John O’Donahue, whose work I’ve read over and over again for 10 years now, wrote beautifully about asceticism in his book, Eternal Echoes. “As with all manner of spiritual discipline, we gain most when we are willing freely to choose what is difficult. When you practice even some small asceticism, your experience gains a new sense of focus. Any ascetical practice is difficult; you learn to walk a little on the path of self-denial. The intention of an ascetical discipline is not to turn you into a spiritual warrior, but to free you for compassion and love towards others and towards yourself.”
Reminds me of that line from East of Eden: "And now you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."
I too have had to learn how to live in a world where there are (1) temptations to sin or overindulge and (2) good things which are mixed up with these temptations. And where I'm at is resting in being able to enjoy that there are 'many pleasurable and good things in the world, but many of them might not be for me'.
Thanks for writing this, Griffin, and sharing with us vulnerably - it is a gift. So much of what you wrote resonates and I couldn’t stop thinking of Curt Thompson’s book The Soul of Desire (& also his Soul of Shame) which is a profound overlapping work on desire, attachment theory, theology, and spiritual practices of contemplating beauty. Have you read it? I think you’d like it. Anyway thanks for writing this!
Wow. There's so much in here to think about. Thank you for writing this and thank you for your transparency in sharing about your past addiction. It's a hard road for everyone involved - those addicted and their loved ones. I lost my only brother and my older sister to addiction. :-( I pray your writing will bring you greater peace, and that others will find hope in it.
there is such a treasure trove here of things to consider adding to my many discussions i’ve had with friends or family about christian liberty. i love the way you talked about true enjoyment, and how that means you are able to partake in a thing, but also that you could live without it. i gave up coffee for lent last year, and i realised that although i’ve never been addicted, that is, i’ve never neeeeeded it every day, i still had the wrong mentality on it. it helped reorient my relationship to it, and now i enjoy it even better than i did before. can’t wait for part 3!
Thanks for this! It stirred a desire for me to see you do a deep dive into the corresponding idea of Christian contentment. I know this essay is partly there, but I think that’s such an important topic. Jeremiah Burroughs has some good (and old) writings on this.
I can also vouch for Jeremiah Burroughs. Life changing! He’s a Puritan who wrote an entire book on one verse. It came at a time when I was really struggling with discontent and I haven’t come across anything like it in modern literature
Right! You're the only other person I know who has read the book, so maybe you might appreciate this poem, What Discontent Says, that I wrote a while ago after reading it haha https://substack.com/@rebeccamarie/p-136239026
I LOVE eudaimonian ethics, this article made me so happy. (And was also super helpful and covered a lot of key ground.) Have you done any reading into the via affirma and the via negativa? That could pair with some of the stuff you’re talking about here.
Man I would love to pretend that I knew what via affirma and via negativa was but alas my undergrad philosophy courses let me down 😅 any good resources I could check out for more info?
I don’t know how much these are actual philosophical things and not just themes that came up in a lot of my own college classes that I took as more solid definitions than they actually are. (I also think it’s supposed to be via positiva/via negativa, or way of affirmation vs way of negation, and I just collapsed the Latin and the English)
"Via negativa" and "via positiva" are, properly speaking, another way of talking about cataphatic and apophatic theology. What can we say about God, can we say anything about God, etc. So then there are late antiquity theologians/early medieval writers who get associated with the two terms (Dionysius the Areopagite has a whole treatise on names of God, and whether we can actually use any language to talk about God, etc, so he’d be on the via negativa side)
But the way we ended up using the terms in some of my theology/literature classes were to talk about two impulses in church history—people who see the faith as a movement towards/through creation and the world, or away from it. Basically some of the same tensions that you’ve articulated here. So St John of the Cross (and a number of Eastern Orthodox mystics, I think) would fall in the “way of negation” camp, because the mystical emphasis is strongly on a posture of “setting things aside” to pursue God. On the other hand, you see the via positiva strongly in somebody like Dante—his poetry is all about how love of creation draws us towards God.
T. S. Eliot plays a lot with the way of negation in his poem The Four Quartets:
“To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.”
And he’s pretty much borrowing straight from St John of the Cross there. Then on the other hand, the Inkling Charles Williams developed a whole concept, called “Romantic theology” out of this way of affirmation side of things. This is a pretty good overview:https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/12/romantic-theology-charles-williams.html. (He was also a huge Dante guy, so he borrows a lot from him here.) Williams said: “Any occupation exercising itself with passion, with self-oblivion, with devotion, towards an end other than itself, is a gateway to divine things.”
So in summary, it’s a lot of the same tensions you’re talking about in this essay, those are just two of the terms I’ve heard used to talk about those sides, especially in regards to the mystic or medieval tradition.
Okay wow this was truly incredible to read. Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to explain all this was so kind of you!! Sounds like I definitely need to look into this a bit more. Funny enough, the first draft of this essay had some references to St. John of the Cross but I definitely didn’t connect it to any larger theological movements haha.
Christopher West touches on these points in his commentary on John Paul's Theology of the Body. He describes gluttony as "trying to get eternity out of a donut". All pleasure here is to be enjoyed as a foretaste of what's to come in the new creation and the consummation of our union with Christ. His work really shifted my thinking.
I love your testimony of the love of God changing you. It's so powerful in the simplicity of the revelation.
It’s often the case that there is nowhere to stand in spiritual life. Rejecting the world isn’t an option but neither is living a life for the world. As a result, one has to be in the world but not of it.
I’d also add that when we ‘renounce’ the world as not ultimately satisfying, we actually get it back. It’s like as Christ says, those who lose their life will find it. Once we give up seeking true happiness in the world, our material possessions, substances and name and fame, we get to enjoy creation without being attached. We get to enjoy good things but not make them ultimate things. As you wrote ‘realizing that we could function perfectly well without them’.
I love what you wrote about the liturgical tradition including both feasts and fasts, just as our calendar has work days and holidays. Yet through it all, God remains steadfast and is our security.
John O’Donahue, whose work I’ve read over and over again for 10 years now, wrote beautifully about asceticism in his book, Eternal Echoes. “As with all manner of spiritual discipline, we gain most when we are willing freely to choose what is difficult. When you practice even some small asceticism, your experience gains a new sense of focus. Any ascetical practice is difficult; you learn to walk a little on the path of self-denial. The intention of an ascetical discipline is not to turn you into a spiritual warrior, but to free you for compassion and love towards others and towards yourself.”
That’s beautiful! I love that. Wish I had that earlier haha. Thanks for sharing!!
Reminds me of that line from East of Eden: "And now you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."
I too have had to learn how to live in a world where there are (1) temptations to sin or overindulge and (2) good things which are mixed up with these temptations. And where I'm at is resting in being able to enjoy that there are 'many pleasurable and good things in the world, but many of them might not be for me'.
Love that! Thank you for sharing that with me !
Thanks for writing this, Griffin, and sharing with us vulnerably - it is a gift. So much of what you wrote resonates and I couldn’t stop thinking of Curt Thompson’s book The Soul of Desire (& also his Soul of Shame) which is a profound overlapping work on desire, attachment theory, theology, and spiritual practices of contemplating beauty. Have you read it? I think you’d like it. Anyway thanks for writing this!
I love both of those books!! And I’m glad you liked it :) thanks so much for your kind words!!
Wow. There's so much in here to think about. Thank you for writing this and thank you for your transparency in sharing about your past addiction. It's a hard road for everyone involved - those addicted and their loved ones. I lost my only brother and my older sister to addiction. :-( I pray your writing will bring you greater peace, and that others will find hope in it.
I am so sorry to hear about your loss! That is horrible. Thankful for you and for your kind words and prayers.
there is such a treasure trove here of things to consider adding to my many discussions i’ve had with friends or family about christian liberty. i love the way you talked about true enjoyment, and how that means you are able to partake in a thing, but also that you could live without it. i gave up coffee for lent last year, and i realised that although i’ve never been addicted, that is, i’ve never neeeeeded it every day, i still had the wrong mentality on it. it helped reorient my relationship to it, and now i enjoy it even better than i did before. can’t wait for part 3!
I’m so happy you liked it :)
Thanks for this! It stirred a desire for me to see you do a deep dive into the corresponding idea of Christian contentment. I know this essay is partly there, but I think that’s such an important topic. Jeremiah Burroughs has some good (and old) writings on this.
Thanks man!! And I’ll see if I can work in some more contentment driven content! I’ll check out Burroughs too!
I can also vouch for Jeremiah Burroughs. Life changing! He’s a Puritan who wrote an entire book on one verse. It came at a time when I was really struggling with discontent and I haven’t come across anything like it in modern literature
Right?!
Right! You're the only other person I know who has read the book, so maybe you might appreciate this poem, What Discontent Says, that I wrote a while ago after reading it haha https://substack.com/@rebeccamarie/p-136239026
I LOVE eudaimonian ethics, this article made me so happy. (And was also super helpful and covered a lot of key ground.) Have you done any reading into the via affirma and the via negativa? That could pair with some of the stuff you’re talking about here.
Man I would love to pretend that I knew what via affirma and via negativa was but alas my undergrad philosophy courses let me down 😅 any good resources I could check out for more info?
I don’t know how much these are actual philosophical things and not just themes that came up in a lot of my own college classes that I took as more solid definitions than they actually are. (I also think it’s supposed to be via positiva/via negativa, or way of affirmation vs way of negation, and I just collapsed the Latin and the English)
"Via negativa" and "via positiva" are, properly speaking, another way of talking about cataphatic and apophatic theology. What can we say about God, can we say anything about God, etc. So then there are late antiquity theologians/early medieval writers who get associated with the two terms (Dionysius the Areopagite has a whole treatise on names of God, and whether we can actually use any language to talk about God, etc, so he’d be on the via negativa side)
But the way we ended up using the terms in some of my theology/literature classes were to talk about two impulses in church history—people who see the faith as a movement towards/through creation and the world, or away from it. Basically some of the same tensions that you’ve articulated here. So St John of the Cross (and a number of Eastern Orthodox mystics, I think) would fall in the “way of negation” camp, because the mystical emphasis is strongly on a posture of “setting things aside” to pursue God. On the other hand, you see the via positiva strongly in somebody like Dante—his poetry is all about how love of creation draws us towards God.
T. S. Eliot plays a lot with the way of negation in his poem The Four Quartets:
“To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.”
And he’s pretty much borrowing straight from St John of the Cross there. Then on the other hand, the Inkling Charles Williams developed a whole concept, called “Romantic theology” out of this way of affirmation side of things. This is a pretty good overview:https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/12/romantic-theology-charles-williams.html. (He was also a huge Dante guy, so he borrows a lot from him here.) Williams said: “Any occupation exercising itself with passion, with self-oblivion, with devotion, towards an end other than itself, is a gateway to divine things.”
So in summary, it’s a lot of the same tensions you’re talking about in this essay, those are just two of the terms I’ve heard used to talk about those sides, especially in regards to the mystic or medieval tradition.
Okay wow this was truly incredible to read. Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to explain all this was so kind of you!! Sounds like I definitely need to look into this a bit more. Funny enough, the first draft of this essay had some references to St. John of the Cross but I definitely didn’t connect it to any larger theological movements haha.
Thanks so much again for sharing!!
So good. Thanks for writing!
Christopher West touches on these points in his commentary on John Paul's Theology of the Body. He describes gluttony as "trying to get eternity out of a donut". All pleasure here is to be enjoyed as a foretaste of what's to come in the new creation and the consummation of our union with Christ. His work really shifted my thinking.
I love your testimony of the love of God changing you. It's so powerful in the simplicity of the revelation.
Ohhhhh dude that is suchhhhh a good line. Man I wish I had that earlier. I’ll check out that commentary! Glad you liked the article :)
I enjoy all your thoughtful research but also enjoy gleaning wisdom from your lived experience. Gonna revisit this one when I’m not so sleepy.
Thanks so much!!
I like this so much. What a great treatise on balance.
Thanks :)
Nice job. These words rang true for me. I call it the “do more” gospel.
“Some people who strive to live righteously do so out of a guilt that tells them they’re never doing enough”
Glad you liked it!!
I definitely over-shared quotes from this essay this morning. You’re welcome for the Substack spam when you wake up Stateside. 😂
But seriously: excellent piece, Griffin. One of my favourites.
No this was incredible to see all your shares!! I’m so flattered :)
Favourite part, for interest sake, is the one on the liturgical calendar. Growing up with the Jewish calender also gave me that balance.
Glad you liked it!!
What a beautiful read. Thank you for sharing!
It’s often the case that there is nowhere to stand in spiritual life. Rejecting the world isn’t an option but neither is living a life for the world. As a result, one has to be in the world but not of it.
I’d also add that when we ‘renounce’ the world as not ultimately satisfying, we actually get it back. It’s like as Christ says, those who lose their life will find it. Once we give up seeking true happiness in the world, our material possessions, substances and name and fame, we get to enjoy creation without being attached. We get to enjoy good things but not make them ultimate things. As you wrote ‘realizing that we could function perfectly well without them’.
I love what you wrote about the liturgical tradition including both feasts and fasts, just as our calendar has work days and holidays. Yet through it all, God remains steadfast and is our security.
Great stuff! Happy you liked it!
Awesome read ✨
superb