Impulsive attraction

SPEAKING  on the Theology of the Body, St. Pope John Paul II revealed that by means of the body, man and woman are uniquely endowed by the Creator with the particular capacity of expressing love as chosen by eternal love.  “Whoever accepts the ethos of Matthew 5:27-28 must know that he is also called to full and mature spontaneity of the relations that spring from the perennial attraction of masculinity and femininity.  This spontaneity is the gradual fruit of the discernment of the impulses of one’s own heart.”  Christ’s words demand that in this sphere, which seems to belong exclusively to the body and to the senses, that is, to exterior man, he should succeed in being an interior man, a true master of his own deep impulses. “ He should draw from all those impulses what is fitting for purity of heart, building with conscience and consistency that personal sense of the nuptial meaning of the body, which opens the interior space of the freedom of the gift.” (General Audience, 12.11.1980)

Scriptures tell us “the two will become one flesh” Gen. 2:24) with regard to the joining of man and woman in marriage.  On the other hand, Jesus construed that “Some are born incapable of marriage. Some have been made that way by others.  But there are some who have given up the possibility of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  Let the one who can accept it, accept it” (Mt. 19:12).  This pronouncement gives no reason to assert the inferiority of marriage, nor the superiority of virginity or celibacy.  Christ proposed the ideal of continence only for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  This implies a value and beauty that goes beyond the purely physical dimension of sexuality.

To be or not to be

    The longing for freedom – to be one’s true self—is a deep-rooted human need that claims the respect of others and may involve the struggle to be freed from shame, fears,  aggression, and contradiction.  The principle of contradiction is enunciated in the phrase: ‘To be or not to be’ or to be victim to labeling or not, to see nature as it is or pretend otherwise.  A thing cannot be and not – be at the same time.  Shakespeare of course had the famous phrase: ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’.  Yes, we have not perhaps realized it.  This is the most basic principle in metaphysics or logical thinking.   

    Nothing is clear or true until one talks about it. When you want people to clarify themselves you could simply ask them.  What do you want?  Is it this or that?  Do you or don’t you want?  This clarifies the mind from ‘mental labeling’ that may also be applied to nature itself—the trees, the flora and fauna, the seas and mountains, all which are as creation supposes them to be.  Human beings need to learn from the sacred stillness of creation to be their true free selves as they attempt to clarify expectations and goals towards forging a unity in truth and not a contradiction of ideas.

    It is because in our world today things seem to complicate themselves, and as they say, man is a complicating animal.  He simply wants to add burdens to burdens, laws to laws, labels that keep changing, and the whole thing comes out more complicated.  The fact of the matter is that the more educated the citizenry, the lesser laws might be needed, since these were framed as guiding posts.  Hence the importance of spreading good ideas, since it is ideas that rule the world.  St. Paul said: “Preach in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2).