Envy
“…There is another distinctively modern form of envy, which is collective rather than individual. It is our secular society’s unconscious envy of Eden, of Paradise, of divine perfection. It is our attempt to sneak under the seraphim’s flaming sword back into Eden by making a Heaven on earth, by rebuilding the Tower of Babel, by finding salvation and happiness in the City of the World rather than in the City of God.
Nietzsche revealed the psychological origin of this demand when he wrote, ‘A man can endure almost any how if only he has a why.’ He meant that we can endure very imperfect circumstances, even great suffering, if only we have a meaning, a purpose for it all. The corollary of this truth is that if we do not have a why, a deeply felt and lived purpose—that is, if we are typically modern—then we will not endure any how, any world that is even mildly upsetting. We will demand a degree of comfort, security, and control undreamed of by any other society. And we will find the technological and political means to create it even if it kills us. And it will.
God has pulled the teeth of envy by the Incarnation. There is no longer any reason to envy a God who is crowned with thorns and suffers the pains of Hell itself on the Cross. And there is no reason to envy Adam and Eden when we are promised Christ and Heaven.”
~Peter Kreeft
Nietzsche revealed the psychological origin of this demand when he wrote, ‘A man can endure almost any how if only he has a why.’ He meant that we can endure very imperfect circumstances, even great suffering, if only we have a meaning, a purpose for it all. The corollary of this truth is that if we do not have a why, a deeply felt and lived purpose—that is, if we are typically modern—then we will not endure any how, any world that is even mildly upsetting. We will demand a degree of comfort, security, and control undreamed of by any other society. And we will find the technological and political means to create it even if it kills us. And it will.
God has pulled the teeth of envy by the Incarnation. There is no longer any reason to envy a God who is crowned with thorns and suffers the pains of Hell itself on the Cross. And there is no reason to envy Adam and Eden when we are promised Christ and Heaven.”
~Peter Kreeft
Comments