Paul and me continue our discussion of spirituality, the anima technica vacua, and other issues. Beginning with a tangential look at sex and the whole concept of “to know” as a form of intimacy, we progress (heh) into talking about the arts, and modes of expression. From there, we take a look at spirituality more directly, and in particular look at the the dangers of spirituality being unmoored from objectivity and reality. And we ask: what happens when you have a bad spirituality, or an unmoored spirituality? What happens when you have a spiritual vacuum, and what rushes into that space to replace spirituality?

But the meat of the discussion, I think, is the question we ask thereafter: what is progress? Is progress a bad thing? What are we progressing toward? What are the wages and consequences of having no telos, no ultimate end toward which one is progressing? What is progressivism progressing toward, if anything, or is it simply progress for progress’ sake, with no final telos?

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The season of Advent — four weeks of preparation, reflection, and penance that precede Christmas — began on Sunday, November 27th. It will continue until Christmas proper, and the Christmas season continues thereafter until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 8th or 9th, which is the first Sunday that follows Epiphany (which, in turn, is observed on January 6th).