John Dunn

The experience of self

Thursday, 31 October 2024 at 21:56

The experience of self

But much, much more than this, it is in the dialectic of Love that the individual experiences something else - the experience of self.

Throughout my journey I have struggled against the Spinozist death of the self. Many of the thinkers I encountered have also been engaged in the same struggle. All have failed - with their theories and philosophies falling prey to the all-subsuming power of Spinozist Oneness, which is itself grounded in Lurianic Kabbalah. Without succumbing to the false idols of the religionists, it seems to me that the only alternative to the death of the self (Tikkun) is to be found in the word of God as expressed by Jesus of Nazareth. In the Word, the Logos and the Truth, is to be found the re-birth of the self to new life. This is the resurrection.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

Whatever love is…

Wednesday, 30 October 2024 at 21:59

Whatever love is…

This comes close to trumping God, or the originating Substance. Rather than being subsumed in God à la Spinoza, each one of us can choose to have God dwelling inside him. The tables are turned on God in this manner. But then this would be to fall into the Spinozist trap of polarity, recognised by Coleridge in his critique of the German idealists. However, and this is the breakthrough, John rescues us from the circularity of the argument.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)

Whatever love is, it is dialectical. It is upon love that the mystery turns, i.e. upon the fact that there are no criteria by which love can be defined. This is the wonderful mystery of Love and God.

God is love (1 John 4:8, 16)

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

He that loveth…

Tuesday, 29 October 2024 at 21:17

He that loveth…

It may appear perverse to the modern understanding of humanism, which is essentially Spinozist, but I contend that the only true humanism takes the form of love, which is an unconditional relationship with God. And I do not mean God as a pre-existent entity - that would be idolatry. The idealists were on the right track with regard to this issue, as was Bultmann. I have also emphasised above that the chance encounter, love, has no pre-existence. It is present or it is nothing.

God is Love and is only present where Love is present. ‘He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.’ (1 John 4:8)

Shunning idolatry, John emphasised that no one has seen God as a pre-existent entity, but rather that God lives in each of us if we love one another (i.e. if his love is ‘perfected in us’ and is not simply agape or shallow lurv). God is not a thing-in-itself to be experienced.

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12)

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

The authentic way

Sunday, 27 October 2024 at 22:13

The authentic way

And it is here that the authentic way, i.e. that which comes from the inner core of our being, is associated with or even called the Father. The words Love and Father are not bandied around because they make silly shallow people feel a warm glow inside. Rather, these precisely selected words hold deeply serious philosophical and eternal truths, which makes their translation in John’s Gospel and, more importantly, the understanding of them so vitally important. In the words Love and Father we recover that which Coleridge believed Spinoza had destroyed, namely a‘moral, intellectual, existential and personal Godhead’. There is something in the word ‘personal’ which is individual and human, but Coleridge was right to stress the word in its connection with God.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

Authenticity the impossible path

Saturday, 26 October 2024 at 22:11

Martin Heidegger

Authenticity the impossible path

Jesus is presented by John as the Saviour of the inner core of the individual. He saves us from simply getting by in the world in an inauthentic way. This was the point made by Rudolf Bultmann, taking his lead from the existentialists Kierkegaard and Heidegger. It is one thing to obey the Law, it is another to respond to a situation authentically.It is the latter course which offers the hardest path to follow, indeed the impossible path. You might obey the Law, but you will sin nevertheless, because we are all driven by externalities, i.e. the world, in the actions we take and even in our very thoughts.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

This inner core

Thursday, 24 October 2024 at 21:58

This inner core

But what is this love? Some insist repeatedly that it is derived from agape, but this has nothing to do with love; it is ‘do-gooding’ or charity which was the word in the Bible where the meaning of love was lost in translation. Love is internalised. It comes from the inner core of man. It comes from the God within. Define it? It cannot be defined. Here lies the mystery. If you are looking for mystery in your life, then here it is. There are no criteria by which love can be defined. It is this inner core of the individual that Jesus saves.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

The authentic moment

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 at 22:09

The authentic moment

I am aware that in this idea of trumping God, or building God, I am in danger of succumbing to a polarity of thinking. Deification of the human may be the opposite pole to Spinoza’s Absolute Substance, but it is polarity nevertheless and thus Spinozist. In order to escape this trap let us reassess some of the recently introduced themes and then ask - where do these themes come together? First of all the themes:

• To remain distinct from God 


• To pursue Evola’s point and trump God by somehow internalising Him 


• The freedom to choose 


• The need for creativity and constant renewal 


• The love encounter - the authentic moment when nothing else matters

The themes come together in John’s Gospel and the reconfiguring words of Jesus of Nazareth. Reconfiguring because Jesus confronted the Jews with a cosmological understanding that overturned old certainties. This rebirth of consciousness was centred on the love encounter and this love encounter is dependent upon the inner core of humanness. It is not dependent on law, be it natural necessity or man-made such as Marxian historical necessity, which is to be subject to externalities.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.