There is meaningful human transcendence possible to any person, whether that person believes in God or not. Many persons miss it, some partially and some almost wholly. One wonders if a normal person ever loses it totally. It is based on what we may call, for purpose here, humanity. Take away man’s humanity and we have an animal, even an animal who can think, express ideas, and a better context for living than any other animal. For evolutionists who do not espouse God, that is what has happened to homo-sapiens in emerging from the primordial to present state. Even then there is room for human transcendence in that we have arrived at a height of the emerging processes. That is a cause for specialness, so to lead to some kind of transcendence, a specialness that is inspirational and motivating. From it the human being seeks ways to lengthen life, to live in health, to accomplish what this elevated animal engine can achieve, partly in the control and uses of the lesser, the dumb (without speech) animals. They are not seen, in their higher species, as ignorant, but dumb in that they do not have a reflective language that leads to change, to comfort, to variety, to achievement, to creativity, to freedom. Consequently they are managed rather than managing, except in their care of their young. Even that is restricted, depending on circumstances in nature, and incursion on their habitat which is most threatened by mankind.
What are some of the signs of that transcendence? It is found in grooming, in variety of decorations for the body (clothing styles, jewelry, etc.), in elevated culture, in respect for reason, in orientations of values, in search for comfort, in sense of conscience for others of the race, in individualism that is highest in the family context, in desire for giving and receiving awards – and so the story goes. The transcendence is diminished, even degraded by the reduction of the better parts of these factors. Decoration is distorted in body piercing, or tattooing (a kind of piercing); culture is degraded in alcohol or drugs or some other non-constructive habit; carnality messes up the respect one feels for personal values; grooming may drop away to sloppy casualness and lack of cleanliness; meaning is lost in sloth and immodesty; language is garbled with contradictions and distortions; and, so that story goes. The individual may end up in the gutter, in some corrective institution, in marginal circumstances, in broken relationships, in despair, even in a quiet acceptance of something lost – perhaps suicide. An eminent actor, having turned his sixty fifth birthday, quietly took his life leaving a cryptic note: I have lived long enough. He had lost the sense of ordinary human transcendence that rests on an elevated respect for life at the human level. When that is lost, or sufficiently diminished, the person finds no reason to go on. Death ends human transcendence, although living friends tend to look for features of that special factor in the deceased. They are so eager that they may overly embellish reality that was the idolized life of a family, friend, or social model.
God calls persons to be models, examples, advertisements of meaning and value. The transcendence factor may make a difference in the offspring, neighbor, fellow worker, even a stranger. Jesus made it clear, and the Apostle Paul pressed the point, that persons were to live so that their transcendence might be seen and felt, leading to something better for others giving attention. Life is special, and the higher it goes, the more special it seems to be. Human transcendence is further elevated when the person recognizes that there is some image of God factor that influences it. Human transcendence as a possession ends for the individual at death. God’s will never end. God will not destroy any thing, any person, possessing the magnitude of that image gift that is passed back to him. It can be lost because it does not find a lasting home in a person – the failure, the omission, the disregard for God’s redemptive gift that forfeits the ultimate transcendence. The Christian, when fully engaged in a personal biblical faith, possesses some divine transcendence, partly related to absorption of divine gifts. It seems larger at times, and likely can be traced to some inspiration of Scripture, prayer, awareness of blessing (as a relief from illness or the sense of an involvement above ordinary, perhaps simply believed to be above our circumstances). The person who is optimistic is more likely to sense the transcendental than the pessimist. Even human studies show these persons have better health, and live longer. Live transcendently. However, it demands the redeeming work of God in us to achieve transcendence as a way of life. Samples are not lasting. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020