15.9.15
– Pro forma, not performa.
– Family devotions are primarily familial, & only secondarily devotional!
– SFG – nothing like anything (you’ve known) in Christian ministry!
– Movies:
“The Falling” (hit)
Is this movie relevant to men? Isn’t there Anima in me too?
Ancestor worship & the collective unconscious
Repression
Vs.
Consciousness!
Nature/sexuality/art
Vs.
Religion/society/science
– What do you hate/fear the most?
– Transformation ~ integration!
– Ethnography
– Low-strung
Huh?
– Temper tantrums
Who, me?
– Distinguish:
Should (CBT – negative)
&
Ought (Ethics – positive)
– filibuster
dilatory
– Fast-talk
16.9.15
– Do your secrets define you?
Dreams as unconscious secrets…
– .m4p – now I know how Apple Music is able to offer a “free trial” for 3 months!
Hidden costs…
Finding a way around them is my speciality 😉
– interdict
indict
– Biblical traditions!
– The Servant of the LORD – preacher, martyr & saviour!
– “But he was wounded BY our transgressions,
He was crushed BY our iniquities.”
He bore the consequences of our sinfulness, & then returned, to forgive & release us!
When I voluntarily suffer for your faults, I make you righteous, by providing the necessary motivation for (your) repentance……
– “…he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.”
– Enlightenment Romanticism
Romantic Anti-Semitism
17.9.15
– Travel:
1. Pay attention to details.
2. Double-check
3. Have a plan B
Ready, steady, go!
(Or should it be steady, ready, go?)
– Just as the earth/soil seems to be dead, but is actually the sustaining ground of all living things (including us), so is GOD/spirit!
The Eternal is the ever-dying, that constantly gives life through a perpetual self-sacrifice…
– When the distinction between hardware & software begins to blur, then immortality will be at hand!
– What is your typical week like?
Describe briefly.
– Margin
Buffer
Backup
– hypertext
– “Could earthly omens e’er appal
A man that heeds the heavenly call!”
– Papal theologian
Canon law
Direct spiritual power >> indirect temporal power
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine – villain or hero?
– Saints – contextualized, contemporary Christs
– “Marriage must be honored among all…” – Heb. 13:4
– The clergy preach about the centrality of the “temple”!
Ha ha ha……
– Christian ministry or spiritual work (like mine) works only from inside out, therefore all these external strategies & goals will always be incompatible & irrelevant…!
– No reverence, no sobriety
– Freedom & justice
Love & discipline
Courage & compassion
18.9.15
– Charismatic glory-theology:
Holiness, praise & power
Is it possible that you can have a high quality (mature) discipleship/witness (spiritual) without a sophisticated theology (intellectual)?
It seems to me that the contemplative tradition is more genuine & transformative than the charismatic…
What do you think?
Devotional ~ emotional (not including volition)
Devotional (includes volition) > emotional
To what extent do these praise-prayer sessions actually produce character-lifestyle changes??
– Unroot, update & reroot
19.9.15
– Transhuman
Posthuman
Distinguish?
– Distinguish:
Devotion
&
Subservience
Obedience
&
Imitation
– Dream:
I am sitting in a class taught by Peter Ignatius & he leans over to see what notes I am taking.
I urge him to keep the quality of teaching high, because many people are coming from afar just to learn from him…
– If I don’t miss her, do I still love her?
– What would happen (to the economy & to the planet), if most people started buying more second-hand goods (e.g. electronics) than new products?
– I am a bourgeoisie who aspires to become a capitalist, in terms of my standard of living.
E.g. The buying of products which I don’t immediately need, but am made to feel that I might need at some point in the future!
😦 fuck!
– Brand fetishism
– Pornography as entertainment >> cinema as ideology!
– Movies: (Documentary)
“Marx Reloaded” (hit)
The anger, hope & disarray sounds just like Christian eschatology!
Maybe the answer is to accept that there is no ultimate solution, & yet keep seeking the (promised) Kingdom…
Salvation is neither automatic nor achieved! It is a blessing & miracle.
So what do we do now?? Let’s resolve never to stop this (critical ~ vital!) discourse – that’s enough.
20.9.15
– Movies:
“X-men: First Class” (okay)
The drama in Heaven between GOD & Lucifer…
One & the same end, but two very different means!
The temptation in the wilderness
Can two people be both friends & enemies?
What do you do when the cause you serve comes into conflict with the one you love?
Is Jesus more like Professor X or like Magneto? Study the romantic dynamics in the movie.
Mystique, identity & sexuality
– Marriage:
The Christian emphasis on relational fidelity (against selfishness & lust)
Vs.
The secular emphasis on personal freedom (against possessiveness & jealousy)
– What is private praise without public witness?
What is weeklong service without Sunday worship?
– Can Jesus be (your) teacher without also being (your) Lord?
Can Jesus be your Saviour without you also being his friend?
– Steadfast love ~ Covenant faithfulness
– What does it mean to tear your heart instead of just your clothes?
It is NOT something I can do by myself, nor something that GOD will do for me.
The point is to know this, & still remain where we are permanently confronted & continuously challenged by this divine imperative!
– Doubt without anxiety
Vs.
Anxiety without doubt
– Salvation:
Duty & gift
Command & promise
– Is GOD unfair/silent/hidden?
– Where can you find GOD’s will?
– How can I have a relationship with a person I’m not sure exists?
– Passivity (apparent)
&
Indifference (inferred)
– How can the (tragic) Cross be compared to the (triumphant) Exodus?!
– Love >> worship
Fear >> rebellion
– Distinguish:
GOD is passive
&
GOD is absent
– Those who insist that life is fair, are they deluded or are they enlightened?
– Double-vision
Vs.
Mono-ocular vision
– Are suffering & evil identical?
– Healing crusades
– “Then shall my latest breath whisper thy praise,
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise.”
Distinguish:
Volume
&
Power
– Weekly one day Sabbath from marriage/family/household!
Amen.
21.9.15
– DRM removal software (cracked) via torrent!
In tech, keep functionality/pragmatism over idealism/perfection.
Bypass – Apowersoft streaming audio recording software! 😉
– Movies:
“Foxcatcher” (hit)
The 3 kinds of people:
The driven megalomaniac,
The ambitious fool &
The mature sage.
The 4th – those caught in the cross-fire between the above 3!
As a (spiritual) leader, am I more like John Du Pont or Dave Schultz? Is there a Mark in my group?
Compare this with the 3 (or rather 4) kinds of people in “Equalizer” & “Ex Machina”
22.9.15
– Cybernetics
– Neuropsychiatry
– Object Relations Therapy
– Personal Construct Theory
– DON’T meddle too much with your electronic gadgets (software or hardware), unless you’re a technical expert or gizmo-freak (I am NOT)!
I learnt this lesson the hard way…
– Learnt
or
Learned
– Distinguish:
Teleological (natural law as ethic),
Eschatological (New Creation as ultimate goal)
& Apocalyptic (Kingdom manifestation as present mystery)
– “The Kingdom of GOD is near!” ~ “Peace be on this house!” ~ “Repent & believe in the gospel!”
– The 4 (spiritual) types of folks:
1. Those who don’t know, and are mediocre.
2. Those who don’t know, & are excellent.
3. Those who are equipped, but are intractably stuck in their own rut.
4. Those who respond to the input, & grow by leaps & bounds!
– Avoid both extremes:
So busy (being productive) that I have no time to maintain my instruments
&
Trying to keep all my gadgets in perfect condition drains my energy
Immanuel Joseph's Blog 