Sometimes our bottom line is an analytic proposition such as "all bachelors are unmarried."
In other words, the truth of this statement is vouchsafed by the meaning of the terms. This truth is a priori, in that one needn't examine every or even any bachelor in order to know it.
At any rate, our point this morning is that analytic propositions are rest stops of the intellect, or at least used to be. Now that the cancer of deconstruction has spread throughout the body of language, it is as if there can be no peace of mind with regard to even the most trivial of tautologies, such as female athletes are women, or inflation is a monetary phenomenon.
Other cognitive rest stops are synthetic propositions such as "all progressives are little girls." This isn't self-evident on the face of it; rather, one must examine a sufficient number of progressives in order to arrive at the conclusion that they are indeed both immature and dickless, therefore girls, and not proper women or men.
But all vulgar insultainment aside, that's not what this post is about. Rather, it's about another kind of rest stop. I don't know if it has a name, but it is quite familiar to me.
For it is as if it is a self-evident truth, but not necessarily to everyone, only to me: cosmic O-mail addressed to Bob. While it could be self-evident to others, it may or may not be, depending on a host of factors and variables. I may be able to talk you into it, but I'm not sure about that, since no one talked me into it. Rather, the moment I heard it I knew it was true.
Then again, sometimes there had to be a great deal of preparation prior to acceptance of these truths. For example, I remember trying to read Schuon 25 or 30 years ago and getting nowhere. Whereas once the ideas and principles bounced off me like tennis balls off a battleship, at some point they penetrated my shell and caused a great joyful disturbance. But now I read them and quietly nod to myself, "of course. What could be more obvious?"
Call it a "personal bottom line." This is in contrast to a collective bottom line such as "all men are created equal." At least for actual Americans (i.e., deplorable insurrectionist homophobic white supremacists), this is essentially an analytic proposition. We can't not look at human beings this way. It's what makes us Americans.
Nevertheless, roughly half the country rejects this proposition, self-evident though it may be, in favor of the proposition that the most important thing to know about people is their race, or gender, or sexual proclivities.
Let's get down to cases. In fact, this book on St. Bonaventure is full of statements to which my response is simply of course. It is as if these statements only affirm what I already know in my heartmind, AKA nonlocal intellect (the intellect being our vertical organ, or organ of vertical cognition).
Examples.
The triad of Trinity-creation-humanity manifests the dynamism of God's self-communicative love whereby creation and humanity spiral forth from the overflowing goodness of God.
Ho hum. Tell me something I don't know.
In a sense the new birth of creation and the destiny of history are contingent on the freedom of the human person.... one's relationship with God influences the destiny of creation and the consummation of history. Our lives not only make a difference but a cosmic difference.
Anything else, St. Obvious?
Again these aren't statements of which one may convince others with argumentation. Rather, one either sees the point or one doesn't. It is much more akin to perception than to discursive reason, although by no means contrary to reason. Those with ears, let them see!
God is not simply Being but God is that Goodness which is beyond Being, and which gives rise to Being.
Like anyone could not know that.
if there are only two divine persons, there could only be love for one another.... the highest perfection of love demands that each of the two persons in love share that love with an "other."
That's actually more of an analytic statement, in that if one understands the meanings of the terms, the conclusions follow.
a world that manifested the glory of God but did not include some creature able to perceive and revel in that glory would make little sense.
Wrong: no sense.
O?
[T]he figure of the circle attests to the perfection of bodies both in the macrocosm and microcosm.... But this figure is not complete in the universe. Now, if this figure is to be as perfect as possible, the line of the universe must be curved into a circle.... Therefore, when God became man, the works of God were brought to perfection. This is why Christ, the God-man, is called Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end.
Thus, "the final end of the universe has been realized." And of this post.
Wait -- an encore that brings the post full circle:
there is a light within the human soul that enables one to know things with certainty; it is a divine light which illuminates the truth of things and allows one to judge the certitude of things.... In fact, it is because of this light that humans have knowledge of things they have never experienced through the senses...
A stounding O!
One more:
contemplation is that resting in God whereby one's entire life is centered in God.... For Bonaventure, contemplation is the goal of Christian life.
Mission accompliced.
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