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