Literature, Culture and the Western Soul

The following article appeared in The Orthodox Word Vol. 19 #1-2, 1983, St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, CA.

To come to Orthodoxy from the world of today is to come from emptiness to riches, from shallowness to depth, from shams to a reality so all-encompassing that it can, at times, leave one quite uncertain as to the possibility of existing both in the Church and in the “real” world.

Our distress at the seeming impossibility of reconciling the external aspects of modern life with the depth of Orthodox thought, which seems by contrast so utterly otherworldly, springs in large measure from the fact that we inevitably bring some modern emptiness, shallowness, deadness, falsity with us. Our shallowness begins to creep into our spiritual life, no matter how well-intentioned we may be, and we soon reach a point where we can no longer ignore the fact that something is wrong.

To preach that everything Western is taboo is misguided, and to live as if it were true is impossible. We are Westerners: our souls were formed by the Western mentality and psychology, and the often painful effort of understanding ourselves can succeed only by our coming to a knowledge of the forces that have shaped us.

Instead of running away from our culture, or trying to deny its power in us, we must face it squarely and understand its essence and origin. This is the first step in forming an Orthodox world view, and this is the first task facing us today. If we are able to do this, we will be able to discern what in our culture is worth utilizing, and what is harmful. Perhaps more importantly, we will gain a knowledge of ourselves, an increased depth of soul, that will permit us to understand how we may become fruitful Christians.

We have not inherited Western culture at all. That is precisely our trouble. We have simply grown up on the degenerate and decaying vestiges of that culture. We live, not in the West, but on the fading memory of the West. Our present “culture” is an absence of culture, a vacuum that has left our souls shrunken and our spirits stifled. Before trying to plunge his spirit into the depths of Orthodoxy, today’s man must first feed his soul, for its malnutrition will not permit any profound growth of spirit. Modern Western man is like a plant with the shallowest possible roots, and he naturally cannot support any great growth. His spirit is no longer capable of soaring, because a lofty spirit must rise out of a deep soul which has the maturity, the sensitivity, to feel noble things and become ennobled by them.

The Fathers have always taught that the higher, spiritual part of man’s nature is founded in the first level of the soul, that which is sensitive to and best developed by the study of virtuous, noble, and beautiful things. Our faculties and responses, distorted by the Fall, must be restored to normalcy, and after that we can begin to progress in spiritual things. The “higher perception” which St. John Climacus calls an “attribute” of the soul is “buffeted” by sin, and we must retrain ourselves. The redirection and elevation of his soul is an essential task for every Orthodox Christian.- Literature, Culture and the Western Soul by the Sisters of St. Xenia Skete

You can read the entire article here. BTW, the article is on a wonderful Orthodox School site where you will find many gems on the education of children.  St. Micheal’s Orthodox School in Santa Rosa, Ca. expresses the true sense of what kind of Orthodox education we should give our children. I attended an Orthodox School conference last summer at Hellenic College and I was most impressed with what St. Micheal’s was doing because of their strong emphasis on the heart.

St. Photius: Bibliotheca

“The Bibliotheca or Myriobiblon was a 9th century work of Byzantine Patriarch  Photius, dedicated to his brother and composed of 279 reviews of books which he had read. It was not meant to be used as a reference work, but was widely used as such in the 9th century, and is generally seen as the first Byzantine work that could be called an encyclopedia. The works he notes are mainly Christian and pagan authors from the 5th century BC to his own time in the 9th century AD. Almost half the books mentioned no longer survive.” wikipedia

MY DEAREST BROTHER TARASIUS,

After our appointment as ambassador to Assyria had been confirmed by the assent of the embassy  and approved by the emperor, you asked to be furnished with summaries of those works which had been read and discussed during your absence. Your idea was to have something to console you for our painful separation, and at the same time to acquire some knowledge, even if vague and imperfect, of the works which you had not yet read in our company. We believe that their number is exactly 279. Accordingly, regarding the fulfilment of your request as a sacred obligation, we engaged a secretary, and set down all the summaries we could recollect. No doubt we have not been expeditious enough to satisfy your feverish eagerness and vehement desire, but still we have been quicker than might have been expected. The summaries will be arranged in the order in which our memory recalls them. Certainly, it would not be difficult, if one preferred it, to describe historical events and those dealing with different subjects under separate headings. But, considering that nothing would be gained by this, we have set them down indiscriminately as they occurred to us. If, during your study of these volumes, any of the summaries should appear to be defective or inaccurate, you must not be surprised. It is no easy matter to undertake to read each individual work, to grasp the argument, to remember and record it; but when the number of works is large, and a considerable time has elapsed since their perusal, it is extremely difficult to remember them with accuracy. As to the commonplaces met with in the course of our reading, so simple that they can hardly have escaped your notice, we have devoted less attention to them, and have purposely refrained from examining them carefully. You will be better able than ourselves to decide whether these summaries will do more than fulfil your original expectations as to their usefulness. Certainly, such records will assist you to refresh the memory of what you have read by yourself, to find more readily what you want, and further, to acquire more easily the knowledge of what has not as yet been the subject of intelligent reading on your part.

Click here for the works St. Photius reviewed.

Read in Small Bites

Read books in the morning from the fourth hour until work and then chew the whole day on what you read, like sheep with its cude.- St. Ambrose of Optina

Our profit comes not from the quantity of words , but from the quality. Sometimes much is said, but nothing is heard, and at another time you hear only one word and it remains in your memory for your whole life.- St. Anthony of Optina

What Does a Great Books Education Lack?

I attended St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM for two semesters and I am presently attending a Great books/Liberal Arts  program at Faulkner University. A “Great Books” program has some very good and positive aspects to them. One is that one gets to read and discuss the “great books “of western civilization.  One of the things that surprised me about the underclass students at SJC is that many of them ended up graduating as Nihilists.  One of the reasons for this is that they lacked a good grounding in poetic knowledge.  This is why I am recommending James Taylor’s wonderful book on this subject which is must reading for anyone interested in a classical or “Great Books” education. The sad part is that I do not know where one could go to get the needed “poetic knowledge”  for a well rounded classical education.

Poetic Knowledge:The Recovery of Education by James Taylor

The book rediscovers a traditional mode of knowledge that remains viable today. Contrast to the academic and cultural fads often based on the scientific methodology of the Cartesian legacy, or any other number of trendy experiments in education, Poetic Knowledge returns to the freshness and importance of first knowledge, a knowledge of the senses and the passions.”

“Poetic knowledge” is not the knowledge of poetry nor is it even the knowledge in the sense that we often think of today, that is, the mastery of scientific, technological, or business information. Rather, it is an intuitive, obscure, mysterious way of knowing reality, not always able to account for itself, but absolutely essential if one is ever to advance properly to the higher degrees of certainty. From Socrates to the Middle Ages, even into the twentieth century, the case for poetic knowledge is revealed with the care of philosophical archeology.Taylor demonstrates the effectiveness of the poetic mode of education through his own observations as a teacher, and two experimental ‘poetic schools in the twentieth century. -(From the back cover of the book)

“There are relatively few persons who can analyze as clearly and as lucidly the writings of Aristotle, Plato and Aquinas as does this author. Like taylor’s educational philosophy, he seeks to move the readers’ affections and will as well as the intellects, and he does this successfully.”- Richard Harp, University of  Nevada

The Constant Reading of St. Dorotheus of Gaza

I love this quotation concerning reading from St. Dorotheus of Gaza found at Aaron Taylor’s fine blog Logismoi. Thank you Mr. Taylor.

“When towards the end of my childhood I was learning to read, at the beginning I used to wear myself out by working at it too hard and when I went to take up a book I was like someone going upt to stroke a wild animal. As I preserved in forcing myself to go on, however, God came to my assistance and I became so engrossed in reading that I did not know what I was eating or drinking, or how I slept, I was so enthused about my reading. I was never drawn away to a meal with one of my friends or to a meeting with him at reading time in spite of the fact that I had many friends and delighted in their company.

When the master dismissed us I used to take a bath—which I needed daily to counteract the exhaustion from excessive study—then I hurried to where I was staying without thinking about eating, for I could not take it easy or order food for myself, but I had a faithful companion and he prepared for me whatever he wished. I took whatever I found prepared for me, propped up a book beside me, and in a short time was lost in it. For the siesta I had the same book as a companion by my chair, and if sleep overpowered me for a short time I was quickly on my feet again and at my reading. It was the same in the evening when I got back after lamplighting. I used to grasp my lamp and go on with my reading until midnight. So it was that I took no notice of, or pleasure in, anything except what I was reading. When, therefore, I came to the monastery I used to say to myself, ‘If for the sake of public speaking so much endurance and fervor is needed fully to acquire the art of reading, how much more is needed for the acquisition of virtue.’ From this consideration I received much strength and encouragement. If anyone wants to acquire virtue he ought not to let himself be distracted or puffed up with vain hopes. . . . For unless a man drives himself and fights against his evil inclinations he readily falls away and diverges from the path of virtue.”

I also highly recommend reading Aaron Taylor’s post The Golden Mean in Aristotle and the Fathers.

The Short Life of An Orthodox Great Books College

“I have been asked to speak to you about Rose Hill, a tiny and regrettably short-lived Orthodox great books college. In order to keep myself organized, I can do no better than to borrow from Plato, the author of the Republic, surely one of the greatest of all the great books, and a man from whom I borrowed much in laying the groundwork for the college.

The conversation Plato records in this book begins to take shape, as you may recall, when his master Socrates is asked to describe a perfectly just human being. Saying that it would be easier on the mental eyes to look first at something larger than a man, Socrates proposes to describe instead a just polis or state, where the functions and faculties of the individual person reveal themselves more clearly in different classes of people, each having a distinct set of civic responsibilities.1 My assignment is to tell you about a Christian college. But a college, like a state, may be regarded as a large human being, and a human being—according to Saint Paul (1 Thess. 5:23)—consists of three basic parts: a spirit, a soul, and a body. I propose that we consider the collegiate version of each of these in turn. I shall begin with the last, with the body of Rose Hill College, turning next to its soul, and saving its spirit for the final part of my talk.” -James Cutsinger

Read the entire lecture about Rose Hill College here.

Rose Hill College Catalogue.

President Obama:A Modern Day Sophist

“The Sophists fell into ill repute in the eyes of other philosophers. They were regarded as eloquent but captious and fallacious reasoners, as adroit at specious reasoning, logic choppers, as appealing to and taking advantage of popular trends and wishes for their own monetary gain, as telling people what they wanted  to hear,, as teachers of persuasion and verbal manipulation of others, as being interesting  NOT in the attainment of truth….” -FromThe Harper Collins Dictionary of Philosophy

Here are three articles worth reading that articulate the sophistry of our President.

Barack Hussein Obama’s Happy Muslim Rainbow Tour by Srdja Trifkovic

Gaffney: America’s First Muslim President

Islam and Religious Tolerance by Chuck Colson

The Last Day of the Byzantine Empire

The brilliant Aaron Taylor has a wonderful post on the fall of Constantinople which I highly recommend taking the time to read and explore the various links that he has provided. Another very intelligent blogger at Biblicalia has also written about the last day of the great and often forgotten empire that many western history books fail to recognize.

O, city, city, head of all cities! O, city, city, center of the four quarters of the world! O, city, city, pride of the Christians and ruin of the barbarians! O, city, city, second paradise planted in the West, including all sorts of plants bending under the burden of spiritual fruits! Where is thy beauty, O, paradise? Where is the blessed strength of spirit and body of thy spiritual Graces? Where are the bodies of the Apostles of my Lord? . . . Where are the relics of the saints, where are the relics of the martyrs? Where is the corpse of the great Constantine and other Emperors. . . .

-The lamentation of Michael Ducas from the  History of the Byzantine Empire by A.A. Vasiliev.

Man is a Macrocosmos

You must remember, dear reader, that God first created the invisible world and then the visible, “in order to reveal a greater wisdom and the manifold purposes of nature”, as St. Gregory the Theologian noted. God also created last of all man with an invisible soul and a visible body. He, therefore, has created man to be a cosmos, a world unto himself, but not a microcosmos within a greater one, as the philosopher Democritos declared and as other philosophers have upheld.  Such philosophers considered man to be a microcosmos, minimizing and restricting his value and perfection within this visible world. God, on the contrary, has placed man to be a sort of macrocosmos  – a “greater world” within a small one. He indeed a greater world by virtue  of the multitude of powers that he possesses, especially the powers of reason, of spirit, and of will, which this great and visible world does not have. This is why St. Gregory the Theologian again stated that God has placed this second cosmos (i.e. man) to be upon earth as a great world within the small one. – St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain in A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel

A Gift for a Father or Recent Graduate

Absinthe and Flamethrowers: Ruminations on the Art of Living Dangerously. By William Gurstelle

“Want to add more excitement to your life?

This daring combination of science, history, and DIY projects will show you how. Written for smart risk takers, it explores why danger is good for you and details the art of living dangerously.

Risk takers are more successful, more interesting individuals who lead more fulfilling lives. Unlike watching an action movie or playing a video game, real-life experience changes a person, and Gurstelle will help you discover the true thrill of making black powder along with dozens of other edgy activities.

All of the projects—from throwing knives, drinking absinthe, and eating fugu to cracking a bull whip, learning bartitsu, and building a flamethrower—have short learning curves, are hands-on and affordable, and demonstrate true but reasonable risk.

With a strong emphasis on safety, each potentially life-altering project includes step-by-step directions, photographs, and illustrations along with troubleshooting tips from experts in the field.”

WOW! I  have always wanted to build a flamethrower!

HT: Daily Eudemon