becoming more human by becoming more godlike 379transcendence and objectivity is part of what makes us both human
and divine. By having more of it, we become at once more human and
more godlike.
Th e object of the virtues of purifi cation is the enhancement of life,
achieved through what the patristic theologians of early Christianity
called kenosis: an emptying out, undertaken for the sake of a raising up
of our faculties of re sis tance and reception, valued as a heightening of
life. One of the tests of the effi cacy of these virtues is therefore that they
support each of the attributes of vitality: surfeit, fecundity, and sponta-
neity. Th e enemy with which the virtues of purifi cation contend is
death lurking within life: our self- bestowal on what is not only unwor-
thy of us but also inimical to the intensifi cation of life.
As the burden of material scarcity begins to be lift ed from humanity,
the work of the virtues of purifi cation becomes more important. It is,
however, far from being confi ned to our material existence. We may
fail in the practice of the purifying virtues in every aspect of our exis-
tence. Our attempts to use the accumulation of things as an alternative
to our dependence on people, as a consolation for our mortality and
groundlessness, or as a vain eff ort to quiet insatiable desire represent
only the most visible form of such failure.
A fi rst virtue of purifi cation is simplicity. Simplicity is the disposi-
tion to renounce the material and immaterial bric- a-brac of ordinary
experience for the sake of focus on what matters: our devotion to others
and our wrestling with the institutional, conceptual, and character-
ological settings of our existence. Th e commitment of consciousness
to the trivial amounts to a lesser idolatry. It squanders our ultimate
resource— time—in eff orts bearing no relation to either of the two chief
aspects of our experience: reconciliation with other people and over-
throw of the dictatorship of context— whether of society, thought, or
character— in which we move. By practicing the virtue of simplicity, we
signify our intention to recognize the value of every moment and pre-
pare ourselves to overcome estrangement from life in the present.
A second virtue of purifi cation is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is readi-
ness to give oneself to an activity that once found not to disregard the
virtues, or to violate the obligations of connection, absorbs us for a
while without residue or reservation and seems to be eternal while it
lasts. In the experience of enthusiasm, we have a partial antidote to the