The biggest case of denial that can be readily diagnosed right now in the United States, is the denial of left-wing liberals and the entire Democratic party.
Everywhere you look, on whatever news channel, there is disbelief, and outrage, unfounded fear, and denial. They simply cannot believe that this happened.
Why? Do liberals think they are the only people living in the US? Apparently so. They do not seem to realize that Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote by a mere .3%. Less than 1%! So their claim that the country has somehow lost out on the candidate the people want is straight up ridiculous! But the left will never accept this because that would mean that their liberal agenda did not make the home run they thought they had hit. In fact it wasn't even close. And they can't stand the reality of that, the failure. They cannot comprehend the fact that virtually half of American voters still have morals, and at least a vague idea of right and wrong. At the same time, they are in denial about the fact that, while Republicans had pretty much a terrible candidate, they nominated the worst possible candidate they ever could have, probably the worst in American history so far. She was under investigation for crying out loud! Who cares what her policies are! She is probably a crook! I don't think the American public is very eager yet to discredit FBI investigations. Sorry guys.
Even with all this, even knowing that the left has been so badly beaten that they are in denial, I, at least, am having a hard time celebrating. I am still terrified of what they will do to discredit Trump's time as president. And let's face it, a little terrified that Trump will completely screw up.
At least for now, those who still believe in God in this country have a little more time to prepare for what's coming. Because it will come. The devil is not happy right now, I am sure; he wanted Hillary up there. But hopefully Trump as the president, is God working in mysterious ways. That is what we need to believe and pray for right now.
Here's to a republican house and senate!
Thursday, 10 November 2016
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
A Few Thoughts on America's Liberal Modernist Progressivism
Now that is a mouthful - "Liberal Modernist Progressivism" - but it is a mouthful that needs to be stated more often than it is. Last night's election started me thinking about what it is about the majority of the democratic party that leaves me so absolutely in despair. What precisely about America's Liberal Modernist Progressivism has driven those people in our country with some morals left, to unite against a common evil? Didn't it seem like all was lost? That Hillary's progressive agenda had gained enough momentum to sail away with the white house in tow for at least the next four years?
I think there are a couple of reasons why not everyone was duped by the "tolerance" agenda of the democrats. One is that Christians who understand tolerance to mean virtually charity in religion speak, are starting to realize that tolerance for liberals actually means "acceptance". Lately, I have been wondering why the left's tolerance bothered me so much; I had always understood the idea of it to be essentially a very Catholic one centered around Charity, and the old adage "love the sinner, hate the sin". Well, I was wrong about that in the first place, since tolerance would be better represented by "love the sinner, allow him to sin". But the left has taken its creed even further than that. In fact, liberals, especially young millennial liberals, have kept on preaching laws of tolerance, when what they really mean is acceptance. If LGBTQs just wanted regular old people to tolerate them, then they wouldn't be making half such a stink about their rights! What they want is for the public to accept them, even to endorse them.
All the leftist talk about tolerance is crap, even to them. It is a very bad cover for the agenda of forcing evil on the world. That is the devil's agenda, and he will enforce it through the selfish modernist's mindset of tolerance. There are many people who preach leftist views and really mean well. They have been deceived not just by their own desire to do evil, but by a targeted attack on their belief that evil can even exist. It used to be that taking the life of a child was one of the worst evils one could conceive of. Now this is everyday talk. Evil has become not only legal, but commonplace. America's Liberal Modern Progressivism has erased the idea of evil from the minds of its subjects.
Not believing in evil is like not believing in night. If there is day, there must be night. If there is good there must be evil. You cannot have one without the other. If evil did not exist the word good would be redundant. Useless.
Last night gave me a little hope, not really for our country, but more for all those people who are learning to accept evil as normal. It seems that there are more people out there who can still think straight than any of us thought. They were just too cowed by the democratic attitude to come out and say it; and I suppose that turned out to be a good thing!
I think there are a couple of reasons why not everyone was duped by the "tolerance" agenda of the democrats. One is that Christians who understand tolerance to mean virtually charity in religion speak, are starting to realize that tolerance for liberals actually means "acceptance". Lately, I have been wondering why the left's tolerance bothered me so much; I had always understood the idea of it to be essentially a very Catholic one centered around Charity, and the old adage "love the sinner, hate the sin". Well, I was wrong about that in the first place, since tolerance would be better represented by "love the sinner, allow him to sin". But the left has taken its creed even further than that. In fact, liberals, especially young millennial liberals, have kept on preaching laws of tolerance, when what they really mean is acceptance. If LGBTQs just wanted regular old people to tolerate them, then they wouldn't be making half such a stink about their rights! What they want is for the public to accept them, even to endorse them.
All the leftist talk about tolerance is crap, even to them. It is a very bad cover for the agenda of forcing evil on the world. That is the devil's agenda, and he will enforce it through the selfish modernist's mindset of tolerance. There are many people who preach leftist views and really mean well. They have been deceived not just by their own desire to do evil, but by a targeted attack on their belief that evil can even exist. It used to be that taking the life of a child was one of the worst evils one could conceive of. Now this is everyday talk. Evil has become not only legal, but commonplace. America's Liberal Modern Progressivism has erased the idea of evil from the minds of its subjects.
Not believing in evil is like not believing in night. If there is day, there must be night. If there is good there must be evil. You cannot have one without the other. If evil did not exist the word good would be redundant. Useless.
Last night gave me a little hope, not really for our country, but more for all those people who are learning to accept evil as normal. It seems that there are more people out there who can still think straight than any of us thought. They were just too cowed by the democratic attitude to come out and say it; and I suppose that turned out to be a good thing!
Friday, 14 October 2016
Reading the Quran in my Lit. Class
So for Western Lit. this past week, we had to read the New Testament and the Quran, and watch a couple of videos about Islam. I have to say it was pretty interesting, and also very weird, as the history of Islam is just very odd, and not at all what I expected.
Anyway this post is not really about that; you can all go read about the history yourself. What its really about is the very interesting conversation that occurred in our actual class. Actually its not really about that either. Its really only related to one tiny small part of that conversation.
At one point the conversation was focusing on the violence, and how the religion from the very beginning was intended to be a very political one. Then someone brought up the Crusades and the Inquisition, and how the Catholic Church was so violent and cruel too. I guess that's supposed to be a good excuse for violently decapitating Christians in the streets today??? Anyways, of course I wanted to freak out and argue and tell them how they don't know anything about history.
I also really wanted to bring up the Protestant reformation and how Elizabeth the 1st brutally killed millions of Catholics. But don't worry I knew that was a really bad argument, and anyway that is not the real problem with their argument.
Which is what this essay (?) is really supposed to be about. Yes, the Crusades did happen. But one can never understand why, until he realizes that the Catholic monarchs were defending their civilization and culture from a threatening cult that wanted to take over everything. Nowadays wars are fought only for money, when it comes down to it. And people simply can't wrap their head around the duty to defend a culture, and to protect it from an opposing one. Whether that is because there simply is no culture in America, or because they don't want to admit that there can be a correct culture, I don't know. Probably its a combination of both.
Humans living now have no concept of what it means to share a religion that all believe is the truth. If they did, they would want to protect themselves from the destruction of that truth. They cannot understand the concept of absolute truth, while I cannot understand trying to live without it. Where they see necessity for tolerance, or more like acceptance, I see necessity for laws. Where they have made the base desires of man the law, we Catholics make the desires of God the law.
When it comes down to it, modernism has already fixed its vice grip on humanity. The only one who can save it is Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, because she is the only one who can convince our Lord to have mercy on so corrupt a nation.
I am no longer afraid of conversations that might be difficult, or classes that might challenge my beliefs. (Not that my teacher challenges; oh no, he is very tolerant of, well, everything.) They cannot hurt me because they have no knowledge, and because I know that there is no point to arguing, since we share no beliefs in common, and therefore cannot really have an argument. I am finally starting to get that. It doesn't matter what people say to try and make me mad, or to try and throw mud at the Church, because it just simply isn't true. At the same time, they will never be able to see my point of view, because they probably don't believe in God, let alone the authority of the Church.
The only way I can make any difference is by example, which will hopefully catch their attention and curiosity, and thus opens their minds. And the only way to have the strength to stand by example is to pray for it.
So lets do it together and all say one Hail Mary right now!
Anyway this post is not really about that; you can all go read about the history yourself. What its really about is the very interesting conversation that occurred in our actual class. Actually its not really about that either. Its really only related to one tiny small part of that conversation.
At one point the conversation was focusing on the violence, and how the religion from the very beginning was intended to be a very political one. Then someone brought up the Crusades and the Inquisition, and how the Catholic Church was so violent and cruel too. I guess that's supposed to be a good excuse for violently decapitating Christians in the streets today??? Anyways, of course I wanted to freak out and argue and tell them how they don't know anything about history.
I also really wanted to bring up the Protestant reformation and how Elizabeth the 1st brutally killed millions of Catholics. But don't worry I knew that was a really bad argument, and anyway that is not the real problem with their argument.
Which is what this essay (?) is really supposed to be about. Yes, the Crusades did happen. But one can never understand why, until he realizes that the Catholic monarchs were defending their civilization and culture from a threatening cult that wanted to take over everything. Nowadays wars are fought only for money, when it comes down to it. And people simply can't wrap their head around the duty to defend a culture, and to protect it from an opposing one. Whether that is because there simply is no culture in America, or because they don't want to admit that there can be a correct culture, I don't know. Probably its a combination of both.
Humans living now have no concept of what it means to share a religion that all believe is the truth. If they did, they would want to protect themselves from the destruction of that truth. They cannot understand the concept of absolute truth, while I cannot understand trying to live without it. Where they see necessity for tolerance, or more like acceptance, I see necessity for laws. Where they have made the base desires of man the law, we Catholics make the desires of God the law.
When it comes down to it, modernism has already fixed its vice grip on humanity. The only one who can save it is Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, because she is the only one who can convince our Lord to have mercy on so corrupt a nation.
I am no longer afraid of conversations that might be difficult, or classes that might challenge my beliefs. (Not that my teacher challenges; oh no, he is very tolerant of, well, everything.) They cannot hurt me because they have no knowledge, and because I know that there is no point to arguing, since we share no beliefs in common, and therefore cannot really have an argument. I am finally starting to get that. It doesn't matter what people say to try and make me mad, or to try and throw mud at the Church, because it just simply isn't true. At the same time, they will never be able to see my point of view, because they probably don't believe in God, let alone the authority of the Church.
The only way I can make any difference is by example, which will hopefully catch their attention and curiosity, and thus opens their minds. And the only way to have the strength to stand by example is to pray for it.
So lets do it together and all say one Hail Mary right now!
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Britt's Photos; my Food (and weird looking hands)
So, I have a problem about my life that I don't know how to solve. I love food: I love everything about it. I love cooking and baking, reading recipes and food books and food magazines. I love smelling it, and studying it, and above all, I love eating it (more on that later). It seems obvious that I would choose a career that involves it in a big way. But almost all the career choices a food geek has inevitably mean a sucky lifestyle. The annoying part is, when I decided I didn't have the stamina to make a career in music, and when pain officially closed that door, I discovered that food was my other passion; Yay!, right? I mean, that gives me a plan for my life right? Actually not. Because the options of jobs in the food industry are extremely limited.
So that is my life problem. I still don't know how to fix it, or what I am doing next year.
But one thing is for sure, taking the photos to come was an absolute blast, and I wish all of you people who read this (who am I kidding) could taste the result.
Pop over to Brittany's Website to see more of her awesome work. She is a fantastic, adventurous, versatile and personable photographer. She is a great friend and an amazing woman.
So without further ado, enjoy these snapshots of food in the process of being made.
(I am going to forgo captions for now, just because, I am not a very funny person, so I don't really see the point. I'll just say, these are all taken at my parents gorgeous house, where I still abide.)
And the pizza monkey bread is finished and ready to dive into, with some doctored up tomato sauce, and coleslaw (not interesting enough to picture).
We wandered outside after dinner into the gorgeous summer sunshine, where our family animals kindly obliged the photographer with these amazing poses. Oh, and just for good measure, there is a pic of my little sis Liv too.
Conclusion: yes, there was wine involved in that evening (wine is always a good idea), and an amazing food movie called Burnt to finish it off.
Thank God for all my completely undeserved friends that put up with me.
If one of you reads this, pat yourself on the back.
(thanks britt)
So that is my life problem. I still don't know how to fix it, or what I am doing next year.
But one thing is for sure, taking the photos to come was an absolute blast, and I wish all of you people who read this (who am I kidding) could taste the result.
Pop over to Brittany's Website to see more of her awesome work. She is a fantastic, adventurous, versatile and personable photographer. She is a great friend and an amazing woman.
So without further ado, enjoy these snapshots of food in the process of being made.
We wandered outside after dinner into the gorgeous summer sunshine, where our family animals kindly obliged the photographer with these amazing poses. Oh, and just for good measure, there is a pic of my little sis Liv too.
 |
those eyes........ |
Conclusion: yes, there was wine involved in that evening (wine is always a good idea), and an amazing food movie called Burnt to finish it off.
Thank God for all my completely undeserved friends that put up with me.
If one of you reads this, pat yourself on the back.
(thanks britt)
Friday, 30 September 2016
22 Days Later......
......and I have not been able, in all that time, to summon up the brain activity and will power to get myself to post on this blog.
So I choose now, at a time when I am waiting to leave, when I have nothing better to do, and when I feel quite useless.
I should probably be doing homework, but I know that I will be doing much of that later today. So there is not much incentive. Plus, most of my assignments will take a while, and I am not really the type of person to do a little bit of something, and then come back to it- mostly because when I do do that, I end up completely restarting. So what's the point?
I was supposed to write this super insightful and interesting post titled Millenials and Entitlement. But who cares about my biased, tired and pessimistic opinion? The answer is: no one. And that is ok. Because I need to realize that my life isn't about me; its about everyone else. Everyone I come in contact with and have friendships with, everyone who is affected by something I say or do, whether I am aware of it or not. And that is probably a lot more insightful and soul-searching that any shpeel I could come up with, whether or not it is relevant and accurate.
Right now, the only thing in daily life that I am concerned about is that I have to do this violin workshop for a few of Dad's kids at his school. And I have no idea what I am going to do. Like at all. Its scary. What if all the kids start acting out because they are bored? So that is kind of stressful.
In the meantime I am actually going to prepare a post which will be mostly pictures taken by a dear friend Brittany Barb. Go check her out at Brittany Long. She took some gorgeous photos of me making pizza monkey bread. (Yes that is as amazing as it sounds.) I had wanted to do food pics for a long time (as food is basically my biggest obsession). Britt kindly agreed to do them with me. I have some work to do as far as figuring out a more interesting to photograph item, and timing the sprinkling of delicious herbs so that it looks awesome, but all of that is to come.
Food is simply absolutely exciting in every way, and hopefully the photos to come tomorrow will wet your appetite!
sophie
So I choose now, at a time when I am waiting to leave, when I have nothing better to do, and when I feel quite useless.
I should probably be doing homework, but I know that I will be doing much of that later today. So there is not much incentive. Plus, most of my assignments will take a while, and I am not really the type of person to do a little bit of something, and then come back to it- mostly because when I do do that, I end up completely restarting. So what's the point?
I was supposed to write this super insightful and interesting post titled Millenials and Entitlement. But who cares about my biased, tired and pessimistic opinion? The answer is: no one. And that is ok. Because I need to realize that my life isn't about me; its about everyone else. Everyone I come in contact with and have friendships with, everyone who is affected by something I say or do, whether I am aware of it or not. And that is probably a lot more insightful and soul-searching that any shpeel I could come up with, whether or not it is relevant and accurate.
Right now, the only thing in daily life that I am concerned about is that I have to do this violin workshop for a few of Dad's kids at his school. And I have no idea what I am going to do. Like at all. Its scary. What if all the kids start acting out because they are bored? So that is kind of stressful.
In the meantime I am actually going to prepare a post which will be mostly pictures taken by a dear friend Brittany Barb. Go check her out at Brittany Long. She took some gorgeous photos of me making pizza monkey bread. (Yes that is as amazing as it sounds.) I had wanted to do food pics for a long time (as food is basically my biggest obsession). Britt kindly agreed to do them with me. I have some work to do as far as figuring out a more interesting to photograph item, and timing the sprinkling of delicious herbs so that it looks awesome, but all of that is to come.
Food is simply absolutely exciting in every way, and hopefully the photos to come tomorrow will wet your appetite!
sophie
Thursday, 8 September 2016
The Problem of Texting
I should probably start with a caveat to this post. I understand that there are way bigger problems in the world than texting. But I am choosing to talk about texting because it is the thing that has the biggest effect on my circle and the lives of the people around me as far as technology goes. And because I have a personal beef with texting which you, the reader, will soon find out about. (Btw, I am amazed that only 15 days have gone by since I last posted :)
I recently had a conversation with a very good friend that was very enlightening and interesting for me (I am not sure how she felt about it :), and during that conversation the topic of texting came up. I am not sure how, but it did. I basically was saying how much I hate texting, and our discussion eventually led me to realize what it is really that I hate about it. So here goes the big reveal: I hate texting because it created the needs that it fulfills.
So here is my argument: the big push for texting is that it is faster than a phone call. (ok, five more seconds is really gonna ruin your day? really?) Regardless, that need for something faster than a phone call simply didn't exist before texting said, "Hey, I can get a thought to someone faster than a phone call. Won't that make your life easier?" And the world replied "Yes!!". But the joke was on the world, because that extra five seconds just made their lives harder by making them faster and faster and full of more and more things.
But my argument really has nothing to do with the American "do more do more do it faster" mindset. It has to do with the fact that before texting was around no one had the need to tell someone they would be there in five minutes. Now, because you have the option, you feel compelled to tell someone you'll be there in two minutes. There is no reason behind it. You just have to.
So then my question is: why don't you just call? Isn't it actually faster to press call than to type a bunch of text into a little box? Yes, it is faster!! I can prove it to you right now!! So why?? Why do we have to type it??
Here are some classic answers: Their phone might be off so they will probably not answer anyway. (To that I reply: then why do you need to tell them something if they don't want or can't talk to you?) Another answer: His or her work is loud so they can't here their phone ringing, so its better to text. (My answer: Wait until they can hear their phone ringing and call them. Or leave a message). My point is that before texting, if someone had a loud job and couldn't answer their phone, you had to wait and call them when you knew they were on a break, or you had to leave a message. But texting created the possibility of leaving a message for them on a screen so that they wouldn't have to take the extra ten seconds to listen to a voicemail.
Nobody asked for that. Nobody said: Wow, leaving a message is such a time waster, I really need something that gets rid of those 20 seconds of wasted time. Nobody asked for that!! Really!!! Texting created the need!! It created the need for constant connection (not constant communication. constant connection).
It used to be that people didn't need to verify meeting times 20 minutes or 20 seconds before they were supposed to happen. Now that has become the norm. And if there is no response they assume you are not going to show up. What if you were just having a conversation with someone on the subway instead of looking at your phone? God forbid! Texting has created the need to be near one's phone all the time, just in case of a message. No one needed to do that before. Now all of a sudden it is a necessity of life (and yes that was all of the sudden compared to thousands of years; no one can argue that.)
I could come up with dozens of scenarios that texting has created, but what is the point? Plus I have probably already bored to tears whoever is reading this, and should cut it short. My main beef is that texting created the market for its necessity, and duped an entire continent or two in the process.
Don't even get me started on fb.!!!!!
Peace out.
sophie
I recently had a conversation with a very good friend that was very enlightening and interesting for me (I am not sure how she felt about it :), and during that conversation the topic of texting came up. I am not sure how, but it did. I basically was saying how much I hate texting, and our discussion eventually led me to realize what it is really that I hate about it. So here goes the big reveal: I hate texting because it created the needs that it fulfills.
So here is my argument: the big push for texting is that it is faster than a phone call. (ok, five more seconds is really gonna ruin your day? really?) Regardless, that need for something faster than a phone call simply didn't exist before texting said, "Hey, I can get a thought to someone faster than a phone call. Won't that make your life easier?" And the world replied "Yes!!". But the joke was on the world, because that extra five seconds just made their lives harder by making them faster and faster and full of more and more things.
But my argument really has nothing to do with the American "do more do more do it faster" mindset. It has to do with the fact that before texting was around no one had the need to tell someone they would be there in five minutes. Now, because you have the option, you feel compelled to tell someone you'll be there in two minutes. There is no reason behind it. You just have to.
So then my question is: why don't you just call? Isn't it actually faster to press call than to type a bunch of text into a little box? Yes, it is faster!! I can prove it to you right now!! So why?? Why do we have to type it??
Here are some classic answers: Their phone might be off so they will probably not answer anyway. (To that I reply: then why do you need to tell them something if they don't want or can't talk to you?) Another answer: His or her work is loud so they can't here their phone ringing, so its better to text. (My answer: Wait until they can hear their phone ringing and call them. Or leave a message). My point is that before texting, if someone had a loud job and couldn't answer their phone, you had to wait and call them when you knew they were on a break, or you had to leave a message. But texting created the possibility of leaving a message for them on a screen so that they wouldn't have to take the extra ten seconds to listen to a voicemail.
Nobody asked for that. Nobody said: Wow, leaving a message is such a time waster, I really need something that gets rid of those 20 seconds of wasted time. Nobody asked for that!! Really!!! Texting created the need!! It created the need for constant connection (not constant communication. constant connection).
It used to be that people didn't need to verify meeting times 20 minutes or 20 seconds before they were supposed to happen. Now that has become the norm. And if there is no response they assume you are not going to show up. What if you were just having a conversation with someone on the subway instead of looking at your phone? God forbid! Texting has created the need to be near one's phone all the time, just in case of a message. No one needed to do that before. Now all of a sudden it is a necessity of life (and yes that was all of the sudden compared to thousands of years; no one can argue that.)
I could come up with dozens of scenarios that texting has created, but what is the point? Plus I have probably already bored to tears whoever is reading this, and should cut it short. My main beef is that texting created the market for its necessity, and duped an entire continent or two in the process.
Don't even get me started on fb.!!!!!
Peace out.
sophie
Wednesday, 24 August 2016
What Does Immaculate Mean?
On the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary that was celebrated yesterday, the priest celebrating mass gave a very helpful and interesting sermon, so here goes with what I remember and have taken away from it.
Father asked us to consider that when Mary was born she was already as holy as the holiest saint. Her immaculate state even at the moment of conception earned her the highest place in heaven. It is clear that in the religious sense of the word, we place Holy and Immaculate on the same plane. However, immaculate has more of an idea of purity and perfection in it, while holiness refers really to a being's closeness with God. So Mary's purity and perfection, what I will call her holiness, was at least equal to that of the greatest saint at her birth. And it has been increasing infinitely since then. That is a lot of merit and grace that she in her generosity has offered to share with us in so many ways.
But this feast specifically refers to the Immaculateness of her Heart. What is so special about the heart? This is not in reference to the heart beating in Mary's body, neither is that the reference that humans mean when they say that someone has a good heart. Heart in this case refers to that area of the soul that is not covered by reason and will. Reason and will are the two areas of the human soul that we usually consider in any discussion of man's intangible attributes. Often we forget that the heart is a vital third aspect of our humanity. After some thought I have decided this: In every choice in one's life his will dictates the what, his reason dictates the why and his heart dictates the how. As Father was talking about the heart being a part of the soul, I was trying to decide what aspect of human decisions it corresponded with, and that is what I came up with. And I think we will all agree that most of human life is basically just a bunch of decisions all in a row.
So if the heart dictates the how of something that we intend to do, we could almost in a sense say that it is the most important aspect of the soul, just like St. Paul said that Charity is the most important of the three theological virtues. It seems almost backwards at first, but only because reason and will (or hope and faith) really occur in the soul before the heart comes into play (or charity). In other words, a child can think and demand things long before he can consciously love or use his heart to decide how he is going to do something. It is also true that in order to use his heart he must first use his reason. Just as in order to be charitable, we must first have faith.
All this from a simple sermon on the Immaculate. That is what critical and valuable thinking is all about. It is hard to remind myself of that sometimes.
Father asked us to consider that when Mary was born she was already as holy as the holiest saint. Her immaculate state even at the moment of conception earned her the highest place in heaven. It is clear that in the religious sense of the word, we place Holy and Immaculate on the same plane. However, immaculate has more of an idea of purity and perfection in it, while holiness refers really to a being's closeness with God. So Mary's purity and perfection, what I will call her holiness, was at least equal to that of the greatest saint at her birth. And it has been increasing infinitely since then. That is a lot of merit and grace that she in her generosity has offered to share with us in so many ways.
But this feast specifically refers to the Immaculateness of her Heart. What is so special about the heart? This is not in reference to the heart beating in Mary's body, neither is that the reference that humans mean when they say that someone has a good heart. Heart in this case refers to that area of the soul that is not covered by reason and will. Reason and will are the two areas of the human soul that we usually consider in any discussion of man's intangible attributes. Often we forget that the heart is a vital third aspect of our humanity. After some thought I have decided this: In every choice in one's life his will dictates the what, his reason dictates the why and his heart dictates the how. As Father was talking about the heart being a part of the soul, I was trying to decide what aspect of human decisions it corresponded with, and that is what I came up with. And I think we will all agree that most of human life is basically just a bunch of decisions all in a row.
So if the heart dictates the how of something that we intend to do, we could almost in a sense say that it is the most important aspect of the soul, just like St. Paul said that Charity is the most important of the three theological virtues. It seems almost backwards at first, but only because reason and will (or hope and faith) really occur in the soul before the heart comes into play (or charity). In other words, a child can think and demand things long before he can consciously love or use his heart to decide how he is going to do something. It is also true that in order to use his heart he must first use his reason. Just as in order to be charitable, we must first have faith.
All this from a simple sermon on the Immaculate. That is what critical and valuable thinking is all about. It is hard to remind myself of that sometimes.
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