Today we turn to look at the Pauline understanding of desire. - Paul works out his understanding of sinful origins with relation to Adam. ....I am trying to show that for Paul, starting from Adam rather than from Cain and Abel, it was no less apparent (and maybe even more apparent) than it was for the rest of the apostolic tradition that what we have been brought out of by Christ is a human condition (a) constituted by distorted desire (b) and lived out in a mimetic interdividuality in which it is the "other" who forms and moves the "I." The human condition (c) comes from and leads to death and (d) is from the beginnings and affects the whole of the human race. In the upcoming week we will take a look at these four aspects of the human condition. For now it is important to consider Paul's move back to Adam. It is there that we see the turn from what is to be the humanity that God's creates. With Adam - that is with our utter humanity - we turn away from promise and attempt to shape ourselves as we see fit. We desire that which is not us. To be God - to be in the know - to be judge - to have the last word - all of which puts us at odds with others who also want to be God. What a mess. In all that mess of ruling others we move toward death thinking we are making ourselves more alive. Wrong. As long as we judge the world, we are dying, and we are dying. Connection: I really don't like the idea of death. And yet, it is our ideas of life that lead us more deeply into the realm of death. Having that apple may seem like the living end, but it is really just the beginning of the end because we will learn very well how to take it from others and keep it for ourselves and devour both the apple and anything that tries to take a bite of it while we have it. O God of life, we are forever attempting to rule you out of our lives so that we can rule in your place. But then, we are not able to be there as you would be and we make a mess of all things. Save us again from ourselves. Amen. |
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