Reflections on December 19, 1979
http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2tb12.htm
Shame appears very complicated and it appears that we will dig into its meaning in more detail later. What he is discussing here is the absence of shame. And we also read that trying to think of that in relationship to the experience of childish innocence is off base. In “thinking about a lack of shame…it excludes even more the possibility of explaining it by analogy with positive human exper...iences, e.g., those of childhood … Such analogies are not merely insufficient, but can be misleading.”
We have seen that man and woman, seeing each other, experience and realize that they are both unique and meant for union. They are separate from the world and have differences from each other, but are still human together. The separation of male and female is there and it is necessary for them to experience this difference so that they can realize it and respond to it. For this experience to be realized, they must be naked. But in order to experience it in a way that leads them to understand the meaning of their differences and unity, they must be able to look on each other completely and without interference, thus the absence of shame.
I was thinking about taking health class and if you are shown the diagram of a naked body. There are different reactions, giggles, groans, ewes, embarrassment. We are not able to look upon the body and experience it in a way to fully understand what it means to us and how it helps to define us. But that is how Adam was able to look upon Eve and visa versa. And because they were able to do that, they gain a truly unbiased and untainted view of what the other human meant to them and how they assisted each other in fully understanding themselves. We see that eating from the tree of knowledge took them away from a deeper and fuller knowledge that they were able to have before. Not only do are they able to learn more about themselves through this untainted experience, but they are able to have a unique unity together that we can never fully realize.
Words I looked up
Ethos - the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period:
Criterion - a standard of judgment or criticism; a rule or principle for evaluating or testing something.
Naturalistic - pertaining to naturalists or natural history.
Personalistic - Also called personal idealism. a modern philosophical movement locating ultimate value and reality in persons, human or divine.