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Blogger Ego Sum Victor said...

Yes! In my daily prayers to Christ I ask Him for this among other things. Final Participation is good way of putting it! I touch on it every day, usually for only a few moments but sometimes I am in this... state (?) for a good long while throughout the day.

I pray to Christ that He leads me to Spiritual Perfection (That's how I articulate it), that He blesses me with Wisdom and that He helps me to awaken to His eternal presence in my heart and soul. All the same things but phrased differently. He will open the door if you knock, I can confirm this.

Excellent post!

27 February 2021 at 21:02

Anonymous Otto said...

Final participation is biologically maladaptive?! Can you clarify what you mean?

28 February 2021 at 06:52

Blogger Brief Outlines said...

Beautiful!

After my Philosophy of freedom awakening I could clearly see that there had been up until that point two souls in me, one was my hear-thinking and the other was my intellect; the latter being more of a nuisance than actually informing my life, and I realised that there was always more heart thinking going on than I would have been intellectually able to admit.

28 February 2021 at 07:03

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

@Brief - Thanks - glad to have confirmation.

@Otto - "biologically maladaptive" means something that would tend to reduce "fitness"/ reproductive success - e.g. by causing illness, reducing status, or leading to death.

28 February 2021 at 07:25

Anonymous Otto said...

Bruce,
Yes, I knew this. But why would final participation be biologically maladaptive? That's what didn't make sense to me.

28 February 2021 at 07:33

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

@Otto - One main reason people assimilate to materialism is that it is how The World works - if you want to thrive in The System, you (mostly) need to work by The System rules.

Of course, one may be 'miraculously' sustained when living by Heavens rules - like some of the great ascetic saints - but this is not a recipe for a long, healthy, prestigious life; nor for attracting a fertile and healthy wife and raising many viable offspring.

Compromises happen; but if one lives to optimize biology, health, lifespan, or modern social standing (or some combination thereof), then one is Not living to optimize the spiritual.

28 February 2021 at 07:44

Anonymous Nathan said...

Great post.

I'm not following how it is biologically maladaptive?
Have you got any practical examples of this?


1 March 2021 at 09:23

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

@Nathan - You need to think this through for yourself.

I am simply countering the false, perhaps naïve, ('self-help') narrative that If you were to achieve a breakthrough of consciousness, then it would Also sort-out your life generally - necessarily tending to make you biologically (and socially) successful in this-life (as well as optimally orientated towards resurrected post-mortal life).

If the Christian life and the worldly life were the same, there would not be any problem in doing the right thing.

1 March 2021 at 09:54

Anonymous Nathan said...

Yes I am with you in countering the naive claims some expect upon breakthrough in consciousness, however it's not clear to me that it is biologically 'maladaptive' nor should it be.

1 March 2021 at 11:38

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

@Nathan - I don't know what you know about natural selection and demographics.

Here is a list of countries by Total Fertility rate - the most adaptive countries and people in the world now are the highest TFR - and any that are below 2.2 are already going extinct:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate#Country_ranking_by_most_recent_year

1 March 2021 at 12:26

Blogger Jacob Gittes said...

I suspect that living in a rural region, and more simply and in touch with nature, would allow for a larger consonance between intuitive-heart-thinking and biological adaptiveness. But overall you are right: following heart-thinking puts you at odds with our social systems, the bureaucracy, and the ability to succeed in the corporate world.

And living closer to nature or rejecting the modern system means that you are forced to deal with the vagaries of nature, and that can be difficult and unsure. You may, for example, starve.
There are people here, though, who are organizing to live that way and help each other. Regardless of how successful it is in material terms, it is the right way to live.
I suspect we will, however, be targeted by the system at some point.

1 March 2021 at 17:02

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

@Jake - Original Participation lasted longer in rural areas - but the signs are that it has gone from there too - any anyway it does not suffice.

I don't suppose a particular physical environment of a general kind will be a major factor in attaining Final Participation - the main factor is the individual person himself, and what he is trying to do, and he will seek what he needs.

1 March 2021 at 17:15