Mental Fitness and the Heroic Life

With proper mental training, you can even kill people with your brain!
(via MeetDoctor)

 

It is important that we recognize that our training does not stop with the honing of the body. There are three other aspects of the human person which we need to cultivate in order to become the warriors of God we are all called to be.

Today, we will be looking at the life of the mind.

Hey. Stop that yawning. This is important.

Unless you’re like me, you aren’t a huge fan of studying. Even I would often rather be tooling around online than getting any real work done. But if we ignore the life of the mind, we often lack the will and determination to continue our physical training. As I’ve said before, the parts of the human person are designed to work together. Strengthen one and you begin to strengthen all. Neglect one, and you will soon find yourself losing pace. You don’t want to be a weakling, do you? Well, ok, then.

How can we strengthen our minds? Surely, we weren’t all created to be mathletes. But God has instilled in every person the capacity to seek and acquire knowledge, and we all can learn to use this capacity for our good and the good of all we encounter.

The first step, as with physical training, is exercising. And just like physical training, it can be draining and almost painful. But you must learn the discipline. I recommend starting with subjects that interest you and reading about them. . . offline. Now, as a blogger, it pains me to admit that online reading is relatively useless for mental training. This is because the neural pathways react differently when exposed to electronics. So put down your kindle and pick up a real book. I don’t care if it’s an easy book. Do it. And read for at least half an hour a day.

When you have made a habit of reading, you can begin to explore deeper subjects. After a few months of this, you will be amazed at how well your brain is functioning!

But as with physical fitness, it’s not just about the work. The diet is also important.

By this, I mean it is important to watch what you are putting in your brain. I love pop culture as much as the next Trenchcoat, but I recognize that it is junk food. Just as you shouldn’t eat cake and pork belly for every meal, you shouldn’t spend all your time indulging in awesome shows about handsome demon hunting consulting detective time travellers. Or, you know, “Say Yes to the Dress”. Whatever you’re into.

Instead, it is important to fill your brain with important facts and useful information. If you can tell me the plot of every episode of “Twin Peaks” including an analysis of all the Lynchian symbology, well, I’d think you were pretty awesome and we should be friends. But if you can do all that and can’t articulate Pascal’s Wager or how to build a rabbit snare, you really ought to study more important things.

The truth is, intellect is a gift from God, and he has given some quantity of it to even the slowest of men. The mind is one of the tools we use to seek the Divine, to satisfy the aching hunger which yearns for God’s presence. For the mind is the house of Reason, and if our Reason is bloated with too many useless things, we can no longer rely on it to point us to heaven. We then can only rely on Faith, and Faith without Reason is like a bicycle missing a tire. Sure, you can weld it into a unicycle to carry you down the Destined Path (if, you know, you bothered to learn how to weld rather than watching “Iron Chef” reruns all day. . .), but most of us suck at riding unicycles. Isn’t it better to arrive swiftly with minimal damage than to limp in with a broken arm because you chose the most absurd of vehicles?

So get reading, put some air in those tires, and roll out. We’ve got work to do and places to be. And the mind is an exciting place to venture through.

-E. G. Norton

Our Lady, Aqueduct of Grace

(Via St. Charles Borromeo Church)

There are many different types of Marian titles, and today, I’ll be looking at one of my favorite object titles (that is, an allegorical title built around a physical object).

To fully understand the title Aqueduct of Grace, we must first look at the importance of the aqueduct as a structure. Anyone who has visited a Roman site (or has at least seen a picture of a Roman site) has a terrific visual of a great series of arches supporting a troughed causeway, through which water flows from a source into a nearby town. Modern aqueducts are not quite so iconic, but this system is still used in many parts of the world to provide clean drinking water to an urban population.

(via Imagekind)

Without an aqueduct to provide water, people would have to hike far into the countryside to find a source and haul the water back on their backs. It is possible to come to the waters on their own, but it is so much more difficult a road that many are unable to make such a journey. Thus, they must content themselves with the water given them by others, or collected from less pure, refreshing sources.

So it is with the Water of Life, those graces poured out upon us from the bounty and love of our Father through his Son. This is the only water that can satisfy the aching thirst that renders us weak and crusted, crying out in the desert of sin for some small drop. And we can make the journey, with God’s help, to the source. We can go and carry it back to our dwelling-place. God has brought forth this Water into the world for all mankind, after all.

But how much easier would it be to approach the aqueduct, where pure water flows with abundance directly to those who would use it? Only a fool should circumvent this great marvel and go to the source directly in his dire need. For here, among us, is a channel directly to the source, through which flows all the Graces we need to be purified. As bearer of the Water of Life himself, Our Lady is in a unique position to bring Him to all her children, if we but ask for her direction and intercession.

But the aqueduct is not in itself the water. A dry aqueduct provides no more than something interesting to look at. And here is where the distinction is clear. It is not, nor will ever be Our Lady directly who saves us, who creates these Graces. She is not the Water, but the bearer of the Water. She has birthed the Incarnate Quencher of Spiritual Thirst, but on her own power she can do nothing. What Graces she renders us are from God, given her in abundance for her “Yes” that made our salvation possible. She is human in the ultimate sense of being human — that is, fulfilling her created purpose in being united with God’s will — and thus is our Paragon… and yet, she is not divine, but raised in honor as an aqueduct, not the water, but the water-bearer.

Thus, we find ourselves at the Catholic position on Our Lady. We acknowledge that it is foolish to ignore her position and to avoid her intercession when it is readily available to us and encouraged by God for our use. He built us this aqueduct, so why not drink our fill? And yet, those who are foolish enough to make the journey into the wilderness to seek the source are not condemned for it, for they drink of the same saving Water. They just have a harder time of it. But their thirst will still be quenched.

This is why we pray that all may come to a devotion to Our Blessed Mother, so that they may rest in peace and comfort, and may drink freely of the Water of Life through her intercession. We desire that they may lay down their burdens at her feet, accepting with joy the gifts God pours out for all through her — not for her own sake, but for the love of humanity and her place as the bearer of his Son, the Savior of Humanity.

-E. G. Norton