PURITY (INTRO)

Purity is a cherished -but no longer in vogue- word. We still value spotlessness, even in our banal age, though we often dread or loath the path towards it. ‘Pure water’, ‘Virgin lands’, ‘Natural foods’, ‘Unadulterated minerals’: these are some contemporary depictions portraying the subtle desirability of this spotless state.

The subject of purity is something I will attempt during the next 3 or 4 weeks, to discern, digest and expound. Our first thought of purity is to assume it as a topic simply within the realms of religiosity and morality and pointing solely to bed and sex.  Purity should indeed be based around ethics and morality but it is not a subject bound under their monopoly. It is also wrong to narrow purity down simply to bed and sex, they are just the beginning of the banality opposed to this lauded virtue. The worst evil against purity is a far cry from sex and these are the ones most treated with levity. The worst evils are the other two forms of purity that I shall later discuss, and they are more common and rife than the corruption that plagues the evil of the sins of the flesh.

From next week I shall begin from the factor best grasped about purity: Sex; but following weeks, I shall move on to the other two more ‘boring stuffs’. I call these boring because, in spite of them being most important, they have not been properly grasped nor taken very serious within our cultural milieu. We have stopped paying attention to what matters most for life, we have forgotten to regard the other two factors as matters of purity. I shall refer in general terms to the sin of the flesh as sex, but remember that I mean sex when it is acted outside the scope of Reason.

Jack Welch, a Business and Management guru once argued in one of his books that Shareholders comes third (behind Customers and Employees) in the hierarchy of factors that should be involved towards business sustainability. But the reality in our age is that Shareholders wield so much power in business, to the detriment of Customers and Employees who should be treated  first and second respectively, but these other two are paid lip service and often disregarded. That is why Tom Peters, another Business guru , proved in his book ‘In Search of Excellence’ that hardly does any company remain in Fortune 500 (World 500 best Companies) for 50 years, because CEOs are too absorbed with their desires to please the Shareholders, rather than Customers and Employees, who they see as too weak to oust them, but to the detriment of the future sustainability of the Company.

Why the digression? Because the Business Scenario is similar to the Purity scenario. I make to say also that, in the hierarchy of purity, sexual purity actually comes third (just like the Business Shareholders) behind the first two virtues which I shall later expound. if you focus too much on mastering sexual virtues without paying more attention to the other two, you shall be deformed and your freedom may be less sustainable. Though indiscriminate sex corrupts the other two virtues that are often taken for granted and even more widely committed, if you don’t master sexual purity, it will be difficult to see the acute importance of the other two virtues, but any chastity that is not founded on the basis of the other two becomes a wild goose chase.

So much for an introduction.  just in time for Valentine. I love you all, accept this writeup as a token of my love. I shall continue next week.