Iron Philosophy: Intensity



INTENSITY


This is to be the first post of what I am calling 'Iron Philosophy'. Why call it that you might ask. Well in my experience the 'Iron' or the unforgiving steel which can smack you around teaches us much about life, and if philosophy is the discovery of a meaning in life then the Iron has a few lessons to offer. Thus these postings will be considered an academy of muscle.

           Revelation 3:16 tells us that, "Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth." What this says to me is that if you live without passion, without a goal or purpose worth dying for, you are unworthy of the Body of believers. For a human body to vomit there must be an organism or bacteria within which the body is forced to reject, causing nausea and the act of 'puking'. So, in other words, Revelation is stating that a soul without intensity, whether for good or evil, is incapable of working with and for the rest of the body. I say 'for good or evil' because Christ can work with those who are his enemies, he would just need to steer the passion in the correct direction, as seen in the conversion of Saul to St. Paul. Flim-flamsiness or weakness of heart is seen as worse than direct evil. So what can the Iron teach us about living, breathing and dying intensely?

         Anyone who has put their body weight on a steel bar and lifted it directly over his face and then lowered it down onto his chest (bench press) might be able to tell you a thing or two about intensity. Without a passion for what is going on in the weight room there are two options, quitting or getting hurt, neither of which I suggest. It takes a moment of rage to be able to move that kind of weight several times. That rage comes from the heart of the person lifting. Whether it evolves from stress, anger or happiness being in the presence of such intensity is enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The beauty of the Iron is that it creates a momentary focusing of all your problems and gives it a safe and healthy environment to express itself. Intensity will automatically flow from a situation of life or death.

         At the heart of intensity lies desire. Whether it be a desire for physical strength or holiness it takes hunger to reach the upper limits of human intensity. The saints have all had intensity, expressed individually through their own characteristics and interests, but don't kid yourself and think that jolly Ole' Nick or St. Teresa of Avila weren't intense. The many martyrs of our Faith donned intensity as an everyday need. For many it took years of inflaming that passion with the never-ending love of God to withstand the tortures of evil. Intensity of soul is likened to putting 1,000 pounds on your back and squatting down, it may sound more like insanity to most but to those in the grimy battle of growing in strength, this feat is something to be revered. Saving souls and spreading the Gospel takes this kind of intensity. 

         History remembers those who lived life to the fullest and the Iron can teach us, like a Socrates to the Catholic Church's Thomas Aquinas, about creating and keeping that God-given heart of a lion within all of us.