Intellect/Intellectualism
“To think in a sacramental way about the world basically means two things. Primarily, it means to see the physical and spiritual as inseparably linked, in yourself and in everything. This gives the whole universe and everything in it intrinsic meaning or cosmic significance. Secondly, it means realizing that we understand most things neither objectively nor subjectively, but by participation. And because participation requires a you to do the participating, understanding requires more than just intellectual growth; it actually requires moral growth…Ancient religion was inseparable from politics, culture, and every other dimension of life. Because ritual pervaded all aspects of human activity, religion was more lived and experienced than intellectualized or philosophized.” (Dr. Zachary Porcu, Fr. Stephen De Young)
“…a mature faith requires eventually joining oneself to the Church, it requires leaving behind the milk of one’s childhood reliance on intellectual insights, emotions, or psychological manipulations, in order to receive the meat given in the theophanies of the Church in the mysteries of baptism, chrismation, confession, and Holy Communion. Mature faith requires growing from the “baptism of John” into the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)
“Christians should not be linked to any thing or person in this present life as much as they are to Christ. The Lord has the first word in our life. The Church doesn’t encourage us to abandon our homes, our belongings and our families. But it does want us to love Christ more than we do material goods and our loved ones. It wants us to have a vital relationship with Christ. Our bond with Jesus shouldn’t be restricted to an intellectual relationship, to an ideology. It should be living and expressed in prayer, in our participation in the sacraments and, if the need arises, in public confession and in the sacrifice of some of our favorite things.” (Metropolitan Ioïl Frangkakos)
“In the New Testament, an intellectual understanding, while important, is never enough, since one must respond existentially, or else one has not truly understood “with the heart.”…even His closest disciples were not able to fully see and hear, in the sense of living out—or even in the sense of truly understanding conceptually—what He revealed (in other words, they could not understand solely on the basis of the teaching of the “historical” Jesus). Several times it is even stated that the full meaning of Jesus’ words was “hidden from them” (e.g., Luke 18: 34). Only gradually were their hearts softened and prepared. Only gradually were they able to see, hear, and understand the Kingdom accurately after they had begun to experience it—especially through their ongoing participation in the Holy Spirit beginning especially at Pentecost. So, unless one has, like Isaiah, been “pierced to the heart” and filled with humility and repentance by a real encounter with God, everything about the spiritual life will inevitably be “in parables.” (Dr. Mary S. Ford)
“Something almost always happens to startle us during the act of creating, but not unless we let go our adult intellectual control and become as open as little children. This means not to set aside or discard the intellect but to understand that it is not to become a dictator, for when it does we are closed off from revelation.” (Madeleine L'Engle)
Comentários