For this blog post, I thought it would be useful to establish a reference point for developing my thoughts on the philosophy of ecology. I have two notions in mind worth discussing—i.e., seraphic love and affectio iustitiae.
In my view, philosophy of ecology takes Francis of Assisi as the mediator (or intermediator) in service of new imagination vis cogitativa, whose actions afford us with satisfaction of ecological concern—i.e., satisfaction of the estimative power, or the satisfaction of a power limited by nature. The visionary-love of the seraphic[1] that Francis underwent was, and is, that from which one acts-in-care for the integral good of creation. Indeed, application of the principle of seraphic love demonstrates care [fürsorge][2]–a hospitalization—of the souls of all creatures. In other words, applying this principle to the appropriate degree results in satisfaction of the needs of the estimative power.
Pope Francis describes what an application of the principle of seraphic love looks like:
Just as happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the smallest of animals, [S. Francis] burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise. He communed with all creation, even preaching to the flowers, inviting them ‘to praise the Lord, just as if they were endowed with reason.’ His response to the world around him was so much more than intellectual appreciation or economic calculus, for to him each and every creature was a sister united to him by bonds of affection. That is why he felt called to care for all that exists. His disciple Saint Bonaventure tells us that, “from a reflection on the primary source of all things, filled with even more abundant piety, he would call creatures, no matter how small, by the name of ‘brother’ or ‘sister.’” Such a conviction cannot be written off as naive romanticism, for it affects the choices which determine our behaviour.[3]
In this passage, Pope Francis issues a specific sense of what seraphic love is as an important principle of eco-phenomenology or philosophy of ecology: i.e., “[A]n integral ecology…for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it is to be human.”[4] Somewhat paradoxically, “categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology” are not categories of transcendental phenomenology, “the unknowable,” or something else. They are, rather, categories of openness in an intermediary form of life. By virtue of its openness, the actions of the intermediary, St. Francis, send-forth images of right-relationship to govern forms of life by applying particular matters toward universal notions. Enlivened by the splendor shining-forth from particular acts of gratitude unique to its own essence, the light of the intermediary illumines thus small and great things like; intelligent and dumb things, alike.
How do we attain such light?
Seraphic love manifests fully via complete reception of stigmata. “Stigmata” refers, theologically, to the five crucifixion points, or wounds, of Christ’s passion: hands, feet, and side pierced by the lancea (cf. Jn 19:34). More specifically, it refers to a recipient taking-on the crucifixion wounds of Christ through a process of stigmatization. Sander Vloebergs’ exploration of stigmatization presents an “inclusive” Dominican definition of stigmata as “evidence of suffering undergone in the attempt to follow Christ.”[5] According to Vloebergs, some consider S. Francis’s stigmatization as “the most famous and influential case” of serving as “the exemplar model [of] the Stigmatized, the alter Christus,” but not everyone thinks so.[6] According to Vloebergs, skepticism concerning the stigmata of Francis deals with whether the physical wounds of the stigmata were present well before his death, or not. Vloebergs presents his findings within the context of the “ambiguity between outer miracle and inner mysticism.” What is relevant here is the reception of stigmata as importantly involving the invisible nature of seraphic love, and this I term a seraphic spirit of mind.
Seraphic love as seraphic spirit of mind originates from Bonaventure’s account of S. Francis’s seraphic vision atop a Mt. Alvernia. A fragment of it reads:
This [seraphic] vision had been presented to his eyes by Divine Providence, that the friend of Christ might know that he was to be transformed into Christ crucified, not by the martyrdom of the flesh, but by the fire of the spirit.[7]
Francis is said to have received a complete reception of stigmata, visible and invisible. In accounting for the invisible nature of it, we look to the spiritual degrees of Francis’s seraphic vision, represented by living angelic beings, having “six wings, all on fire.” In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the role of “the seraphim” is similar to the role of the cherubim, who are depicted as sword-bearers of God’s fiery-justice (cf. Gen 3:24). As to what the identity of the seraphim most closely resembles, Jewish scholarship suggests “the flying fiery serpent” in the Book of Isaiah (14:29-30), which reads as follows:
Do not rejoice…that the rod that struck you is broken, for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent. The firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy lie down in safety; but I will make your root die of famine, and your remnant I will kill.[8]
The mythos of this passage is peculiar, particularly the seraphic spiritas “the fruit of the adder.” What could this mean? Perhaps seraphic spirit a biting-spirit of love through which one’s passions are melded to conform to Christ-crucified, “not by the martyrdom of the flesh, but by the fire of the spirit.” The seraphic adjoining a host (in this case, St. Francis) inflames its user with a “complete conflagration of mind.”[9] The process of conflagration (i.e., the process of the fire of the spirit) is likened unto a wildfire burning and destroying the impurities of a person (cf. 1 Pet 1:6-7; Ps 66:10). The wildfire stokes an affection for justice as it indwells the will to act righteously, in purity. The signs of wildfire in the mind of a person, or as Vloebergs might say the signs of “eternal desire” in the mind of a person, fashion an individual in virtue. In other words, the perfection of virtue results from an indwelling process of seraphic spirit.
Moreover, the intention of Christ’s passion is an arming of the mind and body to “no longer [be] bound by human desires but by the will of God” (cf. 1 Peter 4:1-2). Arriving at the intentions of this passion begins with the burning away of human desire, marked by impressions of mind. When the invisible nature of stigmata is fully present in the mind, the visible nature of it begins to manifest; for, as “God is spirit,” the spirit incarnates or is incarnational (cf. Jn 4:24). So, the invisible nature of stigmata is the presence of mental signs of God’s intention toward us in our passion, and this culminates in complete reception, complete incarnation, of the love of God. But we must exercise our will in cooperation with the seraphic spirit of mind to get there.
The will’s exercise of the signs of wildfire are an exercise of what Duns Scotus calls affectio iustitiae (i.e., “affection for justice”). The affectio iustitiae is a moderatrix “restraining or moderating” the lesser passions of the intellective (or sensitive) appetites in a free will.[10] The will without this moderatrix is a will engrossed in lower passions (i.e., the “affection for advantage” or the affectio commodi); or, perhaps engrossed too much in higher passions (e.g., intellectualism). Such a will is not totally free according to John Duns Scotus:
If, along the lines of Anselm’s thought experiment in On the Fall of the Devil, one imagines an angel that had the affectio commodi and not the affectio iustitiae—i.e., one that had intellective appetite merely as that sort of appetite and not as free—such an angel could not refrain from willing advantageous things or from willing them in the highest [detrimental] degree…that affectio iustitiae…is the innate liberty of the will.[11]
The affection for justice serves the objective of justice. “Justice,” as Duns Scotus and others have it, is “rectitude of will served for its own sake [that] has to do with another.”[12] As justice is desired, an “affection for justice” (affectio iustitiae) is required to develop rectitude of will necessary for carrying out justice. Undergoing the complete conflagration of mind is likened unto practicing or exercising affectio iustitiae. One possible way to practice moderating passions is to exercise the vis cogitativa with respect to moderation. According to theologian James Keating, exercising it with respect to moderation involves union of intellect and heart in holiness abnegating popular imagination for new imagination.[13] One thing seems clear about the usefulness of the abnegation of popular imagination, which is that the will of a unified intellect and heart might very well be averse to forms of political activism. This could be of benefit for ecological concerns because, unlike forms of political activism, exercise of affectio iustitiae restrains the will in order to act in-rectitude for its own sake and, at the same time, for another’s ultimate, immediate good.[14] What is suggested here, therefore, is that acting-for the intentions of ecological concern should not be relegated to the political sphere but to some other sphere–e.g., a sphere of greater holiness. By “a sphere of greater holiness” we mean a practice or habituation of charisms particular to one’s life as one’s end. These charisms may include evangelical poverty, penance, prayer, charity, grace, peace of mind, humility, and others. Obtaining the charisms of one’s end emanates from detachment to earthly things to “things above” (Col 3:2). The practitioner, in being disposed to the mind set on things above, would become a seraphic practitioner, to enact love for the integral good of creation.
REFERENCES
Bonaventure (1868). The Life of St. Francis of Assisi. Edward, Henry (ed.). London. [Online]. Available: http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Bonaventure%20-%20The%20Life%20of%20St.%20Francis%20of%20Assisi.pdf. (June 2020).
Duns Scotus, John (1997). “God’s Justice,” in Duns Scotus on the Will and Morality. Part IV, 183-194. Frank, William (ed.). D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press. Print.
Heidegger, Martin (2008). Being and Time. Macquarrie & Robinson (trans.). US: Harper & Row Publishers. Translated from the German Sein und Zeit (7th ed.) Neomarius Verlag, Tūbingen. Print.
Hirsch & Benzinger (2011). “Seraphim” in Jewish Encyclopedia,Available: jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13437-seraphim. (Spring 2020).
Keating, James (2015). The Heart of the Diaconate: Communion with the Servant Mysteries of Christ. NY: Paulist Press. Print.
Mcginn, Bernard (2006). The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism. NY: Modern Library. Print.
Pope Francis (2015). “Ecological Education and Spirituality” in Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. Vatican City. [Online]. Available: w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.pdf#page=58. (Spring 2020).
Williams, Thomas (2003). “From Metaethics to Action Theory” in The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Williams (ed.). UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 332-351, print.
Vloebergs, Sander (2016). “Wounding love: a mystical-theological exploration of stigmatization,” in the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology,vol. 2: 1-2. Doi: 10.1080/21692327.2016.1199968.
[1] cf. Bonaventure, The Biography of St. Francis, 163-165. The “visionary-love of the seraphic” is another way of considering the integrated product, the singular act, of S. Francis’s “seraphic vision” atop Mt. La Verna.
[2] Heidegger, Being and Time, I.2, ¶12:57. “Being towards the world [Sein zur Welt] is essentially concern” (84).
[3] Francis, Laudato si’, no. 11
[4] Ibid.
[5] Vloebergs, “Wounding love,” 3-5
[6] Ibid.
[7] Bonaventure, The Life of St. Francis of Assisi, 162-164.
[8] cf. Hirsch and Benzinger, “Seraphim.”
[9] Mcginn, Christian Mysticism, 249
[10] Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus, 343-346
[11] Ibid., 346
[12] Duns Scotus on the Will and Morality, 183-184
[13] Keating, Heart of the Diaconate, 40-42
[14] cf. Duns Scotus on the Will and Morality, 183-184
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