1660.Some Thoughts

SCANNED PDF

SOllIe Thollghts about Safltayana's "Natllralalld Ultimate Religioll" Whi'lt

Thus, in my view, in contrast to Si'lnayi'lna's, it is not really "the

15 July 1998; rev. 10 Februi'lry 2010J miss most in Santayana's explanation of re1igion is a sufficiently clear distinction between simply living 1ife and living it understandingly. Subhumi'ln i'lnimi'lls simply live their Jives and therefore mi'ly well be said to be engaged in living, or comlnitted to the enterprise of living, without their previous consent. But human animi'lls, once they become such, live their lives IIllderstlllldillgly, i'lnd this means that they have to understand themselves i'lnd lead their lives i'lccordingly. If they i'lre engi'lged in living, or committed to the enterprise of living, this is, in the fini'll i'lni'llysis, only with their previous consent. allimal soul" that appei'lls to hei'lven for help; it is the 1z,IllUlIl soul, or in his own term, "the spirit." By the si'lme token, it is not reaJly "the enterprise of life" itself i'lnd simply i'lS such that is "utter1y irre1igious," and so "precisely that from which a veritable religion would come to redeem us"; whi'lt is utterly irreligious and what i'I veritable re1igion wouId corne to redeem us from is a certain wi'ly of (II1;S-) understi'lnding ourselves i'lnd lei'lding our lives-that way, namely, in which we ei'lch understand ourselves and lead our life as though it itself were, or were somehow essentii'll to, the final end for which we do so. 

1. I should si'ly thi'lt i'ln "uHimi'lte religion" is ultimi'lte precisely because it loci'ltes the humi'ln probleln in our own misllllderstalldillg of the humi'ln problem. # If, in the case of Buddhism, this problem is the problem of "ignorance" i'lnd "suffering," in the case of Christianity, it is the problem of "sin" i'lnd "death" (where "dei'lth" is taken in a transcendenti'll, rather than i'I merely ci'ltegorii'll, 

sense, as "eternal death," analogously to the way in which Buddhism takes "su fferi ng").

n.d.; rev. 10 February 2010

If, as I hold, an "ultimate religion" is distinct from a "natural religion" because it locates the human malady in human beings' self-misunderstanding, the decisive revelation constitutive of an ultimate religion presupposes this universally human self-misunderstanding and offers itself as the remedy for itexplicitly calling all to WhOJll it addresses itself (in principle, every human being) both to accept and make use of it as a remedy for themselves and then to throw in with the mission of administering it as a remedy for others to make use of as well.

2. If, in the case of Buddhism, tlte human malady is diagnosed as "ignorance" and "suffering," the remedy prescribed for it is "knowledge" (or "enJightenIllenf') and "nirvana" as the cessation of suffering. In the case of Christianity, on the other hand, the human malady is diagnosed as "sin" and "(eternal) death," and the prescribed remedy is "righteousness" (or "forgiveness") and "(eternal) life."

3. In both cases, the characteristic terms for the malady and also for the remedy may be categorial, but they have a transcendental meaning

n.d.; rev. 10 February 2010