Adrian Aly M.

Chio
4 AB PH
Th 151
Recalling Scheller’s discussion of the Ordo Amoris, we remember it to be the
particular system of valuation of an individual, or a society. The eternal Ordo Amoris, on the
other hand, is the system of valuation of the Transcendent Person. It must then be taken note
of that all beings bear in the presence before persons their value according to the valuation of
the source of Being. As such, all things bear value, but not all share the same value. This, for
example, be how one values studying over their extracurricular activities—or vice versa.
Though one is not given the same value, they are still both of value. This is due to the fact
that they are valued by the source of their being, and that all beings are brought to being by a
person that will their being. With this, all are worthy of being objects in the infinite person’s
willing because they are born of a loving will that values what it brought into existence.
It is, however, possible to pervert the Ordo Amoris. This happens when the infinite
order of values is distorted or inverted. One may, for example, value something that goes
against the eternal Ordo Amoris. Say for example that, for purely hypothetical reasons, the
eternal Ordo Amoris values honesty and the respect for human life. A perversion of this Ordo
Amoris would be for one finite being who, though rooted in this eternal Ordo Amoris—
rejects this given system of values. This person, then, finds more value in lying and murder,
than in honesty and respect for human life. Though purely hypothetical as it would be quite
difficult to illuminate this order of values, the image is clear—the eternal Ordo Amoris is
perverted in one’s own inversion of it. Given this, the being of the human person may be
guided by a different order—an order contrary to the true order of values.
What would it mean, then, to have our Ordo Amoris to be a total inversion of the
eternal Ordo Amoris? Then we would not be able to realize our full becoming. Central to
Scheller’s thought is how he contemplates the play of finite becoming, infinite wholeness,
destiny, and fate in the human person. This is then, rooted in Scheller’s desire to comprehend
and understand the meaning of the finite becoming of the person who is faced with the
paradox of finitude and the call of the infinite. The mode of being of the human person then,
is finitude. This means that within the situatedness of the human person existing in time, the
human person experiences being as unfolding right before their eyes. Thus, the human person
experiences being from what was, what is, and what will be, as the finitude of the human
person is unable to comprehend what is wholly present to them. Additionally, all being is, for
the human person, an unfolding of that which is, which means that the experience of the
human person of being is that which is a becoming. The divine philosopher, however, is
speculated by the philosophers to be all encompassing with their consciousness and that there
us no time at all. By there is no time, it means that the divine person is omniscient, for all that
is is present to the divine mind. Past, present, and future—all these are mere nothingness in
the presence of the divine mind but is only experienced by the human person in his or her
finitude. Thus, for the divine person, there is no such thing as history or unfolding of time—
which we as human beings are subject to constantly. This, then, puts us as a contrary to the
divine person as the human person is unfolding constantly. The will or the mind cannot
encompass or comprehend what is present in fulness. This then highlights the finitude of the
human person as the limitations we face as constantly witnessing the unfolding of our own
becoming.
As the human person, we experience the becoming in time and in freedom. As a being
that understands being one’s being here and one’s fullness is a decision, human beings then
have control over how they come to face their being here. Though, we also realize that what
we do with out facticity is not decided, unlike our being thrown into this world. The finite
person has been thrown into the world without deciding for themselves, but the shape that
will unfold with this being here and its meaning is depending on how one decides to be—how
one defines one’s own unfolding. On fate, we come to see that it defines the limits of a
possibility. Having understood the thrownness of human existence, Max Scheller understands
that what one can possibly conceive to be the meaning of one’s life interests, what one can
know, and how one can act with regard to shaping one’s existence is defined by what one is
given in one’s coming-to-be. This means that even one’s preferences, one’s loves, what they
can freely choose to be theirs in one’s value judgement of the good and the valuable—all
these things are defined even before one freely chooses to make something of their existence
and as such, one is limited by the horizon of valuation that one has been given. Rooted from
Scheller’s theory of values, one can say that one’s being is shaped by a personal order of
values. Each being then, participates in the world and is shaped by a personal order of values.
This then, brings us back to the Ordo Amoris—as we are shaped by this order of
values. With regards to our own particular Ordo Amoris, we must understand that for us to
realize our genuine becoming, we must root our own system of valuation to that of the eternal
system of valuation. Recalling the discussion of the perversion of one’s own Ordo Amoris,
this becomes a perversion as it goes away from that which is dictated and guided by the
eternal Ordo Amoris. What makes the human being successful in their pursuit of realizing our
capability of genuine becoming is the realization that our particular Ordo Amoris must indeed
be rooted in that of the eternal Ordo Amoris. In our finitude, we find ourselves to be
constantly unfolding until the very moment that we partake in the wholeness of the divine
person. We recall that in our finitude as human beings, we are not prisoners of fate. Though
we are finite, we are able to actively shape our own fate, for what is given evolves with one’s
unfolding in time. With this, we find ourselves faced with endless possibilities of becoming.
The drive and the spirit, however, are also important in our genuine becoming. The drive is
the blind, eternal energy that pushes all things to maintain and flourish in existence. The
spirit, on the other hand, is the aspect of being that bestows what is with meaning. For us then
to thrive as progressively becoming, there must be a play between the drive and the spirit.
This proposes the drive and the spirit as two intertwined yet clearly distinct concepts that play
a role in our becoming and unfolding. Guided by the Ordo Amoris, we must clearly see it and
the call to follow this system of valuation and accept it as a universal truth. We find that, in
our being human, we cannot deny the truth that we as human beings must be able to bring the
drive and the spirit together for without drive, spirit is impotent and without spirit, drive is
blind.
On emphasizing discourse, we find the reflection on the play between finite becoming
and the call of the infinite to be crucial. It is this play of the finite facing the invitation of the
infinite, the fated seeking their destiny defined by the infinite, t he limits of finitude are
always present to distract or discourage our movement toward the fullness of being. Due to
historicity or fatedness, and due to the persistence of drive, we are so easily led into perverse
systems of values. We then, must remember that the human person is engaged in a
community of discourse. Our finitude allows for us to engage within a community of other
finite beings rooted and grounded in their particularity, but open to the call of the infinite. In
doing so, we then find ourselves constantly within the scope of the eternal Ordo Amoris. This
then means that, though we may be perverse in our Ordo Amoris, it is not too late to find a
way to situate ourselves back into the eternal Ordo Amoris for in doing so, we realize a true
and genuine becoming brought about by the eternal Ordo Amoris.