Some distinctions: internal activity and external activity. Activity I am in control of and activity I am not in control of. Of the activity I am in control of, activity that I am in immediate control of and activity I am only indirectly and at a distance in control of. Strictly speaking we will want …
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Born is the king
The second birth is real. Do you believe? You cannot know. It is too much to know. Knowledge requires it. Knowledge cannot get behind itself to know itself. But it can be asserted. Dare you? Dare I? At any moment what may happen in the individual is the realization of his status as rational and …
The risk of religion
One of the great needs of the social animal is to belong. For the rational animal this takes on a more complicated form. Reason is practical and theoretical. Thus, there is a longing both for belonging to the GOOD and the TRUTH. To the degree that choice is involved, and it is to some degree …
Celebrating Easter
“The Lord Has Risen, Hallelujah!” will be a common refrain across official Christianity (Kierkegaard’s phrase) this morning. What is the significance of such a refrain? I want to be fair in an attempt to extract meaning. Then, I want to test. Remember, faith is for doing, for achieving well. It is not for merely believing …
On the accusation of being a gnostic
Twice now in recent days I have been accused by idealistic men of “education” and some standing in their religious communities of being a”gnostic”. Both are fathers. Both are professors. Both are serious to some degree. Both seemed to be reacting to something that I will continue to press on the kind of which they …
God as mystery
Mystery cannot be a term used to hide meaning. What is mysterious is mysterious, it is opaque not revelatory. So, the admittance of mystery is no consolation but a disconsolation. I am content, and only know content. To approach or come into contact with the content-less is terrifying. Less terrifying is contact with contradiction. Contact …
The righteous (virtuous) pagan
A category used to identify those who were never evangelized while they lived but who however lived lives that seemed unworthy of condemnation and damnation. Examples? Heraclitus, Parmenides, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Trajan, Virgil. More recently Karl Rhaner has coined the virtuous pagan as an anonymous Christian. Have you heard the gospel? This begs questions …
Feeling as information versus feeling as direction
The Stoics were right. Apatheia, or freedom from passion, is an accurate negative characterization of the ideal state. But that freedom from can be interpreted in different ways and so lead to different efforts on behalf of the student of virtue. The problematic interpretation is to understand the Stoic to be recommending no feeling. In …
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On Enduring Feeling
One can see, even from an imperfect vision, that either there is only movement according to the sensible in us such as inclination or desire or there is movement according to something independent of the sensible. One can acknowledge that one is only confronted with appearance, sensation and feeling, even when searching out the one …
The analogy between indulgences and climate change government spending.
In both there is the unverifiable catastrophe in the distant (but not too distant) future. In the Catholic church there is the final judgment where ones behavior now is going to result in some pain and suffering later. In the climate change church there is no end to the catastrophes: increased natural disaster, starvation, violence…Either …
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