Happenings

3.10.14

– “What kind of conversation is it that is so completely one-sided, & at the same time so satisfying?”

– Home truths

4.10.14

– “The school of Hellas”

– The liberal coastal people & the conservative land-locked regions

– “War is primarily a matter of money.”

What about marriage?

– The disease, the art (medicine), nature, the patient & the doctor

– Theological wisdom, encyclopedic knowledge & spiritual discernment

– Underwrite

– Metaphysical risk!

– Non-violent coercion

– Necessity & freedom

Are they mutually exclusive?

– Legal theory

– Anamorphic

– Imbrications

– Corrective self-criticism

– Legerdemain

– “…Instead you can just do self-study on the stuff that interests you.”

“You should focus more on the interface between Medicine & Christianity which is by itself a vast & rich play-field!”

“I usually fix theology & spirituality as my primary field. All others are more peripheral. So I focus more on them than the others. It is vital to get the priorities right, especially since we are limited beings!” – x

“You do make me contemplate.” – y

“Please do”

I think FOCUS is crucial!”

“I will go home & send some good stuff which can stimulate & nurture you as a Christian-Physician. May GOD empower you with grace & truth!”

“DON’T stop studying Medicine or reading the Bible!” – x

“Thank you very much. You are a prophet” – y

“WOW! Thank you”

“I guess the real challenge lies in very deliberately engaging in a dialogue with Medicine & Christianity rather than just letting them run like parallel rails. They must be interwoven so that your profession & faith mutually sharpen & enrich each other! Even when you engage in only one of them, the other must always be present as a dialogue partner…

Then we can expect something amazing & transformative!”

“So I could suggest 3 levels of study for you:

1. Medicine; Theology; & your dialogue with them.

Most important level.

2. The interface between them.

Second, but almost as important as the first.

3. Other (allied) interests.

Least important. But a great hobby!

This can help you organize your resources accordingly & make the most of all that is available, in line with your identity/vocation!” – x

– The final guardrail

– The quality of the highways (national, etc.) always seems to be much better than the roads within a city/town. Why??

– Wonderful ~ haunting

8.10.14

– “I agree that insecurity (as well as possessiveness/jealousy – the other side of the same coin) is natural/normal, especially for a woman. But the question is what is the mature/adult way to deal with it! Only the one who can resolve his/her own psychological stuff in a healthy way, can love others, right?”

– When there is a person who is dependent on others (financially, physically, psychologically, etc.) and therefore pulling others down with him/her, we have a choice to make:

Whether to invest our resources in supporting that person or to let him/her ‘die’.

On what basis do we make this choice?

It depends on whether that person is doing whatever they can to become independent, how much we can afford to help without harming ourselves, what our relationship is with that person & what the chances are for our help to make the recipient recover from a position of dependence.

It is not ethical to withdraw medical support from a patient (for whom there is no hope of recovery) if the option of euthanasia (quick & painless death) is not available.

Which is the greater evil – suffering or death?

To what extent are we responsible for our own welfare & to what extent are we responsible for each other’s survival?

– Auto-correct & word-prediction – don’t use!

– Basic dignity

Dehumanize – brutalize, demonize, commodify

– I want to know what it would be like to do what Gautama did, to get to the bottom of this mystery called life.

To live… without money, without family, without sex, without a house, without a job, without religion, etc. What is life without these things? Is it just deathly existence, or is it really the abundant life that we all perpetually (claim to) seek, but will never attain, because we are too terrified to find?!

– Poverty, sickness & ageing

– Maybe the one thing that we should all eliminate, in order to be saved, is the desire to be spared from suffering!

– Spiritual liberation is the fundamental value upon which every other human endeavour & progress (science, culture, etc.) must be built. Without this attainment, all achievement is worth zilch!

– I think salvation is the state of human personal existence in which the ego is completely delivered from all need, & desire is fully transcended.

Freedom (from conditionality & limitation) becomes even more valuable than survival or happiness!

– Maybe psychological suicide is spiritual salvation! Maybe eternal life is to somehow taste death while still conscious & breathing…

– Yes, food & shelter are essential for survival. But what if survival itself becomes non-essential??

– Contrary to the universal belief that such a person will be most useless in the service of mankind, the truth is that only such a person will be of any lasting value to this world.