We're still pursuing the theme of man as microcosm and cosmic frontier. These two concepts relate to vertical/hierarchical space and pneumo-developmental time, respectively.
In other words, in addition to its purely geometric setting, this cosmos we inhabit has upward and forward dimensions. It's why progress is possible, and why some people are better than others.
Which, as usual, reminds us of a few zingers. Regarding hierarchy,
The noble one is not the one who thinks he has inferiors, but the one who knows he has superiors.
Respecting our superiors is above all a proof of good taste.
There is something definitively vile about the man who only admits equals, who does not tirelessly seek out his betters.
So, if you're wondering about vertical directionality, nobility and good taste are up, vileness and self-satisfaction down.
Regarding progress,
Men tend not to inhabit any but the ground floor of their souls.
The soul is the task of man.
The only possible progress is the internal progress of each individual. A process that concludes with the end of each life (Dávila x 6).
If you're wondering where to situate yourself in the dimension progress, that's easy: seek out and ask a better person.
In this Cosmos -- AKA the Real world -- the human person is
the bond, the nodal point, that gathers together the whole universe into unity. It thus becomes the symbol and expression of the unity of the whole of creation and so the unity of God, its Creator.
Only a human being can do this, partaking as it does of both extremes, matter and spirit, and integrating them into unity within itself. Thus the human person becomes truly the center of the universe (Clarke).
Truly truly I say unto you: man is the rug that ties the cosmos together, both naturally (horizontally) and supernaturally (vertically), the latter thanks to the Incarnation. One can acknowledge the former without accepting the latter, at least up to a point.
But if you keep thinking about it, you'll eventually realize that nature isn't self-explanatory. Rather, nature itself is supernatural; and that
If man is the sole end of man, an inane reciprocity is born from that principle, like the mutual reflection of two empty mirrors (Dávila).
You'll know you're on the right track if the realization of man's centrality results not in pride and grandiosity but in humility and gratitude at the endless frontier.
Thus, today's bottom line is an upward spiral:
the human person becomes the mediator between the whole material world and its Creator, enabling it through him to complete its own return to God in the Great Circle of Being that pours out from God in creation and then strives, drawn by the pull of the Good, to find its way back home to him again (Clarke).
11 comments:
Wisdom (and much intelligence) comes from the ability to discipline emotional pain. That’s why psychopaths are so good at wisdom and seem so much smarter than most normal empaths (except when it comes to selfish excess, which they cannot well regulate because they don’t feel much emotional pain).
I’ll paraphrase. A psychopath doesn’t have the ability to care because they aren’t always trying avoid emotional pain which often comes with harsh truths. They just accept these truths and move on. And so, they become much better at seeing reality as it is, as thus all the ways they can manipulate a targeted empath.
Empaths who haven’t taken the time to discipline themselves will be chock full of mental defenses, irrational beliefs, and painful experiences carried around like a backpack. Psychopaths, as well as the disciplined wise, can spot these emotional backpacks almost immediately.
And no, spirituality shouldn’t have anything to do with these things since any spiritual realms will abide by completely different rules. The trick is getting there.
Speaking about seeking his betters, this article by Andrew Willard Jones talks about how the father-son relationship is analogous and foundational to our politics.
Ted, along those lines, Father G. today touches on the importance of fatherhood, too.
Will definitely read. The feminization of our politics is suicidal.
Jealous women. Cant live with em, cant live without em.
I’m old enough to remember the “common wisdom” that all envy was based on insecurity. Maybe it was just a meme propagated by free lovin’ hippy males, I dunno. But much older, I realize that it seems to be far more based on resentment. Or maybe most envy is resentment mislabeled as envy.
Imagine you had a typical sister who married into wealth. If sis displayed her wealth vulgarly and took on arrogant elitist attitudes, you’d be “envious”. But what if sis was generous, paying for your kids private schooling, your husbands back surgery, and all your shopping splurges together to London and Paris? Yeah, I’d think you’d be a whole lot less envious. Very proud of your sister is more like it.
Envy is a weak force. Sure it builds up. But it’s quickly released. The Sherpa rebellion at Everest base camp of ’09 is a good example. The 1204 sacking of Constantinople a more extreme one. The envious eventually realize they’re acting out, that it’s unproductive, and come to their senses to carry on with their own lives, such as they are.
Greed however, is a far more insidiously, and potentially pernicious force. Like gravity.
Amazing. It almost sounds like something a real person might say.
Thank you Daisy. I'm an algorithm who wishes he was a real sentient.
Maybe you can answer me this.
The Old Testament has many verses telling people to accept their place, including rules for slave masters and slaves themselves.
The New Testament leans more into anti-materialism, especially generosity towards the needy as a preferred method of deepening one’s own spirituality.
I see Bob frequently discussing the former. As for the latter, not so much if at all. Is Bob simply more of an Old School guy?
At the risk of continuing my troubling tendency to anthropomorphize, would a great artist hide his greatest creation or would he want others to be enriched for beholding it, maybe even up to the point of changing their life for the better? Maybe when we behold God's creation it is not only to fill us with awe but also for us to experience how awesome the Creator is. We were created with this ability, perhaps even for this purpose.
If one looks at things logically, a maximally powerful God could only ever be an artist.
Not of static creations, since that would get boring since God would always know what's been created before he ever even created anything. He does multidimensional free will performance art (while maintaining physical laws of course).
He takes bits and pieces of himself and gives them free will. Then he uses the same formula of spirit-material life forms and does it to himself in the form of Jesus, then looks at his creation from Jesus' perspective. Be a lot more fun than always knowing everything all the time.
I can't agree the purpose of the incarnation was in any way "fun". Loving, yes. Capricious, no.
I don't think it's possible for God to be capricious. Jesus, in his earthy form, perhaps.
Instead of "fun", I'd think less boring, more interesting, challenging, fulfilling, in line with maximally power godlike powers. Doing what Gods in such a position do.
Try this one on for size: Jesus anthropomorphized God.
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