{"id":12571,"date":"2020-08-09T12:48:30","date_gmt":"2020-08-09T16:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=12571"},"modified":"2022-08-08T23:18:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T03:18:05","slug":"the-poet-and-the-saint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=12571","title":{"rendered":"The Poet and the Saint"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nThe gift<\/em> of the mystic is akin to the gift of poetry. ~ Caroline Stephen<\/strong>, Light Arising<\/em><\/p>\n

Il n’y a qu’une tristesse, c’est de n’\u00eatre pas des saints. ~ L\u00e9on Bloy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The characteristic feature of the great saints is that they get at the very heart of the matter. The most obvious things are invisible because they are concealed in human beings; nothing is harder to evince than what is self-evident. Once it is uncovered or rediscovered, it develops explosive strength. Saint Anthony<\/strong> recognized the power of the solitary man. Saint Francis<\/strong> that of the poor man. Stirner<\/strong> that of the \u201conly\u201d man. At bottom, everyone is solitary, poor, and \u201cunique\u201d in the world. ~ Ernst Junger<\/strong>, Eumeswil<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Saint Francis<\/h2>\n

In his Preparation of the Soul for Contemplation<\/em>, Richard of St. Victor<\/strong> reminds us that many know about contemplation, some by science, others by experience. St. Francis<\/strong> is the exemplar of the latter; Dante\u2019s biographer, Leonardo Bruni, describes him this way:<\/p>\n

\nThe blessed Francis not through science, not through discipline of the schools, but by mental possession and ecstasy, applied his mind so strongly to God that he was transfigured beyond the measure of human sense, and knew more of God than the theologians know through their study or through letters.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Embracing Poverty, St. Francis\u2019s life was itself a Poem. With the Stigmata, God\u2019s presence was visceral to him. The Franciscan friars were always \u201cminor\u201d, so there was no possibility to advance in grades as in an initiatic organization. God decides who belongs to Him, not some club.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there were two who arose together: Saint Francis<\/strong> and Saint Dominic<\/strong>, the Poet and the Philosopher. Both are necessarily joined as explained by the Franciscan Saint Bonaventura<\/strong>. What can the philosopher learn from Saint Francis? Well, besides material poverty there is spiritual poverty. The philosopher, who is poor in spirit, must needs shed the many useless opinions that have been implanted in his soul.<\/p>\n

There are three degrees of knowledge:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Opinion<\/li>\n
  2. Faith<\/li>\n
  3. Understanding<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Faith will spill the space previously held by opinion. Faith cannot be proved through books, since it is an act of the will. It is achieved through a spiritual path of prayer, meditation, worship, and purification. Only afterwards will understanding follow, the only kind of knowledge worthy of the philosopher.<\/p>\n

    Saint Anthony<\/h2>\n

    \nGodliness is an abomination to the sinner. ~ Saint Anthony<\/strong><\/p>\n

    A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. They then dwell in the house next door, and at any moment a flame may dart out and set fire to his own house. Whenever we give up, leave behind, and forget too much, there is always the danger that the things we have neglected will return with added force. ~ Carl Jung<\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    As with Saint Francis, we learn from Saint Anthony that true understanding comes from living, not from abstract intellectual knowledge. Again like Saint Francis, Saint Anthony came from a prosperous family and could have had a cushy life had he wanted it. On the other hand, Saint Anthony chose the life of a solitary hermit rather than life in a brotherhood.<\/p>\n

    Yet that does not make the spiritual life easier. The devil fought Anthony by afflicting him with acedia<\/em>, boredom, laziness, and fantasies of women<\/em>. If you don\u2019t recognize those temptations, or worse, think that they are insignificant, then your spiritual life will be stunted. Whoever is not so tempted cannot be saved. St Anthony said:<\/p>\n

    \nThis is the great work of a man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath. Whoever has not experienced temptation cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Without temptations no one can be saved.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    During a self-imposed lockdown, there is the opportunity to experience the hermit life. Especially for those who are most vulnerable, the awareness of the possibility of death by an invisible bug is palpable. That could be to our advantage. Saint Anthony elaborates:<\/p>\n

    \nIf we so live as people dying daily, we will not commit sin. As we rise daily, let us suppose that we shall not survive until evening and as we prepare for sleep, let us consider that we shall not awaken. Our life is uncertain. If we live this way, we will not sin, nor will we crave anything, nor bear a grudge against anyone.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Many \u201cseekers\u201d search for the next book, or idea, or secret society, but that is a form of evasion. Saint Anthony reminds us that, \u201cThe Kingdom of Heaven is within you.\u201d That refers to our intellectual soul, which needs to be rightly ordered. In his words:<\/p>\n

    \nAll virtue needs is our willing, since it is in us and arises from us. For virtue exists when the soul maintains its intellectual part according to nature.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Finally, we need to avoid the temptation of dialectics. Saint Anthony explained this to some seekers:<\/p>\n

    \nYou want us not to worship God without demonstrated proof from arguments? Does knowledge of God come through arguments or an act of faith? \u2026 Faith comes from the disposition of the soul, but dialectic is from the skill of those who construct it.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Once again we see that understanding follows faith. Do not be deceived by the skill of the sophists.<\/p>\n

    Saint Max<\/h2>\n

    As this rose is a true rose to begin with, this nightingale always\u00a0a true nightingale, so I am not for the first time a true man when I fulfill my calling, live up to my destiny, but I am a \u201ctrue man\u201d from the start. My first babble is the token of the life of a \u201ctrue man\u201d, the struggles of my life are the outpourings of his force, my last breath is the last exhalation of the force of the \u201cman\u201d. The true man does not lie in the future, an object of longing, but lies, existent and real, in the present. ~ Max Stirner<\/strong>, The Ego and its Own<\/em><\/p>\n

    Karl Marx in The Holy Family<\/em> and German Ideology<\/em> ironically referred to Max Stirner as Saint Max. That was because Marx saw him as an obstacle to his revolution. For Marx, not to mention certain occult teachings based upon some law of evolution, the \u201ctrue man\u201d will appear in some distant future.<\/p>\n

    Ownership implies the power to do what one wills with one\u2019s property. So self-ownership, one\u2019s \u201cown\u201d, implies the same. But it is more than just ownership over one\u2019s body, it requires self-mastery over desires, emotions, and thoughts. Junger offers this suggestion:<\/p>\n

    \nIf one manages to separate essence from flesh, if one manages, that is, to get distance from oneself, then one climbs the first step toward spiritual power. Many exercises are geared to this—from the soldier\u2019s drill to the hermit\u2019s meditation. ~ Venator in Eumeswil<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    We could add that today perhaps extreme sports, or even bodybuilding which seems to be a sudden craze in some circles, are means to overcome the lethargy of the body. Yet the physical is just one phase, the childhood of the spiritual life. Saint Max describes the phases:<\/p>\n