Towards a COMMUNAL ONTOLOGY (Part 1) — From Doubt to Faith

THE BAPTIZING PHILOSOPHY PODCAST:

Preface to Aphesis: The Impossibility of Subjectivity:

I found Christ through this book. When I wrote the first word of Aphesis in the summer of 2019, I was a staunch (Nietzschean) atheist, and I wrote the final chapter as a catechumen in the Orthodox Church. When I say that I found Christ through this book, I mean it in the most literal sense. My “moment of conversion” occurred while I was shooting hoops in my driveway, in deep and troubled thought over my inability to complete the final chapter of this book, one which would overcome, or at least provide a reconciliation with, the “impossibilities of subjectivity.” And suddenly, as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes, I perceived the profound truth that the Christian story of salvation provides a “narrow path” out of every paradox and contradiction I found myself lost in. I dropped the ball, and the coincidences I perceived “made me suddenly stand still.”
I then messaged my cousin, my best friend and brother in Christ, to tell him the good news. Over the next two years we discovered Orthodox Christianity. Orthodox Christian theology–which has its foundation in the ontology of communion–posits that the being of beings is found in the other, in communion with the other. Communion is not mere “relating” to the other as if there were an underlying self-relation that only secondarily “relates” to another self-relating being. The radicality of the communal ontology consists of its absolute opposition to the notion of self-relation, which it banishes into the outer darkness. Pure self-relation is not merely something to be avoided–it is strictly impossible. The source of all being, being as such, is the communion between the Persons of the Holy Trinity: “Nothing in existence is conceivable in itself, as an individual, such as the substance of Aristotle, since even God exists thanks to an event of communion.”
The ontology of communion posits that one’s being is not found in oneself but in and through the other. One reconciles with and finds oneself in Christ. Simply put, the life of the individual is not found “in itself,” but in God:
"Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day [...] This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." (John 6:53-57)
The true radicality of Christ’s “hard teaching” is often lost in the English translation. The Greek term translated as “eat” is closer to “munch” or “consume.” The communal ontology sees being as the consumption of the other (which is another reason why the communal ontology is not merely “relational”). But this “consumption” is not selfish devouring and the destruction of otherness, but a full reception of the other’s freely given love, made possible through the simultaneous giving of oneself. If one remains enclosed within oneself, one cannot commune; it is only in abandoning one’s self-imprisonment through self-sacrifice that one becomes open to communal life.

HASHTAGS:
#philosophy #theology #metaphysics #ontology #orthodox #christianity #orthodoxchristianity #communion #church #jesus #christ #catholic #bible #hegel #negation #dialectics #epistemology #psychoanalysis #logic #ethics #theory #apologetics #God #subjectivity #paradox #contradiction #reading #books #intellectual #politics #conservative #politicaltheory #sigma #staniloae #trinity

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Introduction
1:51 Philosophy as the path of doubt
6:28 Descartes
7:34 Hume
10:52 Kant
14:12 Sartre
14:58 Žižek
15:42 Summary of logic so far
16:31 Uncertainty at every turn: the impasse between empiricism and transcendentalism
21:51 Epoche and the impossibility of pure silence
23:52 Clarifying “uncertainty at every turn”
24:39 The dead end of philosophical doubt
26:00 Faith is necessary
26:58 Please forgive me
28:13 Brief reflections from the perspective of communal ontology
36:54 Concluding remarks and incoherent rambling

[occidentalunrest]

The quality of the content you put out is unbelievably good. Thanks for the work you do Trey and God Bless ☦️

[martinrenthlei]

As a Messianic Gentile I love your content. So edifying. God bless bro.

[O.G.Rose.Michelle.and.Daniel]

Very nicely done, Trey, and I think you outlined very well why Modern Philosophy seems to (in the eyes of most people) lead up to Neo-Pragmaticism and die with Richard Rorty. It’s tragic, seeing as there are more resources out there to take us in better directions, but videos like this will help bring to people’s attention thinking like we find in Florensky, Korzybski, and others. Again, very well done!

[evangelium]

Discovered your channel a few days ago, I've definitely found a favorite. Keep it up!

[watsonblack]

“What is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my entire life” -Walt Whitman

[wowcplayer]

watching thru this is mostly just reminding me why I dont inherit the full weight and consequence of solving a puzzle which has mostly disintegrated. Indeterminacy isnt doubt unless used as the proof of one's chosen path.

[SamuelJClark-dhme]

I think you should look into Schellings late “positive” philosophy. Relates to what you said about the “certain” I being based on uncertainty

[cicerogsuphoesdown]

If you have captions on for the video: Zizek is captioned as ‘youjizz’ around the 15:00 minute mark. Fell off my chair

[johnbizzlehart]

The Ground can not be I because the tellos of the thought process is to seek the Ground…so the Ground is outside the I.

[ghostbutterflies]

Shalom superb video - have you looked into Gregory Bateson yet and his belief that preservation of the whole can only be achieved through appreciation of the entire cybernetic mind, which he called G-d? Recommended, it ties into your ideas here.

[wowcplayer]

describing description reguardless of the inherently negative appearance is a form of self-relation mediated by the role of the philospher to seek truth. Its as likely the philosopher becomes attached by an explaination later deemed untrue as one automatically reused to suit the role of a later thinker. Avoidance appears to me a modern form of doubt, motivated by our collective recognition that ideas mechanically interract in ways many deem frightful or intellectually intractible. I think its most telling we're past a peak of smooth engagement between thinkers, and have settled on avoidance.

[dominicsey]

I think there is a natural progression from doubt to faith or mysticism. The place of mysticism is where I've been stuck at.

[danielsheinin]

bro accidentally made Dyer’s TAG argument (which is good)

[CDUTT]

Have you read "Being as Communion"?