Seeds of Adoration, by Michael Pakaluk

There are movements so linked with purpose that the purpose “wants” to find fulfillment in the movement, while the movement without the purpose is false. Consider the military salute. It is a movement which shows honor as coming from someone whose office or role is to honor. Soldiers in uniform salute the flag; civilians or soldiers not in uniform do not. A uniformed soldier lives by honor and “wants” to salute according to military “customs and courtesies.” The practice seems grounded in human nature and goes back centuries, to the Roman legions and before. Today, French, English, Ukrainian, or Russian, all armies it seems have something like it.

But now suppose someone were to propose that a group hold a meeting precisely to show honor by saluting—when the members of this group are not in military service and they have had no experience saluting. How could this idea, to meet together to salute, even make sense? How could the group be drawn to it? How would anyone see the point? They do not know what saluting means. They never make movements of saluting. They do not occupy roles which require saluting. …

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