Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Friday, March 15, 2002 Thought for a Sunny Day (from my book Contentions) 113 As a man who loves the physical beauty of women, I am sometimes tempted to gaze and admire when such gazing and admiration ought to be restricted to my spouse (though we are both past the age of such beauty if we ever had any). It has caused me to wonder how a man can exist in heaven where every woman (supposedly) is beautiful and have no desire to gaze, touch and intimately know each one? The answer, I think, is rather simple. When a man is in love with a woman, he doesn't have eyes for anyone else in the same way. We see and relate to others, but not as we see and relate to a beloved mate. One secret of heaven is that love lasts there. Beauty does not decay; admiration does not wane; communication does not fail; nor identity alter. Passionate love of God is transformed into passionate love of a mate because the mystery of God's Otherness is embodied in another person; while at the same time the other person is also you in heart, mind, and soul - the difference being gender and a separate person. The narcissist's desire to love himself in another is realized, but in a completely different way because the other is not an imposed illusion, but an actual similarity (not mirror). It is more like a matter of twins and it is permanent. After all, what do we do after God disappears in us when prayer becomes mature? He is no longer an object of our love and we need objects of love in life (and being). That is where other people come in. People whom we dearly love and who respond - who are not us and yet perfectly fit into our hearts without mismatch or dilemma. We are created social. The myth of romantic true love turns out not to be a myth but a destiny. First with God and then with humans. Jesus advised us not to seek that marriage fulfillment in this life because no marriage now can ever achieve the mutual selflessness and perfection of soul necessary. It is by first undergoing the process of love in and through God that we emerge fully able to love others. Most people never achieve that emergence in life. Couple that to our mortality, decay, and illnesses and we have an imperfect situation with temporal impediments to the satisfaction of heavenly love. It is possible for a man and woman to achieve moral perfection and knowledge of love through prayer that may allow them to enjoy married happiness in this world, but I would guess it's rare if ever at all. There are always differences, no matter how slight, in this world. posted by Mark Butterworth | 2:11 PM | |
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