Your comments on Catholicism and Catholic theology I find interesting. I am a traditional Catholic who attends the old Latin mass, and I consider myself Thomistic in outlook. I note that you see Thomism is a closed system–not sure I quite agree with this–rather it is a structured system that allows for solutions to “problems” but retains space for “mysteries” which have no rational explanation and allow the mind to penetrate them inexhaustibly. Let me say that despite what I would imagine our significant differences in outlook (I for one am skeptical of Teilhard, though I do recognize his genius and originality), I admire your fearless visions.
Sincerely, Walter
September 18, 2009
Dear Walter,
1. Since your Email indicates that you are in The United States Army, I want to beginby thanking you for your service to our Country.
2. Are you aware of the work of Brother Michael Dimond who is part ofThe Most Holy Family Monastery at 4425 Schneider Road, Filmore, New York, 14735, 1-800-275-1126, www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com?
Brother Dimond, disproves evolution, gives evidence of a worldwide flood, demonstrates Biblical miracles, and modern day miracles, Eucharistic miracles, etc. He also can point out the various locations of the incorrupt Bodies of Saints, and he has a cogent explanation for the o.o.p.arts of The Shroud of Turin.
3. I do not know where you got the idea that I claimed that Thomism is a closed system. The only closed system I know of is described in the popular movie The Matrix.
4. The main proposition of Existentialism says that Existence precedes Essence, which means that the actual life of the individual is what constitutes what could be called his or her “essence” instead of there being a predetermined essence that defines what it is to be a human. Now this is exactly what Saint Thomas Aquinas believed to be the case about God, but in the case of human beings an individual soul was added to the mix.
5. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) as the major French Existentialist, just before he died, wrote to his best friend that he knew from their student days , and who continued on as a teacher at The Sorbonne [The University of Paris] , that all the time he [Sartre] was an atheist and a Communist and an Existentialist [beginning on October 29 ,1945], The Holy Spirit in the form of a white dove was sitting on his right shoulder moving him his true Destiny. This was because of the fact that Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973) who became a Catholic convert in 1929, 14 years later in June of 1943 coined the term “Existentialism”.
6. My only objections to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) are first, he refused to believe in the existence of Extraterrestrials, meaning that the Earth was the only place in the Universe where intelligent life exists; and second, as a student he participated in “The Piltdown Man” hoax in 1918 in East Sussex England by burying a Neanderthal human skull without its mandible and then substituteda chimpanzee mandible.The attempt was to make the World believe in the existence of the fabled “Missing Link”.
7. I just found the latest CD cover of the pop music group Weezer. The image
is of a rather bourgeois living room, but in the midst of things there exists a light colored short haired dog named Sidney, who is levitating about 4 feet off the floor. The dog, of mixed breed, looks to be possessed of amazing intelligence. His emotional nature is composed of pure enthusiasm. Both front legs are held in a prayerful pose.
This reminds me of the philosophy of George Santayana (December 16, 1863 to September 26, 1952) especially his introduction to a system of philosophy: “Skepticism and Animal Faith.” While Santayana was an atheist, he professed to be an “Aesthetic Catholic”, and in doing so influenced lots of people not the least of which are the World’s first “Erotic Epiphenomenal Existential Chicks”.I refer, of course, to Brigitte Bardot (1934- ), who is now 74!and Jeanne Moreau (1928 – ), who is now 81!Both women were born in Paris and said they are “Catholic Atheists”.
8. Finally a current influence of the aesthetic distance of Santayana is being experienced by a contemporary artist and film maker [Julian Schnabel]. A painting of his is being included in an exhibition titled “Something About Mary,” [after the popular movie], is in The Gallery Met at the Lincoln Center in New York City. The show opened on September 17, 2009. The painting itself is a kitsch bravura image of “The B.V.M.”
Catholicism
Paul,
Your comments on Catholicism and Catholic theology I find interesting. I am a traditional Catholic who attends the old Latin mass, and I consider myself Thomistic in outlook. I note that you see Thomism is a closed system–not sure I quite agree with this–rather it is a structured system that allows for solutions to “problems” but retains space for “mysteries” which have no rational explanation and allow the mind to penetrate them inexhaustibly. Let me say that despite what I would imagine our significant differences in outlook (I for one am skeptical of Teilhard, though I do recognize his genius and originality), I admire your fearless visions.
Sincerely, Walter
September 18, 2009
Dear Walter,
1. Since your Email indicates that you are in The United States Army, I want to begin by thanking you for your service to our Country.
2. Are you aware of the work of Brother Michael Dimond who is part of The Most Holy Family Monastery at 4425 Schneider Road, Filmore, New York, 14735, 1-800-275-1126, www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com?
Brother Dimond, disproves evolution, gives evidence of a worldwide flood, demonstrates Biblical miracles, and modern day miracles, Eucharistic miracles, etc. He also can point out the various locations of the incorrupt Bodies of Saints, and he has a cogent explanation for the o.o.p.arts of The Shroud of Turin.
3. I do not know where you got the idea that I claimed that Thomism is a closed system. The only closed system I know of is described in the popular movie The Matrix.
4. The main proposition of Existentialism says that Existence precedes Essence, which means that the actual life of the individual is what constitutes what could be called his or her “essence” instead of there being a predetermined essence that defines what it is to be a human. Now this is exactly what Saint Thomas Aquinas believed to be the case about God, but in the case of human beings an individual soul was added to the mix.
5. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) as the major French Existentialist, just before he died, wrote to his best friend that he knew from their student days , and who continued on as a teacher at The Sorbonne [The University of Paris] , that all the time he [Sartre] was an atheist and a Communist and an Existentialist [beginning on October 29 ,1945], The Holy Spirit in the form of a white dove was sitting on his right shoulder moving him his true Destiny. This was because of the fact that Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973) who became a Catholic convert in 1929, 14 years later in June of 1943 coined the term “Existentialism”.
6. My only objections to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) are first, he refused to believe in the existence of Extraterrestrials, meaning that the Earth was the only place in the Universe where intelligent life exists; and second, as a student he participated in “The Piltdown Man” hoax in 1918 in East Sussex England by burying a Neanderthal human skull without its mandible and then substituted a chimpanzee mandible. The attempt was to make the World believe in the existence of the fabled “Missing Link”.
7. I just found the latest CD cover of the pop music group Weezer. The image
is of a rather bourgeois living room, but in the midst of things there exists a light colored short haired dog named Sidney, who is levitating about 4 feet off the floor. The dog, of mixed breed, looks to be possessed of amazing intelligence. His emotional nature is composed of pure enthusiasm. Both front legs are held in a prayerful pose.
[See: http://www.spinner.com/media/weezer-raditude-cover.jpg].
This reminds me of the philosophy of George Santayana (December 16, 1863 to September 26, 1952) especially his introduction to a system of philosophy: “Skepticism and Animal Faith.” While Santayana was an atheist, he professed to be an “Aesthetic Catholic”, and in doing so influenced lots of people not the least of which are the World’s first “Erotic Epiphenomenal Existential Chicks”. I refer, of course, to Brigitte Bardot (1934- ), who is now 74! and Jeanne Moreau (1928 – ), who is now 81! Both women were born in Paris and said they are “Catholic Atheists”.
8. Finally a current influence of the aesthetic distance of Santayana is being experienced by a contemporary artist and film maker [Julian Schnabel]. A painting of his is being included in an exhibition titled “Something About Mary,” [after the popular movie], is in The Gallery Met at the Lincoln Center in New York City. The show opened on September 17, 2009. The painting itself is a kitsch bravura image of “The B.V.M.”
Dominus Vobis Cum
Paul Laffoley , A.I.A.