Author: Immanuel Joseph

Immanuel Joseph (Male; Born - 11.08.1979, Madurai) What am I doing?? Actually, nothing much! But I am a self-employed, part-time, freelance spiritual worker. What that means exactly, I myself don't know...... I don't have a job. But I have vocation...... Christian, medical background. Lay, maverick, eccentric thinker & spiritual friend (Insightful Facilitator) - passionately seeking to better experience, understand & enjoy life! Reclusive & contemplative autodidact. Controversial conversationalist. Life-partner - Salome Divya. Living in Hulimavu, (Bengaluru, India). Email jimmanueljoseph@gmail.com Cell Phone/WhatsApp +919840227977

Ramblings

15.8.14

– Metro Plus Theater Fest:

Macbeth (Manipuri!)

Where is Modi in all of this?

16.8.14

– Man vs. Time

Man vs. Space

Man vs. Matter

When will you learn to “stop kicking against the goads”, Joe??

Dance with, instead of fighting against!

– When you prioritize your values, remember to distinguish between means & ends.

– The rare handful of persons who are too far ahead of their time are great blessings to the world, but they themselves are cursed!

17.8.14

– Are we supposed to expect a tide of saffron terror to be let loose in the near future, in this great country??

18.8.14

– Movies:

The Wolverine

If you “had to” kill your own beloved, would you?

– Movies:

The Exterminating Angel (Spanish)

Why this title??

Surrealist documentary – one of the best movies I have ever seen?!

So does history hold the key to unlocking the future?

I know where they are gonna get stuck next – traffic? or office?

19.8.14

– I think it’s enough if I finish the dual M.A in 4 years, instead of the previously planned 2…

– Adobe

– Galleon

– Salamander

20.8.14

– 916 gold = 91.6% = BIS = 22K

– Exercise – cardio, stretching, strengthening, posture & breathing

– Myuzik

– HOW you make money is more important than how MUCH money you make.

– “Hey… One small advice: Don’t immediately get into anything else after you leave this job. Just spend a few months doing nothing. It would be essential to get back in touch with your self!”

– The teacher is the student who is (primarily) self-taught. All other students are just students, not teachers.

– Do you want to travel to all the (attractive) countries of the world before you die?

– So what is the real cause/reason/motivation/purpose behind this major change/decision?

– Ugly/bland » pleasant/agreeable » attractive/beautiful » gorgeous/stunning!

– What is the opposite of reify?

Digitize?

– Yes, but sometimes (& in some ways), money is more precious than even time!

– I kill insects only inside my house.

Musings

13.8.14

Distinguish:
Civilisation
&
Urbanisation

“Practice what you preach” => “Preach what you (really) believe”!

Poignancy

Desiderium

16.8.14

Interruption of services, due to server maintenance
Hmmm……

The conservative definition of Faith (dogmatic certainty – to be preserved)
Vs.
The progressive understanding of Faith (radical hope to be actively pursued)!

Therefore, the pulpit lies somewhere halfway between the Bible & the congregation, thereby becoming the vital bridge.

What is a sermon (preaching)?
2Cor. 3:6b – The sermon is an authentic expression of what the speaker really believes (heart-articulation)!
The homiletical chain/cycle – Holy Spirit => authors of Scripture => preacher => church => world. Divine encounter => inspiration => communication => divine encounter……
From the old, repetitive & boring approach, to the new, innovative & exciting approach!
The light (GOD – Word, Spirit) passing through a stained-glass window (preacher) – beautiful design (sermon)!

17.8.14

Passionate ~ discontent ~ rebellious!

What is the essence/spice/fragrance of your life?

13.8.14
– Must
Vs.
Want
Vs.
Can
Vs.
Ought
– What is common to both ‘fight’ & ‘flee’?
FEAR!
– Do you believe that I love you?
AND
Do I believe that you love me?
– Can something boring be edifying?
– Even when you try to ‘imitate Jesus’, you will still do it only ‘in your own way’!
– All theology is contextual (limited), including the biblical revelation! But that in no way detracts from its vital role & awesome value…
– There is a world of difference between being carefree & being careless!

14.8.14
– Sync-up, backup or fuck up!
My love-hate relationship with hi-tec…
– I must find a way to fuck this gnawing restlessness within.
Mmmm…… Ok. Are you ready to die then, Joe?!
Ah yes………. It’s time!
– On-off, on-off, on-off, on-off……
– “Not wild. The name’s Wilde. Oscar Wilde.”
– 4 kids playing around lock themselves up in a car dicky & later suffocate to death!
What is the meaning of this? Can you identify with that?
– For most people, the challenge is to get free in the context of ambient & ubiquitous slavery.
For me, it is to not get enslaved in the midst of all this external & internal liberty!
– So is your blog a censored version of your journal, or…?
– If every desire/hope is gonna be a letdown when realized, then is it not better to dream/imagine forever? That way, you have both the excitement of anticipation and the (fore)taste of the real thing!
– How would a ‘hundred years of solitude’ feel like?
Would I attain nirvana then??
– The courage to give up!
– After opening the pandora’s box, the one thing you should NOT do is try to close it again i.e. try to get back to how things used to be before that choice was made!
That is the attitude most unfavorable to dealing with the new situation at hand…
– But won’t this extreme/alternative lifestyle drive you insane & wreak havoc in the lives of others close to you? The deadly life!
Mmm… the only other option is the moderated or boring life – the deathly existence!
– Let the Music make love to you – body & soul!
Let the sound get into your blood……
– “Come with me if you want to live”

Reflections

9.8.14

Slipshod Slovenly

Intelligence
Vs.
Intellect

“The funk”

Human ~ humus!

America, the bloody-beautiful!

Intrical

The status of ex-slaves

Keeping promises
Vs.
Evolving convictions

Partisan-bigot
Vs.
Maladjusted-nonconformist

Conscience as contextual, critical & compassionate consciousness

“Cut against the grain”

Superficiality-denial-apathy-complacency

Avoidance-downplaying-sidestepping-overlooking

How can I be passionate about certain social evils which have not affected me personally?

Doing the M.A without being dominated-controlled by the system/deadline/evaluation of IGNOU or M.U!

Coping with one’s own public powerlessness by exercising domestic power over the most vulnerable!

The danger of reinforcing the worst, in our pursuit to reach out & grasp the best!

Christian fellowship meeting – let’s talk sex today, folks!

Ordered, collective, symbolic actions

Mystery ~ ambiguity ~ ignorance ~ chaos!

Playlets of melancholy, desire & anger

Satchel

Alpaca

Transmogrify

Ethical emotions

Secular liturgy

The Latitude Festival

10.8.14

The sermon should do for the N.T (& the entire Bible) what the N.T did for the O.T!
Progressive revelation (past), contextualisation (present) & extrapolation (future)…

Apocalyptic & eschatological exposition!

The sermon is the articulation & explication of the meeting point & dynamic interface that forms between Scripture that moves toward us, & our own lives that move toward GOD……
Therefore, the pulpit lies somewhere halfway between the Bible & the congregation, thereby becoming the vital bridge that gives life by connecting Word & flesh!

9.8.14
– Know your limitations, so that you know how much you can stretch!
– Yes I know this is what you believe, but I’m asking you to think it over again…
Will you?
– Spirituality, philosophy & service

10.8.14
– One man’s reason is another’s nonsense!
– Tree & bark ~ spirituality & religion ~ love & marriage ~ relationship & institution ~ person & society ~ Grace & Law.
1. Which is more important?
2. Which one is the means & which one is the end?
3. What does one do when they contradict each other?
– “Gladly forever adore him!”
– Sermon – evoking a particular (powerful) mood & be touched-moved, rather than (brilliant) points to remember-apply!
Imbibe the Spirit, by delving into the Word (exposition), & express it through words (preaching) that in turn recreates the same inward effect in the hearers.
Preaching is NOT GOD speaking through the preacher, but the preacher him/herself speaking out of his/her experience & encounter with the living Christ in Scripture…
– “The best just got better!”
– 2 different views of Preaching:
1. Evangelical – the sermon as playing within the circle of Scripture.
2. Liberal – the sermon as running on & taking-off from the launching pad of Scripture.
– Expository preaching – what would this passage sound like if it was written by me, inspired by the same Spirit as the Apostle, in this contemporary context?
What would be the vocabulary, the style, the central thrust of the message? How would it be the same & how would it be different?
– Movies:
Promised Land
Finally, it was a personal insult that made him change course, rather than any conscientious penance or passion for a higher cause!

11.8.14
– Living over-cautiously is more dangerous than living with gay abandon!
– “You will never again be a saint or pastor in my eyes!”
– GOD wished me “Happy Birthday!” today (through a sign in heaven) – this has made my day complete/perfect! 🙂
– The greatest danger with any substance or activity that is intensely pleasurable is not addictive potential, but its power to numb one to the suffering of others (especially ‘the least of these’) & social evils……

12.8.14
– Rather than completely repress our ‘animal instincts’, it would be better to express them in an enlightened-moderated manner.
“Just creatures for a while…”
Then the violent eruption can be prevented!
So, are concepts like ‘sublimation’ just myths??
– I want to be a paragon of ingenuity (creative improvisation)! 😉