Yo, Greg. 'Sup, bro?

Pope Gregory the Great is in my thoughts again, as I follow the recommendation of my Christian History prof and give a bio of his life a look. Carole Straw writes in Gregory the Great the following, about this first of the Mediaeval popes:

"Gregory is at once progressive, because his thought is flexible and comes to terms with the world, yet conservative in his ideals. His thought is dynamic, always offering the means of converting defeat to victory, yet somehow static, for success turns all too easily to failure. Gregory deals profoundly and sensitively with the ambivalences that plague human life: why tears of love and grief are so closely allied, why sin nips the very heels of virture, why the loving God must also have the devil as his exactor.  Gregory was ambivalent and divided, though he earnestly wished not to be."

Is it any wonder I can relate to this man?  Those of you who know me well know that this is an apt description of how my own thoughts run.
The author ascribes to Gregory this thought: That "in Christ, reconciliation becomes identity, for he is both sides of reality simultaneously: God and man, spirit and flesh, reconciled and reconciler. The universe encompasses the carnal and the spiritual woven together in various intensities, yet all combining to form a design of harmony and extraordinary order."

Yup. That's good.

Yet I hold something against this author. She needs to learn to speak common English. Too many 4-syllable words in one sentence. I mean at least make them 5 syllables so that they could fit into a haiku or something. :) Listen to this. It starts out okay, but...

"Gregory sees carnal and spiritual realms as interrelated, connected as endpoints of a continuum. Like faces of a coin, ends of a stick, or poles of a magnet, they are extremities of a single whole. Two relationships are evident: one of opposition, which is metaphoric and paratactic; one of connection or unity, which is metonymic and syntagmatic. Though opposite, carnal and spiritual realms are very much united through various degrees of complementarity and reconciliation."

Whoo. That's like three trips to the dictionary. In one paragraph. How about some common parlance? You know, real words for real people.

Let's have more sentences like this one:

"In equilibrium, the soul experiences a mixed life of activity and contemplation, despair and hope."

Yeah. That, I get.

Every day.