Miraculous
Self realization is born and matures in a distinctive kind of awareness, an awareness that has been described in many different ways by many different people. The mystics, for example, have spoken of it as the perception of the divinity and perfection of the world. Richard Buckke referred to it as cosmic consciousness; Buber described it in terms of the I-Thou relationship; Maslow gave it the label “Being-cognition”. We shall use Ouspensky’s term and call it the perception of the miraculous. “Miraculous” here refers not only to extraordinary phenomena but also to the common place, for absolutely anything can evoke this special awareness provided that close enough attention is paid to it. Once perception is disengaged from the domination of preconception and personal interest, it is free to experience the world as it is in itself and to behold its inherent magnificence… Perception of the miraculous requires no faith or assumptions. It is simply a matter of paying full and close attention to the givens of life, i.e., to what is so ever-present that it is usually taken for granted. The true wonder of the world is available everywhere, in the minutest parts of our bodies, in the vast expanses of the cosmos, and in the intimate interconnectedness of these and all things… . We are part of a finely balanced ecosystem in which interdependency goes hand-in-hand with individuation. We are all individuals, but we are also parts of a greater whole, untied in something vast and beautiful beyond description. Perception of the miraculous is the subjective essence of self realization, the root from which man’s highest features and experiences grow.
From The Road Less Traveled.
12:53 am • 10 August 2011 • 2 notes
It is well with my soul.
“It Is Well with My Soul” is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss.
This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone.” Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
It Is Well With My Soul
- When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
- Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
- Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
- My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
- For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
- But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
- And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
11:17 pm • 26 July 2011
L-us-t
I listened to an interesting talk about the nature of lust today. A word full of religious connotations. Something nobody wants to hear about, something that sounds like the antithesis of fun. However the talk broke all those negative and bitter associations. Very enlightening. No paraphrasing would do it justice. If anyone wants it I can send it to you through email. Please ask me if you do.
3:21 pm • 13 June 2011
The Future Is Looking Dumber :(
To go boldly beyond where any T.V has gone before. Cell Phones will be the death of our civilization. Don’t underestimate them, for they are a destructive force. I will present 5 arguments as to what they really are.
1. Hyper Individuality
Think about it, nothing allows you to enter your own private little world no matter where you are, better. Feeling vulnerable, friendless at a party? A cell phone will take that away and make you look important. You can virtually leave any boring conversation and still appear in it. You’re own personal world in your pocket, and with it the importance on the self increases and everything else diminishes. A cell phone is waiting for your command and you can do it anyway you want. Hyper individuality is the last thing our society needs. The T.V’s agenda could only take hold if you sat in front of it on the couch, cell phones are always waiting to be checked and rechecked, texted and then re-texted.
2. Loss of Privacey
Ironically paired with hyper individuality, we are lured by the incessant presence in our pocket to update the world on what we’re doing. This is of little concern, but strangers looking in is a different matter. There is a rise of awareness about companies that are crossing the line on respect for privacy. Companies like Google and Apple have been caught in various instances peering into peoples personal affairs, measuring spending habits, and everyday behaviors.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/980317—apple-eyes-new-personal-data-tracking-system?bn=1
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700130294/Apple-Google-big-brother-tracking-makes-smartphone-users-nervous.html
Just a few articles of many.
3. Lower Intelligence
Cell phones are able to pick up where T.V left off in more than one way. There have been studies that show, when we learn new information we retain it 25% less if we look at a screen afterward. 25% less! Our brains aren’t able to properly file away anything new when our eyes dart to a screen. Actually, screens in general slow us down.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jul/04/charles.arthur
We’re in an age that no longer contemplates, our T.V shows (especially reality t.v) are so quickly edited that there’s no chance of thinking about any one point for too long. Our movies are never challenging anymore, simply entertaining. Our music falls into only a few structures that our brains quickly recognize like an old friend. This is scarey, when civilizations prioritizes the familiar and simple rather than the provocative and creative.
4. Health
Cell phones actually affect your brian directly. The radiation has long thought to contribute to brian cancer, but now they’re realizing how even a short periods of cell phone use directly alters your brain.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/cell-phone-brain/
http://news.discovery.com/tech/cell-phones-may-affect-brain-metabolism-110223.html
Put this adverse relationship on top of the mindless, laziness that T.V and aimless internet browsing encourage and a quick, noticeable reduction will occur. Entertainment and social networking technology seems to have a direct relationship with our health due to it’s addictive and unending demands for our attention. A simple equation, less time on nourishing things = bad health. Health is one of things we take most for granted, something we should obviously cherish.
5. Breakdown of Societal Order
Societal order grows from a smaller order, the family. This sensitive ecosystem is the feeding stream into the ocean that is modern civilization. Any abnormalities in these streams will inevitably run into the ocean. The family is the starting ground, the first point where any nutrients or toxins will appear. Technology has radically affected all out lives, our relationships, the way we think. It has entered into the family room and transformed it into the T.V room. It has been placed in children’s hands and pushed in front of their faces. The family no longer commonly gathers around the table, books are only seen as work compared to the alternatives, and young eyes are exposed to the gutters of society on T.V and the Internet. The other day I watched a young mother as she sat with her little boy in Tim Hortons. The little boy was restless, unable to sit still. He kept looking at his mother to engage him. She was completely fixed on her cell phone, texting away in a never ending convesation. The little boy was talking to lid of his cup and seem unsatisfied. He got up and walked over to his mother, who hadn’t reacted or even noticed him and stood in front of her. He put his hand on her stirring stick in her tea and flicked it onto her pants. Immediately she snapped and him scolded him. Then went back to her phone. The little boy seemed to realize he was sitting in Tim Hortons alone. The boy will most likely continue to misbahave, in his eyes it’s better than the alternative of getting no attention at all.
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16
Indifference is the opposite of love.
4:36 pm • 26 April 2011
Taste
Is taste something objective? Can there be good taste and bad taste or merely different taste? Different strokes for different folks. Our society today is full of statements such as “oh, you’re a hipster”, “we have different tastes in music”, “whatever makes you happy” and “that’s not my scene”. We’re encouraged to think this way. Pop culture continually prides us on having our own thing, being unique, an individual. Obviously these things aren’t all bad and it’d be funny if I started advocating that we all wear the same colors and get real haircuts. Soft blues for Monday and salmon on Friday. However, the implications that travel beneath these empowering ideals of individuality actually takes power away. The idea that there is no difference between good art and bad art beyond simply preferring one over the other actually loses sight of the reason for art. Art goes beyond simply what we feel about it, beyond simply being inward. Art, twofold, is a projection as well, meant to express something about our world. It can been seen as statement and not just a flavorful piece of pie. So additional to it’s aesthetic, is the statement true? Beyond this many more questions should be asked. Is the statement within the art in unison with it’s image? Does the art function well within itself? Or like a beautiful person who has nothing good to say, something out of harmony with itself.
Our society is full of marketing that attempts to pass as art. In order to accomplish this, money has craftily chosen to lower our standards of art in order that they may mass produce it. Good is hard to come by and certainly no good salesmen. So alas our society thinks differently about art now. Our education system, entertainment and social networking all guide us in one direction, “individualism” one of it’s guises.
Now from the Fathers of modern western education (from The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis)
Aristotle: The aim of education is to make a pupil like and dislike what he ought.
Plato: the well-nurtured youth is one ‘who would see most clearly whatever was amiss in ill-made works of man or ill-grown works of nature, and with a just distaste would blame and hate the ugly even from his earliest years and would give delighted praise to beauty, receiving it into his soul and being nourished by it, so that he becomes a man of gentle heart.
Taste affects and shapes us. It’s something we’re encouraged to take lightly however. The solution, educate yourself from the masters. Choose one famous artist who resonates with you and analyze their work up close. You’ll start to see and realize why it’s actually good instead of just thinking “I like that!” and then quickly moving on and never taking anything away from it, never understanding why.
2:39 pm • 12 April 2011 • 3 notes
