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The Mind of Christ

I hear write a reflection on a verse from St. Paul.  Note however, that I am not a professional Catholic Theologian, nor a priest; this is my best understanding of the faith and a work of my own spiritual reflection. Should what I say seem to conflict with what the Church teaches, then either I have erred or at least, I have not been adequately clear in my wording. In either case, it is the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church whom I consider authoritative above all else among human persons, only Divine persons being more authoritative than him, and so him, and those bishops who teach in union with him, and so those many documents produced by this great Magisterium, especially the Catechism, are all things I take to be more authoritative than anything I might say. Thus again, if what I say bellow seems inconsistent or in tension with what is present in those documents; know that this will be in my mind a mistake on my part; and that if you find such a tension, I advise you to favor wh...
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Bringing People to Jesus

A bit more than a month ago, Charlie Kirk, when conversing with Michael Knowles, argued that our goal should be to bring people to Jesus not to Catholicism, to which Michale Knowles asked in reply, 'what's the difference?' Kirk responded that your goal should not be to bring people to a specific sect of Christianity, but to bring people to The Cross. The issue with this line of thought though is rather simple; there were many people at the Cross, some were faithful, like Mary and St. John, but others were not, like the Pharisees and Roman Soldiers, we don't want people to be at the foot of The Cross for no reason, nor for a bad reason. We want to bring 'their hearts' to Jesus, and there is a right way to do this, and a wrong way to do this. Jesus himself said: "Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be" and so we want to bring people to 'treasure' Jesus, and what is it to treasure something? Well the example the Bible gives us of this i...
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Meme Response 2

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 Here's another Meme I found in r/Enlightenment and decided to respond to:  I find it depends on the stranger and the exact form their resentment and hostility takes. Fir their are many people who, even in their resentment and hostility, still hold themselves up to certain rules of conduct: perhaps it's sometimes some intuitive sense of honor, or some instinctively held ideal of fair play, or some habitually held value of good morals placed in them from their upbringing; etc. Whatever form it takes, this inclination towards a certain code of conduct makes it possible, even in the midst of their hostility, to have a fruitful discussion with them, if you are willing to endure their resentment and hostility with patience. To wit, sometimes such discussions end up breaking down despite their code; since perhaps you will lose patience or they will give into the temptations of their resentment and hostility despite their otherwise sincere attempts at good conduct, or perhaps a mix o...
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Response to a Meme

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I came across this meme on r/Enlightenment and figured I'd share it and my response to it:  Evidently there is more than thought, since the blankness of the subsequent statement is not thought, but a sensible image, so along with thoughts there are sensible images. Sensible images clearly vary, as we have white on the one side, and black on the other; and of course, there is the sensible image of the various colors in the meme, the cartoon faces, the words, etc. in turn, outside of this meme there is the whole web-page, which is not merely a still image but a moving one, it can scroll up or down.  In turn, there is the moving image of the body before the screen; the hand holding the phone, or typing on the keyboard, etc. human bodies abound, as distinct from the bodies of animals, plans, and inanimate objects, and from the space in which these exist; and among these human bodies there is a body in experience distinct from others. It is one experienced most frequently, yet als...
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What Cuts Through the Mind

  The line between good and evil cuts through the heart of man, and the line between true and false cuts through his mind. There are many good forms of neutrality; neutrality in listening to another person's views i.e. bracketing one's own beliefs for the moment so as to better attend to what they say, this is good since it allows the truth of another person's view to arise more clearly in one's mind. Neutrality is also an essential step in phenomenology, it is the 'epoche' of the reduction, likewise a bracketing of one's views so that as unbiased a description of phenomena as possible can arise. Once again, neutrality in forming one's arguments, that is, by appealing to premises which one knows (or at least, has good reason to believe) are common ground between one's interlocutor and one's self, rather than appealing to premises which one knows (or again, has good reason to believe) one's interlocutor shall dispute; this too is a good form o...
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A Prayer Reflecting On The Holy Wounds

A prayer I wrote to God I contemplation of the Holy Wounds.  Praise: Lord you are the beauty ever ancient and beauty ever new, the Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity, the one God above all, simple, yet infinite in all perfections; in truth, goodness, and beauty, in justice, mercy, and peace, in wisdom, power, and love, you are thrice holy, infallible and impeccable, pure and source of moral purity, you are that than which none greater can be conceived, and that greater than all that can be conceived, incomprehensible Lord, you are beyond the grasp of human reason to know in full, and so beyond the human capacity to praise fully, so that all our praise is but an understatement of the great glory that is you. God, you are he who is, and your name is sacred above all, and worthy to be praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, now, and forever and ever. thanksgiving:  Lord I thank you for this life, and for my family, and for all the good you do for me and for us all, I t...
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An argument against idealism

Premise 1: All that is mental is directed to something. Premise 2: Mental things exists. Premise 3: Mental things can be directed to mental things. Theorem 1: Chains of mental things directed to mental things can exist. (P3, UI, MI) Theorem 2: If all that exists is mental, all that exists is a chain of mental direction. (1, 3, UI, ACP) Premise 4: An endless chain of mental direction (be it endless due to looping in on itself or going on infinitely) is meaningless. Theorem 3: if all that exists is a chain of mental direction, nothing meaningful exists. (P4, UI, ACP) Theorem 4: If all that exists is mental, nothing meaningful exists. (T2, T3, CP) Premise 4: Something meaningful exists. Conclusion: Not everything is mental. (T4, P4, MT) Defense of premises and theorems: Defense of premise 1: To be conscious is always to be conscious 'of' something, so awareness is awareness of something, experience experience of something; thought is always thought about something, conception or...
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