Glog (contraction of G-Blog)

This lecture I delivered on August 17th, 2024 as part of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Symposium on Religion in Public Life hosted at LSU, sponsored by the Eric Voegelin Institute.  Other lecturers were Ascension Parish  District Attorney  Jean Paul Robert and  Director of the Eric Voegelin Institute in the Department of Political Science at LSU,  Dr James Stoner. Introduction Man, in his spiritual nature, is capable of symbolic meaning; that is to say, he expresses his relationship with a transcendent reality. This is evidenced by the many cave drawings and rituals in human societies since the dawn of time. The word “meaningful” is inherently symbolic because in calling some event “meaningful” we are saying it’s more than just a sign, like a traffic signal, but rather that it points to a higher order, and presupposes a person who “means.” Telling a friend his or her gift “meant a lot” is saying it’s more than just a convenient artifact, but that it so...