Month: March 2015

Reflections

8.2.15

TLRP – Teaching & Learning Research Program

Framework of concepts & practices

9.2.15

Eremitical

Cenobitic

Movies:
“One Velvet Morning”

Notice the tribute to August Strindberg (“Miss Julie”) at the end of the credits!

“Beneath the Mask of Holiness: Thomas Merton & the Forbidden Love Affair that Set Him Free”

“In searching out the truth be ready for the unexpected, for it is difficult to find and puzzling when you find it.” – Heraclitus

11.2.15

Ignorant teachers
Amateur masters

Blind followers

Postmodern holiness – can a connoisseur of erotica also be a spiritual person?

Today I came across a great resource (for the retreat)!
Call it:
Providence
Or
Serendipity
Or

Just an accident…

“Unmarked graves” – you’re dead, but you don’t know it!

“Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also…”

Oh am I? I am so sorry… Yeah, fuck you too!

Past, present, & future – Amen, Hosanna, Hallelujah!

Past, present, & future – Hallelujah, Hosanna, Amen!

“If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have……”

“All for one, one for all.”
When you grow spiritually as an individual, you are (indirectly) contributing to the development of the entire world!
And vice versa?

The collective unconscious! WOW ??

“Leave this place & go somewhere else. xyz wants to kill you!”

“For surely no prophet can die outside Chennai!”

Kies via WiFi
Uninstall & reinstall!
Debugging the software

Reboot the hardware – shutdown & restart

“This may take several minutes, depending on the performance of your system.”

“I tell you, you will not see me again, until the day you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes……’ ”

Doing for people what they need, but (unfortunately) also what they hate!
How can you help people to grow spiritually, when they don’t want to?

Do you just leave them to their own devices, or do you try to persuade them?

12.2.15

Psephologist

Why didn’t Kejriwal’s initial early resignation (as CM) boomerang against him in the recent Delhi elections?

Do reservations impact productivity adversely?

18.2.15

Righteous father & merciful judge

OFM

Sin => guilt => confession & repentance => forgiveness & cleansing => joy!
The proud & self-righteous are the most miserable of all people.

Am I a rare exception to this rule?? Are you?

“Hear our voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love,

According to your judgement give us life.”

“This opening prayer may be said:
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever.

Amen.”

“Refrain: Make haste to help me, O God of my salvation.”

“Almighty Lord and Saviour,
behold with pity the wounds of your people;
do not forsake us, sinful as we are,
but for the sake of the passion of your
Beloved One, Jesus,
come quickly to our aid,

for his mercy’s sake.”

19.2.15

Start a community living & retreat centre (with counselling program by Chellam), around the time I reach 40. Then travel once a month or so from this remote place to the cities to conduct seminars, small group meetings, attend cultural programs, etc.

Natural history

Values & disciplines

Circumstances, roles, responsibilities & relationships

Simpletons – ordinary, common people who struggle to make a living (make ends meet), hard-working, diligent, who are happy even in their difficult situation, love their family, are kind & helpful to other needy people around them, who have a childlike faith in GOD, resilient, hopeful/positive, etc.
Are these people qualified as ‘spiritual’ (according to you)??
But definitely, they are not visionary/leadership material (not qualified to teach & equip others to grow spiritually i.e. ‘ministry of the word’), although they too are exemplary models of a certain kind…
Never commit the blunder of having such a narrow & biased view of spirituality, that doesn’t account for the vast diversity of mankind – in terms of gender, age, class, culture, family background, personality, spiritual experience, sexual orientation, marital status, religious input, work, lifestyle, health, etc.

Yes, we all think that what we believe is right & our values are the best, but let not conviction turn into arrogance!

Can you be humbled/corrected without feeling humiliated/offended?

“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” – Napoleon Hill

“A woman’s life can really be a succession of lives, each revolving around some emotionally compelling situation or challenge, and each marked off by some intense experience.” – Wallis Simpson

David Hicks

21.2.15

So does the flesh-spirit battle always boil down to self vs. God?

Finished reading the Apocrypha.

25.2.15

There is no transfiguration (of Jesus) in (the Gospel of) John!

The Second Coming of the Son of Man ~ the end of this age & the beginning of the new ~ the destruction of evil & the final judgment

“I am the Christ”
“This is the Gospel”

“The time is near”

“Do not be deceived”
“Do not be alarmed”
“Do not be complacent”

“Stay on your guard!”

Do the daily work of preparation, but do not worry beforehand about what you will say, for at that moment, I will step in……

Daily 1/2 hour of solitude (contemplation & journaling)

“You will be put to death, but not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm to the end, you will be saved!”

“You will be hated, & this will result in you being witnesses to them!”

Be ready to suffer, then you will never regret or be ashamed!

They will not be able to resist your wisdom, therefore, they will try to silence you…

“In those days, how dreadful it will be for pregnant women & nursing mothers…”

Less luggage, more comfort – especially in hard times (like these).

“The abomination that causes desolation”
What is it?

And what is the significance of it entering into the holy place of the Temple?

If you are convinced that something is wrong/bad, then will you do all that you can to resist/destroy it?

Cattle – pets > milk > meat

The Christian mission against ISIS – prayer, witness (includes dialogue with mainstream Islam) & guns!

Why don’t Christians from all over the world move to the Middle East in order to fight ISIS, just as some Muslims are migrating to support it?

Moonlighting

Even when I eat meat (occasionally), I will eat only chicken or fish (as far as possible).

How you live when things are (relatively) easy will determine who you become.

And that will determine what comes out of you during the times of extreme pressure!

This is how it will be, until the times are fulfilled…

“Signs in the heavens” – astrology?!

26.2.15

Granurality

Transdisciplinarity

Transpersonal/integral psychology

Bruce Lee as philosopher & spiritual master

Brandon Lee & Heath Ledger

“The Crow” & “The Joker”

Maria Popova

Brain
vs.

Penis

27.2.15

The anti-theory movement!

Conceptual work

Moral virtues and Intellectual virtues

Virtue Ethics + Epistemological theory = Virtue Epistemology!

Intellectual carefulness, thoroughness, humility, courage, trust, autonomy, or fairness

Study of the relationship between the way in which we form beliefs and the way we conduct ourselves in our moral lives

Co-authored

An attempt to be interestingly different!

Taxonomy of theories

Epistemic value/goods:
Distinguish –
Knowledge
&

True belief

Permission to redefine central questions

Personal knowledge

All reading must be accompanied by scanning, under-lining, note-taking, reflection and writing

I must become very, very disciplined (during week days)!

Shifted my journal (on all 3 devices – Windows PC, Android mobile & ipad) to Evernote! Let’s see how this works…

Or should I just directly do all my journaling on the WordPress blog?

Core – spirituality & theology (with religion & ethics)

Dialogue partners – philosophy & psychology (with leadership & education)

A different grouping:
Level 1 –
Spirituality & art-of-living
Theology & religion
Level 2 –
Philosophy & education
Psychology & counseling

Leadership & mentoring

Everyday study schedule (or at least alternate day):
– Prepare for annual seminar, retreat &/or SFG meeting
– Daily quote, word, picture, verse, news, weather, game, song, poem, proverb

– Book/course to be completed

Once or twice a week:
Random readings
Movie
Downloading & collecting resources

Browsing

Record & track your progress

“In order to control myself, I must first accept myself, by going with & not against my nature.” – Bruce Lee

What is more important than the amount of information in your brain is the acuity of your mind to effectively (critically & creatively) process anything it encounters!

Hunger – don’t even let the stomach dictate, but ‘listen’ only to the blood sugar level!

“There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.” – G.K. Chesterton

Lugubrious

Vaporous ~ cobwebby

Insufferable ~ impossible 

Iridescent ~ opalescent

Controlling principles & underlying reasons

“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.” – Anaïs Nin

28.2.15

Rastafarianism

The 3 sources of (my) wisdom & therefore the principal foundations of my faith & ministry:
1. Divine gift
2. Learning from experience & practice

3. Study

Your ministry can be one of 3 things:
1. An integral part of your personal life
2. An outflow of your spirituality

3. A support, authentication & legitimation of your faith

Men, spirits & gods

Mana, Chi, Prana

Taboo, totem & fetish

Pole-dancing

Life is a celebration, an adventure, a challenge

Spirituality – change the words from ‘change’, ‘control’ & ‘purify’ to ‘restore’, ‘heal’ & ‘grow’!

Yes you are with me, but am I present to you?

Come to this GOD to receive life!

I reject this world which values what a person does & has above who he/she is! And I choose to live in such a way that I will always be a thorn in this rotting & stinking flesh, even though it might kill me……

To cease.
To listen,
To receive,

To be!

“Flowers of War” – the accidental, reluctant & heroic father!

Priest – stand at the gate of Hell & redirect the traffic

Why should I love GOD?

Don’t worry, the reward will always be far far greater than what you had to lose for it!

Putting on a brave front

Refusing to become vulnerable, & therefore open to be aware of the Love that has always been ours……

Labeling, branding & judging persons

Lord, why don’t you tell all these charismatics, mystics & theologians to become crusaders & activists, so that the world can be saved??

Ah, get thee behind me, Satan!

If you do not have the intense desire to become perfect, then you have not experienced the unconditional love of GOD!

Everyone except GOD is against me.
I am my own worst critic.
The people around judge & condemn me.

The Devil wants me dead…

Spend as much time in reflection (upon your experience & reading) & silence, as you do in study & work.

50-50 – never compromise!

Hesychasm

Hasidism

The Lord & Creator, who comes to us now, as bread & wine!

I don’t know much about the love of GOD, but I know the GOD of love!

Never stop seeking the One who never stops speaking!

“The one thing” – Luke

10:42

;

18:22

Abraham ‘sacrifices’ Isaac – GOD plays hide & seek with you, if you continue to play with Him even in darkness, then He will reveal himself again!

The heavenly Father,
The holy Father,

The earthly father.

GOD loves us, so that our joy might be full, so that we may not sin, so that we may know that we have eternal life, & so that we may love others.

Unless it hurts, love can’t be real.

I am a Christian:
Do you love prayer?
Do you love the Scriptures?
Do you love the Church?
Do you love the (lives of the) Saints?

Do you love sinners – others around you who may be spiritually & morally worse off than you?

When have you experienced unconditional love from another person?

Focal practices

Eternal love
Compassionate love
Forgiving love
Redeeming love

Healing love

It is not the love of GOD that saves, it is the GOD who is love!

1. Receiving the GOD who is love (prayer)
&
Loving GOD (by seeking His kingdom)
2. Receiving my love for myself (pampering)
&
Loving my self (discipline)
3. Receiving the love of others for me (humility)
&

Loving others (sharing)

The power of the Eucharist!

“But you don’t (try to) understand me!”
“But you don’t (try to) accept me!”

“But you don’t (try to) support me!”

I am in love with GOD, but I can’t say “I love Him”.

I love my wife, but I can’t say “I am in love” with her.

1.3.15

My spiritual type:
1. Theologian
2. Mystic
3. Crusader
4. Charismatic

1 > 2 > 3 > 4

Maybe I shouldn’t read anything on Sundays…