgSfZ85SEMhqE_FmGMlL1/s536/314362142_2529624717178131_5887398325378828881_n%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="536" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2oMTE5XTybeam0D1BI73y_ffrKpwKrf2EwIktHJma9mkgHqfXHcHeADiOhznicTuVlnA2XmkD0UT4ARoTyMqoUcVUqEIJeMYy2EM-nJK6gLaa0PLpxBty2_x-692TbkyLVDhg5tXGOFq33VZOTxVJ4Y-4_MHcEhCbB3MgSfZ85SEMhqE_FmGMlL1/w400-h254/314362142_2529624717178131_5887398325378828881_n%20copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><a href="https://death-to-the-world.myshopify.com/products/do-you-know-yourself-psychological-problems-and-the-spiritual-life">Do You Know Yourself?</a> Psychological Problems and the Spiritual Life by Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos is a wonderful book.<br /><br /> Fr. Symeon's main thesis is that many people are not making spiritual progress because they are stuck in psychological ruts. <br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> Fr. Symeon uses the work of the psychologist Karen Horney. She posited that neurosis is comprised of three flawed "movements" that people make in relation to each other are: moving toward people, moving against people, and moving away from people.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The solution is to detach from a false image of yourself.<br /><br /> I’ll concentrate on those who move away from others. In today’s psych jargon this type in the extreme might be labeled as having <a href="https://jebkinnison.com/bad-boyfriends-the-book/type-dismissive-avoidant/" target="">Dismissive Avoidant Attachment</a> or being <a href="https://alifeinperfectbalance.com/the-ins-and-outs-of-dismissive-avoidant-attachment/" target="">Love Avoidant</a>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /> The following are excepts from the book on this type :</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /> “We don't know what degree some people who remain unmarried fail to move toward marriage because God calls them to another life. It may be that they remain unmarried because they are afraid of marriage. They think they'll lose this freedom - this unhealthy freedom, however. They think they'll lose this independence - this unhealthy independence, of course. To be precise, they're afraid that someone else will enter the depths of their existence, and they don't want this at all. Certainly other needs exist that finally cause them to get married. For example, when a woman is looking for protection, affection, in the end she'll get married, but this shortcoming will exist. How is a communion of souls and persons possible in this marriage, then? <br /><br />He doesn't want people to approach him, he doesn't want them to influence him, he doesn't want them to obligate him to do anything.<br /><br />This type also has the tendency, among other things, to deaden his feelings, to suspend them, not to allow them to act, to operate. And he does this, as a rule, because every one of our feelings, this or that feeling, causes us to open up, to express ourselves, causes us to manifest ourselves. Precisely because this type of person is closed, however closed off even before his very self...</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSapU2pdNabgqtghK1umUZjeNHwB3IQqOlqW8dZLLjAc9qdP0oyGxHHDvwevxQRi-4VsMuemNiWMjey2_2WKFijVZXNRtizWzYK_OYX8HYuYVrWMgb_yGDNN4QJ9gTzpO4qU2vfm8Sawe67JnwRAQZYE0S4sF834beYf0cp48d3WFdZs_1tcARERbP/s1484/Intimacy-Button-e1449629523298.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="1484" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSapU2pdNabgqtghK1umUZjeNHwB3IQqOlqW8dZLLjAc9qdP0oyGxHHDvwevxQRi-4VsMuemNiWMjey2_2WKFijVZXNRtizWzYK_OYX8HYuYVrWMgb_yGDNN4QJ9gTzpO4qU2vfm8Sawe67JnwRAQZYE0S4sF834beYf0cp48d3WFdZs_1tcARERbP/w640-h306/Intimacy-Button-e1449629523298.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />This type, then, is the sort of person who can't open himself to God, who can't trust in God. He ends up being that Christian who is doing fine, just fine, but deep down - he feels it, he sees it, when he's paying attention - he still doesn't have communion with God, he still doesn't have contact with God. The light of God hasn't come into this secret darkness that exists inside him, into this double-locked shell of his.<br /><br />....he wonders why he doesn't love other Christians, why he doesn't love other people. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It's possible that the whole relationship between this "good" Christian and other people appears to be good, be ongoing, but at depth, however, his existence has no communion with other people, and this Christian doesn't feel that the other existences pass into him and his own existence passes into the other existences. That is, d</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">oesn't perceive his soul to be open so that the love of his brothers, his fellow Christians, and first and foremost the love of God passes inside him.<br /><br /> …a hyper-sensitivity is created in a certain way, like a defense mechanism, which is immediately set in motion, at work, in operation, as soon as something comes along and influences this soul at its depth, as soon as it comes along in some way to obligate this soul to do something (against its will) or as soon as it gives the appearance that it wants to oppress this soul.<br /><br /> For him it's a catastrophe to open up. We could say that this type knows one word - closed. Openness frightens him - and still more openness before God.<br /><br />….[When] a person surrenders fully to God, this means that he accepts a visitor within him. He stops being fenced in and closed off. The unhealthy type, however, can't do this, because he seeks isolation, he has recourse to isolation in a compulsive way.<br /><br />How is it possible for this person to receive grace? How is it possible for the light to come to such a soul? It isn't possible. <br /><br />….it’s possible that we want away and we try to make it go away, and yet it doesn't go away.<br /><br />Let me give you an example so that you understand,<br /><br />It is difficult for granite to melt from an ordinary fire as for this situation to be resolved by ordinary efforts. In order for granite to melt, it requires a very high temperature. And in order for this situation to go away, for this wall to melt and the soul to open, it requires, to be sure, a great temperature of faith.<br /><br />However, when this human being who has such an unhealthy condition understands how he himself is, deep down, and how he moves, and he can be given truly to Christ and truly be reborn in Christ, then he'll really be flooded with love, he'll become a true personality and will have a true, real relationship with other human beings."</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Finally, from The Divine Ideas Tradition in Christian Mystical Theology :</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> ".....<span style="font-family: helvetica;">the embodied historical struggle of every creature to discover and to be its true self, to communicate the vivacious idea at its core, is never left behind but is integral to its consummate realization, to its fullness of life. And as the creature fully lives into its self-communication, this true life surges past all false selves constructed by sin and prejudice and violence of every kind, and onwards into the inexhaustible self-sharing of its truth; for the truth at the heart of every creature is God's eternal and imperishable knowing and loving of it and this is the life from which it flows and which, C</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">hristians believe, God intends it to enjoy forever."<br /><br />Robert Imbelli <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/our-true-identity">HERE</a> comments, <br /><br />"The death from which Christ saves us is far more than physical death. It is the very corroding of God’s image in us through fantasies of self-aggrandizement and hatred. These distortions of the generative divine ideas wreak havoc not only on individuals, but also on the whole human community and the rest of material creation. Sin falsifies divine communication and erects obstacles to the communion God desires. At its deepest, sin is refusal of Incarnation. For, in a sentence from Maximus the Confessor that McIntosh relishes, “the Word always and in all things desires to realize the mystery of his embodiment.”<br /><br />With the resurrection of Christ, God’s life-giving Word stands fully revealed. Christians are those whose converted consciousness perceives the fulfillment of God’s plan in the risen Christ and whose conduct seeks to further the restoration of all things in him. Immersed in Christ’s paschal mystery in baptism and nourished by the Eucharist, Christians are led “into a new communion with the divine ideas…a new perception of all reality from within the eternal divine knowing and loving of all things.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-43108513635839654702022-11-07T14:27:00.006-08:002022-11-07T17:24:03.354-08:00Sisyphus or the Saints, ritual or rote, time accursed or graced ?<p> </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9Q7A9MK69vTn54JSIBVG835uRQLv37mXZ-ElHjj0j72zj6Uohsv-iHaoRWK8K5DWeh-QBsVB_tlZ-8Mr62Do7gtP19ls1y_E4m_MiCE7b1CN6vqtpth_YdJn-3GX152uJMsiH5vQsOCiTla6HuSNujoRu32xXDUzTUQ8aHmcdNOlrMmE4JaCkHax/s1300/sisyphus_web_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="1039" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9Q7A9MK69vTn54JSIBVG835uRQLv37mXZ-ElHjj0j72zj6Uohsv-iHaoRWK8K5DWeh-QBsVB_tlZ-8Mr62Do7gtP19ls1y_E4m_MiCE7b1CN6vqtpth_YdJn-3GX152uJMsiH5vQsOCiTla6HuSNujoRu32xXDUzTUQ8aHmcdNOlrMmE4JaCkHax/w512-h640/sisyphus_web_1.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><span style="font-size: medium;">Contra Plato, I believe we must let the poets lie to us, but only with those lies that tell the truth. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The poet Stephen Dunn wrote a series of poems on Sisyphus, that old Greek cursed by the gods to forever roll a boulder uphill, never to reach the top, never to rest, only endless struggle with no future change or end. Life feels like that. Our endless numbing days of rot and habit. The solution to time's curse ? It is ritual. <br /><br />As an Orthodox Christian I try to follow the liturgical calendar, referencing days to events in the life of Christ, bodily entering the rhythms of His life. Mircea Eliade wrote about how myth and ritual redeemed "the implacable becoming that leads toward death" :<br /><br />"The defense against Time which is revealed to us in every kind of mythological attitude, but which is, in fact, inseparable from the human condition, reappears variously disguised in the modern world, but above all in its distractions, its amusements. <br /><br />It is here that one sees what a radical difference there is between modern cultures and other civilizations. In all traditional societies, every responsible action reproduced its mythical, transhuman model, and consequently took place in sacred time. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Labour, handicrafts, war and love were all sacraments. The re-living of that which the Gods and Heroes had lived in illo tempore imparted a sacramental aspect to human existence, which was complemented by the sacramental nature ascribed to life and to the Cosmos. <br /><br />By thus opening out into the Great Time, this sacramental existence, poor as it night often be, was nevertheless rich in significance; at all events it was not under the tyranny of Time. The true ‘fall into Time’ begins with the secularization of work. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It is only in modern societies that man feels himself to be the prisoner of his daily work, in which he can never escape from Time. And since he can no longer ‘kill’ time during his working hours—that is, while he is expressing his real social identity—he strives to get away from Time in his hours of leisure: hence the bewildering number of distractions invented by modern civilization… </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The ‘fall into Time’ becomes confused with the secularization of work and the consequent mechanization of existence, and the only escape that remains possible upon the collective plane is distraction."</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Dunn captures this well in his poem, <br /><br />SISYPHUS’S ACCEPTANCE<br /><br />These days only he could see the rock, <br />so when he stopped for a bagel <br />at the bagel store, then for a newspaper <br />at one of those coin-operated stalls, <br />he looked like anyone else <br />on his way to work. Food—<br /><br />the gods reasoned—<br />would keep him alive <br />to suffer, and news of the world <br />could only make him feel worse. <br />Let him think he has choices; <br />he belongs to us. <br /><br />Rote not ritual, a repetition <br />which never would mean more <br />at the end than at the start . . . <br />Sisyphus pushed his rock <br />past the aromas of bright flowers, <br />through the bustling streets <br />into the plenitude and vacuity, <br /><br />every arrival the beginning <br />of a familiar descent. And sleep <br />was the cruelest respite; <br />at some murky bottom of himself <br />the usual muck rising up. <br /><br />One morning, however, legs hurting, <br />the sun beating down, <br />again weighing the quick calm of suicide <br />against this punishment that passed for life, <br />Sisyphus smiled. <br /><br />It was the way a gambler smiles <br />when he finally decides to fold <br />in order to stay alive <br />for another game, a smile <br />so inward it cannot be seen. <br /><br />The gods sank back <br />in their airy chairs. Sisyphus sensed <br />he’d taken something from them, <br />more on his own than ever now.<br /><br />Another thing about secular time, it is cursed. It is cursed because it is free. It has no form to contain spirit. We can do whatever we wish, even as it destroys us.<br /><br />In his poem Sisyphus's Affair, he imagines the cursed Greek cheating on his wife, a portion reads :<br /><br />For a moment he longed for the old days <br />when there were gods to take offense, </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">when a man who wanted too much <br />would be reduced to size <br />with a life-long redundancy or thunderbolt. <br />But, no, there’d be nothing so neat. <br />It came to a choice, and he chose everything. <br />He left almost everything behind.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcX3p5zWH2tWf4JvjISM5pbeKU0i2Bw0D2TowViYuWRE0rb83TZ6LAxlvIqSaGiidTT89IJYUdC-YcVcWHGqQDpgpm2FaZ_dgDklzb49jrbEOf1FHUqIktloJlm44WMBzBYx7CmiZ67gbqtiKQme-tOC61ToeqENInyKyCJfe1Ne6w8j3rGGDdMGLf/s1800/E0jp7_lWYAQlDK_.jpg-large.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1440" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcX3p5zWH2tWf4JvjISM5pbeKU0i2Bw0D2TowViYuWRE0rb83TZ6LAxlvIqSaGiidTT89IJYUdC-YcVcWHGqQDpgpm2FaZ_dgDklzb49jrbEOf1FHUqIktloJlm44WMBzBYx7CmiZ67gbqtiKQme-tOC61ToeqENInyKyCJfe1Ne6w8j3rGGDdMGLf/w512-h640/E0jp7_lWYAQlDK_.jpg-large.jpeg" width="512" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-56706682778773916682022-11-07T12:39:00.003-08:002022-11-08T16:11:35.131-08:00Not faith vs works, but two different Torah communities<p> </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwazSueNUbweKw7GDL9YIqVibC5hV-UMgKv_k3-b2oVydLGJJelCoKZSGUvb4l-rBXdUt0X4yrKiUj-7uMuWMTrMh7LNsOqCIFWEe-YsefWhI1rvDl1Oxg67nIzzFE-AMjIRZj5d4dAwBvCPqQbS4PKeCngkXCMb2euKAkcwgK8GlTfDh0i3v8cyS/s1600/FaithvsWorks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1600" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwazSueNUbweKw7GDL9YIqVibC5hV-UMgKv_k3-b2oVydLGJJelCoKZSGUvb4l-rBXdUt0X4yrKiUj-7uMuWMTrMh7LNsOqCIFWEe-YsefWhI1rvDl1Oxg67nIzzFE-AMjIRZj5d4dAwBvCPqQbS4PKeCngkXCMb2euKAkcwgK8GlTfDh0i3v8cyS/w640-h396/FaithvsWorks.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The great scholar and host of the OnScript Podcast Matthew Bates claims that here below we have the most important New Testament article of the last several years by Kevin Grasso.</span></span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The phrase “faith in” Jesus was one of Luther’s innovations.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The main contrast was between the interpretation of the Torah that vindicated Christ as God and the other interpretations of the Torah.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>both are "faiths" one can belong to and preach.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It is not a contrast between faith and works.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Paul simply has a different interpretation of the Torah.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The interpretation he thinks is wrong is the one where it is obedience to the commandments, or things like circumcision or food laws, ("works") that leads to righteousness and salvation.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A person will be righteous by virtue of being a part of the faith, the community and way of life of the Christ-followers, NOT merely his own "faith" that certain beliefs about Christ are the correct ones.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Link to a podcast of Bates intervening Grasso <a href="https://onscript.study/podcast/kevin-grasso-christ-faith-in-pauls-letters/?fbclid=IwAR3cFDlmw0WLaW1YGKBmT8PwovdZHNFWotxSGPcfCcoYlu3MeVvG1oH5pmI" target="_blank">HERE</a> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Link to Grasso giving a simple explanation <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfuX5fG1hB0" target="_blank">HERE</a> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And here is the Grasso's simplified version of his argument <a href="https://www.logos.com/grow/hall-pistis-christou-third-view/?fbclid=IwAR2KHRLppz7G3CDqIrwb4uDUinpLa631TemECuVG-KKoNFD2Og4aGYoZnD8" target="_blank">HERE</a> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Dr Kevin Grasso sent me this response as a clarification:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: times;">".... It is both a message and a movement. Galatians 1:23 is instructive as to what this sense is. It says "He who use to persecute us is not preaching the faith (τὴν πίστιν) he one tried to destroy" (ESV). The verbs tell us a lot about the meaning of the 'faith' here. <br /><br />It is something that can be both preached and destroyed. It is, therefore, a message (since it can be preached), and it is something that can be joined (the verb 'destroy' here always takes an object that refers to people). So it is a message that can be adopted and that would lead to a different way of life depending on the content of the message.<br /><br />The content of the message is the Christ. The way of life was centered around Him rather than Torah. Being a part of the Christ-faith means to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and as Messiah, he is king. As king, we would owe our complete allegiance to him. <br /><br />My take would be that Paul is reading Torah in such a way that it points to the Christ-faith as the means to righteousness rather than the commandments of Torah. <br /><br />In this sense, Paul understood Torah more broadly than mere commandments. Abraham is Paul's example of someone who was righteous by πίστις (the response to the Christ-faith) but did not adopt the system of Torah-commandments because he was simply before the time of Moses. <br /><br />This shows that the Torah actually supports righteousness by the Christ-faith and not by the commandments (this is how I read Galatians 3 and Romans 4--though that is, of course, an oversimplification)...."</span><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjElJMzLl3Z1yQXUOYfHiV5ULxkRjV3H6CytP-PBMNreVCFmm_-RYtTBiKpVD9mjxH7HFXeKo94JWlUgwsUWb56yz8X7XZewOA4guBBQWmE-dZdNyNJhGvYTUv-HkGr6a5HXNn69B2YrhTiMkk5wRwTTcYv2b2YitggmcTEO3lhMYC58PvWeN7cgJEV/s553/Illustration-mishneh-torah-moses-en.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjElJMzLl3Z1yQXUOYfHiV5ULxkRjV3H6CytP-PBMNreVCFmm_-RYtTBiKpVD9mjxH7HFXeKo94JWlUgwsUWb56yz8X7XZewOA4guBBQWmE-dZdNyNJhGvYTUv-HkGr6a5HXNn69B2YrhTiMkk5wRwTTcYv2b2YitggmcTEO3lhMYC58PvWeN7cgJEV/s320/Illustration-mishneh-torah-moses-en.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: large;">To me, the makes sense and dovetails with Margaret Barker's work </span><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjKts-_2J_7AhUoFlkFHSxbDzcQFnoECD0QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fscholarsarchive.byu.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Ffilename%3D18%26article%3D1038%26context%3Dmi%26type%3Dadditional&usg=AOvVaw1vDgLmscKV4awUuFSvVWbG">HERE</a><span style="font-size: large;"> where she posits that Paul was looking at the Jewish Scriptures for a type of Judaism that no longer existed in a complete form at his time...</span></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />The Pharisees were just one sect, faithful only to Moses's Torah and the commandments there, which were often about rituals and rules that initiated one into a more nationalistic cult where Yahweh was specifically a god for them (the book of Jonah makes fun of this, presenting Yahweh as God of all peoples, and interacting with them all).</span></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />The Judaism Paul has in mind includes more than just the 5 books of Moses, and reflects a Judism before King Josiah's reforms in Deuteronomy that made the cult specifically all about Moses and following his commands....<br /><br />This was a more original faith, that worshiped a universal greater God.<br /><br />Islam even came about claiming to be this ancient lost faith....</span></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>As David Armstrong writes :<br /><br /><br />The YHWH of these sources is diverse....But both portraits are of a corporeal, multiply embodied deity, with a divine retinue (inclusive of a goddess wife, Asherah, and numerous sons, though these make the later editors uncomfy). He is also, decidedly, much more cosmic and even supracosmic than the earlier El or YHWH. As Judah’s political fortunes waned between the vying Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian superpowers, a reform of the cult led to an exclusivist and aniconic form of Yahwism, where YHWH became Judah’s sole god, it became impermissible to depict the divine body, limits were placed on the monarchy’s power and self-conception, and a new legislative code were adopted, all under the reign of Josiah, Judah’s penultimate king."<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />So Paul thinks this ancient way was about faith (meaning loyalty) to a specific king and his way of life, for Paul Jesus Christ, instead of being loyal to Torah prescriptions that only applied to Israelite ethnic and national formation.<br /><br />This was a major Isrealite trend before Josiahs reforms, when he made Judism all about worship in only one temple, and Yahweh as a God only for them....<br /><br />When he did that, the Bible says a third ! of the Jews left....Many large Jewish sects at the time had probably never even heard of Moses....<br /><br />Now that the Temple was gone, Paul naturally looked to other traditions in the OT.<br /><br />This king will come and give eternal life and free us from the demonic gods that cause death and attack us with strife, and the ancient Isrealites that were loyal to this king, who Paul sees as Christ, were people like Abraham, and others Jewish cults...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-85446832135439321182022-10-20T12:37:00.002-07:002022-10-20T12:37:20.120-07:00The Forgotten, Who Do Not Dream<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSCMsYNd4hLIspbSCYOI5jpcZINj2hg-NBDbY0c1wJSslBNLmGt1craGb3nkinE3gB72eRsnJvEgNugl78yvTmQ2FhCGMJ3_vQ_aNpd2ZYtruSrlkAVlddBubP7xZHECWlADaqc76-Ug6iAae8ZnuV58b32iWl88t-nqrEDM1A_aPPlYGb7kZJOAi/s1200/311222835_809404303823490_1545971387679785171_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSCMsYNd4hLIspbSCYOI5jpcZINj2hg-NBDbY0c1wJSslBNLmGt1craGb3nkinE3gB72eRsnJvEgNugl78yvTmQ2FhCGMJ3_vQ_aNpd2ZYtruSrlkAVlddBubP7xZHECWlADaqc76-Ug6iAae8ZnuV58b32iWl88t-nqrEDM1A_aPPlYGb7kZJOAi/w640-h640/311222835_809404303823490_1545971387679785171_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Art, Tales of Galilea - Eliran Kantor.<br /><br />When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.<br /><br />- Psalm 126:5-6 (the psalm of Joy)<br /><br />Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. <br /><br />- Proverbs 13:12<br /><br />You, reading this, have never been utterly without hope. Such a condition may indeed be incompatible with living. You may have come close though.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> I believe the world is divided into two existential landscapes - those of the gods and those of the dead.<br /> <br /> The gods are those who dream. The dead those who cannot.<br /> <br /> It is two different kinds of visions. The gods see past the present landscape, somewhere over the horizon where the future is lighted and their sight stretches toward it.<br /> <br /> The dead have eyes that do not project outward.<br /> <br /> Hope is having a relationship to some transcendent end, something above and beyond that one can see towards, regardless of how things turn out.<br /> <br /> Can one live with only a transcendent hope ? With truly no earthly thing to intend one’s heart towards ? Whether love, health, or security ? At least one must have purpose…<br /> <br /> Ah, but if your eyes are not connected to love, one see’s only death.<br /> <br /> The gods and the dead. I do not know which is more blessed.<br /><br />Two poems.<br /><br /><br />Czeslaw Milosz, Were I Not Frail and Half Broken Inside<br /> <br /><br />Were I not frail and half broken inside,<br /><br />I wouldn’t be thinking of them, who are, like me, half broken inside.<br /><br />I would not climb the cemetery hill by the church<br /><br />To get rid of my self pity.<br /> <br /><br />Crazy Sophies,<br /><br />Michaels who lost every battle,<br /><br />Self-destructive Agathas<br /><br />Lie under crosses with their dates of birth and death. And who<br /><br />Is going to express them? Their mumblings, weepings, hopes, tears of humiliation?<br /> <br /><br />In hospital muck and the smell of urine,<br /><br />With their weak and contorted limbs,<br /><br />And eternity close by. Improper. Indecent.<br /><br />Like a dollhouse crushed by wheels, like<br /><br />An elephant trampling a beetle, an ocean drowning an island.<br /><br />Our stupidity and childishness do nothing to fit us<br /><br />For this variety of last things.<br /> <br /><br />They had no time to grasp anything of their individual lives,<br /><br />Any principium individuationis.<br /><br />Nor do I grasp it, yet what can I do?<br /><br />Enclosed all my life in a nutshell,<br /><br />Trying in vain to become something<br /><br />Completely different from what I was.<br /> <br /><br />Thus we go down into the earth, my fellow parishioners,<br /><br />With the hope that the trumpet of judgment will call us by our names.<br /><br />Instead of eternity, greenness and the movement of clouds.<br /><br />They rise then, thousands of Sophies, Michaels, Matthews,<br /><br />Marias, Agathas, Bartholomews.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br />So at last they know why<br /><br />And for what reason?<br /><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliPALP12klS0jysMaIO7pNlvFbeEYGvCzbkPPfWZ8o9bmxr5aaClt6-XckQ2_RPxVV2TnU5uPsVIA7mLO6OuhlXg7gBKQnUGr0OF7cveSrvE_XbI_XpCd8SzQ0PXUwCo7HL2GabsAUVrJ-PTHSTlMSOyp2zK0IrCqVqx6dpaQVyETzXN859CusTWd/s1080/304903211_781374636626457_9088803472342787039_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliPALP12klS0jysMaIO7pNlvFbeEYGvCzbkPPfWZ8o9bmxr5aaClt6-XckQ2_RPxVV2TnU5uPsVIA7mLO6OuhlXg7gBKQnUGr0OF7cveSrvE_XbI_XpCd8SzQ0PXUwCo7HL2GabsAUVrJ-PTHSTlMSOyp2zK0IrCqVqx6dpaQVyETzXN859CusTWd/w400-h400/304903211_781374636626457_9088803472342787039_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />A devastating poem Tin Ujevic, Croatia's great bohemian drunkard poet :<br /> <br /><br />DAILY LAMENT<br /> <br /><br />How hard it is not to be strong,<br /><br />how hard it is to be alone,<br /><br />and to be old, yet still be young!<br /> <br /><br />and to be weak, and powerless,<br /><br />alone, with no one anywhere,<br /><br />dissatisfied, and desperate.<br /> <br /><br />And trudge bleak highways endlessly,<br /><br />and to be trampled in the mud,<br /><br />with no star shining in the sky.<br /> <br /><br />Without your star of destiny<br /><br />to play its twinklings on your crib<br /><br />with rainbows and false prophecies.<br /> <br /><br />– Oh God, oh God, remember<br /><br />all the glittering fair promises<br /><br />with which you have afflicted me.<br /> <br /><br />Oh God, oh God, remember<br /><br />all the great loves, the great victories,<br /><br />the wreaths of laurel and the gifts.<br /> <br /><br /><b>And know you have a son<br /><br />who walks the weary valleys of the world<br /><br />among sharp thorns, and rocks and stones,<br /><br />through unkindness and unconcern,<br /><br />with his feet bloodied under him,<br /><br />and with his heart an open wound.</b><br /> <br /><br />His bones are full of weariness,<br /><br />his soul is ill at ease and sad,<br /><br />and he’s neglected and alone,<br /><br />and sisterless, and brotherless,<br /><br />and fatherless, and motherless,<br /><br />with no one dear, and no close friend,<br /><br />and he has no-one anywhere<br /><br />except thorn twigs to pierce his heart<br /><br />and fire blazing from his palms.<br /> <br /><br />Lonely and utterly alone<br /><br />under the hemmed in vault of blue,<br /><br />on dark horizons of high seas.<br /><br />Who can he tell his troubles to<br /><br />when no-one’s there to hear his call,<br /><br />not even brother wanderers?<br /> <br /><br />Oh God, you sear your burning word<br /><br />too hugely through this narrow throat<br /><br />and throttle it inside my cry.<br /> <br /><br />And utterance is a burning stake,<br /><br />though I must yell it out, I must,<br /><br />or, like a kindled log, burn out.<br /> <br /><br />Just let me be a bonfire on a hill,<br /><br />just one breath in the fire,<br /><br />if not a scream hurled from the roofs.<br /> <br /><br />Oh God, let it be over with,<br /><br />this miserable wandering<br /><br />under this dome as deaf as stone.<br /> <br /><br />Because I crave a powerful word,<br /><br />because I crave an answering voice,<br /><br />someone to love, or holy death.<br /> <br /><br />For bitter is the wormwood wreath<br /><br />and deadly dark the poison cup,<br /><br />so burn me, blazing summer noon.<br /> <br /><br />For I am sick of being weak,<br /><br />and sick of being all alone<br /><br />(seeing I could be hale and strong)<br /><br />(and seeing that I could be loved),<br /><br />but I am sick, sickest of all<br /><br />to be so old, yet still be young!<br /><br />…<br /> <br /> Of course, this is the earthly life of Christ, the entire time, invisibly, secretly, being his greatest glory and victory, having held fast to His vision, and defeated the abyss.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">I just finished reading a memoir on a man struggling with depression, Where the Roots Reach for Water by Jeffery Smith. At the end he finds a kind, patient, caring, compassionate loving, understanding, empathetic partner to pull him out of the darkness. This is the fourth memoir on depression I've read that ends this way. With a savior (of sorts), usually in the form of a wife. Christ, of course, was alone.<br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> I end with this touching, if not entirely orthodox, description of Jesus by David Armstrong </span><a href="https://perennialdigression.substack.com/p/christ?utm_source=direct&r=3pamr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR3HE6V1N3-MZd4P-i5MSSB3zcTeW5TOe-hIq7tP98yMjSP95j5Z6jv3zqY " style="font-size: large;">HERE</a><span style="font-size: medium;"> :</span><br /><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> “History is largely the story of an elite few exploiting a great many and making the most basic and meaningful needs, desires, and experiences of human life all but impossible for the common person to enjoy. </span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> For the majority of his life Jesus’ obscurity effectively meant that he was a non-entity in wider society: a peasant without the rights of a Roman citizen or the protective wealth of an indigenous aristocrat, he struggled most of his life without any meaningful power to change the circumstances of the world. </span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> He was probably food insecure; His celibacy reported in the Gospels is certainly a consequence of unchosen circumstance of simple family, social, financial, or personal misfortune. </span><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Could Jesus have wanted marriage and not had access to a viable option? Could Jesus have been widowed? When he did achieve public notoriety, it was for consistently condemning wealthy, powerful people and religious authorities for hypocrisy and injustice. He was a man of the people; he actively spent time on the social margins…”</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-4513980883433624552022-09-19T12:07:00.003-07:002022-09-19T12:07:12.136-07:00Interview with me on Art, Literature, and the Orthodox Church<p> </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 17.9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSNufoERwVXI3eQx8OhAjBB7UUWGSn4_AiyIfu5VXUdss-HKD2byfGQC0RMGAvGdqR50BmRoIokW9MkuEloBPv0DuD14e857BivneyvNcxZfH2qJtKDe0QdNNelLkDhMIPbnPCU8rGYyDpcmfPXrXacHy2PcZxCnO2OtaG8ssmYth7hW2yGm-hmRT/s2190/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-19%20at%202.58.14%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="2190" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSNufoERwVXI3eQx8OhAjBB7UUWGSn4_AiyIfu5VXUdss-HKD2byfGQC0RMGAvGdqR50BmRoIokW9MkuEloBPv0DuD14e857BivneyvNcxZfH2qJtKDe0QdNNelLkDhMIPbnPCU8rGYyDpcmfPXrXacHy2PcZxCnO2OtaG8ssmYth7hW2yGm-hmRT/w726-h354/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-19%20at%202.58.14%20PM.png" width="726" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br />Here is an interview with me by the Orthodox Arts Festival, I discuss the arts, literature, Orthodox spirituality, and how the Church is failing the outcasts :<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.orthodoxartsfestival.org/projects/jonathan1?fbclid=IwAR0jf_qdBB9D9F_cHgu9BINQl222KypYL0iQrgT8uyyhQ0O5eOZEM0LAHSQ ">INTERVEIW </a><br /><br /><br />You can vote for my short story, The Ruined and What We Say to Them, here :<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.orthodoxartsfestival.org/podcast/episode/255182a6/artist-and-author-jonathan-maccormack-interview-for-orthodox-arts-festival-2022 ">VOTE HERE</a> </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /> </div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-78983051438931884772022-09-10T11:28:00.014-07:002022-09-10T11:32:28.652-07:00How to Read Scripture <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeiwAkajQjqxIljTlVqiq4CUtd0mT49m8vu-MSmKQPxNR1TAwLOo_RUZbyMJP3mpCHLKx6GD9nZWhXhqcoZCdRpwAPJGqy3QpD5gYTunBGsPBUE03D5pTcKWtZhimUxpOky6nw_wRJv9BF3f_0A6NECRkb8TYMtbs7xaUxWJnBzhYrdvsBl4iFY2CF/s960/img17.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeiwAkajQjqxIljTlVqiq4CUtd0mT49m8vu-MSmKQPxNR1TAwLOo_RUZbyMJP3mpCHLKx6GD9nZWhXhqcoZCdRpwAPJGqy3QpD5gYTunBGsPBUE03D5pTcKWtZhimUxpOky6nw_wRJv9BF3f_0A6NECRkb8TYMtbs7xaUxWJnBzhYrdvsBl4iFY2CF/w640-h480/img17.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br />The ancients did not read scripture as Protestants might today. Of course, one can read these texts in any way - as a fairytale, as poetry, as documents of historical happenings. But scripture is something specific, it is a text that is inspired and with which we can commune with God. You can’t do that with a history book! That doesn’t deny the historical aspects at all, it just means these historical events carry a spiritual meaning, that God can communicate to us through that story, factual or not. <br /><br />The great Jewish Biblical scholar James Kugel reminds us that ancients read scripture according to 4 principles. First, a text that is Holy Scripture must have its meaning revealed. The “plain meaning’ must be spiritually integrated. It must be “opened” as Christ opened the scriptures to the Apostles on the road to Emmaus.<br /><br />Second, Scripture’s purpose is not to inform us about events in the past, but about the present: ‘these things happened to them as a type, but they were written down for our instruction upon whom the end of the ages has come’ (1 Cor. 10:11). That means the story about Jonah is about, among other things, what’s happening right now. It speaks to us here and now. Perhaps the Whale is a particular sin that is coming for you because you are running from it, for example.<br /><br />Third, that Scripture is harmonious, nothing contradicts anything else in the Bible.<br /><br />Fourth, if it meets all three of the previous criteria, then it is truly scripture, and that means it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, who in Christ speaks to us directly in the Scriptures.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />So, how did ancient Christians read what we now call the Old Testament? Well, through the cross. They starts at the end, with Christ crucified. From there they works out there theology, through the cross. All the Fathers did. That is the “eschatological” reading. Eschatology is the end, it is the revealing. On the cross, Jesus is revealed as God. This is what the Fathers call the “spiritual meaning” of scripture as opposed to the fleshly meaning.<br /><br />For example, Christ on the cross to fleshly eyes would appear as just a man. But at His crucifixion, His true divine nature is revealed, and we finally see not just a man, but God Himself.<br /><br />As Fr John Behr says, before his conversion Paul was very familiar with the Scriptures. He read them carefully. What did he surmise they were telling him to do? Well, to kill Christians!<br /><br />Yes, without the revelation of Christ the old testament can tell us very little about anything. The Apostles knew the Scriptures, but could not recognize Christ as God until after His passion on the cross.<br /><br />So, what does this mean? It means everything in the Old Testament must refer to Christ. It must point to Him. That is where every interpretation must end. The meaning must be Christ crucified.<br /><br />It’s actually the same with all communication, and Christ is the Word. You don’t know what a sentence means until you’ve heard it to the end.<br /><br />For example, if I begin a sentence, “The plant….”, and ask you what the word “plant” refers to, perhaps you’ll say leafy green vegetation. <br /><br />I continue my sentence, “The plant was very busy today……”. Well, now you’ll probably say the word “plant” actually refers to a factory. <br /><br />Now I finish my sentence, “The plant was very busy today secretly infiltrating the enemy's camp.” Ah ! The word “plant” referred to a spy.<br /><br />Notice, you didn’t know until the end what the word “plant” meant. Only once you got to the end, could you then make sense of the word at the beginning, retroactively giving it meaning. <br /><br />In the same way, you cannot know what the story of Moses in Egypt means until you get to the end of the story. Moses in Egypt is like the beginning of my sentence, equivalent to the word “plant”. What is the end of the “sentence” or story? Christ crucified! Yes, the story of Moses refers to Christ crucified.<br /><br />We must begin knowing that whatever we read must refer to Christ on the Cross. Hence, the Israelites could not know the real meaning because only at the end do we retroactively confer meaning on the story. The meaning comes at the end. <br /><br />So, the Fathers will say Moses is a type of Christ, and he goes into Egypt which represents death, and through the red sea which represents baptism, and is “resurrected” when he is led to the promised land which refers to heaven. The story really refers to Christ crucified and risen!<br /><br />Now, even before I opened my mouth to tell you about the plant, I had the meaning already in my mind. The meaning was at the beginning for me, but you couldn’t know that. For you, the meaning only came at the end, in time.<br /><br />Just so, the meaning, Christ crucified, is the end of the story in time but was the beginning in the sense that the story occurred for its sake. Hence Origen will say Christ’s passion is both the beginning and the end - of everything, of the Cosmos itself.<br /><br />Hence, Origen will say without the cross the Old Testament is only myth, even if it happened. St Gregory of Nyssa will agree :<br /><br />"Therefore the Apostle said, 'the letter kills, but the spirit gives life,' since often if we were to stand in the mere concrete reality of the history, scripture would offer us no patterns at all of the good life."<br /><br />- Gregory of Nyssa, Hom. in Cant., prologue<br /><br /> So, St Irenaeus says:<br /> <br /><br />“For every prophecy, before its fulfilment, is nothing but an enigma and ambiguity to human beings; but when the time has arrived, and the prediction has come to pass, then it has an exact exposition [exegesis]. And for this reason, when . . . it is read by Christians, it is a treasure, hid in a field, but brought to light by the cross of Christ.”<br /><br />One can easily imagine how the meaning of your favorite book would change entirely if given a radically different ending. The Cross changed the meaning, or revealed it, for the entire “old testament.”<br /> <br /> Finally, for most of history very few people could read or write, the primary experiences of scripture for most of history were visual, oral, aural, and dramatic in the context of public liturgy rather than private study. <br /> <br /> Liturgical tradition is a continuation of the practices of the early Church, the Church is not based on the Bible. Rather, the Bible is a product of the Church. <br /> <br /> Narrative coherence and what the Bible “means” for belief has always ultimately governed tradition and its development.<br /><br />For example, that Arian controversies showed that each dissident party could quote sources of theology quite evenly, and thus as a singular issue either one could have been vindicated. But it was the narrative compatibility (faith that was already practiced, sung, and understood for centuries) with dogmatic theses that resolved the matter in favour of the Nicene party.<br /><br />The evaluation of whether to affirm the Nicene homoousios or the semi-Arian homoiousios is not a matter that can be settled by "formal" logic." Which of these is a good move, a good inference, is inextricably bound to the matter of the community of practice who are heirs of the apostles' teaching, who receive and read and inhabit the world of Scripture, and who pray to Jesus. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">That "first order" of prayer and proclamation is on the plane of know-how; doctrines as formulated in the Nicene Creed are the fruit of the community of Christian practice "making explicit" the norms that were previously unsaid. Doctrines say what, up to that point, we previously did, in a sense. In doing so, the community of practice is able to discern what counts as faithful practice. <br /><br />Doctrines are, in very real way, derivative from practice. <br /><br />Doctrine is not synonymous with religion, nor is it either the center or foundation of religion. Religion is located primarily in our doings, in the practices that constitute a community of worship and devotion to God.<br /><br />The meaning of the claim “Christ is Lord”—like the meaning of any assertion—is conditioned by use: what the assertion means is relative to the context of a particular community of practice. <br /><br />To confess that Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God”is to articulate what was already implicit in our prayers, a worshipful way of life nourished by the Scriptures.<br /><br />So, one sung/read Scriptures communally and liturgically, not for information, but for transformation, for divination, and to commune with God.<br /> <br /> You may read the texts anyway you like, but if read as *Scripture, they had little to do with past events, and instead were thought as God’s voice, attaining you to His point of view *in the present*.<br /><br />Hence, the Bible is a sacrament, and only exists in the life of the Church, to remove the Bible from its proper environment is to deform and utterly change its meaning. Whenever the context is changed, so is the meaning. And each community has concrete practices that make such meaning *intelligible - in traditional Christianity that only through prayer, fasting, and liturgy that Scripture makes sense.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">As John Behr says,<br /><br />"The coherence of dogmatic reflection and scriptural exegesis, as practiced the context of a worshipping community and ascetic practices aimed at ‘putting on Christ’, is broken, however, when the ‘dogmas’ are extracted from this setting to be treated ‘systematically’, independently of scriptural exegesis, and set alongside other, primarily historically-oriented, ways of reading Scripture, resulting in a confusion about how it all holds together, with some emphasizing the absolutely historicity of everything that is written, others doing so for parts of Scripture, but neither reading Scripture as Scripture."<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 33px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 39px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 33px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 39px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 33px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-69067842101581171072022-07-25T11:44:00.008-07:002022-07-25T15:07:27.940-07:00The Problem with Trads<span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6YkWXY76NrWYPLB93960AbdnvK6AZFFEvYl8WZ54UQGn1By5TqO_9C36wLtQgt9nKW9m7falovYuuBWsjVnIeUsR6y5OJ9lJ2PuNB28vXYequLAdJJ-6zou6vJx0mPwk7bLJli6WMmclONaAya5ZyAm2Hn_Ft4ieSSV3bv-HYh_604La1buwga1E/s405/original.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="405" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6YkWXY76NrWYPLB93960AbdnvK6AZFFEvYl8WZ54UQGn1By5TqO_9C36wLtQgt9nKW9m7falovYuuBWsjVnIeUsR6y5OJ9lJ2PuNB28vXYequLAdJJ-6zou6vJx0mPwk7bLJli6WMmclONaAya5ZyAm2Hn_Ft4ieSSV3bv-HYh_604La1buwga1E/w640-h376/original.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />“We can get caught up in being so Orthodox that we forget to be Christian”<br /><br />-Fr. Seraphim Rose homilies<br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Both extreme left and extreme right function to keep the faith becoming too rigid or too formless. Many would say our present condition is one of relativism, false ecumenicalism, thin or absent borders, a destruction of distinctions, and so we need a strong Right traditionalism to protect the Church from postmodernism, subjectivism, and the endless deconstruction that eats away at our heritage like acid.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Frankly, I think those who blame "trads" are out of touch, surely it is liberal Christians who are in the vast majority, simply look at opinions on gay marriage. Trads are a small but vocal minority on the internet, the average Catholic Church, or Orthodox, will will be deluged by liberalism. <br /> <br /> I tend toward the traditional stance myself, however it does have its problems.<br /> <br /> Oftentimes Trads will turn dogmas into an idol, worshiping not the living God but the correct theological answers. Ironically, this is very much a protestant, modern conception of religion. I've written on how religion is a modern invention <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2021/09/religion-modern-invention.html">HERE</a>.<br /> <br /> What we affirm is the experience of the Church, the theories about those experiences are what we call theology. The experience of the Church is that Christ has forgiven our sins, however even Bishop Barron will say he doesn’t exactly know what that means, though Catholicism has many ideas on this.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/11/the-end-of-christendom">John Bossy</a> in his book Christianity in the West 1400-1700 is surely correct that that “Creedal orthodoxy” replaced Communitas as a supreme virtue, and Christianity became a system of beliefs and moral behaviors….<br /> <br /> This was also compounded by the change from transformative knowledge (being formed into a certain way of being by liturgical attunement) vs informative knowledge.<br /> <br /> Marshall McLuhan and son note that the protestants hitched their fortune to dialectic over rhetoric and grammar, literacy becomes a substitute for the "communis sensus” birthing the Gutenburg Galaxy brain over audio communal doxological epistemology, <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2021/10/informative-vs-transformative-knowledge.html">HERE</a>.<br /><br />Instead of faith being a mode of perception, and religion being a “virtue” as it was for Aquinas, it become about concepts over resonance, information over initiation. See <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2021/08/initiation-not-information-worship-not.html">HERE</a>.<br /> <br /> Heck, even Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky writes, <br /><br />“From the very beginning Christianity was not primarily a doctrine, but exactly a community. There was not only a Message to be proclaimed and delivered, and Good News to be declared. There was precisely a New Community, distinct and peculiar, in the process of growth and formation, to which members were called and recruited." <br /><br /> Francis Young points out "religion" was not about doctrines or dogma's, but ritual. You shared a meal with your god, there was a communion, a give and take, perhaps even an exchange of life - bios, biological life, from flesh and blood, exchanged for the life of God, to ZOE, spiritual life….<br /> <br /> And John Behr points out that “Dogma” is really about setting boundaries, less about making positive statements about God beyond the basics.<br /> <br /> Furthermore, Behr reminds us that dogmas cannot be separated from liturgy :<br /><br /> “The coherence of dogmatic reflection and scriptural exegesis, as practiced the context of a worshipping community and ascetic practices aimed at ‘putting on Christ’, is broken, however, when the ‘dogmas’ are extracted from this setting to be treated ‘systematically’…”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 1em;">Vladimir Lossky, the great Russian theologian of the mid-20<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12.75px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> century, wrote:</p><blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-size: 16px; margin: 1rem; padding: 0.25rem 1rem; quotes: "" "";"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.1rem; line-height: 1.8rem; margin: 1em;">Knowledge is given to us by faith, that is to say, by our <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">participatory adherence to the presence of Him Who reveals Himself</span>. Faith is therefore not a psychological attitude, a mere fidelity. It is an <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">ontological relationship between man and God</span>, .....This faculty is the personal existence of man, it is his nature made to assimilate itself to divine life – both mortified in their state of separation and death and vivified by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Faith as ontological participation included in a personal meeting is therefore the first condition for theological knowledge.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.1rem; line-height: 1.8rem; margin: 1em; text-align: right;">From <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Introduction to Orthodox Theology</span>, pp. 16-17.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> Thus the little old lady in the back of the Church who gives an incorrect definition of the Trinity, but has been grafted onto the Triune life of God by participating in His life giving mysteries, is perfectly “orthodox.”</span></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-35735275938291188442022-07-16T18:42:00.001-07:002022-07-16T18:42:23.549-07:00Divine Disability in Pagan and Christian Tradition<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiubjY5vKOn-EWWw4R_Nwu01oj6DIAzmElJA407cXG5YhChd5GSiwJUUn1WFNZ7Ko4-ZGXJM3Ku-CqsxD5ScI1oYE406meDPV7YmdzJvHlOStqL0Ij3vlihdnzIet_gc9OTw9p47b35DDlGov6V2VmUQ5b9pRXPXGKBSscdr9n-Cm_S6zVdeUPF1DLb/s1960/defining-beauty-greek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1226" data-original-width="1960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiubjY5vKOn-EWWw4R_Nwu01oj6DIAzmElJA407cXG5YhChd5GSiwJUUn1WFNZ7Ko4-ZGXJM3Ku-CqsxD5ScI1oYE406meDPV7YmdzJvHlOStqL0Ij3vlihdnzIet_gc9OTw9p47b35DDlGov6V2VmUQ5b9pRXPXGKBSscdr9n-Cm_S6zVdeUPF1DLb/w640-h400/defining-beauty-greek.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I myself am an Orthodox Christian, but like CS Lewis I find great wisdom and even shadows of Christ in authentic Pagan spirituality.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">For many Christians, the Pagan gods were indeed real, but flawed, and often over time were thought to have become degraded into forces for evil.<br /><br />Others see Pagan myths as psychological forces.<br /><br />First a Pagan perspective, then a brief Christian one.<br /><br />Edward P. Butler is probably today’s most brilliant polytheistic theologian, in a recent exchange he <a href="https://endymions-bower.dreamwidth.org/47816.html?fbclid=IwAR1bqa6DGSlWoCF2XGM6MuEwt4sII9aT83nDPgemdeJK-N_k-RwiT2_x9ZM ">writes </a><br /><br />“In Egyptian theology, we have many myths of divine injury and healing; healing never returns us to the previous state. Many prosthetics in Egyptian myth. One value of these is that humans are given a role to supplement a God's loss. <br /><br />To take a Hellenic example, one meaning for Hephaistos' being lamed is that He is the agent of human technology. So His disability is directly related to a potency of his in which we especially participate. <br /><br />Osiris' phallus is lost on the mortal plane because a crucial part of His resurrection lies in mortals going on. In this sense, His phallus is the mortal phalli, Hephaistos' walking is the mortal kinesis. <br /><br />I don't want to distract anyone from the mysteries of identification with these Gods through the experience of disability through this sort of reading, however. That embodiment, that presencing of the God, is sustaining for individuals and for communities.<br /><br />@GalinaKrasskova: also something i think worth teasing out: healing not returning us to the previous state....begs the question of what is healing?<br /><br />@DaphneLykeion: [RE: Hephaistos] It seems as some principle of transformation. As a god who is made lame, from previously being whole, that it gives him a certain access into changing a substance of one state into that of another. Breaking down and recombining that renders a specific service from the original form that the original could not.<br /><br />Yes, and that's also suggested by His fall from Olympus to Earth, a "phase change".<br /><br />@DaphneLykeion: I wasn't really thinking so much as a phase change but rather an undergoing of an "alchemical change". That the transformative process which renders change to create a greater product requires destruction and reform. <br /><br />In my mind this act of destruction inflicted makes the subject bearing higher potential to affect the world. Although not lamed I can see this situations were divinites are killed and brought back. <br /><br />Or even those gods who were "consumed" by Kronos and delivered again from him. But these are on a different scope from the more permanent evidential transformations that involve destruction. <br /><br />Yes, I think this is key, to distinguish the change whereby a God acquires a disability from other changes. My theory would be that this corresponds to an extraordinary capacity being acquired by mortals. One could test this hypothesis by looking at myths of divine disability to see whether there is a human capacity that corresponds in some sense to the disability suffered by the God.<br /><br />@DaphneLykeion: The permanent disability however make these gods in line with processes of transformation and power. I think of it this way that Hephaistos who makes the greatest and powerful armor is himself physically unsound. His superior craftsmanship is inseparable from the fact that he is lame, whereas smiths are usually robust. <br /><br />As if an exchange of his vitality of form for the soundness and superiority of the forms that he creates. This exchange between his vitality and that which he creates is not separate from the destruction of his limbs. <br /><br />I think of it this way that Hephaistos who makes the greatest and powerful armor is himself physically unsound. His superior craftsmanship is inseparable from the fact that he is lame, whereas smiths are usually robust. <br /><br />As if an exchange of his vitality of form for the soundness and superiority of the forms that he creates.<br /><br />@GalinaKrasskova: You see this with Weyland the smith too, a semi-divine Power.<br /><br />@DaphneLykeion: Fascinating! It would seem that there is an exchange ongoing, from the process of disabling that lends its gift. The hand which is torn from a guard make him quite superior in his art. The torn eye giving the greatest sight.<br /><br />@GalinaKrasskova: I could certainly see that with Odin and Heimdall.<br /><br />@DaphneLykeion: The disabling on the gods acting as a process of strengthening some particular attribute to superior level.<br /><br />@GalinaKrasskova: Precisely and it's interesting with Odin that He chose to pluck out His eye for that reason.<br /><br />@DaphneLykeion: This would be related to sacrificed gods who by their all out death provide life/fertility. All different scopes. And this would provide new insight into Hera laming intentionally her son. Not as an act of cruelty as the myth seems to lend, for in Argos cult evidence shows very close relationship.<br /><br />@GalinaKrasskova: She is the maker of heroes.<br /><br />@DaphneLykeion: Exactly. If Hephaistos in Argos was called the war-like Zeus when he is lame, it would suggest a notable Heroic nature.<br /><br />Also suggestive regarding the ontological status of warfare.<br /><br />@DaphneLykeion: Quite so. And so we find a lame god who is superior in crafting physical forms and who is a great warrior.<br /><br />Had some further thoughts on divine injury and disability. Note the value of certain founding moments of injury in diverse theologies, such as the castration of Ouranos in Hellenic theology or the dismemberment of Ymir in Norse theology. In these cases, the injury/dismemberment of a primordial God establishes what I would call "pantheon space". (In systematic Platonism, pantheon space is the intelligible-intellective or noetico-noeric plane, or so I have argued.)<br /><br />Such acts localize the moment of self division or diremption of each henad, which releases the common space of being. Within the pantheon, it may be that all subsequent moments of divine injury participate this moment, as structurations of the field. A subtle moment of this in Egyptian theology is Re's self injury, which generates <a href="https://henadology.wordpress.com/theology/netjeru/hu/">Hu</a> and <a href="https://henadology.wordpress.com/theology/netjeru/sia/">Sia</a>, utterance and perception. Utterance and perception in this way become available for mortals to participate, and also subject to independent inquiry, epistemology. <br /><br />A question which occurred to me, is what would be the significance of a given theology having more injured/disabled Gods than another? If we follow out the theory propounded in last night's discussion, then it might be that the theology with more injured/disabled Gods would be experiencing more elements of experience as occurring immediately within the bodily presence (parousia) of the God.”<br /> </span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTwYmizNKlIqqnSa-oMF_sgaY2SVGX5GQ-HxiiLNHSMz70GpjbTRfn2_9NqKAi2_hUHWk4jTFQ71BtCZGrWKbkMfETyIuuuYsSZ6Mj9fzIJO1QgyxRBKnJ0jrXQvEacyNK-ynx72yS12UPm1d-nQNJ5oxc_WIlBinjBiG4D5CBmEqNTCTdAoBaYxJ/s335/fi1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="335" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTwYmizNKlIqqnSa-oMF_sgaY2SVGX5GQ-HxiiLNHSMz70GpjbTRfn2_9NqKAi2_hUHWk4jTFQ71BtCZGrWKbkMfETyIuuuYsSZ6Mj9fzIJO1QgyxRBKnJ0jrXQvEacyNK-ynx72yS12UPm1d-nQNJ5oxc_WIlBinjBiG4D5CBmEqNTCTdAoBaYxJ/s320/fi1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Now onto Christianity.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />“For the God we Christians must learn to worship is not a god of self-sufficient power, a god who in self-possession needs no one; rather ours is a God who needs a people, who needs a son. Absoluteness of being or power is not a work of the God we have come to know through the cross of Christ.”<br /><br />- Stanley Hauerwas,<br /><br />Kelby Carlson, himself, disabled, says a disabled person can be an actual image of God, of the reality of God, an vision of disability not as a sinful condition, but an image of Christ crushed upon the cross and therefore a disabled body can be a conduit of grace instead of a horror to be escaped from, for it is in suffering that we can “see” God, that is, when we recognize our own state of dependence and brokenness.<br /><br />Rather than needing to be redeemed from a broken body, the disabled makes visible God, Christ who was crippled, betrayed, and broken :<br /><br />“…disabled people can be seen as conduits for God’s grace and service rather than it only images of a broken creation in need of “fixing”….While brokenness itself is evidenced of a creation longing for release from bondage, an individual’s disability is, subversively, a venue for Christ to display his glory. <br /><br />Disability responds in graphic physical form to the idea of approaching God based on merit. Each disabled person with their twisted legs, nonfunctional eyes, or [whatever] visible or invisible disability they have, directly attacks the presumption of human glory.<br /><br />Disability is a symbol or metonymy of the larger experience before God: one of weakness, alienation and dependence . . . .<br /><br />Such a blunt assessment of disability’s pictorial significance might seem harsh, especially coming from a disabled person. <br /><br />If I left it there, it would be entirely inadequate. But disability is not merely a counter to theologies of merit constructed by man. It represents the opposite of that: a theology that finds its centerpiece in God’s death on the cross. <br /><br />The theology of the cross is a particular way of doing theology that disabled people can uniquely understand. It is the theology that acknowledges the “visible” things of God: <br /><br />namely the cross of Christ and visible suffering as the premier way of “seeing” God. God’s grace is manifested, paradoxically, in that which appears weak and nonsensical. <br /><br />In this view, one cannot blithely skip over the cross as a simple means to God’s vindication and resurrection. This results in an anemic view of suffering: something that is meant only to be patiently endured in the hope that perhaps someday things will get better . . . . <br /><br />Scripture reveals a redemptive way of looking at suffering, and consequently at disability (which, for a great majority of disabled people, involves suffering to one degree or another). Grace is seen as a means of living in and through suffering. <br /><br />Chronic weakness is seen as real strength. In fact, it is the only way to truly approach God in faith. Can we view this in an ecclesial way that might take account of the suffering of disabilities in the body of Christ?”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-53298440198696931522022-07-01T12:51:00.004-07:002022-07-10T05:11:04.666-07:00The Theology of Mental Illness<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigxqPpANNk1rfVTYWglFJV9jfdcDn7ExZfAHY1m1J6e5DJ9l2SSbKyXTnDja_aaBFnSbd8iRLPRbHAkLmr93byAFZZzO_3lkemQ39TNVY1oTJQQlELZhpTlWjg6kXTxvBc6auD5x_qQiXKRz4zVIdR1AE7Mx5W9G3AxWNMpHyGd7Hv5AF0fUk26Uv3/s750/090118-01-Update01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigxqPpANNk1rfVTYWglFJV9jfdcDn7ExZfAHY1m1J6e5DJ9l2SSbKyXTnDja_aaBFnSbd8iRLPRbHAkLmr93byAFZZzO_3lkemQ39TNVY1oTJQQlELZhpTlWjg6kXTxvBc6auD5x_qQiXKRz4zVIdR1AE7Mx5W9G3AxWNMpHyGd7Hv5AF0fUk26Uv3/w640-h320/090118-01-Update01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="color: #151515; font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #151515; font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #151515; font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://ishmaelite.blogspot.com/2009/05/jean-claude-larchet.html">Jean-Claude Larchet</a></span>'s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mental-Disorders-Spiritual-Healing-Teachings/dp/159731045X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276252084&sr=1-1"><span style="color: black;">Mental Disorders and Spiritual Healing</span></a>, takes a patristic look at mental illness. He is a patristics scholar, not a psychologist.<br />
<br />
First of all the Fathers were quick to recognize that some forms of mental illness had organic causes. For these they recommended such appropriate medical therapy as was available in their days. Larchet maintains that there is a difference between the mental and the spiritual and if the question is whether a psychologist can heal spiritual maladies, then the answer is no.</p><p style="color: #151515; font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />
There is danger, he says, in recalling our old passions in detail. The Church Fathers advise us to confess our passions, to recount before God the sins we have committed – not just be aware of them – and of course to be able to confess all of our difficulties, as well. But the Fathers advise us against and discourage living in detail whatever in our past didn’t end well, whatever bears a connection with our sins. Larchet says, "That’s precisely because confession is not a recollection with which the patient is subsequently stuck, but something that we confess before God in order to receive His forgiveness."<br />
<br />And forgiveness, he says, "means exactly the elimination of all pathological effects, even of the very source of the illness or disorders connected – when there is a connection – with sin; in other words, God’s forgiveness really offers a therapy that secular “psychotherapy” essentially doesn’t."</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #151515;"><br />
Secular psychology, he notes, </span>will treat emotion and emotional energy as if they could be dealt with without reference to morality or the basic disposition of the will, and certainly without reference to the Spirit.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He says, mental illness is from three sources: the <i>somatic </i>(body), the<i> psychic </i>(soul)<i>,</i> and the <i>spiritual. </i>The somatic level is related to our familiar idea of that mental illness is caused by imbalances in brain chemistry and physiology, if not by actual physical trauma. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">On the psychic level, mental illness is caused primarily by demonic influence, though it is pointed out that demons are attracted to pre-existing psychic dispositions. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />The deformation of our will disposes us toward non-being and the disintegration of our personhood.<br /><br />Prayer and fasting forms us toward integration with God and life.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Mental illness resulting from the spiritual level is based on the perversion of human free will—sin, in other words—though he makes it clear that the misuse of free will affects the other two levels as well.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In addition to a reorientation of the will through prayer and fasting, which the Fathers recommend, Larchet speaks of the spiritual intervention of the saints as a powerful form of treatment</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">According to the early Fathers, some (but not all) mental illnesses actually derive from the spiritual level, though their effects nonetheless appear on the level of the psyche per se:</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Mental illnesses of spiritual origin should not be confused with the spiritual illnesses themselves. Spiritual illnesses are formed by a disorder or perversion of nature (more precisely of nature’s mode of existence) in the personal relationship of the individual to God. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">According to the Fathers, the passions take control of our will and force us to passively act according to their agendas instead of being true to ourselves. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />Thus the cure is action in its truest sense. Pure act is to center in God —who is Himself “Pure Act.” <br /><br />The essence of pure action is prayer which reorients the will to the source of life, God. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The body and soul are one for the Fathers, therefore what we do with our bodies will affect our soul. Each and every act of the human being is at one and the same time an act and movement of both the soul and the body, therefore the food we eat, ht memories we concentrate on, and our experiences all affect us.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The activities of the soul develop in correlation with the formation and perfection of the body which is its instrument.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Other than organic causes, the main cause of mental disorders is a deformation of the will, for which prayer is the best remedy, and the demonic, which can be healed with the help of the partaking of the mysteries. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As concerns the demonic, Larchet says, “the Fathers considered the possessed not to be accomplices of the devil, but rather victims, and as such entitled to special attention and solicitude.” <br />
<br />The third etiology for mental illness from spiritual problems, is “generally defined as one or another of the passions developed to an extreme.”</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The Fathers had intimate knowledge of the passions, and dissected them in minute detail. We’ll look at two. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Sadness is a direct and conscious feeling of loss, while acedia is more like a general deadening of all life; one has “lost the taste for life.” </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
SADNESS<br />
<br />
The treatment of sadness, more than of other passions, “presupposes the awareness that one is ill and that one wishes to be cured.” <br />
<br />
The first possible cause of sadness “is the frustration of an existing or anticipated pleasure, and more to the point the loss of some sensible good, the frustration of some desire, or disappointment over some worldly hope”; a second case of sadness is anger, “whether it follows from it or is the consequence of some offense suffered, frequently taking in such a case the form of spite.” Treating acedia is even more difficult, as “it has the peculiarity of seizing all the faculties of the soul and inflaming nearly all the passions.” <br />
<br />
Treatment, Larchet says, comes through through resistance, patience, hope, grief and tears, the remembrance of death, manual labor and, above all, prayer.<br />
<br />
ACEDIA<br />
<br />Acedia <span style="color: #131313;">h</span>as the <span style="color: #131313;">p</span>e<span style="color: #131313;">culi</span>ari<span style="color: #131313;">t</span>y of s<span style="color: #3b3b3b;">e</span>iz<span style="color: #131313;">i</span>ng al<span style="color: #131313;">l </span>t<span style="color: #131313;">h</span>e fac<span style="color: #131313;">ult</span>ies of the so<span style="color: #131313;">u</span>l and inflaming <span style="color: #131313;">n</span>ea<span style="color: #131313;">rl</span>y all the passions. St John Climac<span style="color: #131313;">u</span>s tells us that <span style="color: #3b3b3b;">'</span>a<span style="color: #3b3b3b;">c</span>edia is a <span style="color: #131313;">kind </span>of tota<span style="color: #131313;">l </span>de<span style="color: #3b3b3b;">a</span>th<span style="color: #4d4d4d;">." </span></span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #303030;">R</span><span style="color: #434343;">es</span>i<span style="color: #303030;">s</span>t<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">ce </span>t<span style="color: #303030;">o t</span>hi<span style="color: #303030;">s </span>p<span style="color: #303030;">ass</span>ion n<span style="color: #303030;">eve</span>r <span style="color: #303030;">prov</span>id<span style="color: #303030;">es i</span>mm<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>di<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>t<span style="color: #303030;">e r</span><span style="color: #434343;">e</span><span style="color: #303030;">s</span>ult<span style="color: #303030;">s</span>. <span style="color: #303030;">A</span>lmo<span style="color: #303030;">s</span>t <span style="color: #303030;">a</span>lw<span style="color: #303030;">a</span><span style="color: #434343;">y</span><span style="color: #303030;">s v</span>i<span style="color: #303030;">cto</span>r<span style="color: #434343;">y </span><span style="color: #303030;">o</span>v<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>r <span style="color: #303030;">ace</span>di<span style="color: #303030;">a s</span>upp<span style="color: #303030;">oses a </span>long <span style="color: #303030;">a</span>nd dili<span style="color: #303030;">ge</span>nt <span style="color: #303030;">st</span>ru<span style="color: #303030;">gg</span>l<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>.<span style="color: #434343;">' </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(48, 48, 48); color: #303030;">A</span>b<span style="color: #303030;">ove a</span>ll tr<span style="color: #303030;">ea</span>tm<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>nt d<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>m<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>nd<span style="color: #303030;">s </span>th<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>t on<span style="color: #303030;">e g</span>i<span style="color: #303030;">ve </span>pr<span style="color: #303030;">oof </span>of p<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>ti<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">ce a</span>nd p<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>r<span style="color: #303030;">seve</span>r<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">c</span>e<span style="color: #303030;">. <br />
<br />
</span>H<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>p<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>i<span style="color: #303030;">s </span><span style="color: #303030;">a</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>th<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>r <span style="color: #303030;">f</span>und<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>ment<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>l r<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>m<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>d<span style="color: #303030;">y a</span>nd it <span style="color: #303030;">s</span>h<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>uld <span style="color: #303030;">be j</span>oin<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>d to p<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>t<span style="color: #303030;">ie</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">ce</span><span style="color: #434343;">." </span><span style="color: #303030;">T</span>h<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>h<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>p<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>ful m<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>n<span style="color: #434343;">, </span><span style="color: #303030;">as S</span>t John <span style="color: #303030;">C</span>lim<span style="color: #303030;">ac</span>u<span style="color: #303030;">s </span>t<span style="color: #303030;">eac</span>h<span style="color: #303030;">e</span><span style="color: #434343;">s, '</span><span style="color: #303030;">s</span>l<span style="color: #303030;">ays ace</span>di<span style="color: #303030;">a, </span>kill<span style="color: #303030;">s i</span>t <span style="color: #303030;">w</span>ith hi<span style="color: #303030;">s </span><span style="color: #434343;">s</span><span style="color: #303030;">wo</span>rd.<span style="color: #434343;">"</span></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A third <span style="color: #303030;">esse</span>nti<span style="color: #434343;">a</span>l r<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>m<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>d<span style="color: #303030;">y </span>i<span style="color: #434343;">s </span>r<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>p<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>nt<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">ce</span><span style="color: #434343;">, </span><span style="color: #303030;">so</span>rro<span style="color: #303030;">w a</span>nd <span style="color: #303030;">comp</span>un<span style="color: #303030;">c</span>ti<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>n<span style="color: #434343;">. </span>On<span style="color: #303030;">e o</span>f th<span style="color: #303030;">e a</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">c</span>i<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>nt<span style="color: #434343;">s </span><span style="color: #303030;">ta</span>u<span style="color: #303030;">g</span>h<span style="color: #303030;">t </span>th<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>t if th<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>indi<span style="color: #303030;">vi</span>du<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>l <span style="color: #303030;">'</span>k<span style="color: #303030;">eeps </span>h<span style="color: #303030;">i</span><span style="color: #434343;">s </span><span style="color: #303030;">si</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">s in </span>mind<span style="color: #303030;">, </span>God <span style="color: #303030;">w</span>ill b<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>hi<span style="color: #303030;">s </span>h<span style="color: #434343;">e</span>lp in <span style="color: #303030;">eve</span>r<span style="color: #303030;">y</span>thing <span style="color: #303030;">a</span>nd h<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>will n<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>t <span style="color: #303030;">s</span>uff<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>r fr<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>m <span style="color: #303030;">a</span>c<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>di<span style="color: #303030;">a.<br /><br /></span></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #303030;">Ma</span>nu<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>l l<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>b<span style="color: #303030;">or </span>i<span style="color: #303030;">s a</span>l<span style="color: #303030;">so a</span>m<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">g </span>th<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>r<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>m<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>d<span style="color: #303030;">ies </span>pr<span style="color: #303030;">escr</span>ib<span style="color: #303030;">ed by t</span>h<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>F<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>th<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>r<span style="color: #303030;">s</span>.<span style="color: #535353;"> </span>I<span style="color: #303030;">t </span>h<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>lp<span style="color: #303030;">s t</span>h<span style="color: #303030;">e i</span>ndi<span style="color: #303030;">v</span>idu<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>l <span style="color: #303030;">avo</span>id th<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>b<span style="color: #303030;">ore</span>d<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>m<span style="color: #303030;">, </span>i<span style="color: #303030;">ns</span>t<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>bili<span style="color: #303030;">ty</span><span style="color: #535353;">, </span>t<span style="color: #303030;">or</span>por<span style="color: #303030;">, a</span>nd <span style="color: #303030;">s</span>l<span style="color: #303030;">ee</span>pin<span style="color: #303030;">ess </span>th<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>t t<span style="color: #303030;">oge</span>th<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>r form <span style="color: #303030;">o</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">e as</span>pe<span style="color: #303030;">c</span>t o<span style="color: #303030;">f </span>thi<span style="color: #303030;">s </span>p<span style="color: #303030;">assio</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">. </span>It ca<span style="color: #0c0c0c;">n </span>contribut<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>t<span style="color: #303030;">o es</span>t<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>bli<span style="color: #303030;">s</span>hing <span style="color: #303030;">a</span>nd m<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>int<span style="color: #303030;">a</span>ining dili<span style="color: #303030;">ge</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">ce, </span>th<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>con<span style="color: #0c0c0c;">ti</span>nual pr<span style="color: #303030;">ese</span>n<span style="color: #303030;">ce of </span>mind<span style="color: #303030;">, ef</span>f<span style="color: #303030;">o</span>rt<span style="color: #303030;">, a</span>nd <span style="color: #303030;">a</span>tt<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>ntion impli<span style="color: #303030;">e</span>d b<span style="color: #303030;">y </span>th<span style="color: #303030;">e </span>spirit<span style="color: #0c0c0c;">u</span>al lif<span style="color: #303030;">e a</span>nd <span style="color: #303030;">w</span>hi<span style="color: #303030;">c</span>h <span style="color: #303030;">ace</span>d<span style="color: #303030;">ia see</span>k<span style="color: #303030;">s </span>t<span style="color: #303030;">o </span>di<span style="color: #303030;">s</span>ru<span style="color: #303030;">p</span>t. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Finally, Larchet tells us:</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“God, in effect, does not grant healing unless it is asked of him, for he has granted man free will and in all the cases respects his will and will not act against it. However, the will of the individual is not always fully at his disposal. . .Those who are disturbed in a significant way cannot even ask for their own healing or give evidence of their faith. . . And yet it is possible for such individuals to be delivered and healed thanks to the faith and the prayers of those around them or accompanying them, as well as to those of the saint to whom they are entrusted.” </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For my own opinion on mental illness see my blog post "Is God Enough? Probably Not" <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2021/08/life-is-hard-is-god-enough-probably-not.html">HERE</a> and my post on Anguish <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-invisible-anguish-of-young-men.html">HERE</a> <br />
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For more on Larchet, check out these podcasts:<br />
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Can Suffering Bring You Closer to Christ? w/Jean-Claude Larchet & Nicole Roccas (Hank Unplugged</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk-LgQHaA90">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk-LgQHaA90</a></span> </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hank Hanegraaff interviews Professor Jean-Claude Larchet on his book book, The Theology of Illness. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grOTUt2skCk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grOTUt2skCk</a></span> </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The human composite and spiritual healing - Jean-Claude Larchet </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wh6AtmPL7Q">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wh6AtmPL7Q</a></span> </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Readings: Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses (sadness) </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W1kBOuONeo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W1kBOuONeo</a></span> </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Illness, Mortality and Counsel in the Liturgy </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://anglican.audio/2019/11/09/fh35-illness-mortality-and-counsel-in-the-liturgy/">https://anglican.audio/2019/11/09/fh35-illness-mortality-and-counsel-in-the-liturgy/</a></span> </p><div><br /></div><p><br /></p>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-8387650006821867392022-06-29T14:04:00.004-07:002022-06-29T17:18:35.699-07:00Introduction to Origen<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4iRhDKDzP5Lbgu45_nIgxM8-5LcBMDrEw2clZCDKAspnxFULHrIJFj1DReXIxjvsbLr-fpMCjR_7mKT_2isKIdwRVzCOUSKDscVE02zc5nJpD6mvOCO-Ws1N_hkZZLn1w3kSzZaHdAospDbsrOg_ZjR0E2OiRqOXqH8HtWoioW3fQNkJYPotUm0Hj/s480/hqdefault.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4iRhDKDzP5Lbgu45_nIgxM8-5LcBMDrEw2clZCDKAspnxFULHrIJFj1DReXIxjvsbLr-fpMCjR_7mKT_2isKIdwRVzCOUSKDscVE02zc5nJpD6mvOCO-Ws1N_hkZZLn1w3kSzZaHdAospDbsrOg_ZjR0E2OiRqOXqH8HtWoioW3fQNkJYPotUm0Hj/w640-h480/hqdefault.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There’s a book coming out in the next few weeks, a basic introduction to Origen's theology, with Jonathan McCormack as the author. That is I. <br /><br />Below is a rough draft is taken from the introduction. <br /><br />About On First Principals<br /><br />Most of Origen’s writings have not survived, and among those that did, On First Principals is both his most famous and most controversial. St Jerome, who venomously castigates the work, extols Origen’s commentary on Song of Songs, calling Origen the finest theologian since St Paul. <br /><br />After the Bible, it is perhaps The Philokalia most beloved by Christians, which features large compilations of Origen’s works made by the Cappadocian Fathers St Basil and St Gregory Nazianzus. Origen’s commentaries are some of the sweetest things in all of Christian literature. However, On First Principals has been ripe with controversy for its theology.<br /><br />Origen was beloved by many saints. St Athanasius and St Pamphilus, for example, both defended Origen in his lifetime. He converted St Ambrose from Gnostic Valentinianism. He was highly influential to St Basil and St Gregory of Nyssa. <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px;">St Gregory Nazianzen calls Origen "the whetstone of us all”</span> and the “prince of theologians”. Closer to our own time John Meyendorff calls Origen the “father of theology.” <br /><br />Indeed, Origen was the first to attempt a systematic theology of Christian beliefs. Being the first, he is tenuous. He lays out the Christian belief at the beginning of On First Principals, which very closely approximates what would be known as the Nicene Creed. That is all he teaches as dogmatically true. <br /><br />For the rest, he is only giving his opinions. He submits his teachings to the Church and explicitly says that if anything he teaches is found to contradict either the Scriptures or the Church, or if anyone discovers a better interpretation, the reader ought to dismiss what he has here erroneously taught. The point is that Origen was one of the first systematic theologians, and much of Orthodox theology was still to be worked out. This work, however, is not one of Dogma, Origen explicitly states that what he says here is not doctrine. It has not been passed down by the apostles nor the rule of faith nor explicitly taught by Scripture. These are his speculations. Even so, they would influence Orthodox theology for centuries to come.<br /><br />Origen speaks of discussing and investigating rather than laying down fixed and certain conclusions, and he invites his readers to be critical and discover the truth themselves.<br /><br />ABOUT ORIGEN<br /><br />Much of the rumors about Origen were just that. He almost certainly did not castrate himself. Origen was a rockstar in the Ancient world. When someone’s theology was in doubt, they sent for Origen to determine the orthodoxy of said doctrine. Origen taught the faith to the Empress herself. <br /><br />According to Eusebius, his father was martyred for the faith when Origen was just a teenager, and during the pogroms against Christians launched by Decius (250-1), Origen himself, then in his sixties, would suffer extreme torture, being stretched on the rack. Eusebius says he spent his final days as a broken man, writing letters 'full of comfort to those in need' until his death a few years later. <br /><br />Historians will agree he was persecuted towards the end of his life for his Christian faith, however they regard Eusebius’s account as rather dubious. Tzamalikos tells us Origen’s teacher was likely the Ammonius, who taught Plotinus himself. Eusebius says Ammonius himself was Christian, although deeply learned in pagan philosophy as well. It wasn’t unusual for Christians and Pagans to instruct one another within elite schools of philosophy. Origen converted to Christianity probably in his 50’s, which scandalized the Greeks. Although certainly influenced by Plato, Tzamalikos insists Origen is no Platonist, indeed much of his writings is explicitly arguing against Platonic teachings that denigrate matter and embodied existence. Origen is unique in that he was attacked by both Christians, for being too Platonic, and Pagans, for being Christian.<br /><br /><br />A note on the translation of On First Principals<br /><br />Unfortunately, we do not have Origen’s original writings for On First Principals. Even more unfortunately his writings were hopelessly corrupted early on, with heretical writings being interposed into his work.<br /><br />We only have the Latin translation from Rufinus, who readily admits he has omitted some parts of the work and developed others.<br /><br />However, it gets even worse in the modern era in the edition produced by Paul Koetschau in 1913, and then by the translation into English of this edition by G. W Butterworth in 1936, which thereafter became the standard translation for English-speaking scholarship.<br /><br />Koetschau was convinced that the accounts of Origen's teaching given by his opponents, and even the anathemas of 553, do in fact represent Origen's authentic teaching. So he set about interpolating these into Origen’s text, even making up passages by putting together sentences from various polemics against Origen! <br /><br />Thankfully, Fr John Behr’s translation corrects many of these problems.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBq56QDSVAd2oaeFT7Z_PYimfP8ZbVAJOQ9f1Yu5A3BKc6w-LGfT-g5uhvN9oVkqYKK22MwtS0JTM_jNYp1VqqZey50jnRl6NU7lV3dC8CKD-UTjqcL4bvA_s5OZbJJYzD_8vUMZETsxJnOa5PFuKqIbsHQid1gn-USu8Wvo0ywhVDQNeIF1lUXSX/s2048/119691021_1885936251546984_5475286581128287831_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBq56QDSVAd2oaeFT7Z_PYimfP8ZbVAJOQ9f1Yu5A3BKc6w-LGfT-g5uhvN9oVkqYKK22MwtS0JTM_jNYp1VqqZey50jnRl6NU7lV3dC8CKD-UTjqcL4bvA_s5OZbJJYzD_8vUMZETsxJnOa5PFuKqIbsHQid1gn-USu8Wvo0ywhVDQNeIF1lUXSX/w300-h400/119691021_1885936251546984_5475286581128287831_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><br /> A sketch I did of Origen<br /><br /><br />CONTROVERSIES IN ORIGEN<br /><br />Was Origen anathematized ?<br /><br />This is complicated. First, the council that is supposed to have anathematized him came 300 yrs after his death. Even Arius was allowed to defend himself and clarify his teachings before being declared a heretic. Recall also, that Origen was teaching before the formulation of the Nicene Creed and before dogmas were officially laid down. Moreover, the <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html">15 anathemas against Origenism</a>, which don’t actually name Origen himself, that have traditionally been attributed to II Constantinople in 553 are today questioned by historians. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">At best, it may be the Emperor Justinian submitted the anathemas to the bishops after the council. Even if the Bishops approved, not being part of the council, it technically cannot be said to possess canonical authority. However, the council did mention Origen by name apart from the 15 anathemas and does state that those who teach his doctrines are to be anathema.<br /><br /> Today it has also become universally accepted that the anathemas of the sixth century and the reports of Justinian were directed primarily against Evagrius and sixth-century ‘Origenism" rather than Origen himself. For example, when church historian Norman P. Tanner edited his collection of the Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils in 1990, he did not include the anti-Origenist denunciations at all, offering the following explanation: “Our edition does not include the text of the anathemas against Origen since recent studies have shown that these anathemas cannot be attributed to this council.”<br /><br />The Origenism being taught at the time was heavily influenced by Gnosticism and had little to do with Origen’s actual teachings. In fact, Origen frequently defended the faith against the Gnostics. According to Tzamilikos, Justinian had no knowledge at all of Origen’s actual writings, and at the time the term “origenism” was a catch-all phrase for anything or anyone that threatened the ecclesiastical authorities. The Orthodox historian and theologian Fr John Anthony McGuckin explains how the anathemas became associated with the 553 council thus, <br /><br />“…the anathemata are all taken from the works of Evagrius of Pontus. The anathemata did not get themselves attached to the official acts of the council of 553, but…were quietly added to the synodal acts at a later date …a sleight of hand made possible by those who held the key to the archives.”<br /><br />- John Anthony McGuckin, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830840982/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag%25C3%25AClectorthod-20&creative%25C2%259325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN30840982&linkIdn084f144bdafe610707642755fcd286">The Path of Christianity</a>, p. 615.<br /><br />Met Kallistos Ware made a similar point in 1998:<br /><br />"There is, however, considerable doubt whether these fifteen anathemas were in fact formally approved by the Fifth Ecumenical Council. They may have been endorsed by a lesser council, meeting in the early months of 553 shortly before the main council was convened, in which case they lack full ecumenical authority...."<br /><br />- Kallistos Ware, “Dare We Hope for the Salvation of All,” <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0881412090/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp89&creative%25C2%259325&creativeASIN81412090&linkCode=as2&tag%25C3%25AClectorthod-20&linkId=CWTP5FWAMHQAUTZ4">The Inner Kingdom</a>, pp. 199-200 <br /><br />Finally, one must point out that various other Saints have taught incorrect doctrine, such as Augustine, St Isaac the Syrian, and St Gregory of Nyssa, the latter two both teaching universalism, and yet were not anathematized.<br /><br />Still, one shouldn’t gloss over that Origen was a controversial figure even in his own lifetime, running afoul of bishops and councils, attacked by other Christians for being too Platonic, and that future ecumenical councils would affirm the previous condemnations Origenism, regardless if they were aquatinted with his actual texts and teachings.<br /><br />WHAT DID ORIGEN TEACH THAT WAS HERETICAL ?<br /><br />It’s easy enough to interpret Origen in several heretical ways. However, if we are generous, and follow Fr John Behr’s interpretations, and read him not as a modern philosopher, but a theologian in the tradition of the Church, nor as a protestant or modern biblical scholar would, then his main heresy (even if he is incorrect in other regards) is for his promulgation of universalism. Origen still believes in hell but thinks it is temporary and purgative. Of course, Origen made mistakes, but so did many theologians. There are other things problematic in Origen, but these are mere speculations in which he admits he is unsure. These include the belief that the stars, moon, and sun are rational creatures and that Satan will be redeemed (though in a qualified sense).<br /><br /><br />Since there’s controversy over Origen let’s go over the big ones.<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSBCe1cMQkTJiVDoiLWvi5DsCmSQXU1E3g4xYr0uDo3_pjPX5kmJ5hy2tj0YuIn9CcNPoRbRInZQODzH97rroL7vqDiCWy2kMjuD4Oe03pQ0LqCjfE1oUASsYN35egmQhBca1C3wyeMd6QN3nDYJZgnUnfEZzZNVeANmkzXhiyl7Zmtc9O-bUdORq/s2048/119733208_1885936234880319_6760385251946352230_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1533" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSBCe1cMQkTJiVDoiLWvi5DsCmSQXU1E3g4xYr0uDo3_pjPX5kmJ5hy2tj0YuIn9CcNPoRbRInZQODzH97rroL7vqDiCWy2kMjuD4Oe03pQ0LqCjfE1oUASsYN35egmQhBca1C3wyeMd6QN3nDYJZgnUnfEZzZNVeANmkzXhiyl7Zmtc9O-bUdORq/w300-h400/119733208_1885936234880319_6760385251946352230_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /> Another sketch I did<br /><br /><br />PRE-EXISTENCE OF SOULS<br /><br />The TLDR version is that Origen never taught this, but it’s easy to misread him. God always had the intention of a perfect creation, which always does exist outside of time in eternity, and the present imperfect world “falls” from that perfect intention.<br /><br />We shouldn’t even use the word “fall”, in Origen’s conception. An infant is not “fallen” from the adult human being it will become; even if that adult will one day exist. It does, of course, “fall short” of being that adult human being.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />We all fall short (sin) of being the perfect person God intends us to be.<br /><br /><br />In eternity, however, we already are that perfected person God intended, since eternity is “above” or “outside” of time, eternity always exists. There is no before or after eternity, those terms only apply to temporal existence. <br /><br />The longer explanation is below.<br /><br />As Harl points out, the terms that appear in Butterworth's edition, such as, 'the pre-existence of souls' or 'pre existent souls' or,'pre-existent intellects’ do not actually occur in the writings of Origen. Origen specifically argued against the Platonic conception of the fall; namely, the teaching that before this creation, due to some catastrophe in the plenorma, immaterial souls fell into bodies here on earth. As early as the third century St Pamphilus in his Apology for Origen attests that Origen was wrongly being accused of maintaining the preexistence of souls in their own bodies.<br /><br />For Origen, as for most of the ancients, only God can be said to be without a body. Centuries later Aquinas would argue angles too were entirely without body, however even St John Damascene teaches that when we speak of the “bodiless powers” this is only a relative term and that angels indeed have a circumscribed body, though one much more subtle than our own.<br /><br />So, there can be no such thing as just a bodiless soul. Yet, Origen does speak about a fall into fleshly existence.<br /><br />For Origen, it was always God’s intention to have mankind deified and made perfect in loving communion with Him. God had this intention in eternity from the “beginning.” Now, “beginning” does not mean “before” when applied to eternity, it rather means something like the first principle, the foundation for what causes the next actions.<br /><br />It’s hard to conceptualize because we want to think of eternity as the “end” of our life, what comes after.<br /><br />So, God always had this intention. However, God knew how we would react to Christ in this life. This is the life of the cross, and we reject it every time we sin. We constantly refuse the cross, and instead do our own will.<br /><br />This spiritual event, which is always happening as we are always sinning and falling short of perfection, is mired in the historical event of Christ’s passion. When Christ was crucified all the apostles scattered and fell from being His disciple. Except for Christ, risen on the cross. He alone did not fall away from God’s call but went to the cross.<br /><br />However, we were never first, temporally, in a perfect state and then fell. Of course, in eternity, those that made it to Heaven are always there. We “fall” from that high calling every time we sin.<br /><br />Hence St Maximos will say we fell at the moment of creation.<br /><br />Let’s use an analogy.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />Say five people decide they will all get into perfect shape. This is their intention. But they each fall away from that intention by various “sins”. One stops exercising, another stops eating healthy.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />They all fell short of their intention. That is Origen’s notion of sin, to miss the mark. However, there was never a time when they had perfect bodies and then fell into unhealthy habits. No, they started with imperfect bodies, and only fell from their intended goal of perfection. <br /><br />For Origen, our bodies reflect our souls, our spiritual states. So in heaven, we will need a body proper to that environment - a spiritual body. Those in eternity have this body, outside or above time. Not before our birth, nor after our death, since those terms only apply to things in time. From the perspective of time “down here”, we had to be born and then grow in the likeness of God, and after the end of life we go to heaven. <br /><br />Remember though, there is no “before” in eternity, so in some sense, those who make it to heaven are always already there. That is why the Bible uses those odd phrases, that something “will be” AND “already is.”<br /><br />So, what caused this fall? Well, it was/is our cool response to Christ’s passion. We do not respond with the fire of love. So in one sense, we are the reason for the fall. To put it another way, God foresaw that we would not accept Him in love, so He had to create a world and bodies suitable to our cool, indifferent souls. That is this world, and that is our present fleshly bodies. So, in a very real sense we caused the fall.<br /><br />However, the ultimate cause of creation is the Lamb crucified before the beginning of the world. It is this event, Christ’s passion, that causes a personal response, and calls us into existence. What kind of existence? Well, it was all dependent upon how we would freely respond. God knew we would respond cooly to Christ’s crucifixion, so He had to make this world fit such a response. Only a person living in a perfect response of love can live in heaven. <br /><br />Why do we say the lamb was crucified before the foundation (not beginning) of the world? Because it is in eternity where creation actually has its beginning, not at the Big Bang, but on the cross! That is the event that began the universe. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He literally created the cosmos, and it has its end in Him as well.<br /><br />To explain further, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is an actual revelation of God, of what the life of God looks like in eternity. In eternity the triune God is always loving, sacrificing, giving and receiving love, in a great economy of love. When this life of God is projected onto the world of time, with sin and rejection, it looks like Christ sacrificing Himself on a cross for us. So, Christ doesn’t become God on the cross, God is revealed on the cross. Think of a perfect loving scene in a film, projected on a movie screen that is twisted and torn. That movie screen is our lives on earth.<br /><br />See, the Greeks always begin with the temporal beginning. Origen instead begins with the end - with Christ crucified on the cross. That is what the end looks like, “It is finished.” On the cross is the beginning. It is from that perspective that Origen starts his thinking, he begins with that fact.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseJwfstbTePQDNW7BMxzEV4GXe0Il0K9OXcdToVx2C8gKHjt0T9ZbIGLQ0_EU7-Mwub3cPnJYFQxR6pvr7CTXjsRyKkM3eW3IpIJddNO2wPksg8v9L5sDCsS30f6TvQSRCmAUPqC_UWtiyGG8J1LrbC5DvZ19BIh8uxK64moVA4HP3gfYHCa7u53V/s1440/119825128_1885937014880241_7034372148775223883_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseJwfstbTePQDNW7BMxzEV4GXe0Il0K9OXcdToVx2C8gKHjt0T9ZbIGLQ0_EU7-Mwub3cPnJYFQxR6pvr7CTXjsRyKkM3eW3IpIJddNO2wPksg8v9L5sDCsS30f6TvQSRCmAUPqC_UWtiyGG8J1LrbC5DvZ19BIh8uxK64moVA4HP3gfYHCa7u53V/s320/119825128_1885937014880241_7034372148775223883_n.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />So, summing that all up :<br /><br />We fall short of God’s intentions for us as deified persons. It is God’s foreknowledge, His intentions, that exist in eternity (though not co-eternal with God).<br /><br />However, there was never a *time when we were perfect/deified and then fell. We are only perfect in eternity.<br /><br />The “movements” of our soul refer to our response to Christ’s crucifixion, which God foresaw atemporally prior to creation, some responding cooly, some responding hotly in love.<br /><br />I may “fall” short of my intention to get a perfectly fit body when I “sin” against my healthy intentions, but I never first had a perfectly fit body from which I fell.<br /><br />Of course, God’s intention for a perfected creation is realized in eternity, which is neither before nor after this imperfect creation, but exists and always has “above” the time-bound Cosmos.<br /><br />The Lamb is crucified “before” (I.e. is the casual principle of) the foundation of the world in eternity, thus everything begins and ends on the cross.<br /><br />Origen quotes Zechariah 12:1 </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />“. ..the Lord...formed the spirit of man within him." <br /><br />So we are always already perfected in eternity. The “fall”, therefore, refers merely to the difference between ourselves in eternity and ourselves in time. There was never any earthly Eden, Origen says, that existed in time on our planet. It exists in eternity. <br /><br />We presently fall short of that existence, but after death will see that we have always existed there in a perfected state. Of course, we think this will happen “after” our life. Or we think of this perfected state existed “before” our birth. However eternity, again, is not temporal, and is neither before nor after. From “before” it will look like a fall into earthly existence; from “after” it will look like a reality we are going towards at the end of our lives; but really it is “above” vertically, neither horizontally behind us or ahead of us. <br /><br />The perfected soul is logically (but not temporally!) prior to our earthly existence because it is the principle that causes our earthly existence to be. We exist as fleshly beings be-cause we are intended by God to become perfected, to become that which, in eternity, we always are. <br /><br />We exist imperfectly in time in order to become perfected in eternity, that is the cause, or reason, for our fleshly existence in time. Recall all that strange Biblical language - “will be, and even now is…” This is why the New Testament speaks of the New Age as in the future AND already realized. <br /><br />There was always a prefiguration of the present world in an immaterial form present in the Wisdom of God, who is Christ. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />As opposed to Gnostic or Platonic schemes, the goal, then, is not escape, but transformation. All flesh must once again become fire.<br /><br />Again, not all scholars will agree on this interpretation, but I believe it accords with several of the most respected Origen scholars. Fr John Behr for one. See also Mark Julian Edwards, Origen Against Plato, Ashgate Studies in Philosophy and Theology in Late Antiquity (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002).<br /><br />Also Panayiotis Tzamalikos, Origen: Philosophy of History and Eschatology (Leiden, 2007)<br /><br />It is this interpretation that is not heretical according to Orthodox tradition. <br /><br />As David Bentley Hart has put it :<br /><br />“Our ‘fall’ away from God was and has always been, nothing other than our actual turning away from the reality of the union of God and humanity on the cross of Christ. …Because we were all of us …in some sense created in our last end, before the foundations of the world, called into existence in the heavenly court; there, in the eternal intention and perfected creation of God, we are already—and in that sense eternally have ever been—joined to God, pervaded by his glory like iron thrust into the fire. [And our descent from that eternity is simply the difference between our eternal end and the temporal reality of creation, by which alone we can make our ascent to God in his Son.”<br /><br />“….the end is always already accomplished, and our first beginning as actual creatures is in our last end as deified in the glory of God. In regard to the latter, we are “fallen” from that first estate, even though as a matter of diachronic history [temporal existence in our present cosmos] none of us has yet attained it. But that means that even in going astray, we are all already created as dwelling in God, and but for that reality could not exist; and so the end is certain.”<br /><br />Harl, 'Preexistence des a.mes: p. 257, n.2.<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9BcpPNZ6teRHV4Sr6a1myv7pJAQ6QmnMABz3zylZqmKLyu2FeMSGSHN3TC7jSvgNWq447eyyyG1_srDG_SpLu0-CHwwdkWbNWQOpu2iLB_lL4TU6NAzO3nPbBqvc4X-9lCHZtQ4e0SZza2g-tVYj5dEBZqWHhvOoMWDUAtdkH1furHrR4fDi57mh/s2048/120184335_1892888327518443_5285344788144245399_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9BcpPNZ6teRHV4Sr6a1myv7pJAQ6QmnMABz3zylZqmKLyu2FeMSGSHN3TC7jSvgNWq447eyyyG1_srDG_SpLu0-CHwwdkWbNWQOpu2iLB_lL4TU6NAzO3nPbBqvc4X-9lCHZtQ4e0SZza2g-tVYj5dEBZqWHhvOoMWDUAtdkH1furHrR4fDi57mh/w300-h400/120184335_1892888327518443_5285344788144245399_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><br />JESUS CHRIST ALWAYS EXISTED AS FULLY HUMAN AND FULLY DIVINE.<br /><br />This sounds strange, but this is Fr John Behr’s view, see his book on John. Jordan Daniel Wood’s book on Maximos the Confessor also takes this view. So does the Anglican Bishop Rowan Williams. The Catholic theologian Herbert McCabe argues this in his essay 'The Involvement of God.’ Namely, the idea is that there was never a time when Jesus Christ, as fully man and fully God, did not exist. Jesus Christ was always both fully human and fully divine. God does not become a human being but in some way already and is a human being, as well as divine of course.<br /><br />After all, our creed says we believe in One Lord, Jesus Christ. It doesn’t say we believe in the second power of the trinity, or the second hypostasis.<br /><br />Many today believe that there was a pre-incarnate Christ, kind of like a spirit or angel, and at a certain time in history, this being incarnated into the womb of Mary and was thereafter clothed in human nature. So, for years Christ existed without human nature. That would make Him pretty old when He was born!<br /><br />But wait a minute, we believe there is no change in God. Isn’t this a change? And how could the nature of God graft itself onto human nature? And if Jesus Christ exists in eternity, outside of time, then he must always have existed like that, as Son of Man and Son of God. And how can we say the Lamb was crucified before the foundation of the world if it only happened at one point in time.<br /><br />Now, theologians have given answers to all the above problems, some excellent, others burdened with paradoxes.<br /><br />After all, if Christ wasn’t always human, it almost sounds as if God made creation, humans messed things up, and then Christ had to come down and become human as a kind of plan B to rescue us.<br /><br />In Origen’s view, Christ’s incarnation was always the plan.<br /><br />The idea of a “pre-existent Christ, says McCabe, was a 19th Entry invention. We never see terms like the “pre-incarnate Christ” in Patristic literature. Speaking of the Son of God 'becoming man' or 'coming down from heaven; McCabe writes, 'makes a perfectly good metaphor, but could not literally be true'.<br /><br />The simple truth is that apart from incarnation the Son of God exists at no time at all, at no 'now', but in eternity, in which he acts upon all time but is not himself 'measured by it', as Aquinas would say. 'Before Abraham was, I am’."<br /><br />- First printed in New Blackfriars (November 1985), reprinted in Herbert McCabe, God Matters (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1987; Continuum, 2012), 39-51.<br /><br />As John Behr says,” …the subject of the second article of the Creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople, the one who came down from heaven to be incarnate, is not a 'pre-incarnate Word' (the term 'Word' does not even appear in the Creeds), but rather the one subject, the one Lord Jesus Christ. The inter section between time and eternity….”<br /><br />Indeed, the whole way of thinking in a narrative form of telling a story, can only be applied to temporal events in history. That is, of course, how we humans think, but God is in eternity, apart from any change, we can only tell the story of God as He appears in Christ.<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQS686AjVKZxcEiXhnb4EVGf_moi0lCtW1SUnqSxN6TIUBVszCe1fWHFPIPk-fVbfPKrJebtfDyOfu9dWU9VOycIopJ_PQTO85kGyQOW0JYQFS-Ng_JbBbr_dBHaBNOkA6eBq4B70dPlO6mEu6LuFZKtkW5TdUwH5K0s9LRL8y3f9avfxmwKrdrXLa/s2048/120219403_1892888310851778_6340152351512477326_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQS686AjVKZxcEiXhnb4EVGf_moi0lCtW1SUnqSxN6TIUBVszCe1fWHFPIPk-fVbfPKrJebtfDyOfu9dWU9VOycIopJ_PQTO85kGyQOW0JYQFS-Ng_JbBbr_dBHaBNOkA6eBq4B70dPlO6mEu6LuFZKtkW5TdUwH5K0s9LRL8y3f9avfxmwKrdrXLa/w480-h640/120219403_1892888310851778_6340152351512477326_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><br /> I drew a lot of Origens<br /> <br /><br />SCRIPTURE<br /><br />This is one of the greatest things we can learn from Origen.<br /><br />Now, the ancients did not read scripture as Protestants might today. Of course, one can read these texts in any way - as a fairytale, as poetry, as documents of historical happenings. But scripture is something specific, it is a text that is inspired and with which we can commune with God. You can’t do that with a history book! That doesn’t deny the historical aspects at all, it just means these historical events carry a spiritual meaning, that God can communicate to us through that story, factual or not. <br /><br />The great Jewish Biblical scholar James Kugel reminds us that ancients read scripture according to 4 principles. First, a text that is Holy Scripture must have its meaning revealed. The “plain meaning’ must be spiritually integrated. It must be “opened” as Christ opened the scriptures to the Apostles on the road to Emmaus.<br /><br />Second, Scripture’s purpose is not to inform us about events in the past, but about the present: ‘these things happened to them as a type, but they were written down for our instruction upon whom the end of the ages has come’ (1 Cor. 10:11). That means the story about Jonah is about, among other things, what’s happening right now. It speaks to us here and now. Perhaps the Whale is a particular sin that is coming for you because you are running from it, for example.<br /><br />Third, that Scripture is harmonious, nothing contradicts anything else in the Bible.<br /><br />Fourth, if it meets all three of the previous criteria, then it is truly scripture, and that means it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, who in Christ speaks to us directly in the Scriptures.<br /><br />So, how does Origen read what we now call the Old Testament? Well, through the cross. As I’ve said, Origen starts at the end, with Christ crucified. From there he works out his theology. Origen reads scripture through the cross. All the Fathers did. That is the “eschatological” reading. Eschatology is the end, it is the revealing. On the cross, Jesus is revealed as God. This is what Origen calls the “spiritual meaning” of scripture as opposed to the fleshly meaning.<br /><br />For example, Christ on the cross to fleshly eyes would appear as just a man. But at His crucifixion, His true divine nature is revealed, and we finally see not just a man, but God Himself.<br /><br />As Fr John Behr says, before his conversion Paul was very familiar with the Scriptures. He read them carefully. What did he surmise they were telling him to do? Well, to kill Christians!<br /><br />Yes, without the revelation of Christ the old testament can tell us very little about anything. The Apostles knew the Scriptures, but could not recognize Christ as God until after His passion on the cross.<br /><br />So, what does this mean? It means everything in the Old Testament must refer to Christ. It must point to Him. That is where every interpretation must end. The meaning must be Christ crucified.<br /><br />It’s actually the same with all communication, and Christ is the Word. You don’t know what a sentence means until you’ve heard it to the end.<br /><br />For example, if I begin a sentence, “The plant….”, and ask you what the word “plant” refers to, perhaps you’ll say leafy green vegetation. <br /><br />I continue my sentence, “The plant was very busy today……”. Well, now you’ll probably say the word “plant” actually refers to a factory. <br /><br />Now I finish my sentence, “The plant was very busy today secretly infiltrating the enemy's camp.” Ah ! The word “plant” referred to a spy.<br /><br />Notice, you didn’t know until the end what the word “plant” meant. Only once you got to the end, could you then make sense of the word at the beginning, retroactively giving it meaning. <br /><br />In the same way, you cannot know what the story of Moses in Egypt means until you get to the end of the story. Moses in Egypt is like the beginning of my sentence, equivalent to the word “plant”. What is the end of the “sentence” or story? Christ crucified! Yes, the story of Moses refers to Christ crucified.<br /><br />We must begin knowing that whatever we read must refer to Christ on the Cross. Hence, the Israelites could not know the real meaning because only at the end do we retroactively confer meaning on the story. The meaning comes at the end. <br /><br />So, the Fathers will say Moses is a type of Christ, and he goes into Egypt which represents death, and through the red sea which represents baptism, and is “resurrected” when he is led to the promised land which refers to heaven. The story really refers to Christ crucified and risen!<br /><br />Now, even before I opened my mouth to tell you about the plant, I had the meaning already in my mind. The meaning was at the beginning for me, but you couldn’t know that. For you, the meaning only came at the end, in time.<br /><br />Just so, the meaning, Christ crucified, is the end of the story in time but was the beginning in the sense that the story occurred for its sake. Hence Origen will say Christ’s passion is both the beginning and the end - of everything, of the Cosmos itself.<br /><br />Hence, Origen will say without the cross the Old Testament is only myth, even if it happened. St Gregory of Nyssa will agree :<br /><br />"Therefore the Apostle said, 'the letter kills, but the spirit gives life,' since often if we were to stand in the mere concrete reality of the history, scripture would offer us no patterns at all of the good life."<br /><br />Gregory of Nyssa, Hom. in Cant., prologue<br /><br />UNIVERSALISM<br /><br />This one’s simple. Origen taught it. Not the exact version anathematized at the 5th council, but he believed everyone would be saved taking Paul’s word that one day Christ will be all in all. Most Orthodox, throughout history and today, would say this is heretical. Even in Origen’s time, this idea was startling, and there’s evidence later in life he tried to distance himself from it by leaving it as an open question. Although this strain of thought does exist in Orthodoxy. St Gregory of Nyssa was a universalist, and several saints, such as St Isaac the Syrian, also expound universalism. <br /><br />What about the devil? Well, Origen would say “Satan” is a title, meaning the adversary. In the end, when God is all in all, there will be no adversary to God, so no Satan figure. However, the being that once was the adversary of God will be redeemed, Origen says. Everything devilish about this fallen angel will be burned away. He will not be saved as Satan, that aspect of his being will disappear. <br /><br />It’s a bit like asking if “Postman Willy” exists after he retires. Well, Postman is just his title, his function, an accident, and not part of his nature. So he no longer exists as “Postman willy”, but he is still willy. Same with satan.<br /><br />Later, after some controversy, Origen would distance himself from this assertion, and say it is merely possible the devil might be redeemed.<br /><br />Most Orthodox would disagree with Origen. They would say the angles exist outside of time, so their decision to turn away from God can never be repented of. It is final. We exist in time, and sometimes we move toward God, sometimes we move away from Him. However, when we die that will be it. Death stamps our nature.<br /><br />Now, Origen is surly correct in one aspect, that we cannot say it is impossible that God saves satan, even if it will never happen. This is because even satan was first made good, God does not make anything evil. Evil, for Origen as well, is good twisted, it has no ontological reality, it is the absence of goodness as darkness is the absence of light. <br /><br />If God, even in theory, couldn’t redeem Satan, then Satan would exist as a Manichean principal forever opposing God.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />Origen’s view of eternity is similar to St Gregory of Nyssa’s. It is not a Catholic static beatific vision, rather it is full of movement, we will forever stretch out and grow into God’s glory. This might include experiences where we must be educated, and some may stretch out further into God’s glory than others. <br /><br />There may be different “worlds” after death. Everything will be transfigured, the earth will not pass away, it will change into something new. Even death will change from being a principal of destruction and instead will become an agent of change. See below.<br /><br />As far as hell, it’s real but temporary. It is purgative to heal us, not punish us.<br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj52QHm4AhVpRzmujzkHLgjhdBAeUaN_FCnBn9HRlcZ1cKzC7v_Xo7aGz5Qff-lFZVEJMSyFDUEQH3aJCZcxKw1lqdSfmFGK6rQuCY92LBERV5sbo2bmXmBfJ_-QISeAUbLOSpbdy2E9vkuPg3R-dr3ZziivTO3L5-p0ibOeHL1s05Owe9ldKqG_-2/s346/2006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj52QHm4AhVpRzmujzkHLgjhdBAeUaN_FCnBn9HRlcZ1cKzC7v_Xo7aGz5Qff-lFZVEJMSyFDUEQH3aJCZcxKw1lqdSfmFGK6rQuCY92LBERV5sbo2bmXmBfJ_-QISeAUbLOSpbdy2E9vkuPg3R-dr3ZziivTO3L5-p0ibOeHL1s05Owe9ldKqG_-2/s320/2006.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><br /><br />WORLDS, AEONS, ETERNAL CREATION, AND REINCARNATION<br /><br />Origen does not believe in an eternal creation. In heaven, of course, we exist for all eternity, and it will not be static, but this cosmos had a beginning and one day it will perish. <br /><br />Origen does speak of different worlds. Most likely, he means different historical periods, except for the afterlife. After death we may, as embodied persons, experience different “worlds” or realms, as we are educated or purged, until eventually everyone and everything ends in the “aeons of aeons” - eternity, which is completely atemporal, but not static, to forever stretch forth in God’s Glory.<br /><br />So, for Origen God creates all things in their last end. However, it might also be true that he believed we all also began our true personal histories in some heavenly aeon. Both interpretations can be found in his writings.<br /><br />He says he is not sure, and only speculating and he references various passages :<br /><br />The scriptures say, There will be a new heaven and a new earth, which I will cause to remain in my sight, says the Lord. And Ecclesiastes shows that there were others even before this world, saying, What is that which came to be? The very thing that shall be. And what is that which has been created? The very thing that is to be created; and there is nothing new at all under the sun. If one should speak and say, 'See, this is new!'; it has already been in the worlds which were before us. By these testimonies it is established at the same time both that there were prior worlds and that there will be others hereafter.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />Many interpret Origen to mean literal various worlds, as in different planets. However, Fr John Behr, for one, seems to interpret him using “world” and “age” as we do. <br /><br />After all, we speak of the “iron age”, or of the “Roman world.” Indeed, a thousand years from now perhaps historians will read us and suppose we actually believed there were different worlds as in different earths, one with iron works, another composed only of Romans, still another “modern world’ full of modern people. They might speculate we believed each earth, or world, perished somehow and then God made a new one, a secular earth after a Christian one.<br /><br />Origen may simply have meant “world” as in a period characterized by a certain way of life and understanding, just how we use that world. <br /><br />The word “world” had many different meanings back then, and it is not possible to be certain what Origen meant. Likely when speaking of this cosmos, he meant simply different historical periods, and in eternity, since it is infinite, there will be an infinity of “ages” where we forever grow in love and likeness to God. T<br /><br />For the ancients, a world wasn’t its physical matter, but a partial type of order, spiritual, political, natural, and human.<br /><br />He does not believe in reincarnation. Due to the Scriptures speaking of multiple ages, or aeons, to come, he does hold open the possibility that in eternity, as we forever stretch toward the glory of God, we will do so in multiple ages. For Origen, our body is a reflection of our soul and is made fit for that particular age. In eternity, our bodies may well continuously transfigure into ever more spiritual bodies as we forever become closer to God, as God is ever more “in” our being. Some in eternity may have a grosser spiritual body, others a more refined one, depending on the state of our soul. This could mean different “environments” that are fit for that soul's dwelling. <br /><br />Origen explicitly refutes all Egyptian, Greek, Pythagorean, and Platonic notions of reincarnation or transformation. Nobody is “born twice”, there is no disembodied soul that incarnates in different bodies, nor can a spiritual body exist in different aeons. Neither will a human soul ever “descend” into an animal body, or any other creature. A soul is always embodied.<br /><br />For Origen, a system of aeons is a complex system of educational institutions and the world history is a long educational process directing the whole universe to salvation. Free will is of utmost importance for Origen, yet God through courtship will by his love and beauty persuade every person to accept His love and salvation.<br /><br />The aeons can be thought of vertical spheres of a specific kind of space-time matrix, the “higher” up, the closer to God, the more spiritual the realm. Whereas the gnostics believed these realms were guarded by various hostile gods, some of whom influenced our fate, early Christians believed these principalities and powers were now defeated by Christ, and so nothing now separated us from what the scriptures call the “aeon of aeons” - the aeon which is eternal and has no beginning or end.<br /><br />David Bentley Hart noted in the New Testament, “…the final events of history are portrayed as having already occurred in some mystical sense, or the Kingdom is portrayed as a spiritual reality already everywhere present in creation and already dwelling within the soul.”<br /><br />….by which I mean not an epoch temporally consecutive to this age, but rather a wholly different frame of reality, the world of spiritual memory and hope. (Here it is best to imagine the aeons not as successive eras along a single “horizontal” causal trajectory, but rather as spheres of being rising “vertically” to the threshold of the divine realm “beyond all ages.”)<br /><br />The word “aeon” was used in many ways in the ancient way. St John of Damascene, for example, also used “aeon” in distinction from time (chronos): the latter is measured by the course of the sun. Aion, he says is a <br /><br />“kind of temporal movement and extension that embraces everlasting (aïdiois) beings; what time is for those subject to time, aion is for everlasting beings’ (Expos. 15. 11-13). <br /><br />This was the ‘time’ before creation and also the ‘time’ after this age has passed away: it is ‘eschatological time’, the time without end that characterizes the age to come.<br /><br />For Origen, causality is not just horizontal, things don’t just happen because of previous actions, but there is a causality between eternity and history. For example, a prophet makes a prophecy because of a future event, the prophecy of Christ’s crucifixion, for example, does not cause Christ’s crucifixion. It’s the opposite! Because Christ would be crucified at a certain time, this caused prophets in previous centuries to prophecies him. <br /><br />Origen argues that creation must have a beginning and end because otherwise, prophecy couldn’t work, if the world were infinite, there would be no foreknowledge, and any notion of before (hence of fore-knowledge) is meaningless.<br /><br />For Origen's view on Creation, I've blogged about that <a href="http://disfiguredpraise.blogspot.com/2022/06/creation-does-not-begin-until-it.html">HERE</a>.</span><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-26289245815452162652022-06-07T13:08:00.006-07:002022-06-07T14:47:25.590-07:00We Must Pathologize Disney Adults<span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMG5byruDj8AFZRfyn45er0Px02Xa6W-lXwMAGcsvC3si-bG5kHdGMMeKtmnEj2NB49UjCP3x9CHUfBp-Xepb555LMxp88_8Y6f2FaWi1wxFdCdfzyoXTS2z1vELDiLhP2veraFlb7gvoBIZfGn0wWny2toFyO6FDZLn98vhpbKb34MCaQ0c12QZ40/s979/9590106135_941321c251_b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="979" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMG5byruDj8AFZRfyn45er0Px02Xa6W-lXwMAGcsvC3si-bG5kHdGMMeKtmnEj2NB49UjCP3x9CHUfBp-Xepb555LMxp88_8Y6f2FaWi1wxFdCdfzyoXTS2z1vELDiLhP2veraFlb7gvoBIZfGn0wWny2toFyO6FDZLn98vhpbKb34MCaQ0c12QZ40/w640-h484/9590106135_941321c251_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Jewish studies professor of Religio</span><span style="font-size: medium;">n Jodi Eichler-Levine is</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> researching Disney, she believes it functions like a religion and we ought to stop pathologizing it, she writes <a href="https://twitter.com/jeichlerlevine/status/1533909820453142530">HERE</a>, :<a href="https://twitter.com/jeichlerlevine"><br /></a><br />"I'm a religion studies professor researching Disney and I'm here to tell you why to stop pathologizing Disney adults...<br /><br />"Disney Fairytale Weddings have been a thing since the 1990s. Disney already had a huge honeymoon market and decided to go for weddings. Thousands if not millions have married or honeymooned at a Disney park or on a cruise. What does this have to do with religion?<br /><br />Many of the Disney fans I have observed in person and online find immense meaning in the parks. People don't just marry at Disney. They mourn lost relatives at Disney. They go to Disney to celebrate surviving cancer. They go there for one last trip before they die.<br /><br />Religion is a way of making meaning in the world... It is about making homes and confronting suffering...<br /><br />All of this happens at Disney. Cast members literally welcome you "home."</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27NqUmLJ3JYLVfMG0ROeXbBkbPecP_HlVR9Ha8rcK3dvyqzGA4ig2XAlMIdNl2-89f_zsgzltHXR5FPEyLk0vzWY8reELtnR9CwFkraAJgRNTa5jF5ux_GqfbCHl3l1MAZ8Ng_SfnLCvuPEjbB1uUHukc1db82wNqizvVOc9YQgXW4ocdJo5AjSam/s640/8zs9z0j72sh71.jpg.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27NqUmLJ3JYLVfMG0ROeXbBkbPecP_HlVR9Ha8rcK3dvyqzGA4ig2XAlMIdNl2-89f_zsgzltHXR5FPEyLk0vzWY8reELtnR9CwFkraAJgRNTa5jF5ux_GqfbCHl3l1MAZ8Ng_SfnLCvuPEjbB1uUHukc1db82wNqizvVOc9YQgXW4ocdJo5AjSam/s320/8zs9z0j72sh71.jpg.webp" width="240" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">She continues :</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Is this capitalism? Sure it is. Is it also at least quasi-religious? Yes. (And by the way, most religions are intertwined with capitalism. Just ask one of the founders of sociology, Max Weber).<br /><br />Disney owns our stories. For some people-- both those who have another "traditional" religion and those who don't-- the promise of magic at Disney and the feelings they get there are powerful. I've seen people cry at the fireworks. Many times.<a href="https://twitter.com/jeichlerlevine"><br /></a>Incidentally, the latest firework show goes "The magic is calling-- answer the call!" an altar call if ever there was one.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiTHltzLwmtNNaIg6xEIWzBUYqN_WwUQ918zhevF5kSKtksEbpQ9xiWaCnRkQL2leQLUHzbvkeTgUYsNgjDDEg6X-4X3uwBHyYSAmXTRe7f_JNzod5cwIws1w0GRTzKPK0cyOq9ZDuY2Wc01rOYIxhmnhBTCdQKKe2Qc2rlN4Iv0CPnpKYo3oDHtG4/s931/FUqiKxgX0AA59TB.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="749" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiTHltzLwmtNNaIg6xEIWzBUYqN_WwUQ918zhevF5kSKtksEbpQ9xiWaCnRkQL2leQLUHzbvkeTgUYsNgjDDEg6X-4X3uwBHyYSAmXTRe7f_JNzod5cwIws1w0GRTzKPK0cyOq9ZDuY2Wc01rOYIxhmnhBTCdQKKe2Qc2rlN4Iv0CPnpKYo3oDHtG4/w321-h400/FUqiKxgX0AA59TB.jpeg" width="321" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Would I want to go to a wedding with no food because the bride and groom wanted photos with Mickey? No, no I would not. But when they say Disney is a big part of their lives I take that seriously. Maybe they met there. Maybe the IDEAS the Mouse stands for bring them joy.<br /><br />Maybe it's the only place their parents ever acted happy. Or, yeah, maybe they are selfish. But if we measure religion not by its truth-claims-- because we CAN'T assess those unless we have something much more powerful than a Ph.D-- but by its power in people's lives, then Disney is as much a religion as anything. It is at the very least a site of meaning and human fellowship, even you hate it...."</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNm1H_QLZzlfmu7b4FYL29bGwN9xZH6OshrWqRYXpftIorqgKsRp8AawHu6BOIucQyQGuzDJtSj_aUq_uaJK0wR6fuo3wcRaaG3KuAeO991OrR-jwQCm-ELan719azn6e8bouJ9AvTz1jLz1zysQDerSAJlAI7qnp7s7px_f2aBtxLcb9F4L9NTaAd/s640/fe572b880284cbea39e08dd041809074.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="640" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNm1H_QLZzlfmu7b4FYL29bGwN9xZH6OshrWqRYXpftIorqgKsRp8AawHu6BOIucQyQGuzDJtSj_aUq_uaJK0wR6fuo3wcRaaG3KuAeO991OrR-jwQCm-ELan719azn6e8bouJ9AvTz1jLz1zysQDerSAJlAI7qnp7s7px_f2aBtxLcb9F4L9NTaAd/w640-h486/fe572b880284cbea39e08dd041809074.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Seraphim Rose <a href="http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/rose_wv.aspx" target="_blank">HERE</a> offers another assessment:</span></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;">"When such a child becomes an adult, he naturally surrounds himself with the same things he was used to in his childhood: comforts, amusements, and grown-up toys. Life becomes a constant search for "fun" which, by the way, is a word totally unheard of in any other vocabulary; in 19th century Russia they wouldn't have understood what this word meant, or any serious civilization.<br /><br /><br /> Life is a constant search for "fun" which is so empty of any serious meaning that a visitor from any 19th-century country, looking at our popular television programs, amusement parks, advertisements, movies, music—at almost any aspect of our popular culture—would think he had stumbled across a land of imbeciles who have lost all contact with normal reality. We don't often take that into consideration, because we are living in this society and we take it for granted.....<br /><br /><br />One might take, as a symbol of our carefree, fun-loving, self-worshipping times, our American "Disneyland"; if so, we should not neglect to see behind it the more sinister symbol that shows where the "me generation" is really heading: the Soviet Gulag, the chain of concentration camps that already governs the life of nearly half the world's population.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Listen to Seraphim Rose <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXZDoVZ6cMU&feature=youtu.be">Here</a> :</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wXZDoVZ6cMU" width="320" youtube-src-id="wXZDoVZ6cMU"></iframe></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-85721677624634109102022-06-02T14:29:00.000-07:002022-06-02T14:29:14.231-07:00Creation does not begin until it responds with an Amen <p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUiP7U9SIiE2VeSca4b3ea6apvZh3b6xRGSBW4gL7saVl-cVQfWxNRTGU8bxxq5oFieQ0plHZH4QilJuWQPt8alcxDEqDiKsETHw45M7GjpjMMqde-dDSVWKS5hm_iUwxzi-4HUjWtDvoxaaa1Afx_yG__oU0Z_pd-EAcaZA_O3jZH1C0acXAdwHV/s1280/11R07__07865.1452031654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1042" data-original-width="1280" height="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUiP7U9SIiE2VeSca4b3ea6apvZh3b6xRGSBW4gL7saVl-cVQfWxNRTGU8bxxq5oFieQ0plHZH4QilJuWQPt8alcxDEqDiKsETHw45M7GjpjMMqde-dDSVWKS5hm_iUwxzi-4HUjWtDvoxaaa1Afx_yG__oU0Z_pd-EAcaZA_O3jZH1C0acXAdwHV/w640-h522/11R07__07865.1452031654.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Yes, it’s strange, but we have not yet been created. Nor has the Cosmos begun. First comes death - THEN life.<br /> <br /> Let me explain, for Origen through St Maximus the Confessor, the term “creation” refers to what God creates from His being….what we call “creation” is really just a molding on already existing stuff.<br /> <br /> What’s the difference ? One is grafted onto the life giving energies of God….the other decays, God is not “in” it.<br /><br /> When God is all in all, THEN creation will have begun.<br /> <br /> One is born of the Word, the other is lifeless, irrational matter governed not by Logos but necessity. <br /> <br /> One is persuaded by God’s beauty to “be”, it has said Amen, and Yes to its creator, wooed by His great love.<br /> <br /> God's 'creation' requires a response, an 'Amen'.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhdwJX98rntJYdSvWSa40nIlnMz6oiAK-tvnN-D7895MUKKbgV9g63XVc-oQObHzIFoZuHySpODouMLcaNKJ54jTLAwJDdTZyKvGPbGqhO7HLQGFwSwMo3A2E7NsNgHxKmaslOL6vaigkNTXG9tnUgvTBhYaWI0b7T6pn9YCbRs7UeXjWi5sNwxgRm/s1920/09-Christ-Breaking-the-Bonds-of-Animal-Suffering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1524" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhdwJX98rntJYdSvWSa40nIlnMz6oiAK-tvnN-D7895MUKKbgV9g63XVc-oQObHzIFoZuHySpODouMLcaNKJ54jTLAwJDdTZyKvGPbGqhO7HLQGFwSwMo3A2E7NsNgHxKmaslOL6vaigkNTXG9tnUgvTBhYaWI0b7T6pn9YCbRs7UeXjWi5sNwxgRm/w508-h640/09-Christ-Breaking-the-Bonds-of-Animal-Suffering.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Oh, it’s Biblical, as John Behr writes,<br /><br /> “It is, moreover, as the reference to 'faithful and true martyr' indicates, something that comes about through death. As the verse from the Psalm puts it: 'You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust, you send forth your Spirit and they will be created (Ps. 103:29-30). <br /> <br /> The movement of the work of God is always, in Scripture, from death to life: 'I kill and I make alive' (Deut. 32:39). The 'Amen' which completes the creative work of God, making it his creation, is that given by the martyr.”<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OzapqqZTy5JXaDjkNplBygrmhO1QcrvNDgzuM0iB0pDXL23naPBnQQRFg1ItH9npJjSy5sSnn1BSZzKsPH7-HtEAn3yOsn31eLQPzcBcFisZMFXXw6KlmwreACDvEhyIyFnpVTX80TXruJX3hcObulJKWvHGCkfTAxdcmseQwOw_Rp-bj4wVsaYI/s640/V2-mw66QGuwrXstniXa1nYOu3wk9cCxh28eMj6HXT8A.jpg.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OzapqqZTy5JXaDjkNplBygrmhO1QcrvNDgzuM0iB0pDXL23naPBnQQRFg1ItH9npJjSy5sSnn1BSZzKsPH7-HtEAn3yOsn31eLQPzcBcFisZMFXXw6KlmwreACDvEhyIyFnpVTX80TXruJX3hcObulJKWvHGCkfTAxdcmseQwOw_Rp-bj4wVsaYI/w640-h428/V2-mw66QGuwrXstniXa1nYOu3wk9cCxh28eMj6HXT8A.jpg.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /> Elsewhere Behr notes,<br /><br /> “…our primary or primordial existence: Gen 1:26 comes, literally, before Gen 2:7, when God takes dust from the earth and 'moulds' the human being. That which comes from the earth is neither simply 'created nor made: though, because resulting 'from a cause’”<br /> <br /> In other words, it is an existence not directly gifted by the Zoe (spiritual life) of God.<br /><br /> Behr again,<br /><br /> “This is perhaps also connected to the fact that whereas everything else in Gen. 1 is simply spoken into existence by a divine 'fiat;'Let there be: the only thing said to be God's own work, that for which he takes counsel and is, as such, his own project, to make human beings in his image, is given in the subjunctive, 'Let us make' (Gen. 1:26-7).”<br /><br /> This 'project' is only completed on the cross, as described in the Gospel of John, with Christ's final word, 'it is finished' or 'it is perfected' (John 19:30), and before which Pilate says 'Behold the human being' (John 19:5), and then by the martyrs, such as Ignatius, who on his way to martyrdom asks that the Romans be silent about him so that he can follow Christ in martyrdom and so 'become human.’ </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHy4aDSxt8IvqWeg68GsHvbm80RVDtiO4CmZKEDe1EU0FCTRFmnXniKDLyxjq-Oq3f3lQMX7P22PF0S42ycOwJ6w4iDPUm4MoSxDxhtevAM8j3088Fy0ymf5pNUUiclSFnJTPOoFSZxQQV6IXH399LUHYr73amrmd8HpTuN2atyA8PTOIyPIvy9vX/s494/F57lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="360" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHy4aDSxt8IvqWeg68GsHvbm80RVDtiO4CmZKEDe1EU0FCTRFmnXniKDLyxjq-Oq3f3lQMX7P22PF0S42ycOwJ6w4iDPUm4MoSxDxhtevAM8j3088Fy0ymf5pNUUiclSFnJTPOoFSZxQQV6IXH399LUHYr73amrmd8HpTuN2atyA8PTOIyPIvy9vX/w466-h640/F57lg.jpg" width="466" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Finally Behr ends with this remarkable insight :<br /><br />*Although the first account of Genesis comes first, literally, scripturally, and therefore theologically, yet for us, in our own experience of existence, the second account is first: <b>we come into this world in Adam, until we too learn to give our 'amen' to God in Christ.</b><br /><br /> By starting with the end to speculate about the beginning, our 'election: which happens 'before the foundation of the world', is, in a very real sense, the call that brings us into being, prior to being 'fashioned' in 'the foundation of the world: and prior also to our being 'created', which only properly happens at the end.”</span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-82343824365931503022022-06-02T13:42:00.002-07:002022-06-02T14:01:51.568-07:00Baptism : the Answer to the Crime of Being Born. <span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGJNI6CwCJC5sFFGzyodWazwMvo01l5ITZiE9e5Yaahp5aVaqV5cysMFH8wd86JoXQ9DLzJFxkaOKl2g_Ff_M6lY61IrThfJXm4rpOqwRfGmv1TABGUC7Cj5pxtb8mgRJbiCEdBVpTlq_d9mKP6jThJESksyLZBQLmmnEntq3D2vIGOmCZUaDDJ3b/s900/contemporary-icon-baptism-of-christ-olga-shalamova.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGJNI6CwCJC5sFFGzyodWazwMvo01l5ITZiE9e5Yaahp5aVaqV5cysMFH8wd86JoXQ9DLzJFxkaOKl2g_Ff_M6lY61IrThfJXm4rpOqwRfGmv1TABGUC7Cj5pxtb8mgRJbiCEdBVpTlq_d9mKP6jThJESksyLZBQLmmnEntq3D2vIGOmCZUaDDJ3b/w640-h448/contemporary-icon-baptism-of-christ-olga-shalamova.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br />How could passion run so deep Had I never thought That the crime of being born Blackens all our lot?<br /><br /> — William Butler Yeats <br /><br /> “…we shall always bear in mind where we are and consequently regard every man first and foremost as a being who exists only as a consequence of his culpability and whose life is an expiation of the crime of being born.” <br /><br />― Arthur Schopenhauer<br /><br />The old antinatalist complaint - I didn’t ask to be born ! I had no choice ! I am imprisoned in brute necessity !<br /><br /> But that’s just what this “life” is, in order to make this choice.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">However, what we call "life" as we experience it now is not true life. True life is Zoe - spiritual life, such as Christ came to give, rather we exist now according to Bios - biological life, by devouring dead plant and animal matter.<br /><br />There are, in fact, three Greek words for life used in the New Testament: bios, psyche, and zoe. <br /><br />The Greek word translated as life in John is zoe:<br /><br />“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”<br /><br />Zoe refers to the uncreated, eternal life of God, the divine life uniquely possessed by God.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it in all its fullness."<br /><br />"For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world…"<br /><br />We are given Zoe through Christ in baptism. St Justin says baptism is :<br /> <br /> “….in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and ignorance, but may become the children of choice and understanding..”<br /> <br /> Upon this passage Andrew Mcgowen remarks :<br /> <br /> “Justin’s earthy account contrasts unchosen natural generation with the choice and freedom of new birth; one wet, messy beginning requires another to fix its problematic consequences."<br /> <br /> Elsewhere McGowan writes :<br /><br />"Although Justin did not share Marcion’s rejection of sex and marriage, his sense of reproduction as hopelessly compromised helps explain how sex could be seen as part of the problem to which baptism was the solution.”<br /> <br />We are here to make this decision - to say “Amen” to life, to assent to be born anew - but not to this fallen creation imprisoned by death, but to a “spiritual” form of existence, in a new creation...and it is this one that we must go through to reach that Kingdom.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGIwp1xca9zC2kC3G91LDuxuTMdtZ5U3o5HP_-Pds0Rx1S7vxLVQlLC-S69ou8PNxAdlmqD0EAtigyLc8xoq9d8-6u7vykgxmLgrYOXYle3_V3V1rLYpadcrxOAFviesJ3lXBmAW8I5aXEB1sYgsulilV7pyeUgE3m1xkB1MehHaWkC3A0zzbvAy8B/s1221/popa-ioan_baptism-of-christ-detail.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1221" data-original-width="736" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGIwp1xca9zC2kC3G91LDuxuTMdtZ5U3o5HP_-Pds0Rx1S7vxLVQlLC-S69ou8PNxAdlmqD0EAtigyLc8xoq9d8-6u7vykgxmLgrYOXYle3_V3V1rLYpadcrxOAFviesJ3lXBmAW8I5aXEB1sYgsulilV7pyeUgE3m1xkB1MehHaWkC3A0zzbvAy8B/w386-h640/popa-ioan_baptism-of-christ-detail.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><br /><br /> McGowan says, <br /> <br /> "Baptism was not merely a ritualized sign of a contract for moral righteousness agreed to before going into the water. For Justin it was a powerful and mysterious reality that provided an answer to deep-seated needs embedded in the human person from the outset:”<br /> <br /> Personally, this is the only answer I’ve found to the horror of being thrust into life. Listen to this heartfelt scream by Mircea Cărtărescu :<br /> <br /> "How is it possible for us to exist? Who allowed this scandal and injustice? This horror, this abomination? What monstrous imagination has enveloped consciousness in flesh? What sadistic and saturnine spirit allowed the conscience to suffer, allowed the spirit to scream in torture? Why did I descend into this mud, into this jungle, into these flames full of hatred and anger? Who pushed us from our high places? <br /><br /><br />Who locked us in bodies, who bound us with our own nerves and our own arteries? Who forced us to have bones and cartilages, sphincters and glands, kidneys and nails, skin and intestines? What are we searching for in this soft and filthy machine? Who blindfolded us with our own eyes, who covered our ears with our own ears? Who approved of pain and who approved of sensations? What do we have to do with the clusters of cells in our body? With the matter flowing through it like through a tube of agonizing flesh? What are we doing here? What is this mockery? Why do we swim in the acids that ulcerate our thinking? Protest, revolt against the conscience buried in flesh!" <br /><br /> Well, this is St Justin’s answer : baptism :<br /><br />“And we have learned the following reason for this from the apostles. Since at our first birth we were born in ignorance and by necessity, from the wet seed of our parents’intercourse, and were brought up in bad habits and evil education; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and ignorance, but may become the children of choice and understanding, and may undergo in the water the forgiveness of sins we previously committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of all. . . . And this washing is called “illumination,”because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understanding. (1 Apol. 61.9–10, 12)”<br /></span><div><br /><p></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTTKpvy3MztmLR9neAq0FM5L6McchU9a9PzZ_yE6jOG8hyBnrJtlG0LquIBhQ6r_DimQx2r7b_y1iJpEKVeFMSW05QQF4-RDbP6GYNRj7LRcUTE6pRjhoBJKfGaRLPgZJr4RjRgc4ftjui_eUth9MfViAKDneXwsVnHiT3LZ2Akkp905fEVZFGmbQ2/s2102/il_fullxfull.2331919775_m3b6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2102" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTTKpvy3MztmLR9neAq0FM5L6McchU9a9PzZ_yE6jOG8hyBnrJtlG0LquIBhQ6r_DimQx2r7b_y1iJpEKVeFMSW05QQF4-RDbP6GYNRj7LRcUTE6pRjhoBJKfGaRLPgZJr4RjRgc4ftjui_eUth9MfViAKDneXwsVnHiT3LZ2Akkp905fEVZFGmbQ2/w456-h640/il_fullxfull.2331919775_m3b6.jpg" width="456" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5.5px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.6px;"><br /></p></div><br /></div></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-12512434361725879332022-05-13T11:59:00.012-07:002022-05-13T16:36:53.093-07:00The Invisible Anguish of Young Men<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg80ZXytwLMWVsw1FqSA455UG7F4YsLPTg4-iXVzU6EKXfYmi_oi5GP1QVcXWOsjN335VpbG5SPd5qg364D_3tnm2tg2AueO8Wl9h5-xD1qbaVJZ5s6oJiJf2nieouCmePB81D2vFC74-BjW4vzb8EuzzwzDB9bJ_SZF7OaQi8dQb7cFpaNH76xkCKa/s736/99abf91acd28f4b1bad437f0c4fa57a5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="736" height="586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg80ZXytwLMWVsw1FqSA455UG7F4YsLPTg4-iXVzU6EKXfYmi_oi5GP1QVcXWOsjN335VpbG5SPd5qg364D_3tnm2tg2AueO8Wl9h5-xD1qbaVJZ5s6oJiJf2nieouCmePB81D2vFC74-BjW4vzb8EuzzwzDB9bJ_SZF7OaQi8dQb7cFpaNH76xkCKa/w640-h586/99abf91acd28f4b1bad437f0c4fa57a5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Art by Oswaldo Guayasamin</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Young men in America really aren't suffering much these days. Not like the boys in WW II, or men in other countries torn by crushing poverty and/or machine gun fire. </span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But they are in anguish.<br /><br />
</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It’s not just semantics, there are two different existential states.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">
<br />
What I’ve chosen to call ‘suffering’ is visible, and so comfort, and commiseration, might be sought.<br />
<br />
Anguish is hard to articulate, hard to explain, hence one is locked alone in the dark with it, speech frozen, no way to communicate to another one’s wretched state. It hides in loneliness, rejection, and failure.<br />
<br />
WHY is the suicide rate for partially paralyzed people so much greater than fully paralyzed ? <br />
<br />
Because suicide rears its ugly head upon *unnecessary suffering.<br />
<br />
A completely paralyzed patient can do nothing.<br />
<br />
They are not tormented by hope - the hope that one day, if they….try hard enough, exercise hard enough, *pray* hard enough….they might improve.<br />
<br />
And if they do not, it is their own fault.<br />
<br />
The difference is best illustrated with an example.<br />
<br />
A friend of mine is a mechanic, new, lowly paid, living in NY. He has health, a job, and suffers few privations.<br />
<br />
BUT, his girl, earning a masters, dated up, and left him. So, for the past few years he has desperately tried to start a business, raise his social status, and get a good women.<br />
His dream is to have a family. <br />
<br />
He is lonely, his future shows little possibility for improvement, and yet he strives, and strives, in desperation - for love.<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />He see’s families all around, couples, some happy, some not, but right there, dangling in front of him, just out of reach, like a cruel tease. A man dying of thirst, and water all around, and he cannot manage to acquire a cup...</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />
<br />
He is in anguish.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Anguish because his suffering is unnecessary, he OUGHT to be able to succeed. And he tries…and tries…and tries…and fails. And fails. And fails….</span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXYiWxgqHb6oLKzSo6Es19cIba-1SlFu2F6lIgshsZKGLNUctdrVrOqYXheA1eCev2wRGDgQP_iw-AYUZNUB13xXUgUMtOEva0IjBsg9UE08QvBDlSS7_hp0a4ThpJgls3XHUTy7ZGnabC7DSTo-l1RADVR3a2yumZaHgM_M3aCBNWP_Olm01gdWVX/s918/jzfb3eca7dg41.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="457" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXYiWxgqHb6oLKzSo6Es19cIba-1SlFu2F6lIgshsZKGLNUctdrVrOqYXheA1eCev2wRGDgQP_iw-AYUZNUB13xXUgUMtOEva0IjBsg9UE08QvBDlSS7_hp0a4ThpJgls3XHUTy7ZGnabC7DSTo-l1RADVR3a2yumZaHgM_M3aCBNWP_Olm01gdWVX/w199-h400/jzfb3eca7dg41.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">He went to India. He hired a rickshaw driver for a week. This man was always smiling. This man took him to meet his wife and children, living in utter poverty.<br />
<br />
This man is suffering. BUT, he is not in anguish over it - it is necessary suffering. He can do nothing about it.<br />
<br />
It is a caste system, he cannot strive for anything more. His wife doesn’t expect him to, nor society. He is not ashamed of himself, nor of his children living in such conditions. <br />
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This man’s hardships are great, his suffering tremendous, but, according to him, he does not regret it.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">My mechanic friend however, is not the backbone of this nations economy…he is the loser.<br />
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Women see this. They are nature’s judge. Women, too, go by what men value, and if men do not reward a person with value, women see this. <br />
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Unconsciously it is a rejection from Mother Nature - something wrong with you, no reproduction.<br />
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Also a rejection from one’s tribe - if a man cannot bring value to a tribe, the tribe starves, hence a man who cannot produce is tossed out into the wilderness, hence all the male anxiety about this.<br />
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Finally, it can feel like a rejection from God. If someone loves you, they give you gifts, approval, regard….If these are missing, does God love you?<br />
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And without the gaze of love - positive regard - one is scarcely a person, but only a deformed individual, ever struggling to achieve a place in the world.<br />
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Perhaps Gandhi was not so crazy to call India's Caste system much less cruel than America’s…</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzyq1-JimDPbyacxP6wGrFcOduO1FBMDTIo3eFuUw3zC-MZ-dMaIxhXBocINnwVIbXle-WwKIzcsUof1c9ZLMo4L31A8PjBxChbBEvDO_EaLszfCtghq5-X2viiNzE9FmNVEpGhaiC8ZCozeTtplFROGdOtMibBje0ymaKGFJ-YWXO4D1a-cqeK_5h/s1024/FSiJGCJUUAE5Oze.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzyq1-JimDPbyacxP6wGrFcOduO1FBMDTIo3eFuUw3zC-MZ-dMaIxhXBocINnwVIbXle-WwKIzcsUof1c9ZLMo4L31A8PjBxChbBEvDO_EaLszfCtghq5-X2viiNzE9FmNVEpGhaiC8ZCozeTtplFROGdOtMibBje0ymaKGFJ-YWXO4D1a-cqeK_5h/w640-h640/FSiJGCJUUAE5Oze.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Two quotes :</span><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">It is readily understandable that to be denied a place is to suffer a serious moral trauma. It is a sort of denial of one’s humanity.”</span><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">― Paul Tournier</span><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">“Society puts pressure on us to conform to personas but we become neurotic if those personas don’t allow us to satisfy our desire to be our true Self. </span><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Fulfilling environments and relationships and roles are desired that are enjoyed by society and align with our Self. </span><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">A suicidal person is someone who is so far from where they want to be in life ... no fulfilling relationships and roles and the persona society presents are in no way fulfilling with their Self. </span><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Shedding of one persona and development of a new healthier one closer to the Center of the Self I believe gets symbolized unconsciously in the archetype/ symbolism of death and rebirth. </span><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><br style="font-family: verdana;" /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">However if a suicidal person doesn’t see any way in which they can be “reborn” in society in a fulfilling life then they only see the death side of that symbolism in front of them and since that corresponds to a physical objective action it also seen not simply as some symbol but as a literal action that is able to consume their conscious mind.”</span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<br /></p></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7964820038087621787.post-52871183206547718322022-04-15T12:37:00.005-07:002022-04-15T12:51:53.465-07:00Can one adore evil? What Genet, saint of perversity, can teach us.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zwlawajHGUQgF84Uds7Nj7sErbpyvfCU8ZEycnPqvkHhxKB6GWNmEDALQUpD32ma10aTh6J9SAAAHlrM617-vk85DeqkARdb3DgR6Yj-hBE4jfhh-Yyg-2S7Ky8rG5xMy_x2bgVA97gz_iem4B0Z9n0NuWkV74QSEPPymScpcdA4c07KFwC3fLc5/s1320/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-15%20at%202.45.46%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="1098" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zwlawajHGUQgF84Uds7Nj7sErbpyvfCU8ZEycnPqvkHhxKB6GWNmEDALQUpD32ma10aTh6J9SAAAHlrM617-vk85DeqkARdb3DgR6Yj-hBE4jfhh-Yyg-2S7Ky8rG5xMy_x2bgVA97gz_iem4B0Z9n0NuWkV74QSEPPymScpcdA4c07KFwC3fLc5/w532-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-15%20at%202.45.46%20PM.png" width="532" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />As a teenager I became aware of the cruelty of the world, a homeless man without legs or a cat starving in winter shattered me. Drugs and alcohol helped but I still couldn't make peace with evil. So I decided to try and love it.<br /> <br /> Life is suffering said the Buddha. To adore the torments so generously gifted by life is an art. Genet worshipped degradation with a religious passion.<br /> <br /> Sartre even named his study on him : Saint Genet. The book has stunning insights into evil, though Sartre, naive and bourgeois, swallowed every big fish tale Genet fed him.<br /> <br /> Genet is worth studying because he IS the existential hero in the flesh. To those who called Sartre mad, he could point to Genet, the man who invented his own nature, creating his own (inverted) values.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> To be betrayed by one’s lover - this was his highest ideal and greatest ecstasy for Genet. He lived what people like Bataille only wrote about.<br /> <br /> It’s all he knew. If one must suffer these things, why not learn to will oneself to love one’s fate. This is precisely what Nietzsche preached.<br /> <br /> A genius born to a prostitute unjustly tossed into an infamous orphanage that shocked all of France when it was discovered the staff were merrily raping the boys, and having the boys rape one another, for their entertainment and pleasure. <br /><br />He drifted into petty crime and in prison wrote his first book, some 300 pgs, with a pencil on toilet paper. The guards found it and threw it away.<br /> <br /> He wrote it again, it got published to great acclaim and fame claimed him. Now he could mingle with the rich - and steal from them, which he often did, getting arrested as well.<br /> <br /> Jailed a 10th time for theft Genet faced a mandatory life sentence. To Frances credit, after being petitioned by the Literati, the courts exonerated him. Indeed a great artist ought to be forgiven all crimes.<br /> <br /> After a few novels and plays he got hooked on barbiturates, a low and dirty drug, and for the next several decades, besides a suicide attempt, endeavored in nothing of value.<br /> <br /> Late in life he wrote one last travel book, on revolution, mostly to bunk with the Black Panthers and indulge in sexual fantasies, also camping in the desert with Palestinian militants.<br /> <br /> Stanley Hauerwas said modernity is when the only story we are permitted to believe is the one that tells us there is no story. We are the story we tell ourselves we are. <br /> <br /> The lesson of Genet proves this a lie. We can not create ourselves, invent our story, or project meaning into the world. We are part of a bigger story - one given to us.<br /> <br /> Givenness is at the heart of reality. The great struggle is learn to receive this world as gift. The only sane response to a gift : Thanks-giving. It takes heart-breaking work, terrible sacrifice, and often an entire community to shape us into the type of person who can receive this world as sacrament. <br /> <br /> So, I learned that one cannot love evil without being destroyed by it.<br /> <br /> The painting at the top is, for my money, the greatest portrait of the 20th Century. Giacometti reveals the true Genet - trapped, restless, being undone by death, and wasting away…</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvfyvGfdT2WFUORc-aq3cZFj3z0U1VDRuy7moWhy9xl6bltppdUXdnBq8z9VmQqHSil--bxsWTWPjYFIC0miEVV7X0hr2xYoOQvC6p6JkgcNkkQX9i5gf4PCkwUhQQKn7mm24pNIZ6-KzdUSEtX1178QtQ99AR68WK7dJkk6GXmm3mHKHbn4n3g8k/s942/a131a20f549c381dd60efdc851189de1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="942" data-original-width="767" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvfyvGfdT2WFUORc-aq3cZFj3z0U1VDRuy7moWhy9xl6bltppdUXdnBq8z9VmQqHSil--bxsWTWPjYFIC0miEVV7X0hr2xYoOQvC6p6JkgcNkkQX9i5gf4PCkwUhQQKn7mm24pNIZ6-KzdUSEtX1178QtQ99AR68WK7dJkk6GXmm3mHKHbn4n3g8k/w522-h640/a131a20f549c381dd60efdc851189de1.jpg" width="522" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div>jonathan mcCormackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13289414596041436580noreply@blogger.com0