To restore the fashion for purity

By Jan Bilewicz,
Love One Another! 2016-36

What does it mean to live in purity? Is it not at the expense of sacrifices that deprive one of happiness? Is it not asceticism, which no one is capable of today? Can we even say today that purity is a value?

These and similar questions contain a certain inner drama. Indeed, many people — not only young people — have lost their discernment in this regard; they are lost.

What is purity?

Purity simply means the highest degree of compliance with one’s own nature. We can appreciate the value of pure gold, pure water, pure air … All true ecology is one big cry for purity. Why, then, is a naturally pure girl, a pure boy, a pure person not widely considered to be someone most valuable? Why is living in purity not a common, loudly proclaimed dream for adolescent girls and boys? Why does the desire for a pure life not trigger in young people the greatest eagerness to make an effort and make sacrifices, to pursue self-denial? Why are young people so often ashamed of their purity? Why do they pretend and declare that they are “less pure” than they really are? Why, in short, isn’t purity fashionable?

Is purity a value?

From a logical point of view, there are essentially only two possible answers to the above questions: either a person’s purity really has no value, or it is a great value, only people generally “don’t know it” — they do not understand it or they have been deceived in this regard.

The happiest person is someone who lives in agreement with their nature, with their calling, with themselves, to the highest degree; such a person is exactly who they are in a pure way

Let’s consider the first alternative: that a person’s purity is not a value. Let’s look at what people usually seek, what is the greatest desire of all normal people. Of course, everyone wants to be happy. People of all orientations, religions and political options agree on this. Perhaps this actually is the only case where it is possible for all people to agree. To be happy! What does it actually mean? Everyone understands it in their own individual way. People have very different ideas about how to achieve happiness. However, as we can see in life, many of them don’t find happiness. People quite commonly delude themselves that they will achieve happiness by possessing things and experiencing pleasure. However, this may give only temporary satisfaction, an illusory sense of happiness. In the long run, the pursuit of possessions and pleasure, not controlled by reason and willpower, does not bring happiness. On the contrary, many people have been made miserable and even lost by that kind of attitude. They know, because they have learned the hard way, that true happiness cannot be found along that path. We are also accompanied by a sense of unhappiness and disappointment when we realise that our abilities and talents have been wasted. So what if someone was exceptionally talented in music, if the gift was drowned in alcohol? So what if someone had exceptional technical skills, if they died prematurely due to a drugs overdose? So what if someone had unusual sensitivity, if they killed it by watching horror movies? So what if someone could be a wonderful, faithful husband and father, if he has become a slave to pornography and perverted sexual activity? So what if a girl was going to be the most wonderful wife and mother, if she ended up with a broken heart and has to live alone with her illegitimate child? These are all enormous misfortunes, disasters and tragedies in life, but unfortunately they are very often encountered. And they are the consequences of “impurity”, of abandoning true human nature.

The pursuit of possessions and pleasure, not controlled by reason and willpower, does not bring happiness. On the contrary, many people have been made miserable and even lost by that kind of attitude

It’s impossible to argue that a pure life — in agreement with nature — isn’t valuable. So the answer to the question is: purity is, unfortunately, a lost value.

Happiness and purity

Happiness is an object of desire and aspiration for all normal people, without exception. However, many seek happiness on paths where it is not found. Many go astray and waste their lives in the pursuit of happiness. Quite commonly, people look for happiness in non-human actions that are incompatible with the nature of man and become lost in perversions, which they call “innovations”. If someone uses the term “perversion”, “deviation” or even “pathology”, they are called “intolerant, parochial fanatics”.

So where does true happiness come from? It results from being yourself, from living in agreement with your nature; that is, being the person you are supposed to be, in the way you were gifted, equipped and appointed, or — in other words — created.

A bird is happy with a “bird’s” happiness when it soars high in the air, and is unhappy when it is locked in a cage (even a gilded one). A camel feels better in the desert than in a zoo.

So it is with people: we are happy when we live the life of a human. One would like to ask those pursuing non-human pseudo-values: “What are you doing in that zoo?” Except that an animal locked in a cage is “innocent”, whereas any normal person, with free will, actually “shuts himself in various cages” at his own request.

So we experience deep, lasting and true happiness when we freely recognise and develop our personal, individual talents and abilities, rising to the pinnacle of our human capacities. The happiest person is someone who lives in agreement with their nature, with their calling, with themselves, to the highest degree; such a person is exactly who they are in a pure way. As a result, a person’s true happiness comes from living in purity, understood in the right way. Hence, purity is a great value, albeit lost. It is the value on which a person’s happiness clearly depends.

How to find oneself?

Many people do not find happiness because they do not know the truth about themselves. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” There are two ways to know the truth: understanding with your own mind or believing someone, some authority. Is it possible for a man himself to get at the truth that purity is a great value? Of course it is, but the world in which he lives may effectively hinder this. If we lived in a world that was not “infected”, where purity was the most prized asset, it would be easy to come to the logical conclusion that purity pays off in every respect. So-called primitive peoples, living close to nature and in agreement with it — despite the fact that they cannot even read or write — sometimes live wiser lives and, as a result, are happier than many “great sages” of a highly civilised world. What’s more, they live a more reflective life. They are aware of the passing of time, the inevitability of their own death and the fact — obvious for them — that the death of the body is not the end of everything, but only a transition to a new, eternal reality. Meanwhile, “enlightened” people often live pretending that there is no death (for fear of it). Their reflection gets only as far as their earthly life, and even that tends to cause them problems.

It seems that by using your own mind, you are largely capable of coming to understand the meaning of life and, consequently, of living so as to be happy — already here on earth. However, that won’t happen without profound reflection and independent thinking. In particular, we need to break away from the “official” stereotypes such as: you can have either joy in life or decency, not to mention holiness. Contrary to widespread opinions, there is no contradiction between earthly and eternal happiness. Rather, there is perfect compatibility. A person is happiest when perfectly “pure”; that is, when living in harmony with their human nature, received from the Creator, which simply means being a holy person. Sinfulness is “attractive” only on the surface, in the area of pleasure, and then only within a very short, limited time span.

The one who knows best what is good for man, who knows human nature best, is the One who created them: God the Creator.

question arises as to whether achieving everything yourself is the best and safest recipe for life. A saying comes to mind: “why force an open door?” Indeed, if clever people have already come up with something that has been verified by life, it is wise to take advantage of it. Yet a problem arises: whom to believe? This is a question about the authority of role models, who are increasingly rejected, which in turn makes it extremely difficult — especially for young people — to function in the complexities of the world. It is true that many people declare that they do not recognise any authority, that they believe no one. Yet there are actually no “unbelievers”. We believe teachers in school, we believe doctors, we believe car mechanics, we believe various specialists, and we even believe (oh, how gullible!) train timetables. There are also people who believe different kinds of crooks or cheats. Often they believe in fortune-telling, in horoscopes, in superstitions. So whom to believe? Whom to consider wise and trustworthy in the most important matters, matters of life and death? How, in today’s morally tangled world, can people know whom to trust or how they can find out for themselves what gives them happiness? What is ultimately good and bad for people? Whom to listen to in this regard? Who knows it all and best?

The authority of God

For a believer, it’s simple. The one who knows best what is good for man, who knows human nature best, is the One who created them: God the Creator. How much wiser it is to benefit from what is revealed by the One who knows infallibly, who created us, than to entrust even the most competent human specialist. If we assume that God-Love desires well-being for man, we just need to listen to Him and follow His instructions and commandments. Among the numerous, diverse and often vulgar attacks on the Church and God, I have never met with the statement that God doesn’t mean well for people — the beings that He Himself created. So His instructions are the most valuable signposts on the way to true happiness. And this is the gospel truth. His commandments are not cruel prohibitions, but guidelines on how to protect ourselves from harm. They warn against the dramatic “contamination” of our humanity through murder, adultery, theft, and lust for people and things. Keeping all the commandments (not only the sixth one) protects our purity and makes us happy already here on earth.

Natural law

So what is an unbeliever supposed to do? Can he or she, all by themselves, using reason, come to perceive the value that purity is? Well, an unbeliever — though he or she doesn’t know it — was created by a loving God, who inscribed His law in them. A believer reads it as the law of God, an unbeliever has the chance to read it as the law of nature. If someone lives in accordance with this inner law, so in agreement with the will of the Creator, they are happy and just a step away from conversion.

Purity — a lost value

So purity is a great opportunity for happiness for everyone, and impurity inevitably leads to harm. The statement that purity is not a value is really difficult to support.

Let’s move on to the other alternative answer to the question posed at the beginning: human purity is a great value, it’s just that people “don’t know” about it widely, because they have been deceived in this regard. So how did this happen?

Human purity is a great value, it’s just that people “don’t know” about it widely

A gigantic manipulation

Someone has created a gigantic, worldwide fraud, falsifying the reality of human nature in a thousand ways. Someone, by employing the most modern means and methods of manipulation, wants to do (and unfortunately does) dirty business by seducing young people and pulling them from the path of purity in life. One special area that is particularly strongly contaminated is the area of sexuality. Sexuality is a unique area, where the miracle of creating a new life takes place. It is a sacred area, where man is authorised by the Creator to perform the act of creation. Sexuality and fertility, its corollary, comprises an enormous potential wealth of experiences, sensations and emotions. It is thanks to this that a married couple becomes a family raising children. Let’s get it straight: it is thanks to sexuality and fertility that we exist at all. The pleasure which the Creator incorporated into sexual activity is a kind of encouragement and a reward at the same time for the willingness to take on the hardships of parenting. That is God’s concept of sexuality and fertility. But man wanted to be smarter than the Creator. He invented his imperfect contraception, in order to derive unauthorised joy from sexual activity, without being bound to the hardships of parenting. He wanted to “steal” the reward and to cheat nature and its Creator. He wanted to “sterilise” happiness, but instead sterilised himself. To become infertile physically, he made himself infertile spiritually. He made his sexual acts barren and void of expression, frustrating, aggravating and ultimately destructive to the relationship between a man and a woman. The meaning of sexual union has been completely distorted. The union of two people loving and giving to each other, and open to parenthood, has been transformed into entertainment for bodies. Sexual pleasure has become a value in itself, which can be traded. Whole industries have been created which “produce and offer” sexual pleasure (pornography, brothels) and eliminate the consequences of wanton sexual actions (contraception and abortion). Note that numerous parliaments and heads of state do their best to make sure that these industries function well. Under the slogans of freedom, equality and tolerance, they are protected by law; debauched activities are even promoted, and one is not allowed to name them for what they are. The effects of this deliberately introduced sexual mess can be seen all around. As we know, every moral mess brings an opportunity to make money. And money is made, but it’s rather like Judas’ pieces of silver. Those who spread impurity and enjoy making big but dirty money probably do not realise how bad a “business” (in terms of the final, eternal aspect) they’ve got themselves into. Woe betide those who cause little ones to stumble. It would be better for them if they had not been born. It would be better for them if a great millstone were fastened around their neck and they were drowned in the depths of the sea …

Source: https://loamagazine.org/archive/2016/2016-36/to-restore-the-fashion-for-purity

The above article was published with permission from Miłujcie się! in September 2020.

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