Summary of text [comment] page 75
[The last few blogs on grace, culture, nature, civilization and self-destruction illuminate the terminological swamp surrounding Schoonenberg. No matter which way he turned in ‘the contrast between grace and nature’, he sank into the mud of ambiguity.
Why?
Grace is not opposed to nature. It is opposed to self-destruction.]
[What do I mean by the word ‘nature’?
What is the word ‘nature’ different than?
Did I hear you say ‘culture’?
What happens when, in the course of human evolution, culture becomes natural?
Well, then, you might reply, “By culture, I mean civilization.”
“OK.” I say, “Civilization is different than nature. But, what happened to culture? Is culture still the same as nature? Or did culture somehow disappear when civilization appeared? If so, then how can civilization be culture?”
“Ouch,” you say, “my head hurts.”]
[I suspect that the so-called ‘natural’ attempts to access our evolved nature are cultural phenomena.
They are scams, inducing self-destruction.
Why?
Natural ordination cannot be obtained in our current Lebenswelt.
The ordination of talk has changed. Before the first singularity, hand-speech talk held the qualities of reference. After the first singularity, speech-alone talk holds only symbolic qualities. Reference must be projected into words.
So what does ‘the projection of ‘what is natural’’ into words suggest?]
[At this point, I wonder:
Can I put these thoughts into a nutshell?
Here goes:
‘The modern contrast between grace and nature’ is false, as opposed to true.
Why?
We cannot “naturally” access our nature in our current Lebenswelt.
‘Our current Lebenswelt’ is not ‘the Lebenswelt that we evolved in’.
So how can any of our behaviors be natural?]
[In our current Lebenswelt, humans no longer have these options, even when the band itself is specialized (say royalty or blacksmiths).
Concupiscence has been unloosed.
To me, this unloosing resonates with Rene Girard’s descriptions of ‘unconstrained mimetic desire’.
Cupid is the god of mimetic desire.
After the first singularity, religious traditions wrestled with concupiscence, at first through thinkgroup (which originally served as thinkpost-first-singularity for a band or a specialization), then through a slow awakening to a trans-thinkgroup, which I label thinkdivine].
[In ‘the Lebenswelt that we evolved in’, the eternal cycles of the world and the always present ancestors ordinated each member in each band.
‘Freedom for responsibility’ did not constitute ‘free will’. Rather it was our natural evolved condition.
‘What we now call ‘concupiscence’ (or ‘the state of being with Cupid’) did not involve turning away from the divine. Instead, desire was triggered and channeled by band and tribal traditions.
How else could it be? Desire was a condition for survival. We mimicked the desires of others in order to survive, including the desire to ‘totally give myself to another’.
Our ancestors were in ‘the state of being with one another’. Grace came naturally. Timeless and ancestor-bound traditions facilitated, ordinated, and guided.]
[‘A transition from hand-speech talk to speech-alone talk’ both promoted and demoted humans.
On one hand, specializations allowed greater productivity and, even more importantly, cooperation across tribal boundaries. In fact, specializations became a substitute for tribes.
On the other hand, ‘the Lebenswelt that we evolved in’ no longer applies. We can no longer follow our evolved instinctive ordinations.
We are dis-ordinated. We are born into this world with compasses designed for a world that not longer exists.]
[As an aside, I would like to point out how An Archaeology of the Fall complements Schoonenberg’s classic note on Original Sin.
A transition from hand-speech talk to speech-alone talk potentiated unconstrained complexity.
How?
The intuitive reference of hand-speech talk was replaced by the projected reference of speech-alone talk.
Hand speech talk was an indexal and iconic way of talking. Social specialization was constrained to ‘what could be pointed to or imaged’.
In contrast, speech alone talk, a purely symbolic way of talking, holds no constraints.]
Summary of text [comment] page 75
Good always entails more than what is attributed to nature alone.
This echoes the doctrine about free will in fallen man promulgated by the Council of Trent. Original Sin unloosed concupiscence. Yet, our free will is by no means taken away, although weakened and inclined to evil.
Summary of text [comment] page 75
Not all acts by sinners are sins. Similarly, not all acts by the justified are virtuous. There is a divine orientation that provides a coordinate system. Perhaps, the word ‘ordination’ applies. That divine ordination may be seen in nature itself.
‘Good without grace’ consists of acts without apparent direction from ‘the divine ordination in nature’ that arises in ‘God Recognizing Himself in Love’.
This good does not derive from the divine virtue of Love, but it disposes one to the reception of love.
