21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

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might be that these are projected onto a God or gods. Even without a religious belief though, even starting from mystery, there is a sense in which attributes might simply be projected and idealised. We use this as a means of seeking justification for moral absolutes, images of how we might wish the world to be.

Why not instead start with the reality of our own incarnation in the world — with ‘Amo: volo ut sis.’ (I love you: I will that you be.) Grace Jantzen, who has been quoted throughout this work, regards this phrase (from Hannah Arendt) as the ultimate ground for ethical action. Notice that ‘will’ here is used as a verb, and also that ‘to be’ is used in the predicative sense (and not to mean simply to exist). In using the phrase then, we are saying that we are creatively engaged to allow the other person to be themselves, to be all they can be, to flourish and live their lives fully. It is mediated through us as a means of grace. But this is a grace already fully there in the world. For us to achieve this requires only for us to open a space within ourselves that will allow grace to operate. We look to deal with others as individuals rather than abstract collections of people. In knowing people by name, we respond to their face, we greet them as equals, we see their beauty, we have compassion with them in their vulnerability, because it is a vulnerability that we all share. We celebrate their humanity and in doing so, celebrate our own.

When meaning was considered in Chapter 13, it was noted that an over-arching meaning could be discerned from relationships but that this is nonetheless not a transcendent meaning.

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