Awe

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  JEROME. Such as He is to be in the time of the Judgment, such was He now seen of the Apostles. Let none suppose that He lost His former form and lineaments, or laid aside His bodily reality, taking upon Him a spiritual or ethereal Body. How His transfiguration was accomplished, the Evangelist shews, saying, And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment became white as snow, For that His face is said to shine, and His raiment described to become white, does not take away substance, but confer glory. In truth, the Lord was transformed into that glory in which He shall hereafter come in His Kingdom. The transformation enhanced the brightness, but did not destroy the countenance, although the body were spiritual; whence also His raiment was changed and became white to such a degree, as in the expression of another Evangelist, no fuller on earth can whiten them. But all this is the property of matter, and is the subject of the touch, not of spirit and ethereal, an illusion upon the sight only beheld in phantasm. REMIGIUS. If then the face of the Lord shone as the sun, and the saints shall shine as the sun, are then the brightness of the Lord and the brightness of His servants to be equal? By no means. But forasmuch as nothing is known more bright than the sun, therefore to give some illustration of the future resurrection, it is expressed to us that the brightness of the Lord’s countenance, and the brightness of the righteous, shall be as the sun. ORIGEN. Mystically; When any one has passed the six days according as we have said, he beholds Jesus transfigured before the eyes of his heart. For the Word of God has various forms, appearing to each man according as He knows that it will be expedient for him; and He shews Himself to none in a manner beyond his capacity; whence he says not simply, He was transfigured, but, before them. For Jesus, in the Gospels, is merely understood by those who do not mount by means of exalting works and words upon the high mountain of wisdom; but to them that do mount up thus, He is no longer known according to the flesh, but is understood to be God the Word. Before these then Jesus is transfigured, and not before those who live sunk in worldly conversation. But these, before whom He is transfigured, have been made sons of God, and He is shewn to them as the Sun of righteousness. His raiment is made white as the light, that is, the words and sayings of the Gospels with which Jesus is clothed according to those things which were spoken of Him by the Apostles.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But it could not be that they should perish while the Almighty was with them. Christ then arose, Who has power over all things, and immediately quells the storm and the violence of the wind, and the tempest ceased, and there was a calm. Herein He shews Himself to be God, to Whom it is said, Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them (Ps. 89:10.). So then as He sailed, our Lord manifested both natures in one and the same person, seeing that He who as man slept in the ship, as God by His word stilled the raging of the sea. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But together with the raging of the waters, He quiets also the tumult of their souls, as it follows, And he said unto them, Where is your faith? By which word He shewed, that it is not so much the assault of temptation which causes fear, as faint-heartedness. For as gold is proved in the fire, so is faith in temptation. AUGUSTINE. (de Con. Ev. ut sup.) Now this is related by the other Evangelists in different words. For Matthew says, that Jesus said, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? (Matt. 8.) but Mark as follows, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? (Mark 4.) i. e. that perfect faith like the grain of mustard seed. Mark then also says, O ye of little faith; but Luke, Where is your faith? And indeed all these may have been said, Why are ye fearful? Where is your faith? O ye of little faith. Hence one Evangelist relates one, another another. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. When the tempest was quelled at the command of Christ, the disciples in astonishment whispered one to the other, as it follows, And they being afraid wondered, &c. Now the disciples said not this as ignorant of Him, for they knew that He was God, and Jesus the Son of God. But they marvel at the exceeding vastness of His natural power, and the glory of His divinity, although He was like to us, and visible in the flesh. Hence they say, Who is this? that is, of what manner of man? how great, and with what great power and majesty? for it is a mighty work, a lordly command, no abject petition. BEDE. Or, it was not His disciples, but the sailors and others in the ship who wondered. But allegorically, the sea or lake is the dark and bitter tide of the world, the ship is the wood of the cross, by help of which the faithful, having passed the waves of this world, reach the shore of a heavenly country. AMBROSE. Our Lord therefore, who knew that He came upon earth for a divine mystery, having left His kinsfolk, went up into the ship.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  BEDE. Now the transfigured Saviour shews the glory of His own coming, or our resurrection; who as He then appeared to His Apostles shall in like manner appear to all the elect. But the raiment of the Lord is taken for the band of His Saints, which in truth when our Lord was upon earth seemed to be despised, but when He sought the mount, shines with a new whiteness; for now are we the sons of God; and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. (1 John 3:2.) AMBROSE. Or else, according to your capacity is the word either lessened or increased to you, and unless you ascend the summit of a higher wisdom, you behold not what glory there is in the word of God. Now the garments of the Word, are the discourses of the Scriptures, and certain clothings of the Divine mind; and as His raiment shone white, so in the eyes of your understanding, the sense of the divine words becomes clear. Hence after Moses, Elias; that is, the Law and the Prophets in the Word. For neither can the Law exist without the Word, nor the Prophet, unless he prophesied of the Son of God. 9:32–3632. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. 33. And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said. 34. While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 35. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. 36. And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. THEOPHYLACT. While Christ is engaged in prayer, Peter is heavy with sleep, for he was weak, and did what was natural to man; as it is said, But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep. But when they awake, they behold His glory, and the two men with Him; as it follows, And when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men, that stood with him. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 56. in Matt.) Or, by the word sleep, he means that strange maze that fell upon them by reason of the vision. For it was not night time, but the exceeding brightness of the light weighed down their weak eyes.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Whether the Blessed Virgin was sanctified before animation?Objection 1: It would seem that the Blessed Virgin was sanctified before animation. Because, as we have stated [4127](A[1]), more grace was bestowed on the Virgin Mother of God than on any saint. Now it seems to have been granted to some, to be sanctified before animation. For it is written (Jer. 1:5): “Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee”: and the soul is not infused before the formation of the body. Likewise Ambrose says of John the Baptist (Comment. in Luc. i, 15): “As yet the spirit of life was not in him and already he possessed the Spirit of grace.” Much more therefore could the Blessed Virgin be sanctified before animation. Objection 2: Further, as Anselm says (De Concep. Virg. xviii), “it was fitting that this Virgin should shine with such a purity that under God none greater can be imagined”: wherefore it is written (Canticles 4:7): “Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.” But the purity of the Blessed Virgin would have been greater, if she had never been stained by the contagion of original sin. Therefore it was granted to her to be sanctified before her flesh was animated. Objection 3: Further, as it has been stated above, no feast is celebrated except of some saint. But some keep the feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Therefore it seems that in her very Conception she was holy; and hence that she was sanctified before animation. Objection 4: Further, the Apostle says (Rom. 11:16): “If the root be holy, so are the branches.” Now the root of the children is their parents. Therefore the Blessed Virgin could be sanctified even in her parents, before animation. On the contrary, The things of the Old Testament were figures of the New, according to 1 Cor. 10:11: “All things happened to them in figure.” Now the sanctification of the tabernacle, of which it is written (Ps. 45:5): “The most High hath sanctified His own tabernacle,” seems to signify the sanctification of the Mother of God, who is called “God’s Tabernacle,” according to Ps. 18:6: “He hath set His tabernacle in the sun.” But of the tabernacle it is written (Ex. 40:31,32): “After all things were perfected, the cloud covered the tabernacle of the testimony, and the glory of the Lord filled it.” Therefore also the Blessed Virgin was not sanctified until after all in her was perfected, viz. her body and soul.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. For indeed there is no necessary contradiction between Luke’s statement, that he had built a synagogue, and this, that he was not an Israelite; for it was quite possible, that one who was not a Jew should have built a synagogue, and should love the nation. 8:10–1310. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven. 12. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. CHRYSOSTOM. As what the leper had affirmed concerning Christ’s power, If thou will, thou canst cleanse me, was confirmed by the mouth of Christ, saying, I will, be thou clean; so here He did not blame the centurion for bearing testimony to Christ’s authority, but even commended him. Nay more; it is something greater than commendation that the Evangelist signifies in the words, But Jesus hearing marvelled. PSEUDO-ORIGEN. (Hom. in Div. 5.) Observe how great and what that is at which God the Only-begotten marvels! Gold, riches, principalities, are in His sight as the shadow or the flower that fadeth; in the sight of God none of these things is wonderful, as though it were great or precious, but faith only; this He wonders at, and pays honour to, this He esteems acceptable to Himself. AUGUSTINE. (super Gen. c. Man. i. 8.) But who was He that had created this faith in him, but only He who now marvelled at it? But even had it come from any other, how should He marvel who knew all things future? When the Lord marvels, it is only to teach us what we ought to wonder at; for all these emotions in Him are not signs of passion, but examples of a teacher. CHRYSOSTOM. Wherefore He is said to have thus wondered in the presence of all the people, giving them an example that they also should wonder at Him; for it follows, And he said to them that followed, I have not found so great faith in Israel. AUGUSTINE. (cont. Faust. xxii. 74.) He praises his faith, but gives no command to quit his profession of a soldier. JEROME. This He speaks of the present generation, not of all the Patriarchs and Prophets of past ages.

• From Tropic of Capricorn (1934)

  As I passed the doorman holding the torn stub in my hand the lights were dimmed and the curtain went up. I stood a moment slightly dazed by the sudden darkness. As the curtain slowly rose I had the feeling that throughout the ages man had always been mysteriously stilled by this brief moment which preludes the spectacle. I could feel the curtain rising in man. And immediately I also realized that this was a symbol which was being presented to him endlessly in his sleep and that if he had been awake the players would never have taken the stage but he, Man, would have mounted the boards. I didn’t think this thought—it was a realization, as I say, and so simple and overwhelmingly clear was it that the machine stopped dead instantly and I was standing in my own presence bathed in a luminous reality. I turned my eyes away from the stage and beheld the marble staircase which I should take to go to my seat in the balcony. I saw a man slowly mounting the steps, his hand laid across the balustrade. The man could have been myself, the old self which had been sleepwalking ever since I was born. My eye didn’t take in the entire staircase, just the fews steps which the man had climbed or was climbing in the moment that I took it all in. The man never reached the top of the stairs and his hand was never removed from the marble balustrade. I felt the curtain descend, and for another few moments I was behind the scenes moving amidst the sets, like the property man suddenly roused from his sleep and not sure whether he is still dreaming or looking at a dream which is being enacted on the stage. It was as fresh and green, as strangely new as the bread and cheese lands which the Biddenden maidens saw every day of their long life joined at the hips. I saw only that which was alive! the rest faded out in a penumbra. And it was in order to keep the world alive that I rushed home without waiting to see the performance and sat down to describe the little patch of staircase which is imperishable. It was just about this time that the Dadaists were in full swing, to be followed shortly by the surrealists. I never heard of either group until some ten years later; I never read a French book and I never had a French idea. I was perhaps the unique Dadaist in America, and I didn’t know it. I might just as well have been living in the jungles of the Amazon for all the contact I had with the outside world. Nobody understood what I was writing about or why I wrote that way.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  5. For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? 6. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 7. And he arose, and departed to his house. 8. But when the multitude saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxix.) Christ had above shewn His excellent power by teaching, when he taught them as one having authority; in the leper, when He said, I will, be thou clean; by the centurion, who said to Him, Speak the word, and my servant shall be healed; by the sea which He calmed by a word; by the dæmons who confessed Him; now again, in another and greater way, He compels His enemies to confess the equality of His honour with the Father; to this end it proceeds, And Jesus entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. He entered a boat to cross over, who could have crossed the sea on foot; for He would not be always working miracles, that He might not take away the reality of His incarnation. CHRYSOLOGUS. (Serm. 50.) The Creator of all things, the Lord of the world, when He had for our sakes straitened Himself in the bonds of our flesh, began to have His own country as a man, began to be a citizen of Judæa, and to have parents, though Himself the parent of all, that affection might attach those whom fear had separated. CHRYSOSTOM. By his own city is here meant Capharnaum. For one town, to wit, Bethlehem, had received Him to be born there; another had brought Him up, to wit, Nazareth; and a third received Him to dwell there continually, namely, Capharnaum. AUGUSTINE. (De Cons. Ev. ii. 25.) That Matthew here speaks of his own city, and Mark calls it Capharnaum, would be more difficult to be reconciled if Matthew had expressed it Nazareth. But as it is, all Galilee might be called Christ’s city, because Nazareth was in Galilee; just as all the Roman empire, divided into many states, was still called the Roman city1. Who can doubt then that the Lord in coming to Galilee is rightly said to come into his own city, whatever was the town in which He abode, especially since Capharnaum was exalted into the metropolis of Galilee? JEROME. Or; This city may be no other than Nazareth, whence He was called a Nazarene.

• From The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch (2017)

  306The History of Christianity II õBut fundamentalist and evangelical missions exploded, and Catholics and Mormons did quite well too. During the Cold War, many of these conservative missionaries saw themselves as evangelists not only for the gospel, but also on behalf of American civil religion. In other words, they were spiritual foot soldiers in the global battle against communism. õOne example: the evangelist Bob Pierce, a Baptist minister. As a traveling preacher, he spent a lot of time in Korea. He was overwhelmed by the suffering he saw, especially the suffering of children who had lost their parents in war. In 1950, he founded a Christian charity called World Vision to help care for those orphans, although World Vision’s mission soon expanded to include a lot of different kinds of relief work— everything from disaster relief to help for victims of sex trafficking. õPierce was convinced that the charity and preaching shouldn’t go in only one direction: Korean Christians had a lot to teach Americans, too. He published a book called The Untold Korea Story in which he raved about Korean Christians’ religious zeal. õIn the decades since then, World Vision has grown into a huge international organization that works in more than 90 countries, and its theology has become more ecumenical. Evangelicals, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox Christians all work there. 307Lecture 31—Culture Wars and the Christian Right THE 1960s AND 1970s õNext, this lecture will turn to the origins of the movement that has come to be known as the Christian right. That term refers to the organizations and activists that grew up in the late 1970s with the aim of mobilizing voters to restore the authority of the Bible in the public sphere and to roll back many of the social changes of the 1960s. õThe Christian right is not synonymous with conservative Christians or evangelicals. Many Christians who call themselves evangelical or conservative have dissented from some of the ideas and tactics of the activists about to be covered. õThe worldview that motivated these activists grew from the early Cold War cultural and geopolitical situation. Below are five of their primary principles. 1. America is a Christian nation. A traditional reading of the Bible should rule over every sphere of culture. 2. White, native-born Protestants—and a few others who agree with them—should be in charge of that culture, at least in America. The racial component is a complicated one, often not explicit; it has troubled many conservative Christians. But most scholars (including most Christian scholars) agree that it is very important to understanding this movement. 3. The ideal family is the heterosexual nuclear family, where sex is bound within marriage and the wife submits to her husband’s authority. 4. The free market is the only Christian way to do business. 5. It’s America’s duty to defend these values around the world.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Reply to Objection 3: As may be gathered from the passage quoted from Dionysius, the angels were acquainted with the mystery of the Incarnation: and yet they put this question, being desirous that Christ should give them more perfect knowledge of the details of this mystery, which are incomprehensible to any created intellect. Thus Maximus [*Maximus of Constantinople] says that “there can be no question that the angels knew that the Incarnation was to take place. But it was not given to them to trace the manner of our Lord’s conception, nor how it was that He remained whole in the Father, whole throughout the universe, and was whole in the narrow abode of the Virgin.” Reply to Objection 4: Some say that Gabriel was of the highest order; because Gregory says (Hom. de Centum Ovibus [*34 in Evang.]): “It was right that one of the highest angels should come, since his message was most sublime.” But this does nat imply that he was of the highest order of all, but in regard to the angels: since he was an archangel. Thus the Church calls him an archangel, and Gregory himself in a homily (De Centum Ovibus 34) says that “those are called archangels who announce sublime things.” It is therefore sufficiently credible that he was the highest of the archangels. And, as Gregory says (De Centum Ovibus 34), this name agrees with his office: for “Gabriel means ‘Power of God.’ This message therefore was fittingly brought by the ‘Power of God,’ because the Lord of hosts and mighty in battle was coming to overcome the powers of the air.” Whether the angel of annunciation should have appeared to the Virgin in a bodily vision?Objection 1: It would seem that the angel of the Annunciation should not have appeared to the Virgin in a bodily vision. For “intellectual vision is more excellent than bodily vision,” as Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xii), and especially more becoming to an angel: since by intellectual vision an angel is seen in his substance; whereas in a bodily vision he is seen in the bodily shape which he assumes. Now since it behooved a sublime messenger to come to announce the Divine Conception, so, seemingly, he should have appeared in the most excellent kind of vision. Therefore it seems that the angel of the Annunciation appeared to the Virgin in an intellectual vision. Objection 2: Further, imaginary vision also seems to excel bodily vision: just as the imagination is a higher power than the senses. But “the angel . . . appeared to Joseph in his sleep” (Mat. 1:20), which was clearly an imaginary vision. Therefore it seems that he should have appeared to the Blessed Virgin also in an imaginary vision.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Reply to Objection 2: As Chrysostom says on Mat. 21:19: “When our Lord does any such like thing” on plants or brute animals, “ask not how it was just to wither up the fig-tree, since it was not the fruit season; to ask such a question is foolish in the extreme,” because such things cannot commit a fault or be punished: “but look at the miracle, and wonder at the worker.” Nor does the Creator “inflict” any hurt on the owner, if He choose to make use of His own creature for the salvation of others; rather, as Hilary says on Mat. 21:19, “we should see in this a proof of God’s goodness, for when He wished to afford an example of salvation as being procured by Him, He exercised His mighty power on the human body: but when He wished to picture to them His severity towards those who wilfully disobey Him, He foreshadows their doom by His sentence on the tree.” This is the more noteworthy in a fig-tree which, as Chrysostom observes (on Mat. 21:19), “being full of moisture, makes the miracle all the more remarkable.” Reply to Objection 3: Christ also worked miracles befitting to Himself in the air and water: when, to wit, as related Mat. 8:26, “He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm.” But it was not befitting that He who came to restore all things to a state of peace and calm should cause either a disturbance in the atmosphere or a division of waters. Hence the Apostle says (Heb. 12:18): “You are not come to a fire that may be touched and approached [Vulg.: ‘a mountain that might be touched, and a burning fire’], and a whirlwind, and darkness, and storm.” At the time of His Passion, however, the “veil was rent,” to signify the unfolding of the mysteries of the Law; “the graves were opened,” to signify that His death gave life to the dead; “the earth quaked and the rocks were rent,” to signify that man’s stony heart would be softened, and the whole world changed for the better by the virtue of His Passion. Reply to Objection 4: The multiplication of the loaves was not effected by way of creation, but by an addition of extraneous matter transformed into loaves; hence Augustine says on Jn. 6:1–14: “Whence He multiplieth a few grains into harvests, thence in His hands He multiplied the five loaves”: and it is clearly by a process of transformation that grains are multiplied into harvests. OF CHRIST’S TRANSFIGURATION (FOUR ARTICLES)We now consider Christ’s transfiguration; and here there are four points of inquiry: (1) Whether it was fitting that Christ should be transfigured? (2) Whether the clarity of the transfiguration was the clarity of glory? (3) Of the witnesses of the transfiguration; (4) Of the testimony of the Father’s voice.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  But on the apostles the Holy Ghost descended under the form of fire, for two reasons. First, to show with what fervor their hearts were to be moved, so as to preach Christ everywhere, though surrounded by opposition. And therefore He appeared as a fiery tongue. Hence Augustine says (Super Joan., Tract. vi): Our Lord “manifests” the Holy Ghost “visibly in two ways”—namely, “by the dove corning upon the Lord when He was baptized; by fire, coming upon the disciples when they were met together . . . In the former case simplicity is shown, in the latter fervor . . . We learn, then, from the dove, that those who are sanctified by the Spirit should be without guile: and from the fire, that their simplicity should not be left to wax cold. Nor let it disturb anyone that the tongues were cloven . . . in the dove recognize unity.” Secondly, because, as Chrysostom says (Gregory, Hom. xxx in Ev.): “Since sins had to be forgiven,” which is effected in baptism, “meekness was required”; this is shown by the dove: “but when we have obtained grace we must look forward to be judged”; and this is signified by the fire. Whether the dove in which the Holy Ghost appeared was real?Objection 1: It would seem that the dove in which the Holy Ghost appeared was not real. For that seems to be a mere apparition which appears in its semblance. But it is stated (Lk. 3:22) that the “Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape as a dove upon Him.” Therefore it was not a real dove, but a semblance of a dove. Objection 2: Further, just as “Nature does nothing useless, so neither does God” (De Coelo i). Now since this dove came merely “in order to signify something and pass away,” as Augustine says (De Trin. ii), a real dove would have been useless: because the semblance of a dove was sufficient for that purpose. Therefore it was not a real dove. Objection 3: Further, the properties of a thing lead us to a knowledge of that thing. If, therefore, this were a real dove, its properties would have signified the nature of the real animal, and not the effect of the Holy Ghost. Therefore it seems that it was not a real dove. On the contrary, Augustine says (De Agone Christ. xxii): “Nor do we say this as though we asserted that our Lord Jesus Christ alone had a real body, and that the Holy Ghost appeared to men’s eyes in a fallacious manner: but we say that both those bodies were real.”

• From In an Unspoken Voice (2010)

  5 On that sunny winter morning of my accident, I was able—with the help of the kind pediatrician—to allow those physiological processes to complete moment-by-moment, moving time forward and releasing the highly charged “survival energy” lurking in my body and seeking its intended expression. This immediate emotional and “physical” first-aid prevented me from getting “stuck,” or locked in a vicious cycle of suffering and disability. How did I know what to do, as well as what to avoid, in this extremely stressful and disorienting situation? The short answer is that I have learned to embrace and welcome, rather than to fear and suppress, the primitive trembles, shakes and spontaneous body movements. The longer answer takes me back to the beginning of my last forty years of professional life as a scientist, a therapist and a healer. Diagram A This is a detailed depiction of the physiological pathways underlying the classic fight-or-flight response. The illustrator was the late Dr. Frank Netter, one of the foremost medical illustrators. Diagram B This Netter illustration shows the intricate and robust relationship between the viscera and the brain. The dorsal vagus nerve (the tenth cranial nerve at the back/dorsal part of the brain stem) mediates the immobilization system. It acts upon most of the visceral organs. The (ventral/front) nucleus ambiguus mediates the social engagement system through its connections with the middle ear, face and throat. * Tinbergen’s was for his study of animals in their natural environments, Lorenz’s for his study of imprinting and Von Frisch’s for his study of how the dance of honey bees communicates the location of pollen to the rest of the hive. † Edward Blanchard and his colleagues questioned Shalev’s data. However, in their study the vast majority of subjects were women and were only subjects who had sought treatment. Women tend to have more of a “freezing” stress response associated with the vagus nerve (which lowers heart rate)—in contrast to men, who tend to have a dominant sympathetic adrenal response. See Blanchard, E., et al. (2002). Emergency Room Vital Signs and PTSD in a Treatment Seeking Sample of Motor Vehicle Accident Survivors. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15 (3), 199–204. ‡ These varied reactions included shaking, trembling and the restoration of biological defensive and orienting responses (including head and neck movements and the protective bracing of my arms and hands to protect my head). T CHAPTER 2 Touched by Discovery The right way to wholeness is made up of fateful detours and wrong turnings. —C. G. Jung o be touched by the revelation of love or scientific discovery is among the greatest and most wondrous blessings of being alive. While the year 1969 was a dud for romance, it was for me a time of thrilling scientific illumination. While a momentous technical event occurred in outer space that year, for me, an awakening in inner space changed the course of my life. At summer’s beginning my friends and I sat glued to the TV screen, our jaws dropped in awe.

• From In an Unspoken Voice (2010)

  The Eagle lunar module had landed on the Bay of Tranquility, and Neil Armstrong assuredly stepped onto the lunar surface. Transfixed, we listened to the immortalized (though grammatically challenged) phrase: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Men not only walked on the moon, they leaped in technological exuberance! Images of Earth were relayed from our nearest celestial neighbor, offering a visual reminder that we were not at the center of the universe. In spite of that day’s historical significance, I doubt that many people remember the month or even the year of the Apollo 11 moon landing. However, that date, July 20, 1969, and the thrill of inner discovery were indelibly etched in my mind. A “chance” event occurred around the same time in my mind/body practice that was every bit as compelling. This singular event, a first step in a new professional life, gave birth to a fresh perspective on the human condition, as well as confronting me with my own formidable hang-ups and inner trauma demons. This incident was occasioned by the referral of a young woman from a psychiatrist who was aware of my keen interest in the fledgling fields of stress and mind-body healing. Nancy (not her real name) had been suffering from frequent migraines, hyperthyroidism, and fatigue, as well as chronic pain and debilitating premenstrual syndrome. Today, such symptoms would probably have been diagnosed as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Her life was further diminished by severe panic-anxiety attacks and agoraphobia that kept her tied to home. I had been developing some body awareness–based relaxation and stress-reduction procedures that the psychiatrist thought might be beneficial to her. Nancy entered my office, clinging nervously to her husband’s arms. She was fidgeting with his hands; he was transparently burdened by her complete dependence. I noticed how tight her neck was, pulling in like an injured turtle, while her eyes were wide with the startled look of a deer in the headlights. Her posture was stooped, conveying a pervasive sense of fear and defeat. Nancy’s resting heart rate was high—almost 100 beats per minute (which I was able to surmise from the pulsing of the carotid artery in her neck). Her breathing was so shallow as to seem barely able to sustain life. At first I taught Nancy to become aware of, and then to release, her chronically tense neck and shoulder muscles. She appeared to be relaxing deeply. Her heart rate decreased to a more normal range as her breathing deepened. However, moments later she abruptly became intensely agitated. Her heart, pounding wildly, shot up to approximately 130 beats per minute. Her breath was rapid and shallow as she gasped erratically. Then, as I watched helplessly, she abruptly froze in terror. Her face turned deathly white. She appeared paralyzed and barely able to breathe.

• From Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016)

  I’ve been in few places where there’s an electricity like there is in Alex. It’s a hive of constant human activity, all day long, people coming and going, gangsters hustling, guys on the corner doing nothing, kids running around. There’s nowhere for all that energy to go, no mechanism for it to dissipate, so it erupts periodically in epic acts of violence and crazy parties. One minute it’ll be a placid afternoon, people hanging out, doing their thing, and next thing you know there’s a cop car chasing gangsters, flying through the streets, a gun battle going off, helicopters circling overhead. Then, ten minutes later, it’s like it never happened— everyone’s back to hanging out, back to the hustle, coming and going, running around. Alex is laid out on a grid, a series of avenues. The streets are paved, but the sidewalks are mostly dirt. The color scheme is cinder block and corrugated iron, gray and dark gray, punctuated by bright splashes of color. Someone’s painted a wall lime green, or there’s a bright-red sign above a takeaway shop, or maybe somebody’s picked up a bright-blue piece of sheet metal just by luck. There’s little in the way of basic sanitation. Trash is everywhere, typically a garbage fire going down some side street. There’s always something burning in the hood. As you walk, there’s every smell you can imagine. People are cooking, eating takeaways in the streets. Some family has a shack that’s jury-rigged onto the back of someone else’s shack, and they don’t have any running water, so they’ve bathed in a bucket from the outdoor tap and then dumped the dirty water in the street, where it runs into the river of sewerage that’s already there because the water system has backed up again. There’s a guy fixing cars who thinks he knows what he’s doing, but he doesn’t. He’s dumping old motor oil into the street, and now the oil is combining with the dirty bathwater to make a river of filth running down the street. There’s probably a goat hanging around—there’s always a goat. As you’re walking, sound washes over you, the steady thrum of human activity, people talking in a dozen different languages, chatting, haggling, arguing. There’s music playing constantly. You’ve got traditional South African music coming from one corner, someone blasting Dolly Parton from the next corner, and somebody driving past pumping the Notorious B.I.G. The hood was a complete sensory overload for me, but within the chaos there was order, a system, a social hierarchy based on where you lived. First Avenue was not cool at all because it was right next to the commotion of the minibus rank. Second Avenue was nice because it had semi-houses that were built when there was still some sort of formal settlement going on.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THEOPHYLACT. To please the Jews, they pierce Christ, thus insulting even His lifeless body. But the insult issues in a miracle: for a miracle it is that blood should flow from a dead body. AUGUSTINE. (Tr. cxx.) The Evangelist has expressed himself cautiously; not struck, or wounded, but opened His side: (ἔνυξε, aperuit V.) whereby was opened the gate of life, from whence the sacraments of the Church flowed, without which we cannot enter into that life which is the true life: And forthwith came thereout blood and water. That blood was shed for the remission of sins, that water tempers the cup of salvation. This it was which was prefigured when Noah was commanded to make a door in the side of the ark, by which the animals that were not to perish by the deluge entered; which animals prefigured the Church. To shadow forth this, the woman was made out of the side of the sleeping man; for this second Adam bowed His head, and slept on the cross, that out of that which came therefrom, there might be formed a wife for Him. O death, by which the dead are quickened, what can be purer than that blood, what more salutary than that wound! CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxxv) This being the source whence the holy mysteries are derived, when thou approachest the awful cup, approach it as if thou wert about to drink out of Christ’s side. THEOPHYLACT. Shame then upon them who mix not water with the wine in the holy mysteries: they seem as if they believed not that the water flowed from the side. Had blood flowed only, a man might have said that there was some life left in the body, and that that was why the blood flowed. But the water flowing is an irresistible miracle, and therefore the Evangelist adds, And he that saw it bare record. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxxv. 3) As if to say, I did not hear it from others, but saw it with mine own eyes. And his record is true, he adds, not as if he had mentioned something so wonderful that his account would be suspected, but to stop the mouths of heretics, and in contemplation of the deep value of those mysteries which he announces. And he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

• From Stone Butch Blues (1993)

  of the island. Ruth made me promise not to come home until late afternoon. It was time to discover my surprise. I knocked on my own door and waited for Ruth to answer it. She wiped her hands on a cloth and led me into my bedroom. “Close your eyes,” she urged. “Remember you told me I could do anything I wanted to to it?” I smiled and nodded. “OK, open your eyes.” I looked around and then up at the ceiline—there it was. I sat down on my bed and fell back to look at the ceiling. Ruth had painted it velvety black with pinpoints of constellations I recognized. The darkness softened to light around the edges. I could see the outline of trees against the sky. Ruth lay down next to me. “Do you like it?” “It’s just incredible. I can’t believe you’ve given me the sky to sleep under. But I can’t tell if its dawn or dusk you’ve painted.” She smiled up at the ceiling, “It’s neither. It’s both. Does that unnerve you?” I nodded slowly. “Yeah, in a funny way it does.” “T figured that,” she said. “It’s a place inside of me I have to accept. I thought it might be what you need to deal with, too.” I sighed. “T really do have trouble not being able to figure out if what you’ve painted is about to be day or about to be night.” Ruth rolled toward me and rested her hand on my chest. “It’s not going to be day or night, Jess. It’s always going to be that moment of infinite possibility that connects them.” Ruth’s face was very close to mine. We became aware of the symmetry of our breathing. She slid her hand slowly along my body from my chest to my stomach. She dropped her eyes. “T’m afraid,” I answered the question she hadn’t asked out loud. “Why?” she asked. “Because I’m neither night nor day?” I squeezed my eyes shut. I knew I would lose her if I wasn’t honest; I knew I might lose her if I was. “Yes,” I told her. “That’s part of it. Remember your geometric theory? More than double the trouble?” Ruth rolled onto her back. “I’m not suggesting we do it in the road.” I stared up at the sky. “You know what I mean. But that’s only part of it. If I really have to be honest, it’s because I’m afraid not to be with someone who is night or day. I guess I felt like the femmes I was with anchored me. It was the closest to normal I’ve ever fel. Ruth curled up into my arm. “Were you her dawn or her dusk?” I smiled sadly. “In the beginning I was her dawn. By the end I was her twilight.” We both sighed.

• From The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

  the harsh realities of life? Open the mind to the Sublime. Think of death as a kind of threshold we all must cross. As such, it represents the ultimate mystery. We cannot possibly find the words or concepts to express what it is. We confront something that is truly unknowable. No amount of science or technology or expertise can solve this riddle or verbalize it. We humans can fool ourselves that we know just about everything, but at this threshold we are finally left dumb and groping. This confrontation with something we cannot know or verbalize is what we shall call the Sublime , whose Latin root means “up to the threshold.” The Sublime is anything that exceeds our capacity for words or concepts by being too large, too vast, too dark and mysterious. And when we face such things, we feel a touch of fear but also awe and wonder. We are reminded of our smallness, of what is much vaster and more powerful than our puny will. Feeling the Sublime is the perfect antidote to our complacency and to the petty concerns of daily life that can consume us and leave us feeling rather empty. The model for feeling the Sublime comes in our meditation on mortality, but we can train our minds to experience it through other thoughts and actions. For instance, when we look up at the night sky, we can let our minds try to fathom the infinity of space and the overwhelming smallness of our planet, lost in all the darkness. We can encounter the Sublime by thinking about the origin of life on earth, how many billions of years ago this occurred, perhaps at some particular moment, and how unlikely it was, considering the thousands of factors that had to converge for the experiment of life to begin on this planet. Such vast amounts of time and the actual origin of life exceed our capacity to conceptualize them, and we are left with a sensation of the Sublime. We can take this further: Several million years ago, the human experiment began as we branched off from our primate ancestors. But because of our weak physical nature and small numbers, we faced the continual threat of extinction. If that more-than-likely event had happened—as it had occurred for so many species, including other varieties of humans—the world would have taken a much different turn. In fact, the meeting of our own parents and our birth hung on a series of chance encounters that were equally unlikely. This causes us to view our present existence as an individual, something we take for granted, as a most improbable occurrence, considering all of the fortuitous elements that had to fall into place. We can experience the Sublime by contemplating other forms of life. We have our own belief about what is real based on our nervous and perceptual systems, but the reality of bats, which perceive through echolocation, is of a different order. They sense things

• From The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

  beyond our perceptual system. What are the other elements we cannot perceive, the other realities invisible to us? (The latest discoveries in most branches of science will have this eye-opening effect, and reading articles in any popular scientific journal will generally yield a few sublime thoughts.) We can also expose ourselves to places on the planet where all our normal compass points are scrambled—a vastly different culture or certain landscapes where the human element seems particularly puny, such as the open sea, a vast expanse of snow, a particularly enormous mountain. Physically confronted with what dwarfs us, we are forced to reverse our normal perception, in which we are the center and measure of everything. In the face of the Sublime, we feel a shiver, a foretaste of death itself, something too large for our minds to encompass. And for a moment it shakes us out of our smugness and releases us from the deathlike grip of habit and banality. — In the end, think of this philosophy in the following terms: Since the beginning of human consciousness, our awareness of death has terrified us. This terror has shaped our beliefs, our religions, our institutions, and so much of our behavior in ways we cannot see or understand. We humans have become the slaves to our fears and our evasions. When we turn this around, becoming more aware of our mortality, we experience a taste of true freedom. We no longer feel the need to restrict what we think and do, in order to make life predictable. We can be more daring without feeling afraid of the consequences. We can cut loose from all the illusions and addictions that we employ to numb our anxiety. We can commit fully to our work, to our relationships, to all our actions. And once we experience some of this freedom, we will want to explore further and expand our possibilities as far as time will allow us. Let us rid death of its strangeness, come to know it, get used to it. Let us have nothing on our minds as often as death. At every moment let us picture it in our imagination in al its aspects. . . . It is uncertain where death awaits us; let us await it everywhere. Premeditation of death is premeditation of freedom. . . . He who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave. Knowing how to die frees us from al subjection and constraint. —Michel de Montaigne Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank Anna Biller for her assistance on so many aspects of this book—including her deft editing, the endless insightful ideas she supplied me during our discussions, and all the love and support during the writing. This book would not be possible without her many contributions, and I am eternally grateful. I would like to thank my agent, Michael Carlisle of Inkwell Management, master of human nature, for all his invaluable advice

• From The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

  As with money and success, we have a much greater chance of attracting attention by developing a high sense of purpose and creating work that will naturally draw people to it. When the attention is unexpected, as with the success we suddenly have, it is all the more pleasurable. Cynicism: According to Friedrich Nietzsche, “Man would rather have the void as purpose than be void of purpose.” Cynicism, the feeling that there is no purpose or meaning in life, is what we shall call having “the void as purpose.” In the world today, with growing disenchantment with politics and the belief systems of the past, this form of the false purpose is becoming increasingly common. Such cynicism involves some or all of the following beliefs: Life is absurd, meaningless, and random. Standards of truth, excellence, or meaning are completely old-fashioned. Everything is relative. People’s judgments are simply interpretations of the world, none better than another. All politicians are corrupt, so it’s not really worth it to get involved; better to abstain or choose a leader who will deliberately tear it all down. People who are successful get there through gaming the system. Any form of authority should be naturally mistrusted. Look behind people’s motives and you will see that they are selfish. Reality is quite brutal and ugly; better to accept this and be skeptical. It’s really hard to take anything so seriously; we should just laugh and have a good time. It’s all the same. This attitude presents itself as cool and hip. Its adherents display a somewhat apathetic and sardonic air that gives them the appearance that they see through it all. But the attitude is not what it seems. Behind it is the adolescent pose of appearing to not care, which disguises a great fear of trying and failing, of standing out and being ridiculed. It stems from sheer laziness and offers its believers consolation for their lack of accomplishments. As hunters for purpose and meaning, we want to move in the opposite direction. Reality is not brutal and ugly—it contains much that is sublime, beautiful, and worthy of wonder. We see this in the great works of other achievers. We want to have more encounters with the Sublime. Nothing is more awe-inspiring than the human brain itself—its complexity, its untapped potential. We want to realize some of that potential in our lives, not wallow in the cynical slacker attitude. We see a purpose behind everything that we experience and see.

• From The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

  robes and jewels. The king then got into the most elaborate carriage imaginable, named the Sacre . It was like something out of a fairy tale. It was built for the coronation and designed to represent the chariot of Apollo, glistening like the sun (the sun being the symbol of the French king), and it was enormous. On all sides it featured gold statuettes of Roman gods. On the door panel facing Danton, he could see an elaborate painting of Louis XVI as a Roman emperor atop a cloud, beckoning the French people below him. Strangest of all, the carriage itself sported a large bronze crown. The Sacre was meant to serve as the very symbol of the monarchy, dazzling and mythical. It was quite a sight, but for some reason it seemed oddly out of place—too large, too bright, and when the king got in, it seemed to swallow him up. Was it magnificent or was it grotesque? Danton could not decide. Danton returned to school later that same day, his head spinning with all of these strange images. Inspired by what he had witnessed, he wrote his best essay yet and won the prize. In the years after graduating from the school in Troyes, Danton would make his mother proud. In 1780 he moved to Paris to clerk in the law courts. Within a few years, he passed the bar exam and became a practicing lawyer. In court, with his booming voice and oratorical skills, he naturally commanded attention and quickly rose through the ranks. And as he mingled with his fellow lawyers and read the newspapers, he detected something strange going on in France: a growing discontent with the king, the profligate queen, and the arrogant upper classes, whom the great thinkers of the day were ridiculing in their plays and books. The main problem was the country’s finances—France seemed perpetually on the brink of running out of money. At the root of this was France’s vastly antiquated financial structure. The French people were subject to all kinds of onerous taxes that dated back to feudal times, but the clergy and the nobility were largely exempt from any such burdens. Taxes on the French lower and middle classes could never bring in enough revenue, especially considering the lavish expenditures of the French court, which had only gotten worse with Queen Marie Antoinette’s elaborate parties and love of finery. As the money supply ran short and the price of bread kept rising, and with millions of people facing starvation, riots began to break out throughout the countryside and even in Paris. And amid all of this turmoil, the young king was proving to be too indecisive to handle the pressure. In 1787, as the financial situation worsened, the opportunity of a lifetime came to Danton—a position as a lawyer on the King’s Council, with a rather nice bump in salary. Wanting to marry a young woman named Gabrielle, whose father opposed the marriage