We live in reductionist times, which is another way of saying that we live in times that have often cast aside the deeper, sacramental, and mysterious meaning of things and people.Posted on 08/08/2014 2:57:44 AM PDT by markomalley
We live in reductionist times, which is another way of saying that we live in times that have often cast aside the deeper, sacramental, and mysterious meaning of things and people.
Many human beings reduce themselves and others to merely biological realities. Gone is the soul and the mysterious spark we call life. Gone is the metaphysical, there is only the physical. Even our longings, our thirst and hunger for justice, our attraction to what is good, true and beautiful, even these soulful expressions and their reaching what is not material and “understood” by many today merely as emanations of the chemicals in our brain.
It is all such a sad and reduced understanding of the human person. Somehow many see us as a merely biological “machine.”
Yet even among those who accept the existence of the soul, there is another reductionist tendency of seeing the body merely as a tool, or something we have, rather than something we are in mysterious union with our soul.
I read today a beautiful description of the glory of the human person and also of the problem of reductionism. It is by Anthony Esolen in his Book: Defending Marriage – Twelve Argument for Sanity. It is an excellent book, well worth reading and from which I shall excerpt more next week. Regarding the human person, Esolen writes:
The human body is a precious thing, worthy of our reverence. It is not a tool, not an object of consumption like a steak or a keg of beer, not an animate provider of pleasure. It is the outward expression of a profound mystery, that of another human being. When we meet another human person, when we look at his or her face, we are in the presence of a creature whose like we have never found in all the rest of the universe. The human person is open to infinity… He can do more than apprehend the things he observes, he can imagine worlds he has never seen.… honor and reverence is due to the astounding mystery of the human person… It is a contradiction to say, “I honor the human person,” while treating the human body as separable from the person using it as a tool, devouring [pornographic] images of it…One cannot at once love the beautiful and desire to defile it. It is like loving the Pieta with an ax. (P. 51)
Yes, here is the glory of the human person and the human body. Mysterious, wonderful, unrepeatable, and loved by God long before he or she was ever conceived (cf Jer 1:5).
When some have spoken to me in confession of their struggle with pornography, I often ask them to remember, before they page through hundreds of images of bodies, and body parts, that there is a person “attached” to those bodies. And that person has had something go very wrong on her life that she would be led to expose the intimate parts of her body to be seen by those who should not.
She is someone’s daughter, and she is God’s daughter. Surely at age ten she never dreamed of making her first porn pics while some stranger “did” her. Something in her life went very wrong, something worth grieving. Yes, there is a person “attached” to that body, and though the pornography pushers may seek to airbrush it away, the tracks of her tears are still there, seen and known by God.
Those who would victimize others or “consume” them like a product, must first dehumanize them. And that is where reductionism comes in. The consumer of pornography, must reduce the woman, whom he is actually consuming and using, to a body, to an image or picture. But she is not merely a body or a picture. She is a woman, a daughter, a sister, she is loved by God and something tragically awful has occurred in her life and she has taken a turn down a very long and dark back alley.
Consider this well if you have a problem with porn, or know someone who does. Whatever the consumer of porn may think he is looking at, what he actually is looking at is a human person. He is also looking at a tragedy, a deeply sad portrait of a daughter of God who deserves more, so much more than to be consumed as a product for sale. Yes, she is a human person. As Esolen says above, she is a person whose like we have never found in all the rest of the universe….[to whom] honor and reverence is due [for] the astounding mystery of [her] person.
Think on these things before you click over to that porn site or do that image search; think and pray a great deal.
Here’s a portrait of the life of one of God’s daughters. Her earthly Father must also love her very much to put together this tribute to his daughter. These are the pictures taken in love that every daughter deserves.
Msgr Pope ping
For later
Mr. Esolen’s description is outstanding. I’m reminded, in constrast, of a quotation some have attributed to C.S. Lewis, “You ARE a soul. You HAVE a body.” Whether or not Mr. Lewis said this, it is an erroneous understanding of humankind.
“Man is a creature composed of body and soul, made to the image and likeness of God.” In addition to other harmful outcomes, rejecting this integrity strikes a blow at the Incarnation of Christ.
Ping!
What you see is most definitely NOT what you get.
It is heroin for ingested through the eyes.
“Man is a creature composed of body and soul, made to the image and likeness of God.”
And spirit, too! Don’t forget the spirit!
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:23
About the Courage program:
About Courage
Persons with homosexual desires have always been with us; however, until recent times, there has been little, if any, formal outreach from the Church in the way of support groups or information for such persons. Most were left to work out their path on their own. As a result, they found themselves listening to and accepting the secular society’s perspective and opting to act on their same-sex desires.
His Eminence, the late Terence Cardinal Cooke of New York, was aware of, and troubled by this situation. He knew that the individual dealing with same-sex attractions truly needed to experience the freedom of interior chastity and in that freedom find the steps necessary to living a fully Christian life in communion with God and others. He was concerned that many would not find this path and would be constantly trying to get their needs met in ways that ultimately do not satisfy the desires of the heart.
In response to this concern, he decided to form a spiritual support system which would assist men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love. Knowing of Fr. John Harvey’s extensive ministry experience in this field, he invited him to come to his Archdiocese. With the help of the Rev. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., and others, Fr. Harvey began the Courage Apostolate with its first meeting in September, 1980 at the Shrine of Mother Seton in South Ferry.
With the endorsement of the Holy See, Courage now has more than 100 Chapters and contact people world-wide, over 1500 persons participating in its ListServs, and hundreds of persons per week receiving assistance from the main office and website. It has become a mainstream Catholic Apostolate helping thousands of men and women find peace through fellowship, prayer, and the Sacraments.
The Courage Central Office operates through the partial financial support of the Archdiocese of New York and Diocese of Bridgeport, but largely through the contributions and volunteer work of Courage members and other individuals and organizations committed to advancing its efforts. Individual chapters throughout the world are self-supporting and exist with the permission of their diocesan Bishop.
In helping individuals gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the Church’s teachings, especially in the area of chastity, Courage extends the Church’s invitation to a life of peace and grace. In chaste living, one finds the peace and grace to grow in Christian maturity.
That’s a point. I think the spirit to which St. Paul is referring is the spirit of God in us, rather than something intrinsic to humanity. (If someone wants to disagree, I’ll just throw up my hands and say, “Whatever.” ;-)
Anyway, although we have a spiritual life, if we have God’s life in us, we are not spiritual beings, as the angels are.
I believe there is *both* a spirit that came from GOD that “belongs” to us, *and also* the Holy Spirit of GOD that (may) live in us. They are two distinct things. Every living breathing human has the first kind; the second kind is a gift to believers.
But, I agree, *all* spirit (ours as well as His) is *of* GOD, so in that sense... whatever! :-)
I found a well-written (IMHO) dissection of the Scriptural concepts of soul and spirit that you might enjoy and profit from as well:
“Soul and Spirit in Scripture”
http://www.gci.org/spiritual/soulspirit
FRegards, and GOD’s blessings on you!
Thanks, I’ll look at this later; I’m sure it will help!
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