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.
Events of October 1962 indicated, as they had all through history, that control of the sea means security. Control of the seas can mean peace. Control of the seas can mean victory. The United States must control the seas if it is to protect your security.
Better guilt than the terrible burden of freedom and responsibility.
Go another step. Try to live one entire day without words at all. Do it not as a law, but as an experiment. Note your feelings of helplessness and excessive dependence upon words to communicate. Try to find new ways to relate to tohers that are not dependent upon words. Enjoy, savor the day. Learn from it.
Personally, I don't give a rap for documents; for the truth in my eyes is not in them but in the mind.
Groups are grammatical fictions; only individuals exist, and each individual is different.
Commit the oldest sins the newest kind of ways.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.