Jottings

9.9.14

– The moral is the subtle link/bond between the spiritual, psychological & the social.

– Ah! I feel like my heart is full after hearing this (my own preaching)……    🙂

– Rescue » relief » rehabilitation

– Data » information » meaning

10.9.14

– Movies:

“After Earth”

**

But isn’t fear essential for survival? Or is survival itself surpassed by something more important??

11.9.14

– Even indulgence/entertainment is a ‘work’. So learn to just be!

– When I break the weekly 1 day fast, I should eat only half the usual fruit meal.

– Beautiful stranger – “Call me!”

– “Oh my God!”

“Jesus Christ!”

“Holy shit!”

– Theology & pornography

Contemplation & conversation

Movies & ministry

Chores & sex

Exercise & sleep

Feasting & fasting

Traveling & meeting

– Ascending unto GOD by descending into the subconscious!

– Sinai – what really angered GOD was NOT the orgy of adult games, not even the golden calf, but the panic during Moses’ temporary absence & calling the idol as the liberator (for it was Yahweh alone who had brought them out of Egypt)…

– The superstition of scientism

– Distinguish:

Nudity

&

Nakedness

– Distinguish:

Freedom

&

Impudence

– Barf

– Martyrdom (in the context of persecution) is essential, but not primarily for one’s religion/tradition. The freedom of conscience/faith must be defended at all cost!

– How & when was the police force invented?

– “Pain – how can I write about anything else? Is there a more fundamental fact of human existence?”

– “How shall they come to Thee whom Thou hast nailed to their bed?”

– Fresh ~ raw!

– Can I be a humanist (not just a philanthropist) without becoming overly anthropocentric?

– Should the proper cultivation of one’s sexuality be as important as investing in one’s spiritual growth?

Isn’t the former an integral part of the latter?

– A harsh whisper… More like a hiss!

– If the Devil can appear as an angel of light, then does GOD also sometimes appear as an agent of darkness?

– What colour do you get if you mix red, orange & pink??  😉

– Are adults allowed to frolic?

Are leaders permitted to freak-out?

– SFG meeting – do only one thing per meeting. Use another 1 or 2 meetings to complete what is left unfinished.

– Aided by the dead (“Gravity” & “After Earth”) – he/she wouldn’t have survived without it!

– Intellectual > academic

– Alpha & Omega – GOD is the source & basis, origin & destiny of all things – IN BETWEEN, it’s all us!! Sovereign in the here & now.

– Affection, attachment & dependence

Plot these 3 on an axis of intimacy & need.

12.9.14

– Movies:

“Imaginaerum by Nightwish”

The present/real/relationships/love caught between the past/memory/pain/sin & the future/imagination/music/heaven. The only way to live is IN BETWEEN!

Where is Scripture in all of this?

Is magic (GOD/Grace/Spirit) real? I guess that depends on (your) faith! It is amazing how some people CAN believe (in) anything……

Nothing is ‘just a dream’ – “This is as real as it gets kid!”

– Shattering, horrifying, traumatic enjoyment

– Jouissance

– “Austin Farrer – a most pragmatic personalist”

9.9.14

Distinguish:
Ethereal
&
Ephemeral

Fiscal – earn, spend, give, save/invest & owe

Flashpoint, tinderbox, powder-keg, time-bomb

Values, priorities & objectives

It’s okay that things are not okay.

Music
Distinguish:
Carnatic
&
Hindustani

‘Ventricular life’

I have no doubt that Jesus is divine. But I also question the existence of God!
Am I being irrational or stupid?

11.9.14

“Does not consist” – Luk. 12:15; 1Cor. 4:20; 1Cor. 12:14

4Maccabees – what does philosophy have to do with law? What does philosophy have to do with history? What does law have to do with history?

The philosopher as ‘experiencer’

Antiochus, the dogmatic/fanatical/tyrannical liberal!

Moral imperative as spiritual compulsion/psychological restriction/social control

Eloquent torture

Exhortation to apostasy

“…he resisted, by virtue of reason, for the sake of the law.”

The sovereignty of piety over emotion

Freedom-fighters or law-defenders?

The freedom of the conservative

Distinguish:
Freedom
&
Arbitrariness

Encomium

Courage is actually integrity in action,
And cowardice is nothing but hypocrisy exposed.

Humanity as a whole (safety, health & freedom for all) > human beings (you & me)
That’s why martyrdom (for certain causes) is necessary, wise & noble.

Self-control – self-discipline (training), self-denial (suffering), self-sacrifice (death)…… & self-indulgence (pamper)!

Might
Vs.
Light

Human sacrifice to GOD
Vs.
Divine self-sacrifice for the world

Death as the final graduation

Rack (torture)

Liberty – the power to choose freely whether to say No or Yes to internal emotions/desires and external demands/influences. The ability of the will to act according to individual principles/values, irrespective of other constraining forces & limiting factors.

Creed
Vs.
Conviction

The question is not whether GOD will be displeased, or whether he will punish me, but whether I can live with myself and continue to develop as a robust person, if I do this. Will it contribute to, or harm, society?

Can something natural & original be morbid or perverse?

Golden Calf ~ money, technology & military might

Satirical polemicist

Heresy, blasphemy, schismatic

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

State capitalism => socialism => communism

Freedom, change & progress
vs.
Authority, stability & order

12.9.14

1 child dies of hunger every 5 seconds (globally)!

Aborning

Inchoate

“God’s Problem” by Bart Ehrman

“Bonhoeffer & the New Monasticism”

Putative provenance

Thew

Quiddity

“To each his/her own”

Agential overplus

Causal insolvency

Personal agency as enactment of identity

Why should I not be sexually promiscuous?
Because I can’t – I am too busy with theology, spirituality & mission!

Cultivating the intellectual-moral-civil self