https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=72QToVO3gLM
Okay Hi everybody and so this video is based on the patreon comments Which I asked the $10 patrons to suggest a subject for a video And then I pick among the ones that I feel are the most interesting now this subject was given by Jacob Russell, and it was the most voted of all the The possible subject and his question or his his question is this it says this is probably a big one But how about communion or the meal slash eating? I know you’ve touched on it But the whole this is my flesh just makes my brain swirl sometimes okay This is Jonathan Peugeot welcome to the symbolic world All right, so This is something that I could talk about forever and so I Don’t think I will be able to cover the entire question of of the symbolism of eating and the symbolism of communion and the especially the specifics of communion, but I will try to get as much as I can into this video and If you feel like there’s something missing if you feel like they’re like there are some things that aren’t clear Go ahead and write it down in the questions, and I will maybe make a second version A second part of this video now First first the the idea of eating now The notion of eating Is extremely important because it has to do with this idea of knowledge right I’ve talked about I’ve talked about this notion of of Knowing as joining ourselves with something okay, and so There are several images of that in the Bible one of the images one of the images is Sexual union this idea of joining yourself a man joining himself with his with his wife that it is a form of knowledge Okay, eating is also a form of knowledge What it what it is it is Just You could say it this way just as a man and his wife are joined together to become one body Okay So too when you eat you are You are making body you you are taking the stuff you know taking food and you are Bringing gathering it into yourself, and it becomes your body okay now that becomes an image of knowledge that is an integration a manner in which heaven and earth are integrated is that The human being man as microcosm at this central point gathers the food into himself, and it becomes a It becomes the the potential out of which his mind his thinking his spirit can then manifest itself in the world Okay, if you watch some of the videos that I did with my brother Matt’s here He talks about that in those videos as well and explains it quite well now In terms of Understanding the specifics of communion there are several things to understand okay The first is the notion of eating together Okay now eating together is a man a manner in which we Participate together in Making a body and so as we sit together and we eat the same thing together We are if you will using the same potential in order to create body We are becoming one body in that sense we are We are in communion in that sense that is we are participating in the making of body okay? and so that that is that is that is a good way to understand also a manner in which the the idea of You know Matt’s here in the video we did he talks about how the notion of of of how a city Ready it eats people and so by eating people right it integrates all those people into this one identity and It becomes one thing it becomes one city in the same manner if we sit around a table And we are all eating the same food It’s not exactly the same image, but in a in a similar manner We are we are all joining ourselves together in in that body okay, and so it is All right So so that’s that’s let’s say the basic idea of Why food is such a a symbol of knowledge and why it’s related to? this notion of eating the fruit of good and evil which is The fall because in the notion of eating the fruit of good and evil We are eating the fruit the result of the opposition of good and evil and and by doing that we are joining ourselves with that and then Especially in the way that it happened in the story of the fall It’s a it’s actually a kind of falling into the body right not that the body is evil not that the body is wrong But there’s a manner in which we can kind of fall into the body where we lose we forget the higher aspect We forget the the the the aim which was the tree of life we forget this notion of The you know of our higher aspects that we kind of fall into the body And that’s why all the images of the fall are related to this Adding on of body the adding on of the garments of skin. It’s kind of this this the world becomes hostile and then also Procreation happens after the fall so all of those all of those images are images which Talk about the same thing this kind of this kind of descent into Into Into flesh let’s say okay But like I said, it’s important to understand that people have been so confused in thinking that somehow the body is bad or that flesh is bad or that or that Sexuality is bad. None of those things are bad But they’re bad to the extent into which we lose ourselves into them, right? and that to the extent that we we forget our Humanity and we become become animalistic we become subject to our own desires Okay, so we come we become subject to our body Okay now you can see that as much with the the belly as with with sexual desire whereas we can we can Lose ourselves in making body we can we can become a slave to to the making of body. Okay, so now that’s that that’s kind of have to understand this basic symbolism of eating first before we Understand the how it plays itself out afterwards So now if you take the the the notion of The notion of eating so eating is the cause of the fall eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then so to eating in the end Be is also one of the images of salvation. It’s one of the images of of the undoing or let’s say the transformation of the fall into something higher into something which actually brings us closer to God and so Now I’ve talked about this before One of the aspects of Christ is that Christ brings everything together right he brings everything into itself and so the image that you That you have in communion and there’s no way that I can exhaust the symbolism of communion It’s not happening if that’s what you’re hoping for in this video It’s not gonna happen, but I can give you some hints I can because I couldn’t do it myself I don’t I don’t have the the knowledge to exhaust the symbolism of communion But I can give you some hints to help you understand the connection between the two now so Remember Adam and Eve they eat the fruit of the garden of eat the the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they fall they Accumulate flesh right they accumulate flesh, but they also accumulate death Okay, that’s how it’s presented if you eat the fruit you will die God gives them these garments of dead skins and now they accumulate all these layers and layers and layers of Death up to the flood. Okay. Now what Christ does is he? Flips everything around he he he’s able to bring everything together in a way that makes your makes your mind explode Because he’s saying the manner in which you will now participate in the life of God is to eat and He says you’re going to eat first of all The the the fruit right so the bread and the wine But that bread and wine is flesh and blood So think about it think about it this way Adam and Eve they eat they fall and then these falls this leaves layers of death Get they get added to Adam and Eve and Christ says You have to eat all that Right you have to you have to you have to be able to take in death Right and it’s his death because he’s the one who fills all of that together so he’s saying you have to eat the the the body and drink the blood in order to fully Be able to participate in this total mystery Which is how Christ fills up the entire hierarchy from the highest to the lowest goes down into death and then Consummates the the the consummates the fall he he dies He does exactly what Adam and Eve that he eats the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil He dies on the tree and then we need to eat the fruit of that in order Then for everything to kind of come together, okay? And I know that this is The the symbolism of Communion is not easy. It is the it is the highest mystery and so for it to be the highest mystery it contains everything inside it and and there is an aspect of scandal to the to to the the to the symbolism of communion right because you can imagine even at the beginning of of Christianity the Romans heard about of this sect of Jews who were basic who said that they’re eating the blood and body of their of their Savior and and and it was like here Are these cannibal this cannibal sect of people who are eating human flesh and so you can imagine how the Romans understood? What Christianity was but just like Christ? Became sin without sinning just like Christ You know entered into the the bottom of death without being subject to death Without being totally subject or he let’s he he made himself subject to death But in the end conquered death so to this notion of eating the bread the body and blood We’re eating bread and wine. We’re not Right. We’re not literally ripping ripping pieces of flesh off off a human body And so it’s a met but it’s real at the same time and so the notion of saying that it’s real But it’s also something which transcends the categories right which joins them all together is able to for us to Understand how the scandal is part of this totality, but it we also transcend the scandal by By by eating bread and and drinking wine, okay? I Hope this is this is making sense to you because it’s it’s not an easy. It’s not a totally easy Subject to understand obviously that’s why we say it’s a mystery But there’s also like I said this other aspect Which is this notion of the communion table the altar being also a table in? Which we enter into communion with God, okay? So the image that we have in the Orthodox Church We we use this image of the hospitality of Abraham and in the hospitality of Abraham these three angels Appeared to to Abraham and Abraham served them Food and it has become an image of the Trinity those three angels have become for Christians an image of the Trinity And so we have this image by Andrew Rublev of the three angels who are Symbolizing for us the Trinity and then there’s this open space at the table in front of us Which is that we now come and enter into To communion and the image of the communion is that we come to share a meal with With with the Trinity, okay, obviously it’s it’s an imagistic form But then the communion table in the church becomes this entering into the life of God by by By eating the flesh of the of the logos we commune with the logos just like We have the same body as God we have we participate in God’s body That is the body of Christ that is the church, okay, although all this imagery is completely Coherent even though on a purely rationalistic Side it might be difficult for people to understand but the the the and it’s not just that it’s important to understand It’s not just a mental game. It’s not just abstractions, but by by actually eating The the taking communion physically taking communion We have to do it in a physical sense in order to fully enter into That relationship in order for the communion to not just be a mental game Not just be some thing that we think of in our own mind But to actually come together around the communion table eat the same bread drink the same wine Participate in the sacrament altogether and at the same time knowing that Participating in the sacrament is entering into what transcends it right entering into the life of God That is the whole notion of what Communion is of what liturgy is and of what the Orthodox notion of participation in God and participation in the life of God Is all about? So I think that that is really the the basic idea of communion now in terms of why flesh and blood why Bread and wine I’ve talked about this a little bit obviously once again I cannot I cannot exhaust the symbolism you would need to read the whole Bible to kind of get a sense of all those places but We need to understand The basic category so you have bread which is a a staple bread which is a you know It’s the basic food of of life, and it’s also solid okay So you have this notion of a solid food that you eat then there’s wine which is first of all liquid okay, so it is it is an image of change an image of of of the Of of kind of a bit of a chaotic influence, but then wine as well Which is a form of fermentation so fermented element? you know the Fermentation is basically a form of death and so wine is a kind of turning of death against against itself and Then when you drink wine you also are Inebriated you you you are in a state of of flux Here again for those who have read Matthew’s book you will you will understand what it is that I’m talking about And so you have bread you have wine which is those these two basic categories You could say space and time right that are part of communion But then then they’re taken up the transformed into something which is both at the same time You know higher but also at the same time a kind of scandal which is the eating of Flesh which is akin to bread which is in our body. It’s our solid. It’s our solid state It’s our it’s our you know it’s the basic It’s a it’s our basic Understanding of what the body is and then blood which is once again the liquid free-flowing aspect of ourselves At the same time in the tradition of the sacrifice you really had this idea of Blood Representing let’s say the more spiritual aspect In the Bible it says that blood is the soul of the body and so this idea that blood represents the kind of more spiritual aspect and then the the body represents the more physical, you know, the more Incarnate aspect and then the way there was this weird exchange where when they would sacrifice an animal They would they would sprinkle the blood down right sprinkle it on to the horns of the altar And then also they would pour it out on the ground So it was it was this kind of this thing coming down to the ground But at the same time they would offer up the flesh to to God and so God would eat The flesh and then you know acquire Body which was also our prayers which was also our communion which was also the coming together of the people which would become the body which was offered up to God for God to to to To be manifest himself in your life and in your and in the life of the of the the people of Israel That’s that’s one of the one of the ways to kind of understand ancient sacrifice Now in communion we have once again, it’s like mind-blowing thing where where we consume both the bread and The blood and the and the wine we consume both the flesh and the blood which is absolutely unheard of there’s nowhere in the Old Testament that the priest or anybody would consume the blood of the of The sacrifice, but they would eat the meat of the sacrifice So they would burn they would cook the meat and then they would they would eat the meat of the sacrifice and the smoke would Go up we go up to God, but they would also participate in eating the meat But no one would ever eat the blood and so for Christians to eat the meat Eat the flesh and also drink the blood is it has to do again with this notion that Christ fills up the whole thing Contains the whole mystery right and in him is both the highest and the lowest so both the thing Being that comes down all the way down and drips down into the in into into the bottom But the thing that’s from down that from below and goes is raised up into the highest and Christ Contains those two things together and so that is that is one of the That is a hint let’s say to help you understand Why it is those elements which are brought together in communion like I said I’m not exhausting this and and and there’s much more to it that I could encompass in a video but hopefully this will give give all of you a little sense of Why eating is so important why? how it’s related to knowledge and also how it is How it comes together in communion and maybe one last little thing that I can mention is that In eating there is also two aspects in order to if you want to understand eating can also help us to understand Sexuality because sexuality and eating are very close together If you look at the stories in the Bible and in other stories as well in other traditions You’ll see how closely related they are even in the in the fall, but um There are there are two aspects to eating itself You know and so eating has a nutritional aspect Okay, as you could say there are three parts. Let’s say eating has a nutritional aspect, which is we’re building body We’re you were eating in order to be able to continue living as human beings There’s an aspect of eating which is which brings us pleasure Okay, and then there’s a third aspect of eating which is when we eat together It creates this community and it could it creates this community where we eat together and we participate in the same body Okay, and and sexuality has the same aspects that is there is an aspect of sexuality which is to to propagate The human race okay, and so so it is there for the humanity to continue to exist Just like food is for you to continue to exist. There’s an aspect of it Which is which brings pleasure and there is an aspect of it of it, which is on a larger scale, which is Communion communion with the person with whom you’re you’re having a sexual relationship But also building community by creating family and and these families clump together and create larger community, okay, and so in the Christian understanding of Of both eating and sexuality those all of those elements have to come together have to be united together Somehow and it doesn’t mean that that that it doesn’t mean that you can’t You can’t have an ice cream cone, right? And it doesn’t mean that you you have to only eat things that are just so healthy for you that you know But but it means that there has to be a pattern where all those things come together where in your life you are eating to to to To to build your body you’re eating to also to to To to Encourage communion and you’re also enjoying what you’re eating. Okay, and it’s the same with sexuality So that’s why in Christianity the notion of marriage is so important One of the reasons why it’s so important because in marriage you have that pattern where all those three elements of sexuality are gathered together into into something into a symbol right into the whole this whole idea of what I talk about when I talk about Symbolic relationship that is they’re brought together so that their essence appears in all these elements coming together So we we can see what eating is and then it can help us to understand Communion because the communion with God has also those let’s say those three elements together Okay, everybody. So if you haven’t gotten Matthew’s book You should get Matthew’s book because There’s a lot of stuff that I’m gonna be talking about in the in the next videos that are going to relate to his book There are a lot of things happening. I’m going I’m starting I’ve already started a monthly Q&A with With patrons so you can find that find that information on patreon I’m also working on a website right now reading list all of that is happening as I make this video and so Look forward to seeing that hopefully as soon as possible turns out making a website is more complicated If you want it in a certain way, so but it’s happening. There’s also my next video cultural interpretation is going to be called something like Batman no, it’s gonna be called something like Adam and Eve and Batman and It’s just to show you