Excellent article! This reminds me of a part of Crime and Punishment where the protagonist’s sister, Dunia, is being pursued by a man who views her like this.
“He brooded with relish, in profound secret, over the image of a girl—virtuous, poor (she must be poor), very young, very pretty, of good birth and education, very timid, one who had suffered much, and was completely humbled before him, one who would all her life look on him as her saviour, worship him, admire him and only him. How many scenes, how many amorous episodes he had imagined on this seductive and playful theme, when his work was over! And, behold, the dream of so many years was all but realised; the beauty and education of Avdotya Romanovna had impressed him; her helpless position had been a great allurement; in her he had found even more than he dreamed of. Here was a girl of pride, character, virtue, of education and breeding superior to his own (he felt that), and this creature would be slavishly grateful all her life for his heroic condescension, and would humble herself in the dust before him, and he would have absolute, unbounded power over her!”
Unfortunately this idea persists today dressed in the skin of virtue and used to define “masculinity”. As you said, half truths are the most damaging.
From Love and Responsibility: “We must never treat a person as the means to an end. This principle has a universal validity. Nobody can use a person as a means towards an end, no human being, not even God the Creator. On the part of god, indeed, it is totally out of the question since, by giving man an intelligent and free nature, he has thereby ordained that each man alone will decide for himself the ends of his activity, and not be a blind tool of someone else’s ends. Therefore, if God intends to direct man towards goals, so that he may make them his own and strive towards them independently. In this amongst other things resides the most profound logic of revelation. God allows man to learn His supernatural ends, but the decision to strive towards an end, the choice of course, is left to man’s free will. God does not redeem man against his will.”
This reminds me of a quote I read once about how anything at all used in a disordered way can become our downfall… the separation from Love itself. The enemy has done a phenomenal job at slowly and methodically turning our culture to one of fleeting ‘pleasure’ and death. Your ending here is timeless and solid…in a world where we are measured by what we can do and who we can do it for…
Excellent article! This reminds me of a part of Crime and Punishment where the protagonist’s sister, Dunia, is being pursued by a man who views her like this.
“He brooded with relish, in profound secret, over the image of a girl—virtuous, poor (she must be poor), very young, very pretty, of good birth and education, very timid, one who had suffered much, and was completely humbled before him, one who would all her life look on him as her saviour, worship him, admire him and only him. How many scenes, how many amorous episodes he had imagined on this seductive and playful theme, when his work was over! And, behold, the dream of so many years was all but realised; the beauty and education of Avdotya Romanovna had impressed him; her helpless position had been a great allurement; in her he had found even more than he dreamed of. Here was a girl of pride, character, virtue, of education and breeding superior to his own (he felt that), and this creature would be slavishly grateful all her life for his heroic condescension, and would humble herself in the dust before him, and he would have absolute, unbounded power over her!”
Unfortunately this idea persists today dressed in the skin of virtue and used to define “masculinity”. As you said, half truths are the most damaging.
Woah that excerpt is amazing. I need to ready Crime and Punishment then.
From Love and Responsibility: “We must never treat a person as the means to an end. This principle has a universal validity. Nobody can use a person as a means towards an end, no human being, not even God the Creator. On the part of god, indeed, it is totally out of the question since, by giving man an intelligent and free nature, he has thereby ordained that each man alone will decide for himself the ends of his activity, and not be a blind tool of someone else’s ends. Therefore, if God intends to direct man towards goals, so that he may make them his own and strive towards them independently. In this amongst other things resides the most profound logic of revelation. God allows man to learn His supernatural ends, but the decision to strive towards an end, the choice of course, is left to man’s free will. God does not redeem man against his will.”
Beautifully said Rachael. Thank you for writing this!
This reminds me of a quote I read once about how anything at all used in a disordered way can become our downfall… the separation from Love itself. The enemy has done a phenomenal job at slowly and methodically turning our culture to one of fleeting ‘pleasure’ and death. Your ending here is timeless and solid…in a world where we are measured by what we can do and who we can do it for…
This was phenomenal. Thank you so much for your own personal fiat.
Thank you for this article! I’d also love to know the title of the book of fairy tales — it sounds like something my children might enjoy :)
It's an antique, so it might be out of print! I'll look it up and post here if it's still in print. :)