07/24/2023 – Appendix One of Two – “A Meditation on the Relationship between Being and God’s Will” / Group Discussion and Fellowship
We will have completed the book with next week’s post on Appendix Two: “A Dialogue Between Stupid and Sensible” (Two parts of My Soul)”
Ok, as I noted last week in a preview: A warning from our author: “Metaphysics ahead”
I am going to summarily excerpt from this chapter, starting with pg. #156, followed by the last three short paragraphs in the chapter. Again, I have just two attempts left to get you to purchase, read, and pray/reflect on this book:
“Because God is existence itself, unlimited existence, existence not limited by an essence, He is not definable or conceivable. (*see comment below) And that is why all the mystics of every religion in the world, who catch a glimpse of this ultimate perfection say the same thing: that it cannot be put into words words or concepts. It surpasses human thought. (*below)
Heidegger says that ‘the fundamental question of metaphysics is ‘why is there anything at all rather than nothing?’ The fundamental question is not, as Plato thought, ‘what’ a thing is (every Platonic dialogue is about that , about a essence, a definition, a concept, such as justice or piety or learning) by why it exists, why anything exists. Plato never asked that ultimate question.
And the answer is God.
… Heaven is the will of God. Willing God’s will is not merely the cause of Heaven, it is the very life of Heaven.
To align our will with God’s will is to align ourselves with reality, with being, for God’s will is being. His Ten Commandments are ten ways of being real rather than unreal. All ten can be summarized in one word: ‘Be!’ Christ’s Beatitudes are ‘be attitudes”.
That is why we must be holy. To be holy is to be, for to be holy is to be like God. (‘Be holy for I [the Lord your God] am holy’), and God is being. To be holy is to be, and to be unholy is to un-be.
So Be.”
I am going to also include an excerpt from he end of pg. #155:
“Only the God whose essence is existence can give existence to anything else.
God’s essence is existence. God is unlimited existence. Everything else HAS existence; God is existence.
Only God. created (gives existence) because you can’t give what you don’t have, the effect cannot exceed its cause. Since God’s essence is existence, His existence needs no other cause; everything else’s essence has to be given existence by an external cause, a cause outside it’s essence.”
(* Comment):
“This is in a nutshell is why I miss the Catholic Church, a sacramentally and liturgically based church. The awe and wonder in the mystery of the Eurcharist, is without limit, unlike the words of the sermon. As I noted a couple of weeks ago, it is a good thing that heaven is eternal, for that is how long it will take to fully understand our Lord!
Soli Deo Gloria!