Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Opinion 100
It is the battle against self-deceit that is a special vocation for the religious person. For we very easily establish an idea of God in our minds, and it spawns many, many phantasies, erroneous notions, solipsistic arguments and miserable binds. The religious person, perhaps very particularly in these age and culture, spends most of his time talking to the various idols which his mind has spawned, and obeying the edicts which these idols have ordained. Good Lord, he is talking to himself.
It is important and helpful to remember that the truth - the way things really are - is what the religious person is or should be after. The truth, however, is not a religious possession. If is is truth at all, it is reality, it is how things are when viewed with clarity and sobriety. If we run from anything that is true out of fear for protecting the religious, we do ourselves a great disservice.
Prayer should always be an exercise in quieting down. The truth, by God's grace, will involve love. It will also scare the shit out of us, and most likely we will have to die if we hope to have it emerge from our lives.
It is important and helpful to remember that the truth - the way things really are - is what the religious person is or should be after. The truth, however, is not a religious possession. If is is truth at all, it is reality, it is how things are when viewed with clarity and sobriety. If we run from anything that is true out of fear for protecting the religious, we do ourselves a great disservice.
Prayer should always be an exercise in quieting down. The truth, by God's grace, will involve love. It will also scare the shit out of us, and most likely we will have to die if we hope to have it emerge from our lives.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Opinion 99
School is back in session; I begin what I hope to be (please God, please) the last year of my bachelor's degree. The freshman are now nine years younger than I. As far as I can tell, all of them are biology or neuroscience majors. Let that chilling fact be its own condemnation.
The weather has cooled and there is at night a distinct autumn smell. Our tomatoes - many not yet ripened - hang on the vine in fear.
The summer has come and gone at an almost incomprehensible pace. What a free fall! We picked up a child somewhere during the plummeting. She is doing well.
There are many things a man does in his life for no discernible reason, which take too long and which ultimately do not bring about any discernible profit. Wie wenn man Sein und Zeit liest. Aber was kann ich tun? Mein Geist wandert wo er will, und ich muss ihm folgen.
A true spirituality begins when all sentimentality has been abandoned. Also: if you cannot tell the truth, you will never escape pettiness.
The weather has cooled and there is at night a distinct autumn smell. Our tomatoes - many not yet ripened - hang on the vine in fear.
The summer has come and gone at an almost incomprehensible pace. What a free fall! We picked up a child somewhere during the plummeting. She is doing well.
There are many things a man does in his life for no discernible reason, which take too long and which ultimately do not bring about any discernible profit. Wie wenn man Sein und Zeit liest. Aber was kann ich tun? Mein Geist wandert wo er will, und ich muss ihm folgen.
A true spirituality begins when all sentimentality has been abandoned. Also: if you cannot tell the truth, you will never escape pettiness.
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