Of course, it is true that in human nature there is always a conflict. It is not so much between body and soul as between good and evil, but the body is very often inclined to take the side of evil. It always tends to take the line of least resistance, and that usually results in evil.
–Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God
A Christmas Caryll (4)
15 responses to “A Christmas Caryll (4)”
-
Another comment disappeared. Weird.
AMDG -
Odd. Did you do it from your Kindle? If so, maybe something to do with that?
-
Yes, but I did the one above from my Kindle, too. What’ s more, I saw it after I posted it and I did it at the same time as the one that G responded to below.
AMDG -
Same thing happened to me last week, and I use a laptop.
Pearls…lost to the ether. 🙂 -
Well, that is a shame. Really, not being ironic. It certainly discourages commenting, in my experience. I’ll look in the spam catcher and see if any real comments are there from the past 24 hrs or so.
-
What I said was, “Poor body, it only does what the soul has trained it to do.” It’s the soul that has to go through Purgatory.
AMDG -
Whenever we have comments going on two SNJs at a time, I get really confused. I think my head’s going to be spinning by the Epiphany!
AMDG -
Well, after Sunday it won’t be a problem. I’m definitely ending the SNJ.
I don’t think I agree with “Poor body…” -
Nope, no sign of any non-spam comments in the spam catcher over the past 48 hours. This is strange.
-
Well, I was talking about all the Carryl posts.
You body might offer you sensory temptations, but it has no power to resist them. It’s your soul that gives you the power to resist. You don’t say an animal is evil because it does what an animal does.
And your body has to suffer for the decisions the soul makes. Of course, the soul suffers, too.
AMDG -
And I will miss the SNJ very much, but I understand why you have to stop.
AMDG -
I assumed that was what you were referring to. I don’t disagree with what you say in your follow up, but I disagree with the way it’s put in the first one–“what the soul has trained it to do.” That makes it sound like the soul has a degree of practical control that it doesn’t after the fall. “what the soul allows it to do” I would agree with.
I’ll miss the SNJ, too, actually, but…gotta do it if I want to do anything else. -
On the KF now, so please forgive mistakes.
What I meant by training is that you decide with your faculties to eat or drink or whatevrer too much and then your body expects it–starts demanding it, whereas if you had practiced continence, it would not be so demanding.
AMDG -
It’s definitely a circular thing. But I would put more of the blame on the body, which generally has the better of us before we’ve learned the idea or need for self-control. I think in the next paragraph she quotes the Gospel: “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”
But of course to be precise it’s the effect of original sin putting soul and body at odds that’s the fundamental problem. -
Right. That last is the truest of the true.
AMDG
Light On Dark Water 
Leave a comment