Searching For The Human Roots Of Truth, Beauty & Goodness

[Richard E Warren]

Bonita wrote:

A few quotes from my collection:

My trust in God has nothing to do with the fact that I am good. My trust springs from faith in the goodness and mercy of God that is total and unconditional. God has loved me first. God’s love is not a reward for my good behavior. Thérèse of Lisieux, Little Way

I have marveled at the depth of his wisdom when my secret faults have been revealed and made visible; at the very slightest amendment of my way of life I have experienced his goodness and mercy; in the renewal and remaking of the spirit of my mind, that is, of my inmost being, I have perceived the excellence of his glorious beauty, and when I contemplate all these things I am filled with awe and wonder at his manifold greatness. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon Seventy-Four, On the Song of Songs, vol. 4

In all these passages the decisive requirement is the same: the good which is to be done is to be done completely. He who does it partially, with reservations, just enough to fulfill the outward regulation, has not done it at all. Rudolph Karl Bultmann, Jesus and the Word He ceases to argue about God who has found God within. Relying upon that calm strength which is not the strength of self, he lives God, manifesting in his daily life the highest goodness, which is eternal life. James Allen An instant of pure love is more precious in the sight of God and more profitable to the Church than all other good works put together, though it may seem as if nothing were done. . . . Let those men of zeal who think by their preaching and exterior works to convert the world, consider that they would be much more pleasing to God — to say nothing of the example they would give — if they would spend at least one-half of their time in prayer, even though they may not have attained to unitive love. Certainly they would do more, and with less trouble, by one single good work than by a thousand; because of the merit of their prayer, and the spiritual strength which it supplies. John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle & Poems

I feel that we too often focus only on the negative aspect of life — on what is bad. If we were more willing to see the good and the beautiful things that surround us, we would be able to transform our families. From there, we would change our next-door-neighbors and then others who live in our neighborhood or city. We would be able to bring peace and love to our world, which hungers so much for these things. Mother Teresa, No Greater Love

Let us be very sincere in our dealings with each other and have the courage to accept each other as we are. Do not be surprised or become preoccupied at each other’s failure; rather see and find the good in each other, for each one of us is created in the image of God. Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore, let us be extremely patient with each other’s faults and failures. Mother Teresa, No Greater Love

Use your tongue for the good of others, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We have to possess before we can give. Those who have the mission of giving to others must grow first in the knowledge of God. Mother Teresa, No Greater Love The useful and the useless must, like good and evil generally, go on together, and man must make his choice. Mahatma Gandhi, All Men are Brothers

Very enjoyable, every one. The Little Way author Therese is an especially interesting seeker. She wrote:

“I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way—very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new. We live in an age of inventions; nowadays the rich need not trouble to climb the stairs, they have lifts instead. Well, I mean to try and find a lift by which I may be raised unto God, for I am too tiny to climb the steep stairway of perfection. […] Thine Arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven. To get there I need not grow; on the contrary, I must remain little, I must become still less.”

Richard E Warren

[Richard E Warren]

   An examination of the known evolution of this tri-fold concept on Urantia leads back to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle at the Lyceum. And by revelation we now know the teaching of this threesome must surely go back to Eden and Dalamatia, during our ‘pre-historic’ times. But Truth, Goodness and Beauty are universal, they are taught more and more as civilization ascends. Worlds settled in “Light and Life” are steeped in the study and comprehension of these three because they lead to an understanding of the God we are asked to imitate–even to perfection.

   The Greeks isolated virtuous concepts for discussion, contemplation, even creation, especially beauty. Greek ideas and ideals of truth, beauty and goodness are mixed and confused with other and lesser ideals.  But thanks to Aristotle truth, goodness and beauty have a collective name:

The Transcendentals

“…It was Parmenides who first explored the properties co-extensive with being. Plato then followed. However, it is in Aristotle we first see the term transcendentals used…

…St. Thomas Aquinas posited five transcendentals: res, unum, aliquid, bonum, verum. Saint Thomas nowhere names the five explicitly as transcendentals, and in some cases, he follows the typical account of the transcendentals consisting of the One, the Good, and the True.

The transcendentals are ontologically one, thus they are convertible. Where there is truth, there is beauty and goodness also.

In Christian theology the transcendentals are treated in relation to Theology Proper, the doctrine of God. The transcendentals, according to Christian doctrine, can be described as the ultimate desires of man. Man ultimately strives for perfection, which takes form through the desire for perfect attainment of the transcendentals. The Catholic Church teaches that God is Himself Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

Each transcends the limitations of place and time, and are rooted in being. The transcendentals are not contingent upon cultural diversity, religious doctrine, or personal ideologies, but are the objective features of all that is.”

  Source: http://en.wikipedia….Transcendentals

 

Up next: the Renaissance connection

Richard E Warren

[André]

Hi everyone,

I was looking in our archives and found inspiring thread.

Question
Ah, if only our siblings would hear! It will evolve…Godspeed, and how can I help? :) post #8888
Evolution already is at God’s pace. Would eternally help ___ daily ask for renewal of a spirit

O God! create in me a pure heart, Renew in me a well disposed spirit.

Quotes

“Alexander nowhere introduces separate mental or spiritual entities. There is no ghost in the machine, even though the machine (if it’s complicated enough) may manifest ghost-like properties. In its highly complex forms the universe may become fairly mysterious, even divine; but the appearance of mystery is only what one would expect from a universe that is ‘infinite in all directions’.”
Samuel Alexander  1859 – 1938  Australian-born British philosopher

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.”
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
“All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.” Helen Keller

André

[Richard E Warren]

André wrote:

Hi everyone, I was looking in our archives and found inspiring thread. Question Ah, if only our siblings would hear! It will evolve…Godspeed, and how can I help? :) post #8888 Evolution already is at God’s pace. Would eternally help ___ daily ask for renewal of a spirit O God! create in me a pure heart, Renew in me a well disposed spirit. Quotes “Alexander nowhere introduces separate mental or spiritual entities. There is no ghost in the machine, even though the machine (if it’s complicated enough) may manifest ghost-like properties. In its highly complex forms the universe may become fairly mysterious, even divine; but the appearance of mystery is only what one would expect from a universe that is ‘infinite in all directions’.” Samuel Alexander 1859 – 1938 Australian-born British philosopher “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” “All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.” Helen Keller

.

Good ones, André. Especially this: …the appearance of mystery is only what one would expect from a universe that is ‘infinite in all directions’. 

Not sure it’s totally accurate, but it does appear to take root in eternal truth that awakens (or at least speaks to) cosmic awareness.

.

Richard E Warren

[Author]

Posts