Evolution As A Methodology:
The Logic Of An Early Christian Woman (Part 2)
A strong case can be made that Empedocles is the primary source for the way Macrina applies the microcosmic principle to her analysis of human consciousness. For example, two analogies she makes derive directly from Empedocles: her analogy involving a water pipe (cf. Empedocles Fragment B 100) and her analogy involving mixing paint (cf. Empedocles Fragment B 23). Though Empedocles describes human consciousness in microcosmic terms (Empedocles Fragment B 109 is the single most important of his fragments on this issue) how that perspective relates to a belief in universal salvation requires both delving into the nature of that belief as well as the implications of microcosmic principle.
Though belief in universal salvation is well attested among other early Christians it is rejected by most modern Christians (the Swiss theologian Balthasar was an exception). One reason is that it is associated with non-Biblical, pre-Christian sources. Yet, by invoking the microcosmic principle Macrina expressly makes incorporating such sources a vital part of the lesson in the afterlife she gives her brother. This is because her belief in the afterlife was part of a logically coherent worldview (Weltanschauung) grounded both in a thorough empiricism and a respect for all aspects of history — natural and cultural (pagan and Christian).
Implicit in Macrina’s belief in universal salvation is an awareness that everything in some way helps with respect to human consciousness (i.e., the microcosm that is each person, one of the two basic issues she addresses identified in the prior post). This means that each and every type of sense and experience deserves attention as being uniquely valuable (I refer to this as ‘egalitarian empiricism’). Egalitarian empiricism is surprisingly consistent with quite recent developments in neuroscientific research that have demonstrated the importance of the sense of taste as effectively being a synthesis of sensations vital to all aspects of cognition.
To the extent egalitarian empiricism relates to the microcosm that is human consciousness it concerns the present — what a person is conscious of at any given point in time, but both the past and the future are implicated in how universal salvation relates to humans generally and hence the entire cosmos. Macrina, for example, draws upon both natural history (as she understood it) and human history (including pagan philosophy). As for the future, in addition to believing in her own afterlife, she seems to have anticipated that her brother would write down and publish whas she taught him for the benefit of a future audience (and not specifically Christian). Early and authoritative evidence of a belief in literature itself as having an afterlife is in Sappho’s poetry (Fragment 55 but especially the recently discovered Fragment 58b). While that does not make it a uniquely female belief, it is notable that Anna Akhmatova gives voice to such a belief in The Reader. At a minimum it justifies considering how Macrina’s experience as a woman contributed to her belief in universal salvation.
Macrina, Egalitarian Empiricism & The Experience Of Celibacy
The suggestion that the fact that Macrina was a woman is relevant to understanding her is consistent with her egalitarian empiricism. While it should be needless to say that egalitarian empiricism entails an appreciation of the unique value of what women sense and experience, it is obvious that it is not just necessary to say it, but to elaborate upon it. Only in the past few decades (going back to the late 20th century) new discoveries along with fresh perspectives encouraged by the growing participation of women in the study of ancient history have led to an increasing awareness of just how uniquely important female spirituality was in early Greek culture. There was not — and to a great extent still is not — any parallel or precedent for it in any other culture. For example, though universal salvation can be compared to aspects of Mahayana Buddhism, there is no respect for women in ancient or modern Buddhism that is comparable to that in ancient Greek culture (with the exception of innovations introduced mostly by Western women).
Yet, in addition to being a woman there is more biographical context about Macrina that is essential to understanding what she has to say. At the time of the conversation OSR memorializes she was roughly 60 years old and had been celibate all her life. The importance of that is not easy to explain. Today there is an almost immediate and negative reflexive reaction to celibacy associated with Christianity. In part that is because it has become painfully apparent that celibacy among male Catholic priests (and other men in the Catholic hierarchy) has been for centuries and remains today a cover for institutionalized sexual abuse, mostly of children.
Celibacy is also difficult to take seriously because over the past century sexual experience has been sensationalized to a point where it seems for many to be utterly inexplicable how anyone would want to abstain from it. There is a common assumption in particular that a virgin woman is at best naive and perhaps irrationally prudish. It is, however, clear that among at least some ancient Greeks, celibacy especially among women was highly respected. Again Sappho provides early and authoritative evidence. In addition, from an account Plato provides of the mother of Socrates it is apparent that post-menopausal women (who were deemed to be celibate because they could no longer give birth) were recognized as having exclusive authority over all aspects of family medicine. Macrina’s celibacy should be assessed in the context of this tradition. Indeed it is directly relevant to the concept central to OSR: the soul.
The ‘Celibacy’ Of The Soul & The Uniquely Private Experience Of Consciousness
Interpretations of OSR based on the unjustifiable assumption that it was written entirely by Nyssa ignore the fact that he refers to Macrina as his teacher. Yet, it is generally agreed that Macrina as the oldest child had been responsible for the education of many of her younger siblings, including Nyssa. This means that her status as a teacher deserves to be taken as seriously as her status as a celibate. She herself effectively calls attention to the relevance of this by characterizing the soul as a ‘teacher’ of its own nature (literally ‘her’ since soul is grammatically female in Greek). Macrina thus draws a parallel to herself as the teacher of her younger brother analogous to the way the soul (as human consciousness) is the ultimate teacher of each person.
To accurately characterize what she is getting at requires making distinctions that seem anachronistically to derive from philosophy well over a millennium after when Marcina lived. The soul — consciousness — does not rely upon inferences in knowing that it exists. Furthermore, it is the only (one might say ‘sole’) judge of what exists.
Today this distinction is associated with Friedrich Schelling (and those he influenced (e.g., Heidegger, Arendt)). Obviously that is not relevant to Macrina. What is relevant is her own experience as a woman. Though she was celibate, not only did her decision to be celibate manifest her sensitivity to all aspects of sexual reproduction and their implications, but as discussed above, it also meant that even though she was not a physician she would have had a role in caring for young girls and women. Evidence of that is in a short biography of Macrina that her brother Nyssa wrote, where he tells of her curing a young girl of some sort of eye ailment.
Such medical experience would seem to be evidenced by how Macrina analogizes the soul (i.e., human consciousness generally) to the diagnostic technique of the physician caring for her. She also places special emphasis on the movement of the embryo in the womb as proof that the soul begins to exist at the same time the body begins to take shape. It might be tempting to think this reflects her reading the account of Christ’s conception in Luke (specifically the reference to movement in Mary’s womb), but there is no reference to that in OSR.
Embryology, Evolution & Logical Methodology
Macrina’s embryological observation that leads her to identify the presence of the soul — consciousness — at conception appears to be but one application of her logical methodology is implicit in her invoking the microcosmic principle as well as her interpretation of Genesis in evolutionary terms. Her methodology is at once subtle and complex. As a threshold matter it seems best to identify some of its key elements before attempting to demonstrate what precedent there was for it and the degree to which it was and is valid.
The subtlety of Macrina’s methodology is perhaps most keenly detected in her articulation and defense of the use of negation in human consciousness. This is part of her elaboration on the distinction discussed above between (1) the consciousness of existing and (2) the recognition of what exists. Her point — and it is a valid one — is that the process of elimination is not itself negative but rather refines an appreciation of one’s own consciousness. On a psychological (microcosmic) level she is describing a process closely analogous to various meditative techniques otherwise associated with Buddhism or Taoism.
On a theological level (understood in the sense discussed in the prior post) what Macrina is describing ultimately relates not just to evolution but to salvation. That is because she thinks of evolution as itself being a process of elimination that is not itself negative. This is not easily understood and it is obvious it has not been widely understood. The phrase ‘negative theology’ is widely used to refer to the sort of logic Macrina is using but that is an absurd misnomer that is itself a symptom of a failure to come to terms with what Macrina is saying.
One way of appreciating it is to consider the ethical dimension of her methodology implicated by the fact that she believes in universal salvation. The logical starting point in this regard is humility. This ethical quality arises from the same process of elimination Macrina insists is vital to human consciousness generally.
Closely related to this quality is another aspect of ethics that can be correlated with an evolutionary progression: ascetic discipline. Here again, it is wrong to think of this in purely negative terms. Macrina’s celibacy is a case in point. Yes, she ‘denied’ herself sexual experience but this was directly related to her belief in the meaningfulness of love.
After she indulges in her fantasy of cuddling in the afterlife (see the screenshot of an excerpt in the last post), she discusses with Nyssa other thoughts she has about the afterlife. What is remarkable about this is its vagueness and generality. That should not be taken as symptomatic of the fact that she was dying as she spoke. Rather, her vagueness and generality about the future manifest the way in which her belief in universal salvation constitutes a belief in how evolution unfolds not fatefully, but freely.
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[MORE TO COME]
For more on Macrina see my post “Saint Macrina: The Neglected Authoritative Voice Of Female Christian Spirituality”
