The modern mind always tends to reduce the greater to the lesser rather than seeing the lesser as reflecting the greater.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that modern thinking often simplifies complex concepts, neglecting the broader significance they may represent.
Peter Kreeft's quote reflects a critique of contemporary thought processes that prioritize reductionism, where intricate ideas are diminished to their simpler components, rather than appreciating how these smaller elements can indicate larger truths. This perspective encourages us to take a holistic view of reality, recognizing that understanding the 'lesser' can provide insights into the 'greater'.
In practice
In a discussion about scientific theories versus holistic approaches to nature, this quote could highlight the importance of viewing the bigger picture.
Trusting God's grace means trusting God's love for us rather than our love for God. [...] Therefore our prayers should consist mainly of rousing our awareness of God's love for us rather than trying to rouse God's awareness of our love for him, like the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:26-29).
Remembering the facts of death and Heaven gives us an even more pressing reason to learn to pray: We do not have an infinite amount of time. We are one day nearer Home today than we ever were before. I guarantee you that after you die you will not say 'I spent too much time praying; I wish I had watched more TV instead.'
Like apes, we breed, sleep, and die. Yet like God we say, "I am." We are ontological oxymorons.
Our soul, like Mary's body, is to receive God Himself if only we, like her, believe, consent and receive; if only we speak her truly magic word fiat, "let it be." It is the creative word, the word God used to create the universe.
Protestants believe that the sacraments are like ladders that God gave to us by which we can climb up to Him. Catholics believe that they are like ladders that God gave to Himself by which He climbs down to us.
One of the few things in life that cannot possibly do harm in the end is the honest pursuit of the truth.
Perhaps life is actually more confusing and unknowable to an adult than a child, but grown-ups have learned to deceive themselves and act as if they understand what's going on; and some are elected to high office on the basis of their ability to create this impression.
Robots do not hold on to life. They can't. They have nothing to hold on with - no soul, no instinct. Grass has more will to live than they do.
Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow.
Naturally, it is a terrible, despicable crime when, as in Munich, people are taken hostage, people are killed. But probing the motives of those responsible and showing that they are also individuals with families and have their own story does not excuse what they did.
The city is like poetry; it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.
Well now everything dies baby that's a fact_x000D_ But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.
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