{"id":8093,"date":"2015-05-08T00:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T04:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=8093"},"modified":"2020-05-08T21:58:42","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T01:58:42","slug":"meditations-on-the-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=8093","title":{"rendered":"Meditations on the Body"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>\nYou were a model of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty; in Eden, the garden of God. ~ Ezek 23:12-13\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019ve been doing some preparation for the upcoming discussion on the sexes from an esoteric perspective. Besides the obvious sources, I started reading <cite>The Theology of the Body<\/cite> by <strong>Pope John Paul II<\/strong>. I was more than a little surprised by what I read. As in any such work, the method is more important than the conclusion; the conclusion will make sense only by wrestling with the process.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, this is a reflection just on chapter 1 which deals with the method. There are several themes which we have already addressed, showing the possibilities that can still be extracted from the Tradition. As such, the method is important in its own right, and not merely as a philosophically sophisticated justification of the doctrines on sexuality (the outcome is never in doubt). The real fruits will come when it is applied to other areas. I\u2019ve highlighted several themes from my notes that warrant discussion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Opposition to modernity as defined by Bacon, Descartes, Kant<\/li>\n<li>Phenomenology as Hermetic meditation<\/li>\n<li>Subjectivity vs objectivity<\/li>\n<li>The relationship between experience and revelation<\/li>\n<li>Notion of the Person<\/li>\n<li>Nondual body\/mind. Man as male and female<\/li>\n<li>Biblical texts as myth<\/li>\n<li>John of the Cross<\/li>\n<li>Self-mastery<\/li>\n<li>Tranquil witness of consciousness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While a pope has to be circumspect about what he writes, we are free to be more speculative in drawing out the logical conclusions and place these ideas in a wider context.<\/p>\n<h2>Modernity<\/h2>\n<p>The primary reason that a refutation of the modern project is impossible is that it is perfectly logical within its own presuppositions, much like an alternative geometry is to the Euclidean. If you change one axiom, the rest ineluctably follows. What is necessary, therefore, is the refutation of the axiom. For that task, the <i>ratio<\/i>, or rational mind is inadequate. Rather, only the <i>intellectus<\/i>, or higher mind can accomplish it. This is the \u201cintellectual conversion\u201d that Guenon refers to. If the modern world is an illusion, only the truth can dispel it. But the truth must be \u201cseen\u201d or \u201cintuited\u201d, not discovered by reason, or philosophy, or scientific experiment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Francis Bacon<\/strong> inaugurated the modern project when he eliminated formal and final causes from his philosophy. As a methodological assumption, it turned out to be quite powerful, leading to scientific discoveries and technological advances. The problem arises when the Bacon\u2019s method is extended beyond that limited domain. Allegedly scientific theories about the origins of the universe, life, man, and society turn out to be destructive. The neglect of formal causes implies that the material world exists on its own and is self-explanatory. The denial of final causes implies that meaningless not just of the world, but also of man. There can be nothing \u201cnatural\u201d beyond what we experience because nothing has a purpose beyond that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rene Descartes<\/strong> took the next step. For him, the body is part of the material world and consciousness is detached from it, with no clear relationship. This leads to <strong>Arthur Schopenhauer<\/strong>\u2019s famous question in the introduction to the <cite>World as Will and Idea<\/cite>: where exactly is the scientist in his theory? How does he explain himself? Specifically, where is he at the \u201cbig bang\u201d or the \u201corigin of the species\u201d? He claims to be an objective observer at those events, but that is clearly an absurdity.<\/p>\n<p>JPII challenges this project radically. The body, for him, is never inert matter, but rather a fully integrated body\/spirit. The very experience of bodiness forms the basis for his meditations.<\/p>\n<h2>The Turn to Interiority<\/h2>\n<p>Although JPII Does not reject the metaphysic of being, he is more interested in exploring the states of consciousness described in the Genesis story, rather than understanding it simply as objective fact. This has led to criticism in some quarters. However, the insistence on pure objectivity, if taken too far, implies that even atheists can be theologians (such is the case). Theology becomes a \u201clanguage game\u201d with a set of rules that anyone can follow.<\/p>\n<p>Now such an approach is not arbitrary subjectivity, from which many theological deviations arise. Rather, it is more like the way theology is understood in the East, as <i>theoria<\/i>, i.e., the theologian must actually \u201cknow\u201d God, not just talk &#8220;about&#8221; God.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, theology is not so much logic, but is based on the \u201cinterior gaze\u201d as JPII expresses it. Confusion may arise because the distinction between the <i>psyche<\/i> or soul and the <i>intellectus<\/i> or spirit is poorly understood. At the soul level, experience is indeed merely subjective. However, paradoxically, the spirit is totally objective. It is the \u201cwitness to conscience\u201d as JPII puts it.<\/p>\n<p>The story of creation is \u201cprehistory\u201d, since it cannot be understood in terms of history or science. JPII describes it as a \u201cmyth\u201d and relies on figures such as <strong>Mircea Eliade<\/strong>, <strong>Carl Jung<\/strong>, among others to grasp mythological symbols in their fullness. Note that this does not mean JPII denies that something \u201chappened\u201d, but he proposes a way to understand it.<\/p>\n<p>He calls this method phenomenology, but it is not your grandfather\u2019s phenomenology. Actually it is more like the <a href=\"?p=7539\">Hermetic meditation<\/a> described by <strong>Valentin Tomberg<\/strong>. He even refers to the lectures as \u201cmeditations\u201d. So JPII uses the Biblical narrative to explore ever deeper levels of psychic layers. The main topics are \u201coriginal innocence\u201d, \u201coriginal solitude\u201d, the origin of shame, what it means to be embodied.<\/p>\n<p>The objective text is insufficient. That is, revelation needs to be related to experience; it is not some incredible belief without relevance to life.<\/p>\n<h2>Sex<\/h2>\n<p>Now Adam\u2019s original state was solitude. Although he named, or knew, all the animals, none were suitable companions to him. With Eve came the awareness of being embodied as male and female. Now this brings up an interesting point about how sex is related to humanity.<\/p>\n<p>Definitions can be conventional or real. A conventional definition, for example, includes types of triangles (equilateral, isosceles). A type of triangle is still a triangle, it has the property \u201ctriangularity\u201d. Hence, the distinction is conventional and is made for convenience and communication.<\/p>\n<p>A real definition includes genus and difference, e.g., \u201cman is a rational animal\u201d. Man is of the genus \u201canimal\u201d, and what distinguishes him is \u201crationality\u201d. So he is both animal and not-animal. Of course, the scientific project rejects that notion, and regards man as just a \u201ctype\u201d of animal. Rationality is a matter of degree not qualitative distinction.<\/p>\n<p>So what then is sex? Is it more like a type of triangle? That is the modern view that regards one\u2019s sex as somewhat arbitrary, and a person can therefore reassign or redefine his own sexuality. That is rejected.<\/p>\n<p>But is it not of the second kind, since both male and females are fully human, and not different species of the genus \u201chuman\u201d? JPII writes that sex is \u201cconstitutive for the person\u201d not an \u201cattribute of the person\u201d. Thus it is not conventional; it is essential to who one is, not accidental.<\/p>\n<p>Thus there are differences between male and female. For example, man is the knower, woman is known, i.e., man is conscious.<\/p>\n<h2>Self-mastery<\/h2>\n<p>In the Baconian project, every problem is presumed to have a technological solution. The body is no different from any other material object, so surgery, drugs, genetic manipulation, and other techniques are employed to solve existential issues.<\/p>\n<p>However, for JPII, the human person is called to self-mastery. That is, the person is master of the body or, in Hermetic terms, the \u201csubtle rules the dense\u201d. Obviously this is also Evola\u2019s position when he writes of an inner autarchy.<\/p>\n<p>Now to be free is to be free of constraints. JPII points out that a \u201cdrive\u201d is just an inner constraint. On the other hand, for the modern mind, freedom is the ability to act on one\u2019s \u201cinstinctual\u201d drives. Any \u201cvoice\u201d that opposes that misunderstanding is experienced as a threat. From that perspective, happiness should be the result of such acting out. In other words, \u201cthe dense rules the subtle\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This false maxim is taken to the extreme by Marxism, for which the forms of consciousness are determined by the material aspects of life. Since few people bother to understand the root thoughts of their worldview, they may hold Marxist ideas even while denying it. For example, the notion that all social problems can be \u201csolved\u201d by more education, programs, etc. is such a view. While a good regime is known for bringing peace and prosperity, it also requires a population that is able to exercise a certain measure of self-control.<\/p>\n<h2>Further Directions<\/h2>\n<p>This method of phenomenology can be applied into new areas. Since the focus of<br \/>\n<cite>The Theology of the Body<\/cite> is on marriage and procreation, there is still much more to be said about being embodied as a man. There is the meditation on \u201coriginal innocence\u201d, as JPII says:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nOriginal innocence conceived in this way manifests itself as a tranquil witness of consciousness that precedes any experience of good and evil.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Obviously, the \u201cwitness\u201d state is not descriptive, as phenomenology claims to be, but rather prescriptive. That is, it is a task and is therefore \u201creal\u201d only for those able to achieve such a state. Elsewhere, he writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nMan is the causal origin of actions and at the same time the author of their meanings.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thus, a man must act consciously, understanding the meaning and consequences of what he does, for a determinate aim. Much of human activity is meaningless.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, rationality in the animal is virtual in most cases. A man\u2019s task, then, is to actualize that quality. We can quickly mention:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A life lived in accordance with reason<\/li>\n<li>Becoming free from irrational drives, emotions, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Taking responsibility for one\u2019s actions<\/li>\n<li>Recognizing the personhood of others, not treating them as objects<\/li>\n<li>Achieving an inner state of calm and detachment<\/li>\n<li>Letting the subtle rule the dense<\/li>\n<li>Becoming the witness of consciousness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These qualities, and more, deserve studies of their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You were a model of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty; in Eden, the garden of God. ~ Ezek 23:12-13 I\u2019ve been doing some preparation for the upcoming discussion on the sexes from an esoteric perspective. Besides the obvious sources, I started reading The Theology of the Body by &hellip; <span class=\"continue-reading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=8093\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1130,1129],"class_list":["post-8093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","tag-pope-john-paul-ii","tag-theology-of-the-body"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8093"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12091,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8093\/revisions\/12091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}