John Scott- Phusis

The idea of Phusis is something that we talked about in class today. This concept gets at the nature and intrinsic qualities of “things”. These “things” are natural and real. It got me thinking about what makes something natural and good. This concept talks about things changing and morphing in a natural way. This growth is so good and it really is beautiful. Growth is beautiful because it is the way of things. We are constantly growing and renewing ourselves. Everyday we learn about new things and change. I change because I have an encounter with others and because of the experiences that I have. Stagnation means that I am not exposing myself to this and that means that I am not truly living. Maybe that is a good definition for life. The meaning of life is growth and change. It doesn’t necessarily matter where you are in life, but what matters is that you are growing and being redeemed by those around you and the Spirit. It is the natural way and it is phusis. We see it in nature. Plants and animals all grow toward death. It is this that I find extremely intriguing. We all are growing toward death. We are all living toward death. This shows the limitation of this world and our lives/ our growths. We grow and change and it all comes down to a physical death. Which reminds me of a C.S. Lewis quote that states, “You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” Our bodies are simply broken vessels carrying our living, growing souls to the final destination, paradise and communion with the divine.