Analysis and Prudence
So let us explore the notion of mind as a battlefield, where divine truth clashes with worldly deceits. The mind is an element of spirit and body which must be harnessed and shaped, like all other interactions of the spirit with body, through disciplined virtue-building, lest it succumb to demonic oblivion.
The Mind’s Terrain
Envision the mind as this vast, tumultuous plain where ideas clash like rival armies vying for dominance. This is no mere metaphor but a stark reality illuminated by our Paulus, “taking every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). The soldier’s analogy, resonating through Jesus’ call to “take up your cross” (Matthew 16:24), encapsulates this internal strife, a perpetual war waged within the confines of our consciousness.
In the Resurrexit Spiritus Logos domain recapitulation of Telos, visible personality balances product and craft, and this is where we encounter Prudence’s corrections, the virtue that navigates the contested plain with best discernment. Structural Virtues Theory (SVT) posits Prudence as the “appreciation of worthiness” 8, which is to say the valuation of value itself in Awareness and Analysis, a powerful crossroads.
Prudence: The Navigator
Prudence is more than caution. The mother of virtues, she is the wellspring of comedy, in identifying the moment something goes too far; so integral to the maternal in sacrifice as to render nearly blind to much comedy, those closest to it. It is a profound appreciation for the value and significance in every action, therefore all preceding thoughts and intentions. It is the virtue that allows us to discern the worthy from the worthless, the truthful from the deceptive. In spiritual warfare, Prudence is the keen and aged strategist, plotting course through treacherous waters of doubt and uncertainty.
Through Jesus, Paulus wielded the logic of a philosopher and the love of a spiritual parent, with the precision of surgical instruments. His writings are filled with emotional appeals but carefully directed towards reasonable arguments and outcomes, sheer prudence. He was directed. He understood the way to sway the mind was through both fervour and steadfast application of God’s reason and wisdom. To win, Paulus was willing to use nearly anything at his disposal and become all things to all people in order to make the case for Christ, and bring people to faith and salvation.
Ethical Realignments
Prudence, however, does not act in isolation. It is intertwined with Excellence and Ethics, forming a triumvirate that steers our moral compass. Ethics realignments occur through careful moral reasoning, a process where our bearings are recalibrated to align with divine truth, and more than just in personal Honour. Ethics and Justice then are Moral projections of Honour into universals, Ethics then being further projected outwardly in the next virtue of Justice. It is interesting that Morality and Propriety moments develop their respective three virtues in similar order moving outward, much like Spirit and Awareness mirror each other in moving in spiral, from the most internal aspect of Honesty out to Perseverance and then moderating to Analysis, which is both internal and external, much as discourse and prayer are.
This realignment is active and nonstop, a continual process of introspection and self-correction. It is the soldier of Jesus marching diligently towards righteousness, each step a deliberate choice to adhere to foundation. The moment of Morality is beside the moment of Spirit for a very good reason.
The Resurrexit Spiritus Perspective
Risen Spirit Phenomenology offers profound insights into this process of virtues development. Wisdom, in this framework, organises falsehoods to find they point in the direction Truth, enabling us to discern the genuine from the spurious like shadow from light, though the shadows get less fuzzy with greater brightness, or alignment with God’s plans.
The mind thus shaped by Patience, Conservation, and Prudence beyond Excellence then forms into a frame of virtues, upon which the great walls of Ethics fit perfectly granting a bastion for us wherein divine truths resonate with unassailable clarity. Here, in the battleground of the mind, the soldier in Christ wages his most crucial war, the one before he can reasonable face external foes, within. It is our internal chaos which forever threatens to engulf spirit.
Consider Christ’s parable of the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27). The wise man, who builds his house on rock, represents Prudence, in steadfast resolve to ground life in divine truth. The foolish man, building on sand, is reckless abandon, unmoored from virtuous anchorage. The storm besets both houses. Only the house built on rock withstands deluge: the mind fortified in the Spirit.
The Path to Mental Fortress
As we embark on this journey, remember that the mind is not a passive recipient but an active participant in spiritual warfare. It is the arena where virtues are forged and tested, where falsehoods are vanquished, and truths emerge triumphant.
Prudence, Excellence, and Ethics, these are the virtues shaping our mental terrain, transforming it from chaos into a sanctuary of divine harmony. In cultivating these virtues, we align ourselves with the elevational motive of Resurrexit Spiritus, a resurrection not merely of the flesh but of the spirit, guided through the path of virtues acquisition. Beloved seeker, I exhort you to embrace the path, now.