GRGR(24) Father Rapier's ABSOULUTE

[Jeremy Osner]

p. 540:

    To believe that each of Them *will* personally die is also to believe that Their
system will die -- that some chance of renewal, some dialectic, is still operating in
History. To affirm Their mortality is to affirm Return. I have been pointing out certain
obstacles in the way of affirming Return...

My understanding of the sermon is, We the reprobate are asked to be faithful -- to
believe that freedom is truly impossible, that struggling for freedom is useless. But the
existance of an Elect class poses a problem; if They are free, why should we be
enchained? -- Their solution to this is to tell us They are not free.

So, a stab at interpreting the above sentences:

> To believe that each of Them *will* personally die is also to believe
> that Their system will die
>
If we believe They are not free, then we are believing there is no ultimate difference
between us and Them, and that the separation into Elect and reprobate will not persist,

>  that some chance of renewal, some dialectic, is still
> operating in History
>
because we are affirming that History operates in a "just" fashion.

> To affirm Their mortality is to affirm Return.
>
"Return" to Eden, that is, to the primordial state of affairs before sin and thus before
the Elect/reprobate division, is not just a possibility but a certainty once we grant
this fundamental equality.

What do you think? You are much better versed than I in the ins and outs of theology and
philosophy -- is this interpretation meaningful?

Jeremy

Terrance wrote:

> Jeremy Osner wrote:
> >
> > The preacher man says, "To affirm their reality is to affirm Return." Is he talking
> > about return to Eden? I don't quite get the connection.
> >
> > J
>
> What Page, please?

--
A dialogue between the Intellect and the Senses.
    I: It is by convention that color exists,
       by convention sweet, by convention bitter.
    S: Ah, wretched intellect, you get your
       evidence only as we give it to you,
       and yet you try to overthrow us. That
       overthrow will be your downfall.

Democritus
http://www.readin.com/books/presocratics