I was watching an interview with Alice Von Hildebrand of the
Hildebrand Project and she said something interesting. That we must
baptize pleasure. Here is the explanation of why that I found this
particularly interesting.
Baptizing Pleasure: Hildebrand described pleasure as
something that we share with animals. It is something primal in that
sense. But she said we can separate it from animal pleasure. We can
separate it in such a way that we can detach it from our animistic urges.
To do so, we must baptize pleasure as a gift. What Hildebrand meant
by this was that we should be thankful when it is given to us from someone
else. That we should seek to give more than we receive, to the extent
that we would be seeking solely to give it to others rather than seeking it for
ourselves.
Thus, why I found it so interesting.
The idea that pleasure is animalistic, but that it can be converted into
something higher. Maybe even holy with respect to how she described it as
being baptized. The idea that we should seek to pleasure others over
ourselves is obviously selfless, but I do not think she meant it to solely
relate to sexual relations. I think she meant pleasure in the broadest
sense, from companionship, friendship, love, faith, and beyond, but still
including bodily contact. Obviously, this does not mean finding a random
person to please, but to make sure that it is more than you or me being selfish.
It is about giving of yourself over receiving.
Conclusion: Some of you may be having
"dirty" thoughts, but Hildebrand being a religious theologian, does
not talk from a "dirty" perspective, but a biblical one. That,
if we stopped being selfish with respect to seeking to please ourselves, and
thought about others, that we may have a less selfish society. Well, these are
my thoughts, and I hope you found them useful.
No comments:
Post a Comment