11.20.09
Music Appreciation
When is listening to music unhealthy escapism and when is it an enjoyable diversion, and is there enough of a difference? Can it also contribute to becoming more human, in the Orthodox sense?
Existentially, I know what it feels like to lose myself in the music. I can get caught up in a romantic feeling and very much resent any intrusion into it. When I went through the Weigh Down Workshop with my former Church mates, Mrs. Shamblin described an unhealthy attachment to food where one enjoys eating alone, in secret, and with a similar resentment of intrusion. This is when food becomes an idol and one is basically cheating on God. She said the proper context for food was a communal meal where one pays more attention to conversation than to the food. When one craves this type of food consumption when alone, one should read the Bible and pray instead. Orthodox eating instructions talk about not letting ones self feel full. This boils down to self-indulgence.
As much as I appreciate the more obvious, soul building ascetics of Orthodox Chant (I’ll try to get to if this should always be in a Church setting), I want to talk about secular music, be it Classical, John Denver and Johny Cash, soulful love songs, or more energetic music like the Romanian group’s dance hit, Dragostea Din Tei (I especially like the folk dance at the end on the plane wing). Much probably depends on one’s individual experience with the music. Different music takes different people different places, sometimes nice vacations, sometimes hellish experiences. But sometimes the music can provide an enhanced energetic experience where one is with the ones one is with. I suppose dance music in particular does this, though with the really romantic or more explicit types (again this varies based on individual experience) one can then use another to help one escape. Sometimes I think we need the extra energy, much like King Saul’s soldiers needed to go ahead and eat the honey to brighten their eyes. But this should be for the benefit of the community, and not for one’s private indulgence. Should one not dance or eat alone? If it keeps a person healthy, others will benefit too. And I think one can prayerfully eat and maybe even dance too when by ones self.
Besides the specific Orthodox hymnography that is uniquely tailored to guide one to uniquely Christian communion, I think there can possibly be a razor’s edge engagement where one can open ones self to any variety of secular offerings. Not for escapism, and not necessarily for energy, but in listening for the echo of God’s image in everyone, which may or may not contribute to becoming more human by one’s validation of one’s unity with all humanity, and that one is not alone in one’s own experience. I’ll trepidatiously leave it at that.
11.19.09
Happy News, and a sad story
When the new kitten, Rosie, arrived at our house I think a little less than a month ago, our Corgi did a some barking and chasing. Thankfully, she was old enough and coordinated enough to outrun him and find safe places on surfaces over 2 feet tall. Initially I was worried that her unusually laid back personality would be altered by the new threat in her new environment. I think her ears have a new rigidity to them. But just yesterday, to my great astonishment, Pippin (the Corgi) slowly approached her as she timidly stayed put on the carpet. She neither ran, hissed, nor swatted him even when he touched her nose with his nose! Afterward he looked at me seemingly for approval and slowly walked away. I think it’s going to be okay.
I on occasion worry a bit about Pippin’s psychological health. We got him from a dog breeder farm that also raised Shetland ponies and gave people pony buggy rides when they came to see new puppies. When we all descended out of our van, a wave of adult Corgi’s surrounded our ankles up to mid calf. The owner could direct them by voice to different locations. They were so sweet that we were instantly sold on the breed. There were probably 20 puppies in the pin where the owner selected the dog she thought could stand so many children. This was 6 years ago when all 6 kids lived constantly at home. 
About a year later, we decided that he missed having short companions all around him, so we went to the Pound and got the sweetest, shyest little Corgi mix girl to be his playmate. They were inseparable. They would wrestle gently during the day, and even slept curled up together.
One fall night, when we returned from taking them on a trip with us to Branson, Mo. so that I in particular (not the dogs) could hear Andy Williams, we let them out of their crates in the back of the van at 2 am. We heard the roar of a neighborhood young person’s pickup truck speeding without a muffler through our street, and found Punkin’s body the next morning in our neighbor’s yard. We buried her in the rain in our back yard.
Pippin was a lot less energetic after that. A few months later we got another dog from the SPCA. Cinnamon was a year old, a few inches taller than Pippin, and very shy and withdrawn. We were told she had been abused. She let us pet her though. It took about a year for her to get over her shyness. Pippin was glad to have a new playmate, and resumed his gentle wrestling and ear nibbling habits. Cinnamon played along at first. Over the course of a year she became more and more aggressive and the wrestling matches got louder and more intense. She started to pin Pippin and even drew blood on occasion. We had to start breaking up the fights, and once I put my foot between them and her canine incisor pierced 1/4 inch into my foot, leaving a scar. Pippin started to get withdrawn and would spend all day in my closet to avoid her. We took her back to the pound to find a home with no other pets.
Pippin seemed very relieved after that. He looked like 10 dog years were taken off his face. But he still spent a lot of time in my closet. A few years have gone by and now we have the new kitten. Mostly he’s ignored her with at first about once daily barking and chasings (but no biting). Now he’s spending more time out of my room and seems a little more perky in general. They aren’t really playing together yet, but I hope that will come soon. I think he’s still worried that she’ll turn on him.
11.18.09
Delicate Sensibilities
Cliches, “secular” music, movie, tv, and commerical references, Kierkegaard and Plato in an Orthodox person’s blog?
I do not claim to officially represent Orthodox Christianity, but I want to know how my formative experience with the above relates to it. I don’t think it’s black and white, nor that the above are “totally depraved”.
So why criticize when either the Church or an official publishing or broadcasting entity representing the Church doesn’t purely represent her according to my developing sensibilities? I’ve just made the distinctions and have thus answered the question. Though I’m pretty open about my developing sensibilities on this blog, it would make me uncomfortable to claim to represent the Church in any official capacity with my own words. I sing in the choir and in that setting try to conform to what has been given to the Church without any modification of my own. Also, the standards for writing anything to be published from an Orthodox publishing house or to be broadcast on “Orthodox Radio” are much more strict, to me anyway, and I don’t claim this blog to be worthy of such standards.
Yet we are all called to give a defense of our faith, and this is where I feel the most able to do that.
About sensibilities, some claim that in general they do not pass the test for believable argument. First, provable arguments are not always reliable. You can “prove” things that are false. I’ve given the illustration before that it is possible to prove that 1=0 while following the rules of Algebra (it’s been a while since my son explained this to me, so I hope I remember it right). Another example that loosely fits are the new zoning laws that govern commercial real estate. An establishment has to incorporate enough trees, grass and shrubbery per cubic foot of concrete. This is not strictly logical, but is based on psychology. In the 60’s and 70’s vast amounts of land were swallowed up by uninterrupted concrete which is logically much cheaper and allows more parking than replacement greenery. But people wont go there as much nor spend as much money as when the parking lot is in a more natural setting. Human sensibilities trump strict, empirical logic.
Yet many times our human sensibilities are perceived through a dim mirror, clouded with fallen passions. Marketers may make good decisions based on their research, like providing greener landscapes, but they also prey on greed and lust and make a lot of money tantalizing us. I think George told me it was a visiting Russian who said he couldn’t believe the close-ups of juicy hamburgers that entice people in our commercials. We can’t always trust our gut reactions, so to speak. Our sensibilities must be educated.
I believe the Church services educate us the best with the proper prayers, ways of praying and fasting, the Sacraments, teachings, incense, icons, et al. Hopefully these will also educate our sensibilities regarding what we encounter outside her doors. There should be contrasts and maybe even similarities found outside, and that is what I like to talk about.
Untouched nature, including innocent children, seem to offer the clearest view of pure being which would be at home in Church. We baptize and commune our babies, and bring vegetables, fruit, flowers, and herbs in during special feast days. This is not to say that the only worthy things are things that can be brought into Church. We can’t bring animals in, and they are pure, or musical instruments during services. Therefore animals and musical instruments are things we deal with outside a Church context. The Church doesn’t prescribe exact rules governing the treatment of animals and which music to listen to outside of services. We must look to more general teachings, sensibilities, and even societal norms regarding these (sometimes traditional, sometimes not – such as traditional practices which lead to hunting animals to extinction, but maybe one can say that is an innovation or because of unhealthy advanced capabilities). But we don’t have to make individual judgments about Traditional Church services, even if we do regarding how we present the Church outside her doors.
I think the confusion with AFR is that it is mixing both – prescribed Church worship music and quotes from the Church Fathers, with more informal teachings and additions. One is in the Church, the other is without. The podcasts can be compared to homilies, which are more pedestrian in nature and are many times geared towards inquirers. But commercials, emotive responses, and stringed music, are all without (I wont get into organs here as I have no experience with seeing or hearing one in Church. I frankly can’t imagine – do they play Byzantine tones on them in the Greek Churches that have them?). I do not think these things are totally depraved, but for people seeking a purer prayer life, they should not be presented as the ideal form. I think practically we have to realize that people’s lives have to be mixed with the world somewhat, but many would like stronger boundaries placed: Church walls where one knows where one is standing.
Btw, when one visits this blog, one is somewhat in my home, not Church. There are icons on the walls, children are either studying (sans musical background even though some advocate playing Mozart during this activity to organize ones thoughts, but Church prescriptions do this better than Mozart!), doing chores, playing, and sometimes praying while standing facing east in front of icons after we turn the music off. I am doing the same.
11.17.09
Father Hopko podcast and visit
Fr. Thomas Hopko’s AFR podcast On Sadness and Grief in Human Life critiques appropriate and inappropriate, selfish and godly, tears and sorrow. He gives an easy to remember alliteration to keep in mind. Unworthy grief is a desire for Pity and/or Praise. He does not advocate stifling tears however, which can lead to psychosis.
May God make the right adjustments.
PSA: Fr. Hopko will be in Fort Worth Dec. 4-6, Friday through Sunday at St. Barbara Orthodox Church in America.
On Friday night, December 4 (St. Barbara Feast) from 7-9 pm, Fr. Thomas will speak to us about, “The Work of God’s People.” On Saturday, December 5, from 10 am to 4 pm, he will speak for most of the day on, “The Real Jesus.” And then on Sunday afternoon from 4-6 pm on the campus of Texas Christian University Fr. Hopko will speak in Carr Chapel on the topic: “Christ in Orthodox Spirituality.” After each talk questions from attendees will be addressed. Refreshments will also be served. The following donations are requested: $10 for the Friday talk (light refreshments), $20 for Saturday (includes lunch), $25 for both Friday and Saturday.
Limited Seating. RSVP by Tuesday, December 1st
Getting in Trouble
I try not to be too critical about Orthodox personalities on this blog. I can think of a couple that I’ve kept mum about mostly because I think criticism can become toxic and out of proportion, or it’s just not my business to judge what’s going on in other people’s jurisdictions when there is already plenty of criticism about it. But I did write a certain critique about the background classical guitar music on the Ochlophobist’s post on the way prayers are read on Ancient Faith Radio. There are two reasons why I did it. One, what I said over there. Two, though I think in general some of his criticisms are a bit over the top, I think being overly offended by it can be arrogant, and I wanted to show solidarity by writing a corresponding opinion of mine.
I am surprised that my critique made it to the tail end of Fr. Patrick’s Pastoral Ponderings. He sarcastically targeted the Ochlophobist in particular along with many of the critical comments on that post. I think not too long ago I would have been pretty embarassed by it, but maybe I’m getting more rebellious or dispassionate, or maybe it’s the witty way that Owen framed it and at the end, said what I said better, because right now I think it’s pretty funny. It’s made my year. Not about my comment contributing to his defensiveness, but at how defensive F.P. is to the whole thing. It’s not that I don’t think AFR’s an important witness either. It just wasn’t what brought me to Orthodoxy. Since I don’t commute much, I don’t listen to many podcasts which is when I would listen to them. I think it’s more important to listen to what my kids are tuned into, so I don’t listen to music at home very much either. When I do drive I listen to a mix of Orthodox A Capella chant and John Denver, who plays a lovely guitar. But I wouldn’t want him playing for Valaam, nor do I equate the two spiritually. I’m pretty calm about this opinion even though I’ve had a high-profile Priest make fun of it. I think I’ve come a long way, baby. What if all this has given me a ‘no-guitar on AFR’ smile, then I’m probably being too happy clappy. Maybe so.
And in case some don’t know one of my convoluted references , which I can’t explain, from the second link above, it’s from here:
Okay I’ll try.
I think F.P is characterizing those who criticize AFR, as smooth-talking public inciters like the Music Man above. As if Owen is making people more prudish than they should be. However I think there is a problem with the way the prayers are presented on AFR, but I’m not expert enough to explain it. Okay I’ll try. It is too schmaltzy and put on, which ironically also relates to “Trouble in River City”, and to what Och said. I believe that the monks and nuns in the monasteries are genuine and correct when and how they pray, and even when they make recordings for the public. I think of Church when I hear the prayers. And guitars aren’t supposed to be there. One could say that AFR is bringing Church out to the streets, which is fine for their instructional podcasts, but I don’t think that’s the purpose of prayer. Prayer lifts us up to the heavenly places, which is why it is supposed to be done in front of icons of Christ and Saints in heaven, like in Church, sans guitar if we can help it, and I think that much at least can be helped.
Say Goodnight, Gracie.
11.16.09
Q&A
WordPress statistics provide the google search word or phrase that leads people to certain posts. It can be interesting to compare what they were looking for and what they happen to find on the blog. I am particularly taking note of a search phrase that was repeated 12 times on Saturday, which I take as a message meant for this blog. I do not know who googled it though.
“How to reconcile with a scorned woman” was linked 12 times to the post about a woman scorned.
If the query is from the pov of the scorner, I’m the wrong person to ask. My post traumatic stress reaction kicks in at the idea. I liked the reply from the battered wife in the movie, Chocolat, after she moves out and her husband comes back promising that things will be different, “They already are.”
The definition from answers.com of scorned is,
-
- Contempt or disdain felt toward a person or object considered despicable or unworthy.
- The expression of such an attitude in behavior or speech; derision.
- One spoken of or treated with contempt.
If someone has treated a woman with contempt, they have disrespected her. If one wants to reconcile with a person that they have treated with contempt, then an apology is called for, and then one needs to listen to her and show that things have changed by respecting what she says in return. If she says that she has moved on, then respect that and leave her alone. If you love her you will understand that you have caused her pain that is perpetuated by your proximity and wish her well. If she is glad for the apology and is interested in working on the relationship, then there’s a chance that new respect can be believed in time, if things really are different. I suppose it depends on the type of scorn scorned with. There are some levels of scorn that demonstrate a deep personality flaw that shows a level of damage in the perpetrator that goes beyond the persons capabilities to ever have a healthy intimate relationship with a woman. A woman needs to be protected from certain types of abuse and though there is redemption and forgiveness in Christ, I think some distance is called for.
If somehow the inquirer is not the scorner, then I suppose one could ask George. Perhaps the previously scorned woman balks easily at what she interprets as scorn but is not really. I would imagine it takes a lot of patience and tough skin to prove to her that she isn’t being scorned.
The night I came home and found that my ex husband (not George) had finally left bodily as well as soully (which he admits he did 8 years previous to then), I took my two young kids to my parents’ house and we slept in what was then the guest bedroom. Before they went to sleep I told them the following story,
“Once upon a time there was a porcupine named Snuggles who felt alone. She went up to a squirrel and asked for a hug. “No way!” said the squirrel who then ran away. She went up to a bird who didn’t even wait around for the question before it flew off. As she was sitting by a stream not daring to ask the fish swimming by, an armadillo came up to her and said, “You look like you need a hug”, and she was glad. The End.”
Subject change: A few months ago I streamlined the posts on this blog under the new title, “Studying the Classics”. That continues to be the main focus of this blog, but I’m finding when life or some other topic creeps in I’m feeling a little limited. When I changed the title I moved a bunch of posts to a new blog, Thoughts and Things, and have added a few miscellaneous posts over there, but it’s starting to feel a little too scattered. I’ll keep it on life support and may add more experimental or creative writing over there in the future, but as far as day to day blogging, which often has loose associations with other things I’ve talked about over here, for continuity’s sake, I think I’ll delimit this blog. The separation served a purpose as I wanted to move away from being so emotive. I think I’ll also go back to a shortened version of my old title being, “Words”, which would be more congruous with how the kind people who have this address on their blog roll under “Words, Words, Words”, have graciously kept it listed that way. Thank you for your patience.
11.14.09
Male and Female He Created Man in His Image
Preliminary observations: Christ is male, Adam was male even before Eve came from him. How this was without making the original Adam a hermaphrodite, I don’t know. Much of female anatomy and tendencies are for the bearing and nourishing of children. She was also made to help man. But unlike the animals, she helps in a human way. Human femininity and masculinity are more about ratios. You could say that a monkey’s difference from a human’s is also about ratios, but on a genetic level, there is enough difference to classify them as separate species. Men and women are both human species. The councils emphasize Christ’s human nature, not his male human nature. In fact He received his male human nature from a woman.
So why can’t women be priests? Perhaps it is because sexually, males, like God, are the givers and women are the receivers. This is not to say that women do not give and men do not receive, even sexually, but without being explicit, most know of a fundamental male giving and female receiving. Perhaps this is why in Orthodoxy, a Priest cannot serve communion without parishioners being present. The people give consent and are there to be receivers. I think I read that St. John Maximovich took communion every day whether anyone else showed up or not. Firstly, it is sad that no one else was there. And secondly, one could make the case that when he received, he was receiving directly from Christ and at that point became one of the people, which Priests are also said to represent. In this way during confession, a Priest is sometimes looked at as representing the witness of the people in a more private way. This is why there is also the distinction with the Catholics that he isn’t granting absolution per se, but interceding for the absolution of the confessing person.
So during communion the Priest is representing the maleness of Christ, and even male laypeople are receiving as the feminine Church. To have a female priest would mean that it doesn’t matter if Christ is male or female, which goes against nature. How does a male communicant not confuse the feminine role of the Church? Perhaps this applies to my point a little further down.
I have heard Fr. Thomas Hopko say that we retain our gender in heaven. Mary will always be female, for example. This points to a fundamentalness of being male or female. When the Bible says we will be like the angels, perhaps it means that we will be more like children, who from infancy display male and female tendencies, but who, before puberty, don’t have a certain type of concupiscence.
Unless one resents the masculine and feminine aspects of sexuality, one should not have a problem with the idea of a male priesthood. Feminists seem to think that the exclusively male priesthood means that women cannot be as much like Christ as a man can. Perhaps it would be more helpful to think of the Trinity rather than models of Christ and the Church or male/female hierarchy, which can suffer from the fallen connotation of dominance and control (this can also sadly be carried over into our notions of the Son’s relationship to the Father). Men and women having the same human essence could possibly be compared to the Father and the Son or the Spirit having the same divine essence. The difference is in origination. If we agree that the Father is the eternal source of the deity of Christ, who is given equality with Him at the same time, then maybe we can see that maleness and the male priesthood are not only the source of our humanity (as Eve was taken from Adam), but that it is the source of our divinization (through the Eucharist being both from Christ and the Priest) or union with God.
As Orthodox, we also see that being a member of the Church is an essential part of becoming like Christ. Women can feel validated and necessary by this. As Christ received His human body from Mary, so Christians receive Christ’s body from the Church. The two cannot be separated. There is sourcehood in God, but his union with the Church makes things new. In some ways the distinctions seem erased in that a woman can represent her husband, and in that the Churche’s reception of her children can be equated with receiving Christ. But we do not forget about the distinctions, nor do we get confused.
11.13.09
The real reason Hasan was dressed to kill
Even before the shooting in Ft. Hood, I have been increasingly concerned with the plight of soldier combat fatigue in America’s War on Terror. The media attention I’ve listened to, mostly local, has turned this shooting into a renewed war-cry against Muslim terrorism. I do not doubt that there is plenty of incitement for Muslim extremists to give their all, but should this story be totally cast in that light? This article by Mark Benjamin tackles media ineptitude and bias.
As someone who’s been asked to talk about the shootings because of my work covering the poor psychological care given to returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, I’ve had a front-row seat on the way preconceived biases are distorting the debate.
First, the ongoing factual unraveling of the narrative. As the New York Times reported this Thursday, initial information seized on by talk shows that Sgt. Kimberly Munley, a petite police officer, bravely brought down Hasan in a hail of gunfire in which she was also wounded was, well, also not true. Munley, it seems, just got shot. Senior Sgt. Mark Todd actually shot Hasan to the ground and cuffed him after Munley had already been wounded.
He talks about other things that have been reported about the tragedy that are dubious, like that it came about because of political correctness in the military, and then settles on the “real reason” he thinks it happened,
Hasan was a military psychiatrist toiling in an overburdened, desperate Army healthcare system that will hold onto any warm body with a medical degree. Remember the Walter Reed scandal? The horrific treatment of traumatic brain injury and PTSD that has gone on for years? Army medicine has been dropping the ball on these issues for a long time. Given that history, it’s not hugely surprising they’d miss warning signs with Hasan and just let him go on being a doctor.
Army medical officials, at least to my knowledge, haven’t been asked even the most basic questions. Why, for example, was Hasan allowed to continue counseling troops suffering stress from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan after, for example, delivering a PowerPoint presentation in June 2007 at Walter Reed warning of “adverse events” if Muslims were forced to kill other Muslims in battle. It’s hard to imagine Hasan being particularly empathetic with his patients. Imagine coming back from Iraq with mental problems from combat, and this is the psychiatrist who is supposed to help you heal? So far, the only reaction from Army medical officials to these issues seems to have been the decision to move him to the war front in Afghanistan, so he could be even closer to the troops when they suffer adverse mental reactions. That’s odd.
As for Hasan getting promoted to major, the Washington Post Thursday suggested a more likely scenario than political correctness. They need more bodies. The Army is short 2,000 majors and the dearth is particularly acute in Army medicine. As the Post put it, “virtually all Army captains are being promoted to major.”
The passionate determination to hang the “terrorist” label on Hasan, or rail against “political correctness” in the military, are just more symptoms of media stars more excited about hot-headed debate than covering the real story. And the real story may be sadly familiar: It looks like Army medicine blew it, once again.
Lord have mercy.
11.12.09
The end of the Introduction
There are a few movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Bicentennial Man, and Unbreakable which move so slowly that I get antsy waiting for them to move on and for all the problems to hurry up and get resolved. They had enough moments of interest to keep me sitting there though, ants and all. Other than these, it’s pretty easy for me to suspend my disbelief with cinematic story-telling and to get caught up in the ride.
I used to be that way with books. Before I was ever married I could pick up a book and sit through it as easily as popping a DVD into the little slot and fastening my seatbelt. Nowadays I only have very rare moments where I am not conscious of every black and white word on the page. Reading them is almost like counting them. I am very interested in the content of the books I’ve shared on this blog, so I’m also conscious of it while I stare at all of the black letters on the many white pages. Being conscious of both is uncomfortable, but I recognize the value in learning, and I am curious, so I keep going. It is thus with a sense of hard-won accomplishment that I am happy to say, I finished the Introduction to St. Dionysius’ Divine Names and Mystical Theology by Dr. John D. Jones!
I would like to now explore one paragraph in his last section on “Negative Theology”,
Yet in the denial of all that is and in the denial of affirmative theology and metaphysics, one does not declare affirmative theology to be false, nor does one regard all that is as mere illusion. For, in the denial of beings and the logos which manifests these beings, one goes away from all and is indifferent to all beings and all logos. Thus we completely misunderstand the character of negative (mystical) theology if we regard it as a knowledge which is competitive with affirmative theology, or as if it were something which takes up a standpoint opposed to the standpoint of affirmative theology. (p. 101)
This is a nice reconciliation, for any mistaken notion of opposition that is. However, the word, “indifferent” needs clarification. It can sound like one is supposed to be apathetic to all that is. St. Maximus uses the word, “detached”. To defend them against gnosticism, I’ll explain this away by saying that one has to not put all their hope and trust in princes and the sons of men, one should not be too attached to wealth, entertainment, comfort, etc., and one should not dream about better earthly circumstances. There is also a selfish love where one looks to positions and things as a way to gain status, or to people to make them feel needed, wanted and loved. Stoicism can perhaps be criticized as a violent and forceful cutting off of these desires and emotions that seems to leave one with a void, or a sort of alternate happiness in feeling oneself a strong, virtuous person. One gains self-esteem and maybe pride by being stoic. One can feel smug about being strong enough to not succumb to the petty cares of mere mortal men. But I’ve not studied Zeno so these are preliminary impressions. Apathy seems a depressed sort of uncaring. One probably has to be a Saint to achieve true, loving dispassion, if not impassibility.
Awareness
At the end of my last post I said that we must will for God to exist. I can see this in two ways. One, when the Mother of God says yes to Christ becoming Incarnate through her, thus bringing the above God into temporal, corporeal human existence. And two, when we pray we are inviting Him into our lives. This is not to say that God isn’t already everywhere present and filling all things. But existentially, our remembrance of Him invites something more. I may have too low a view of God’s initiation in the relationship, and may be seeing Him as too polite in waiting to be asked. “Coincidentally” last night George read the following passage to me from Bread and Water, Wine and Oil by Archimandrite Meletios Webber,
According to the thoughts that course through the human mind, the situation that emerges at the end of the story of Adam and Eve is considered to be the end of the whole story. Certainly this situation is reflected in the attitudes of contemporary society. God is a “take-it-or-leave-it” sort of thing, useful if manipulated, otherwise merely the relic of a bygone, unsophisticated age. This distant yet powerful God depends on logic and human interest to exist at all. Ultimately God is merely something or someone unknown but very powerful. Like children with their hands over their eyes, humanity can “unmake” God by covering their sight, thereby not only depriving themselves of the source of their lives, but emerging with a lack of the one thing they deem God capable of providing – an absolute sense of right and wrong. (p.38)
He is describing the pitfalls of living from the mind, and will get more into living from the heart in relationship with God instead of an impersonal power.
