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| QUOTATIONS 574-599 |
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| 574. Despite the overwhelming evidences to the contrary, the evidences which could be derived almost daily both from public and private experiences, Humanity stubbornly clings to the notion that the good life is the norm and that the bad things, no matter how frequently and consistently they happen to us, are just temporary aberrations. And because of thus perceived normalcy of The Good it is seldom, if ever, either questioned or analysed.. It seems that only pain and misfortune, by reason of being considered by the majority as abnormal or even unnatural, call for explanation; whereas the pleasure and good fortunes are either simply enjoyed, without giving a second thoughts to it, or recounted in a more or less detailed fashion, as if inviting a reader, a listener or a viewer to partake, if only vicariously, in the joy of the narrator. That is why the historical periods of relative prosperity tend to be conducive to the descriptive or, at best, syncretic modes of public discourse, especially in the intellectual and artistic fields, while the bad times compel the explanatory and analytical approach. The second half of the twentieth century, up to the late eighties was the time of such a prosperity and , as a result, the descriptive was the predominant style of expressions and thoughts. And these times were especially good for those who are mainly responsible for the artistic and intellectual production: the almost inexhaustible shower of endowments, grants, chairs, tenures, etc., etc., pouring out of the veritable cornucopia of public largesse, creating in the recipients the state of being, and consequently, the state of mind of satisfaction and complacency. After all, when things are good why question the causes? Let the good times flow. Unfortunately for our lives, but hopefully beneficial for our intellectual creativity, the good times never last forever. In the early nineties, things had started to go bad, not only for the "ordinary" folks, but for artists and intellectuals as well. And the things are inevitably going to get worse before getting any better, and, as thousands upon thousands of highly educated and creative people would not be able to find gainful employment and personal fulfilment, they would be forced by their individual and collective misery to start questioning, look for and demand the explanation, thus ushering in the new era of analytical thoughts. But there is also another possibility of a much more sinister nature. Since the educated and creative people rarely ( justifiably so) blame themselves for their societal marginality and resulting from it personal misery, they tend to look for the wrongs in the system which had caused it. Consequently, they are the ones who create revolutionary theories, they bring forth Marxes and Lenins, Mussolinis and Hitlers, who provide the masses with the necessary spiritual reasons and ideological forms for their material discontent. And this leads to revolutions. Thus, the society incapable of employing its best educated and creative minority is courting a disaster. 575. The most trivial pronouncements can acquire, by incessant repetition, the appearance of universal significance. Whether by just re-reading the same text again and again, or, which is even more efficacious in producing the above-mentioned results, by assiduously analysing literally every word and phrase of it( which is done quite often with poetry), one almost inevitably is bound to find some hidden meaning and merits, both in substance and in form, where none were apparent before. For there is this inherent power in the words themselves, each of which representing the accumulated experience and the distilled wisdom of the countless preceding generations. Moreover, almost every word is pregnant with the multiplicity of meanings and evokes the variety of emotions and multitude of associations. This power is of such a potency that a mere concentration on a single word is capable of eliciting the most eager response from the reader, a response resonating in his heart and mind. 576. No one wants to be totally unknown. Yet, there is a certain advantage in being "faceless", since one cannot lose what one, to all intents and purposes, does not have. For not being afraid "to lose one's face" frees an individual to be himself both in his behaviour and opinions. That is why the representatives of the lower classes of society behave much more naturally and express their opinions much more sincerely than the members of the upper ones. 577. At the critical point in the development of the Western civilization when science began to stir after more than a thousand years of slumber and started to threaten the omniscience of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas provided the Christian (and any other) religion with the seemingly invincible weapon to used for centuries to come against the ever increasing assaults on Faith by the inexorable progress of Man's knowledge of Nature. According to Thomas Aquinas, since it was God who in creating Man had endowed Him with Reason and scientific abilities - "the knowledge of the principles that are known to us naturally has been implanted in us by God ", nothing that men do can deny the existence of God: " The truth, that the human reason is naturally endowed to know, cannot be opposed to the truth of the Christian faith". Thus, Thomas Aquinas had absolved the Church from the burdensome necessity not only to defend itself from each and every new , and ostensibly undermining the very foundation of faith, scientific discovery ( law of gravity, theory of evolution, etc.), but even to explain it from the theological point of view. Furthermore, since the divine truth as revealed in Scriptures is, by definition, the greatest Truth possible, no other truth, either of angels or mortal men, can ever supersede it. In addition, because the divine truth is twofold, when "one kind of divine truth the investigation of the reason is competent to reach, whereas the other surpasses every effort of reason" and, moreover, when the former (the truth of reason) is presumed to be automatically included as a part in the later (the revealed truth), any attempt to find a contradiction between them is futile, for a part cannot be contrary to the whole - "natural reason cannot be contrary to the truth of faith". By such and similar arguments Thomas Aquinas had erected a wall which made the faith (in the eyes of the Catholic scholars, at least) impregnable to any present or future revolutionary scientific discoveries. It is no wonder, therefore, that seven centuries later his thoughts are still accepted by theologians as one of the profoundest and most creative statements of religious doctrine ever written. 578. The God of Thomas Aquinas is a kind of Universal General Motors, for what is good for Him is good for the whole Universe. He is also "a trickle down" God, since by loving Himself He, being every thing, loves, by extension, everything and everybody else. But above everything else He is The Universal of all universals, The Universal Genus (though T.A. denies it, for genus is an abstract notion having no substance and being independently - the very opposite of what God is supposed to be). 579. Looking at the overwhelming majority of paintings, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that to be a painter one has to have an enormous capacity for self-deception to believe that the pale and often grossly distorted imitations of reality, which even the best of painters often produce, is anything but the frozen caricatures of the living and breathing world. 580. Philosophy may instruct us to compare the relative advantages and disadvantages of various action or inaction, but the vicissitudes of life seldom allow us the freedom of choice. 581. What can be said about a culture that so frequently uses the game of baseball as a universal metaphor? 582. Some people, hopefully the majority and according to their abilities, want to know the world, others, fortunately the minority and in proportion to their ambition, want the world to know them. As a result, the convergence of both those sentiments and attributes in one person is extremely rare. But when it occurs either a great villain or a great hero is produced. Of course, those of us who are inclined to be cynical may even suggest that quite often the difference between the former and the latter is mainly in the eyes of the beholder. 583.The very young, the very old and the very sick - all share in common the need to rely on somebody else's goodness of heart for satisfaction of even the most basic necessities, including essential biological functions of life, as well as the anger and frustration, resulting from the overwhelming sense of absolute powerlessness and total dependence. The child's cry, the elder's demands, the sick's complaints are just the different expressions of the same feelings and emotions. 584. I have never met anyone who did not have an overall positive opinion of oneself or could be convinced otherwise. And even those few who would admit their imperfections or confess their sins, thought of themselves, nevertheless, very highly, for being so self-critical and honest, if for nothing else. 585.Though being optimistic is considered to be a highly desirable state of mind, yet, there is a certain and even a bitter irony hidden in it. For looking at it from a different perspective, discloses a rather unsettling condition of being perpetually not fully satisfied with the present and forever expecting the real happiness in the future. Unless, of course, such an anticipation of the future bliss is in itself the sufficient cause for being happy in the present. 586. If you want to be liked ( and who doesn't) think of those people whom you like yourself - what is it that is likable about them, and then try, as much as you can, to emulate it. 587. As for me, there is no God but Truth, and I am her servant. 588. The more one is different from anyone else, the less one is understood by everybody else. So, to those individuals who are constantly complaining about being misunderstood, I would say ,"Stop complaining, get rid of your ‘individuality' and join the crowd". And I suspect that many eventually do. That is why the crowd is so big, and it is getting bigger and bigger every day. 589. Doing the right thing at a wrong time is still the wrong thing to do. 590. People without a natural sense of humour when trying to sound witty present, in my opinion, one of the most pathetic and ridiculous spectacles of human nature. 591. Once upon a time ( an it must have been a long, long time ago, for it increasingly feels like that) the painters were taught first how to draw, and then how to paint. But nowadays, it often seems as if the major subject of their studies is the rhetoric or art of persuasion. For more and more, the public has to listen to what they are saying ,instead of looking at what they are painting. 592. Generally speaking, people could be divided into the two essentially different classes - to one belong those who feel good about spending money and, correspondingly, bad about saving them, to other - those who feel exactly the opposite - good about saving and bad about spending. By comparison, all other differences between these two contrasting groups should be considered as either derivative or accidental. 593. How strange it is that when I was young and had, literally, my entire life ahead of me, I was willing, so often and so carelessly, to risk it all for the most trifling reasons. Yet now, when I am old and not too much of my life is left (and certainly not the best part of it), why did I become so cautious and fearful, why do I cling so tenaciously to these threadbare remnants of my former self? 594. The problem with being flexible and going with the flow is that one has neither knowledge of nor control over the final destination. In addition, as one is constantly trying to adapt to the "ways of the world" to make one's life easier, there is always a risk of being gradually and insensibly corrupted in such a process of adaptation to the world, which is essentially corrupt ( and probably was made this way by numerous reciprocal adaptations). That is why even those who pride themselves the most on being worldly wise can never ger rid of the gnawing doubts whether they are that "smart" after all. On the other hand, the problem with being true to oneself, inflexible, uncompromising and, as an inevitable result, a "rebel" and a "fighter", is that one does not know how much one can take before breaking down, or has to take in order to succeed, and whether, considering the possibility of both outcomes, the later will happen before the former. And so, even under the best scenario, each of these opposite characters could be equally surprised and terribly disappointed if after seemingly winning so many little battles (either by adapting or by fighting, according to their respective inclination) both finally lose the war and end up as failures. It is clear, therefore, that neither of these two contrasting types of behaviour can guarantee its respective practitioners the desirable results, and that is why the answer to the question which one, even from a purely pragmatical point of view, is preferable, remains uncertain. What is certain, however, is that no one can presume to be smarter than Life, or as the ancient Greeks called it Fate. 595. For a woman who doesn't want to be married to her "father", the only alternative is to be married to her "son". For a man who doesn't want to be married to his "mother", the only alternative is to be married to his "daughter". The choice is always between either being controlled (and, as a consolation prize, to be more or less tacitly allowed to relinquish most of the usual responsibilities which come with marriage), or to control (and, as the price, to assume the greatest proportion of them). Unfortunately, the golden mean of the equal sharing both of power and responsibility in a marital relationship is an unattainable utopia. 596. A national character reveals itself, among the other things, also in a national religion, which signifies, however, not what a nation possesses, but, to the contrary, what it lacks both in spirituality and in morals. 597. Everyone is different from anybody else not only in how one looks, which is the most obvious, but, what is more important, in how one feels, thinks, what one likes or dislikes, etc... And since what we are is, indisputably, "our nature", the nature of everyone is somewhat, to a greater or lesser degree, different from all the rest, and there is no such thing as one general "human nature", unless, of course, it is taken in a very abstracted from all the individual peculiarities way. In reality, there are only numerous particular "natures". Therefore, to act according to Nature, as Stoics enjoin us, can only be effected in the real life through an act in accordance with an individual nature of each person. Which everybody does anyway, without conscious efforts on his or her part. For it is as "natural" for a thief to take as for a benefactor to give, for a profligate to waste as for a thrifty to save etc. Again, to act according to one's respective "natures" (and there are no others) is the most natural thing for any individual to do. So, what Stoics are actually asking people to do, either without admitting or without realizing it, is to behave unnaturally for them and to follow some artificially constructed uniform way of life. Though, for the sake of fairness, it has to be acknowledged that Stoics themselves, in the rare moments of self-doubts (for even the most dogmatic philosophers, unlike the religious thinkers, have such moments) frankly confess the virtual impossibility of it. 598. There was a tendency among the ancient Greek philosophers, which was latter appropriated and imitated by the Christian theologians for their own purpose, to relentlessly use and abuse the meaning, the connotations, and the ambiguities inherent in a term "perfect" and such synonymic permutation thereof as "complete", "superior", "noble", "highest", etc.. Plato, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas (to name just a few and the most illustrious practitioners) either without realizing or conveniently forgetting that any superlative in the infinitely complex and forever changing world represents a highly abstract notion of a limit that could never be reached, had widely and indiscriminately used those terms as one of the most crucial points of departure in their numerous "proofs" of what could not and should not ever have been tried to be proven. 599. To develop the arguments in support of his ideas regarding problems of Creation in Summa Contra Gentiles, St. Thomas Aquinas uses as one of the central premises the essentially Aristotelian notion ( but which even Aristotle would have had some difficulties to claim the exclusive authorship of) that "every agent intends to introduce its likeness into its effect". But if one accepts this premise as true, then reciprocally the reverse notion, i.e. " the likeness of the effect" should be found in the agent", has to be also admitted, keeping in mind, of course, which one is prior and which is posterior. Again, according to Thomas Aquinas, God as the agent had created both form and matter which in their composition constitute the created things. It is obvious also that the created things are endowed with certain attributes and capacities, including in the animate things the faculties of sense perception through which they acquire knowledge. Now, the likeness of those sensory and epistemic capacities must be present in the Creator for He, ex-hypothesi, could not have created anything likeness of which He does not possess. Thus, the Creator must also be endowed with the sense -perception capabilities, though admittedly in a form specific to His substance and according to His unique manner of being. By using His sense-perception the Creator can acquire knowledge in a manner analogous to Man's. In this way, the contradiction between Man's free will, which presupposes and entails accidental events, and God's foreknowledge, which necessitates predetermination of such future events, could be resolved by allowing God what Man is capable of - to know universals universally, i.e. determinately, and particulars particularly, i.e. as governed in part by the accidents of free choice. For one cannot, ex-hypothesi, deny to the Creator what a created thing possesses. On the contrary, as the Creator, He should possess them in the highest degree, in addition to others infinite in number and excellence attributes which particular creature is lacking. As fas as the specific mode of God's sense-perception is concerned, again if God is infinite He must be everywhere, both in the invisible world and in the world of the created things, for to deny Him the latter would destroy His infinity. And since He is everywhere infinitely He must be in the infinitely close contact with each and everyone of the created things. Thus, the question of how God derives His knowledge of the particular things is solved. For having immediate contact with the created things, unlike the animate creatures who have to use media like ,for example, sound and light waves acting on sense organs, God accesses the things directly by permeating them with his power: "But, since contact of power, which appertains to intellectual substances, extends to the innermost things, it makes the touching substance to be within the things touched, and to penetrate it without hindrance" (S.C.G.,II, Chap.56,Par.9). |
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