2.
Deification as the Purpose of Human Life
The question of the destiny of our lives is very serious, as it concerns
the most important question for man: for what purpose are we placed
on earth? If man takes a correct stance on this issue; if he
finds his true
destiny; then he will be able to take a correct viewpoint in relation
to particular questions that arise in our daily life; in our relationships
with our fellow men; in our studies, profession, marriage and the bearing
and upbringing of children. If he does not relate correctly to this
basic issue, then he will also fail in life’s particular
purposes, for what meaning can a particular purpose have if
human life as a whole has
no meaning?
Our life’s purpose is declared in the first chapter of the Holy Bible,
when the Holy author tells us that God created man ‘in His image
and likeness’. From this we discover the great love the Triune
God has for man: He does not wish him simply to be a being with certain
gifts,
certain qualities, a certain superiority over the rest of creation, He
wishes him to be a god by Grace.
Externally, man seems to exist in a purely biological way, like the other
living beings, the animals. Of course, he is an animal, but ‘an animal
... which is in the process of Theosis through its inclination towards
God’[1], as St. Gregory the Theologian says in his characteristic
way. He is the only being that is distinguished from all else in creation,
because he is the only one which can become a god.
The phrase ‘in
His image’ describes the gifts which God gave
only to man, in order to complete him as an icon of God, and not to
any of His other creatures. These gifts are: a logos-related nous,
conscience,
and individual sovereignty, i.e. freedom, creativity, eros, and the
yearning for the absolute and for God, personal self-awareness, and
anything else
which puts man above all other living beings in creation and makes
him a man and an individual. That is to say, everything that makes
man a person.
These are the charismata by which we are formed ‘in His image’.
Having been formed ‘in
His image’, man is called upon to be
completed ‘in His likeness’. This is Theosis. The Creator,
God by nature, calls man to become a god by Grace.
The charismata that form us ‘in His image’ were given to
man by God in order that he may reach very high; so that through them
he may
attain a likeness to his God and Creator; so that he may have not only
an external, moral relationship, but a personal union with his Creator.
Perhaps it is very
daring for us even to say or think that our life's purpose is to become
gods by Grace. However, neither the Holy Bible
nor the Church
Fathers have hidden this from us.
Unfortunately, ignorance not only exists in people outside the
Church, but also in many within the Church, because they assume
that the
purpose of our life is, at best, simply moral improvement, to become
better
men; when we are told by the Gospel, by the Tradition of the Church,
and by
the holy Fathers, that the purpose of our life is not just that.
Man should become better than he is, more moral, more just, more
self-controlled,
more mindful; all these must happen, but none of them are the great
purpose,
the final purpose for which our Maker and Creator moulded man.
What is this purpose?
Theosis – for man to be united with God, not
in an external or a sentimental manner but ontologically, in
a real way. Humanity is placed so high in Orthodox anthropology that
if we compare
it with the anthropologies of all the philosophies or of the
social and psychological systems we will very easily find out how poor
these are,
how little they correspond to man’s great yearning for
something very great and true in his life.
Since man is ‘called to be a god’, i.e. was created to become
a god, as long as he does not find himself on the path of Theosis he
feels an emptiness within himself ... he feels that something is not
going right,
so he is not joyful even when he is trying to cover the emptiness with
other activities. He may numb himself, create a glamorous world, or cage
and imprison himself within this world, yet at the same time he remains
poor, small, limited. He may organise his life in such a way that he
is almost never at peace, never alone with himself. Surrounded by noise,
tension,
television, radio, continuous information about this and that, he may
seek to forget as if with drugs; not to think, not to worry, not to remember
that he is on the wrong path and has strayed from his purpose.
In the end, the wretched
contemporary man finds no rest until he finds that ‘something
else’, the highest thing; the thing which
actually exists in his life which is truly beautiful and creative.
Can man unite with God? Can he commune with Him? Can he become
a god by Grace?
[1] Homily on the Epiphany, Migne Patrologia Graeca 36, 324,
13.
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