Catching Up

Well, as anyone can see, it's been a while since I've posted on my blog. Grad School is seriously kicking my butt and it's making me realize how stupid I've been all my life. For the most part, I've been immersed in Aristotle's Metaphysics, which means, there's not much I can say that would probably interest anyone out there (unless you really are, for some strange reason, concerned as to whether Aristotle's forms are particular or universal!). At times, I think, "What the heck did I get myself into and what purpose will this serve in the future?!" Yet, when I step back and consider the huge influence Aristotle continues to have on Western thinking and Christianity (particularly through Aquinas), I can't help but believe that there is value in understanding his arguments and evaluating how it has effected our worldview.

On another note, for my ethics class I am writing a paper on a comment Augustine made about impartiality in On Christian Doctrine that is quite intriguing. Here's what he said:

"All people should be loved equally. But you cannot do good to all people equally, so you should take particular thought for those who, as if by lot, happen to be particularly close to you in terms of place, time, or any other circumstances. Suppose that you had plently of something which had to be given to someone in need of it but could not be given to two people, and you met two people, neither of whom had a greater need or a close relationship to you than the other: you could do nothing more just than to choose by lot the person to whom you should give what could not be given to both. Analogously, since you cannot take thought for all men, you must settle by lot in favour of the one who happens to be more closely associated with you in temporal matters."

Hm... Could it be that all our ethical issues on impartiality could be settled by flipping a coin? It is interesting when you stop to think about it how much of our lives is preconditioned by "lot" (you may call that providence, chance, randomness, whatever). So much of about our lives has little to do with our choice - what family or country we're born into, the type of religious education we receive as a child, our access to information, our ability to get an education, the wealth we have, etc. Of course, in some of these cases, we have some influence, but I can't help but think that there are probably a couple billion people out there in the world much smarter than I, who, had they been given the same opportunities and upbringing as I would be achieving inconceivable feats. We do not live in an equal opportunity world.

As for the particular point of the quote, it seems like a premise that may help us in many situations. Scriptural commands leave us in tension much of the time. How we balance loving equally with the fact that we have limited resources, time, etc is a very difficult question. We fret about so many decisions between two or more options - where to go to college, which ministry to give to, who to spend our time with, where to volunteer, etc etc. Oftentimes, these questions lead to a "Discerning the Will of God" seminar that is either one of two extremes - hyper-mystical or a mathematical equation. Perhaps, Augustine's point are helpful in these situations - if everything looks good, we should just draw straws. Because all the information will never come in - we will never get "all" the facts and be able to make a completely objective decision about these kind of decisions.

On the other hand, this issue is made more complicated by the nature of our time. Now, in the globalized world in which we live, I have the capacity to know more about the physical and spiritual needs of someone living on the other side of the world than a homeless person in my city. Not only does this mean we are bombarded by far more than two choices for any given situation where people are asking us for help, but our decision is often conditioned by the information available AND the person "more closely associated" maybe nowhere near us in place or time. In other words, the question of "who is my neighbor" becomes a bit tricky amidst all the opportunities before us and all the people we know.

These are just some initial thoughts on the topic. Any thoughts of your own?