Monday, April 13, 2020

Strange Neighborhood

Let's stipulate that man is without question the most interesting and important fact in all of creation. If you can't stipulate to this, then you haven't yet begun to think.

I say this because thinking isn't just anything. Rather, it is ordered to reality, and exists for that reason. And unless you are a bit dim or just plain tenured, you will notice -- for starters -- that man qua man is the only creature that inhabits two very different worlds.

Indeed, man effortlessly reconciles these worlds in his own being. There are various theories of how this can be so, but they're just theories. Irrespective of your little theory, the fact remains that there is a material reality and an immaterial reality. Modern sophisticates like to reduce the latter to the former, while unsophisticated retro-Platonists such as Deepak prefer it the other way around -- i.e., "consciousness" is all.

But neither of these approaches fits the case. They're just two sides of the same sophistry aimed at making the problem go away instead of confronting it head on in all its strangeness: that we are embodied and we are ensouled, and although we can distinguish these, they are "not two." The body isn't analogous to an empty vessel into which an immaterial soul is inserted, nor is the soul a material entity or side effect of physics and chemistry. In reality,

man stands on the fringe of two universes: one, the world of matter and material dimensions; the other, the world of spirit, which has neither length, nor breadth, nor weight, nor any other tangible property (Brennan).

What a queer neighborhood! On the one hand, man shares the same zip code as animals, plants, minerals, atoms, and quarks. Yet, man is also "neighbor to the angels. Truly, he is a denizen of two worlds, a horizon and a meeting place. Though angelic by his intelligence, yet he is not a pure spirit; though sensitive and passionate by his brute powers, yet he is not entirely material" (ibid.).

The question isn't that this is the case, but how it is the case: by virtue of what principle(s) can such a strange situation obtain?

We mentioned a few post back that people naturally wonder how a divine nature and a human nature can coexist in the same person. Nevertheless, it is equally puzzling how animal nature and human nature can coexist in the same person, which is to say, in all of us, in varying proportions.

This is probably going to be a non-linear post, since I'm just flipping from page to page. Or perhaps we should put a positive spin on it and say it will be a holographic post, such that each part will reflect the whole.

At any rate, Brennan -- writing back in 1941, before it would have been controversial -- makes the surprising claim that the growing baby is never, nor can it ever be, "inside" the mother. As soon as you think about it, you'll understand why:

Man's body may be likened to a cylindrical mass of of matter, perforated by several tracts or cavities that open to the outside world.

For example, there is the alimentary tract, the respiratory tract, the urinary tract, the uterine tract. This being the case, there are obviously "two surfaces to the human body: an outside surface covered by skin; and an inside surface covered by mucosae."

So, just because something is "in" your stomach it doesn't mean it is in your body per se. Rather, digestion is the process of absorbing and transforming it into the body, precisely. And the most complete scientific account of this process will never explain how an it -- food -- is transformed into I -- the person.

It's an everyday analogue to the mystery of life itself -- of how, with the appearance of life, existence becomes experience. By virtue of what principle? And is this related to the principle of how two natures can coexist in one person?

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but Yes.

Back to the growing baby. If we want to be literal about it, the fetus is never inside the mother's body; rather, only in contact with the inside surface. If you want a baby to be literally inside your body, you'll have to eat one.

Speaking of outside and inside -- or interior and exterior -- Brennan makes the point that "certain requirements are demanded of the object if it is to be known, that is, if it is to be united with the subject."

In other words, waaaaaay before we can claim to know anything about any thing, there must be a principle by virtue of which such knowledge is even possible. What is this principle?

Here again, I suspect it will ultimately be related to the two mentioned above. But if we're going to know something -- anything -- the knowing subject and knowable object must share something in common. What sort of something? Well,

a certain degree of immateriality is a primary requisite. A universe of matter alone would be simply unintelligible.

Now, what renders matter knowable? Its form, which is the intelligibility that may be known by intelligence, both of which are obviously immaterial. So, man dwells in a haunted neighborhood, with invisible ghosts of intelligibility running around everywhere.

Boo!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am first on the scene. Van won't get ahead of me this time! Or Julie.

Fascinating post, Godwin. Especially the insight about the fetus not being inside the mother's body; a perfectly useless insight, the best kind.

You also wrote "The body isn't analogous to an empty vessel into which an immaterial soul is inserted...."

I ask why not? Do not the body and immaterial soul arise from separation locations, and to these separate locations return upon death?

I would argue the body is indeed analogous to an empty vessel into which an immaterial soul is inserted. What is the evidence to the contrary?

Admittedly the question is complicated by the fact that the body indeed does exhibit some immaterial qualities, such as the subtle body fields which are energetic fields and other "sheaths" which inhabit noumenal planes. For instance the mental sheath encompasses the mind, and this properly belongs to the mental plane or world which is not part of the physical cosmos. The body is a sublime and complicated piece of work. However, the soul is a distinct entity from everything else.

Or so it is said, I know not from an direct observation or first-hand interviews. This has to be regarded as hearsay.

Be good everyone. If you can't be good, at least go to confession afterwards.

Anonymous said...

But what if...

Everything alive gets to heaven, spiritual nirvana, or whatever it is, because it simply accepts the inevitable transition after death without the slightest question. Plants, frogs, your beloved pony...

It is man who upon instant of death, can wind up in the wrong place because of wrong thinking cognitive issues related to simply possessing an advanced cognizance. I think of Matthew 18:3.

julie said...

So, just because something is "in" your stomach it doesn't mean it is in your body per se.

I'm suddenly reminded of dissecting frogs back in high school science class. It was not uncommon to find entire creatures undigested in their stomachs; in fact, watching any number of nature shows, being swallowed whole is a pretty common thing in the animal kingdom, which must be a pretty horrible and rather baffling way to go.

So, just because something is "in" your stomach it doesn't mean it is in your body per se.

Quibbling, while the baby as a whole is not "in" the mother's body, we know due to microchimerism that some of baby's cells do cross the placenta to become one with the mother, such that her children are literally always a part of her. Which incidentally implies that there must have been something extra special about Mary...

Anonymous said...

"Man's body may be likened to a cylindrical mass of matter, perforated by several tracts or cavities that open to the outside world."

The anus is important among orifices; it allows commerce with the outside world to continue, by offloading what cannot be retained on board.

Within the alimentary tract dwell the wise gut bacteria in their trillions. There are many species in this diverse and cosmopolitan society within each abdomen. Amidst the benign honest bacteria are malefactors, but these are not allowed to get the upper hand.

Each bacterium toils ceaselessly on your behalf, breaking down food-stuffs and emitting healthy micro-nutrients. A delegation from the gut will travel to the amygdala and there sits on the council helping to direct the activities of the life and mind. Gut feelings and intuitions are relayed at these sessions.

Such is the import of the alimentary tract. And we haven't even touched on the oral cavity yet. So many cavities, orifices and sphincters, so little time. Achh, I think I will go have waffles with peanut butter on them. The gut biome really likes that, yum....

-Purple Yummy

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "Van won't get ahead of me this time!"

Score one for aninny! Tellingly, it's as meaningful as the rest of its comment.

Van Harvey said...

"Now, what renders matter knowable? Its form, which is the intelligibility that may be known by intelligence, both of which are obviously immaterial. So, man dwells in a haunted neighborhood, with invisible ghosts of intelligibility running around everywhere.

Boo!"

Boo! indeed, and of course, Aha!

Theme Song

Theme Song