The Meaning Code | Daniel Toma's Three Levels of Perfection: Life as Liturgy @TheMeaningCode | Uploaded July 2023 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
Ted Stiritz returns to discuss Reality, Knowledge, Hierarchy, Narrative in Daniel Toma, part 2.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:12 Exploring Perfection and Philosophy in Everyday Life
The integration of philosophy into common human experience and how it is being applied in everyday life.
Daniel Toma's three levels of perfection
06:49 Overview of protein structure and folding, explaining how amino acids are linked together to form polypeptides and how proteins fold into different shapes. He emphasizes the importance of proper folding and the consequences of misfolding, such as neurodegenerative diseases like Mad cow disease.
12:40 Perfection and its relationship to hierarchy in the universe. They discuss the idea that perfection is not a static state, but rather a dynamic process of development that must be achieved through a hierarchy of perfections. The importance of language in reflecting the fundamental importance of life over non-life.
28:30 The Relationship Between Time, Memory, and Music How the human body changes over time and how memory plays a role in shaping our identity. Music and narrative have a simultaneous awareness of time and lean towards eternity.
37:50 All knowledge originates in the senses.
Exploring the Intermediary Realm and Immateriality of Intellect. The hierarchy of movement and intelligence, and how humans move towards less need of the material realm to act. Reverse knowledge structure of angels and the simplicity of God.
48:48 The Rational Soul and the Physical Body
Intellect and will are shared by spiritual beings such as humans and angels. The connection between a person's spirit and their physical body, specifically the brain, heart, and lungs, which correspond to the way in which a person's spirit coheres and keeps them alive. Despite advances in biomedical knowledge, the fundamental understanding of the world remains unchanged.
53:01 Angels and Intellect
How angels long to understand human experiences despite not having senses in the same way as humans. St. Augustine's view on fallen and good angels. Angels' knowledge is intrinsic to them and they don't learn, which means there's no possibility of redemption.
What is Repentance?
55:45 The Gift of Repentance and Changeability
Limitedness and changeability are not negative qualities, but rather gifts that allow for the potential of repentance and self-change. The importance of recognizing one's choices and the potential for different paths, as well as the role of anomaly and suffering in strengthening or shifting one's perspective.
1:03:05 The Power of Stories and eucatastrophe and how they can help people make sense of their lives.
Eucatastrophe in Tolkien's work and how it relates to the way stories can bring about goodness in an inconceivable way. The importance of natural faith in helping people navigate the ambiguity and apparent contradictions of life.
1:10:10 Natural Faith and Consequentialism.
Living in alignment with the natural order of things can lead to blessings, while going against it can result in negative consequences. They also touch on the role of God's agency in blessings and the importance of wanting the right desires. The conversation highlights the significance of stories and patterns in shaping human society and the notion of primary, secondary, and tertiary perfection.
The Importance of Order and Humility in Understanding Reality
Science and religion aim to order appropriately and align oneself with reality, while magic and technology aim to order reality to oneself. He also discusses the ordering of human desire and the importance of humility in achieving virtue.
1:24:20 Ted Stiritz shares personal experience of suffering and commitment to truth and recounts his experience of suffering when his daughter was in the NICU, how his commitment to truth and reality helped him through it. He reflects on the importance of making the right decisions before suffering occurs and how it can provide a foundation for resilience during difficult times.
A Father's Reflection on His Daughter's Health Struggles recounting the difficulties his daughter faced with a lung that was not developing properly, thus the need for cardiac bypass. He reflects on the profound gratitude he and his wife felt when their daughter's second lung fully inflated and oxygenated, despite the fact that she was still in the hospital and they did not know how her health struggles would end. Stiritz suggests that if he could live his life with the same gratitude he felt in that moment, he would be better off.
1:30:30 The relationship between gratitude, humility, and courage, and how they are essential for human life and the liturgy. They discuss how gratitude is necessary for salvation and how the lack of gratitude can lead to tearing reality apart. They also reflect on how Ted's experience in the hospital taught him to trust God and have gratitude and humility in difficult situations.
Ted Stiritz returns to discuss Reality, Knowledge, Hierarchy, Narrative in Daniel Toma, part 2.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:12 Exploring Perfection and Philosophy in Everyday Life
The integration of philosophy into common human experience and how it is being applied in everyday life.
Daniel Toma's three levels of perfection
06:49 Overview of protein structure and folding, explaining how amino acids are linked together to form polypeptides and how proteins fold into different shapes. He emphasizes the importance of proper folding and the consequences of misfolding, such as neurodegenerative diseases like Mad cow disease.
12:40 Perfection and its relationship to hierarchy in the universe. They discuss the idea that perfection is not a static state, but rather a dynamic process of development that must be achieved through a hierarchy of perfections. The importance of language in reflecting the fundamental importance of life over non-life.
28:30 The Relationship Between Time, Memory, and Music How the human body changes over time and how memory plays a role in shaping our identity. Music and narrative have a simultaneous awareness of time and lean towards eternity.
37:50 All knowledge originates in the senses.
Exploring the Intermediary Realm and Immateriality of Intellect. The hierarchy of movement and intelligence, and how humans move towards less need of the material realm to act. Reverse knowledge structure of angels and the simplicity of God.
48:48 The Rational Soul and the Physical Body
Intellect and will are shared by spiritual beings such as humans and angels. The connection between a person's spirit and their physical body, specifically the brain, heart, and lungs, which correspond to the way in which a person's spirit coheres and keeps them alive. Despite advances in biomedical knowledge, the fundamental understanding of the world remains unchanged.
53:01 Angels and Intellect
How angels long to understand human experiences despite not having senses in the same way as humans. St. Augustine's view on fallen and good angels. Angels' knowledge is intrinsic to them and they don't learn, which means there's no possibility of redemption.
What is Repentance?
55:45 The Gift of Repentance and Changeability
Limitedness and changeability are not negative qualities, but rather gifts that allow for the potential of repentance and self-change. The importance of recognizing one's choices and the potential for different paths, as well as the role of anomaly and suffering in strengthening or shifting one's perspective.
1:03:05 The Power of Stories and eucatastrophe and how they can help people make sense of their lives.
Eucatastrophe in Tolkien's work and how it relates to the way stories can bring about goodness in an inconceivable way. The importance of natural faith in helping people navigate the ambiguity and apparent contradictions of life.
1:10:10 Natural Faith and Consequentialism.
Living in alignment with the natural order of things can lead to blessings, while going against it can result in negative consequences. They also touch on the role of God's agency in blessings and the importance of wanting the right desires. The conversation highlights the significance of stories and patterns in shaping human society and the notion of primary, secondary, and tertiary perfection.
The Importance of Order and Humility in Understanding Reality
Science and religion aim to order appropriately and align oneself with reality, while magic and technology aim to order reality to oneself. He also discusses the ordering of human desire and the importance of humility in achieving virtue.
1:24:20 Ted Stiritz shares personal experience of suffering and commitment to truth and recounts his experience of suffering when his daughter was in the NICU, how his commitment to truth and reality helped him through it. He reflects on the importance of making the right decisions before suffering occurs and how it can provide a foundation for resilience during difficult times.
A Father's Reflection on His Daughter's Health Struggles recounting the difficulties his daughter faced with a lung that was not developing properly, thus the need for cardiac bypass. He reflects on the profound gratitude he and his wife felt when their daughter's second lung fully inflated and oxygenated, despite the fact that she was still in the hospital and they did not know how her health struggles would end. Stiritz suggests that if he could live his life with the same gratitude he felt in that moment, he would be better off.
1:30:30 The relationship between gratitude, humility, and courage, and how they are essential for human life and the liturgy. They discuss how gratitude is necessary for salvation and how the lack of gratitude can lead to tearing reality apart. They also reflect on how Ted's experience in the hospital taught him to trust God and have gratitude and humility in difficult situations.
