Distinctiones S- XIII. Signum Speculativum-Signum Practicum (2)

Signoriello´s Lexicon Peripateticum Explained

Speculativum est illud, quod non efficit rem significatam; e.g. oliva respectu pacis. Practicum quod efficit id, quod significat, e.g. boreas respectu frigoris. Ita etiam Sacramenta Novae Legis sunt signa practica gratiae.

[a] speculative [sign] is that which does not produce the thing signified; e.g. olives with respect to peace. [A] practical {sign] that produces what it signifies, e.g. the North wind with respect to the cold. So also the sacraments of the New Law are practical signs of grace.

---

When Jesus was tempted in the desert, the first temptation he endured was to make a practical sign. Matt 4:3 “if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” says the devil. And Satan is no dummy, he knows what God likes to do, he tempted Jesus with good things, not just the bread, but God´s preferred way of creation: to speak things forth into existence, to create practical signs, signs that cause what they signify. Just ask Moses how important this is. His fumbling on making a practical sign in the desert kept him out of the promised land. Rather than call forth water out of the rock, he struck it with his staff, destroying the perfect harmony between the sign and it´s effect as God intended. And what was true for Moses could be true for you as well. Getting this distinction wrong could keep you out of the promised land. So his cautionary tale should be reason enough to get clear on what exactly a practical sign is, and consider it in distinction from speculative signs.

So a speculative sign is basically any normal sort of sign we use. The example given is an olive branch being a sign for peace. The olive branch stands for or represents the idea of peace. Most importantly, words are, in their normal usage this speculative sort of sign. Car, red, sweet, walking—these are speculative signs. They point to but do not produce or cause what they signify. Practical signs both point to and produce what the signify. The example of the north wind is curious but it works. The north wind brings cold air, if you feel the north wind blowing, you know cold(er) air or weather is coming as a rule, I know there are exceptions. But its not the best example I think, but really practical signs are everywhere. A flower is a practical sign of life. It is what causes the bees to come and fertilize the plant, which creates new genetic life, fruit. That is interesting to me. To say, “this tea is sweet,” it does not create the taste in the drink, these are just words, they are a speculative signs. In contrast, a stop sign is a practical sign, it causes what it signifies, the action of cars or walkers stopping. So really everything spoken in the imperative is a practical sign, “Do this!“ The words are meant to cause the action they signify.

This distinction is the key to understanding so much of the biblical text. All the covenant signs, circumcision, sabbath, Passover, arc, and temple, these are all practical signs. From the very beginning God creates through his word. He doesn't zap the universe into existence. He speaks it forth. He says, “Let there be light.” And there was light. His words produce what they signify. They're practical signs. Much of what God is doing with the Prophets is turning them into practical signs or having them make practical signs. Not always, Hosea marrying a whore seems more like a speculative sign, its pointing out Israel’s whoredom, not causing it. But these cursory biblical references are really just the tip of the iceberg on this theme.

And really so much of our practical life is moved by practical signs, as our practical life is moved by our desires. And very often the desires we have are those we receive from others through signs. This is largely because humans are highly mimetic creatures, we imitate the desires we see in others, especially as children. If toddlers are alone, playing together in a room where there is a ball. Its a general psychological rule that if and when one toddler reaches for the ball, then the other will do so as well. Its psychologically impossible at this stage of development that one could take the ball without the other desiring it. Thus, the very gesture of the one child for the ball, a sign expressing desire, creates the desire in the other child. It creates a mimetic conflict. Marathon runners can only break records in competition, because this sort of mimetic conflict internal to competition itself. A great competitor wants a great opponent to bring out the best in him.

This psychological theory is the basis for many of Shakespeare´s tragedies, like Romeo and Juliet, where a mimetic rivalry explodes into violence between two factions. Like the toddler reaching for the ball, one act of violence creates the desire for violence and vengeance in others. The Old Testament injunction, eye for an eye, was an attempt to stop this mechanism of violence from spreading exponentially as it tends to. Humans by nature escalate violence, i.e. You kill my brother, I kill your family, you kill this family, then our village slaughters your village, and so forth. Much of sport and even religion involve anthropological attempts to try to regulate the mimetic violence to avoid a violent contagion—i.e. family feud, civil war, and genocide. With violent sport like American football or boxing, people can transfer their violent impulses onto the teams or competitors. With religion, much of primitive ritual involves ritualized violence and sacrificial offering of animals or even humans as a scapegoat to quell or organize collective violence. The reason for religion taking this shape is that the desire for violence expressed in acts of violence, is a very potent, almost omnipotent, practical sign. It only takes one murder to start a civil war, as the sign produces in, sometimes millions, of souls what it signifies: a desire for violence. Thus, whatever could bring this contagion of violence to a halt was given the status of a quasi-deity. Primitive religion discovered it takes only one scapegoat to bring a mimetic rivalry, a contagion of violence, to a halt. Thus it sought to reign in this uncontrollable semiotic force of violence with a ritualized scapegoat, a religious object that could absorb and stop the mimetic conflict from contagion.1

With romantic or sexual desire this same dynamic is at play. If an unattractive and otherwise unbecoming man is desired by multiple high-status women, other women will follow suit and desire and compete for him like the toddler for the ball. Here, the desire or the expressions of desire are practical signs. But more directly in romance, the confession of desire, from a lover to the beloved, often is a practical sign, it creates the desire in the beloved. Jane Austen´s Pride and Prejudice is the perfect example. Elizabeth finds Mr Darcy detestable, and even finds his manner of confessing his love for her entirely repugnant and arrogant. Yet, this confession alone has a violent effect on her almost immediately, she is surprised, possessed, disturbed by the weight of the disclosure of his desire. It was a practical sign, a sign that started working on her. And the more she began to comprehend his point of view, the more shocked she was by now intense and noble his desire for her appeared. And the more intense and noble the desire she recognized in him, she began to soften under the weight of it and began to feel it in herself for him. Mr Darcy was himself transformed by Elizabeth´s rebuke of him and by the desire for virtue He discovered therein. She so brutally outclassed him and courageously and surgically dismantled his character. He wanted to become the sort of man she wanted and was transformed by her desire. Through her rebuke, Elizabeth created her desire in Mr Darcy. Take notes ladies. Angry and humbled at first, he was thankful for it later. The very desire that rebuked him, once it possessed him, caused him to love her all the more. But this sort of mutual recognition, through recognizing the desire in the other, it creates itself in us, it’s practical signification. The desire produced what it signified, it only needed to be expressed and recognized for it to start having an affect.

Moving from romance to family life, a blessing is a type of practical sign. And particularly the Bible seems to focus in on the blessing of the Father as important, powerful, creative even. And, when you think about it, the words of your Father do have a tremendous weight. They can produce a great strength or weakness. If your Father tells you he is proud of you, that you will succeed and thrive, etc. This is a great strength assuming its earnest and realistic. But if your Father says you are a disgrace, a loser, someone who will never amount to anything, this is an extraordinary weakness. It´s hard to overcome hearing something like this from your father. It’s because his words to us, more than anyone else in our life, are creative. They produce something in us, and are generative of what they signify, be it blessing or curse.

And finally, in the political realm, laws are practical signs. When a legislator writes a law and puts it into effect. The words on the page create a practical reality. Something is forbidden, consequences for breaking the law are proscribed. Furthermore, police and judges in the realm must enforce the law and make judgments according to the letter of the law. To be a King or Lawgiver is a terrible responsibility simply because of the immense power He has to create practical signs that can affect so many. Bad laws, and badly enforced laws, and corrupt judges who misinterpret the law, create mayhem, chaos, rebellion, death. Whole societies and peoples rise and fall because of the quality of laws and lawgivers. The Pax Romana of the Roman Empire was was the work of (relatively) just laws. Of course people resisted the Roman dominion, but the benefit of being conquered was living under Roman rule and its laws.

All four of these realms where practical signs are highly operative help us understand the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. St John says Jesus is the Word through whom all things were made. That He is Word made flesh. What is clearly meant by this is that He is a practical sort of sign, He is creating what He signifies, God´s Wisdom and Love and Kingdom. He creates Himself in others. But how?

From the point of view of violence, he offers himself as the scapegoat. He takes all violence, all sin on himself. He is the only worthy object to atone for sin, because he is totally blameless. Only Jesus can abolish the previous legal restraint on violence, eye for an eye, because He has already taken all violence upon himself, and given his higher standard, his desire for others to follow. He says, “but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Before Christ, this ethic was impossible. Yet, in taking all violence onto himself, he unleashes it as well. Matt 11:12 “from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.” The Nietzschean critique of Christianity as some sort of feeble and feminine refusal to fight misses the point of the violence Jesus himself signifies in this act. It´s a tidal wave of psychological violence. He, God made man, died for you! Nothing is more traumatizing to realize.

The violence is like what Elizabeth experiences from Mr Darcy, as she sees his humility and courage in courting her despite her rude and short sighted rejection of him. From the romantic point of view, the life and death of Jesus is a love confession of the most tyrannical sort. It impresses itself upon us. And this is the psychological violence, he´s already lowered himself, he has already taken your sins upon himself and suffered for them, whether you like it or not. Those who look upon Him in faith are forced to see the immensity of his love for them. This is a practical sign, His love creates, like the lover, the same love and passion in our hearts. For those running away from his love, who reject it, they still feel can the weight of His desire when they look at a crucifix. It´s also captured in Elizabeth´s rebuke of Mr Darcy. There is no more severe rebuke of our sin than to see what the God-man must suffer on our account. Like Mr Darcy, this rebuke, in the elect at least, is accepted with gratitude, because through it, we come to know and be liberated by His Desire and His Higher Standard, by His Love of Virtue. We can see the power of the Crucifixion in its practical signification, its a sign of God´s Justice and Mercy and Love and it produces these things in those who behold Him.

Jesus also says He is the Word of the Father. To know this Word or Blessing of the Father, to know Jesus, to know of His Incarnation, life, death for our sins, resurrection, this should be, like the blessing and encouragement of our biological fathers, our greatest strength. So much more than our earthly Father telling us how much he loves us, his hopes and plans for us, the Word of Our Eternal Father should animate and enliven us. Christians should all possess this grounding strength and confidence in Our Fathers good Word to us, blessing us with this incredible practical sign of His love. Jesus doesn´t just point to His Father, He is creating and producing the Reign of the Living God in hearts and minds and souls.

And He himself is the lawgiver, He says He came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. And He summarizes this law of Love in his very person. He offers himself as law as practical sign, to create himself and his desires in us! He offers himself as lover, as blessing, and as law. Similarly to his strategy with violence, Jesus takes all law upon Himself, or at least the entirety of the old law, the levitical law given to Moses and is part and parcel of God´s covenant with Moses and the people of Israel, a covenant cannot be broken unless on member of the covenant dies. So, Jesus, God Himself, dies to bring this imperfect law to a close, and to offer his own sublime and perfect Law and eternal Covenant, a law and covenant created out of his own flesh, out of his own death and resurrection. He takes all violence upon himself to reveal perfect violence against the tyranny of Satan. And takes all law upon himself to reveal his perfect Law: John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” His Life is a practical sign, His Law is creating himself in us.

In addition, as it says above, this distinction is also the key to understanding the Catholic sacramental doctrine. Where the sign— “Hoc est corpus meum“— is a practical sign, it produces what it signifies--The Body of Christ. The pejorative saying, hocus pocus, of course is derived from those mistaking these latin words of consecration speedily muttered by priests at Mass. Hocus pocus comes from those who remained incredulous to or ignorant of the magic therein. The magic is the practical signification. Similarly when a priest utters the words of absolution in the confessional. He is making a practical sign, his words, or the words Christ speaks through him, are what cause the forgiveness. They are practical signs of grace. A Priest is someone with the power to make sacramental signs, and sacramental signs are practical signs. The difference in Eucharistic doctrine between protestants and Catholics is this very difference between whether these words, ”This is my body," signify the bread in a speculative or practical way. Does it merely point to Christ's Body and Sacrifice for us 2000 years ago, or is it His Body and Sacrifice represented through these signs. It all rests on this distinction. Its not hard to see the God of Jakob’s affinity for using practical signs as covanental signs: A strong argument for the Catholic dogma here.

There is only one sacramental sign that all baptized Christians can give, only one sacramental sign not given by a priest, this is the sacrament of marriage, where the husband and wife give the sign to each other as the marriage is consummated, as they unite in the marital act. Here they join together as one and this sign is generative of a indissoluble bond. Through this practical sign of unity they become one flesh, and can, through the sign, create wholly new genetic flesh together. Its a wonderfully beautiful and powerfully vital sign.

The purpose of a great deal of human culture and of mating ritual in animals and even the very structure of nature itself is to preserve the integrity of and display the beauty of sex and its life creating signification—to ensure that the spiritual and biological unity effected by the sign of unity would be both be supported, cared for and developed. So called sexual liberation is really the futile attempt to detach this sign of unity from the unity it by nature effects, either the spiritual union of the couple or the unique biological unity created by the unifying act. It's a rebellion contra naturam. By nature, sex both signifies and creates the uniting of two creatures into one union, this union creates radical dependence, not independence. Herein lies the hollow promise of the slogan. Its flowers trying to declare independence from fruit.

To close, this little distinction leaves clues as to the manner in which God pleases to exercise His Sovereignty over the things He has made, as well as how we ought extend this sovereignty in and through our own lives. Nature and History, God’s creation and self-revelation are crucially ordered by practical signs. Signs that are both instructive and productive. The Sun is a practical sign of light. As is the Son of God, whose face will illumine Heaven. This distinction too helps us see these creative signs more clearly for what they are. And, in so doing, it helps us also to honor them, make them well when required, and even desire to become practical signs ourselves, signs of God´s love who produce what they signify.

If you would like to support my mission, click here.