If the Lord counts the natural beauty of the body inferior to that of the soul, what thinks He of spurious beauty, rejecting utterly as He does all falsehood?
Clement Of AlexandriaRead
For, in truth, an image is only dead matter shaped by the craftsman's hand. But we have no sensible image of sensible matter, but an image that is perceived by the mind alone: God, who alone is truly God.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the distinction between physical reality and the perception of it, suggesting that true understanding lies beyond mere images.
Clement of Alexandria's quote conveys the idea that physical representations, such as images created by craftsmen, are inanimate and devoid of true essence. It suggests that our understanding and perception of reality is deeply mental rather than purely sensory, positing that God embodies the ultimate truth that transcends material representations.
In practice
During a philosophy lecture discussing the nature of reality and perception.
If the Lord counts the natural beauty of the body inferior to that of the soul, what thinks He of spurious beauty, rejecting utterly as He does all falsehood?
His Son Jesus, the Word of God, is our Instructor.... He is God and Creator.
But those who are ready to toil in the most excellent pursuits, will not desist from the search after truth, till they get the demonstration from the Scriptures themselves.
The Word of God became man, that thou mayest learn from man how man may become God.
We are not to throw away those things which can benefit our neighbor. Goods are called good because they can be used for good: they are instruments for good, in the hands of those who use them properly.
One has to completely humiliate oneself to be what the Beatles were . . . . It happened bit by bit, until . . . you're doing exactly what you don't want to do with people you can't stand -- the people you hated when you were ten.
We can suspend disbelief about Harry Potter, and we do the same thing with God, and we do the same thing with human rights, and we do the same thing with money.
When the state intervenes to insure the indoctrination of some doctrine, it does so because there is no conclusive evidence in favor of that doctrine.
There is a God-shaped vacuum in every heart.
All which is beautiful and noble is the result of reason and calculation.
Most climbers aren't in fact deranged, they're just infected with a particularly virulent strain of the Human Condition.
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