How to treat the Wild Ones

Journey into the Inner Walls of the Cathedral

 'Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that whch is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity'.
 St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
King James Version of the Bible

Eros or Agape?

''Goodness transferred to the level of created beings receives the name of έρως from Maximos. This name expresses all the impulse of creation toward its perfection and acts in both directions being έρως οf God and έρως of man. "The divine as being eros and agape, is moved, while as an object of eros and agape, it moves towards itself those who are capable of receiving eros and agape. Τo state it clearer, it is moved with the aim of causing an inward relation of eros and agape in those who are capable of receiving this activity and moves as naturally attracting the desire of those who are moved for this reason". Goodness is the cause of creation; eros is its perfecting power. 

All beings, although they have come forth from nothing according to the will of God and in appropriate time, have their λόγοι, reasons, preexistent eternally within the one Logos, i.e. within God. Each one was made according to a corresponding reason, its logos, which defines its genesis and its essence. From this origin, creation dynamically rushes to its completion. 

The term Logos, with its long tradition both pre-Christian and Christian, takes a particular meaning in Maximos connected with his teaching in image, likeness and participation "All beings have a preliminary participation in God, according to the analogy of their creation especially rational beings, which according to the reason of creation, are seated in God himself and therefore are called μοίρα Θεού, particle of God" "Every man is a μοιρα Θεού, but not under any condition: he was created as a μοίρα Θεού and remains as such as long as he moves according to his logos, otherwise he collapses and may return again to non-being". At any rate, the logoi constitute the first found-action of man's ability to be raised above his natural state. By raised above his natural state" we mean an elevation which transforms nature to person, the φύσις to πρόσωπον. This is another fundamental distinction in the theology of Maximos, followed, by a number of other conjunctions, like κίνησις and ενέργεια, φυσικόν θέλημα and γνωμικόν θέλημα, εικών and ομοίωσις. 

Nature or essence, is the common content of all species; person or hypostasis is the nature, together with its distinctive marks in each individual. Here anthropology corresponds to theology, in which the divine nature hypostasised in the three persons.

Movement is a distinctive property of creation, beginning with the foundation of the world as its consequence and involving a state οf change. Everything which moves is subject to change and naturally God being immovable is ιιnchangeable. 

Α basic category of movement is time, which is unfolded alongside movement, and measures the life of the world. Time and perpetuity χρόνος and αιωνιότης are categories of creation while eternity is a category of God. Being above any relation, God is above time and age. He is eternal "as are all His energies". 

Νοw this movement belongs to the nature of created things, the rational as well as the perceptible ones, though different in each case. Ιn rational beings, it is combined with the distinction between the categories of nature and person. As we proceed from nature to person it is transformed into energy. 

Though Maximos also accepted energy as a capacity of nature, he does so only in a special case and under terms which facilitated his aim in facing the doctrine of his adversaries about a unique energy in Christ. Ιn Christ each nature has its οwn energy, not as a nature, but as a correspondence to a person. Αnd indeed, the divine nature is a person, while the human nature, not even a particular person, was developed to such a degree, that it had its movement raised into an energy''.
Maximos Confessor

What We Think Is What We Are, What We Are Is What We Think

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and  the life was the light of  men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not.'

St. John Ch.1:1-5  King James Version of the Bible

AND ALSO ...

'The Holy Trinity as model of supreme love and interpersonal communion, and the Son of God, who comes, becomes a man and goes to sacrifice.'

[Dumitrescu 1992,186] [p. 25, 'Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation', Miroslav Volf, Abingdon Press, 1996]

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord ...
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream ...
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.

'Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.'
1 Corinthians

When we leave aside all those starched ideas of God presented to us over the years; all those self-made and self-perpetuating projections, ... the fixed, without reflection, perceptions, ... The God made in man's own image, .. of the Victorian patriarch or the slave-master, the psychotherapist always looking for those edges and quirks of personality, which bespoil our ultimate perfection, if we leave behind the man in the sky who watches our every move, the high judge; the passer of sentences, indeed all the personifications, the ....

And we just look at the verses above, and think of the teaching there, which is essentially to think of ourselves and where we are, how we are, this here and now, with love. 
The unknown, the unfathomable, ... is, if we let it be, even make it be, love. And it does change things, ...

Long Distance call

''Put your mind before eternity.''
St. Clare of Assissi

'Leave no stone unturned'.
Euripides, Heraclitus, cc 428BC

Trimurti {'three forms'}: Brahma {Creator}: Vishnu{Preserver}: Shiva{Destroyer}

To every thing there is a season; and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;  a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war and a time of peace.
King James Version Ch.3:1-8

2+3=5 ... and 5 is the number of Change

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff -
they comfort me.

Your prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
23rd. Psalm, known as 'The Psalm of David'.
First 4 lines from King James Version, the rest from The New Revised Standard Version, both of the Holy Bible

Freedom

Freedom is 'NO FEAR.'
Nina Simone

... and they never mentionned the flies...

''The first monks and nuns went into the deserts of the Middle East to discover themselves and God. Once there, the first interior realities that they noticed were their thoughts and in particular those thoughts that unsettled them and tried to persuade them to give up their interior journey.''


It has generally been accepted that our emotions govern or direct our thoughts ... if we feel happy, then we will have happy thoughts, and then, happy lives.  Modern thought proposes the reverse, that the fibre of our thoughts generates the quality of our emotions.

So, which comes first, thought or emotion? We can always test ourselves in this, by monitoring our own thoughts and feelings, and then guage which governs which.

The desert mothers and fathers ''noticed that these [negative] thoughts came in a pattern that was common to all of them. They observed that they are eight in number: the first three are thoughts about the body: gluttony, lust and greed; the next three are thoughts in the heart and mind, namely, anger, sadness and acedia, finally, two in the soul, vanity and pride. These are the Eight Thoughts ...''

''... the opposite virtues ... in the body: moderation, chaste love and generosity. ... in the heart and mind: gentleness, gladness and spiritual awareness. ... in the soul: magnanimity and humility.''

John Cassian, born in E. Europe cc 360AD,... ''is notable as the first person who set about systematically writing down the teachings of the desert fathers and mothers'', and it is due to him, that the above ''Eight Thoughts'' in the more commonly known form of  ''The Seven Deadly Sins'' have made their way to us now.

Abbot Christopher Jamison devotes the second part of his book, ''Finding Happiness, Monastic Steps for a Fulfilling Life'',  to reflections upon the ''Eight Thoughts'', in the context of our world today. He writes on page 57, that ''The disappearance of acedia  from ordinary people's vocabulary deprived Western culture of the ability to name an important feature of the spiritual life, namely, loss of enthusiasm for the spiritual life itself.''

Acedia is the lack of awareness of how we are inside, how we interact with the world, and how these two are inevitably one. How we are inside, becomes how we think of others and the nature or quality of our interactions with the world or others inevitably mirrors our inner life.

If there is discordance, then, development of spiritual awareness, the opposite of acedia, would be deemed necessary.

On page 70 of his book, Abbot Jamison writes,''If acedia is spiritual carelessness, then overcoming it is achieved by taking seriously the other seven thoughts and looking honestly at their workings in my life. ...''

I am surprised that fear has not been included in the list above.

'You can never step into the same river twice.'

Heraclitus

What do you do if you ain't got money? What do you do if you ain't got gold?

Do everything with a mind that lets go. If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom. Your struggle with the world will have come to an end.

[A Still Forest Pool : Achaan Chah]


'Then he said to them all, ''If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.
What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?'' '
Luke Chapter 9:23-25
The New Revised Standard Version


''For transition involves the breaking down of previous structures, and this disintegration reveals more clearly the underlying process of change, like threads being woven on a loom.''
Melanie Reinhart, 'Outer Space Inner Space'

IF.....
IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling 

1895

He never shopped in Woolworths, did he?

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."
— Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden', 'Where I Lived, and What I Lived For'