Letter #343: Good Comes First
Or, why I've decided to grouse less online.
Dad,
Since our collaboration will be taking on a new form in January, I have a New Year’s resolution to follow your reflections on what we’ve learned. I’m going to grouse about things less online.
Now you may ask, then what will we do for fun? And don’t worry, I’m sure there will still be plenty of time to criticize movies that flop or political schemes that go up in smoke. But recently I’ve noticed something: there’s not really much point to negative criticism unless it serves a positive vision of what’s good. It gets boring after a while.
I don’t really want to waste my time sniping about Stranger Things season trillion unless it helps me understand and articulate, by contrast, what kind of art I wish I saw more of. You can’t even be a very good or interesting hater unless there’s something you truly love.
I feel much the same way about morality, actually. We can get very caught up in talking about what not to do, what’s evil and wrong. But the thing that makes evil bad is the fact that it’s not good. Morality is empty unless it can also tell you what is beautiful, excellent, worthy of love. The whole point of saying no is to get to yes.
I think this is why some theologians—St. Augustine, for example—have talked as if only good things truly exist. You can picture a healthy body, without disease. But it’s impossible even to define a concept like “disease” unless you first have the concept of a healthy body. Evil has only a derivative kind of existence, like a shadow or an empty space. Good comes first.
I’m not saying I intend to close my eyes and live in a fantasy world of sweetness and light. But the theme I’ve kept coming back to in these letters is that everything has to start from love, or it’s just vapor. If goodness is the realest thing, then love is simply the only way to know the full truth.
Of course loving good things makes evil things appear worse, as sharper light makes shadows stand out clearer. But the secret is it doesn’t work in the other direction: you can’t know beauty better by hating ugliness more. You have to start from love. Or else you may fathom all mysteries and speak in angels’ tongues, yet still be nothing.
Or take what was said to the mystic Julian of Norwich, when she asked to know the meaning of her sacred visions. I’d be glad if the answer she got could also sum up everything we’ve written here:
What, do you wish to know our Lord’s meaning in this thing?
Know it well: Love was his meaning.
Who reveals it to you? Love.
What did he reveal to you? Love.
Why does he reveal it to you? For Love.
Remain in this, and you will know more of the same.
But you will never know different, without end.”
Love,
Spencer
 | A guest post by
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I’ve often wondered about this when it came to Eve. Here she was in Eden. She and Adam walked in afternoon breeze with God. God was their close friend. God loved them in a visible and concrete way. And yet she fell for the wiles of Satan in the form of a snake. Her “yes” sent us out into this world of pain and suffering. Although we are now redeemed by the “yes” of Mary, we must make the good decisions on a countless basis every day. It is difficult to hold to the good in the face of continual temptation. It is difficult to hold back from the snark in the face of evil, uninformed, hysterical virtue signaling online. Or just outright lies and the deliberate undermining of what is good and true. This is a clear call to keep the good in the forefront. Thanks again for all you do in shining light and clarity onto so many dark and muddied areas in both the world and in each of us.
I agree wholeheartedly with your resolution!❤️ the holy spirit seems to be made up of matter that we cannot see with our natural eyes because it is so fine, but still matter. This is most clear at this time of year when we celebrate the love and light of the savior. There is something different and tangible. Satan cannot create.He can only counterfeit and distract and does so by stirring up our hearts and making us forget. when I begin to feel the Love of God and his mercy and long-suffering for me, it turns my heart outward to my fellow man with a desire to lift and bless and strengthen. It is there for the taking, because it is the animating force of the universe, but it is pure and so what we do on a day to day basis and what we partake in really does matter. As you know better than most of us - the heights and depths of truth and beauty are unlimited. "Eye hath not seen...". How we spend our days and our energy is what will be written in our hearts and our souls and our very being when we meet Him. "... A thrill of hope" is truly what He brings.