Bottom line for today -- and for all time: the final happiness of man consists in this -- that in his soul is reflected the order of the whole universe.
Sounds nice. But is this even possible?
Yes. We're talking about the order or structure, not necessarily the content. For It is said that the soul is in a certain sense all things, because it is created to know all things.
Again, there is nothing in the world that is proportionate to the soul and its potential to know; if it exists, then we can damn well know it (because existence and intelligibility are synonymous terms, like being and truth). Nothing in the world can explain that which understands and thereby transcends the world.
Atheists like to accuse believers of anti-intellectualism, but the reality is precisely the opposite. Well, not exactly; for we are opposed to mere intellectualism, which is to the intellect what rationalism is to reason, or pørn to eros. And it is no doubt the case that most people do not approach religion primarily via the intellect.
Nevertheless, we are the ones who push the intellect to the farthest reaches, whereas the atheist -- if he takes a moment to think about it -- will notice that he has no grounding whatsoever for the intellect, and therefore no basis to even trust it. Certainly he will not accede to the gnotion that the soul is all things, even though there is no principle in his philosophy that permits him to make such a sweeping assertion -- about all things, no less!
To "understand" something means to know its causes. God, of course is the first (vertical) cause of the universe -- or, prior to that, of existence itself. What does the atheist imagine is the cause of existence? Whatever it is, it represents the wrong answer and therefor a primordial failure to launch. This is a multiple choice test with only two possible answers.
Recall that man is always necessarily situated between O and Ø. This is because intellectual natures have a greater affinity to the whole than other beings. Here Thomas is not referring to special eggheads but to man as such, who is characterized by Reason. It is because of Reason that we can move closer to or more distant from Ø.
Thus, it is critical to bear in mind that the intellect cuts both ways. There are numberless counterfeit forms of intellection, which may be lumped under the rubric ideology. Ideology is the religion of the tenured, for it pretends to comprehend the totality -- the whole -- while undermining any possible basis for comprehension at all. Ideology is a kind of total stupidity that seals itself in a systematic and applied ignorance.
This is because, as Thomas says, A devil knows the nature of human thought better than man does, so it is quite easy for him to hijack the machinery of the mind and soul. Or maybe you've never been to college. Or read the NY Times.
Ideology confuses theory with perception, such that the mind perverted by it can perceive only what the ideology permits him to see. Taken to its logical endpoint, the ideology results in seeing, say, an Asian sportscaster named Robert Lee and thinking at once of a Confederate general. In other words, a normal person just sees Robert Lee the Asian sportscaster. In fact, not even Asian. Just a sportscaster.
But that's naive. The ideology permits one to see far beneath the surface, to the very essence of reality. And that essence always involves victims and oppressors.
So, ideology is omniscience. Only in reverse. And upside-down. It is knowing nothing. Forever. AKA hell.
6 comments:
"Ideology confuses theory with perception, such that the mind perverted by it can perceive only what the ideology permits him to see."
I was prompted yesterday, into rereading a bit of Hume's "Treatise on human nature", and that is what jumped out at me ('Gah!!!'), that even pre-Kant, many, like Hume, found themselves able to approach a reality that had (thanks Descartes!) already been safely wrapped up in those perceptions and conceptions of it, which they found necessary for their being able to 'clearly and distinctly' imagine it being what they wanted it to be.
Intellectual gravity then kicks in, carrying their fall downwards at 32' per second, per second.
Bottom line for today -- and for all time: the final happiness of man consists in this -- that in his soul is reflected the order of the whole universe.
Today in Acts 17, Mr. Paul goes to Athens, there to debate the Stoics and (essentially atheist) Epicurians:
"22 Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:[f]
“You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. 26 He made from one[h] the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, 27 so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us. 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’[i] as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’"
This, from the WashPo, is beautiful in an upside down way:
"The Satan of Modern Satanism is a metaphorical icon for Enlightenment values."
Perfect!
Also, ripped from the everthus headlines, Acts 17:1-15: "Bitter regressives hire angry mobs to protest, riot, and blame the victims of the riots and protests for creating a disturbance"
Wow - just read the Satanism article. I tried to read the original at the Bezos blog, but even doing the courtesy of removing the ad blocker wouldn't let me view it, and insanity like this is not going to convince me to subscribe.
The Satanists have been pushing this line for ages, that really they are good guys and everyone just misunderstands them. Sad that mainstream media is now helping them to spread their mind parasites to a wider audience.
Europeans became world-beaters and top dogs after a string of unprecedented advances starting around 1400; they became the uncontested masters of Earth.
This peaked in the 19th Century; then things started to change. The American Civil War. World Wars 1 and 2; by the time these were done, European supremacy was shaky. The fact that Japan could be so feisty was a shocker and a wake-up call.
Fast forward to 2017. European supremacy is on it's deathbed. Leftists, Brownies, whatever you want to call the non-Eurocentric bloc, destroy any last gasp-efforts made by Europeans or their descendants to regain the upper hand (such as a return of the Confederacy or Nazism). The kicking and screaming we see today is the old order putting up a last ditch resistance. It will be over by 2100 AD. The Rebel flags and statues will come down. The swastika will be seen only in historical displays and media.
From 1400 to 2100 the Europeans had their way with the world, an impressive 700 year reign, but all empires must end.
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