Saturday, April 15, 2006
Decadence
Decadence is everywhere. But we thrive in it. That is what's so sad about it. We have this universal deathwish waiting, in our bedroom, in our living room, in the bus, when we go out with friends, when we go about our everyday business. It just is a very part of us that it has clung and seeped into the very pore of our humanity and we don't even care.
It must have been there, unleashed from Pandora's Box when the serpent urged and seduced Adam and Eve to eat the very apple that caused the existence of their descendants. Or maybe it has been there even upon the contemplation of Divine Providence when He created humans in His own likeness.
Yes Decadence, a fall from grace. For why would He, in all his sacred Infallibility, put down rules of dos and don'ts when Adam and Eve first came into life? If we say it is to test them, then they are with weakness, that is decadence. For perfection has no such need for exhaustive examinations to know of its soundness and durable faith. To be human might have been to be decadent, so often that saints have to strive for perfection, their very might and weapon, is goodwill, but in return, the very energies that they have are drained in warding off the temptations, that is their endless torment. That very pain, the very suffering is a form of decadence.
To be good, you must endure. But that trial is pitted with so much decadence. There is always a sacrifice. With spiritual perfection, we sometimes have to undergo physical corruption, but priests and monks would so often call it cleansing. Fasting, walking barefoot, self-flogging...The pain, yes that is a form of decadence. With physical perfection, you fall prey to spiritual corruption. Vanity, lust and the very essence of hedonism dims your conscience and even pushes you further to say "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you will die", and you wouldn't care, even if God's very lightning strikes you, because you have become langurously drowned with wine and/or some other carnal pleasures...
Decadence, that is, imperfection, it has two faces, it has two sides, but both will turn against you.
It must have been there, unleashed from Pandora's Box when the serpent urged and seduced Adam and Eve to eat the very apple that caused the existence of their descendants. Or maybe it has been there even upon the contemplation of Divine Providence when He created humans in His own likeness.
Yes Decadence, a fall from grace. For why would He, in all his sacred Infallibility, put down rules of dos and don'ts when Adam and Eve first came into life? If we say it is to test them, then they are with weakness, that is decadence. For perfection has no such need for exhaustive examinations to know of its soundness and durable faith. To be human might have been to be decadent, so often that saints have to strive for perfection, their very might and weapon, is goodwill, but in return, the very energies that they have are drained in warding off the temptations, that is their endless torment. That very pain, the very suffering is a form of decadence.
To be good, you must endure. But that trial is pitted with so much decadence. There is always a sacrifice. With spiritual perfection, we sometimes have to undergo physical corruption, but priests and monks would so often call it cleansing. Fasting, walking barefoot, self-flogging...The pain, yes that is a form of decadence. With physical perfection, you fall prey to spiritual corruption. Vanity, lust and the very essence of hedonism dims your conscience and even pushes you further to say "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you will die", and you wouldn't care, even if God's very lightning strikes you, because you have become langurously drowned with wine and/or some other carnal pleasures...
Decadence, that is, imperfection, it has two faces, it has two sides, but both will turn against you.
