The Creation of Man - The Understanding

The soul’s faculty of understanding corresponds imperfectly to the finite intellect of the mortal body, the locus of which is the brain. Human intellect is discursive or investigative in its approach to problem solving. It employs two methods of logical thinking, namely the deductive or top-down logic and inductive or bottom-up logic. However, in direct opposition to it, is the soul’s faculty of understanding, which is never discursive and operates more like a light bulb, the switch of which is divinely operated, meaning, beyond human control. And like a light bulb, it is either turned ‘ON or OFF’ regarding matters of Absolute Truth. The turning ON or the granting of understanding is a purely supernatural gift, rightly so as it pertains to supernatural matters. A good example was the case with Peter in the Transfiguration of Jesus in Mount Tabor, as written in Scripture: “Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James and John off by themselves with him and led them up a high mountain. He was transfigured before their eyes and his clothes became dazzlingly white- whiter than the work of any bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; the two were in conversation with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus: ‘Rabbi, how good one for Elijah.’ He hardly knew what to say, for they were all overcome with awe.” [Mark 9: 2-7] In his state of awe, so it is all the more surprising, Peter knew the identities of the two persons talking with Jesus. How could he have known with certainty? They must have looked the same, bearded old men in long robes. And yet, Peter was very sure of who they were. This was only because his soul’s faculty of understanding was illumined by grace to recognize the Lawgiver Moses and the Prophet Elijah; otherwise, Peter would have had missed the full import of the glory he had seen. These two personages stood for the Old Testament, namely the Law and the Prophet and they both bore witness to Jesus, meaning that He was the fulfillment of the Old Testament; and that the Law and Prophet could only be understood in its fullest, most profound meaning through the Incarnation of the Son of God. “This is my Son, my beloved. Listen to him,” [Mark 9: 8] was the voice that came out of the cloud that overshadowed them in that high mountain where Our Lord Jesus gave them a foretaste of his glory, which even his physical body failed to contain, as His glory radiated from within, showing through his garment, which became ‘dazzlingly white’. The other instance that can be used to clarify the subject under consideration, was when they were in the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi. Scripture has it: “Jesus asked his disciples this question: ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptizer, other Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. ‘And you’, he said to them, ‘who do you say that I am?’ ‘You are the Messiah,’ Simon Peter answered, ‘the Son of the living God!’ Jesus replied, ‘Blest are you, Simon, son of John! No mere man has revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.’” [Matthew 16: 13- 17] Again, Peter was the recipient of this grace, when his understanding was illumined about the truth—that the person asking him the question is the Son of God. Peter’s profession was more than a leap of faith, remarkable as it was without any strings attached to it and said without equivocation. There was no way that he could have known this with certainty other than a revelation received by the soul’s faculty of understanding, which he believed, as he professed it with his lips. This could only have come from God, the Father, as Jesus testified. Jesus responded: “I for my part declare to you, you are ‘Rock’, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the jaws of death shall not prevail against it. I will entrust to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 16: 18-9] Jesus’ respond was immediate and unequivocal, choosing Simon Peter as the supreme leader of the Church. Why? Because the heavenly Father had already chosen Peter by not only revealing this truth to him but more so, giving him faith to believe, the measure of which was more than the grace given to the other apostles; for after all, even Nathaniel had professed this when he first came to face to face with Jesus, [John 1: 49] though it is doubtful whether he fully grasped the full import of his declaration. Peter was the Father’s top pick for the job and Jesus seconded the motion by declaring him “Rock”. It must be noted that this particular scene underscored the dynamics between the Two Divine Persons of the Trinity, the Father and the Son; thus, giving truism to Jesus’ statement: “The Father is at work until now, and I am at work as well.” I solemnly assure you the Son cannot do anything by himself—he can do only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and everything the Father does he shows him.” [John 5: 17, 19-20] In the same way, as illumined by Jesus’ declaration, man must follow the Father’s will, which he can only do if he gains the grace of understanding his ways and his thoughts. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, it is written:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

As high as the heavens are above the earth,

So high are my ways above your ways

And my thought above your thoughts.

Isaiah 55: 8- 9

One day Jesus fulfilled these words of the prophet when he told the Parable of the Seed, which caused his disciples to privately asked him why proclaim his teachings in hard-to-understand parables and the answer that Jesus gave was: “To you has been given a knowledge of the mysteries of the reign of God, but it has not been given to the others. I use parables when I speak to them because they look but do not see, they listen but do not hear or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them which says: ‘Listen as you will, you shall not understand, look intently as you will, you shall not see. Sluggish indeed is this people’s heart ‘. But blest are your eyes because they see and blest are your ears because they hear.” [Matthew 13: 11- 15] The soul’s faculty of understanding must be turned on by grace in order for the eyes to see and ears to hear what is, otherwise, a mumbo-jumbo doctrine, for as Jesus testified: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” [John 6: 44] Man, on his own, limited as he is, cannot know the mysteries that lie beyond the grasp of his intellect and his faculty for logical thinking, as these are supernatural realities. He needs the grace of God to illumine his soul’s faculty of understanding the truth, higher than the heavens, as revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ. The intellect, which is the finite faculty of reasoning and understanding that humans use in order to come to the conclusion of what is real or not especially with regards to abstract matters, is, on its own, incapable of knowing the things of God; for the truth that can be apprehended by the intellect is limited to those of physical nature. God has to enlighten the soul’s understanding and grant it the supernatural grace to receive and understand, which in turn is assimilated by the mind. Jesus said: “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, to you I offer praise; for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever you have revealed to the merest children.” [Matthew 11: 25] The twelve apostles were unlearned men, mostly fishermen by trade and yet, it was to them that Jesus first revealed the Gospel of Life. They had received it with openness like children (except Judas). “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he remarked: ‘This man is a true Israelite. There is no guile in him.’ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked him. ‘Before Philip called you,’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ ‘Rabbi,’ said Nathanael, ‘you are the son of God; you are the king of Israel.’ Jesus responded: ‘Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see much greater things than that.’” [John 1: 47- 50] On the other hand, the reception that Jesus received from his native place, was the exact opposite, when he taught in their synagogue. “They were filled with amazement, and said to one another, “Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers? Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t Mary known to be his mother and James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? Aren’t his sisters our neighbors? Where did he get all this?” They found him altogether too much for them.” [Matthew 13: 54- 57] Jesus’s response was: “he did not work many miracles because of their lack of faith.” [Matthew 13: 58] Faith is the required response to the grace of understanding, which does not mean simply to believe by repeating the words, but to allow the revealed truth to transform one’s life in accord with the revelation received by the soul; for to believe alone without action is never enough, as vocal affirmation is not the measure of genuine faith. Sluggish hearts indeed as Jesus said and nothing but parables for them. I hasten to add that in such cases there is a total eclipse of the mind and heart, seeing but disbelieving by not doing, hearing with one ear and out the other, as the heart remains unconverted by the Truth. Jesus, unable to perform miracles, left them in their state of ignorance of the truth. The same was the case with the high priests, Pharisees and elders when they asked him, “Tell us, by what authority do you do these things?” [Luke 20: 2] Jesus replied with a question, “Did the baptism of John came from God or from men?” [Luke 20: 4] Only two choices, yet they refused to answer. “Jesus said to them, ‘In the case, neither will I tell you by whose authority I act.’” [Luke 20: 8] Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Their unbelieving minds have been blinded by the god of the present age so they do not see the splendor of the gospel showing forth the glory of Christ, the image of God.” [2 Corinthians 4: 4] Jesus said: “The eye is the body’s lamp. If your eyes are good, your body will be filled with light. If your eyes are bad, your body will be in darkness. And if your light is darkness, how deep will the darkness be!” [Matthew 6: 22- 23] The darkness that Jesus was talking about was the light of reason, the sole driving force of the intellect and lit only by what can be perceived by the senses. Paul put it eloquently in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “The message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation it is the power of God. Scripture says, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and thwart the cleverness of the clever.’ Since in God’s wisdom the world did not come to know him through ‘wisdom’, it pleased God to save those who believe through the absurdity of the preaching of the gospel. Yes, Jews demand ‘signs’ and Greeks look for ‘wisdom’, but we preached Christ crucified—a stumbling block to Jews, and an absurdity to Gentiles; but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s folly is wiser than men, and his weakness more powerful than men.” [1 Corinthians 1: 18-19, 21-25] In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, it is written:

For just as from the heavens

The rain and snow come down

And do not return there

Till they have watered the earth,

Making it fertile and fruitful,

Giving seed to him who sows

And bread to him who eats,

So shall my word be

that goes forth from my mouth;

It shall not return to me void,

but shall do my will,

achieving the end for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55: 10- 11

The knowledge of the Absolute Truth cannot remain in the soul’s understanding to the exclusion of the intellect; for the immortal soul and the mortal body are one until separated by death. The higher faculty of understanding together with the finite intellect is one and is referred to as the mind of the person. Therefore, what have been received in the faculty of understanding must flow down to the lower level, which is the intellect, moving the latter in total unison with the higher faculty; for the intellect without input from the higher faculty can only come up with questions as its best response to the revelation. In other words, the mind must be converted to God, sans schism between the natural and supernatural faculties, in order to do God’s will here on earth as Isaiah put it in the above passage: “So shall my word be that goes from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will achieving the end for which I sent it.” This is made possible by the supernatural gift of faith, the light from which guides the believer in all things true and pleasing to God. True faith is an action word and faith without action is dead. “Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about the things we do not see. Because of faith the men of old were approved by God. Through faith we perceived that the worlds were created by the word of God, and that what is visible came into being through the invisible. By faith Abel offered God a sacrifice greater than Cain’s. Because of this he was attested to be just, God himself having borne witness to him on account of his gifts. By faith Noah warned of things not yet seen, revered God and built an ark that his household might be saved. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called and went forth to the place he was to receive as a heritage; he went forth, moreover, not knowing where he was going.” [Hebrews 11: 1- 4, 7- 8]