Royaume France as a Life Philosophy
Royaume France as a Life Philosophy
The development of the model
Royaume France, as a life philosophy, is bimodal just like the experience. I focused on two phenomena. The first, chronologically, was a sudden "divine glance" whereby I came to believe in the real and substantial Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharistic on the Feast Day of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The second was a psychically transforming intuition about St. Joan of Arc through the hermeneutics of St. Thérèse’s plays and poetry. God founded my life on this bimodal framework, which appeared over many years in its divine order like a breathtaking panorama through the mist at dawn. Together, Thérèse and Joan represent a stunning spiritual speciation of a broadly encompassing genus of French Catholic Spirituality. Thus, by simple syllogism, my life is founded on Thérèsian-Jehannian French Catholic spirituality.
Over the years, I constituted an eidetic map of meaning representing the instantiation of Joan and Thérèse in my life as a supernatural reality, the step-by-step development being what St. Edith Stein called spirituality. I modeled subjectively received phenomena into a meaningful form with universal applicability. The grace to accomplish this came through Edith Stein’s philosophy. As I integrated her into my work, it became clear that she was the only philosopher who could help me master the pathway and relieve me in my search. Through Edith Stein, I redefined the "divine glance" more philosophically as an “unreflective certainty.”
The capstone for me was a discovery that brought the model to a recognizable and communicable form - phenomenological syntax. I added the pre-cognitive understanding received through syntax after experiencing the most serendipitous encounter with the culture and music of Brittany, France. That experience highlighted the phenomenological importance of syntax, which demonstrated how the model was ordered to bring my “unreflective certainties” with Joan and Thérèse to poetic life. Syntax represents the pre-cognitive intuition that orders the model in a certain rhythm and mathematical beauty harmonizing with the Kingdom of God in Our Lady's Immaculate Heart.
That rhythm, mathematical beauty, and harmony constitute the life force of La France Mystique.
The Divine Glance
Jeanne d'Arc, where I and Little Flower go
I know the heart of Saint Thérèse
Through whom I came to love and know
Jeanne d'Arc, herself, who's always there
Where I and Little Flower go
I'd never make a claim so bold
To know another's heart, I mean
Except, this time, I know it's true
I know it's real, if never seen
So much depends on point of view
And even on one's heart's desire
It must have been that way for me
The day Thérèse showed me Jeanne's fire
I saw it like I'd never seen
A moment so sublime before
Thérèse's heart was like a wind
That swept me to it, wanting more
In flames I went; I took Jeanne's hand
Afraid, but knowing, glad, no cares
My other hand was clasped, you see
By Saint Thérèse, who joined us there
You mustn't fear, nor worry so
This fire's where God in Spirit says
That I may know, be glad, and sure
I know the heart of Saint Thérèse
I know; because before Thérèse
I'd never held her hand to know
Jeanne d'Arc, herself, who's always there
Where I and Little Flower go
The Syntax of French Spirituality, Language, and Culture
Mary Magdalene’s mode of being as syntax lighting the pathway in the dark night faith is the spirit that binds this model together as La France Mystique. It is the lifeblood. The process of surrendering to the immutable truth of the Catholic religion in the phenomenology of the combined hearts of St. Joan and St. Thérèse is to seek the proper understanding of words and their appropriate order. A word's 'effective' placement creates 'affective' ideation of objective forms. Through language and subjectively received phenomena, truth masters us rather than us mastering truth (Stein). Magdalene’s spiritual syntax is the order we follow with Joan and Thérèse, like soft lights lining the trail before us. Her syntax opens the spiritual wellspring whereby we are mastered.
"There is something over there. What is it?" (Stein) defines our spiritual journey issuing forth from that wellspring, running through the rivers, meadows, and hills of the spiritual landscape. Magdalene’s syntax is the substantive nature of the Royaume France expression and its secret.
French language, culture, and history are vital in the underlying model's epistemology and ontology. They are natural phenomena constituted in the very syntax that orders the rest of the thought processes. Mere lifeless ideology transforms into edifying ideation in the French context through the combined hearts of Joan of Arc and Thérèse of Lisieux. The Jehannian and Thérèsian French elements provide the natural, fertile soil whereby the Magdalenian syntax brings Royaume France to life.
French language and culture play a vital role in the expression’s life. They draw us closer to La France Mystique as we study French, engage in French culture, reflect on their meaning, constitute their essence, and empathically experience their own syntax as manifested through others.
It is not as important to understand the French language or to be familiar with French culture as it is to love them both. The latter will drive you to put forth effort in the former. The former naturally will evolve from the latter.
LA RÉDUCTION FRANÇAISE PHILOSOPHIQUE DE STE. JEHANNE D'ARC
1. Metanoia - The fundamental and substantive change in our existence through conversion to the Catholic faith and the belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
2. The interior faith life of St. Thérèse and Carmelite spirituality - The Carmelite contemplative spirit under the loving care of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
3. Intense suffering in the world "as accepted" - Our confrontation with ourselves and Jesus Christ as we live through the natural consequences of our world "as accepted."
4. Personalization of our Catholic ideals and Christian hope through the French royal heart of St. Joan of Arc.
5. Intense self-meditation - The understanding that the world "as accepted" is just that, accepted.
6. Christian intellectual activity as the highest form of intellectual activity - Under the loving care and guidance of St. Joan of Arc, the replacement of the formerly "accepted" world with Christian intellectual activity as the highest form of intellectual activity.
7. The epoché - The radical unchaining of our intellect through Christian intellectual activity under the guidance of St. Joan of Arc.
8. The Reduction Proper
Platonic realism.
Edith Stein's definition of spirituality - there is something over there; what is it?
Edith Stein's definition of philosophical mentoring - getting into the ground of the other (St. Joan).
Methodology - Reconstruction and systemization of the new acceptance in a step-by-step manner.
Philosophical Science - using Edith Stein's Science of the Cross as a guide.
Royaume France Model.