Francis Berger's Blog, page 55
December 25, 2022
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all who read and comment here!
December 24, 2022
Unfortunately, Not Everyone is in the Christmas Spirit Around Here
It's Christmas Eve, and my wife took some photos of our tree. 
And zooming in to what's under the tree . . . 
And zooming in to what's under the tree . . .
December 23, 2022
A Brief Observation About "Saving Matt Damon" Films
In the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, the United States Department of War orders a detachment to rescue Private James Francis Ryan, played by Matt Damon, from behind enemy lines following the Omaha Beach landings on June 6, 1944. Why? Because the Ryan family back home in America had already lost three of its four sons to the war. To put this into the proper perspective, the US War Department was willing to risk the lives of an entire detachment of men for the sake of the Ryan family's fourth son.
The film's premise was very loosely adapted from the story of the Nilands, a family from upstate New York who, it was believed, had also lost three sons of its four sons to the war. When the War Department learned of this, it brought the only known surviving son -- Frederick "Fritz" Niland -- back the US. Of course, the department didn't dispatch an entire detachment of men to rescue Fritz or anything. It just ordered him onto a plane or boat and shipped him home. Later on, it turned out that another Niland brother, who had been assumed dead, was alive in a Japanese POW camp.
In The Martian (2015) Matt Damon needs to be rescued again. This time he plays a botanist-astronaut who is accidentally abandoned on Mars during a mission to the planet in the year 2035. The Matt Damon character manages to survive by rationing the remaining food, creating his own water, and growing some potatoes. He also succeeds in contacting NASA to inform the fine people there that -- despite everything -- he is very much alive and, well, and would really like to return home.
NASA -- which initially had assumed Matt Damon had died of explosive decompression -- ums and ahs about what to do for what seems like an eternity, and then finally decides to work with the Chinese space program and spend billions or trillions of dollars to rescue its Martian Robinson Crusoe. Naturally, all of Martian Matt's crew mates -- who are already halfway home by this point after years of being out in space -- unanimously decide that it's worth risking their lives to save him.
Now, the United States War Department would not have risked an entire detachment of soldiers to save Matt Damon in 1944, but it's good to know that they probably would have brought him home if he wasn't in action or behind enemy lines.
It's also good to know that in 2035, world governments and NASA will gladly risk gazillions of dollars worth of cutting edge technology to save Matt Damon from having to live out the rest of his days as a Martian potato farmer.
With that in mind, I must admit that watching Saving Matt Damon films is difficult in this time and place. I simply cannot bring myself to believe that any of today's world governments or global organizations or space crews would be willing to risk anything to save Matt Damon from behind enemy lines or Mars or anywhere for that matter.
Sorry Matt. Them's the breaks. Better start looking elsewhere for saving.
The film's premise was very loosely adapted from the story of the Nilands, a family from upstate New York who, it was believed, had also lost three sons of its four sons to the war. When the War Department learned of this, it brought the only known surviving son -- Frederick "Fritz" Niland -- back the US. Of course, the department didn't dispatch an entire detachment of men to rescue Fritz or anything. It just ordered him onto a plane or boat and shipped him home. Later on, it turned out that another Niland brother, who had been assumed dead, was alive in a Japanese POW camp.
In The Martian (2015) Matt Damon needs to be rescued again. This time he plays a botanist-astronaut who is accidentally abandoned on Mars during a mission to the planet in the year 2035. The Matt Damon character manages to survive by rationing the remaining food, creating his own water, and growing some potatoes. He also succeeds in contacting NASA to inform the fine people there that -- despite everything -- he is very much alive and, well, and would really like to return home.
NASA -- which initially had assumed Matt Damon had died of explosive decompression -- ums and ahs about what to do for what seems like an eternity, and then finally decides to work with the Chinese space program and spend billions or trillions of dollars to rescue its Martian Robinson Crusoe. Naturally, all of Martian Matt's crew mates -- who are already halfway home by this point after years of being out in space -- unanimously decide that it's worth risking their lives to save him.
Now, the United States War Department would not have risked an entire detachment of soldiers to save Matt Damon in 1944, but it's good to know that they probably would have brought him home if he wasn't in action or behind enemy lines.
It's also good to know that in 2035, world governments and NASA will gladly risk gazillions of dollars worth of cutting edge technology to save Matt Damon from having to live out the rest of his days as a Martian potato farmer.
With that in mind, I must admit that watching Saving Matt Damon films is difficult in this time and place. I simply cannot bring myself to believe that any of today's world governments or global organizations or space crews would be willing to risk anything to save Matt Damon from behind enemy lines or Mars or anywhere for that matter.
Sorry Matt. Them's the breaks. Better start looking elsewhere for saving.
A Sample of My Eleven-Year-Old Son's Deep Thoughts
"Think about this . . . empty is the only word that means the same thing even after you remove all the letters you use to spell it."
Keep in mind . . . I have to live with this kid.
Keep in mind . . . I have to live with this kid.
December 22, 2022
Given World Weltschmerz
By given world, I am referring primarily to the unreal psychotic and spiritual contagion most accept as the real world. Yes, for that world and that world alone, I experience acute world pain. It wearies me, saddens me, and sickens me.
Not because it fails to live up to the expectations of my mind, but because it fails to live up to any expectation of any mind at all. None of the given world’s noxious permeations strives to live up to anything. On the contrary, the dominant movement in the given world is living down; the lower, the better.
Thankfully, the manifestly malevolent elements of the given world can be overcome in the heart, assuming the heart is pointing in the proper direction. However, in that direction, the heart quickly encounters the given world’s second layer, which is considerably harder to overcome.
This second layer is the barrier layer of the given world; it obstructs all attempts at transformed vision. It is a surface layer of superficialities that only demands perception while simultaneously hindering thought. It is the layer of “out there” truth; it insists you can only come to know it while you remain where you are -- “in there.” It is a curtain that lures you toward lifting it with the promise that it will reveal all once you do, as long as you stay in your bubble, your little cut-off alienated shell.
One part goes in one direction, fueled by its own power, and consumed by its activities. The other part goes in another direction entirely, fueled only by its separateness, driven by unknown forces in unseen places. Connections between the two parts are random occurrences, signifying nothing beyond the surface of the connection itself.
The second layer of the given world is the manifest dualism that refuses to acknowledge any depth in connection. Subjects and objects frequently intermesh but never penetrate each other. In this layer it is always us and them; natural and supernatural; reason and revelation; secular and sacred; being and non-being; immanent and transcendent; matter and spirit; active and passive; subject and object.
The “and” groupings in the second layer are barriers that limit and restrict Creation to either/or. Here, the given world will only allow you out of your shell if you lose yourself and merge into the One. But the One is not an “and”; merely a variation of either/or. In the given world, only one side is allowed to "win".
Unlike the first layer, the given world’s second layer does not arise from psychic or spiritual contagion but from psychic and spiritual exhaustion – the lassitude and listlessness of being unable to engage with the other world that is the only world. The world that is alive, here, now.
It is this spiritual lethargy that causes even the best of us to falter at the threshold of the Created World.
And with every collapse, we surrender ourselves and all beings to tyranny of barriers.
Not because it fails to live up to the expectations of my mind, but because it fails to live up to any expectation of any mind at all. None of the given world’s noxious permeations strives to live up to anything. On the contrary, the dominant movement in the given world is living down; the lower, the better.
Thankfully, the manifestly malevolent elements of the given world can be overcome in the heart, assuming the heart is pointing in the proper direction. However, in that direction, the heart quickly encounters the given world’s second layer, which is considerably harder to overcome.
This second layer is the barrier layer of the given world; it obstructs all attempts at transformed vision. It is a surface layer of superficialities that only demands perception while simultaneously hindering thought. It is the layer of “out there” truth; it insists you can only come to know it while you remain where you are -- “in there.” It is a curtain that lures you toward lifting it with the promise that it will reveal all once you do, as long as you stay in your bubble, your little cut-off alienated shell.
One part goes in one direction, fueled by its own power, and consumed by its activities. The other part goes in another direction entirely, fueled only by its separateness, driven by unknown forces in unseen places. Connections between the two parts are random occurrences, signifying nothing beyond the surface of the connection itself.
The second layer of the given world is the manifest dualism that refuses to acknowledge any depth in connection. Subjects and objects frequently intermesh but never penetrate each other. In this layer it is always us and them; natural and supernatural; reason and revelation; secular and sacred; being and non-being; immanent and transcendent; matter and spirit; active and passive; subject and object.
The “and” groupings in the second layer are barriers that limit and restrict Creation to either/or. Here, the given world will only allow you out of your shell if you lose yourself and merge into the One. But the One is not an “and”; merely a variation of either/or. In the given world, only one side is allowed to "win".
Unlike the first layer, the given world’s second layer does not arise from psychic or spiritual contagion but from psychic and spiritual exhaustion – the lassitude and listlessness of being unable to engage with the other world that is the only world. The world that is alive, here, now.
It is this spiritual lethargy that causes even the best of us to falter at the threshold of the Created World.
And with every collapse, we surrender ourselves and all beings to tyranny of barriers.
December 20, 2022
What Will the Abyss See When It Gazes Into You?
The other day I read a secular blog post outlining the “inevitable” elimination of cash and the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The post informed its readers that a CBDC would permit globalist forces to control the material world and quickly extinguish “liberty” once and for all.
The post ended with the words, “Do not comply!” Interestingly enough, the first brief comment immediately following the post offered an exasperated challenge to the noble, defiant command. “Do not comply? How in the hell am I supposed to not comply with that?”
It’s a pertinent question. We saw how quickly people complied with the peck when threatened with job loss. Most never even made it that far and gave in the second they faced ultimatums concerning school attendance, travel restrictions, going to nightclubs, eating in restaurants, playing sports, and so on.
Of course, people who complied with the peck for any of the reasons above will undoubtedly have little or no reservations about falling in line with a central bank digital currency, especially if the Establishment introduces the CBDC as a “solution” to a pressing, overriding “problem” that requires an immediate solution. But what about the people that are serious about not complying with a CBDC? What choice(s) will they ultimately have?
The ominous threat of a cashless society has loomed on the horizon for decades, so despite the ever-increasing headlines on the subject in the media, I think it is unwise to obsess over things like CDBCs. There’s no guarantee that the Establishment will ever implement such a system (they may just be issuing threats). If it does, there’s every possibility that the system will not work (the technology may be flawed; they may lack qualified people to oversee such a system; the public may resist, etc.) That doesn’t mean we should be complacent about the Establishment’s agenda; it just means that we shouldn’t assume that everything the Establishment promulgates via the media will come to fruition or work in the way the Establishment envisions it.
Returning to the exasperated comment about non-compliance, let’s assume the Establishment successfully implements a “Mark of the Beast” financial system in the West. Let's also assume it is a system from which no one -- not even the most gun-happy, bunker-stocked, bomb-sheltered, gold and silver-laden prepper/survivalist -- is immune. How can we / do we not comply?
We do not comply when we actively choose to see/understand the thing for what it is and remain firmly aligned with God and Creation despite everything.
Seeing/understanding the thing for what it is means seeing/understanding that a CBDC, like the birdemic and its peck, is a product of pure demonic evil with no redeeming, God-aligned qualities whatsoever. That means no personal rationalizations, justifications, or excuses like the ones we witnessed and experienced during the birdemic and its subsequent peck agenda.
Remaining aligned with God and Creation is the active choice to adhere to the created world while the given world appears to overwhelm it. This choice is eternal.
I’ll refer to everyone’s favorite “anti-Christ” philosopher whose most famous aphorism “Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you” is known even to those who have never read Nietzsche and would struggle to spell his name.
A CBDC system would be the totalitarian capstone of the Establishment’s highest Ahrimanic ambitions. Everyone will be gazing into the abyss if such a system comes to be; however, how we gaze into the abyss matters.
Will our gaze welcome and embrace the abyss? Will we gaze into it with fear and terror? How about resentment? Despair? Or will we choose to gaze into the abyss differently?
Moreover, while we are gazing into the abyss, the abyss will also be gazing into us. What will it see when it does? Will it see an inglorious reflection of itself and its demonic motivations, or will it see something else entirely?
What the abyss sees is entirely up to us. That is where "do not comply" matters because it is there that our choice for God and Creation will sear into the abyss for all eternity.
Oh, and by the way, the abyss is always gazing into you in this world . . . or at least trying to.
The post ended with the words, “Do not comply!” Interestingly enough, the first brief comment immediately following the post offered an exasperated challenge to the noble, defiant command. “Do not comply? How in the hell am I supposed to not comply with that?”
It’s a pertinent question. We saw how quickly people complied with the peck when threatened with job loss. Most never even made it that far and gave in the second they faced ultimatums concerning school attendance, travel restrictions, going to nightclubs, eating in restaurants, playing sports, and so on.
Of course, people who complied with the peck for any of the reasons above will undoubtedly have little or no reservations about falling in line with a central bank digital currency, especially if the Establishment introduces the CBDC as a “solution” to a pressing, overriding “problem” that requires an immediate solution. But what about the people that are serious about not complying with a CBDC? What choice(s) will they ultimately have?
The ominous threat of a cashless society has loomed on the horizon for decades, so despite the ever-increasing headlines on the subject in the media, I think it is unwise to obsess over things like CDBCs. There’s no guarantee that the Establishment will ever implement such a system (they may just be issuing threats). If it does, there’s every possibility that the system will not work (the technology may be flawed; they may lack qualified people to oversee such a system; the public may resist, etc.) That doesn’t mean we should be complacent about the Establishment’s agenda; it just means that we shouldn’t assume that everything the Establishment promulgates via the media will come to fruition or work in the way the Establishment envisions it.
Returning to the exasperated comment about non-compliance, let’s assume the Establishment successfully implements a “Mark of the Beast” financial system in the West. Let's also assume it is a system from which no one -- not even the most gun-happy, bunker-stocked, bomb-sheltered, gold and silver-laden prepper/survivalist -- is immune. How can we / do we not comply?
We do not comply when we actively choose to see/understand the thing for what it is and remain firmly aligned with God and Creation despite everything.
Seeing/understanding the thing for what it is means seeing/understanding that a CBDC, like the birdemic and its peck, is a product of pure demonic evil with no redeeming, God-aligned qualities whatsoever. That means no personal rationalizations, justifications, or excuses like the ones we witnessed and experienced during the birdemic and its subsequent peck agenda.
Remaining aligned with God and Creation is the active choice to adhere to the created world while the given world appears to overwhelm it. This choice is eternal.
I’ll refer to everyone’s favorite “anti-Christ” philosopher whose most famous aphorism “Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you” is known even to those who have never read Nietzsche and would struggle to spell his name.
A CBDC system would be the totalitarian capstone of the Establishment’s highest Ahrimanic ambitions. Everyone will be gazing into the abyss if such a system comes to be; however, how we gaze into the abyss matters.
Will our gaze welcome and embrace the abyss? Will we gaze into it with fear and terror? How about resentment? Despair? Or will we choose to gaze into the abyss differently?
Moreover, while we are gazing into the abyss, the abyss will also be gazing into us. What will it see when it does? Will it see an inglorious reflection of itself and its demonic motivations, or will it see something else entirely?
What the abyss sees is entirely up to us. That is where "do not comply" matters because it is there that our choice for God and Creation will sear into the abyss for all eternity.
Oh, and by the way, the abyss is always gazing into you in this world . . . or at least trying to.
New World Island's Weekly Audio Recaps
David at New World Island has been an energetic and assiduous supporter of Romantic Christian blogs over the years continues to demonstrate his energy and assiduousness by offering weekly audio recaps of selected posts from the little circle of blogs with which I am an honored to be affiliated.
Don't have time to read? Missed some posts? Want to revisit a post in another format? David's audio recordings may just be your thing.
Most recent recording below; link to New World Island's YouTube channel on the blog roll.
Don't have time to read? Missed some posts? Want to revisit a post in another format? David's audio recordings may just be your thing.
Most recent recording below; link to New World Island's YouTube channel on the blog roll.
December 19, 2022
And Now There Are Ten
Regular readers may recall that I purchased twelve young hens back in May. The hens began laying eggs in the middle of a heatwave in August. Unfortunately, one of the twelve hens succumbed to the heatwave, leaving me with eleven sturdy, productive ladies. These remaining eleven have abundantly and consistently supplied my family with eggs ever since, averaging about ten eggs a day since the end of September.
When I first announced the arrival of the “ladies”, many readers warned me about predators. Though we have foxes and birds of prey in the area, these rarely pose any serious threat to backyard chickens where I live, provided the shelter to which the hens retire in the evenings is secure.
The biggest threat to hens here comes from martens, which can gain access to a coop if they are provided with even a sliver of an opening to get through. In this regard, my brick henhouse has passed the test. Not a single marten has managed to slip through its defenses.
Thankfully, martens are primarily nocturnal creatures. Chickens, on the other hand, are diurnal. Thus, martens and chickens rarely occupy the same space at the same time. This knowledge and experience made me confident enough to open up the chicken run and allow the ladies to spend the days freely grazing in the back portion of my property. I had never experienced any problems with predators, at least not in the daytime. Nevertheless, my predator-free streak as a keeper of hens recently came to a tragic end.
Two days ago, my family and I joined a small group of fellow villagers and visited the Christmas market in the nearby city of Győr. We left an hour before sunset and would not be home until well after nightfall. Knowing this, I asked my next-door neighbor – who also keeps chickens – to lock up the henhouse shortly after sunset in my absence. We got home from the trip sometime after nine. Seeing the henhouse door closed and the opening to the run barricaded, I assumed all was well with the hens and retired for the evening.
While feeding the ladies in the morning, I counted only ten hens inside. I recounted several times, but the number always stopped at ten. With a sinking heart, I went out into the yard hoping to find the eleventh lady perched safely somewhere. It didn’t take me long to find her.
She was in the frosty grass near the back fence nestled amid her torn-out feathers, the back of her head and neck bitten to the bone, her wide-open abdomen spilling its glaciated entrails onto the frozen earth. All signs pointed to marten predation. My neighbor had failed to notice her out in the yard when he locked up the coop for the night. An opportunistic marten took care of the rest.
I disposed of the carcass before I let the other hens out for the day. The incident gnawed away at me all day. That night, I loaded my trusty marten trap with sardines and placed it in the exact place I had found the dead hen. I knew my chances of trapping the marten were slim. I also knew my chances of catching a hedgehog or other curious and hungry nocturnal animal was high. All the same, I figured it was worth a shot.
I checked the trap twice, at midnight and four in the morning. At midnight the trap was still empty; by four in the morning, I had succeeded in trapping a neighbor’s cat. I considered the possibility that the cat may have been the chicken killer, but I quickly dismissed the notion. I had seen that cat around the chickens; it had never bothered them. I opened the trap door to set the cat free. The wretched thing was so stiff from cold and shock that I had to shake it out of the trap.
I won’t bother putting the trap out again, but I do hope no further misfortunes visit my ten remaining hens.
When I first announced the arrival of the “ladies”, many readers warned me about predators. Though we have foxes and birds of prey in the area, these rarely pose any serious threat to backyard chickens where I live, provided the shelter to which the hens retire in the evenings is secure.
The biggest threat to hens here comes from martens, which can gain access to a coop if they are provided with even a sliver of an opening to get through. In this regard, my brick henhouse has passed the test. Not a single marten has managed to slip through its defenses.
Thankfully, martens are primarily nocturnal creatures. Chickens, on the other hand, are diurnal. Thus, martens and chickens rarely occupy the same space at the same time. This knowledge and experience made me confident enough to open up the chicken run and allow the ladies to spend the days freely grazing in the back portion of my property. I had never experienced any problems with predators, at least not in the daytime. Nevertheless, my predator-free streak as a keeper of hens recently came to a tragic end.
Two days ago, my family and I joined a small group of fellow villagers and visited the Christmas market in the nearby city of Győr. We left an hour before sunset and would not be home until well after nightfall. Knowing this, I asked my next-door neighbor – who also keeps chickens – to lock up the henhouse shortly after sunset in my absence. We got home from the trip sometime after nine. Seeing the henhouse door closed and the opening to the run barricaded, I assumed all was well with the hens and retired for the evening.
While feeding the ladies in the morning, I counted only ten hens inside. I recounted several times, but the number always stopped at ten. With a sinking heart, I went out into the yard hoping to find the eleventh lady perched safely somewhere. It didn’t take me long to find her.
She was in the frosty grass near the back fence nestled amid her torn-out feathers, the back of her head and neck bitten to the bone, her wide-open abdomen spilling its glaciated entrails onto the frozen earth. All signs pointed to marten predation. My neighbor had failed to notice her out in the yard when he locked up the coop for the night. An opportunistic marten took care of the rest.
I disposed of the carcass before I let the other hens out for the day. The incident gnawed away at me all day. That night, I loaded my trusty marten trap with sardines and placed it in the exact place I had found the dead hen. I knew my chances of trapping the marten were slim. I also knew my chances of catching a hedgehog or other curious and hungry nocturnal animal was high. All the same, I figured it was worth a shot.
I checked the trap twice, at midnight and four in the morning. At midnight the trap was still empty; by four in the morning, I had succeeded in trapping a neighbor’s cat. I considered the possibility that the cat may have been the chicken killer, but I quickly dismissed the notion. I had seen that cat around the chickens; it had never bothered them. I opened the trap door to set the cat free. The wretched thing was so stiff from cold and shock that I had to shake it out of the trap.
I won’t bother putting the trap out again, but I do hope no further misfortunes visit my ten remaining hens.
December 17, 2022
The Development of Consciousness as God's Divine Plan
I’ve written about Nikolai Berdyaev quite a bit on this blog. This does not entail that Berdyaev’s metaphysics is my metaphysics. Though our assumptions overlap in most of the “core” areas, mine differ from Berdyaev’s on some key points.
That aside, I believe there is one thing Berdyaev is undeniably right about – the spiritual imperative to overcome the slavery of alienation, cut-offed-ness, objectification, and exteriorization that occurred when man ejected his innate spiritual nature into the external world.
Berdyaev understands that man is an intrinsically spiritual being. He also understands that man’s awareness of this spiritual intrinsicality has faded to the point of disappearing altogether. Restoration is required – man has to once again become fully aware of himself as a free and spiritual being.
Unlike traditionally-minded Christian thinkers, Berdyaev believes in the development/evolution of consciousness. Moreover, he believes that the development/evolution of consciousness is part of God’s divine plan.
Consequently, he keenly apprehends that Christianity is vital. At the same time, he rejects reversions to earlier modes of Christianity because they cannot and will not restore man’s awareness of himself as a free and spiritual being and allow for the further development of consciousness.
According to Berdyaev, restoring spiritual awareness in our current mode of consciousness requires freedom and overcoming metaphysical slavery. What is metaphysical slavery? Berdyaev defines it as man subjugating himself through his self-chosen enslavement to the objectified world and his own externalizations: the various idols he has created and comprehends as “reality”.
What are these idols? For Berdyaev, they encompass nearly everything, including God. Though man’s spiritual nature connects to God, man is prone to make God a source of slavery when He is viewed as an impersonal object and force. Man can only free himself from his propensity to objectify God when he comes to know and understand God as a subject and a person, as love and freedom rather than as domination and determination.
Objectification occurs when symbols replace basic realities. In this sense, an objectified God is merely a symbol of God, not God Himself. Instead of attempting to form a subject-subject relationship with God, one that would reveal the spiritual reality of both man and God, man ends up forming an objectified relationship with a symbol that conceals or obscures the spiritual reality of both God and man.
The same process is then transferred to the rest of man’s enslaving idols: nature, society, nation, civilization, economy, collectivism, individualism (Berdyaev regards this as a primarily biological category and reserves the spiritual category for personality), authority, sex, art, and history.
These basic spiritual realities in mortal life are only real when man’s relationship with them stems from his intrinsicality as a free and spiritual being. Otherwise, they exist as objectified symbols or forces of necessity that encroach upon and weaken man’s freedom and spirituality.
Though he stresses the importance of subjectivity, Berdyaev warns against the dangers of isolated subjectivity. For Berdyaev, the spiritual meaning of the world boiled down to subjects establishing relationships, not subjects atomizing. In Slavery and Freedom, he notes:
“the slavery of a man may be the result alike of his being exclusively engulfed by his own ego and concentrated upon his own condition without taking note of the world and other people; and of his being ejected into the external, into the objectivity of the world and other people, and losing consciousness of his own ego . . . . Engulfed entirely by his own ego the subject is a slave, just as the subject which is wholly ejected into an object is a slave.”
Within that same book, Berdyaev asserts that the first step in overcoming objectification and alienation involves first withdrawing into the spiritual depths and re-discovering God and the authentic self, which Berdyaev refers to as “personality”. The second step involves re-creating the world through the light of this new, authentic spiritual freedom, primarily by establishing free and loving relationships with other subjective beings:
Freedom presupposes the existence of truth, of meaning, of God. Truth and meaning liberate, and liberation leads to truth and meaning. Freedom must also be love, and love must be free.
Berdyaev’s final assessment on restoring man’s awareness of himself as a free and spiritual being involves the union of freedom, truth, and love – a union epitomized by Christ.
To sum up, Berdyaev believes the development/evolution of consciousness to be a vital part of God’s divine plan.
Hence, he identifies man’s alienation from his own intrinsic freedom, spiritual nature, and God as a process through which man could overcome alienation and return to God with a heightened and deepened understanding of himself as a free and spiritual being.
But this process requires overcoming the enslaving forces of the idols man has erected in the place of reality and enlivening them through his authentic self – his personality – in relationships with other beings enlivened by the Holy Spirit.
That aside, I believe there is one thing Berdyaev is undeniably right about – the spiritual imperative to overcome the slavery of alienation, cut-offed-ness, objectification, and exteriorization that occurred when man ejected his innate spiritual nature into the external world.
Berdyaev understands that man is an intrinsically spiritual being. He also understands that man’s awareness of this spiritual intrinsicality has faded to the point of disappearing altogether. Restoration is required – man has to once again become fully aware of himself as a free and spiritual being.
Unlike traditionally-minded Christian thinkers, Berdyaev believes in the development/evolution of consciousness. Moreover, he believes that the development/evolution of consciousness is part of God’s divine plan.
Consequently, he keenly apprehends that Christianity is vital. At the same time, he rejects reversions to earlier modes of Christianity because they cannot and will not restore man’s awareness of himself as a free and spiritual being and allow for the further development of consciousness.
According to Berdyaev, restoring spiritual awareness in our current mode of consciousness requires freedom and overcoming metaphysical slavery. What is metaphysical slavery? Berdyaev defines it as man subjugating himself through his self-chosen enslavement to the objectified world and his own externalizations: the various idols he has created and comprehends as “reality”.
What are these idols? For Berdyaev, they encompass nearly everything, including God. Though man’s spiritual nature connects to God, man is prone to make God a source of slavery when He is viewed as an impersonal object and force. Man can only free himself from his propensity to objectify God when he comes to know and understand God as a subject and a person, as love and freedom rather than as domination and determination.
Objectification occurs when symbols replace basic realities. In this sense, an objectified God is merely a symbol of God, not God Himself. Instead of attempting to form a subject-subject relationship with God, one that would reveal the spiritual reality of both man and God, man ends up forming an objectified relationship with a symbol that conceals or obscures the spiritual reality of both God and man.
The same process is then transferred to the rest of man’s enslaving idols: nature, society, nation, civilization, economy, collectivism, individualism (Berdyaev regards this as a primarily biological category and reserves the spiritual category for personality), authority, sex, art, and history.
These basic spiritual realities in mortal life are only real when man’s relationship with them stems from his intrinsicality as a free and spiritual being. Otherwise, they exist as objectified symbols or forces of necessity that encroach upon and weaken man’s freedom and spirituality.
Though he stresses the importance of subjectivity, Berdyaev warns against the dangers of isolated subjectivity. For Berdyaev, the spiritual meaning of the world boiled down to subjects establishing relationships, not subjects atomizing. In Slavery and Freedom, he notes:
“the slavery of a man may be the result alike of his being exclusively engulfed by his own ego and concentrated upon his own condition without taking note of the world and other people; and of his being ejected into the external, into the objectivity of the world and other people, and losing consciousness of his own ego . . . . Engulfed entirely by his own ego the subject is a slave, just as the subject which is wholly ejected into an object is a slave.”
Within that same book, Berdyaev asserts that the first step in overcoming objectification and alienation involves first withdrawing into the spiritual depths and re-discovering God and the authentic self, which Berdyaev refers to as “personality”. The second step involves re-creating the world through the light of this new, authentic spiritual freedom, primarily by establishing free and loving relationships with other subjective beings:
Freedom presupposes the existence of truth, of meaning, of God. Truth and meaning liberate, and liberation leads to truth and meaning. Freedom must also be love, and love must be free.
Berdyaev’s final assessment on restoring man’s awareness of himself as a free and spiritual being involves the union of freedom, truth, and love – a union epitomized by Christ.
To sum up, Berdyaev believes the development/evolution of consciousness to be a vital part of God’s divine plan.
Hence, he identifies man’s alienation from his own intrinsic freedom, spiritual nature, and God as a process through which man could overcome alienation and return to God with a heightened and deepened understanding of himself as a free and spiritual being.
But this process requires overcoming the enslaving forces of the idols man has erected in the place of reality and enlivening them through his authentic self – his personality – in relationships with other beings enlivened by the Holy Spirit.
December 16, 2022
The Final Purpose of the World Story
I recently began exploring the works of Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg, who is better -- and more mercifully -- known by his pen name, Novalis.
By exploring I mean dipping into and sampling, which is something I tend to do with poetry and philosophy. The initial sampling/dipping phase helps me determine if I should commit to reading and studying the author more thoroughly.
Novalis passed the sampling "test" rather quickly with this short, unnumbered fragment:
Love works magic.
It is the final purpose
of world history,
The Amen of the universe.
Original:
Die Liebe wirkt magisch.
Sie ist der Endzweck
der Weltgeschichte,
das Amen des Universums.
By exploring I mean dipping into and sampling, which is something I tend to do with poetry and philosophy. The initial sampling/dipping phase helps me determine if I should commit to reading and studying the author more thoroughly.
Novalis passed the sampling "test" rather quickly with this short, unnumbered fragment:
Love works magic.
It is the final purpose
of world history,
The Amen of the universe.
Original:
Die Liebe wirkt magisch.
Sie ist der Endzweck
der Weltgeschichte,
das Amen des Universums.
