Hmmm The last time I looked into a mirror, I thought I saw a uman being.
Author: Eckhardt Aurelius Hughes
pseudonym of Scott Hughes
ASIN: B0BGQSWZ4N
Online Book Club org ©2022
24 pages, $2,99
Reviewed by: Maurice A. Williams
Opening statement by the author: “I believe that there is a force of unbelievable light and goodness deep within you, and that force is you more than anything else is you. It’s like a beautiful light trying to work its way out of you, shine through your art or shine through your deepest feelings of love and through your kindness.”
Wow! My mommy warned me of being flattered too much, so my antenna are already up when I hear praise like this. Author’s favorite writer is Voltairine de Cleyre, who was a famous feminist of 100 years ago who opposed Church and State in her struggle to liberate women from the oppression of men. Right away, I’m having bad vibes about this book.
Author makes the claim “You have a human body, but you are not human. He quotes the fifteenth century philosopher Rene Descartes, who had some differences with Catholic philosophy and who is one of the fathers of Western philosophy. Descartes launched a basic question in metaphysics about objective reality and subjective reality. If a tree falls in a deserted forest and nobody hears it fall, did it really fall?
I am now already over my head struggling with world famous philosophers who do not expound Catholic Christian thinking, so let me back off and give you my own appreciation of who and what I am based on my understanding of Catholic teaching.
Let’s start off at the beginning with God. In the beginning God existed, He was the only thing in existence at that time and was much different than us humans. Strangely, he was not alone. He was one God possessed of three persons. I had some problems understanding how one being can be three persons, but I finally worked it out as follows:
I can make a choice that I want something done, like build a new addition to my house. I can consider how I want it to be, what material it should be made from, what use I will make of it in the house. Finally, I start making it. My focus now changes from the father image to the son, the executor, image. Instead of considering what I want, I start to plan how to construct it. As the work progresses, I can take satisfaction in what I have done or I can become critical of how I have done it. If I really am not pleased with it, I can say to myself, as most of us have already said to ourselves, “What was I thinking to make something as faulty as this? Now I’m in the Holy Spirit image. In that sense, I can much more easily understand the Trinity.
None of us should presume we are three persons in one, but we all should be able to understand it. With God, it is very much different than it is with us. In fact, I can say trinity is the norm, because the one who always existed and who always will exist is a trinity of persons. All of us, who were created, were created single persons by the triune God. We are not the norm.
It would be difficult to imagine a solidary God being comfortable with His existence but a triune God, with the three persons interacting with each other, makes much more sense. Such a triune God would never be alone, never feel lonely because of the presence of the other two persons. He is entirely sufficient by Himself.
There is perfect harmony within God. The Son and the Holy Spirit always do the will of the Father, and the Father loves them for it, and they love the Father. For all eternity before creation there was nothing but love and harmony within God. But after creation, with millions of persons with free will, there is the possibility that some will choose not to obey the father.
At some point, God decided to create the physical universe. It is comprised of millions of spiritual angels and millions of physical human beings., both of which are blessed with free will. Since they are created persons rather than gods, they must obey God just as the three persons within the Godhead obey the Father. Those who do obey have the dignity of really being in the image and likeness of God because there is no evil in them who choose right as there is no evil in God. But those who choose not to obey display evil within themselves. They stand out in sharp contrast with the others who display no evil.
God knew that this would happen, but He gave us a remedy for the evil we display. We can ask forgiveness and be cleansed of the evil within us. This sounds easy, but it is a monumental task because Lucifer tries to take control of us and want us to continue in evil, making repentance an enormous task.
God has, more or less, placed us in conflict with Lucifer, who does everything he can to keep us in evil. On our own initiative, we don’t stand a chance of defeating Lucifer. We need God to help us. If we ask for help, He is sure to help us. If we don’t ask, we may succumb to Lucifer’s wiles and be lost in pride and jealousy.
Since we were made in the image and likeness of God, God wants us to display only righteousness like God does. He will not tolerate any display of evil within us. If you thought God was demanding much when He commanded us not to kill, well there are more commandments we must obey.
As for me, I definitely am human. I have a physical body, a human soul, and I am imbued with a spirit imputed by God into each human being at conception when God breathed into our nostrils.
That’s what I am and I am proud to be created in the image of God. I’m glad I love Him, love you and love everything God created. When I finish my journey in this life and enter heaven, where no evil is permitted, you will see what a success God made of me when He created me and guided me through my journey through this life. I hope I find you there also.
