Hexameron (Homily I, cont.)

A continuation from [Hexameron (Homily I)]:

3. Do not then imagine, O man! That the visible world is without a beginning; and because the celestial bodies move in a circular course, and it is difficult for our senses to define the point where the circle begins, do not believe that bodies impelled by a circular movement are, from their nature, without a beginning. Without doubt the circle (I mean the plane figure described by a single line) is beyond our perception, and it is impossible for us to find out where it begins or where it ends; but we ought not on this account to believe it to be without a beginning. Although we are not sensible of it, it really begins at some point where the draughtsman has begun to draw it at a certain radius from the centre. Thus seeing that figures which move in a circle always return upon themselves, without for a single instant interrupting the regularity of their course, do not vainly imagine to yourselves that the world has neither beginning nor end. For the fashion of this world passes away 1 Corinthians 7:31 and Heaven and earth shall pass away. Matthew 24:35 The dogmas of the end, and of the renewing of the world, are announced beforehand in these short words put at the head of the inspired history. In the beginning God made. That which was begun in time is condemned to come to an end in time. If there has been a beginning do not doubt of the end. [NOTE: this is of tremendous spiritual insight: if the world had a beginning, then it will likely have an end; which any soul should be mindful of: the question is, why does the world have to end?  What was the purpose of the world?  These are questions, of course, that philosophy cannot answer.  These are theological questions.] Of what use then are geometry — the calculations of arithmetic — the study of solids and far-famed astronomy, this laborious vanity, if those who pursue them imagine that this visible world is co-eternal with the Creator of all things, with God Himself; if they attribute to this limited world, which has a material body, the same glory as to the incomprehensible and invisible nature; if they cannot conceive that a whole, of which the parts are subject to corruption and change, must of necessity end by itself submitting to the fate of its parts? But they have become vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1:21-22 Some have affirmed that heaven co-exists with God from all eternity; others that it is God Himself without beginning or end, and the cause of the particular arrangement of all things. [COMMENT: here, St. Basil raises the point that there are levels to reality.  Ours is not a "flat" universe.  This observation raises one from the physical to the metaphysical.  His analogy here is the circle as drawn by a draughtsman (the one with the pencil).  We cannot tell where the circle "begins", but we can know that it itself had a beginning by the draughtsman's hand.  This distinction is critical: there are truths of natural theology beyond our critical faculties that are yet demonstrably evident but impossible to verify in full through Reason alone.  This is what ensures that Faith is not "blind faith."]

4. One day, doubtless, their terrible condemnation will be the greater for all this worldly wisdom, since, seeing so clearly into vain sciences, they have willfully shut their eyes to the knowledge of the truth. These men who measure the distances of the stars and describe them, both those of the North, always shining brilliantly in our view, and those of the southern pole visible to the inhabitants of the South, but unknown to us; who divide the Northern zone and the circle of the Zodiac into an infinity of parts, who observe with exactitude the course of the stars, their fixed places, their declensions, their return and the time that each takes to make its revolution; these men, I say, have discovered all except one thing: the fact that God is the Creator of the universe, and the just Judge who rewards all the actions of life according to their merit. They have not known how to raise themselves to the idea of the consummation of all things, the consequence of the doctrine of judgment, and to see that the world must change if souls pass from this life to a new life. In reality, as the nature of the present life presents an affinity to this world, so in the future life our souls will enjoy a lot conformable to their new condition. But they are so far from applying these truths, that they do but laugh when we announce to them the end of all things and the regeneration of the age. Since the beginning naturally precedes that which is derived from it, the writer, of necessity, when speaking to us of things which had their origin in time, puts at the head of his narrative these words — In the beginning God created. [COMMENT: here, St. Basil points out that the judgement of the ignorant and of the learned will be different because the latter have more "ownership" of their opinions than those who merely received them from their superiors.   That is, the learned can actually be blamed for their ingratitude and disavowal of God because of the many roadblocks they hit in the course of their life's thinking that were consistently ignored.  Every time they dismiss the "God idea" as preposterous, there is a wound that is freshly cut upon their soul.  Over the course of their life, they become callous and insensate to a prospect that even a small child could understand and accept.  Basil does not get into the sin of atheism here (and it is one of the most grave sins), but this insight should humble any "above average" intellect and that temerity should scale as you develop critical distance from your culture/generation's received wisdom, "common sense", etc., which of course is the end product of being truly "learned."  There are people who have the excuse of ignorance because they are not learned and such thoughts never dawn on them, but there are others who consciously reject all thought of a Transcendent reality or fight off the intellectual side of their conscience to such an extent as to brutalize it.  One of the interests of this blog is pursuing the idea of why atheism is inextricably tied to the rejection of one's own conscience and, thus, something bound to perdition.].