Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 <inaudible> the name of the father, the son, the Holy spirit. Amen. As usual I will of and paste the quotes. Now, before we get started today, we need to spend a few minutes to talk to you about the problem. Even dangers that our imagination can cause us when we're trying to understand certain aspects of our Holy faith. So first off, what is our imagination? It's the picture making faculty of our mind. It's what we use to picture things. And this is not the same as our handling an tonight, which is a faculty of our mind, by which we know and understand things. The envelope is the faculty that our mind, where we find ideas. They're not the same. That's easy to see if we just consider something we all learned about geometry, which is geometric points. Now remember the geometric point has absolutely no part. There's no spread to it at all.
Speaker 0 00:01:00 It has no size, no length, no depth, no width. Okay. So a four, we can all understand that concept, but we can't help making an inch of it a little dock. Right? I remember when I was first learning about this, I'd take my knife and sharpen pencils, sharpened, sharp, and make little dog. I'd look at it. And no matter how fine I made that point, I'd studied and say, well, that is still got a little spread to it till I finally realized I can understand a geometric point, but every picture on makeup is going to be wrong. Cause every picture, whether it's a dot there or the little black.in my imagination has some spread had had some width or something like that. Okay. That little.in our imagination has the size it has with the length of depth. So that image is positively. Absolutely not a geometric point.
Speaker 0 00:01:52 We understand the concept of a geometric point. When we think about geometric points using our Mandel letter, but our imagination will automatically make a picture of a geometric point. But that image is certainly not the same as the concept. Okay? So the intellect is the faculty of the mind by what you would think, but what you understand the faculty of the pump, our mind, or we find ideas, excuse me. And imagination is a pitcher. Making faculty learn mine. It's the place where we find images. So what's the problem, Frank, she explains the first difficulty in the way of the intellects function well, is that it hates to function at all at any rate beyond the point where the functioning requires effort. The result is that when any matter arises, which is properly, the job of the, and left, then either nothing gets done at all or else imagination, leaps in and does it instead, there is nothing to be done with and led to the have been put firmly in its place.
Speaker 0 00:03:01 And this is extraordinarily difficult. One of the results of the fallen man is that imagination has gotten completely out of hand. Consider what imagination is. It's the power we have of making mental pictures of the material universe, what our senses have experienced the sights, the eyes of sea, the sound's ears, or what we've smelled, touched and tasted. All of these can be reproduced reproduced by the imagination either as they originally came through our senses or in any variety of new combinations or Romans reflection upon what life would be like. If we lack as power we'll show how valuable a role imagination has to play. Okay? But it was a subordinate part. And entirely limited to the world of matter what the senses cannot experience. The imagination cannot make pictures of that's really important. What the census cannot experience the Maginot. She cannot make pictures of, I should say it cannot make accurate pictures.
Speaker 0 00:04:13 Cause it will make a picture just like the geometric point, but it's not accurate, but in the state, which we are now, this picture making power seems able to out shop almost every other power we have. We're all familiar with this trash puppet style distraction. Imagination has two other ways of interfering. The first of these is that the imagination acts like a sensor upon what the intellectual, except tell a man for instance, that his soul has no shape or color or size or way. And the chances are that he will retort that such a thing it's unimaginable. Yeah. And think no further. But to say that thing is the unimaginable is merely because say the imagination cannot make a picture of it, but pictures are only of the material. And to that imagination is limited. Naturally it cannot form pictures of spiritual realities, angels or human souls or love or justice imagination can not form correct mental pictures of these because none of our senses could experience them to complain that a spiritual thing is unimaginable.
Speaker 0 00:05:29 It would be like complaining that here is it. Invisible air is beyond the reach of one particular sense namely site, because it lacks color spirit is beyond the reach of all the sentences. And so of imagination because spirit labs, all material qualities with the eyes of your body, you cannot see justice. You can see a just man or an unjust man, but just fix it yourself. You cannot see with your eyes nor can you hear it or smell it or run it across three taste buds or bark your shins on it. That's the reality of any spiritual statement must be tested
Speaker 1 00:06:12 The ambulance, not by the imagination. The end,
Speaker 0 00:06:16 The next word of rejection is inconceivable. This means the statement offered to the intellect, contains a contradiction within itself so that no concept can be formed. That embodies that statement. A four sided triangle for instance, is in this sense, inconceivable, it's a contradiction in terms because the triangle is a three sided figure and a four side three seventh a year cannot be conceived and cannot be.
Speaker 1 00:06:47 Now the lesson
Speaker 0 00:06:48 Struck an atheist will ask whether God can make a weight so heavy that it cannot lift it. And the happy belief that whatever answer we give, we show admit that there's something that God cannot do. But the question is literally meaningless
Speaker 1 00:07:04 Awake,
Speaker 0 00:07:05 Put in big, cannot lift. Is it the complete a contradiction in terms as a out of that triangle in either case the words are English, but they do not mean anything because they cancel each other up. There's no point in piling up together. A lot of words, regardless of their meaning and then asking triumphantly, can God make that God can do anything, but a contradiction in terms is not a thing at all. It is no thing.
Speaker 1 00:07:33 God himself could not.
Speaker 0 00:07:34 I make a foresighted triangle or a way to almighty park and not Lyft. They are inconceivable. They are nothing. And to give a slightly different emphasis to scripture, nothing is impossible to God.
Speaker 1 00:07:48 That's the first time.
Speaker 0 00:07:49 If any statement concerning a spiritual reality is not can imagination form a mental picture, but does it stand up to the examination of the inland through the terms of it contradict each other? Is it conceivable or inconceivable? Imagination can say nothing about it. Either way. It cannot recheck it. It cannot excepted. It must leave it alone. And that's precisely one of the things that the imagination hates,
Speaker 1 00:08:21 Which leads us.
Speaker 0 00:08:21 So the other, the two ways in which met imagination hinders intellect without our perceiving, when considering some spiritual reality imagination comes along with all sorts of mental pictures, comparisons from material world, thus to the document, the blessed Trinity imagination offers the picture of a Shamrock or a triangle or three drops of water poured together to form one draw close. Cool. And of course, none of those other bless a Trinity.
Speaker 1 00:08:50 You're not, don't worry.
Speaker 0 00:08:52 We thank Frank sheet for that. But in other words, our cannot help making pictures of material things. That's what they do. That's why they're there. But we don't want to confuse ourselves by assuming that a particular picture we have in our imagination is in any way, an accurate representation of a spiritual reality angels are peer spirits. For example, that means that all they may, may occasionally appear looking like man, or what have you in myself, they don't look like anything. They're not objects of our site. We can't see them. They're pure spirits. They're not actually guys with bird wings. That's just an artistic way of portraying. So in the picture you can tell which one's the show, but angels don't look like I suppose, with their peer spirits, okay. Geometric one, our imagination. Can't help making pictures of material thing, like a point, but we don't want to confuse ourselves by assuming that picture, the geometric point that we have in our imagination is in any way, an accurate representation of the actual reality.
Speaker 0 00:10:03 It's not a very significant spirituality, but a geometric point is a spiritual reality. Not very profound, but once we see that while there's a difference between my concept of it and the picture, we can see all that. It's gotta be the same room. So even if we think of age, as we may very well think of Saint Michael, as we see them, the stashes at the wings and all that. But at the same time, we have to remember, that's an image that is just an image. So if that's not what Saint Michael looks like, cause he doesn't look like anything. He's not sensible objects. She's a spiritual be okay. We can't help making pictures of spiritual things. We've wanted to careful not to be misled by those interior images of the spiritual things. We want to be careful to remember. These images are not accurate because spiritual things cannot be accurately portrayed in image.
Speaker 0 00:10:58 Okay? So we're going to be talking about spiritual things today. So without warning firmly in place, let's get started. This sermon is basically a series of brilliant comments of late great Frank she'd cut from several hours of works today. We're going to be talking about human nature about what we are. Okay. So what are, what is our nature, Frank? She first man has a material body, perhaps a definition of matters impossible, but at least we can say what we mean by mattered. Press assessed. First is that kind of being an occupies space, our bodies occupy space like wood or stone or water. We come closer to the notion that what matters is if we consider material beings as beings, which happened no permanent upon their own nature, any material be is that a given time itself, but it can always become something else thus would, can, can become Ash hay.
Speaker 0 00:12:05 It can become a cop in permanent change ability. As of the very essence of all material beans whatsoever, and this property to man's body is it to can disintegrate. It took and pass through a variety of forms of material B. For example, our bodies can be burned and turned it hash. Our bodies can be eat and become tight, but man's body is not only mad. It is living that man's bodies not only mattered it is living. Then here again, we did not search for any very precise definition. It's sufficient. We should know what human activities would have in mind. When we speak of man's body as a living body, there's something in man's body as in the body of an animal or in a plant, which distinguishes it from non-living matter. The powers of growth from some internal principle, the powers of reproduction are sufficient to distinguish matter, which has this life principle from matter, which has not the reality of life.
Speaker 0 00:13:14 Principle is shown not only by its presence while it's present by, by its absence. When it departs for the material being, which has lost its life principle is not an exactly a state of those other kinds of matter, which has never been alive. It corrupt because bodies dilute their life principle bodies, which die. They decay. That's not something we see in living matter like rocks or minerals, the Florida house, for example, so much for the immediately obvious facts about man's body. That it's matter and has something which makes it and be alive. But man is aware of as part of produced effects, which have nothing whatsoever in common with Madden. Man can think a thought is not reducible to any degree. We feel justified in calling material. If we live every non-property of matter, we shall find that a thought has none of that thought does not occupy space, no shape or size or weight. It's not perceptible like any of the five senses. It cannot be made into something else.
Speaker 0 00:14:35 Thought is not reducible to anything. We feel justified in calling that if we listen to every known property of matter, we should find that a thought has none of them, it doesn't occupy space. It has no shape or size or weight. It's not at any senses. It can not be made into something else faced with its power to produce something which has not one single element in common with a matter of his body, man has normally adopted the obvious solution that this utterly and material thing must be produced by some other element, his body to stint from his body. But some other element himself that's distinct from supply. In other words, man produces two sets of operations, which have nothing in comm, which means he must consist of two distinct principles. There's the material body, which produces material operations. And there's the spiritual part, which produces the nonindustrial operations.
Speaker 0 00:15:38 You have to use. They're not two beings, but one Catholic philosophy summarizes all this and state that the man has a material constituent the body, that he has a life principle, which makes his body, their living spotty, his soul. And that this life principle has soul as spiritual and therefore capable of producing the spiritual effects which we have just considered the material is. So that's the category to what you're most scientists fall is necessary put into a dilemma bottle. This form of matter is the only reality that matters producing thought, which now has no element in common with matter, but it's undeniably of a higher nature than that. Materialist by making that a produce effects totally different from and higher than itself adopts a fantastic solution. Chemists teach that every element in the human body is on it. There's a cross. If anyone were to claim that by a rearrangement of these chemical elements that are crust could be made to thing.
Speaker 0 00:16:42 And this is an essence, the material there, if anyone were to go so stupid to claim, if I rearrangement of these chemical elements, the earth cross to be made to think everyone would think that the burden would be very definitely upon him to prove sexually tasteless and frankly, stupid claim. There's a world of men and there's a world of a spirit man that belongs to both worlds and is his own person, the link, which makes them into one universe where the intersection between the material universe and the spiritual universe. And although man is a union of body and spiritual soul, it would be absurd not to realize that the soul has the higher principle of the tube by his body. Man is tied down to this world of time and space and it's instability by spiritual soul man is place beyond the slower sphere. Thanks Frank Xi. Now we'll spend a few minutes unfolding. Some of the more important consequences of what we just heard about spirit. Spirit knows. Loves is powerful. A question you're asking me what I meant by spirit. I answered a spirit has no shape, no size has no color has no way does not occupy space. He said, that's the best definition of nothing I've ever heard, which was very reasonable. I mean, I'd give them a list of things. Spirit is not without a handle as to what it is. And theology and spirit is not only a keyword. It is the V word. Our Lord said that the Samaritan woman, God is a spirit.
Speaker 0 00:18:25 We know the meaning of the word spirit. We do not know what he said. It's like it said, God is a,
Speaker 0 00:18:32 Which tells us nothing at all. The same is true of every other doctrine theology. They all include spirit and theology. We're studying spirit all the time. And the mind with which we were studying is this spirit too. We simply must know what it is. And I don't mean just a definition in order to understand or Holy religion, we must have mashed that idea, make it learn to handle it comfortably. And skillfully. We begin with our own spirit. The one we know best spirit is the element in us by which we know and love. But would you be there for decide? Our body knows nothing.
Speaker 1 00:19:17 He loves barley
Speaker 0 00:19:20 Or not enjoyed by the body. He reacts to them physically with heightened pulse, for example, for acid stomach. But it's the knowing mind that enjoys the reactions or deflate the bite decides nothing though are, will make decide in favor of things that give us a bodily pleasure. Spirit knows and love a slightly longer Lipitor itself reveals his spirit has a power to the mind, uses the body of not asking the body's consent. The mind is the principle, the body of the instrument. We have evidence in our own experience of mind affecting matter directly. We will to raise your arm for example, and we raise it. The racy of the arm is a very complicated anatomic flat activity, but it's set in motion by decision of the will.
Speaker 0 00:20:17 Spirit produces what a matter cannot. We've seen it in a spirit, does a number of things and knows it loves it, animates it, Bob. But what had kind of all that is spirit. We can get it by looking at our own soul, examining particular. One of the things it does, it produces ideas. I don't remember a dialogue with a materialist who asserted that this idea of justice was the result of a purely bodily activity produced by the man's material brain. And because of Frank sheet have used this many times when I used to work in the lab, it had almost the same exalts every time
Speaker 1 00:20:59 Catherine,
Speaker 0 00:21:01 I think it's as long is your idea of trip Materials. Don't be silly. Ideas have no way Catholic. Okay. How much does your idea of justice away?
Speaker 1 00:21:15 Maturity?
Speaker 0 00:21:16 What are you doing? Trying to make a fool of me Catholic? No, I'm taking your word. What color is your idea? Justice? What shape is your idea of justice? The discussion is point broke down and she was saying that the Catholic was talking nuts. It is nonsense of course, to speak with thought, having length or weight or color shape. But the materialist, it said that thought was material. And the Catholic was simply asking what material afterwards it had. In fact it has not. And the material is do this perfectly well. Well, he had not drawn the obvious conclusion if we're continually producing things which have no attribute of matter than we are, then there must be some element in us, which has not matter to produce them.
Speaker 1 00:22:09 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:22:10 Producing things, which you don't have no attribute of matter. And we are, then there must be something in us, which is not mass produced. This element. We call spirit
Speaker 1 00:22:22 Alright,
Speaker 0 00:22:22 High enough material. And as we've said, most scientists, founders category, oddly enough, the materialist thinks of us as superstitious. People who believe in a fantasy called spirit of himself, playing blunt, man, who certs that ideas are produced by a bodily organ. The brain, what his attorney is. It matter produces offspring, which have not one single attribute in common with them. And what could be more fantastic than that? We are the playing blown men should insist on it.
Speaker 1 00:22:55 Occasionally. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:22:56 Cheerless will argue that they're changing the brain. We think groups are electric discharges or whatnot, but these only any company that thought they are not a thought. We think of justice. For example, we're not thinking of grooves in the brain. Chess has has a meaning. And it does not mean groups. When I stated mercy is kinder than justice. I'm not comparing. Mercy's grooves. This stricter grooves of chest
Speaker 1 00:23:23 Alrighty,
Speaker 0 00:23:24 Or not material. They have no resemblance to our body. The resemblance is to our spirit. They have no shape of size or color. No way, no space. Neither has spirits, offspring. They are, but no one could call spirit. Nothing for a producer saw. He thought it's the most powerful thing in the world unless love is which spirit also produces Frank shape. So spirit loves his powerful spirit produces what matter? Cannot ideas. Ideas have no shape, no color, no weight, no space. Spirit. Also it produces love, which has no shape, no size, no color, no weight, no spirit. Now look, everybody should put on their thinking. Can most people don't like to really think it does require effort. This is super important. In any effort you put into this is going to pay off hugely misled. This is foundational, like so many other things. It seems to be pretty, fairly neglected by most Catholics.
Speaker 0 00:24:30 I don't just mean the priests spirit is not in space. We begin by a statement that sounds negative, but it is a spirit of difference from material thing. By having no parts, a spirit differs from a mature thing by having a parts. Remember the geometric point. It has no hearts. It's not spread out at all. Not even slightly has no, no, no, no. We're going to make a picture. That picture is wrong, but we have a concept. This is a spiritual thing. It's a very simple spiritual thing. Protestant was not very interesting, but we can work with that. You come back to that at different times. That's spirit differs from material by having no car. Apart is any element of being, which is not the whole event as my chest, that part of my body and electronic and a part of an atom, a spirit has no parts.
Speaker 0 00:25:35 There is no element in which is not the whole of it. There's no division of parts. As there is in mat with spirit. There's no division of parts is it doesn't matter. Our body goes apart. Different lens is what age, which is own specialized function. It uses his lungs to breathe. It's eyes to see what it's like to walk with. Our soul has no parts for it. It's a spear. You might have a picture that looks like the coast. That's just like an insurance geometric point. It's there. You can't help make it a picture, but that has nothing to do with yourself. Okay? Our soul has no parts for the spirit. There's no element or soul, which is not the whole soul who does a remarkable variety. That gets no love animating the body. But each one of them is done by the whole soul.
Speaker 0 00:26:31 It has no heart. It's among which to divide them up. Departments of spirit is the difficulty to understand it. First. That's what bring up. She pitcher points because you can go back and forth. You've got that one. You say it's analogous. This part is just the spirit. Is it difficult to understand her concentrating this up R B, which has no part does not occupy space space is what matters. But this carts out but being, which has no parts does not occupy space, which has no parts does not occupy space. There's hardly anything to be said to make this clear. You just go look you until suddenly you find yourself to see a geometric point as an occupy space. You can understand your intellect, but no matter what kind of point you make, it's at that point, it's not the price to pay, but the actual geometric point, doesn't foundational for our religion. We need to talk about it. And it's like, well, what's going on in a beam, which has no parts. It's not hot occupies space.
Speaker 0 00:27:41 Think of anything. One plays into occupy space. One sees it must have parts. There must be elements, which are not the whole of it. This sand is not that the top is not the bottom. The inside is not fell. The stuff. If it occupies space at all, ever. So microscopic <inaudible> like there must be some spread space is simple. What matters Fred's is parts. No matter how sure you should make that pencil, you make a doc, that's got some spreads. It's not a geometric point. Think of Andy. It occupies space. You can see, it must have parts. There must be elements in which you're not in the hole. The sand is not that the top is not the bottom hints, steps. The ELLs. If it occupies space at all, no matter how tiny there must be some spread, because space is simply what matter spreads. Its parts and spirit is superior to space.
Speaker 0 00:28:40 If we're to you by space at all, ever so tiny, there must be some secret spaces. Simply what matters because it's parts, but a B would no parts has not spread space and it have nothing. Whatever in common, it has space. It is superior to the need for space, a B with no parts. There's no spreads space have nothing in common spaces. It's purely for the need for space. The trouble is we think it's hard to think of a thing. Insisting that's not in space. We find it very hard to think of a thing acting if it has no part as against the first difficulty, that it's hard to think of a thing existing. If it's not in space, we must remind you of stuff. That space is mere emptiness and emptiness can hardly be essential to existence as against the second difficulty. Even it's hard to think of a thing actually that has no courts.
Speaker 0 00:29:37 We must remind ourselves that parts are only divisions in dividing. This can hardly be an indispensable aid to action has against volt difficulties. We may be helped a little bit by thinking of what are most common operations, the judgements we're making all the time. For example, what should be done with someone caught speeding. Who's rushing to get somebody set an alarm at tech to get him to the emergency room. What should we do with somebody like that? When in our mind, we judge that in that case, mercy would be more useful than justice. We hardly realize what a surprising thing we've just done. We've taken three ideas or concept mercy justice and usefulness. We've found some sort of identity between mercy and usefulness. Mercy is youthful. This means we must have gotten mercy of usefulness together. In our mind. There can be no distance between the two concepts.
Speaker 0 00:30:39 If they were, they could not be gotten together for comparison. And judge, if the mind were spread out as the brain is the concept of the mercy, one part of the mind, the concept, but you still listen. Another they'd have to stay fun compared the concept of justice and usefulness must be similar together. And some identity affirmed between them. The judgment made them choose justice is useful and that's not all, all three concepts must be put together so that the superior usefulness of mercy can be affirmed in this particular situation. The part make judgments is that the very root of a man's power to live and to develop and the master themselves and its environment and a part of make judgments is dependent on the parts of the soul. One single undivided thinking principle that take, hold up and hold and watch all the concepts we wish to compare.
Speaker 0 00:31:39 There's one last state of a spirit. It is the permanent thing. It's the inviting thing. Spirit is always Excel. As we've see Matta falls apart, we know that things done and they brought you burn wood. It turns into ashes, et cetera. A steady gigs will show us that a being that has no parts, no element. It's not the whole of it cannot occupy space, continue to gain. As we see it cannot be changed in anything else. It cannot by any natural process, be destroyed. We've at last arrived at the deepest truth about spirit, spirit being that has a permanent old upon what it is so it can never become anything else. Material beings can be destroyed. The sense they can be broken up into their constituents parts. What has parts that can be taken apart? Okay, but that's worth repeating material beings. Can't be destroyed the sensitivity up into their parts.
Speaker 0 00:32:40 What has parked? We take it apart. I mean, that's the, the, the object of a bomb, isn't it? Right? Some material means it can be destroyed and it can be because they can be broken up to the constituents part. But the fee lies beyond all that. Nothing can be taken from him because there's nothing in it, but it's whole self. We can conceive. Of course, that it's called selfie taken out of existence that the annihilation, but just as only God can create from nothing by willing and being to exist. So when he got you to reduce the being to nothing, by wanting to no longer exist and for the human soul, God has told us that he will not, will it out of existence.
Speaker 0 00:33:22 A spiritual being therefore cannot lose its identity. It can experience changes in a way it's relation to other beings. For example, it can gain new knowledge or lose knowledge that it happens. It can transfer its love from this object to that, it can develop its power over matter. It's own body can cease to respond to animating power and death false for the body. But with all these changes, the spirit remains itself conscious of itself permanent. Okay. So today we consider the nature of man. If we set up man, as a union of two distinct principles on material body, which produces material operations and spiritual solvent, which proves it produces non-material operations. We've seen that our soul to spirit, spirit knows, loves, and it's powerful spirit produces what matter cannot ideas which have no shape, no color, no size, no Wade, no space. Elsa produces, not which also has no shape, no side, no color, no weight, no space.
Speaker 0 00:34:25 We've seen that our soul has no parts for it as a superior. There's no element our soul, which is not the whole soul. We've seen that a being with no parts like our soul has no sprint space in it and have nothing, whatever. And then comm is basically, it is superior to a need for space because of the theme, which has no bars. They have cannot spread out in spaces can occupies. We've seen it cannot be changing to anything else. You cannot be any nap by any natural process of being destroyed. That spirit of being, which has a permanent hold upon one is sort of, you never become anything else.
