An Experiential Framework for Humanity
We find ourselves, throughout our journeys in life, as both children and parents; prodigal sons and tearful fathers. Resurrexit Spiritus, or “The Risen Spirit,” is a philosophical framework that maps the entire arc of the Christian life, which is to say the spiritually human, in a phenomenology. It is a living map of the human soul’s pilgrimage through community, love, and the struggle to reconcile our inner selves with the world around us. The initiating work is purely philosophical in language, while quietly pointing at Christ throughout.
This framework is structured into four domains: Kratos, Telos, Eros, and Logos, each representing stages of spiritual growth which can be associated with moments in the journey of the Prodigal Son from excess to moderation, and finally, to restoration. This is a blueprint for how we navigate the tensions between our desires, our community, and, ultimately, our highest purposes.
Kratos, the domain of rule rejections and acceptances, begins with the prodigal’s decision to leave home. His rejection of familial ties and societal norms in pursuit of self-determination. This stage is marked by a struggle to define oneself through external validation rather than any internal alignments, and least of all aligning the internal. It’s about aligning the external toward the way in which we believe it should be initially, and ostensibly with youthfully limited heart. Yet, this rejection sets the stage for deeper truths: when we sever ourselves from community, we lose sight of our place within it. This can be a great and good thing, or terrible.
Telos, the domain of labours, emerges as the prodigal son applies his acceptances and rejections, his own rules, to the real world. This is where the extremes in Kratos lead to extremes in Telos. Every person, in naivete, will work through Telos as quickly as possible, not residing upon it or its reliance on Kratos. At first there seems little to gain outside of remunerations if one were to reject all but the most bottomline of rules, in greed and extreme expectations in Kratos. The son ultimately envies the pigs he is feeding, and at least they have each other. Here, virtues like Magnanimity and Honour take root, guiding us to reconcile our values and, therefore, desires. Telos extremes force some reordering in Kratos back towards moderation. The prodigal son recognises how dishonourable he has been, and his heart is reconditioned to the extent that he doesn’t even believe he deserves forgiveness. Here we begin to reject our lower selves, crucifying our misdeeds, which inevitably start with our acceptances and rejections.
Eros, the domain of relationships, is where love becomes a transformative force. The prodigal’s reconciliation with his father is a return to familial bonds in awakening to the power of grace within community. This stage emphasises Temperance (honesty + propriety) and Loyalty (honesty + spirit or divine love) as antidotes to isolation, leading a path toward Excellence (analysis + propriety). The son saw his errors. He had rejected his father’s plans and leadership, demanding to use whatever resources which might have been willed to him for an inheritance. This was a rejection of his father’s wisdom, and a rejection of his own good. He did not realise what was in his best interests, and saw only pleasure in the wider world, his interactions with others, as the ultimate end. Therefore, his extremity in Eros regarding his father, due to basic rejection of his father’s wisdom, led to other extremes in Eros, setting him on the path of recklessness, which is to say other extremes in relationship terms, from debauchery to servitude.
Finally we have Logos, the domain of all greater discourse and meaning, and the culmination in the journey: where divine alignments allow us to transcend our limitations and live in greater accordance with God’s Will. It is here that the prodigal finds his truest self, not through perfection but through ceaseless self-corrections. The return to his father represented the prodigal man’s path back to his heavenly Father. The re-entry into moderation in the Eros domain is a replication of the entry into Logos. Logos then can work on reformation of all domains for greater levels of moderation.
The Resurrexit Spiritus framework is thus a mirror held up to humanity’s spirituality which, unsurprisingly, is identical to the life cycle of atonement in Christianity. We are all, at some point, called to leave home, reject what is known, wander into varying levels of extremes, and then return, hopefully the wiser for it. We return as ourselves but also more than what we were when we started.