A thought for the day...
When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. -Chinese proverb
But I think I would change that a little...
An Orthodox Proverb
When you have only three pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, a lily with the second, and give the third to the poor.
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Monday, June 30, 2003
Humility
It is interesting after our discussion of this past week mostly over on James' blog paradosis on humility, that the sermon on Sunday was about the same thing (or at least part of it was... the part I remember...)
The starting premise was: "God is love"
and of course, I cannot disagree.
But a next step from that was: "God is humble".
I had never thought of God as humble before. Certainly, the Son, I have considered often in his "extreme humility" , but I had never thought of the Father and the Holy Spirit as humble before.
Fr. James (our rector) pointed out to us that Christianity is unique in that regards. Certainly even other religions that do have a personal God, do not believe He is humble.
So it got me to thinking about humilty and how I defined it in my comments on James F's blog.
Specifically, I was thinking that being able to forgive others is the beginning of humility, and being able to consider that you have nothing to forgiven them, is the end of humility.
Now I wonder. Certainly that is not how I would conceive of God even in the depths of His love for me? Do I not believe that some day He will hold me accountable? Therefore, must He not be keeping account of my sins?
Well, how can we consider all of this? If God is the Judge, then is it the duty of the Judge to keep account of people's sins? Certainly not. The duty of the Judge is to hear a case that is presented against someone, and then to Judge fairly. Then who is my accuser? Satan comes to mind (his name meaning: "accuser.")
So, perhaps thinking of God in his Humility, and God as the awesome and powerful Supreme Judge of the Universe works out something like this:
Some day I go to stand (or fall on my face) before the presence of God.
Satan comes to accuse me.
What defense do I have for myself, and by what standard shall I be Judged?
If God is my Judge, then God shall judge me by His own standard: namely Himself, and His own Supreme Humility. And how does He do that? By only holding against me all that I hold against my brother.
So, the bottom line is what I had always thought it would be (even though I've now gotten there via a different route)... namely, if I cannot forgive my brother (and all mankind is my brother), then God will hold me to that very standard that I hold my brother. By whatever standard we have judged, we will be judged.
Basil
It is interesting after our discussion of this past week mostly over on James' blog paradosis on humility, that the sermon on Sunday was about the same thing (or at least part of it was... the part I remember...)
The starting premise was: "God is love"
and of course, I cannot disagree.
But a next step from that was: "God is humble".
I had never thought of God as humble before. Certainly, the Son, I have considered often in his "extreme humility" , but I had never thought of the Father and the Holy Spirit as humble before.
Fr. James (our rector) pointed out to us that Christianity is unique in that regards. Certainly even other religions that do have a personal God, do not believe He is humble.
So it got me to thinking about humilty and how I defined it in my comments on James F's blog.
Specifically, I was thinking that being able to forgive others is the beginning of humility, and being able to consider that you have nothing to forgiven them, is the end of humility.
Now I wonder. Certainly that is not how I would conceive of God even in the depths of His love for me? Do I not believe that some day He will hold me accountable? Therefore, must He not be keeping account of my sins?
Well, how can we consider all of this? If God is the Judge, then is it the duty of the Judge to keep account of people's sins? Certainly not. The duty of the Judge is to hear a case that is presented against someone, and then to Judge fairly. Then who is my accuser? Satan comes to mind (his name meaning: "accuser.")
So, perhaps thinking of God in his Humility, and God as the awesome and powerful Supreme Judge of the Universe works out something like this:
Some day I go to stand (or fall on my face) before the presence of God.
Satan comes to accuse me.
What defense do I have for myself, and by what standard shall I be Judged?
If God is my Judge, then God shall judge me by His own standard: namely Himself, and His own Supreme Humility. And how does He do that? By only holding against me all that I hold against my brother.
So, the bottom line is what I had always thought it would be (even though I've now gotten there via a different route)... namely, if I cannot forgive my brother (and all mankind is my brother), then God will hold me to that very standard that I hold my brother. By whatever standard we have judged, we will be judged.
Basil
Friday, June 27, 2003
Thought for the day... on Abstraction
I love this stuff. I think this is why I love being a writer.
from "Object-Oriented Modeling and Design"
by Rumbaugh, Blaha, Premerlani, Eddy, and Lorensen
"Abstraction is the selective examination of certain aspects of a problem. The goal of abstraction is to isolated thos aspects that are important for some purpose and suppress those aspects that are unimportant. Abstraction must always be for some purpose, because the purpose determines what is and is not important. Many different abstractions of the same thing are possible, depending on the purpose for which tye are made.
"All abstractions are incomplete and inaccurate. Reality is a seamless web. Anything we say about it, any description of it, is an abridgement. All human words and language are abstractions -- incomplete descriptions of the real world. This does not destroy their usefulness. The purpose of an abstraction is to limit the universe so we can do things."
:)
~ Basil
I love this stuff. I think this is why I love being a writer.
from "Object-Oriented Modeling and Design"
by Rumbaugh, Blaha, Premerlani, Eddy, and Lorensen
"Abstraction is the selective examination of certain aspects of a problem. The goal of abstraction is to isolated thos aspects that are important for some purpose and suppress those aspects that are unimportant. Abstraction must always be for some purpose, because the purpose determines what is and is not important. Many different abstractions of the same thing are possible, depending on the purpose for which tye are made.
"All abstractions are incomplete and inaccurate. Reality is a seamless web. Anything we say about it, any description of it, is an abridgement. All human words and language are abstractions -- incomplete descriptions of the real world. This does not destroy their usefulness. The purpose of an abstraction is to limit the universe so we can do things."
:)
~ Basil
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Dostoyevsky, Humility, and about everyone being the same!
This post is based on my comments to James' blog "People are People" which you can read here
I was motived to stop and think based on James' blog and on some of the comments to it. (If you already read the comments you may have read most of this post.)
Fr. Seraphim says:
"there is a way in which lowering oneself can become almost a caricature of humility"
I AGREE.
It is something that really annoys me.
In certain circles I see this caricature of humility exhalted and I just gag on it. For example, in my thinking, a humble person when they talk (or preach) about fasting, for example, talk or preach the way the saints do: "So, you don't want to eat food! You are no better off than the Devil himself who doesn't eat food." Those I come to respect for their humility are the ones that don't concentrate on the nitty-gritty details of fasting, for example, but on the broader issues: you fast so that you can give to the poor (the food that you aren't eating) {I paraphrase St. John Chrysostom here} - or, you fast so that you can learn humility... etc. Never mind telling me what not to eat.
Or, another way of putting it: it is the road to fasting (the reason why you are) that is more important than the fact that you are avoiding certain foods (but I'm an existentialist at heart, so it all logically follows.)
I use "talk of fasting" here as my example for humility. But try to abstract that: The humble person doesn't draw attention to their humility, because a truly humble person doesn't know they are humble. They inadvertently become humble by doing the right thing... thinking the right thing.
I disagree with the premise by James: "Everyone would like to believe that everyone else is really no different than himself or herself."
because I've always wanted to be unique.
I don't want to be like anybody else, and I can damn well assure you that nobody else can possibly be like me! (Well, there you see, I'm not humble at all, am I.)
On the other hand, I want to be "different" not "better." I really have no way of knowing if the path I've chosen in life is better than that of somebody else. I suppose "if it works" then it is superior to something that doesn't, right? So, in that case I know I'm not better, because much of what "I am" and "I do" isn't "working." When something does turn out to work, it seems to be pure luck. I thank God every day for how "fortunate" or "lucky" or "blessed" I have been. But that doesn't mean I don't also count my sorrows.
OTOH, I've always thought that the problem in this world was: NOT thinking you are like everyone else. The problem in this world is thinking that you are better than everyone else. That everyone else is scum. That everyone else is an annoying piece of shit that screws everything out there up. It is always somebody else that doesn't stop at red lights, or cuts you off in the traffice, or throws their trash out the window and litters up the whole world.
But the reality of the situation (and what I can learn from life) is that it is NOT always somebody else. It is people like me who think they are better than everyone who end up running red lights, or getting angry in traffic and cutting someone off, or inadvertently letting their trash blow out their windows of their car, because the windows are all down and it's too hot out there. The fact of the matter is that it is ME that I really hate so much. When I say I'd never have a friend like "THAT" I can probably find myself one of THOSE if I look hard enough.
This is where Orthodox Christianity shines the light of Christ in the world. And Dostoyevsky is one of its greatest beacons of that light. Dost pointed out to us that we are all fallen... that it could have been any one of us that slipped up and killed someone... that the sinner is within.
Regards,
Basil
This post is based on my comments to James' blog "People are People" which you can read here
I was motived to stop and think based on James' blog and on some of the comments to it. (If you already read the comments you may have read most of this post.)
Fr. Seraphim says:
"there is a way in which lowering oneself can become almost a caricature of humility"
I AGREE.
It is something that really annoys me.
In certain circles I see this caricature of humility exhalted and I just gag on it. For example, in my thinking, a humble person when they talk (or preach) about fasting, for example, talk or preach the way the saints do: "So, you don't want to eat food! You are no better off than the Devil himself who doesn't eat food." Those I come to respect for their humility are the ones that don't concentrate on the nitty-gritty details of fasting, for example, but on the broader issues: you fast so that you can give to the poor (the food that you aren't eating) {I paraphrase St. John Chrysostom here} - or, you fast so that you can learn humility... etc. Never mind telling me what not to eat.
Or, another way of putting it: it is the road to fasting (the reason why you are) that is more important than the fact that you are avoiding certain foods (but I'm an existentialist at heart, so it all logically follows.)
I use "talk of fasting" here as my example for humility. But try to abstract that: The humble person doesn't draw attention to their humility, because a truly humble person doesn't know they are humble. They inadvertently become humble by doing the right thing... thinking the right thing.
I disagree with the premise by James: "Everyone would like to believe that everyone else is really no different than himself or herself."
because I've always wanted to be unique.
I don't want to be like anybody else, and I can damn well assure you that nobody else can possibly be like me! (Well, there you see, I'm not humble at all, am I.)
On the other hand, I want to be "different" not "better." I really have no way of knowing if the path I've chosen in life is better than that of somebody else. I suppose "if it works" then it is superior to something that doesn't, right? So, in that case I know I'm not better, because much of what "I am" and "I do" isn't "working." When something does turn out to work, it seems to be pure luck. I thank God every day for how "fortunate" or "lucky" or "blessed" I have been. But that doesn't mean I don't also count my sorrows.
OTOH, I've always thought that the problem in this world was: NOT thinking you are like everyone else. The problem in this world is thinking that you are better than everyone else. That everyone else is scum. That everyone else is an annoying piece of shit that screws everything out there up. It is always somebody else that doesn't stop at red lights, or cuts you off in the traffice, or throws their trash out the window and litters up the whole world.
But the reality of the situation (and what I can learn from life) is that it is NOT always somebody else. It is people like me who think they are better than everyone who end up running red lights, or getting angry in traffic and cutting someone off, or inadvertently letting their trash blow out their windows of their car, because the windows are all down and it's too hot out there. The fact of the matter is that it is ME that I really hate so much. When I say I'd never have a friend like "THAT" I can probably find myself one of THOSE if I look hard enough.
This is where Orthodox Christianity shines the light of Christ in the world. And Dostoyevsky is one of its greatest beacons of that light. Dost pointed out to us that we are all fallen... that it could have been any one of us that slipped up and killed someone... that the sinner is within.
Regards,
Basil
Monday, June 16, 2003
Friday, June 13, 2003
Taming the Epitaph
In my little search tonight, to discover the authorship of this little poem:
Were I so Tall to Reach the Pole
Or grasp the Ocean with my Span
I must be mesuer'd by my Soul
The Mind's the Standard of the Man.
I have run across numerous interesting things.
Apparently the author of the poem is Isaac Watts. I shall try to eventually find the whole poem somewhere and post it. The poem is most often quoted because it was apparently a favorite poem of John Merrick (photo below) the "Elephant Man".
The most amusing thing I discovered was that I ran across at least two different historical societies where some important figure had the above poem engraved on his gravestone. And, LOL, one of those two historical societies thinks that their tomb stone is the original poem that is so often quoted. But alas, it is only the four most memorable lines in a poem by Isaac Watts.
Regards, and good night!
Basil
In my little search tonight, to discover the authorship of this little poem:
Were I so Tall to Reach the Pole
Or grasp the Ocean with my Span
I must be mesuer'd by my Soul
The Mind's the Standard of the Man.
I have run across numerous interesting things.
Apparently the author of the poem is Isaac Watts. I shall try to eventually find the whole poem somewhere and post it. The poem is most often quoted because it was apparently a favorite poem of John Merrick (photo below) the "Elephant Man".
The most amusing thing I discovered was that I ran across at least two different historical societies where some important figure had the above poem engraved on his gravestone. And, LOL, one of those two historical societies thinks that their tomb stone is the original poem that is so often quoted. But alas, it is only the four most memorable lines in a poem by Isaac Watts.
Regards, and good night!
Basil
Beware of Monastic Breweries...
I have always been suspicious of Monastic Breweries. And then tonight I discoverd this:
http://www.weaselbreweries.com/monks.html
It really sets my mind at ease to find a nice detailed history of one such place.
Cheers!
Basil
I have always been suspicious of Monastic Breweries. And then tonight I discoverd this:
http://www.weaselbreweries.com/monks.html
It really sets my mind at ease to find a nice detailed history of one such place.
Cheers!
Basil
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