Objects don't relate to subjects in the same way as do subjects to objects, but this is not to say that objects don't relate to subjects at all, otherwise they would be unintelligible. Between knower and known there is a relationship -- of truth -- and
the spirit-based self, the highest form of being..., must have the most comprehensive domain of relatedness: the universe of all existing things (Pieper).
We are related to everything, which is to say to being itself. Existing things are related to us in terms of their intelligibility, whether potential or actual: "the human mind is ordered toward the totality of all that exists" (Pieper), and according to Thomas,
Spirit-endowed beings possess a higher affinity to the whole of reality than other beings. Every spiritual substance namely, in a certain sense, is all in all, insofar as it is able, through its cognitive power, to comprehend all there is.
Well, good. At the very least this gives us something to do: to comprehend all there is to know about all there is. It is in the soul's nature to be
directed toward universal knowledge. In this manner is it possible for the perfection of the entire world to be present in one single being.
Nobody's perfect, but
the highest perfection attainable for the soul would be reached when the soul comprehends the entire order of the universe and its principles...
This is "the ultimate end of man." Bob is a man. Therefore, this is the ultimate end of Bob.
D'oh! There's a catch: this "will be realized in the beatific vision," which is apparently unavailable this side of the grave.
Then again, "beings endowed with cognitive ability somehow resemble God himself," which I suppose is why it's so easy to pretend to godhood. It seems that we are forever situated in Voegelin's tension between immanence and transcendence, but this is by no means a static situation, rather, it constitutes nothing less then the dynamism -- the very life -- of the mind.
And now that I'm thinking about it, any dissipative (i.e., process) structure requires a polarized tension in order to go on being.
An ancient thought (from grad school) pops into my noggin, about how our brains contain billions of electrochemical neurons that -- help me out here Professor Wiki -- "have intrinsic electroresponsive properties like intrinsic transmembrane voltage oscillator patterns," meaning that they ceaselessly charge and discharge electrical energy.
This is one of those things that I simultaneously understand and don't understand at all, like how computers work. I mean, I understand the words, but WTF? The point is that life itself is tension and release, while death is release from the tension. And the TENSION isn't just present horizontally but vertically, as characterized by Voegelin:
A condition of tending toward a goal. Voegelin uses the term especially to refer to what he calls the "tension of existence," the fundamental experience of longing for transcendental fulfillment, the Beyond, the summum bonum (Webb).
This latter for Thomas being the beatific vision. But whatever we call this ultimate telos, it accounts for the TENSION which proceeds all the way up. Unless you just give up and disembark at some provincial bus stop along the way.
What is the ground of this tension? Must be in the Trinity, i.e., in the tensional energy (so to speak) between the Persons. They say this energy is none other than the LOVE which "powers" it (so to speak), but this is above my praygrade. Still, it makes sense to me, or at least I can't think of anything that makes more sense of our exceedingly strange cosmic situation.
We can express it via our annoying pneumaticons, what with the vertical tension between O and (¶), the space between them being where intellection (n) occurs.
The animal is adapted to a specific environment and so also limited by it; man's environment, in contrast, is the totality of all that exists, so that man, by his nature, is... oriented to "the world" (Pieper).
Or, in the words of Thomas, "The spiritual soul, being able to know the essences of things, possesses a potency unto the infinite." And this potency is none other than the TENSION between finitude and Infinitude, the many and the One, time and Eternity, the relative and the Absolute, etc.
2 comments:
It seems that we are forever situated in Voegelin's tension between immanence and transcendence, but this is by no means a static situation, rather, it constitutes nothing less then the dynamism -- the very life -- of the mind.
There have been a lot of discussions of the "three body problem" making the rounds recently (apparently there's a show on Netflix, but it's also a particular type of physics problem). Some of the graphics generated to demonstrate it bring to mind the cosmic dance the comes about as a result of this dynamism.
Hello Dr. Godwin, Julie, and all readers; may your way be made smooth by the Lord.
From the post: "The point is that life itself is tension and release, while death is release from the tension. And the TENSION isn't just present horizontally but vertically, as characterized by Voegelin: A condition of tending toward a goal."
This post triggers the memory of a discussion I had long ago with my spiritual mentor. I had complained about the effort and tapasya I was applying towards concentrating on God and realizing God in my life.
The mentor stated regarding effort, "I will present to your two disparate paths, from which I would like you to choose the one best for you. The way of the baby monkey or the way of the baby cat.
The baby monkey clings to its mother for dear life, gripping on to her body with its tiny hands and feet to avoid being thrown off and lost.
The baby cat is held in its mother's mouth and carried along, and it goes limp and expends no energy other than to cry out 'ma, ma.'"
My mentor asked, "Now, child, in regards to how you would prefer to conduct your life's Sadhana, how do you choose? The way of the baby monkey, or the way of the baby cat?"
I considered. The baby monkey places trust in its gripping hands and feet, molded by nature for this purpose, thereby gaining some peace of mind due to its control over events. Yet, this control comes at the cost of expending constant effort and seldom knowing any rest, with still no guarantee there would not some accident happen, some momentary weakness, losing the grip and falling to the forest floor.
Whereas the baby kitten is forced to depend on its mother and cries out in terror of the unknown, but is nonetheless carried without any effort. And verily a mother cat seldom if every drops its baby, and takes infinite care to deliver it safely from place to place. Nonetheless, the baby cat endures the discomfort of being perpetually frightened and unsure of its fate.
I said, "I choose the way of the baby cat."
My mentor said, "You have chosen wisely."
I went on to live a mostly clinging fast for dear life with my monkey paws, because it sis scary to let go and trust fate to carry you where you need to go.
I'm not dead yet. There is still time to relax my grip and cry out "ma, ma," as I finally go limp and relax into the the loving jaws of my Mother, and be carried without a care or effort to whither I need to go. But why has it taken me to so long to work up the nerve? I know not.
My mentor used to shake his head ruefully, looking at me as the years unrolled. Eventually I picked my vocation and my tools, the auger and the shovel. One day I used these implements to prepare a resting chamber in Mother Earth and within this chamber I laid my mentor for his eternal rest.
I tearing up a little bit right now. Sorry.
Thank you for this post, good Dr. You have done well; your Father is well-pleased with you.
Love from Trench
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