I haven't read any of the other posts yet so that I may read and write free of influence. I am sorry I am behind.
If you feel daunted my chapter 2, press on. It does make more sense as you go. There is much meat on these bones. I still have no idea what Pieper was saying in the first 3 pages. The light began to go on for me on page 11 of my edition with the passage:
"The medievals distinguished between the intellect as ratio and the intellect as intellectus. Ratio is the power of discursive thought, of searching and re-searching, abstracting, refining, and concluding {cf. Latin dis-currere, "to run to and fro"}, whereas intellectus refers to the ability of "simply looking" (simplex intuitus), to which the truth presents itself as a landscape presents itself to the eye."
This paragraph brought some clarity to a Bible verse that had always confused me. Daniel 12:4 says, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." If these "to and fros" have similar origins then this would not be a sort of anti-intellectual verse after all which is how it was presented to me as I was growing up; rather it would be casting a negative light on a particular kind of knowledge which lacks a spiritual element or an acknowledgment of ultimate truth.
So in the simplest terms possible, this chapter contrasts a purely empirical knowledge with a knowledge that assents to a bigger picture. One sort of knowledge produces pride and the other sort produces humility. Interestingly, while the nature of the empirical is to deny the spiritual, the nature of the spiritual can include the empirical. This is a distinction that should clear up some of the difficulties in approaching the topic of leisure.
In Part B (or C,D,E,.....) I hope to discuss grace and works, and maybe go back to my ideas about a mother's vocation(I think Pieper affirms my stand), and finally I hope to have time to discuss the meaning of work and the liberal arts all of which are covered deftly in the chapter by Pieper.
Now I am off to read your thoughts after which I will pay $1.99 to download last night's episode of House, a man struggling with these very issues.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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3 comments:
No need to apologize, Cindy. We are soooo happy to have your hospitality than we would never complain.
But I guess you noticed we started discussing without you, even tho' we've been waiting with baited breath for your perspective.
Looks like we have some deep thinkers on board. Dr Pieper would be proud, as that was his clearly stated goal.
If my participation is spotty, it's because I'm OOT (out of town), not because I dont want to add my two cents :)
Cheerio!
That was a fascinating look at Daniel 12:4. Sigh. I always wish I knew the languages.
What you said about the empirical excluding the spiritual while the spiritual includes the empirical hit home. The Christian life embraces everything in its place, and I love that!
Oh, the Daniel passage fits in perfectly, Cindy. I'd often wondered what that meant.
As I was reading Chapter 2 this afternoon, I really appreciated Pieper's distinction between ratio and intellectus. It seems to me that our culture's keeping only "ratio", which we work hard for, and discarding "intellectus", which is a gift of God, is one of the reasons why we no longer value the "non-producers" in our society--the disabled, the elderly, the babies who aren't convenient, the stay at home moms who supposedly aren't giving their gifts to society at large but only to their children (I don't believe this, of course, but am stating what I hear from many around me on a regular basis). Also, the fact that every religion other than Christianity requires us to earn our salvation because sinful man does not like the grace of God for salvation which we can do nothing to earn.
I was also thinking of Andrew Kern's first Circe lecture on the nature of things when I was reading the quote from Aquinas on virtue and love and how it was our original nature, before the Fall, to contemplate, to think God's thoughts after Him, and to love so fully that virtue was easy. In Christ, we can begin to get back to that original nature and I look forward to one day when I'm living my "true" nature fully.
Just a few of the thoughts tumbling around in my head. :)
Joy (who doesn't have a blog but wanted to keep up with your book club anyway)
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