CREATIVE FIDELITY
Gabriel Marcel
GABRI EL MARCEL ( 1889-197 3 )
French Philosopher
“Christian Existentialist”
• Conversion to Catholicism 1929
Playwright
Music Critic
COMMUNION
A state where both individuals can perceive each
other’s subjectivity (unification, conjunction)
 An extension of credit to the other
 A belief in someone, in the other
“I must somehow make room for the other in myself ”
COMMUNION
CREATIVITY FIDELITY
 Disponibilité – “availability” or “disposability”
 Placement of Trust
 Being in a constant state of renewal and
openness with the other
PROBLEM VS. MYSTERY
PROBLEM
“…something which I meet, which I find completely before me, but
which I can therefore lay siege to and reduce.”
MYSTERY
“…something in which I am myself involved, and it can therefore only
be thought of as a sphere where the distinction between what is in me
and what is before me loses its meaning and initial validity.”
MYSTERY
Question of Being (e.g., ontological exigencies)
The Union of the body and soul
The “problem” of evil, freedom and love
Demand participation and involvement
PROBLEMS
CONSTANCY
 “Staleness” – Repetitious or worn by the passage of
time
 “The feeling of staleness only occurs in the stagnant
regions of the mind”
PROBLEMS
MY IDEA OF THE OTHER
 Assignment of some definite, determinate quality
 Such misjudgment is self-encountering
 Disposal can lead to re-evaluation of credit
• Question of commitment over time
SOLUTION
We can achieve assurance through CREATIVITY
 State of Renewal – a fidelity that creates the self
 State of Openness and Permeability
 Willingness to be open to the influx of presence
of the Other
THE TRUEST FIDELITY IS
CREATIVE
Such fidelity interprets the vicissitudes of “belief
in…” as a temptation to infidelity and sees them in
terms of a test of the self rather than in terms of a
betrayal by the other—if fidelity fails, it is my failure
rather than the failure of the other
BUT IT RAISES THE
QUESTION…
Durability over time – where do we find the strength to
meet the demands of fidelity?
It must draw strength from something more than
itself…
Final Guarantor: HOPE