I graduated from Bowling Green State University in 2014 with a degree in Philosophy & Logic. I chose to concentrate my studies on the philosophy of language.

For my senior thesis, I focused on connecting American philosopher Saul Kripke’s work to an account of metaphorical meaning using special linguistic cases of slang.

After becoming Orthodox, I have tried to cross-pollinate these earlier studies of Kripke with core doctrines and values of the Church. Below are some possible connections I’m currently entertaining:

Saul Kripke's works, particularly his theories on reference and modality, connect to Eastern Orthodox psychology (such as Hesychasm and the nous) through the concepts of apophatic theology, anti-materialism, and the spiritual "naming" of the divine.

1. Anti-Materialism and the Reality of Consciousness

Kripke is famous for defending mind-body dualism, arguing that conscious experiences cannot be reduced to physical brain states. This rejection of naturalism directly aligns with Eastern Orthodox psychology, which posits that the human soul/psyche cannot be explained by biology or psychology alone. Both frameworks affirm the ontological reality of the soul and the immateriality of conscious awareness.

2. Apophatic Theology and Kripkean Semantics

In Naming and Necessity, Kripke argued that words (like "God" or "Jesus") operate as "rigid designators". They point directly to a transcendent reality regardless of our finite, descriptive knowledge of that entity. This mirrors the Orthodox tradition of Apophatic (negative) theology, which acknowledges that God's essence remains incomprehensible and beyond human description. In both cases, God is a transcendent reality we can point to without fully describing.

3. "Naming" and Noetic Prayer

Orthodox spirituality heavily emphasizes noetic prayer—the prayer of the heart. This primarily involves invoking the name of Jesus. Kripke's causal theory of reference suggests that a name points to an object through an unbroken historical chain of designation. In Orthodox psychology, the recitation of the Holy Name functions as a direct, relational, and transformative link to the Divine, bypassing abstract, descriptive intellectualization.

4. Essence, Energy, and Necessity

Kripke's philosophy famously revived essentialism, the idea that things have necessary, intrinsic properties. In Eastern Orthodox thought, there is a fundamental distinction between God's unapproachable, transcendent Essence and His active, uncreated Energies. Kripke's modal distinctions—what is strictly necessary versus what is contingent—provide a logical foundation for this Orthodox metaphysical framework.

When I find time to further explore the philosophy of pain, I ought to see how I can apply Kripke’s modal argument for dualism to the qualia or “what-it-is-likeness” of receiving a massage session.

Doxa To Theo.

Deep breath out,

Basil Schortgen

For this post I’m sharing three of my current influences from moral philosophy and the phenomenology of everyday action. I contemplate them while studying orthodox spirituality and its teachings about the passions and dispassions.

The ethics of care is a moral theory that defines ethical action by interpersonal relationships, empathy, and responsiveness to needs. It challenges traditional, rule-bound philosophies (like utilitarianism or deontology) by prioritizing compassion, context, and the preservation of vulnerable connections over abstract, impartial principles. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Core Tenets

• Moral Salience of Relationships: Morality stems from our interconnectedness. Rather than viewing people as isolated individuals, care ethics views individuals as fundamentally defined by their relations with others.

• Emotion Over Detachment: Unlike classical theories that require unemotional logic, care ethics values emotions like empathy, compassion, and sympathy as essential to identifying and responding to moral situations.

• Context Over Universal Rules: It rejects the idea that a single, universal principle can solve all ethical dilemmas. Instead, moral problems are evaluated by looking at the specific context, the particulars of the individuals involved, and their specific needs.

• Focus on Dependency: It is heavily rooted in natural human responses to care for vulnerable populations, such as children, the sick, and the elderly. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Origins and Key Figures

Care ethics emerged in the 1980s, largely as a critique of male-centric, abstract moral frameworks. [1, 2]

• Carol Gilligan: A psychologist who introduced the framework in her foundational book In a Different Voice, noting that women often approach moral dilemmas using a “care perspective” focused on preserving relationships, whereas men often default to a “justice perspective” focused on abstract rights.

• Nel Noddings: A philosopher who formalized the theory, arguing that “caring” requires engrossment (deep attention) and motivational displacement (acting on behalf of the cared-for). [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Limitations and Criticisms

• Lack of Universal Guidelines: Because it rejects rigid rules, critics argue it can be subjective and difficult to apply when determining the best course of action.

• Potential for Favoritism: Prioritizing close relationships can lead to favoritism or bias, undermining the concept of fairness and equal justice.

• Emotional Burden: The theory can place an overwhelming emotional toll on caregivers, expecting them to take responsibility for the well-being of others without clear, protective boundaries

In The Freedom of Morality, Greek philosopher and theologian Christos Yannaras redefines morality not as compliance to a legal code, but as the dynamic expression of human freedom. He argues that true morality requires transcending biological self-preservation to experience authentic, loving communion with God and others. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Yannaras’s philosophy of morality is built on several foundational pillars:

1. Critique of Legalistic Morality

• Rejection of Rules: Yannaras argues against viewing ethics as a system of laws, obligations, or judicial evaluations of good and bad.

• The “Fall” as Self-Preservation: Original sin is not viewed as a mere legal transgression, but as a tragic shift in human existence. Humanity fell into a state of “natural necessity”, prioritizing biological survival and self-interest over selfless love. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

2. The Concept of “Personhood”

• Nature vs. Person: While human nature (our biological, psychological, and social traits) is bound by death and instinct, the person is the unique, distinct, and unrepeatable way we exercise our freedom.

• Transcending Nature: We actualize our “personhood” when we use our freedom to transcend our natural, egotistical drives. [1]

3. Love and Communion (Eros)

• Eros as Self-Emptying: Yannaras uses the term eros to describe an ecstatic, passionate movement of love. True freedom is the voluntary surrender of our self-centered ego in order to unite with others.

• The Eucharistic Ethos: Morality is realized in the Church through a “Eucharistic ethos,” an existential state of unity, mutual self-giving, and unconditional love that mirrors the Trinitarian life of God. [1, 2, 3, 4]

4. Asceticism as Repentance

• Asceticism: Ascetic practices (such as fasting or prayer) are not punishments or strict disciplines. Instead, they are the practical “tools” or exercises we use to free ourselves from the enslavement of our biological desires and egotism.

• Repentance: Yannaras defines repentance (in Greek, metanoia) not as feeling guilty for breaking rules, but as a total “change of mind”—a shift from self-love to self-giving love. [1, 2]

Ultimately, for Yannaras, morality is an “adventure of freedom”. It is the ongoing choice to break free from individualistic alienation and embrace the transformative love of God.

Morality requires freedom, and the use of that freedom is the art of practicing virtuous living. It is a dynamic virtue-practice comprised of isolating virtues, integrating novel expressions of them into daily encounters, and iterating those expressions into a consistent practice that reinforces them and discloses new virtues to the soul.

A central concept in my philosophy of massage therapy is somatic freedom from the works of Thomas Hanna, which defines it as the “capability to adapt responsibly, and respond creatively to one’s environment.” I organize it by grades in a hierarchy as follows:

1. Unconscious Incompetency

2. Conscious Incompetency

3. Conscious Competency

4. Unconscious Competency

Beyond this hierarchy is a state of flow which I view as highly conducive to the practice of continuous prayer. This flow state, or “autotelic hypofrontality”, is best explained for me by the works of Hubert Dreyfus on “skillful coping”, summarized here:

Hubert Dreyfus’s concept of “skillful coping” posits that human intelligence is primarily rooted in our embodied, intuitive engagement with the world rather than conscious deliberation or rule-following. He argued that true expertise relies on immediate, absorbed motor-skills, allowing us to respond seamlessly to situations without pausing to think. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition

Dreyfus, alongside his brother Stuart, developed a five-stage model tracking how human beings acquire skills that maps onto our definition of somatic freedom nicely: [1, 2, 3]

1. Novice: The unconscious incompetency level. Beginners strictly follow context-free rules and step-by-step procedures.

2. Advanced Beginner: The conscious incompetency level. Performers start recognizing recurring, situational aspects, but still rely heavily on guidelines.

3. Competence: The conscious competency level. Individuals consciously choose a plan, prioritize tasks, and feel emotionally invested in the outcome of their choices.

4. Proficiency: The unconscious competency level. Performance becomes holistic. The coper intuitively sees what needs to be done without analytical deliberation, though they still think about how to do it.

5. Expertise: The flow state (continuous prayer). Intuitive, fluid action takes over. Experts are so fully immersed in their environment that they respond directly to the situation without rules, maxims, or conscious reflection. [1, 2, 3]

Key Philosophical Pillars

• Bodily Intelligence: Drawing heavily from phenomenology (especially Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty), Dreyfus argued that our understanding of reality is deeply physical. Our bodies are “wired” to interact with the environment naturally, which computes much faster than our conscious minds can.

• Maximal Grip: Rather than executing conscious goals, experts act by seeking an optimal comportment or “maximal grip” on their situation. We are intuitively drawn to make micro-adjustments until our interaction with the environment feels balanced and smooth.

• Critique of Artificial Intelligence and Rationalism: Dreyfus heavily criticized traditional “Good Old-Fashioned AI” (GOFAI) and rationalist philosophy, which assume human intelligence is just data processing and rule-following. He argued that computers fail at genuine coping because they lack human embodiment, sociocultural context, and intuition.

Therefore in my professional life, I treat my daily work shifts as one extended ritual. I use it to set me up to experience these flow states of creative moral competency. This taking the form of skillful coping through mastery in executing the slow, embodied, long-form moving meditation of a massage routine.

Deep breath out,

Basil Schortgen

The core ritual of Orthodoxy is the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy is the primary and central worship service in Eastern Christian traditions (such as Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches). Its main function is to offer communal thanksgiving—the Eucharist—where the faithful participate in the Holy Communion, believing the bread and wine become the literal Body and Blood of Christ. [1, 2, 3] At a more synoptic level, it is the Church’s way of fostering social cohesion within the one body of Christ.

The Meaning of the Divine Liturgy

• “The Work of the People”: The term liturgy comes from the Greek leitourgia, which translates to “a public work” or “common action”. It is not merely a service to observe, but an active, corporate participation by the entire Body of Christ (the Church).

• A Foretaste of Heaven: Believers view the liturgy as a bridge transcending time, where the earthly congregation unites with the angels, departed saints, and God’s eternal Kingdom.

• Anamnesis (Memory): It is an active remembering and offering of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection, fulfilling His command at the Last Supper to “Do this in remembrance of Me”

In “What Is Ritual?” on the blog Ribbonfarm, Sarah Perry defines ritual as a costly, often irrational-seeming process that acts as a coordination mechanism to manage group social reality. Key elements include the pursuit of an “end in itself” through sacrifice, leading to a profound transformation in social status. Key takeaways include:[1, 2]

• Social Coordination: Rituals align group behavior, trust, and beliefs without requiring constant negotiation.

• Conspicuous Sacrifice: Participants demonstrate commitment by generously using resources or engaging in specific mental states.

• Epistemic Function: Rituals establish shared, defensible truths within a community.

In another article explicitly titled "Ritual Epistemology", Sarah Perry argues that rituals and ceremonial frameworks are evolved, "hyper-rational" methods for establishing truth and meaning, often outperforming pure intellectual skepticism in fostering social cohesion. The article highlights that structured, sacred environments—like legal proceedings—effectively manufacture truth, balancing the limitations of rigid rationalism with practical, tradition-based solutions. A secular example would be attending a techno concert. Music lovers do not gain meaning from such events in the way of rational reflection, but rather embodied engagement in a collective happening as the participants develop subcultural values and mores for competently navigating that social space for optimal experience.

Participation in the Divine Liturgy has helped me to externally participate in authentic community while simultaneously aiding me in building my own architecture of interior time that helps to regulate my well-being and behavior. In The Disappearance of Rituals, aforementioned philosopher Byung-Chul Han argues that modern neoliberal and digital societies have eradicated shared symbolic practices. This erosion replaces deep community with isolated, superficial connection, leaving time fragmented and robbing life of the structure, endurance, and meaning that rituals historically provided. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Key themes from his topology of the present include:

• Rituals as Stabilizing Forces: Rituals are symbolic practices that transform an unfamiliar, chaotic world into a “home”. They give life durability, sequence, and rhythm, serving the same function as physical objects in space by keeping us grounded.

• The Compulsion of Production: The modern capitalist drive for continuous optimization and productivity erodes enduring things in favor of disposability and consumption. This relentless demand leaves no room for lingering or participating in activities without a measurable outcome. This is highlighted by the erasure of third-spaces where people can congregate for true leisure around a common point of interest and experience communion with one another through it.

• Communication vs. Community: Han contrasts a “community without communication” (traditional societies bound by silent ritual) with today’s “communication without community”. While digital technology connects us globally, it fails to create enduring bonds, leading to atomized, isolated individuals.

• The Cult of Authenticity: Society’s obsession with personal branding and “being authentic” has replaced ritual. In a ritual-poor world, identity becomes unstable and self-referential rather than anchored in collective belonging.

• Disappearance of Collective Feelings: True rituals involve shared, objective emotions (e.g., collective mourning), which strengthen social solidarity. In their absence, emotional life becomes deeply privatized and psychologists struggle with individual pathologies like burnout.

• Loss of Symbolic Time: Time is no longer an architectural “house” but an erratic stream racing toward the next new thing. Rituals break the cycle of chasing constant novelty by creating pockets of symbolic time focused purely on the present moment

This view of knowledge and experience finding its final fruition in wisdom also reaffirms a fundamental Orthodox teaching about not giving advice unless one is asked for it. This helps to stave off pride while keeping focus on silence and humility, as I am ultimately in charge of my own soul and salvation alone. The best thing I can do is resort to prayer, the sacraments, and my own personal salvation through a growing relationship with God. In fact, one of the most shocking things about Orthodoxy for me while a Catechumen was seemingly how little the Church proselytizes compared to other denominations of Christianity in America. A common refrain to questions about Orthodoxy is to “come and see”. Fortunately for my own journey, I chose to take that advice. Below I have included a video about the Divine Liturgy from a popular channel called “Patristix”:

Deep breath out,

Basil Schortgen

The Ontology of Communion posits that being is inherently relational. Rooted in Eastern Orthodox theology, it argues that true existence is not found in isolated, self-enclosed individuals, but in free, self-offering love between conscious persons (greek= Hypostases). Two primary sources of this view can be found in the works of Romanian theologian Fr. Dumitru Staniloae and lay philosopher Treydon Lunot. Below is a brief summary of their work on the conception of being:

1. From Fr. Dumitru Staniloae:

   1. The Trinity as Archetypal Communion: God is not an isolated monad, but an eternal, dynamic communion of three distinct persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) united in perfect, self-giving love. Because God’s essence is love, the ultimate ontological category is “Person” rather than “substance”.

   2. Creation and Humanity: Humans are created in the image of this Triune God, meaning human existence is designed to reach outward. We fulfill our true ontological nature only when we move beyond ourselves into a loving, self-limiting relationship with God and other human beings.

   3. Cosmic Mediation: Stăniloae views the material world as a gift meant to facilitate this dialogue. Humanity acts as a bridge, offering creation back to God through thanksgiving and love.

   4. Freedom and Time: True personhood requires radical freedom, including the genuine capacity to eternally oppose God. Human history and time are the arena in which humanity exercises this freedom, using ascetic effort and faith to progress toward eternal communion with the divine.

2. From Treydon Lunot:

   1. Being is Being-For-Another: Lunot applies Trinitarian relationality to all of reality. He argues that isolated, atomized entities are a distortion of reality; the inner logic of all being is a directional movement of self-giving and receiving.

   2. Eucharistic Ontology: Lunot’s ontology is intensely eucharistic. He views the Eucharist as the ultimate realization of this communal reality—the point where infinite divinity and finite humanity freely intersect. In the Eucharist, humanity partakes in the life of Christ, retaining human otherness while becoming truly united with God, mirroring the hypostatic union.

   3. Critique of Radical Individualism: In Lunot’s thought, the modern social crisis of depersonalization and radical individualism stems from a rupture with this communal nature. To him, genuine human flourishing requires grounding identity not in self-enclosed egos, but in relationships rooted in the divine telos.

Therefore, both thinkers fundamentally reject any notion of existence as static or purely material. For both, reality only truly exists when persons transcend themselves to engage in mutual communion.

This is especially relevant to my own experience of reaching adulthood as digital society gain prominence, which I have experienced most closely as the “Burnout Society” described by Korean-German philosopher Byung Chul-Han due to its tendency to isolate us as individuals behind online personas and life appearances. He argues that we have shifted from a "disciplinary" society of external commands to an "achievement" society where we voluntarily self-exploit ourselves under the illusion of freedom, ultimately leading to exhaustion, depression, and burnout. Key concepts from his book “Burnout Society” include:

• From Obedience to Achievement: We are no longer governed by external forces

  (”you should”) but by an internal drive (”you can”). We are expected to constantly optimize ourselves, transforming ourselves into endless projects.

• Auto-Exploitation: In the modern workplace, the exploiter and the exploited are the same person. Because we believe we are free, we push ourselves far beyond our natural limits.

• The Sickness of Positivity: Rather than being threatened by an external “foreign” enemy (like bacteria or a competing nation), 21st-century illnesses (burnout, ADHD, depression) stem from an excess of positivity—an overabundance of possibilities and stimuli with no “no”.

• Depression as “Creative Fatigue”: Depression occurs when the “can do” imperative becomes so overwhelming that you are no longer able to do anything. The complaint “nothing is possible” only happens in a society built on the belief that “nothing is impossible”.

• Hyper-Attention vs. Deep Contemplation: Constant multitasking forces our brains into a fragmented state of hyper-attention, similar to the survival vigilance of a wild animal. We have lost the ability to deeply contemplate and be peacefully bored, which is essential for true creativity.

• Reconciliatory Tiredness: Han suggests we need a different, collective kind of tiredness. Instead of the isolating, anxious fatigue of the achievement society, he advocates for a deep, shared exhaustion that allows us to step back, rest, and connect with our communities.

It has proven a true grace to land in the world of massage therapy as a profession because one of the many things it affords me in contrast to this experience of society is regular one-on-one, in-person dialogue with other human beings. I am blessed to encounter people from all walks of life, with various and changing needs. It grants me weekly opportunities for self-transcendence through the diligent practice of empathy for others. And if I do my job of communicating well, I am blessed with seeing the image of Christ within other individuals shine through in dialogical reciprocity.

Below I have provided a video clip of Lunot explaining this ontology:

Deep breath out,

Basil Schortgen

At 33 years old, I returned home on July 31, 2025 when I was Chrismated into the Greek Orthodox Church at Annunciation Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

As a former student of philosophy, I created this blog to serve as a journal for reflections on the practice of my faith, as well as a notepad of my independent studies of Greek Orthodox theology and life philosophy.

I would sort this project into the genre of “Meditation Literature”, which refers to reflective writings intended to guide contemplation, and ancient religious texts (like the Bible itself) designed for deep, lifelong reading.” Definitions typically fall into three categories, which I feel all apply here to varying degrees of emphasis:

1. Philosophy: Narrative writings that outline an author’s reflections on life, the self, or deep philosophical questions. The goal is to prompt and inspire the reader to join in a meditative, deliberate exercise.

   1. Some entries will focus on my efforts to grow my faith through ascetic living practices, reading the Bible, and the writings of the Church Fathers. By providing a phenomenology of an ascetic way of being in the world, I hope to also inspire readers to embark on their own spiritual investigations.

2. Mindfulness: A practical book of prose designed to teach mindfulness, stress reduction, and mental clarity.

   1. I am a licensed massage therapist by trade, which I enjoy practicing as a long-form embodied meditation of service to others. The French philosopher Simone Weil once contended that prayer is not about words, but about how deeply we can look at something with our entire body, mind, and spirit. Some entries will feature how I am using massage therapy to train my attention to remain in a prayerful state throughout a typical work week.

3. Ancient Christianity: Unlike modern stories that explicitly spell out every detail, this writing style is dense, poetically symbolic, and full of deliberate ambiguity. It requires a reader to slow down, reread, and ponder puzzles or hidden connections.

   1. Some entries will focus on my practice of haiku poetry and designing icon postcards that feature them. I use this hobby as an embodied practice in dispassion by composing the haikus as prayers that can be expressed in one breath. I also give away the icon postcards for free to inspire hope through art around Columbus.

With this intention to compose meditation literature for inspiration, I have chosen to name this philosophy project “Inspiration Economy” for several reasons as well. The word “Economy” is defined as follows:

1. The structure or condition of economic life in a country, area, or period; an economic system.

   1. Through the lens of spiritual inspiration, the goal is to portray my slice of life as it exists in 2026 America. Part of this for me is the exploration of popular culture that centers on other forms of embodied skillful-know how, such as in other trades, sports, music, the visual arts, fashion, cuisine, and somatic practices. This will allow me to comment on conceptions of leisure and human wellness as the general population encounters it through current societal trends.

2. Thrifty and efficient use of material resources in the management of household and private affairs, such as frugality in expenditures; an instance or means of saving. Can include the efficient use of nonmaterial resources (such as language, effort, or motion).

   1. Part of my ascetic faith journey is learning to do more and more with less and less to give glory to God that creates anything from nothing at all.

3. The arrangement or mode of operation of something; a system of interaction and exchange.

   1. My desire is not to provide a closed system of secular philosophy, but to devise therapeutic methods for organizing life experience in a way that allows me to integrate it into my Orthodox faith while providing a common framework for philosophical dialogue with others from life’s myriad backgrounds and ways of navigating human existence.

A glossary of theological terms currently under my consideration as I begin:

1. God (Greek= “Theasthai”): The ground of all being and existence, defined here as “The One Eternal, All-Inclusive Whole of Reality, whose mystery has been revealed to Christians as a Trinity of perfect love between The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit; One God expressed as a relation between three divine persons.” St. Basil is documented as using the term Theasthai meaning “the one who beholds all things.”

2. Faith (greek=“Pistis”): Encompasses far more than mere intellectual belief. Rather than a “blind leap”, it involves trust and confidence; the experiential knowledge that God as a personal being is entirely reliable and trustworthy. It also denotes allegiance and reliability. It is a commitment that serves as an active, ongoing pledge of loyalty to God rather than a static state of mind. Finally it is faith in action. True faith requires action and cooperation (synergy) with God’s grace that is lived out daily through prayer, the sacraments, and acts of self-offering love. In summation it is learning to trust in God based on experience over the human lifespan that allows one to become a Christian that appropriately reflects God’s goodness on Earth towards other human beings made in his image.

3. Repentance (greek=“Metanoia”): Refers to a transformative change of mind, heart, and life direction. Far from just feeling guilty about past mistakes, it represents a continuous and unfolding process of spiritual awakening, aligning one’s consciousness with God, and reorienting one’s entire life towards the participation in divine love.

4. Continuous Prayer (greek=“Adialeiptos”): The Apostle Paul commands Christians to “pray without ceasing” in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Church Fathers like St. John Cassian and St. Theophan the Recluse clarify that this does not mean reciting spoken words 24 hours a day, but rather describes a state of permanent, loving communion with God where the heart is constantly oriented toward him. This is the foundational principle behind practice of The Jesus Prayer, often recited as “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”. The Church teaches that while we must sleep and go on about daily duties, our inner mind and heart can remain continuously attuned to God’s presence.

5. Way of Life (greek=“Bios”): Refers to the embodied, biologically-temporal life. It encompasses daily habits, material possessions, bodily functions, and one’s physical journey on earth. So far as I understand, Orthodoxy is meant to express a willful, active way of being in the world as opposed to a set of doctrines or a system of knowledge to be held in the mind as an answer key to life’s problems. St. Basil the Great relates this to continuous prayer, stating “This is how you pray continually — not by offering prayer in words, but by joining yourself to God through your whole way of life, so that your life becomes one continuous and uninterrupted prayer.”

6. Watchfulness (greek= “Nepsis”): The practice of guarding the mind and heart (the “nous”) against harmful thoughts, imaginings, and ideations. This is seen as a foundation for deep, focused prayer utilizing one’s full attention.

7. Self-Emptying (greek= “Kenosis”): I once heard it said by Fr. Seraphim Holland that we are not called to be “good” Christians, but rather empty Christians. An anecdote about St. Seraphim of Sarov quotes him as calling the goal of Christian life as not only the fact of one’s salvation in Christ, but also the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. This centers around emptying the self of worldly passions (vices) and increasing in the dispassions (virtues) through the help of the Holy Spirit.

8. Salvation (greek= “Theosis”): The transformative process of achieving union and likeness with God. Orthodoxy considers this the ultimate purpose of human life. It is the gradual journey of becoming by grace what God is by nature, enabling believers to partake in divine life. This is not to be interpreted as pantheism (“all is God”), but when properly defined is closer to a form of pan-EN-theism (“all is in God”) as God actively permeates and holds all of creation together. St. Paul declares “in Him we live, move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Humans do not become divine in essence upon salvation, but rather become united with God’s uncreated energies (his grace and love) while God’s own core essence remains transcendent and uncreated. It provides an image of the possibility for unity and diversity to be held together in perfection.

Over the next three posts I will attempt to sketch an Orthodox worldview as I am approaching it for later works of phenomenology.

Deep breath out,

Basil Schortgen