Monday 9 May 2022

What possibilities were opened-up by the incarnation of Jesus Christ?

That Jesus Christ was incarnated, embodied, ought to be a decisive clue from Christians that the world of (unembodied) spirit is inferior in terms of divine possibility. 

Yet clearly this mortal incarnate life of ours, now, is intrinsically flawed and not viable. 

Thus mortal life should be understood as a time of learning and choice - essential for resurrection, but transitional. 


If the body is considered to be bounded-spirit; we can see that boundedness has advantages in terms of the capacity to operate from our-selves.

...In contrast to a discarnate spirit which interpenetrates, and is interpenetrated; influenced and influencing - immersed in a world of other-spirits.  

It therefore seems that incarnation is necessary to personal and individual creation; and in the world of pure spirit there are only the two possibilities are going-along-with divine creation - or opposing it. 


Traditionally 'the angels' - who I regard as never-yet-incarnated spirits of Men - divide between those angels who serve divine creation and are willing conduits of God's creative will; and those demons who oppose the divine. 

Mortal, incarnate Men (such as you and me) have a positive creative potential beyond angel or demon; we can (because of incarnation) contribute-to - actually add-to - divine creation from our unique-selves; because of the freedom that is associated with incarnation. 

Man's creation is always (at least implicitly, even when without awareness) associated with Love: Love of God and fellow Man - it is Love that harmonizes individual creativity with the creativity of other Beings and with divine creation.  


By contrast, demons cannot be genuinely creative; but can only simulate creation. Having determined to reject Love and oppose the divine; all demonic thoughts and actions and other activities will necessarily be dissonant and destructive to divine creation and to the creating of others. 

But demons themselves cannot even have their own ideas! Thus demonic ideologies are always double-negative in form; like socialism, feminism, antiracism, environmentalism. Such 'ideals' merely oppose some supposed injustice or wrongness (which is actually some obstacle in the path of self-gratification); and have no genuinely creative alternative or aim. 

Because to be genuinely creative means to be an agent capable of creation (which requires incarnation) and also harmonious with existing divine creation. So demons merely oppose, while demon-affiliated Men cannot create positively, but only act selfishly (i.e. from their unique selves, but necessarily in conflict with other unique selves).

 

This is why Good and evil are not symmetrical; Good has many possibilities denied to evil; while evil has the easier 'job' of subversion, destruction and inversion - and indeed evil is incapable of anything else. 

It is up to each of us to see-through the disguises and simulations of evil pseudo-creativity; otherwise we will become unwitting dupes of the anti-God agenda. 


4 comments:

WJT said...

A very useful post for me — it provided a missing puzzle piece for a question I had been brooding over.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Wm - Glad to be of service...

Ben Pratt said...

Interesting. Last week I was discussing with someone the idea that "we" overestimate Satan's ability to plan ahead. Temptations and demonic attacks have a reactive nature.

Perhaps demonic possession is motivated by access to some of the creative ability of the subject?

Bruce Charlton said...

@BP "Perhaps demonic possession is motivated by access to some of the creative ability of the subject?"

That's what I tend to assume. The evil strategies and plans (Great Reset, Agenda 2030 etc) are done by humans - with the demons providing the overall motivation and direction.