Everything, Something and Nothing

Image and Imagination for the Self Reformer

By John Taylor; 2009 Feb 14, 08 Mulk, 165 BE

Fifth essay on Panorthosia, Chapter Twenty, Reform of the Individual, Covering Paragraphs 13, 14, 16 and 20.

"Here is a Splendid Image of God!" -Comenius's suggested motto for self-reformers

Look into a mirror and you can see the whole world, although materially it is nothing more than a flat, reflective surface. Personal reform makes the heart into just that, a mirror of God. As a "splendid image of God" I can connect with the universe, both seen and unseen. Imagination, reflection and projection give the supreme creative power to reform the world. Albert Einstein, who did that himself, showed he understood this when he said, "imagination is more important than knowledge." The ability to imagine, to deal with images of what may or may not be real, is essential to rising above and changing the way things are.

For Comenius, then, a reformer is anybody who responds directly and sincerely to our God-given station of "image-ship." Imagination transforms our being into a reflection of the divine. If we aim at imaginative reflection, it happens, like light striking the mirror. We come to represent the likeness of God in the thought, decisions and actions of daily life. To do this we should, "`be holy, even as our God is holy," (Leviticus 24:2) and merciful and generous, and kind yet just to all men without respect of persons, (Romans 2:11) ... as true religion teaches you." (Panorthosia, Ch. 20, para 15, p. 25) This means that we cannot be satisfied with specialization, with a part of perfection, but should strive to show forth the whole, all at once.

"I say that you must be Everything in yourself, as a genuine portion of mankind and a true image of God and Christ." (Para 13, p. 25)

Being an image of God means that we enter into what Comenius calls "fullness," which means that we have "a full share in the privileges of human nature." (para 14, p. 25) This station offers not only privileges but also gives rise to severe duties.

"For if every individual Being is an image of the Universe every member of human society ought also to represent human society as a whole, so that as a part of human society one may be or know or wish or do what all men are or know or wish or can do (assuming that their circumstances are put right)."

A mirror reflects anything put before it, just like a variable stands for any number in algebra. Comenius here portrays the moral consequences of our status as mirrors of God in a way that is surprisingly similar to Kant's Categorical Imperative, and even Rawls's "Veil of Ignorance." Both posit that we should think and act in such a way as to respond to whatever the "fullness" of universality demands. But unlike these ungrounded, purely theoretical formulations of full duty, Comenius paints seven very practical callings to respond to if we are to be "totally good" images of the Deity,

"This means that you should be

1. A good Man, exalted above all the animal kingdom.

2. A good Scholar, understanding the reasons for as many things as possible.

3. A good Physician and Doctor, well-informed about the ways of preserving your life and health according to the will of God.

4. A good Philosopher, capable of proper self-control in all respects.

5. A good Economist, skilled in the ways and means of obtaining the necessities of life and using and enjoying them correctly.

6. A good Politician, expert in wise human intercourse.

7. Finally, a good Christian, wholly dedicated to God and walking uprightly in His sight. (Cf. Proverbs 28:18, 'Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved.')" (Para 14, p. 25)

As an image of God, our clear duty is to be sincere, not to pretend or affect to be either a reformer or an image of God. A hypocrite is an actor who takes on a false role, who pretends to be for reform but really stands for the status quo, which is always to his limited advantage. "It is a mistake for men to wish to give the appearance of reform according to God's will without working towards the reality of it." (Para 20, p. 27) Such a false show betrays truth, our real inner image. Rather, Comenius says, we must be like the tablets of the Ten Commandments that Moses carried down from Zion, which were written on both sides. That is, the Law written on us must be just the same in our inner as in our outer life.

But the image of God is not just two-sided. Like a Mobius strip, it has only one side but manages this by extending through three dimensions. In the following, Comenius shows his genius for the short formula summing up the essentials behind a complex, tangled mess of potential confusions, in this case the dimensionality of the role of God's image in reform.

"Would you like me to put it more like a formula? You must be fully transformed so that you are Everything, Something, and Nothing. Everything in yourself, Something in human society of which you are a part, and Nothing in the presence of God." (Comenius, Panorthosia, Ch. 20, para 12, pp. 24-25)

This way each of us can be all, some and none, all at once. A reformer is everything (in his inner life an image of God), something (his role in changing society) and nothing (while standing in the presence of God). To imitate the image of Christ, we mirror forth the "professional" qualities of God, God as teacher, doctor and priest.

"And even as he (Christ) was appointed by God as our doctor, prophet, priest, and king unto eternity, so you must be a king unto yourself subject to his rule, serving no man except Christ, like a teacher taught of God, teaching yourself something better every day, and like a holy priest coming to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:5)." (Para 16, p. 26)

--
John Taylor

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