Dialogue ~ 11

In Plato’s allegory of the chariot, there is an indication that tensions are at work in the human psyche; our task is to comprehend their nature and become capable of flourishing. There is not a suggestion that the tensions are representative of any inherent flaws of being human or are unhelpful, simply that they are potentials which can shape experience and character. 

It is a given that human creativity and improvisation is such that a multitude of myths or stories have been devised to account for why such tensions exist in the first place; in particular how this relates to human nature, meaning and purpose. 

According to data shared on the BBC website, the concept of 'Original Sin', as explained in depth by St Augustine of Hippo, has become an important doctrine within the Catholic Church. It conveys that people are born sinful; to do bad things and disobey God is inherent to the human condition; it stems from Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. There is an implication that original sin is not only a defect which resides in human nature but there is an element of condemnation which goes along with it; this brings guilt and dissatisfaction into lives and creates a sense of separation between individuals and God; people need to have their souls ‘saved’ in order to transcend the defect of being human. Original sin provides meaning to many Christians, in that it explains to them how it is possible for God to be perfect whilst at the same time there is wrong-doing in the world. 

In some worldviews, death is perceived as a gateway or membrane which separates the physical world and that which is of God or spirit. Determinism vs free will divides; individual responsibility or accountability for what happens in the physical world can be abdicated entirely, perceived as beginning with an act of contrition or is left to an individual to find their own truth and meaning in the world. Further, there is a wide range of views and turmoil with regard to essential needs and of what is desired with that which is practical, moderate or is reasonable human behaviour.

In his work ‘the science of morality’ (1869), the French philosopher Charles-Bernard Renouvier (1815-1903) put forward that it is an individual’s belief in being free which leads them to act for what they judge to be better; it is their rationality which guides them in their choice of ends and is essentially what brings about a moral state. It was for this reason that Renouvier became an opponent of the Catholic Church and urged for people to turn towards Protestantism as a vehicle of individual conscience. 

I have written previously that any purpose of life is to move into the authentic self; being authentic is an expression of freedom and integrity. The authentic self cannot emerge from an act of abiding by any given moral code that is not integral with reality; our purpose is not to create ourselves in our own image but to allow life to reveal to us who we are. The irony is that this requires participation on our part. 

To reiterate: it is through our capacity for reason and free will or autonomy that humans are able to discern an ethos of morality; this moves an individual into authentic expression and reveals order in the world. Contrast this with original sin which conveys that humans are unable to cure themselves of a condition of being flawed and can only be rescued from its consequences by the grace of God (mercy). 

There is a paradoxical nature of being human: an active or attentive component of the will, in which mindfulness, contemplation and an exercise of reason is what leads one into harmony with the world; so too an inactive or submissive component of the will, in which acceptance of God’s love and forgiveness (grace) is what brings about our deliverance. 

Consider that mindfulness, contemplation and reason is love and forgiveness, differing only in how they are revealing themselves and according to how one views? What they have in common is intent; an awakening is in place.   

The Buddha said, ‘what we think, we become’, and I will add, ‘and so the world appears to us’. To paraphrase what Jesus had repeatedly asked of his disciples, ‘have you found the beginning?’ Do we even know which way we are pointing when we set out to navigate the world? It is tricky to locate ourselves in the midst of process.

Dante Alighieri’s poem ‘The Divine Comedy’, describes Dante’s travels through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise or Heaven; the poem serves as an allegorical representation of the afterlife and the soul’s journey towards God. It finishes with Dante experiencing a flash of understanding and of his soul becoming aligned with God’s love. He writes, “But already my desire and my will were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed, by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars.”

I have come across many references to and indications that life is attentiveness and movement; that life does not proceed in any straight, linear or progressive chain of events as the body or attention span perceives it. It is as William Blake so beautifully expressed:

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 

And Eternity in an hour”