Skip to main content

Not really real


It is a feature of modernity, including modern discussions of theology, to not speak of reality, but to speak of theory, of the merits of this or that hypothesis. Conversation is conducted in an artificially constructed world of platonic concepts. It is for this reason that praxis and doxa, or application and theory are separate. Drawing the line from theory to practice becomes very difficult, because the two are in different realities.


Traditional theology makes no distinction between orthodoxy and orthopraxy: the traditional liturgy is both theology and practice at the same time.


It is difficult to live in the geometric world of modern thought, endlessly pushing ideas around and never landing in what is truly real. Traditional Christianity breaks this shell in the incarnation of Christ: we mystically participate in Christ's body and can commune with the angelic abstract. We can finally see the abstract properly land in a body without producing a terrible utopia or a horrific monster.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review of "The Language of Creation" by Matthieu Pageau

The problem we face today (and the problem that nearly all my reading, thinking and writing is centred on) is how to be the Church in the face of modernism. This was a really important book for me and I hope this essay goes some way to explaining why. I will say at the outset that I am simplifying here: pre-modern conceptions of the universe have persisted in the West, but nevertheless, the general trend has been towards abandoning such perspectives, and I am concerned with the overall downward trend, not exceptions. The general problem can be called scientism, that is, that matter is all there is, and thus the scientific method defines all there is to know. This is our basic outlook, and it manifests itself in many different ways, from ideologies as a concept, to consumerism and popular culture. In this way, all metaphysics, religion, spirituality and morality are seen as not based in material reality, and therefore not real, but rather imagined: they are social constructs, complet

My (current) map of reality

This is a highly condensed version of how my map of reality developed; much is left out, and clarity is sacrificed for a packed sentence. My journey began in a tradition that has a deep respect for scripture, especially interpreted 'materialistically' or 'literally'. While there's problems with this, it has the strength of honouring the word of God: I was never persuaded by liberalism, which thinks it knows better than the Bible. My thought has always been that if God has spoken to us through Scripture, perhaps he knows what it means and we don't always, and to hold something in contempt is to place yourself in a position where you cannot understand it. But before I get in really deep, I should explain the basic problem I had, which was essentially a feeling of cognitive dissonance with my experience of the world, knowledge of history, literature, art and science etc, and what the mainline reformed-evangelical protestant church (I will use the word '

The symbolic structure of 'At the Pike's Behest'

If you come across something strange enough, it will transform your identity.  Emelian the fool was a fool and lazy. He was given the chance to better himself by working, but only after some haranguing did he consent to work. His task was to carry water, but when he drew up the water he also drew up a pike. In exchange for not being eaten, the pike said he would grant any wish. And it was so: Emelian wished the buckets to carry themselves home, and they did. In this, we see the ability of a marginal character, the fool, being able to harness chaotic feminine potential, as there is a closeness between the fool and chaos. It is harder for chaos to get the better of the fool because he is too simple, contains too little higher meaning and thus cannot be easily questioned. And so Emelian becomes the identity that directs the potential whereever he desires, and the carrying of water is a perfect representation of this.  The choice to eat the fish is analogous to naming it, integrating it in