“Only he who loves can sing”
~ St. Augustine
I have been thinking about thinking. Though I value its importance I am wondering if the attention we give it is in need of some balance. Two books – one old and one new are the occasion for my taking up this topic once again. Though not much can be said in the space available here perhaps a few brief comments will generate some of your own reflection about this matter. Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview and Cultural Formation by James K.A. Smith explores the question of human identity. He argues that how we answer the question concerning who we are has implications for worship, education and spiritual formation. It has been typical for members of western culture to see themselves first as “thinking beings”. One immediately recalls Descartes’ “I think therefore I am”, a short sentence that has carried a very pervasive influence. The legacy of this notion of humans as thinking beings suggests that ideas have primary importance. Others have contended that we are oriented to the world as believers where not just logic, but myth and story play an important part in our self understanding. Smith appreciates these two options but finds them still incomplete. What is missing he suggests is attention to “desire” as an essential feature of the human person. In taking up this theme it is but a short step to understanding humans as lovers. As Smith puts iton page 51:
“To be human is to love
and it is what we love that defines who we are.”