Egredientes Ex Arca

My initial vision for the title was something to the extent of 'going outside the box', or 'exiting the box'.  Egredientes Ex Arca has that basic meaning, but the particular way that Google translated it as coming 'forth from the ark' was more appealing.  


It is a universal appeal, considering that the notion of Noah's Ark brought us the ancient Covenant God gave to Noah. This is considered the first Covenant that was given - it is certainly the first given in universality to fallen Man, as one could say that Adam and Eve had a certain covenant with God in the Garden of Eden that was basically summed up as be fruitful and multiply, tend to the garden, and to not eat of the forbidden fruit. Those precepts were intended mostly subjectively to our first parents. This is not to say that one can't consider a universal and objective truth in those basic precepts, but that they were first and foremost directed to our first parents in that specific and long ago lost time and place of that lovely garden. However, the seed planted in that long lost garden would become cultivated in a more universal manner in the Noahide Covenant, which went from the three basic precepts to the seven as the Wikipedia article states them:

1. Do not deny God.
2. Do not blaspheme God.
3. Do not murder.
4. Do not engage in illicit sexual relations.
5. Do not steal.
6. Do not eat from a live animal.
7. Establish courts/legal system to ensure obedience to said laws.

These laws were binding on the children of Noah, which, in the understanding of the Genesis flood story, would mean, then, on all humanity, since all humanity after the flood is believed to have derived from Noah. Thus do we get the aspect of its universality as being a basic precept and covenant from God that would apply to all.  Later, in the New Covenant, it would have importance in Christianity, as noted in Acts 15, in what would be recorded as the first Christian Church council, the Council of Jerusalem.  This is where the Christian Church becomes universal, and thus Catholic, as the term in both Greek and Latin means 'universal'. 

Of course, this does not undermine the Law, or the Torah. As it is, the Noahide Covenant is in the Torah, and thus is Torah. The difference may be, whereas the Old Covenant was more specifically for the Jews as God's promised people, the New Covenant that the universal, the Catholic Christian Church is established upon through our Lord Christ Jesus, bought by the price of his blood and very life, does not just acknowledge the righteous gentile, or the good nations or peoples, but further grafts them in and makes them part of the family of God in the one holy, universal and apostolic Church that Christ founded. 

Not to make a Catholic convert out of anyone (though would be happy to help anyone along the way), but if we are going to explore conversion, beyond just the 'new address' notion of moving to a different quadrant in the box that Robert T. Kiyosaki speaks of in the first part of his book, Business of the 21st Century, then why not consider the best and most longstanding institution that has a 2000 year record, and even a 1500 year period known as Christendom from which conversion had gained its greatest influence?  This influence you can can even see in as much as Mr. Kiyosaki speaks within that language of conversion, even though he keeps it within the box, within the quadrant that he speaks of with regards to the four basic types of cash flow: the Employee, Self employed, Business owner, and Investor.

He is a brilliant man, and certainly his story is inspiring, though it is not the first of its kind. He is not the first man to ever choose not to listen to the current wisdom of his 'poor Dad', be we to mean poor in capital or other monetary assets, or poor in spirit, and not necessarily in the Beatific meaning of the phrase. 

Among the best examples of the Christian entrepreneur that spurned the life that his earthly father wanted for him is St. Francis of Assisi. His father wanted him to go into the business that he built for his family, which was the sort that comprised the middle class of the medieval period. St. Francis' father even imprisoned his son within the family home in hopes of preventing him from what the father saw as his son's (hopefully) temporary insanity. But Francis' mother had compassion and freed her son, letting him go on the path that he believed to be God's calling to him - at that time, to rebuild the church of San Damiano. But in time, he would learn that God called for more, for St. Francis to help repair the universal Church. And that was the Saint's lifetime high calling. Again, it didn't happen over night, but was a gradual process where, little by little, St. Francis would be drawn further along the path in God's will. 

Providence and fortune are, in a sense, two sides of the same coin. We cannot always be certain why people fall into fortune, good or bad, nor what is the role of providence within any one person's specific story of their life. Sometimes, it is good enough to know that it is there, and it reminds us that we are part of an amazing story. Further, it may inspire us to write our own stories, pondering in our own specific way, the ways of providence. Sometimes we don't always like it, and our stories that parody it may reveal some of the reasons for our displeasure, and may even reveal something that is a distress to the core of our souls. Other times, it relays how we observe the world, and may tell us something about our personal philosophy. 

In considering that, maybe it is no wonder that, in my story Harmakhis, the father to the main characters is named Dante. I have yet to get to the chapters that reveal this, but Dante in my story does essentially go to Hell, in  a sense. He had become a part of the corrupting force within the Harmakhian society, even though in public, and among his family, he played the role of essentially the centrist. It was never certain that he was agnostic, nor atheistic - and maybe he never was. But a certain nihilist bent did come to him, or maybe it is better to say that he was fighting it back. Whether it became a losing battle or not, that much has yet to be written. Though, as the author, I would hope he has a conversion, and finds himself in at least a Purgatorial state when the time of his fate is to be written in. But, while it is not written, that fate remains a future yet to be defined for all time. 

So too is it true of our own fates. We are still an open book, still in the rough draft, yet to be edited, and further yet still to be published in THE BOOK: the Book of Life. Thus, we have a life to live before our lives become history. Whether people write of us here in this world may be of merit or may not be. But fame or esteem for our good may witness to that which gets written of us in the next, towards the good of the eternal life. Indeed, such an account was made regarding St. Francis in a vision a companion of the Saint had, which Thomas of Celano recalled about a glorious throne seen in Heaven, and a voice said, "This throne belonged to one of the fallen angels, but now is reserved for the humble Francis."  This was said to be the pride of Lucifer being answered by the humility of St. Francis. It is also said that genuine humility enables us to acknowledge who we are before God, in relation to others, and in our own eyes.

Therefore, while I may agree that there are better ways to gain capital than being an employee, and that business owners and investors can have a better lot in life, it is primarily under the Aristotelian philosophy that it is better to be a master than a slave.  In that much, I agree with Mr. Kiyosaki, particularly in the terms of the necessity of self mastery.  If we cannot be that better version of ourselves, as Matthew Kelly speaks upon it in Resisting Happiness, then we fall prey to the enemy of resistance. For it is really resistance of that high calling of our life that leads to not fulfilling the true happiness afforded in a truly good life. It is a happiness we can have during both good and bad fortune, and allows us to be more the pilgrim in seeking to discern God's providence in the ups and downs of our lives, rather than being the tourist that demands everything go our way, becoming greedy for more of the good and hording it in the good times, and then becoming envious of others good fortunes in the bad times that may lead to protesting and rebellion even against what is truly good due to loosing one's moral compass in life. Thus why we need to seek out good guides and direction, spiritual or otherwise. It may be more than a matter of life and death, becoming rich or to be destitute and poor - it may be a matter of what constitutes towards one's fate in eternity.  Therefore, the box may keep one in check within the box, but what of the true freedom that can be had when coming out of the box, when coming forth from the ark, into a new land, and preparing to set forth on a new venture, maybe even making a new covenant, if not respecting and breathing new life into an older one to build a new future upon?