tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post87041794939318339..comments2024-03-28T17:53:43.541-04:00Comments on DarwinCatholic: Linky LinksDarwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-35559898996323998852019-08-02T10:11:28.863-04:002019-08-02T10:11:28.863-04:00"thought, ignorance, inconstancy, necessity, ..."thought, ignorance, inconstancy, necessity, infirmity, forgetfulness, surprise"<br />This seems so strange to me that I am wondering how St. Peter Damien actually meant some of these words. I can't attach any intentional aspect to "thought" or "surprise" - in my usual interpretation they are completely morally neutral. I can interpret the others as defects or sins: ignorance is wrong when there is a lack of pursuing knowledge, necessity can be used as an excuse to do morally wrong, and while forgetfulness is a natural human trait, one is used to the fact that we simply must not forget our important obligations or deadlines etc., infirmity may be the literal lack of firmness rather than sickness; also, infirmity/weakness of the body is something we ought to try to overcome at least to a reasonable degree. The wrongness of inconstancy seems to be obvious to me. I understand your reasoning that surprise perhaps increases the temptation or weakens our resistance conpared to cases when we have time to think the situation through, but still, it's rather what do we do with the surprise what matters.<br /><br />There is a lot of food for thought in this post. I want to comment on only one thing more: the personal witness. The personal witness is only convincing of the Christian teaching if it points towards God himself, rather than towards the human side, where all the vibrant and powerful feelings of joy and peace and community belong. They are accidental, in their best form accessory gifts of God rather than the cornerstone of Christianity. Agneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00047890626000373572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-86927693435923886372019-07-30T22:47:22.077-04:002019-07-30T22:47:22.077-04:00Aw man, I'm ashamed to say I didn't even n...Aw man, I'm ashamed to say I didn't even notice that gluttony wasn't on the list, but I can certainly attest that surprise is often a trigger for gluttony -- whether it's the surprise of bad news, or just the surprise of finding a bag of chips in the pantry when you didn't expect it. mrsdarwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03446744635277205867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-78985985101042877262019-07-30T17:09:34.834-04:002019-07-30T17:09:34.834-04:00Huh; despite being the one who originally posted i...Huh; despite being the one who originally posted it, I just noticed that St. Peter doesn't have gluttony on his list of vices. (St. Gregory the Great, who is the source of the lists, held that the chief vices were pride and her seven generals. People have usually tried to put pride on the list of seven, though, as St. Peter does here; but the later practice is always to substitute pride for vainglory. St. Peter instead drops gluttony. I wonder if he includes gluttony under avarice or lust?)<br /><br />I think your interpretation of the minor fault of surprise is probably right -- sometimes we do wrong not out of malice or vice but simply because we were unprepared for something, just like sometimes we do wrong because we honestly forgot something that we shouldn't have. It can be a moral failure, but rather than fully deliberate, it's partly just due to human limitations.Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06698839146562734910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-62256898215910837962019-07-30T10:06:02.283-04:002019-07-30T10:06:02.283-04:00Especially in the days when making toast required ...Especially in the days when making toast required more skill than just dropping sliced bread in a machine with a timer.MrsDarwinhttp://darwincatholic.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-64246423947958738192019-07-30T09:45:17.242-04:002019-07-30T09:45:17.242-04:00I would just like to say that I feel that access t...I would just like to say that I feel that access to toast has been slighted here.bearinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07953735060133330755noreply@blogger.com