Bittersweet! The humor, the depth, the story and insight you've written lift my soul; yet I'm uncomfortable sharing. The church has hurt these intelligent ones I love, those who would appreciate you as I do, if they were healed. I thank you, I beseech God and I cry a little.
Watching a parent lose her ability to hold within herself what she has been for 93 years makes one realize that it is not a given, but a gift you may receive.
Your letter reminds me of the passage in The Great Divorce when C.S.L. talks about how both salvation and damnation are retroactive, in a sense. “The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man’s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness.”
Once you use the word retroactive, it is easy to connect this thought with a specific way physicists talk about consistency in time travel, e.g. the Novikov-consistency principle. In a way, the past was worked out in a way that is consistent with the future. The future will be worked out in a way that is consistent with the past.
This brings us back to T. S. Eliot who says, “Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past.” (Eliot, being Eliot, writes not only about the past and the future but also about the present). Finally, he also reminds us that there is something special about the time of Incarnation: “The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is incarnation. Here the impossible union of spheres of existence is actual. Here the past and future are conquered and reconciled.”
I love how you brought it all back to the Road to Emmaus and further back still. To have had their memory of such a thing. But we do, don't we? For salvation has been made available to us all.
“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
So beautifully expressed. Drew, you and Spencer both have the gift of eloquence and of getting to the core.
The Kierkegaard quote was on my mind based on last weejk’s letters. So true.
But really--those guys do need to let you watch your game in peace.
Also--so thankful that you were not seriously injured. Spiritual warfare is real.
And I’m sad for the harsh judgment we Christians fall into. I love all you Klavans and realize how very little I understand about even my own heart, much less others’ heart.
For us sports fans, I'd love for AK or SK to tease out the idea that the mind cannot "contain the self " Or "The mind is too limited to contain itself."
This makes me think of a book of John Paul II that was published right around the time of his death, and so sadly overshadowed by that event, but it is actually called "Memory and Identity." Although I have not read it in years, I have been thinking about reading it again recently. I recall liking it, and it making great sense, but the only piece that has stuck with me was his point that there IS a limit to evil, and that limit is divine mercy. (Okay, quick cheat quote look up: "God’s answer to evil is Divine Mercy Incarnate. " [T]he limit imposed upon evil, of which man is both perpetrator and victim, is ultimately the Divine Mercy".)
Regardless, what are the books of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, or the rhythm of the Liturgical Year but a great collection of, and the rehearsing, of memories. Whenever Israel, or we, forget these memories we find ourselves in trouble as we forget who God is and then, ultimately, who we are. I think I'm going to dig that book out for Lent...
I'm glad Andrew put the Kierkegaard quote in here because it reveals a core problem with existentialist philosophy.
Can my thoughts of January 21, 1980 or January 21, 2533 be expressed as experienced? Obviously not.
Memory requires presuppositions to interpret it and memory of facts is fallible. The same presuppositions might lead me differently in the present than my interpretation of my past.
Had Kierkegaard written "Life must lived forwards through the presuppositions built on human experience," it might have made more sense.
Writing as an lowly Falutin, I assure you I avoid getting high and restrict myself to two Glen Levitts per evening.
I had no idea how annoying these philosophers were, but it makes sense. Can't a guy just watch a game?
Bittersweet! The humor, the depth, the story and insight you've written lift my soul; yet I'm uncomfortable sharing. The church has hurt these intelligent ones I love, those who would appreciate you as I do, if they were healed. I thank you, I beseech God and I cry a little.
Of all the quotes in your letter, "We are what we are because of how we hold within us what we’ve been." was the best
Watching a parent lose her ability to hold within herself what she has been for 93 years makes one realize that it is not a given, but a gift you may receive.
I feel like I need my own quiet sports bar to digest this one. Good work!
Thank you for the wonderful thoughts and writing.
Your letter reminds me of the passage in The Great Divorce when C.S.L. talks about how both salvation and damnation are retroactive, in a sense. “The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man’s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness.”
Once you use the word retroactive, it is easy to connect this thought with a specific way physicists talk about consistency in time travel, e.g. the Novikov-consistency principle. In a way, the past was worked out in a way that is consistent with the future. The future will be worked out in a way that is consistent with the past.
This brings us back to T. S. Eliot who says, “Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past.” (Eliot, being Eliot, writes not only about the past and the future but also about the present). Finally, he also reminds us that there is something special about the time of Incarnation: “The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is incarnation. Here the impossible union of spheres of existence is actual. Here the past and future are conquered and reconciled.”
I love how you brought it all back to the Road to Emmaus and further back still. To have had their memory of such a thing. But we do, don't we? For salvation has been made available to us all.
“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
My Heart Burns
So beautifully expressed. Drew, you and Spencer both have the gift of eloquence and of getting to the core.
The Kierkegaard quote was on my mind based on last weejk’s letters. So true.
But really--those guys do need to let you watch your game in peace.
Also--so thankful that you were not seriously injured. Spiritual warfare is real.
And I’m sad for the harsh judgment we Christians fall into. I love all you Klavans and realize how very little I understand about even my own heart, much less others’ heart.
And I again quote Michael Card’s song lyric:
“the child is the father of the man
it's the paradox of god's design
so if you would be grown up and mature
let the light of your childhood shine”
For us sports fans, I'd love for AK or SK to tease out the idea that the mind cannot "contain the self " Or "The mind is too limited to contain itself."
This makes me think of a book of John Paul II that was published right around the time of his death, and so sadly overshadowed by that event, but it is actually called "Memory and Identity." Although I have not read it in years, I have been thinking about reading it again recently. I recall liking it, and it making great sense, but the only piece that has stuck with me was his point that there IS a limit to evil, and that limit is divine mercy. (Okay, quick cheat quote look up: "God’s answer to evil is Divine Mercy Incarnate. " [T]he limit imposed upon evil, of which man is both perpetrator and victim, is ultimately the Divine Mercy".)
Regardless, what are the books of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, or the rhythm of the Liturgical Year but a great collection of, and the rehearsing, of memories. Whenever Israel, or we, forget these memories we find ourselves in trouble as we forget who God is and then, ultimately, who we are. I think I'm going to dig that book out for Lent...
I'm glad Andrew put the Kierkegaard quote in here because it reveals a core problem with existentialist philosophy.
Can my thoughts of January 21, 1980 or January 21, 2533 be expressed as experienced? Obviously not.
Memory requires presuppositions to interpret it and memory of facts is fallible. The same presuppositions might lead me differently in the present than my interpretation of my past.
Had Kierkegaard written "Life must lived forwards through the presuppositions built on human experience," it might have made more sense.
Writing as an lowly Falutin, I assure you I avoid getting high and restrict myself to two Glen Levitts per evening.
Impolite of ole Soren to distract from watching the game, but what a perfect observation in this discussion. Love the gentle touch of Klavan-y humor.
Those philosophers never let up... Your sportsbar sounds delightful. Thanks for the humor and the substance.
My parents called me Junebug, never knew why...