What's all this religion then then?

“You can believe all the right things and still be a jerk. You can believe all the right things and still be miserable, still be in bondage, or still be untransformed. So, the emphasis upon belief is, I think, modern and mistaken. It’s also very divisive – once people start thinking that being a Christian is about believing the right things, then anybody’s list of what the ‘right things’ are becomes a kind of litmus test as to who’s really a good Christian and who’s not. Being a Christian is really about one’s relationship with God. And that relationship with God can go along with many different belief systems.” Marcus Borg, Living the Questions 2.0 (emphasis mine)

I believe that Dr. Borg has it at least half right, though I would expand it a bit. The spiritual aspect of being a follower of The Way is our relationship with the Divine. There is a horizontal, relational aspect with each other in community as well, which is what I refer to as religious. That said, it is very much not about any shibboleths of creed, a certain way of honouring or worshipping the Divine, a particular eccleisal structure or what you read on the holy day of your choice. If you follow God (by whatever name you call that rose), then your relationship with the Divine is what matters. That relationship is what will shape how you relate to the rest of Her Creation, including others in community.

Quotational physics

The first quote is about how one arrives at the truth.  He is speaking about the Scientific Method, but I find that it applies far more broadly.

"First you guess. Don't laugh, this is the most important step. Then you compute the consequences. Compare the consequences to experience. If it disagrees with experience, the guess is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It doesn't matter how beautiful your guess is or how smart you are or what your name is. If it disagrees with experience, it's wrong. That's all there is to it." - Richard Feynman

This quote seems to follow on from my earlier post and provides a rather concrete answer to my question.  Whether it is pundit, pontiff or politician, if it disagrees with experience, then it should be (at the least) called into question.  The second quote relates to the first and has great resonance with me as of late.

"The Truth may be puzzling.  It may be counter intuitive.  It may contradict deeply held prejudices.  It may not be consistent with what we desperately want to be true.  But our preferences do not determine what is true." - Carl Sagan

Apply to religion, politics or personal life with equanimity.

Words of wisdom from Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

“We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.”

"I know God will never give me more than I can handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much."

"God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try."

May Holy Wisdom whisper into his ear,
May our brother Christ guide his path,
May our loving Mother hold him in Her arms.

Lessons from the saints : St. Bernard of Clairvaux

"Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from masters."

"It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment."

"I know by myself how incomprehensible God is, seeing I cannot comprehend the parts of my own being."

"A pretext is never lacking to him who would break with a friend."

“If you concentrate hard on the state you are in, it would be suprising if you have time for anything else.”

“Neither fear nor self-interest can convert the soul. They may change the appearance, perhaps even the conduct, but never the object of supreme desire... Fear is the motive which constrains the slave; greed binds the selfish man, by which he is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed (James 1:14). But neither fear nor self-interest is undefiled, nor can they convert the soul. Only charity can convert the soul, freeing it from unworthy motives.”

"We find rest in those we love, and we provide a resting place for those who love us."

“What we love we shall grow to resemble.”

Words from the Mellifluous Doctor upon the occasion of his saint day.

Quote of the day

"Never let anyone make you feel inferior for being who you are. When you live the life you were meant to live, in freedom and dignity". - Desmond Tutu

Preach it, brother!

Pardon me for being 7, but....

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. She sends you flowers every Spring, He sends you a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, She listens. He can live anywhere in the universe, but She chose your heart.

Face it friend, He is crazy about you!

God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow,  sun without rain, but She did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way.
(adapted from Dr. Zee's beautiful person poem)

More from Athanasius

"The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders.

But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it." (On the Incarnation, ch. 7, 43)

Random bits of awesome

Preach it.

Thought for the day

When I start to read people like Heidegger, this keeps running through my mind.

quotes to ponder

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phi. 2:12b)

"Work out your own salvation.  Do not depend on others"
Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha

"Follow the truth, no matter where it may lead."
Dominic de Guzeman, founder OFP

follow-on thought - quote

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.

- St. Augustine of Hippo

Quote of the day

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. 

Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. 

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. 

Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. 

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Gautama Siddharta, the Buddha

The Tao, the Truth and the Life.

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man may come to the Father except through me." (Jn 14:6)

"Follow your nature and accord with the Tao, saunter along and stop worrying." - Seng-ts'an, Hsin-hsin Ming

"Follow the Truth, no matter where it may lead." - St. Dominic de Guzman

"You have a choice between life and death; you will get whichever you choose." (Sirach 15:17)

Choose Life, follow Truth no matter where it may lead and accord with the Way and you shall come to the Father.

Reflections on a Merton quote

"Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire."  - Thomas Merton, ocso

What is it, then, that we live for...that we desire?   Is it wealth, enlightenment, material comforts, happiness or security, ?  Is it ourselves, friends, family, church or country? Do we live for the things of this world, or things more ethereal and eternal?  Do we desire the acceptance of our peers or the prelates, or the favour of the Father?

My sihing would say that what we think about is what we put our energy to and, thus, what we create in the world.  That can be prosperity or reinforcing the lack thereof, happiness or misery.  It depends upon what we focus our minds and hearts towards.  Do we focus on what we have or do we worry about what we lack?

Quotes and thinking

"If you were besotted with the things of this world, you would want to surpass all others in the luxury of your house, in the magnificence of your garments and jewelry, in the abundance of food on your table, in the splendour of the carriage which took you from one place to another. You would never be satisfied with what you already possessed, but would always want more. And you would constantly be comparing yourself with others, looking with envy at those even richer than you. Your wealth would be like a spiritual prison; and your limitless desires would be the chains that bound you. Thus in giving up all these things, you have smashed the chains and broken free. You have little; yet you are satisfied with what you have."  - Pelagius, letter to Demetrius

Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength.
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Perseverance is a sign of willpower.
He who stays where he is endures.
To die but not to perish is to be
eternally present.

 - Lao Tse, Tao Te Ching, 33 

"Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” - John 16:26

We, as people of modern, western culture, are inundated and inculcated with a materialistic and immediate culture which demands that we can never have enough.  But what is it that we truly need and are those things actually things at all? 

Trust in the Lord and know that She will provide.  Don't worry so much.  He's got us all covered.

hmm...of course, I could be wrong (with apologies to MadPriest)

One more handbill and I can afford shoes!

I have frequently referred to myself as a heretic, for the greek base of the word means 'one who chooses or decides' and I like the connotations of that.  Rather than having it all spoon-fed by the pope or the padre, I've done my own digging, praying and reflecting...coming to my own conclusions (whether they be horribly orthodoxical or not).

Then I run into this quote by some old german theologian (no, not the whack-a-doodle, the one named after the civil rights leader).

"I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men."   -Martin Luther

I see the wisdom of that, to be sure.  New insights, revelations and circumstances can show the fallacy of what seemed true, the folly of the wise.  For now, I'll settle on heretic, but I could be wrong.

In their own words.....

"From today's crisis, a church will emerge tomorrow that will have lost a great deal... She will be small and, to a large extent, will have to start from the beginning. She will no longer be able to fill many of the buildings created in her period of great splendor. Because of the smaller number of her followers, she will lose many of her privileges in society.  It will make her poor and a church of the little people ... All this will require time. The process will be slow and painful."
                   - Fr. Joseph Ratzinger, 1969

  
"It is not by the display of power and pomp, cavalcades of retainers, and richly-houseled palfreys, or by gorgeous apparel, that the heretics win proselytes; it is by zealous preaching, by apostolic humility, by austerity, by seeming, it is true, but by seeming holiness. Zeal must be met by zeal, humility by humility, false sanctity by real sanctity, preaching falsehood by preaching truth."
                        - Fr. Dominic de Guzeman

Alan Watts on Faith

Faith is a state of openness or trust.

To have faith is like when you trust yourself to the water. You don't grab hold of the water when you swim, because if you do you will become stiff and tight in the water, and sink.

You have to relax, and the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging, and holding on.

In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe becomes a person who has no faith at all. Instead they are holding tight. But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.

 - Alan Watts

Reflection

Christ has no body now but yours, no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion must look out on the world.

Yours are the feet with which He is about doing good.

Yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.

- Saint Teresa of Ávila

Stop me if you've heard this....

"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."   -Dalai Lama


Preach it, brother.