Truth from the Heart: encounter

Total Recall: The Surprising Way You Are Sabotaging Your Spiritual Life and How to Avoid It

6:00:00 AMStephanie Culy

This Easter season, the LORD has definitely been convicting me of ignorance in my relationship with him. This has primarily taken the form of reassessing the amount of time I (don’t) spend with Scripture.

I love Scripture. I love how it contains layer upon layer of meaning, like topographical overlays. There have been whole books dedicated to discovering the nuances of these layers: from its historical, moral, typological, and even anagogical senses. Pursuit of these studies has truly fostered within me a love of the poetry God writes through history and how we can truly trust that he continues to do so today. Right now. In our very lives.

But recently, the LORD has clarified for me the distinction between reading about the Scriptures and...actually reading them. I may know a lot about the Scriptures and the beautiful theology they contain, but to know about someone and to actually know them are two entirely different things.

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In other words, if you are tied up studying about God at the expense of truly entering into relationship with him by spending time in his written Word, then you are heading down a path that will ultimately sabotage your spiritual life. Because to know God in a personal way compared to simply knowing many facts about him is the only thing that distinguishes the Christian from merely the academic. As St. James so pointedly reminds us: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19).

Having knowledge about God cannot be regarded as equal to knowing God.

Hildebrand makes the same distinction in What is Philosophy? when he expounds on the differences in degrees and kinds of knowledge: “If a primitive stage of having knowledge of something is reached by taking cognizance of it in a perception, new acts of taking cognizance of the same object will lead, step by step, to a more adequate and complete possession of it.”

I know; there’s a lot there. To translate, Hildebrand advises that you don’t truly and intimately know someone or something except by a regular, “step-by-step” process of interacting with (“taking cognizance of”) the subject. To put it simply, you don’t build Rome in a day. Nor does any long-lasting relationship form from sparse encounters. Your spiritual life with God is no different.

A new tree needs to be watered not with sporadic influxes of water, but by a slow, steady drip. This encourages the roots to dive deep and adds stability, rather than spreading broadly and ultimately rendering the roots ineffective. Similarly, we often have the tendency of spreading ourselves too thin. We focus on outreach or impact while neglecting the demand for continuing formation, both for others and ourselves.

There needs to be a balance. The Church has always talked about the duality of vocation as mission and communion: outreach and deepening fellowship. Both are to feed one another in zeal and stability. As our baptismal call dictates, we are to reach out to the marginalized as well as those who have not heard the Good News of Christ. But this should not and cannot take the place of nourishing those already gathered into the flock by such efforts. If you need a reminder, this also includes you. But we cannot do this merely by sporadic immersion. We cannot simply attend a retreat once a year and expect ourselves to be rejuvenated and empowered for the long haul.

We cannot live in freedom for one day and allow ourselves to be enslaved to the demands of this world for another 364 days. It just doesn’t add up.

And how do we do this? We need to ensure we are maintaining the balance of mission and communion in our own spiritual lives. In my experience (and I am sure many others) it is easy to spread ourselves too thin: whether it be for occupation, ministry, family, or other opportunities. Much of the time, we justify our self-inflicted chaos because the need seems so great and the harvesters, so few.

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This is when we need to remember the words of Christ: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We need to return to these words, not as an excuse to give up nor as an agitation to more stubbornly pursue independence, but as an act of self-preservation.

We need to remember to step back and allow ourselves to experience wonder, give ourselves time to be still, and to detach from our perpetual to-do lists. In order to live the Christian life, and “have it abundantly” (John 10:10) we need to know God, and to know him is to spend quality time listening to his word. Day by day, year by year, into eternity.

encounter featured human rights

Why is Pope Francis shunning rights language?

6:00:00 AMAlexander S. Anderson

Professor Samuel Moyn points out something rather fascinating about Pope Francis. That is, despite the fact that Pope Francis is often seen as being to the ideological “left” of his predecessors Pope Saint John Paul and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, he has not presented the Church’s teaching in terms of human rights, as they did.

This isn’t to say that his views have drastically changed from theirs - we have no reason to doubt Pope Francis claim that he does “not speak to you with my voice alone, but in continuity with the words of my predecessors.” (1) In fact, he continues to speak strongly on immigration, the poor, and the right to life.

He’s just not using the language of rights that we have become accustomed to. Why? Moyn thinks that part of the reason is that the problems the pope wishes to point out are more structural problems where the language of rights simply isn’t that helpful. As Moyn puts it: “It is not so much that he has dropped human rights as that he is more interested in structural problems that individual rights do not solve and often perpetuate.”

Problems like poverty, the “throwaway culture” (2) of modern consumer capitalism, and the worldwide crises of migrants seems to demand a more structural approach, and even a more personal approach, than is usually offered by the often cold and individualistic language of human rights.

Some credence toward this thesis might be offered by Pope Francis’s reviving the “human rights” language not for any of the above-mentioned causes, but for the more reliably “conservative” issue of conscientious objection to gay marriage or the birth control mandate.

I think there’s another way to go at this issue, though. Moyn argues that the Catholic embrace of human rights is of very recent vintage, and this seems undeniable. Popes as recent as the late nineteenth century eyed rights very warily, as Pope Leo XIII attests:

It is quite unlawful to demand, to defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, of speech, or writing, or of worship, as if these were so many rights given by nature to man. For, if nature had really granted them, it would be lawful to refuse obedience to God, and there would be no restraint on human liberty. (4)

Moyn thinks that this suspicion of rights began to change in the years between the first and second world wars, especially among personalists such at Jacques Maritain. But he, too, denied the sort of rights that Pope Leo XIII decries above, saying that they derive from an “erroneous individualist metaphysics.” Instead, Maritain links his acceptance of human rights with natural law. Natural law is eternal, but positive law (how we understand and implement the natural law) changes. Each particular time period and culture manifests the natural law in different way through their positive law. So “Maritain is able to carve out the space for a justification of human rights as the specific form assumed by the Christian conception of natural law in the context of modernity.” (5)

If we take this specific understanding of human rights, then, it is a time-bound thing, a specific way of understanding how humans are to follow the natural law in a specific, particular circumstance. If this is the case, perhaps Pope Francis thinks that these particular circumstances have passed away or will pass away. Or perhaps he thinks this specific language is losing the moral force it once had.

We can see this in the pope’s stress, again and again, of encounter. It’s easy to simply “respect” or “give space to” someone when we view their dignity in terms of rights. Pope Francis desires that our response to the poor, the sick, and the refugee is something more than that, something that requires an intimate encounter with the other. This, I think, is why Pope Francis is shunning human rights talk.

Pope Francis, as quoted by John Allen, “Francis 2.0 emerges in America: Pope and Church are a package deal,” Crux, Sept. 23, 2015.
Samuel Moyn, “Pope Francis has given up on human rights. That’s a good thing,” The Washington Post, Sept. 17, 2015.
Pope Francis, “Pope decries ‘throwaway culture’, calls for generational solidarity,” Vatican Radio, June 16, 2014.
Pope Leo XIII, Libertas, encyclical, June 20, 1888.

Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, “From personalism to liberalism?” The Immanent Frame, June 11, 2015.

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encounter love philosophy

Why Bother?

1:24:00 PMUnknown

The first time I took a Philosophy class, I had no idea what to expect. The class was Metaphysics, and the subject matter was a complete mystery to me. The only thing I thought I knew about philosophy was that everyone was supposed to have one. I identified philosophy as the code by which a person lived their life, whatever fortune-cookie catch phrase they could apply to every life situation.

Now, I see philosophy as the undercurrent to which my life flows, but I don’t see it as an arbitrary choice, I see it as the truth.

At times, when I tell people that my major is philosophy, they seem to think that I spend class times trying to answer impossible questions. Could God create a stone that he couldn’t lift? If a tree falls down in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Why did the chicken cross the road? To them, this is a meaningless pastime. But Philosophy is not about these trite questions, it is about issues that affect everyone on a fundamental level.

My very first Philosophy teacher began the class by informing us that “Philosophy”, as translated from the original Greek, means “love of wisdom”. I thought that was a beautiful sentiment, but I didn’t really know what it meant. Love itself is a difficult concept to grasp; it can only really be understood by experience. As I get older, I learn more about what this means. Love is active, it pursues. It is a conscious, constant effort to care for and improve relationships.

Wisdom is also something to be experienced.

As a young student, with very little experience, I was daunted by the idea of striving for such a lofty goal. Most other subjects endeavor to impart knowledge, but Philosophy endeavors to impart wisdom. However, my teacher claimed that the first step to wisdom is to admit that you do not know anything. This is an easy step for me; I freely admit that I have an awful lot to learn.

So what am I doing?

What am I learning about in class? If love and wisdom can only be experienced, why am I investing time and money into studying this topic in school? I study Philosophy in order to identify Truth when I encounter it. I am pursuing Truth. To know what actually is, is my real aim. To do so, I must be able to recognize when I find it.

Training in this area may not seem necessary, but it is. Any moviegoer can talk about what they thought of a film. They can express their impressions and opinions, but we still look to movie critics for a more refined outlook. Why? Because they are trained. They have studied film; they can recognize and express certain motifs and subtleties that most people vaguely perceive. This seems like a subtle difference, but applied to Philosophy, it means a lot.

One of the ways that learning about Philosophy has changed me is in the way I interact with people. I consider myself to be rather introverted, so I often find myself avoiding conversations and interactions with people, particularly strangers. I’ve always known that everyone is unique and that everyone matters, but I had never really understood the depths of this truth until I began to study Philosophy. Reading, thinking, and conversing about the unrepeatability of persons has given me a different perspective. I’m still an introvert, but my consideration of these truths has caused me to be more open to interpersonal interactions. I’ll smile at someone when I walk by instead of avoiding their eye or chat with someone I know instead of just saying ‘Hi’.

Actively thinking about the intrinsic value of people has given me a greater appreciation for them.

Philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom, of Truth. I am so grateful for my studies. Through this major, I get to struggle with ideas that have been considered for centuries. But this kind of training is not just for students, it’s paramount for everyone. Books, blogs, articles, talks, seminars:

these are all tools that we can use to study Philosophy outside the classroom. It is important to have proper training in this area to recognize that which we experience. If we cannot recognize the truth when we encounter it, then experience is useless in this area.

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Lindsay Russell

I am an aspiring Philosopher. I like to think about philosophy underlying daily life. I love dark chocolate, red wine, Tim Horton's Iced Capps and pickles. I love to travel and I want to see the Northern Lights before I die. I once bought a car I couldn't drive.

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encounter in defense of purity responsive

Autopilot and Appetites

6:00:00 AMMeredith Kuzma

aesthetics art beautiful

Beauty's Beholder

6:00:00 AMChase J. Cloutier

Beauty moves the heart like nothing else. Beautiful things have a magical power over us; they enchant us and evoke awe in us. They move us to wonder at reality. In my last post, I discussed how beautiful works of art make us yearn for Beauty itself. In this post, I want to examine a popular saying about beauty.

An often heard phrase on beauty, perhaps the most often heard, is the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." What is the meaning of this phrase? Usually, one who uses this phrase means to say that what counts as beautiful depends upon who is looking. Considering a specific piece of art, some people will think it is beautiful and others will not. It depends on the tastes of the observer.

But there is another meaning that this phrase may carry. Whenever some observer recognizes that an object is beautiful, they must perceive it to be so. The beauty has to pass through their eye, so to speak. The beauty is "in" their eye at that moment. In any aesthetic experience, that is, in any experience of the beautiful, you need a subject and an object. You need a beautiful object and a subject who is able to experience the object.

However, this does not mean that beauty is completely reducible to the subject. If the beauty of your favorite music were based on nothing more than your fanciful thinking, it would empty all meaning out of the experience. The experience of beauty would then be likened to an illusion or a hallucination. To invest this meaning in the object would be to ignore and avoid the object as it is in reality.

On the contrary, beauty is able to hold such a powerful sway over us because this beauty is, first of all, in the object. An object of great beauty asserts itself in our experience as beautiful. It demands a response from us. Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is a work of such exceeding beauty that millions of people over hundreds of years have recognized its majesty. To dismiss such a work as utterly worthless would be to do it an injustice. The work itself has beauty. If you disagree, you have not yet truly perceived its beauty.

Still, because a subject is required for an aesthetic experience to take place, the state of the observer is very important. What does it take for a painting like Van Gogh’s Starry Night to be appreciated by an onlooker? If one is unfamiliar with post-impressionist paintings, Starry Night might strike one as somewhat strange and unreal. Yet there is a captivating beauty revealed to the one who is patient enough to grow accustomed to this style. For a variety of reasons, if a subject is not prepared and able, then he may fail to see the beauty of this object. It may be his unfamiliarity with the style, his overfamiliarity with this kind of work, or his inability to see the work clearly.

The aesthetic experience is full of light and meaning and yet we tend to disagree about beauty. Why is this? It is because the aesthetic experience is an encounter of a subject and an object. Some will recognize a beautiful thing and others will not. The beholder, once he has received the splendor of beauty, ought to rejoice in this encounter. Beauty cannot be reduced to mere opinion but it does have a rich subjective dimension. Beauty is in the thing but it is also in the eye of the beholder.
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Dietrich von Hildebrand’s masterful two volume treatment of beauty entitled Aesthetics is a forthcoming publication of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project. Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889. Museum of Modern Art, New York City. (source) Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, c. 1503-1517. Musee du Louvre, Paris. (source)

Christmas encounter response

We Have Seen His Glory

6:00:00 AMUnknown

The idea of God becoming man is absolutely mind-blowing. It’s difficult to wrap your head around! The Logos became incarnate “for us men and for our salvation.” The Incarnation of God transcends any earthly concept of change that we have. A common theme in von Hildebrand’s writings is the transformation effected in Christ. He says that our hearts are transformed in loving God above all things and loving all things in God.

Christ comes to restore our approach to love. He fulfilled the ordo amoris or the “order dictated by love” by teaching us that natural goods endowed with high value call for a response by teaching us to love all things in their proper place. This is a call to love everything as God loves. In the wonder of the Incarnation, we're taught to change the way we view the universe. He showed us how to see in all things a reflection of God’s own infinite beauty.

“The Son of God became man so that we might become God.” - St. Athanasius

Those who encounter Christ do not leave unchanged. Just as when He walked the earth, so now, those who follow Christ have been moved at their core. Countless witnesses of the events of His life were transformed. We can examine the ones present at the Nativity and their motivation for coming to do Him homage.

In the Nativity story, the Shepherds and Wisemen are a prime example of true value response. Value response is not based on the observations of empirical facts. It is not the “what is” but “what ought to be” or what is “worthy" to be. Von Hildebrand describes value-response as being “enraptured by a high and noble affectivity” (125). Mary, Joseph, the wise men and the shepherds gave the adequate response to Jesus. They knew this birth of the Messiah was a valid moment which demanded their full reverence. They were called to respond to Christ with the gift of their very selves. As witnesses of Christ’s Nativity, they were privileged to a significant moment of encounter, a moment of transcendence.

When man responds to what is truly important, he goes beyond himself. In going beyond himself, he is transformed. This is exactly what took place in Bethlehem that holy night. In the gift of His grace, God perfects us and brings us to a new level of existence. In giving him a proper response, the prominent figures at the Nativity did not leave unchanged. They worshipped the Christ Child. They responded to this, the Son of God, who is worthy to be praised.

Today, we approach the manger 2000 years later with the same motivation. “Let us realize how life, nay the entire world, becomes more meaningful, more beautiful, more glorious” in Christ’s Incarnation” (126).

The Word became flesh. Indeed we have seen His glory. And we are transformed.

Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Heart: An Analysis of Human and Divine Affectivity (South Bend: St. Augustine's Press, 2007).

Madonna and Child Image Source

beauty contemplation encounter

Recollect thyself

9:48:00 AMChase J. Cloutier

At times I find my thoughts flying from one thing to the next. I need to buy more groceries; my next project at work is due Tuesday; I liked that song I heard on the radio; I wonder what I’ll have for dinner… We tend to consider it normal that we are almost continuously distracted. And at the end of the day, we wonder why no object seems to hold our fascination or satisfy our interest. Even the most exciting things only hold our attention momentarily.

Have you ever felt the need to collect yourself? Whenever one feels aloof or dispersed, as it were, there is a need to recollect oneself. Withdrawing from the periphery, we look for something truly deep -- the valuable, the truly important. When we are recollected, a certain blurriness and fog is cleared and that which is before us comes into focus. We are present to it and it is present to us.

A view of Paris from the Louvre

When I studied abroad this past spring, I had the chance to see some magnificently beautiful works of art. Paintings, sculptures, architecture -- you name it. In some instances, a particularly powerful work of art would jump out and strike me. It would pull me into its sphere of influence and call forth wonder from my heart. But it would also present to me a challenge. There was a hidden meaning or treasure that required my full attention. The more fully recollected I was, the more fully I could appreciate the beauty before me.

In a chapter on "Recollection and Contemplation", von Hildebrand speaks of the necessity of a focused attention in coming to encounter objects in the world around us. "Recollection is a condition of all truly wakeful and deep modes of living..." (1) When we open ourselves to that which is essential, we move beyond the merely superficial. We enter into a fully awakened state. Too often we remain asleep to the marvels that surround us in our everyday life. We may even fail to acknowledge those people we meet in their full significance as persons. There is so much more to the human person than something to catch our fancy or stave off boredom. In every human person there is a whole world of experience, the inner life of a unique subject who demands reverence. And this kind of reverence requires recollection. But how can we be fully recollected?

In order to be truly recollected, one must make room for silence. In the moment of solitude, away from all the busyness of the day, things begin to fall in place. The proper order of things in their importance becomes clear. Also, in recollection I enter into a sort of rest. The tension of focusing on the object in contemplation involves a relaxation from other concerns. Set free from worry about the passing moment, I can now dwell within myself in true simplicity. I realize who I am and I come to possess myself. It is on this basis that I can give myself in contemplation.

In contemplation I allow the true meaning and the full depth of the object to unfold before me. I realize the full import of this object. And in opening up to the object, my own being is actualized in its depths. The object might be a beautiful work of art, the excellence of the virtue of charity, or the glory of another human soul. And, ultimately, von Hildebrand will say that it is the contemplation of God alone which has the potential to bring one’s entire life into a unity. The light of God can illumine every aspect of our lives.

Emerge from the superficial and immerse in the meaningful.

There is a great need in our society for a renewed presence of mind. We have lost our touch with the world around us and the persons in it. So, I say to you: Recollect thyself. Emerge from the superficial and immerse in the meaningful. Encounter each unrepeatable person you meet. Experience the depths of beauty in everyday life. Allow the full grandeur of being to be impressed upon you. Awake, o sleeper! Come to life again with newly opened eyes.

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1. "Recollection and Contemplation" in Transformation in Christ (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2001) 105. Photo by Chase J. Cloutier.

Total Recall: The Surprising Way You Are Sabotaging Your Spiritual Life and How to Avoid It

Why is Pope Francis shunning rights language?

Pope Francis, “Pope decries ‘throwaway culture’, calls for generational solidarity,” Vatican Radio, June 16, 2014.

Why Bother?

Autopilot and Appetites

Beauty's Beholder

We Have Seen His Glory

Recollect thyself

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