You are currently browsing the Bruce Smith weblog archives for the day 22. February 2011.
22. February 2011 by BruceSmith.
Logos, Pathos, Ethos
Aristotle suggested, long ago, that we make our way toward truth on a number of levels. If we are to arrive, he suggests, at anything resembling actual reality, we must submit the search to the pillars of logos (having to do with the intellect), pathos (having to do with our emotional reality), and ethos (having to do with social reality). Any true “truth” must, in fact, and in reality, and in experience, meet the demands of these tests.
The Gospel, understood and embraced, has influence upon our intellect, our emotions, and our social reality. God’s truth addresses how we think, how we feel, and how we act. It meets the test of the mind, the soul, and experience. It transforms all of us, and all of life itself. In knowing Him we find our way to intellectual vigor, emotional stability, and joyful purpose.
As human beings, alive at a time of unceasing chaos, activity, and information, it is critical we slow down long enough to strategically submit our mind, emotions, and will to the truth of God. If we are unwilling to walk the path of truth, and if we are unwilling to live a life of sober reflection and deep thought, we run the risk of falling prey to the devastatingly numbing pain of the average life. The average person, in our culture and others, merely responds to external stimuli in the moment. If the mind is lazy or tired or distracted, so be it, no worries. If the emotions are raw, undisciplined, and reactive, no worries, its just the way it is, tomorrow is another day. If the social realities of life are shifting, inconsistent, and with no compass, no bother, just go with the flow, live in the moment, and experience it all. Such a life, unfocused, lacking purpose or passion, cannot offer a human being the fullness of life of which Jesus spoke when He said, “I have come that you might have life and that to the full” (John 10:10).
The hurdle we must overcome if we are to find our way to this abundant life in Christ, is the hurdle of the mental, emotional, and social passivity. We cannot hunger for deep and abiding knowledge of God or life in general and expect to find such without a constant commitment to learning. Similarly, we cannot hope for inner peace or rest or relational vibrancy without a devoted maintenance of our emotions and inner world. And, of course, we will never know the thrill of a life well lived without a purposeful and intentional pursuit of social interaction. If we want more from life we must pursue it. Jesus said, “Seek and you will find…”. That active seeking has its basis in the logos, ethos, and pathos of God’s truth. We must seek Him intellectually, emotionally, and socially.
If you want more of this quality of life, begin, today, dedicating some time to evaluating your passion for engaging your mind, your emotions, and your willful interactions with others. Does your mental effort match God’s call to use your mind to find and follow Him? Does your emotional maturity match that which God calls all believers to? Does your social reality live up to the call of God, revealed in scriptures, to live as salt and light, and to make a divine difference in the world? If not, ask God to begin to reframe the pursuit of truth for you. Once you have a taste, you will crave more. Once the mind is turned on to the depth of His truth, you cannot help but thirst for more. Once you’ve seen what inner peace, stability and consistency “feels” like, you won’t settle for less. Once you watched God transforms lives through your social interaction, you will never desire less.
The blessing of having the mind turned on for Him is manyfold, but essentially, its about having the resources of the riches of God, an understanding of His character which transforms ours, and a lens through which we can see the world and ourselves accurately. To have the emotions in tune with the Spirit of God is of the utmost consequence. Having a knowledge that all experiences and all of life is subject to the providence of God secures our inner world like nothing else can. We do not escape the realities of this world, but live in quiet confidence that God is at work in every single episode. Such an awareness gives us a state of emotional clarity we cannot find otherwise. And finally, to sense that every word, deed, setting, act, and interaction can have a God-filled purpose offers us an unquenchable passion and joy. There is no experience, separated from God’s design, that can match the most mundane of experiences directed by the hand of God. And, no life remains mundane, in any sense, once ignited by the reality that God’s presence is within us, around us, about us, and for us, every step we take.
Go find the life God has for you.
Bruce Smith
blog.optimuschoice.com
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