WEBVTT 1 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:43.320 With election time approaching, political ads will be inserted into 2 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:47.520 the episode, along with other ads that frankly I'm not 3 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:50.799 going to like and you aren't going to like, so 4 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:55.119 please ignore them, skip by them, whatever you have to do. 5 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.399 I don't enduse any of the ads that are inserted, 6 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.640 but it is another way for me to generate income, 7 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:04.280 so I appreciate you guys putting up with them. If 8 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:05.920 you don't want to deal with them, go to the 9 00:01:05.959 --> 00:01:09.519 Pekinyonas show dot com. 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Head on over 21 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.680 to the Pekanyonashow dot com. You can get the show 22 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.959 early and ad free over there. If not, here's a show. 23 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:58.319 Want to welcome everyone back to our reading of on 24 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:03.799 Resistance to Evil by four by Ivan Eileen doctor Johnson. 25 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:04.760 Are you doing today? 26 00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:08.400 You know when I got during my divorce hearings because 27 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:10.840 I took them. I didn't take them seriously. I didn't 28 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:13.560 even have a lawyer. This was not in front of 29 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:19.159 a judge. But my ex wife's lawyer asked me, big 30 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:21.960 mistake on her part. How I would like to be addressed, 31 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:27.199 and I said, well, please refer to the list of 32 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:30.879 titles that the present dictator of North Korea has. They're 33 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:35.520 like two hundred of them, and pick one. She said, well, 34 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.400 I'm he said, my favorite, my personal favorite, Ruler of Dominica. 35 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:44.479 She said, okay, And so wasn't the final decree, but 36 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:49.599 the early paperwork, says Matthew R. Johnson, aka Ruler of Dominica. 37 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.360 My divorce papers, early early divorce paper. That's how seriously 38 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:54.840 I took it. 39 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:57.759 Did she get divorced during COVID? 40 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:02.479 Me? No, No, twenty fourteen. 41 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.680 Oh, okay, okay, it was a long time ago I 42 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:10.800 got I got divorced during COVID and there was like 43 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:17.319 no nothing. It was all paperwork, no meeting, no nothing. 44 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:21.159 Oh no, we met. And this was not in front 45 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:23.520 of a judge. I wouldn't I'm not stupid. I wouldn't 46 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:25.240 say that in front of a judge. But it was 47 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:26.840 in front of one of these. In Pennsylvania, we have 48 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:29.280 these masters, divorce masters, where the hell they're called. And 49 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:34.400 I got a smile from her. So and the paperwork says, 50 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:39.639 AKA ruler of Dominica. I'm telling you. Oh. And also 51 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:45.719 there's a law in Nebraska that says that whale hunting 52 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:50.599 is not permitted. And since there are no whales within 53 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:54.319 a huge you know, one thousand miles from Nebraska, I'm 54 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:57.400 assuming it refers to fat girls. I'm not one hundred 55 00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:02.280 percent sure. See how weird the state is. I'm telling 56 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:05.319 you it's the weirdest state on the planet, especially Lincoln. 57 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:12.400 I think it's episode sixty one of Two Hundred Years Together, 58 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:16.959 where at the beginning doctor Johnson goes over his experiences 59 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:21.519 in Nebraska. People want to go check for that. I'm 60 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:24.439 not sure it's it's definitely in the sixties. 61 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:28.480 So yes, it's I miss it sometimes I do. But 62 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:30.879 it was the weirdest place. I was there for five years. 63 00:04:31.879 --> 00:04:36.519 The weirdest place I've ever lived. And even I mean, 64 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:39.079 every state has these weird loss but Nebraska has the weirdest. 65 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:45.879 And just you know, almost every day I saw something 66 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:52.000 bizarre coming up or down the street. So uh yeah, yeah, 67 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:53.759 I could go on and on for hours about. 68 00:04:53.480 --> 00:05:02.160 The alrighty, let's go on with the with the text. Yeah. 69 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:08.800 Chapter sixteen, on the Modifications of Love. The beginning of 70 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:11.920 the spiritual life modifies the internal structure of love in 71 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:15.839 the form it takes. Usually or often only one of 72 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:21.160 its varieties is called love, and the last spiritual one 73 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:24.680 at that the lower form of love is structured according 74 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:27.839 to the formula one is good because one is attractive, 75 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.120 and is sometimes reduced to instinctive enjoyment of another's presence 76 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:36.600 or sometimes exhausted by pity for another's physical and mental suffering. 77 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:42.120 In contrast, the spiritual principle limiting the senseless outpouring of 78 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:46.439 sensitivity and pointing out to love its true worthy object 79 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:51.879 constantly trains it to not idealize what one pleases it 80 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:55.240 is good because it is attractive, but to delighten what 81 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:59.480 is perfect. It is attractive because it is good. Furthermore, 82 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:02.600 it imparts to love the inner flexibility and the diversity 83 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:08.279 of outward expressions essential to spirit for a spiritual life. 84 00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:14.480 Those two phrases are extremely important, and it almost marks 85 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:18.000 the difference, uh just and thos you know a few 86 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:27.000 words between medieval and modern or or medieval and utilitarianism. 87 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:30.920 You know, what he's really talking about here is errors 88 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:35.879 to be attracted to something the least of all, the 89 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:40.439 lowest of all the levels of love. So and it 90 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:43.000 takes the form either of just you know, lusting after somebody, 91 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:49.639 or this endless pity for the world suffering, or something 92 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:54.079 like that. And so this is how he's introducing all 93 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:56.959 the limitations of the concept of love and the forms 94 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:01.040 that it takes, because it has to be limited because 95 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:06.199 we're human beings and we have very limited capacities for this. 96 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:14.000 In a spiritually undeveloped and helpless person, love begins where 97 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:18.879 they like something or where they enjoy something. It flows 98 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.519 on the plane of a soulless connection and strives for 99 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:25.399 maximum inner and outer pleasure. The soulless love is most 100 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:28.480 often diverted from will and reason and turn into imagination 101 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:29.319 and sensation. 102 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:34.079 Yeah, this is based on fantasy. You know. This is 103 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:38.439 how demons get to us. They create an image for us. 104 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:43.160 They can't create, but they can invent images. And the 105 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.639 fantasy we may have, the fantasy never even if we 106 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:49.000 get what we want, it's never, it never comes true. 107 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:51.560 But he has love here in quotes. He has quotes 108 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:56.959 in the original, and it is a soulless connection. This 109 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:01.199 is how Americans seem to function these days. It's it's 110 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.040 not it's not to say it doesn't have a place, 111 00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:07.879 but it is still the lowest place you know, and 112 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:11.639 diverted from will and reason to the lower levels of 113 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:18.560 imagination and sensation. And we all know how the regime 114 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:25.319 can use imagination to make money, especially from men. And 115 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:27.959 so he's still talking about the lower forms of love, 116 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.480 which again it's it's it's a it's a necessity, but 117 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:35.919 it has to know its place, just like passion. It's 118 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:38.399 a necessity, but it has to be controlled by reason. 119 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:43.200 On the contrary, spiritual love has the power to turn 120 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:46.240 away from the pleasance. It has the power to establish 121 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:49.919 itself at the level of a persistent rejection. It is 122 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.320 capable of taking the form of a difficult and joyless service. 123 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:58.039 The only constant function of spiritual love is benevolence. This 124 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:01.399 means that it always and since yearly wishes for everyone, 125 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:05.879 not pleasure, not enjoyment, not success, not happiness, and not 126 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:10.360 even the absence of suffering, but spiritual perfection, even when 127 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:12.960 it can only be acquired at the cost of suffering 128 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:14.879 and happy and unhappiness. 129 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:18.360 If that's truly your goal, and that's truly the goal 130 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:22.240 you have for people, then it is a loving benevolence. 131 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:25.879 It is a spiritual love. People may not like you 132 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:31.120 because of it. They may not understand why you're rejecting 133 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:36.799 rejecting certain things because it's harmful pensior in raising the children, 134 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:43.240 for example, just realizing how irrational people can be, and 135 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:46.919 how powerful the passions are and who controls the passion 136 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:53.480 this imagination when he's talking about so spiritual love, however, 137 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:58.240 comes from a certain level of suffering, and if that's 138 00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:01.679 your true goal, then yeah, the path to that goal 139 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:05.960 is often extremely difficult, and the person in the middle 140 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.440 of it, you know, main not understand. I may not 141 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:10.360 like you as a result. 142 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:16.879 The next function of spiritual love, the experiential and intuitive 143 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:21.320 perception of another's personality brought in its fullness to the 144 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:25.960 point of artistic identification is far from always realized. At 145 00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:29.200 the lower levels of spiritual self education, it is realized 146 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:34.559 primarily in relation to ideal perfect human models, saints and heroes. 147 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:37.440 At the middle levels it can only be in relation 148 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:41.320 to God, meditation and solitude, and at the highest levels 149 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:44.799 only in God and through God, and among people only 150 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:48.000 in relation to those who themselves ask for help. 151 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:53.639 I think this is a specifically orthodox point of view, 152 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:58.480 where man can be the greatest saints can be defined, 153 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:04.200 so to speak. And again, there's nothing wrong with having 154 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:09.080 your favorite saints. I certainly do trying to approach the 155 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:15.360 logos through meditation and solentnsuit absolutely, which is always a struggle. 156 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:20.360 You're always being diverted, You're always being distracted, and I'm 157 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:22.799 certainly no teacher of that. I need a distance myself, 158 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:27.919 though I've been asked. But if someone knows what they want, 159 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.639 and if they want the right things, you know, you'll 160 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:33.679 understand that it's not going to be easy. Any a 161 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:35.399 master of anything, I don't care if it's a musical 162 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:37.320 instrument or anything at a very high level is not 163 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:42.480 going to be easy. Greatness never comes through indulgence, and 164 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.840 love certainly doesn't refer to indulgence. 165 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:50.799 Love at this level always wishes well, but does not 166 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:55.279 always identify, and when identified, he does not always accept, 167 00:11:55.399 --> 00:11:58.799 approve or pity. When he approves, it is not at 168 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:02.399 all out of kindness, but when he pities another, it 169 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:05.919 is not with the weak willed softening either of themselves 170 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:08.919 or of the sufferer. Their love is for the perfection 171 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:11.200 of the beloved, and this love for the perfection of 172 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:14.440 the beloved always remains stronger than the fear of their 173 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:15.559 possible suffering. 174 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.200 Yeah, it's almost a definition of being weak willed, right, 175 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:23.440 that you can't handle pain, so you just won't do it. 176 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.639 And that goes for anything worthwhile. Anything worthwhile in the 177 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.679 world comes through pain, a discomfort of some kind or another. 178 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:40.360 But this, you know this, This you're using words like identifying, identification. 179 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:44.360 You know this could have been written again the other day. 180 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:50.120 This stood the test of time. Wishing well is almost 181 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:52.600 like saying goodbye to somebody saying I wish you well, 182 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:57.559 but I certainly don't accept what you're doing. And the approval, 183 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:00.240 as he says here, is not just because oh, I 184 00:13:00.279 --> 00:13:06.120 love you so much, but because it's leading you to 185 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:09.840 the right direction. And it's hard to do that you see, 186 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.720 there's in raising children sometimes the abbot of of a 187 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:17.279 of a of a monastery. There's a million situations like 188 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:20.639 that where you have to bring people through the crucible, 189 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:25.639 so they come out extraordinary people on the other end. 190 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:30.879 And this is uh, you know. And so the week 191 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.159 will don't want to do any of that. They want 192 00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:38.200 to give in to them, They want to cheat. They 193 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.720 they you know, they want to take shortcuts. And that 194 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:46.759 happens all the time. And and but you know, true love, 195 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:49.600 and of course the final land, of course is God himself. 196 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:53.000 You know, Saint Augustine would say that one end that 197 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:57.399 never changes, because love placing your love on something on 198 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:01.559 this earth, you could lose it tomorrow. So that's only 199 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:07.679 a very conditional love. But even there, that's just one 200 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:12.879 step to the proper worship and love of God, and 201 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:14.679 bringing someone to that can be very difficult. 202 00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:19.919 Ordinary love comes to love the earthly composition of an 203 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:24.679 individual person and knows nothing greater. Hence its results is 204 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:29.960 essensual and sugary morality, which places above all else objectless 205 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.639 affection and unprincipled kindness. 206 00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:35.720 No one in the universe has ever fallen, has ever 207 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:39.480 lusted after, the concept of a woman. It's always a 208 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:46.519 very specific one. The earthly composition. It's never it's never 209 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:48.759 the form, no one. You know, the love for the 210 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:55.159 form of a woman. Man has no relationship to the 211 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:00.639 love for the erotic, love for just an individual. And 212 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:04.559 this is all nominalism understands. And when it comes down 213 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:07.279 to morality, you know, it's a very you know, I 214 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:11.759 love everyone kind of thing object list affection, which of 215 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:16.320 course is never real. And you know, kindness he says 216 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:21.879 unprincipled kindness when he's ranked. Ultimately, it's about what you want, 217 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:25.000 and so there are no principles there, because what you 218 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:26.879 want is not a principle, it's a given. 219 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:33.159 On the contrary, spiritual love knows that this higher reality 220 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.919 end in the face of it, is able to control 221 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:39.879 both its tenderness and its kindness. It knows that between 222 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:42.759 the two fundamental commandments of Christ, love for God and 223 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:46.480 love for one's neighbor, apparent conflicts are possible, in which 224 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:50.480 service to God's work may require merciless severity toward man, 225 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.679 while pity for man can be tantamount to the betrayal 226 00:15:53.720 --> 00:15:58.000 of God's work. Knowing this, it is also it also 227 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:03.000 can navigate these parent conflicts, but its relationship with God 228 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:07.759 always remains the standards which it's relationships with others are subordinated. 229 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.960 You know, He's we have to deal with this quite often. 230 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:14.840 We have to cut people off, We have to cut 231 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:17.320 people out of our lives because they are not interested 232 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.519 in what we do. They have no real conception of 233 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.279 what love is. Many people are not capable of love 234 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:26.960 very much like in my opinion, many people are not 235 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:30.840 capable of being free. Love of God and love for 236 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:35.960 one's neighbor. They should be one and the same. But 237 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:40.080 because we're human and we live in a society and 238 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:43.679 we meet many, many different people over the course of 239 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:46.039 a day or a month, or you know, it's very 240 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:54.039 hard to keep that as one thing. And pity could 241 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.799 lead us astray, just like LUs can lead us astray. 242 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:01.399 Therefore, there can be no circumstances under which it would 243 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:04.160 be appropriate to betray God's work out of pity for another. 244 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:07.559 But situations are always possible in which, out of love 245 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:10.759 for God, one can and should restrain love from man 246 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:14.519 and reduce it to the strictness of spiritual benevolence, so 247 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:18.880 that the second commandment remains unbroken. For generally speaking, love 248 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.720 is not at all reducible to animal pity, which weakens 249 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.240 both the one who pities and the one who is pitied. 250 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.240 A person who has distinguished the image of God within 251 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:30.759 himself needs not a weak and sympathetic acceptance, but a 252 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:35.720 sternly condemning rejection. This rejection, which stops and sobers him. 253 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:38.920 Canon should have its true source and love for God 254 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:41.519 in heaven and for the divine and the fallen and 255 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:43.160 spiritually extinguished soul. 256 00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:47.839 This is an extremely powerful paragraph, and for those who 257 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:52.279 are reading along, they should probably read it a few times. 258 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:58.279 You know, we may go way back with somebody, old friends, whatever, 259 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:01.799 But if they're doing the wrong thing, if they've become 260 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:05.480 an evil pert, we can't go along with it. We 261 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.960 can't even we can't even pretend to accept it. They 262 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:14.079 have to be cut off. Now. Sometimes a sternly condemning 263 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:17.880 rejection is just what they need. Says here. Maybe it 264 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:23.880 stops and sobers him, and because you know they respect us, 265 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.119 we go way back for example, does use an example, 266 00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:33.680 go way back? And maybe he's right, But all of 267 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:36.160 that should have the true source and love for God 268 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:40.000 in heaven, and, as he says, for the divine in 269 00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:45.640 the fallen spiritually extinguished soul. Again, it comes back to 270 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.039 the question whether or not localists can be completely extinguished 271 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:54.880 in an individual. Because of its total saturation in the 272 00:18:54.880 --> 00:19:01.759 regime's morality, it's conceivable. I suppose there's some people who 273 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:07.480 simply can't be rehabilitated, and the last thing his friends, 274 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:09.920 if he has any left, should do is accept it, 275 00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:13.279 even just to get along. Going along. To get along 276 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:17.279 is evil, it's a terrible thing. But when someone in 277 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:19.559 their respect says no, I don't like this and you're 278 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:22.240 doing the wrong thing, it may be exactly what they 279 00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:25.079 need to hear, and if that doesn't work, you may 280 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:26.319 have to simply cut them off. 281 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:32.519 Thus is born and formulated that negative face of love 282 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:35.799 which has always led and will continue to tempt shortsighted 283 00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:39.920 and sentimental people, judging everything by its outward appearance, and 284 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:43.640 seeing neither sweet sympathy nor tender pity in the manifestations 285 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:46.880 of such love, they begin to speak indignantly of hatred 286 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:50.480 or malice, expressing horror and calling for an anti spiritual 287 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:52.720 and cowardly compassion. 288 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:56.640 Well, most people know I have a very very good 289 00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:03.240 selling book on anomalism, and it's specifically its condemnation by 290 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:08.839 the Church fathers, and to some extent, this very concept 291 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:13.400 can be found there. Nominalism leads someone to judge things 292 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:19.440 by their outward appearance because there is nothing else. You know, 293 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.519 anomalist rejects any universal truths. There are no such things. 294 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:29.279 What's left someone's material presence, and that's about it anything. 295 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:35.759 And it does take a tremendous amount of strength. It 296 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:37.160 was is why, you know. I mean when I when 297 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:45.640 I first read Plato's Republic when I was seventeen, I 298 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:49.880 was actually no, I was eighteen. I'm sorry. It absolutely 299 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:54.079 blew my mind. I never heard any argument for a 300 00:20:54.119 --> 00:20:58.640 form or the spiritual life at all. That's such a thing. 301 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:03.200 As you know, there's no faith, it's logic. You know, 302 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:05.200 faith is fine, but it has to be based on 303 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:10.599 a logical foundation. And Plato was extremely important. Uh in 304 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:13.519 new early Church fathers, they always use his language. Although 305 00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:15.559 you can't accept Plato one hundred percent, we all know 306 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.440 that Plato went about as far as naked reason could go. 307 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:25.119 But coming across that for the first time, I began 308 00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:27.160 to realize then and be in my career almost has 309 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:32.319 been expanding on that idea consistently. When you reject nomalism. 310 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:38.680 You realize there's a lot more than outward appearances, and 311 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:42.119 people will not like you for this, people won't understand. 312 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:46.160 And it was the first step for me personally and 313 00:21:46.279 --> 00:21:53.759 breaking out of this epistemological dependence on the system, the 314 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:58.400 you know, the empirical locking an idea, you know, the 315 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.480 positive idea, the we're all raised with. That's very hard 316 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:04.240 to do. And reading Plato at such a young age, 317 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:06.720 and he was you know, he's an excellent writer, so 318 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:12.440 he was graspable by me and that that was my foundation, 319 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:15.319 and it absolutely blew my mind that there was an 320 00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:21.400 actual logical argument for the spiritual life in his case 321 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:25.079 was talking about the forms and the forms you know, 322 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:28.599 later being collected into logos or the second person at 323 00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:31.599 the Trinity later on with someone like Saint Justin Martyr, 324 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:37.160 Saint Justin Martyr. It was a full scale Platonist. Of course, 325 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:39.599 he could reject certain aspects of play, don't course, you 326 00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:44.240 know he Plato didn't know the fullness of revelation. But 327 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:49.759 the fullestor of revelation is too based on a logical foundation. 328 00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:55.480 That's what that's what apologetics is all about. But talking 329 00:22:55.480 --> 00:23:00.880 about this to your typical normy out there. It's either 330 00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:04.119 not going to understand you, or they're going to simply 331 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:07.839 reject you. And they're going to and you'll be punished 332 00:23:07.880 --> 00:23:12.079 for it. The fact that you stay with it, and 333 00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:13.759 you stick with it, that's what love is. 334 00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:21.319 Meanwhile, in reality, the spiritual formulation of love, so necessary 335 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:23.960 for a man and so difficult to acquire, imparts to 336 00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:27.119 love a whole series of precious modifications, and in no 337 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:31.680 way extinguishes or distorts its fundamental loving nature in saying 338 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:35.440 no to some one. On this basis, man loves his 339 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:40.400 real genuine object no less than his spiritual yes, and 340 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:46.160 much more than in the typical nonspiritual approval. Moreover, love 341 00:23:46.599 --> 00:23:50.240 capable of taking on a spiritually negative face is always deeper, 342 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:53.640 more intense, more faithfully devoted than the love which in 343 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:56.759 a cowardly way turns away from evil in order to 344 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:01.720 avoid seeing or even to compassionately accept yeah yeah. 345 00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:08.799 Or simply denying it exists. You know, if you are 346 00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:15.039 truly convinced of God in logos and his truth, even 347 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:17.240 if you're put in that sitsuing. The example I always 348 00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:19.079 use about being forced to work in the bar, et cetera. 349 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:24.200 Et cetera. You will still say no every single day. 350 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:30.559 That's almost the found that's almost a heroic no, because 351 00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:33.319 you know what the truth is. And these people are idiots. 352 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:38.279 And when you're sober and I don't drink, but when 353 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:40.720 you're sober and and you watch people who are drunk, 354 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.480 you realize how stupid they look. And that goes for 355 00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:46.119 any fashion, not just not just an alcohol or drug 356 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:51.319 goes or anything. So uh And and you can't have 357 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:55.400 allies who will either just turn away from it or 358 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:58.920 even pretend it's not real, because such a person will 359 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:02.000 eventually come to accept it is true, and they will 360 00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:03.039 drag you down because of it. 361 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:07.640 In order to understand this negative sort of love, it 362 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:11.359 is necessary to keep in mind that spiritually objectified, informed love, 363 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:15.559 while always remaining benevolent, desires nothing but the spiritual enlightenment 364 00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:19.240 and transformation for every person. It cannot love anything evil 365 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:23.400 in man. Therefore, wherever it perceives evil in a person, 366 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:27.200 not weakness, not error, and not a fall, not sinfulness, 367 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:31.319 but self affirming anti spiritual malice, it finds itself forced 368 00:25:31.319 --> 00:25:34.680 to modify its individual attitude towards the person in accordance 369 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:38.319 with the evil present in his soul, while always desiring 370 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:42.559 his conversion and purification, and perhaps joyfully trembling at the 371 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:45.480 mere thought of the possibility of such a transformation of 372 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:49.599 an evil soul. A spiritually loving person necessarily experiences a 373 00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:53.640 whole series of modifications and all that and all the 374 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.200 other functions of his life in sympathy, approval, assistance, creative acceptance, 375 00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:02.160 and the desire I are to identify with him, in 376 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:05.920 the willingness to communicate, and finally, even in the ability 377 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:08.759 to treat him with elementary pity. 378 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:16.279 This is this is a dangerous thing. Let me break 379 00:26:16.279 --> 00:26:21.880 this down the most simple element. We see someone who 380 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:24.640 we like, for we've liked for a long time, who 381 00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:32.480 is living an evil lifestyle. We attempt to talk him 382 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:37.920 out of it. Well, sometimes that's like awakening a sleepwalker. 383 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:42.319 You better be prepared for an extreme reaction. I mean, 384 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:46.480 it's possible that they may be transformed, but not always. 385 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:51.319 But then again, he's not talking about, you know, weakness, 386 00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:55.319 no error. He's talking about an anti spiritual malice, self 387 00:26:55.319 --> 00:27:02.839 conscious malads. You know, and you better you better be careful. 388 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:05.839 You better know what you're doing. You can't just go 389 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:11.200 to someone and start preaching to them I have, I 390 00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:14.240 have a long experience in this. You have to know 391 00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:16.160 how to approach them. You have to you have to 392 00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:19.000 know them to begin with. You know, on an individual level, 393 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:21.519 you have to know how to talk about it, how 394 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:23.799 to bring it up. And even then, the chances of 395 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:27.799 you succeeding, especially today, are are on minimal, but that's 396 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:32.680 still your obligation. You don't run away from it. Uh, 397 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:35.880 if you actually, you know, love anything, that's that's part 398 00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:40.640 of our commission here on earth. But going off without 399 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:44.240 fully knowing that you know you can you can't get 400 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.559 yourself hurt doing this. Depending on what we're talking about here. 401 00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:50.079