SPIRITUAL MATTERS.

IN HIS IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY, JOHN HENRY NEWMAN WROTE A CHAPTER CALLED"KNOWLEDGE-ITS OWN END."  CARDINAL NEWMAN SAID:" TO OPEN THE MIND, TO CORRECT IT, TO REFINE IT, TO BE ABLE  TO KNOW AND TO DIGEST, MASTER, RULE OVER ITS OWN FACULTIES ,USE ITS POWER RESOURCE, ADDRESS, ELOQUENT EXPRESSION, IS AN OBJECT AS INTELLIGIBLE AS THE CULTIVATION OF VIRTUE, WHILE,, AT THE SAME TIME, IT IS ABSOLUTELY DISTINCT FROM IT. DIVINE POWER HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN REGARDED AS JUST AND BENEFICENT. THE TENSION BETWEEN THE DIVINE AND THE HUMAN IS A PERENNIAL PROBLEM. AESCHYLUS, THE GREEK TRAGEDIAN, HAS DRAMATIZED THIS TENSION BY STAGING THE MYTH
 OF PROMETHEUS, THE GREEK HERO, OR DEMIGOD, WHO WAS CRUELLY PUNISHED BY ZEUS FOR BRINGING CULTURE TO MANKIND. THIS MYTH OF THE BENEFACTOR OF MANKIND, CHAINED TO A ROCK AND TORTURED COUNTLESS AGES BUT ALWAYS MAINTAINING HIS DEFIANCE OF THE SUPREME POWER, HAS STIRRED THE IMAGINATION OF READERS FOR THOUSAND OF YEARS. THE MYTH, AS PRESENTED THROUGH THE POWERFUL DRAMATIC GENIUS OF AESCHYLUS, RAISES BASIC AND DISTURBING RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. CAN THE ULTIMATE POWER IN THE UNIVERSE CONSIST MERELY IN ABSOLUTE MIGHT? SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT? IS IT RIGHT OR WRONG TO STAND UP AGAINST DIVINE POWER OVER THE UNIVERSE. SHALL MAN RELY ON HIS OWN CULTURE POWERS ALONE AND JUDGE THE UNIVERSE BY HIS OWN ETHICAL STANDARDS? WHICH IS RIGHT: REVOLT OR OBEDIENCE? CAN HUMAN AUTONOMY AND DIVINE RULE BE RECONCILED?  "SOREN KIERKEGAARD" , THE 19TH-CENTURY DANISH RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHER, REMARKED  THAT IN MODERN TIMES THE THEATER WAS BECOMING MORE AND MORE LIKE A CHURCH, WHILE THE CHURCH WAS BECOMING MORE LIKE A THEATER. THIS WAS INTENDED AS IRONIC COMMENTARY ON THE PREACHINESS OF THE MODERN STAGE. AND THE ENTERTAININGNESS OF THE MODERN PULPIT.. IN ANCIENT GREECE THE CRITICISM WOULD HAVE BEEN OUT OF PLACE. THE GREEK THEATER ORIGINATED IN RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS  (NOT THE DERIVATION OF THE WORD TRAGEDY FROM A GREEK TERM MEANING "GOAT SONG, THE CHORAL LYRIC FOR THE god DIONYSUS).  POETS, SCULPTORS, AND PAINTERS PLAYED A REMARKABLE ROLE IN SHAPING THE RELIGIOUS CONSCIOUSNESS OF ANCIENT GREECE. THEY ASSUMED FUNCTIONS USUALLY PERFORMED IN OTHER CULTURES BY PRIESTS, PROPHETS, AND THEOLOGIAN. HOMER AND HESIOD BROUGHT INTO ORDER THE VAGUE AND CHAOTIC MULTITUDE OF POPULAR DIVINITIES AND GAVE THE DISTINCT IDENTITIES AND PERSONALITIES. PHILOSOPHERS, SUCH AS PLATO FOUND SOME OF THE POETS STORIES VERY UNEDIFYING. BEFORE WE ASK SOME FURTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS PLAY, LET US TURN BRIEFLY TO A COMPARISON OF "PROMETHEUS BOUND" WITH THE BOOK  OF JOB. THE BOOK OF JOB DEALS WITH THE PROBLEM OF THE SUFFERING OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED IN A WORLD RULED BY GOD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. JOB IS A MAN OF PERFECT FAITH AND PIETY WHO SUFFERS THE WORST KIND OF CALAMITIES. THEY HAVE BEEN VISITED UPON HIM BY GOD AS A TEST OF FAITH. JOB MAINTAINS HIS FAITH IN A RIGHTEOUS GOD, BUT HE CRIES OUT  HIS BEWILDERMENT  OF HIS FATE., WHICH SEEMS TO HAS BEEN VISITED UPON HIM BY GOD AS A TEST OF FAITH. , WHICH SEEMS TO CONTRADICT HIS BELIEF. HE STOUTLY MAINTAINS HIS INNOCENCE UNDER VEXING ADMONITIONS OF TRADITION MINDED FRIENDS, WHO ARE SURE HE MUST HAVE SINNED SINCE HE SUFFERS SO. JOB DISPUTES WITH GOD.  HE WANT TO WHY HE, A FRIEND OF GOD, IS TREATED LIKE AN ENEMY. HE ACKNOWLEDGES THE OMNIPOTENCE- THE SHEER OVERPOWERING, MIGHT OF GOD. BUT HE QUESTIONS THE DIVINE ACT. THE ANSWER IN THE BOOK OF JOB TO THE QUESTION ABOUT THE SUFFERING OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS THAT THE WAYS OF GOD ARE INSCRUTABLE AS IN THE PHYSICAL SPHERE. IN THE END ALL JOB HAS LOST, AND MORE IS RESTORED TO HIM HE HAS TRIUMPHED IN THE TRAIL OF FAITH; AND SATAN, WHO DEMANDED THIS CONTEST, IS DISCOMFITED. THERE IS ONE BASIC SIMILARITY BETWEEN PROMETHEUS AND JOB. BOTH STAND UP AND DOGGEDLY MAINTAIN THEIR CASE AGAINST OVERWHELMING DIVINE POWER. BOTH QUESTION THE SUFFERINGS THEY ARE FORCED TO UNDERGO. BUT EACH STANDS IN A DIFFERENT RELATION TO THE DIVINE RULER. EACH EXPRESSES  A DIFFERENT ATTITUDE TOWARD HIS LOT.
 DOES PRAYER HAVE ANY EFFECT? DO WE DEVOTE SO MUCH TIME TO THE PERVERSIONS OF PRAYER THAT WE MAY MISS WHAT THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER IS.
 MOST PEOPLE WOULD AGREE THAT PRAYER SHOULD NOT BE AN ATTEMPT TO PROFIT PRAGMATICALLY IN THE WORLD. (AS FOR EXAMPLE, WINNING A BET ON A HORSE RACE, OR COMING OUT ON TOP IN A ATHLETIC CONTEST. OR BUSINESS DEAL). BUT WE PRAY FOR PEACE AND THAT WISDOM AND PRUDENCE BE GRANTED TO OUR LEADERS IN THE WORLD. WE PRAY THAT THE SICK AND THE TROUBLED BE MADE WHOLE UNANXIOUS, AND WE PRAY FOR PERSONAL VIRTUE AND STRENGTH. ARE SUCH PRAYERS "EFFICACIOUS"  OR MERE TALK TO SOOTHE THE MIND OF THE PERSON WHO PRAYS?   PRAYER SHOULD BE A MEANS OF BECOMING AT ONE WITH GOD- A MEANS OF "RECONCILIATION" OF ATTAINING INNER PURITY AND COMPLETE SUBMISSION TO THE DIVINE WILL? WE LOOK TO THE LORDS PRAYER OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AS THE MODEL PRAYER GOOD ON ANY AND ALL OCCASIONS.
 WHY DID HE MAKE IT HIS PERSONAL PRAYER? IS IT NOT BECAUSE IT IS A PRAYER CENTERED UTTERLY IN GOD, PUTTING THE WILL OF THE PETITIONER IN ACCORD WITH THE DIVINE WILL AND IMPLORING SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL PURIFICATION?
THE END OF PRAYER, "ITS EFFECT" BEING WITH GOD. IT IS POSSIBLE TO PRAY WITHOUT USING WORDS USING INNER ATTITUDE, AN INTENTION OF THE HEART, THAT MAKES AN EVIL PERSON GOOD AT THE MOMENT HE PRAYERS FOR REPENTANCE.