Hierarchy of Truth: Verbum

Later in this text and in class I discuss the concept of Verbum, but it merits some mention here. Verbum, according to St. Augustine of Hippo, refers to the pure authentic “word” of one’s being. That is, Verbum refers to the Truth of oneself, the Authentic Self, which all humans strive to speak and to hear. It is a Truth that can only be known outside of the limitations of time and space. For Augustine, one spends their life seeking the “word” which fully expresses who they are. The difficulty is, as one discovers a Truth about themselves, time and space have changed them and their “word” has changed as well. As I climb higher and higher out of the Pit, I learn more and more, not about who I am, but about who I was just a few moments before. The only way to fully speak or to hear or to know one’s Verbum, then, is to exist outside of time and space… outside the Pit. From this perspective, I can “hear” the fullness of who I am, at every moment in my life. The Authentic Self is not a single moment of my life; it is the entirety of who I am always becoming. If we apply the epistemological concepts discussed previously, which I have my students do, we must enter into a relationship with one who exists outside of time and space. Therefore, one can only know one’s Authentic Self, perfectly, if one is in relationship with God. It is important to remember, however, that subjective Truths cannot be negated or ignored. The subjective Truths of who we are right now, in this moment and place of time and space are important. As subjective Truths are based upon individual’s relationship with given knowledge, it is subjective Truth that reveals the importance of relationship. As we will explore later, the material world, as a creation of the same God with whom one must enter into relationship in order to learn one’s Truth of Verbum, possesses signs and symbols of God. While I am in the Pit, the ropes that God to throws me can, if I choose to think of them as such, be signs orienting me toward a way out of the Pit; the material Truths I experience in the Pit can, at least, begin to lead me to Objective and Transcendent Truths. Therefore, the material world and material epistemology remain vital for an encounter or relationship with the telos or transcendent Truths insofar as the material world points to greater relationships and Truths through which we can learn our Authentic Self.

Big Bend National Park, South Rim Trail. A place where I have contemplated my own Verbum (Photo Credit: J. Harrington)

I will later discuss the concepts of Truth and the authentic self and how material epistemological concepts like psychology, sociology, and philosophy play important roles in the discovery of the Authentic Self. While many Christian traditions in the past have rejected sciences like psychology, sociology, and even philosophy, fearing that they focus too much on material Truths, I will argue that these sciences actually help to reveal, at least in part, the Authentic Self as it reflects the image and likeness of God. In this way, psychology, sociology and philosophy (and really every science or subject in the world) can be Sacramental.

Henri, Katie, Monk, and me. We begin to discover Verbum most profoundly in relationship. (Photo Credit: P. Smith)