Theo-Logic, Vol. 1: The Truth of the World by Hans Urs von Balthasar

Author:Hans Urs von Balthasar [von Balthasar, Hans Urs]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898707182
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2001-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

B. Truth as Situation

As it traced the development of the image, through expression and signification, into the intellectual word and dialogue, the previous chapter brought to light the vitality inherent in the truth relation. Our intention now is to compare this vitality more thematically with what we have said concerning the freedom and intimacy of truth, intimacy appeared as the antithesis of publicity and general availability; it made truth a possession of the individual being endowed with interiority; it underscored the significance of each being-for-itself, of the unicity of the ontological midpoint from which truth reveals itself. This character of being always mine, thine, and his is an irremovable counterweight to the universality of truth. It also unexpectedly deepens everything we have said about expression and word: even if it is outwardly like minions of others, every individual expression and word occurring within the context of speaking and listening acquires the weight of an uninterchangeable, unique event. Truth and its administration thus become situational.

Now, one might object that this view personalizes truth to the point of jeopardizing its universal intelligibility, of endangering its suprapersonal validity, its totality, and therefore, ultimately, its rationality. Before undertaking the description of truth as an always personal situation, then, we can usefully clarify the connection between its universal validity, on the one hand, and its irreducible personal horizon [Jemeinigkeit], on the other.

1. The Mobility of the Idea

The freedom of every spirit, indeed, the intimacy of every being, is an essential component of its nature. There is no freedom as such—which would be pure indeterminacy, that is to say, nothing—but only the freedom of a being having a determinate essence and existence. Every worldly entity is primarily a thing of nature, and freedom pertains chiefly to this nature. But nature fundamentally means a totality ordered and moved purposefully and ideologically in accord with an underlying idea that regulates individual movement and thus transcends it. In light of the mobile interrelation between the expression and its content, we can say that this idea is always embodied and realized in nature. The essence is always already exhibited in the appearance. Consequently, it cannot produce itself in an absolute creation by an absolute act of the will. It cannot bring itself forth from total freedom, from indifference to all possibilities, ultimately, from nothing. No, it has always already been thrown into the appearance that naturally expresses its essence. Now, all of this shows that freedom can move only within a framework fixed by the idea and the plan of its respective nature. Freedom within the world always means the realization of the idea of a nature; it is used meaningfully only when, serving and obeying the idea, it helps realize the plan of its own being or that of another. This is also the case precisely where freedom is granted the space in which to cooperate, not only in the unfolding, but also in the shaping of the idea itself. This participation in shaping a thing’s purpose and definitive

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