heres my response to that question. if you're someone learned in this stuff you will see right away i had no idea what i was talking about. i got a b+ on the exam. upper respiratory infection drifting to the stomach, nuff said...
anselm of canterbury is as immortal in today's world as any god to grace the pages of history and literature. his piety earned him a permanent place in the minds of humans in the wake of colonialism and western conquest. the reason for this perpetual romantacized image of pure-white virtue is not rooted in exaggeration. during a time when greed held tightly to the masses and even infected the impenetrable piety of the church, anselm maintained his focus. as a theologian noone could better understand the human being and it's relation to divine mandate as did anselm. when education was not mature enough to recognize self confidence as the end to a means anselm wove this important facet of human existence into ideas fashionable to all alive during his time.
the apocalyptic myth which anselm rejected was regarding christ and satan in a struggle for man's salvation. to examine the ideas rooted in such an ideology one looks no further than humans themselves. the struggle of life is evidenced in the appearance of flesh and bone. what is life but a struggle for a cell to perceive and thus reproduce to manifest a physical appearance reflective of eagerness to understand. satans position laid foundation in the purely physical. eternal life is a symptom of satan's evil grip. one under this influence seeks to hold close all that defines them as a being.
christ comes in where selflessness is present. christ recognises the necessity of the being to cling to physical indulgences, but one absorbed in christ does not make the physical a habit. one rooted in christ uses their physical form as a vehicle to save themselves through self confidence and afterwards to promote this into the minds of others. man's salvation lies in an understanding and awareness; the fact that one cannot escape sin but may deflect sin in a manner which may be productive. thus two types of sin were cast.
criminal sin is in conduct of direct malice. one seeks to reinforce their physical existence through unjust means. sin, however, is pervasive; it washes over every human in the act of perceiving. greed can be vision, touch, and other sensory indulgences, but they are unavoidable because this sin brought the being into existence. the vibration of an idle cell reflected its rejection of eternal boredom in exchange for a predictable jaunt through a world of temporary sensory experience. the end is known, but soon as the being (cell) gets unsettled and seeks the physical it is cast into sin because all it can harbor in this plane of existence is futile as a result of impending death.
anselm understood these fundamentally HUMAN impulses and causes. what he presented to the masses was far different than what he felt, deep down, at the seat of his soul. in order for a harmonious experience in the physical realm this distinction had to be understood by those unable to grasp it.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
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