Summary of text [comment] pages 69 through 71

[Let me attempt another example.

After meeting failure, a person drinks way too much vodka.

Here, the potion is vodka and the state of existence is self-destruction.

The normal context for the single actuality is despair. ‘The potential welling in response’ is ‘drowning in sorrow’.

Alcohol enters the bloodstream.

The drinker’s dispositions are the first to register the effect. “His” divinely appointed natural volition starts to slip. “His” ability to think changes.

The alterations of the horizontal axis are hidden. They just happen. “He” gets drunk.

That is how far “his” awareness of the horizontal axis goes.]

Summary of text [comment] pages 69 through 71

[I am working with the intersection of recognition and participation (2.1 DJ, DL and DN).

‘The state of having take a potion’ seems comparable to ‘the state of grace’ or ‘the state of self-destruction’.

Furthermore, the potion is taken in a content-level normal context in order to actualize certain possibilities.

The action of the potion directly alters the horizontal axis, pertaining to the divine nature and human nature.

Then, the transformed horizontal axis indirectly alters the vertical axis.]

Summary of text [comment] pages 69 through 71

By arguing that grace does not directly determine the dispositions, Schoonenberg emphasized personal responsibility.

[The conscience leads to ‘states of existence’ that may alter the dispositions.

The dispositions support ‘states of existence’ that may alter the conscience.]

[Back to the intersection (2.1 FB).

Participation and recognition belong to a single actuality. So, as participation changes, so does recognition. The novice becomes dimly conscious (conscience) of a divine object. The shaman gives him a shove with his walking stick. The fellow’s eyes open wide.

The master sees that the novice has started to fly (encountering the divine object).]

[Next, go to the single content-level nested form (2.1 FC): The potion does not alter ‘the nested form containing the intersection’.

For the nested form containing the intersection, (let me imagine that) the normal context is ‘a tradition of guidance by shamans’. The person who took the peyote is under the watchful eye of an experience shaman (one who knows how to fly). Taking the peyote does not alter the container that the novice is in. It does not alter the potential of the novice in response to the shaman’s guidance. The shaman and the novice may be regarded as a shamanistic dyad.]

Summary of text [comment] pages 69 through 71

[Here is an example.

Once upon a time, there was a fellow who ate the fruit of the peyote bush in order to fly (travel like a shaman).

Go first to the intersection (2.1FB): Initially, the potion alters the horizontal nested form of participation. The nature of the fellow changes under the influence of the drug. The potential (or dispositions) alter. The fellow may feel heavy or light; focused or confused.]

[Schoonenberg sets forth the scenario where:

A person takes a potion.

The potion alters “her” state of existence.

The potion is a metaphor for the actuality of grace (or the actuality of self-destruction).

The scenario is placed into the prior intersection in the following figures.]

Summary of text [comment] pages 69 through 71

Schoonenberg gave an example of ‘the person influenced by grace’.

Consider the metaphor of illness. Grace is like a drug that a person has taken. The potion works on the person’s nature, aiding its combat with the illness.

The reverse is true for sin. A person takes a drug that induces ill effects in the person’s nature.

But doesn’t God, at times, bypass a person’s decisions?

What about miracles of healing or punishment?

What about the repercussions of the grace of paradise and Original Sin?