Have you ever watched a cooking show where at the beginning the chef mixed up something in a saucepan and puts it off to one side to simmer or marinate while they prepare the rest of the meal. I'd like to do the same with this excerpt from an interview with Camille Paglia in “America” Magazine. Now, Camille Paglia is a pretty prominent personality in the atheistic, feminist sub culture. In the article, she says, "Not only am l Italian I'm an Aries, born under the sign of the war god, so we Aries women like Joan Crawford and Betty Davis, tend to be very militant very combative”. Now, we'll just set this off to one side for now and use it later.
In Greek mythology the Muses were sources of artistic inspiration, in, say for example poetry or drama. In Greek mythology, they were personified as the 9 daughters of Apollo and their job was to draw you through their soft seductions to Apollo through the worship of the idols in the temple at Delphi.
The muse's job was to inspire you, literally they “in-spirited” you to desire Apollo. The word muse is the root of our word "music". for example, music can inspire you and take you to a heavenly place through the physical vibrations of the strings of a violin. Or your patriotic spirit, stirred by military music, compels you to join the army. The methodology, of the muse, is to inspire or draw you to some god or higher state of being, through some physical medium.
For a more modern manifestation, think about the TV program "American Idol". There the muse of "fame" draws you to the possibility of a contract with Simon Cowell (something considered heavenly), through a physical appearance on American Idol.
A question! Can you get a contract with Simon Cowell through, say: "Dancing with the Stars"? ....or how about through: "Say YES to the DRESS"?
NO, you can only come to Simon Cowell through America Idol. If you show up at his office with a chit from appearing on "Say YES to the DRESS" he will look at you say, "Depart from me, l never knew you". In the Gospels, Jesus says, "No one comes to the father but through me". In Christian Trinitarian theology, it is the Holy Spirit that draws you to the father by means of the incarnate Son.
A technical forensic analysis of the doctrine of the Trinity using Aristotelian metaphysical categories, is what, in theology is called the "immanent Trinity" is an attempt to try and state what God is. This discussion does not normally take place at Tim Horton's
What we have been looking at is called the "economic Trinity", how the Trinity plays out in our lives. Economic, in the full sense, like "home economics", how the household is structured and actually works, in "real time". Monetary economics is just one aspect of the full meal deal. Economics can be a topic for discussion at Tim Horton's.
Bringing over our saucepan of freshly marinated Camille Paglia. Neither Ms. Paglia or her interviewer, l imagine, would see her comment as particularly Trinitarian, but the structure is there. She has the spirit of "militancy" drawing her to the war god "Aries" through two recent "incarnations" - Joan Crawford and Betty Davis.
Even in situations that we would consider more "ordinary" this structure is present. For example, the desire to 'teach' inspires you to get a 'Degree in Education' through a four year attendance' at University. We are invariably following some desire to some end through some means. Life has a Trinitarian flavour. We live and move and have our being in a Trinitarian reality.
What is the structure of reality called? In John's Gospel 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." There is a rational structure to God and reality. Christians say: "In the beginning was the Word" some others would say "In the beginning was the Will" but this leaves God open to being a tyrant since it is possible for him to will different things on different days. The "logos" means that we are dealing with a God who is the same yesterday, today and forever, a God with whom you can enter into a covenant with.
But we live in a world where we can encounter "knock off” logi. As an example: In the book of Genesis the muse of the serpent seduces Eve to desire "god-likeness" through the eating of the forbidden fruit. The trinitarian structure is there but is not fueled by love but by envy. Envy is a fuel that leads to the whole thing just blowing up in you face. In other words, to death.
So the deep (soulful) question, of our lives then, is not the choice between Trinity or "no" Trinity but as to which Trinity you choose as the structural underpinning of your life? Which Trinity offers you sustenance for your soul? Which Trinity offers you "true food” and "true drink"? Which Trinity nourishes you to Wholeness', or in less secular language, which Trinity is the source of your 'salvation'?
To quote Bob Dylan, from his Slow Train Coming album: "You're gon'a serve somebody. It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord but you're gon'a have to serve somebody."
To close the circle on our opening, "meal time metaphor". There is a venue where the veil separating time and eternity (the economic and the immanent) is drawn back briefly and we are invited to literally participate in the Trinitarian life of God, the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This venue??.... It is the Eucharistic Banquet the "Supper of the Lamb"
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