Eureka!

Ever had an "AHA!" moment, when everything suddenly starts falling into place like dominoes and affirms that there must be one incredible Thread that ties this whole beautiful tapestry of reality together?

Well, I had such an experience yesterday in my medieval philosophy class as we learned about Bonaventure. I've been able to follow the class material for the most part, but on Wednesday, it all tied together and clicked like a seat belt. A seat belt of truth, you could say, which fastens you into an awareness of THE Truth. And with that, you're able to drive forward on the road to knowledge and wisdom. 

In class, we discussed the circumstances of Bonaventure's day and discovered that he, like many of us, thought things around him were falling apart. The tapestry was unraveling because the Thread had been left out, or in some cases, severed. 

Allow me to explain.

In the medieval period, it was a truth universally acknowledged that God exists. Bonaventure held, along with Augustine and Anselm, that the center of all and source of all truth is the Logos (aka Christ, the second person of the Trinity). He explains that, through the Logos, we come to truth and participate in the divine. God is involved in our very act of cognition, or knowing! How is that for a way of thinking!
Unfortunately, the secular universities of his day began to restrict God to the Theology department. Sure, God exists, but He does not have to be a part of everything.
Or does He?
Bonaventure criticized the universities for being full of men seeking knowledge, but lacking in men seeking wisdom. He believed that, without recognizing God in the seeking, you do not arrive at the full truth. For all truth is rooted in God as its source and end. All truth comes from God and must return to Him to give Him glory.

So how do we relate this to our own time? First of all, we can clear up any doubt about God's existence. Bonaventure gives a number of different proofs to demonstrate that God's existence is indubitable (as opposed to "inconceivable!"). Through these proofs, we recognize that: (1) all creation cries out that God exists; (2) that human persons are created in the image of God and, thus, reflect Him, and (3) that all truth involves a participation in the divine. Any proper process of reasoning shows that God exists. If a person thinks carefully, he may understand that God is the most evident truth. Bonaventure concludes that any doubt about God's existence comes not from a deficiency on God's part, but a deficiency on our own part. Thus, if you doubt that God exists, according to Bonaventure, you are either a fool, or your reason is deficient. 


When we acknowledge God's existence and believe that He truly is the source and center of all, this has to permeate EVERYTHING: the way we look at the world around us, the way we relate to other people, the way we study and learn, etc. 

Think about it - and keep in mind that, in your very act of thinking, you are proving God's existence.




TJTM,
V