Hello, I’ve been reading enjoying your posts on Matthew thus far, but I can’t seem to let go of some possible disagreement about what our relationship with the material world should be. Plotinus says “Bring itself closer to Divine Mind, becoming one with It, Soul seeks still further” … “we must let the hearings of senses go by, save for sheer necessity, and keep the soul's perception bright and quick to the voices from above.” But - If the outflow of God’s creativity and love created all the realms of being, all the way to the material world, should we be treating the world as if it’s purpose is simply a source of testing or a temptation to cloud our nous from seeing God?
Plotinus also talks about the soul having a sole focus to “bring itself closer to Divine Mind, becoming one with It”. (This is a ‘thing’ in evangelical Christian circles too: those who want to become more spiritual feel guilty if their minds stray from a constant focus on Christ. I was caught up in this for a while, but focusing on grace, aided by a round of cancer, I moved out of the guilt.) Pondering on your post, I am wondering if it would be better and more honoring to God’s creativity to trust the constant “stream of life” sent forth from God, while fully living in the material world where he has put us.
Not that it is not tricky; I had an example of the trickiness just before reading your post. I was looking at Facebook and there was an ad for artistic clothes that appealed to me; and as I looked at them, my imagination began feeling the pride of being better dressed than anyone else and also worry about what others would think if I was dressed out of sync with accepted fashion. On one hand there is the joy of creativity and beauty and good design. On the other hand, it is so easily corrupted with pride and distracting desire. 1 John 2:15 defines the things of the world as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. (There is a lot for me to understand in 1 John, including his meaning of world and lust.) That certainly fits with your comments on advertising. Still, I think there must be a way to fully engage in the material life we’ve been given, and I think the key is trust and love.
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timeasmymeasure
Living in the material world
Date: 2022-09-20 07:27 am (UTC)Plotinus also talks about the soul having a sole focus to “bring itself closer to Divine Mind, becoming one with It”. (This is a ‘thing’ in evangelical Christian circles too: those who want to become more spiritual feel guilty if their minds stray from a constant focus on Christ. I was caught up in this for a while, but focusing on grace, aided by a round of cancer, I moved out of the guilt.) Pondering on your post, I am wondering if it would be better and more honoring to God’s creativity to trust the constant “stream of life” sent forth from God, while fully living in the material world where he has put us.
Not that it is not tricky; I had an example of the trickiness just before reading your post. I was looking at Facebook and there was an ad for artistic clothes that appealed to me; and as I looked at them, my imagination began feeling the pride of being better dressed than anyone else and also worry about what others would think if I was dressed out of sync with accepted fashion. On one hand there is the joy of creativity and beauty and good design. On the other hand, it is so easily corrupted with pride and distracting desire. 1 John 2:15 defines the things of the world as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. (There is a lot for me to understand in 1 John, including his meaning of world and lust.) That certainly fits with your comments on advertising. Still, I think there must be a way to fully engage in the material life we’ve been given, and I think the key is trust and love.