Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Russian religious philosophy understood how our desire for independence broke up the world into mutually exclusive, mutually hostile parts, bringing a great amount of suffering in its wake. Looking towards the eschaton, it believed that humanity will find itself in beatitude only when people re-establish the original integral unity of creation. But we can’t get there passively; rather, we must work with the world, acting as doctors, healing it from the harm we have caused. This was not the extent of their eschatological vision. They believed the world was created for a purpose – for deification, that is, for being in full communion with God. While the world was created good, it was also created to achieve free, personal communion with God – with Godmanhood, Divine-humanity, being our goal. The world was meant to go from good to best, but it could only do so within the domain of freedom.
Since we are born in a fallen mode of existence, we cannot, by ourselves, overcome the fall, even if we try to do so just for ourselves. When we find ourselves negatively affected by others, we might attempt to remove ourselves from the world, thinking that would allow us to find peace; but instead, all it would do is have us repeat what happened at the fall, making the effects of the fall greater as a result. To reverse the fall, there is the need for something to restore the principle core of creation to its original, openness, so that it can serve as the integral center of creation, uniting itself with every other thing in existence. The Church (the body of Christ) is that which has been established to fulfill this task. All its theology, all its authority, all its graces, all its social activity, is to be used for this. Theology teaches us about our proper place in the world. The sacraments give us the spiritual strength we need by connecting us to the power of God. The social work the Church does helps us reach out to those who would otherwise find themselves under any influence by the Church, and help them experience that which the Church is meant to do, giving them a reason to desire entry into the Church themselves. The Church must not force people into her confines, but rather, she should help all, wherever they are at, and let them freely choose to enter into her domain because of the good they see the Church does (which is why, whenever the Church neglects this great responsibility, she finds less people entering within her confines, which, of course, is of a great detriment to the world, since without her increase, the forces of chaos and division will be able to increase).
The world is, in reality, interdependent, so how can we say it is also the eschatological goal for creation? We must understand that there are two different modes of interdependence in effect here. The first is found within the universal, natural laws which form the basis by which the world works. It is the “blind law of nature,” and its demands determine the fate of all creation based upon the actions of its inhabitants. Its rules cannot be questioned, its way of influencing life cannot be stopped; it does not give any respect to persons due to their status in life. Even when we are ignorant of these laws, we are subject to them. What we do in life affects ourselves and others through these laws. How we affect others we are not always able to see, and so we are capable of doing serious harm without even knowing how we do it.
The other mode of interdependence is one which is transfigured, capable of affecting the world positively through wisdom. It is no longer blind fate. It now sees things in relation to their eschatological end, and knows how to help bring it about, to establish a free-willed pan-unity. All things now work for all things in all things and by all things. As the Church seeks to bring all things together as one in Christ, it is the goal of the Church to bring about this higher mode of interdependence. When it is achieved, in the great eschatological end, when all things are in God, and God is God in all, and all are freely with and united in God, then the real original sense of balance, of peace, of prosperity in creation can be found again. This state of pan-unity, of all things working together as one, in its highest sense will bring about the full manifestation of God’s Wisdom, or Sophia, in the heart of all creation. She will direct all things, She will guide all things. In Her, as Her, all things will find in a mutual love their true self, for it will be love which unites all things, and it will be in this love that true interdependence will be known. In this higher form of pan-unity, all will know themselves as Sophia, but this interdependence, being founded upon love, will not be monistic, overriding the personality of all within. Rather, because it will be love which unites all, love, to be love, will remain personal, and so will end up preserving the personal distinction, even as the persons of the Trinity preserve their distinctions in their united love
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