Before we can begin to understand the
clash between
Traditional Catholicism (which we would hope is the driving force behind the SSPX!) and the
doctrine of
Conciliar Rome, one must become familiar with how a "major idea" affects the
thinking that goes on in the mind of man. We must become familiar with the very
precepts of thought that have been established in the foundation of our own
thinking, precepts that have a pervasive effect on ALL of our thinking: even on
our thinking about what is going on in our own thinking!
The Worship of Liberty
Excerpt [emphasis added]:
... In other words, “doctrine” is not just a set of ideas in a man’s head, or a "mental prison."
Whatever ideas a man chooses to hold in his head, his
real doctrine is that set of ideas [he holds in his head] that
drives his life. Now a man may change that set of ideas [his real doctrine that drives his life], but he cannot [choose to]
not have [any set of ideas held in his head].
[A man may exchange one set of ideas in his head for another set of ideas (as if it were like redecorating a room, or his entire house, with "new furniture") but he cannot choose to hold
no real doctrine in his head that drives his life (as if it were like removing all the furniture from his house without replacing it). For to think with no real doctrine in his head that drives his life would be more like trying to run a computer program using a computer that has no operating system.]
[Now, Aristotle lived thousands of years before the age of computers.]
Here is how Aristotle [who lived long ago, before computers] put it: “If you want to philosophize, then you have to philosophize. If you don’t want to philosophize, you still have to philosophize. In any case a man has to philosophize.”
Similarly, liberals may scorn any set of ideas as "a tyranny," but
to hold any set of ideas to be "a tyranny"
is still a major idea [a major idea is one's real doctrine that drives his life], and
it is the one idea that drives the lives of zillions of liberals today, and of all too many Catholics.
These [Catholics] should know better [than to succuмb willingly or by coalescence, to the error of scorning a particular set of ideas as "a tyranny"] but
all of us moderns have the worship of liberty in our bloodstream.
[And the
worship of liberty is a major idea ~ a doctrine that drives one's life, whether one thinks of it as driving one's life or not; because
the precept of liberty worship cannot do otherwise than
to drive ones life, any more than an operating system can do otherwise than to run computer programs.]
One thing common to all great thinkers is, you can quote them in pithy, profound
sagacity.
E.g.:
Here is how Aristotle put it:
“If you want to philosophize, then you have to philosophize.
If you don’t want to philosophize, you still have to philosophize.
In any case, a man has to philosophize.”Some things take time to settle in and start working in your mind, and this is one
of those times.
This particular and narrow subject, on which +Williamson so briefly touches for a
few seconds in his EC this week, could be a major portion of an entire course in
philosophy. It would be a part of a course in Epistemology. And I dare say that
one single lecture could never suffice to communicate all the nuances of this topic
to any modern audience unfamiliar with this subject. And furthermore, when
human
will is added to the mix, some of those present in the audience would
be
incapable of learning most, if not all, of the nuances. In no small degree,
this is due to the fact that it is necessary to study all the preliminary courses of
philosophy first, before getting into this one, such as Logic, Cosmology,
Psychology (which has practically nothing to do with modern "psychology!), Ethics
and Greek Philosophy,
before studying Modern Philosophy. At that point, AND
NOT BEFORE THAT POINT, the student would be prepared to begin studying
Epistemology. IMHO this is what happened to the young Joseph Ratzinger, who
was unable to learn the curriculum of his seminary courses on the
Summa of
St. Thomas!
Topic: "Eleison Comments" by Mgr. Williamson - Issue CCLXVI (Read 1422 times)