Barfield assumes that participation in Divine Creation is both our nature as created beings; and also the proper aim of created beings.
Creation is in the direction of developing participation in the direction of freely creating in greater consciousness.
More exactly, that this is our proper aim as Christian beings who have chosen to live by love and therefore in harmony with God's creative will.
The reason why participation is so centrally and vitally important to Christians, is that it is by participation that there is creation in the first place.
Creation is itself (if properly understood) a matter of participation; because creation is (as all Christians acknowledge) primarily a matter of love.
For there to be love in this "relational" and personal Christian sense; there must be distinct beings each with the capacity for loving - and then love needs to be mutually chosen.
The cohesion of divine creation should therefore be understood as an ongoing process of harmonizing the motivations of beings; harmonization through the love between beings.
In different words; divine creation is (partly) a matter of once indifferent beings, coming to participate-in the creative direction of God's loving nature; through loving God and loving one-another.
It is this love between Beings that is the basis of the harmony that is creation.
But divine creation is also living, dynamic, continuing, increasing... And by the Christian understanding it is God's intention that Men become fully (and divine) Sons of God; share in the work of creation, and who each contribute something unique (because from themselves), new, and additional-to creation.
Therefore, the direction of creation is towards greater consciousness and choice among beings - towards an increasingly-active participation - which change must be freely-chosen by each being.
That is to say; there is a change through time from a mostly passive, mostly unconscious, harmony of creation in which individuals largely serve the divine will and each does not bring much new and additional to the whole...
And towards what must necessarily be a more collegial participation in the work of creation; by which every single being that chooses to live by love, is consciously enabled to contribute that which is unique in himself and which he learns to the totality of creation.
2 comments:
Of the many things I've learned reading Dr. Charlton's blog over the years, the importance of Owen Barfield's thought and life ranks near the very top.
@Stephen M - I'm delighted to hear it.
I personally found Barfield difficult to "get" - indeed it took me several attempts over several years before I got him, and then only with the help of having read somebody who had done so before (it was RJ Reilly, author of the seminal analysis of The Inklings philosophy: Romantic Religion).
On the other hand, it was abundantly worth the effort, because OB is one of just half a dozen or so writers who have really made a significant positive difference to my philosophy of life.
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