I heard someone say today, “biology proves that men and women are different”.
Well, I say, “biology proves that I am different.” I am different from other males and other human beings. My life is one of a kind.
And tomorrow? I have no proof (biological or otherwise) of tomorrow. Biology (or any science) can only make statements about the past. The rest is a guess! Tomorrow I may cease to be either male or female. I may simply cease to be!
Anyway …
What’s a piece of technology you’re convinced will exist in 20 years?
Just to reveal my age, and movies I watch, I think flying cars. And glasses that act as rear view mirrors.
Tbh: I am a little afraid of what technology will exist. Yes, I am old. But rather than making my life easier, technology stresses me and makes me want to run away (to a forest somewhere). My hope is that humanity discovers itself, becomes less dependent on technology, and more free to be human.
Something WordPress reminded me of writing. So I share!
Let me preface this by saying I am no philosopher, theologian, or sociologist. I think “modern society” lives with the belief that “if I can measure …
Measure and create
tbh, the Deposited Book. I have used it for my daily prayer since before I was ordained. This current edition is new since my last one fell apart (literally!). I have tried other books but I always come back to this one. It has everything I need in one book!
But also Fear and Trembling. And The Metamorphosis. And The Confessions. Also, I Am Dynamite!. And maybe Beyond Good and Evil.
And also the book I am currently obsessed with Monasticism: The All-embracing Gift of the Holy Spirit by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou. I only have an ebook copy. It is an impressive book! (Also, by the same author, Hesychasm: The Bedewing Furnace of the Heart.)
I could go on. Anyway …
Are you a lifelong learner?
Are we not all lifelong learners? If I act differently today because of something that happened yesterday, I learned something!?
So I like books. I sometimes read. And maybe sometimes learn. But I rarely act any different from yesterday.
But above all, grace is attributed to you, that you call me by name, whom you have never seen. But since grace is not known by dignity, but is accustomed to be signified by the actions of souls, bless for the sake of God, and grant a prayer of your perfection’s indulgence.
St. Sophronius of Jerusalem. Life of St. Mary of Egypt (p. 15). (Function). Kindle Edition.
A desert encounter! Two people who have never meet. But grace is obvious!
Being “clergy” does not mean grace! Nor insight. Nor faith.
By avoiding being recognised as an institution, monasticism remains hidden from the eyes of this world, and this allows it to keep its perfect and absolute freedom to exist purely on the spiritual plane, governed exclusively by the power of the Holy Spirit. If monasticism were to become an institution, it would cease to be a life ‘outside the camp of this world;’(Heb 13:13) it would lose its charismatic power of humility and its prophetic and paradoxical character, whereby it maintains the knowledge of God on earth.
Zacharou, Archimandrite Zacharias. Monasticism: The All-Embracing Gift of the Holy Spirit (p. 8). (Function). Kindle Edition.
“To be or not to be” is not an institutional question. For me, the “battle” is the urge (the desire) for an “institutional yes”. But outside means outside the institution.
a fool and his prayer book 