Brady DeHoust -- Milton and Communication, Human and Divine
In this post, I shall deliver an artifact, a poem, which resonates with me on a scholarly level, and explain why. Here is the poem:
"But Man by number is to manifest,
His single imperfection, and beget
Like of his life, his Image multipli'd,
In unity defective, which requires
Collateral love, and dearest amity.
Thou in thy secrecy although alone
Best with thyself accompanied, seek'st not
Social communication, yet so pleas'd,
Canst raise thy Creature to that heighth though wilt
Of union or communion, deifi'd."
John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667 (Adam speaks to God before meeting Eve)
This poem offers a characterization of communication which resonates deeply with me personally. Aside from the fact that Milton is a veritable Rembrandt of words, making this a thoroughly enjoyable, stimulating, and artistically satisfying blurb, it closely aligns with what I tend to emphasize in my picture of communication. (Granted I am not well-versed in Milton, nor in poetry more generally, so this is my best shot at interpretation in the context of the class in deficit of full context.) The first sentence captures a key conviction for communication in the context of the human condition: "But Man by number is to manifest, His single imperfection, and beget Like of his life, his Image multipli'd, In unity defective, which requires Collateral love, and dearest amity." I interpret this as noting that man is fundamentally finite ("his single imperfection"), flawed. Though created in God's image, he is finite. Thus, when man's finite image is multiplied, they are "in unity defective," unlike the infinite and perfectly unified trinitarian relationship of God Himself. This defect in unity from multiplicity and finitude captures the difficulty of relationship (i.e. communication) between humans as a fundamental aspect of the human condition, spoken by Adam himself, the first human. This condition demands charity (a huge theme in my "Comm As..." essay), or, more profoundly and precisely, love, as the solution ("collateral love and dearest amity). The difficulty of interhuman communication can only be borne and perhaps transcended in the context of love (1 Corinthians 13). This more than anything captures my core conception of communication. The second sentence expresses a more abstract and perhaps even deeper component of my concept of communication, a theme which hasn't arisen until just today, i.e. communication between man and God: "Thou in thy secrecy although alone Best with thyself accompanied, seek'st not Social communication, yet so pleas'd, Canst raise thy Creature to that heighth though wilt Of union or communion, deifi'd." This is practically the Christian Gospel in a sentence. God is unreachable, ineffable, above human communication, transcendent of our earthly condition, uncontainable by human communication and all the structures and institutions from it forthcoming. However, it is His ability to raise us up to him, to by His own power bring us into perfect communion/communication with the divine. It would take much more than a brief discussion post to fully draw out my own views and contrast them with those expressed in this Miltonian blurb. Suffice to say that I appreciate this excerpt, that it resonates with me, because it recognizes the necessity of love in answer to the flawed and finite human condition, and acknowledges the theme of communication between God and man.
"But Man by number is to manifest,
His single imperfection, and beget
Like of his life, his Image multipli'd,
In unity defective, which requires
Collateral love, and dearest amity.
Thou in thy secrecy although alone
Best with thyself accompanied, seek'st not
Social communication, yet so pleas'd,
Canst raise thy Creature to that heighth though wilt
Of union or communion, deifi'd."
John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667 (Adam speaks to God before meeting Eve)
This poem offers a characterization of communication which resonates deeply with me personally. Aside from the fact that Milton is a veritable Rembrandt of words, making this a thoroughly enjoyable, stimulating, and artistically satisfying blurb, it closely aligns with what I tend to emphasize in my picture of communication. (Granted I am not well-versed in Milton, nor in poetry more generally, so this is my best shot at interpretation in the context of the class in deficit of full context.) The first sentence captures a key conviction for communication in the context of the human condition: "But Man by number is to manifest, His single imperfection, and beget Like of his life, his Image multipli'd, In unity defective, which requires Collateral love, and dearest amity." I interpret this as noting that man is fundamentally finite ("his single imperfection"), flawed. Though created in God's image, he is finite. Thus, when man's finite image is multiplied, they are "in unity defective," unlike the infinite and perfectly unified trinitarian relationship of God Himself. This defect in unity from multiplicity and finitude captures the difficulty of relationship (i.e. communication) between humans as a fundamental aspect of the human condition, spoken by Adam himself, the first human. This condition demands charity (a huge theme in my "Comm As..." essay), or, more profoundly and precisely, love, as the solution ("collateral love and dearest amity). The difficulty of interhuman communication can only be borne and perhaps transcended in the context of love (1 Corinthians 13). This more than anything captures my core conception of communication. The second sentence expresses a more abstract and perhaps even deeper component of my concept of communication, a theme which hasn't arisen until just today, i.e. communication between man and God: "Thou in thy secrecy although alone Best with thyself accompanied, seek'st not Social communication, yet so pleas'd, Canst raise thy Creature to that heighth though wilt Of union or communion, deifi'd." This is practically the Christian Gospel in a sentence. God is unreachable, ineffable, above human communication, transcendent of our earthly condition, uncontainable by human communication and all the structures and institutions from it forthcoming. However, it is His ability to raise us up to him, to by His own power bring us into perfect communion/communication with the divine. It would take much more than a brief discussion post to fully draw out my own views and contrast them with those expressed in this Miltonian blurb. Suffice to say that I appreciate this excerpt, that it resonates with me, because it recognizes the necessity of love in answer to the flawed and finite human condition, and acknowledges the theme of communication between God and man.
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