All right? Peace of the Soul.
So, we got the “Philosophy of Anxiety,” the “Origins of Conflict and the Redemption,” “Fear of Death.”
Yeah, let’s do “Fear of Death.” 214.
Okay.
All right? “An overemphasis on temporal security is a compensation for the loss of a sense of external, eternal security. When the soul becomes poor through the loss of its wealth, which is virtue, its owner seeks luxury and riches to atone for his inner nakedness. The richer the soul, the less store it sets on the material. It is not poverty that makes men quarrelsome and unhappy, as the Communists claim; it is the over fondness for the things that money buys. Poor monks are usually friendlier and far happier than millionaires. And it is also an error to say that, if economic conditions were good, there would be no proponents of Communism. Those who make this statement forget that: poor economic conditions are only an occasion for embracing Communism, not a cause-“
What is this? What the… this is a… I’m going to keep reading then we’re going to do some research on this book, cause it’s quite a lot of Communism in here.
“Those who make this get that: poor economics are only an occasion for embracing Communism, not a cause; for some instances, economic trials are, instead, an occasion for renewed spiritual living. Economic conditions were excellent in the Garden of Eden, but the first “Red” got in and made a shambles of it. What makes an unstable society is not the fact that people do not have enough, but they always want more. There is no limit to man’s demands. Once the Earth is made to be all and end all living; soon they are willing to use every means available to possess as much as they can. The real cause of such unbounded lust for what is often called ‘security’ is fear of the eternal void within. Never before in history was a Gospel warning about God and Mammon as clearly fulfilled as today for the soul that has lost its God must worship Mammon.”
So, he goes on and then he kind of quotes the Bible. Yeah.
It’s a very Christian book, right? So, let’s look at the beginning. How old is this? Book’s by Monsignor Sheen. Right? So, you can, so you can be on research. You can look up his name.
Right, so, “God and War,” “God and Country.” God, God, God, God, God. And this is Peace and Soul. So, the “Philosophy of Religion,” “Freedom under God,” “love one another.” So, this is, he’s- so who is he? By Dr, by Fulton. J. Sheen. PhD., D.D. It’s in Latin and the Catholic University of America. So, it’s the- here, I’ll show you.
It’s Latin. I can’t read. I don’t know what it says, but if you read Latin, maybe you will. So, everything- When was this written? 1949.
So, 50- 85, 85 books were published in 1949. That’s not bad. Yeah. So, now with a little bit of background, he studied in, what was it again? So, a Roman, basically a Latin. “Agrégé en Philosophie de l’Université de Louvain” and the Catholic University of America. So, he’s very Catholic.
“The Christian-” See, here we go, “The Christian principle for conquering death is two-fold: think about death. Rehearse for it by mortification now. The purpose of contemplation is to conquer the dread and compulsion of death by voluntarily facing it. Through anticipating the final end, we may contemplate new beginnings.”
Oh, I like that. I really liked that.
Cause, I mean, what he’s, what I get out of that now, again, when I read the whole entire chapter and go through it, it’s going to be like, this is- I think it’s going to be- one: is going to be intense, two: it’s going to be very interesting to see his perspective.
But what he says right there, it makes sense. It’s like, if you prepare for death and you practice it every day, then there’s nothing to fear. Right? So, it kind of goes with, there’s nothing to fear, but fear itself. So, once you accept death, then you can be reborn into a new life. And that it has a lot to do with worry and, and other things that like, if you watch self-help or whatever, what he’s kind of talking about is if you consume yourself with worry about death, then that is your life.
But once you accept the fact that you’re dead already, right? That, that your, you practiced it you’re, you accept it. Well, then now you no longer have to think about it. You can think about other things. Right? And if you like, wow.
I don’t want to go too far, cause we’ve already gone in seven minutes, but if you think of other cultures that kind of have the same philosophy. Right? So, look at the Vikings when they looked at death as a glorious thing. So, they live life to the fullest. At least that’s what entertainment shows us today. All right? I was not a Viking, I was never there. And I haven’t done enough research to really understand Valhalla. right? But they believe that going to Valhalla was a grand place. So, death, They were not scared of death.
So they lived fuller. Right? So, that’s kind of what he’s saying right here. If you fear death, then you’re going to be consumed by it. And it’s going to, the principle, “the Christian principle for conquering death is twofold: think about death.” Think about it. “Rehearse for it by mortification now. The purpose of contemplation is to conquer the dread and compulsion of death by voluntarily facing it through anticipating the final end, we may contemplate new beginnings.”
Right? So, if you already anticipate, you really have to future think, right? So, if you’re worried about your kids and all this kind of stuff, if you think about, okay, the end result, then you can, it’s kind of like working backwards. It’s very interesting. Very interesting. It’s Christian again. Well, Catholic, very Catholic and well, the “Fear of Death” in the circumstance of, of Corona right now. That’s why I picked this chapter. But again, I’m excited to read it, going to learn some different things, the different perspectives, right? Some old, you know, he studied in over in, in Rome, right? That [foreign language 00:08:48] right? So, I wonder what he learned from why it was over there.