Of Fathers and Sons: Metaphysics from the Everyday’s Perspective
Traditional metaphysical notion of causality seems like the most abstract thing in the world. In order to demonstrate the opposite, or rather qualify “abstract” in a quite different sense, we’ll take a look at two passages from supposedly the most abstract treatise on the subject: Elements of Theology by Proclus. Simultaneously, we’ll lay out how the notion of unity of cause and effect is quite obvious from the pinnacle moment of growing up from boy into man: a recognition of likeness between father and the son.
(If for some reason the Mixcloud presents you with problems, the podcasts are available on Kali Tribune’s Youtube channel. Podcasts can be downloaded via this link )
Branko Malić
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“I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” (John 16:28)
A very insightful article…I mean podcast.
From my own observation- both about myself and others- as well as from people with experience, I believe that offspring are an echo of the voice of parents- and of fathers especially, for obvious reasons. That is they are called forth from below out of cosmic necessity as a reaction to the actions of the parents and from above from God with a calling to brake the action-reaction chain. In Orthodoxy there is a saying that a monk (worthy of the name) saves his folks for seven generations. What we do affects both the past and the future.
Through the cosmic law of equilibrium (or simply “the law” of pauline letters and New Testament teachings in general) the child will be tempted by the same demons of his fathers. He can either succumb and thus add another ring to the chain of the tyrannous law or he can prevail and thus break down the chains but not only for himself, but also for those after him (if any) and those past.
Christ’s redemptive action on the Cross happened in the middle of history and in the middle of the earth – see Ps 73. Thus, it extends to the whole of history.
Just speculatively; though nowadays not having children is the sign of extreme egoism, in other circumstances it can be a sign of the return to the Father of a whole generational chain- of course when talking about saintly figures or virtuous men in general. The majority of the saints died without offspring. Of course, from the practical point of view this may seem obvious, since they were monastics. but from a more profound perspective, the calling towards something higher may be a sign of a complete untying of knots and restoration. I have in mind particularly some saints who lived some time in the world and were married – see for example the life of St. Melania of Rome- had two children, both died almost immediately after birth, then went on to follow a monastic life.
What I am trying to suggest is that children are called to tie the loose ends left broken by those before them, to restore the communion that was broken. For one who has experienced theosis and united himself with Christ, there is no further thing left to restore. The return to the Father is complete, the circle is closed.
Of course, there are many other things to take into account- one of them being personal participation in salvation- I am not trying to suggest some mechanistic salvation, regardless of personal acceptance and so on…but, just a thought.
Illustration of the law of action and reaction and of father-son relation: last year I met a taxi driver. His father spent a lot of money preparing him for some education abroad. But at 19 he met a girl, decided to marry in spite of all protests from his father. They married, had a boy, after a few months she ran away with another. He married a second time, but the second wife died of cancer, horrible experience. He is now married a third time and seems, for now, to have finally found some peace.
He spent a lot of money for the education of his son, who turned 18 and was ready to leave for university abroad when…he met a girl and decided to merry in spite of all protests from his father. So the pendulum must swing the opposite direction and he is now forced to bear himself the disobedience that he has done to his father. This creates another ring in the chain and so on…
Only with the higher Law of liberty in self-sacrifice can the chains of cosmic determinism be broken and the rule of death abolished.
I said at the beginning that it was a good podcast…on the other hand though…
…no on the other hand this time.
Wouldn’t know even where to begin with commenting on this theme, its so poignant. So its probably better than I build upon it more in the future. I know a lot of cases just as those you mentioned. When you live in more backwards parts you kinda encounter a lot of this: older people are evaluating others on the grounds of ancestry The break out from it – and I would rather use the expression: “growing out of it” – is indeed possible but is by no means easy. I don’t mean Sainthood exclusively, although it is a good paradeigma through which you can observe more mundane and psychological ways of transcending one’s givens. As for sacrifice of progeny, as some kind of breaking the eternal recurrence of the same, it is really the case, I think. In its apparent cruelty, it just displays how detached from the reality of religion we became. For instance, the apparition at Fatima comes to mind, where it was made clear that two of three children will “be with God”, i.e. kick the bucket, after they serve the purpose of conveying the message to the world. And that’s just one among many cases of child Saints.