Perfection
So, going along with Plato’s theory that every form found here on Earth is just a representation of the truer Form, he approaches the concept of equality. In my version, I extend the concept of perfection to succumb to the same scrutiny as equality. The idea of equality is intangible - Plato gives (or Plato references someone else...not sure) the example of sticks.
We can try and gather identical-looking sticks, the same length, width, and density, yet those sticks are not exactly the same. What we see on Earth as a representation of equality is merely the fallen form of Equality which exists in a realm that is above and beyond.
Taking this line of thinking, perfection is something all humans in one way or another strive for. We model ourselves off of something that we perceive to be perfection (only to find out that it’s not) whether its our own self-projections, others’ opinions, or what the world declares are its standards. Yet the perfection we strive for is unattainable on this earth. But, keeping with Platonic theory of forms, this form of perfection we seek to embody must come from somewhere, from a Form of Perfection - which, indeed it does.
God is our True Form, we are made in His image. He is Perfect, completely and totally perfect so it seems that we on Earth must come to terms with the fact that perfection is unattainable for us but that which we are searching for, perfection, isn’t totally nonexistent.
It seems to me that the things we strive for (the non-material things of goodness, worth, beauty, perfection) come from a genuine and deep understanding that those things do exist. We long for those things because those are the characteristics of our Maker. We are made in His image.
This brings me to abstract nouns. I learned this in my History of Anthropological Theory class in relation to the term “culture” and the multiplicity of means it holds. With this grammar interlude by Professor Glasser I learned that there are count nouns, mass nouns, and abstract nouns. For the sake of an example, I will use “culture.” If culture was acting as a count noun we could refer to it in a sentence such as “A culture of bacteria grew and multiplied.” It is used to refer to a quantifiable unit of bacteria. Using it as a mass noun (a noun that you can have more/less of a it): “The sophisticated woman perceived herself to be more cultured after having ‘traveled the world’ in a cruise ship with her husband.”
BUT - an abstract noun functions in order to refer to something intangible. Oftentimes these are concepts such as love, hate, commitment, etc. but also much more. Abstract nouns represent the essence of the thing described. Culture, when used as an abstract noun, is oftentimes capitalized.
I bring up abstract nouns because many times we see capitalized words in Christian documents - it makes me serious reconsider and rediscover the true meanings behind these words that we capitalize.
We are made in His image.
It has been so engraved into our beings that we capitalize “He” “His” “Him,” etc when referring to God. We also capitalize anything that is referring to a characteristic of God or a description of Him - like “Maker,” “Redeemer,” “Righteous One,” “Good,” and on and on. For the longest time (until I learned about abstract nouns and Plato) I thought that the capitalization was simply out of respect, and while it does signify respect and honor, I wonder if it means more.
I wonder if our Maker made us in His image because He is the ultimate Source, the uncreated Being from whom we have all come. We ourselves are forms... why would Plato’s theory stop with us? If we are all forms, we must have come from one True Form - our Maker, “Him.”
Extending abstract nouns into the realm of the Church, I mostly use “Church” when I am referring to the collective body of believers across all ages, denominations, regions, nations, and time periods. It could be considered to be ambiguous; but, instead, the Church is the abstraction of individual churches. The Church is considered the Body of Christ. We, as believers and followers of Jesus Christ, have the Holy Spirit within us which evidences something quite unique.
Colossians 2:9 says, “For in him (Christ) the fullness of deity dwells bodily,” so the entirety of God is in Christ. Jesus says in John 16:7 that it is to our benefit that he ascends into Heaven (this is after he has been raised from the dead) to be with the Father, “for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” So the fullness of God dwells in Christ and then Jesus says that it is better the he goes so that the Holy Spirit would come and dwell with us, within us.
Before Jesus died, God’s holy presence would reside in concentration within the Holy of Holies in the center of the Jewish temples. But once Christ died and rose again, we became the temple when the curtains fell - no longer was God restrained or restricted to the Holiest of Holies. When we allow Him into our lives, the Lord has full access to our hearts and dwells in all of His fullness there.
Therefore, what God has done is quite unique from all other theories of Forms/forms and such... All because His Son Jesus died on the cross and offers forgiveness for the repentance of sins. God has not only created us in His own Image but we have the fullness of this Creator, this Maker of all the Earth residing within our souls when we become children of God. Believers have glimpses of Goodness, glimpses of pure Beauty, glimpses of righteousness, etc. because we are glimpsing God Himself within us. And when we surrender our will and our way to God’s will and God’s leadership through the Holy Spirit, we are living in conjunction with Beauty, Purity, Goodness, Perfection inside of us (not of ourselves but because of Christ in us).
That had so many different threads involved in the tapestry that has become this post - I hope it mostly made sense and that it perhaps challenged you to even just think in different ways!