Science and faith, the wants of mind and heart, the struggle between physical and mental events, are paradoxes that perplex us. But this is the price of consciousness, of evolving to self-realization. It is a regal quality, for the highest form of life, that yields consequential responsibility? This unique, secular quality creates the juxtaposition: how are we a part of this world and a part above it? The implied disparity with nature can leave us dissatisfied when “all [of nature, animals and plants] save the spirit of man, seem divine”. [i] The unnatural, rotten need for success and pride, the debauchery, temptation, vanity, and maliciousness of human beings is a detriment to this world. It would be a greener, happier place without us. Yet, it contains us. And so, our ultimate goal must be to procure purpose, not of wealth, power, or sex, but of value and worldly continuity. This is the voyage; the pilgrimage taken by the most selfless and fearless of explorers, the rebirth worth being born for.
Several Victorians recognized this baptism, rebirth, or palingenesis. “The soul’s abiding hope lay in its conversion from the tyranny of self to the higher purposes of the eternal process”. [ii] In the Victorian Era, this idea could not be separated from its Christianity, since that was the road of redemption. This caused conversion to have Christian morality infused into it, demanding a certain abandonment of pleasure for cleanliness, “sacrificing the pursuit of pleasure to the love of God”. [iii] This demand is unnecessary.
The connection to everything around you, and the genuine desire to help it, does not necessitate the sacrifice of personal pleasures. As long as our actions connect or strengthen a universal connection, they are justified; we cannot afford to forget that “the enjoyments of life are sufficient to make it a pleasant thing” like tennis, laughing, eating amongst good company, and playing more tennis thereafter. [iv] This disassociation of conversion and Christianity I stress only because of the conservative turn, and thus holistic abandonment, that Christianity has on this world. Christ, save me from your followers.
This is not to say, shy away from God! O Contrer! “Art thou [nature] not the living garment of God?”[v] And if God is displaced “at the outside of his universe”[vi], we should, as the most capable beings, take in the stern responsibility of caring and respecting all of it. We are all woven of the same particles, and while we are all differently strung, we are equally deserving of the “infinite love [and] infinite pity” [vii] we want for ourselves. This purpose is the apotheosis of your being, an “annihilation of self”[viii] to produce love and sympathy.
For the selfless: "the grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silver glass; and then you see it: white shores. And beyond: a far, green country under a swift sunrise." - Gandalf, The Return of the King
[i] John Henry Newman, page 596
[ii] Buckley, Pattern of Conversion, page 594
[iii] Buckley, Pattern of Conversion, page 599
[iv] John Mill, page 694
[v] Thomas Carlyle, page 608
[vi] Carlyle, page 606
[vii] Carlyle, page 608
[viii] Carlyle, page 607
Several Victorians recognized this baptism, rebirth, or palingenesis. “The soul’s abiding hope lay in its conversion from the tyranny of self to the higher purposes of the eternal process”. [ii] In the Victorian Era, this idea could not be separated from its Christianity, since that was the road of redemption. This caused conversion to have Christian morality infused into it, demanding a certain abandonment of pleasure for cleanliness, “sacrificing the pursuit of pleasure to the love of God”. [iii] This demand is unnecessary.
The connection to everything around you, and the genuine desire to help it, does not necessitate the sacrifice of personal pleasures. As long as our actions connect or strengthen a universal connection, they are justified; we cannot afford to forget that “the enjoyments of life are sufficient to make it a pleasant thing” like tennis, laughing, eating amongst good company, and playing more tennis thereafter. [iv] This disassociation of conversion and Christianity I stress only because of the conservative turn, and thus holistic abandonment, that Christianity has on this world. Christ, save me from your followers.This is not to say, shy away from God! O Contrer! “Art thou [nature] not the living garment of God?”[v] And if God is displaced “at the outside of his universe”[vi], we should, as the most capable beings, take in the stern responsibility of caring and respecting all of it. We are all woven of the same particles, and while we are all differently strung, we are equally deserving of the “infinite love [and] infinite pity” [vii] we want for ourselves. This purpose is the apotheosis of your being, an “annihilation of self”[viii] to produce love and sympathy.
For the selfless: "the grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silver glass; and then you see it: white shores. And beyond: a far, green country under a swift sunrise." - Gandalf, The Return of the King
[i] John Henry Newman, page 596
[ii] Buckley, Pattern of Conversion, page 594
[iii] Buckley, Pattern of Conversion, page 599
[iv] John Mill, page 694
[v] Thomas Carlyle, page 608
[vi] Carlyle, page 606
[vii] Carlyle, page 608
[viii] Carlyle, page 607
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