Pieces

16.3.14

– A quarrelsome spirit may be even more damaging to a marriage than an adulterous lifestyle, right?

I guess it all depends on the degree of the problematic attitude/behaviour, & how the other handles it…

– ‘Deliberate disappearance’!

– Psychology of religion – internalization & projection

– Are you seeking what you (really) desire?

Are you living what you (really) believe?

Are you thinking of what you (really) need?

– “Anyone who does not want you to think (for yourself) is not (truly) your friend.”

– Evoke

Invoke

Incant

– “Maybe the Devil is just GOD’s alter-ego!” – RFC

– Movies:

The Shining

– “Lauda Anima”

Mercy » praise!

– “There’s no one like Jehovah”

“There is no rock like our GOD”

Mmm……

– “With my whole heart I seek thee,

I will praise thee with an upright heart.”

“Blessed be thou, O Lord!

In thy word I delight, as much as in all riches.”

– Glory » pleasure » creation » delight!

– God-like creatures

&

Man-like God

– Conflict, chaos & despair

– “Lord, save our nation!”

– ‘Servant of (the people of) GOD’

– Acknowledging GOD

The absent-minded clergy!

– Anti-cult ministries

– What do holiness & hope have to do with each other?

– Self-examination & consecration

– Prayers, songs & sermons

– Hortatory

Vs.

Dialectical

Encouraging by inciting!

– The logic of fallacy

&

The fallacy of logic

– Oath/vow/pledge

&

Swearword/cuss/expletive

– Sexuality, morality & religion

– Immanuel Joseph

&

The biblical Joseph

– Uninterested in adultery

– Possession & position

– Gen. 39:9

vv.14,17 – “came in to laugh/mock at me”

Woman as property of the man (father/husband/?GOD)

&

The objectification & abuse of the female body

– GOD, the masses, leadership, structures & authority

– Placement

– Peter

Vs.

Judas

Vs.

Thomas

Whom do I resemble (in my faith)?

– Grace & morality; sin & salvation

Anything radical is scandalous; & anything divine is paradoxical!

– Movies:

Queen (Hindi)

– The best way to read my blog is to read one line at a time, & take a minute or two to reflect on it, before going to the next one…

– I am a tweeter, disguised as a blogger!

Facebook

Vs.

Twitter

You cannot love & serve 2 masters!

– Vital – regular journaling, slow pace of living & annual personal retreat

Drops

15.3.14

– Am I (becoming) the founder of a new (self-made) religion?!

Isn’t everyone (doing) the same, to a greater or lesser degree??

Am I a revolutionary or an apostate?

Am I a prophet or a heretic?

Am I a genius or a charlatan?

Am I inspired by GOD or by the Devil?

Maybe I am neither……!

– Active suffering (discipline) & passive love (forbearance)

– As soon as you wake up in the morning, look into the sky & stare at the sun, blinking often…

– I am accused of imperilling the souls (eternal destiny) of some people in my circle of influence!

– Why do certain people never learn from their mistakes?

Why do some failures never turn into stepping stones for success?

– How can such divergent metaphysical beliefs lead to such similar ethical codes?!

– Interpersonal relationship (love)

Vs.

Doctrinal agreement (truth)

– Distinguish:

Challenge/argue/criticize

&

Undermine/attack/discourage

– Sleeping in the sunlight

Vignettes

14.3.14

– One man’s shit is another man’s gold!

– Social inclusion & integration

– CIPD Diversity Calendar

– Neo-pagans

– The Baha’i

– Desiderata – Max Ehrmann

Prose poem!

– Download – the best short films

– Auto-sync

– Marked special days/important dates on my calendar – from UN, Indian holidays, religious festivals, etc.

– “How can we dance when the earth is turning…?”

– “In this age, there is a new life stirring in all the peoples of the earth…”

– “World peace is not only possible, but inevitable.”

– Individuals, families, society, social institutions, the natural world & man-made infrastructure

– Transformation:

Spiritual » moral » cultural » social » material » ecological!

Pensees

13.3.14

– Alternative lifestyles – divine law, social order & individual freedom

– What can one gain (learn) by stripping life down to its bare essentials?

– Alyssa Siegel’s response to her father

– Human nature:
Total depravity
Vs.
Potential goodness

– Intrinsic motivation
Vs.
External locus of control

– Personal referents
Mythical signifiers

– Moral norms (social)
Vs.
Ethical convictions (personal)

– Emulate – moving from admiration to imitation.

– dulcet

– Jesus/Bible/Church
Vs.
Christ/Scripture/Spirit!

– BF

– Shanthuru Premkumar, Julie Goldberg & Chandran – Brussels.
Wow!

– Discernment » discretion

– I ridicule, condemn & curse the IPL (Cricket)!

– How can anyone live in lust or greed or anger or pride or cruelty??

– Pensees – my blog does not have articles which preach/say something, only vignettes which suggest/ask something!
Goads to provoke your soul…… launching pads for you to take-off on your own jumps, & points of departure for your own wanderings……
The dance of intersections & divergences!

– Desire-believe » feel-think » express-respond » belong-relate & build-repair!

– Blogging about blogging,
Movies about cinema,
Talking about communication…

– Words, images & impressions

– Light, texture & colour

– Observation & articulation » analysis & synthesis » evaluation & inferences » implications & application

– Advocating a message
Vs.
Insinuating a mood
Artful ~ subtle ~ indirect!

– Ingratiate with…

– Item numbers & comedy pieces

– Empowering women
&
Female-objectification

– Fucking socialites!
Culture » celebrity,
then
Celebrity » culture!
It’s a vicious circle…

– Love:
Passion
Vs.
Commitment

Studying a theology in its own religious, philosophical & cultural milieu

Martyrdom & atonement
Substitution ~ ransom
Mercy-seat, blood-sacrifice & forgiveness-cleansing

Dead works
Vs.
Vital worship
Pious frauds!

Demonic evil, cosmic catastrophe, divine victim & human redemption

Tenets – clear, coherent & concise – basic definitions, principles & instructions

Apologetics & accommodation
Adaptation & compromise

‘Devout reason’ & ‘Basic instincts’

Voluntarism & automatisation

State, church & school

Rational judgment & virtuous conduct

Spiritual knowledge, religious doctrine, virtuous character & practical reason

Anger, fear & grief always go hand-in-hand!

The value & danger of sensuality

No self-control, no justice
Equanimity ~ wisdom
Discipline, discernment & love (in that order!)

Reality, ideality & reflectivity

No passion/anger, no conviction/courage!

Faith vs. Impulse

Noble ~ honourable

The martyr, the tyrant & the land
4 Maccabees 1:11

“Jesus is Lord!”
Yes, but what does this mean & signify for us today? How do we understand its truth & seek to practice the implications of this belief?

Spirit/reason/mind OVER flesh/emotion/matter
From ruling factor to ordering principle!

Pleasure – love, joy, peace, faith (clarity/confidence), hope
Pain – anger/hatred, grief, fear/anxiety, confusion, despair
Where does doubt & wonder fit in here? Maybe they are just the 2 sides of the experience of Glory (which is greater than even Goodness, and transcends the dichotomy of good-&-evil!)……
How are virtue & vice related with the positive & negative emotions?

Gormandize

4 Maccabees 1:25

GOD is NOT good, he is great!

Rationality & affectivity
Personality & morality
Discourse ethics

“The jungle of emotions”
Mental desires & physical habits

Law/GOD, faith/spirit & will/mind

Yoga poses, emotions & benefits
Insecurity >> imbalance
Breathing, posture, balance & stretching
Destressing by concentrating (on your breath)!

News

11.3.14

Natural evil & moral evil

Devils

Books – “Understanding Spiritual Warfare” – Ed. James Beilby & Paul Eddy

Evangelicals ~ Puritans
Vs.
Charismatics ~ Quakers

Evil, the Cross & Christian theodicy

GOD – ruler or warrior or victim??

Pentecostal systematic theology!

“An und fur sich”
Essence & existence

12.3.14

– Freedom – define liberty, independence & autonomy

– Spiritual formation
Spiritual warfare
Spiritual direction

– The GOD of the fools
Vs.
The God of the wise

– “A dream like a dream” – Stan Lai

– inured

– An intelligentsia that fosters public opinion

– accost

– missus
Wifey

– kutcheri

– say-so
The final vote

– I didn’t know that ‘lovely’ referred to the character of a person, & ‘beautiful’ referred only to the appearance…

– Artisanal

– Cooper

– Hospitable ~ entertain

– Jedi & Yoda

– Immediacy
Vs.
Urgency

– Caste & class
Science & tradition
Religion & morality

– Developmentalism

– State, quality, act

– Intermediacy

– Article on Kangana Ranaut in India Today Woman

– Nandan Nilekani in politics

– A reliable, effective & replicable framework

– A comprehensive exploration of what agency actually means

– Secular-religious & spiritual-material – 50 shades of grey!

– Axiological, ontological & cosmological

– Value judgments & moral decisions

– Vindicated, but impoverished!

– Creativity & improvisation

– In-depth observation, systematic analysis & clear articulation

– Ethnography

– State actors

– Commentators, activists & bureaucrats

– Gramscian analysis
Cultural hegemony
Capitalist ideology

– Melange

– “Theater of the absurd”
Irrational, purposeless, chaotic!

– Wisden

– Maverick genre – ‘narrative non-fiction’

– Literati     Clerisy

– Passionate about being laid-back!

– Withal

– Raconteur

– Postpositive

– Personal essay

– Nalanda University reborn… WOW!  🙂

– Satellite cities
Mini capitals

– Visit countries that are socialist & democratic

– Trademark dare-devilry

– ‘Mohalla sabha’

– Arvind Kejriwal – buffoon or genius??

– NaMo
NaBloPoMo

– Illicit dance

Jottings

9.3.14

Neither moralistic nor nihilistic!

Moral judgments & nonmoral evaluations

Obligation > supererogatory > permissible > prohibited

The intricate interweaving of psychology, morality & theology!

Internalized social norms

10.3.14

The tug-o-war in the present – Hope vs. Nostalgia
Regret, stagnation, & purpose

Obsession
Vs.
Escapism

Homonymy, homophone, homography

Christian-scholarly research on spirit-beings (angels & demons)!

The extra-human realm
“He is Lord, He is Lord…”:
Can you sing this song from your heart, now?

Spiritual beings or just supernatural forces? Or both?!

Rantings

9.3.14

– Book-ended

– Movies:
Two Mothers/Adore

10.3.14

– Distinguish:
Flick, movie & film

– Quip

– True Caller

– Wunderlist

– Jamboree

– Screed

– Liberal, liberation & libertarian

– Passion, service & discipline

– Blogroll

– My apps, podcasts, bookmarks & feeds

– Horror/comedy/erotic films… & Philosophy/Psychology/ Theology!

– ‘Seven year itch’ – just imagine!

– Sorry, this is an adults-only ministry, folks!

– The suffering of (macro) boredom
&
The monotony of (chronic) pain

Thoughts

8.3.14

– Personal idealism

– Hypostatisation of transcendental ego

– Beyond the materialist-idealist dichotomy, to the ultimate resolution in personalism!

– Person – consciousness, agency & relationality

– The subpersonal & impersonal

– Person > mind > brain

– The common sense philosophers

– Movies:

The Trial – Orson Welles (based on novel by Franz Kafka)

– Watcher in the sky

Lines

7.3.14

– International Conference on Persons.

– Computational theory of mind.

– Senescence

– Birth, growth, maturity, ageing & death.

– Counter-episteme

– The psycho-dynamics of faith

– The mass massacres & brutal judgments of the OT are there to remind us that GOD is absolutely free, & has the legitimate moral right to do with his creation (this world, & especially humans) as he pleases! And on the Cross, this very same GOD demonstrates his willingness to forego this divine prerogative.

– Austin Farrer

Michael Polanyi

– Homiletic verses

– Birkin & Ursula ~ Joseph & Salome!

– Dynamic equilibrium of passion & integrity.

– Merge culture club, online student-fellowship & webinar!

– Usiology

– The Gifford Lectures

– Axiology     Cosmology

– Does the Created Order simply refer to the physical limits of our function or does it also include moral norms for our conduct?

– Natural Theology

– ‘Sensual arousal blog’ – shouldn’t I be ashamed?!

– Distinguish:

Impudence

&

Boldness

– I CAN know GOD!

– Insolvency

– Hostile takeover

– From selfism to personalism

– Transcendence + immanence = imminence!

– The patient application of sharp correction…

– The personalist metaphysic!