Wanderings

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

Gleanings

5.9.15

– I don’t understand my fondness for my medical college colleagues….!

– Myth-busters
E.g. The eagle’s rebirth story

– “In short, the world such (great) men live in, tends to reject them insofar as they insist upon the art of making things visible, which that world has learned to ignore.” – Robert Creeley
Seers are not just those who have visions inside themselves, but those who manifest them in the world around!

6.9.15

– Worship is service,
& service is worship!

– 3 kinds of activities:
1. Edification
2. Chores
3. Entertainment
1 may have 2 & 3 as side-effects.
2 may have 1 & 3 as side-effects.
3 may have 1 & 2 as side-effects.

– Songs of the Kingdom

– Love/compassion (realization of universal solidarity) –> justice (joy for one & all!)

– Climate change, economic disparity, political corruption, violent separatism, sexual/racial discrimination, etc.
“GOD is good all the time,
Even in the darkest night, his light will shine.
GOD will make a way where there seems to be no way…”
Amen!

– Slaving in the world-system, & then thanking GOD for his provisions…!

– Invisible blessings & dangers

– “Know that the LORD is God indeed;
Without our aid he did us make.”
Why should I praise him?
“For it is seemly so to do”!

– Empty hands outstretched – show both our utter dependence on GOD for everything, & the sharing of our all with others.

– The Christian/biblical GOD is NOT the one, true, living “God” (as that word is understood & perceived by our own personality & culture), who fulfills all our desires-expectations, but the great & wonderful anti-god who saves us from ourselves!

– Subscribe to your favorite genres @ Goodreads

– In this our worldly church:
Festival ~ sale
Celebration ~ consumption
What about me??

– Whenever I attend church, I feel like I should get involved in some form of youth ministry.
And whenever I am driving in heavy traffic, I feel like I should leave Chennai to live in a more laid back place.

– If you don’t believe in this cause, & if you have strong reservations about the strategies, then why are you participating in these activities??

– The Kingdom of GOD
&
Land reform

– Narrative theology >> Virtue ethics
Spiritual disciplines >> life-skills

– “Christ for the world we sing,
The world to Christ we bring.”

– “Dear pastors,
Isn’t the drive toward church-buildings theologically unsound & spiritually problematic??
Please seriously reconsider what “Christian mission” means for us today!
GOD BLESS”
“Raising a building for the future use of that (needy) congregation would be a worthy charitable cause, but is it right to compare this project with Solomon’s Temple??
– Immanuel Joseph”

– Civil religion
“A sociological theory that there exists a nonsectarian quasi-religious faith, with sacred symbols drawn from national history. Scholars have portrayed it as a cohesive force, a common set of values that foster social and cultural integration.”
Robert Bellah

– “With passionate commitment to God, the book strongly criticizes the Jesus of Religion. In this respect it is more religious than atheistic, more philosophical than religious and more real-life than philosophical.” – from a book review

– GOD-Christ — Church-Word — Nature-culture
What binds them all together?
The Holy Spirit!
What is the whole?
The Kingdom!

– Distinguish:
“I love GOD”
&
“I enjoy singing devotional songs”

– Movies:
“John Doe Vigilante” (hit)
What is the Christ really like?? The line between greatness & evil is only imaginary!
“Naduvula konjam pakkatha kaanom” (Tamil – hit)
A postmodern take on identity. Memory is protected & sustained by the social dimension of the person.
Who is sober & who is disillusioned – what would happen if Prem stopped trying to remember?!

7.9.15

– Rhythm:
Sunday – Sabbath (p)
Monday – systematic study + chores
Tuesday – random learning + chores
Wednesday – fasting + contemplation
Thursday – freak out (p)
Friday – systematic study + chores
Saturday – random learning + chores
Exercise – included in chores (4 days a week)

– “You don’t have to fight or make yourself belong,
To be a revolution…
You gotta begin with who you know you are,
To be a revolution!” – Jars of Clay

– GOD as clay (that shapes),
& man as Potter (that is shaped)!

– Christ Family Cell (Yaseva, etc.):
Good governance & the Church
Small groups of people who can embody these concepts & methods…
A new model for Church
Family – biological &/or spiritual
Tension between groups
Start small, grow & have big impact
Individual differences & communal divisions
Corporate witness??
Pseudo-spiritualities
Church as the overflow & interchange of Spirit between individuals called out of death into resurrection!
Kuriakos ~ Kirk (circle) – pagan theology!
Is Christ divided? One Body, meeting as many assemblies in various places & under different banners…
Spiritual reality –> physical gatherings (not the other way around!)
Every cell is a micro-presentation of the body!
Yeshua + paganism = Christianity. Depaganizing ourselves.
Strategizing vs. Martyrdom – there is no ready-made, fool-proof blueprint!
Wherever you are, make disciples BY being witnesses!
Progressive Christians, conservative Christians & non-Christians – GOD is at work in all these 3!
The Christian family as a nucleus/nidus of the church.
Conversion (spiritual) WITHOUT extraction (cultural).
Integrating faith with the natural context & local processes.
A reductive distortion of spirituality.
Christians who are clueless about Christ, Gospel, Church, etc.
Stiffling & equipping structures

– Normalizing (adj.) forces

– A different register

– The dynamics of the gay struggle

– Sexual politics

– Disruptive style – “using Molotov cocktails for scalpels”!

– “Enigmatic gesture” – deliberate obscurity…

– Theorist
Vs.
Experimenter

– “Adopting critical indexes in presentation”
“Recasting frameworks of perception”
“Providing tools to examine institutions, practices & concepts”

– Adopt, develop & adapt!

8.9.15

– Truth, beauty & goodness (transcendent ideals) ~ “Sat” (being), “Chit” (consciousness) & “Ananda” (bliss) – (mystical experience) ~ Father, Son & Holy Spirit (perfect person) ~ Spirit, Word & Body (vocational existence)

– Assessment, evaluation, examination

– Cultural psychology

– Theorising faith

– Mystical society

– Virtual faith

– Feminism & females:
If you want equality in freedom (privilege), then are you also ready for equality in independence (responsibility)?!

– It doesn’t matter if you get a six-pack or not, what really matters is if you can keep up the regular ab-crunches (indefinitely)!

9.9.15

– Aggressor
Vs.
Counter-puncher

– Perfect chaos
In India, you must learn to ride the wave (no matter how orderly/disciplined/organized you are), otherwise you will go mad, bro!

– Footwear:
Have 2 pairs & use them alternately

– Such attractive bodies must be outlawed in public, as a threat to social order & calm!  😉

– Would
Vs.
Could
Vs.
Should

– For GOD, will & desire are the same, right?
For GOD, plan & action are the same, right?
Does GOD experience contingency &/or probability?

– The pairing of a dark, beautiful girl with a fair, handsome guy is really sexy!

– I love Chennai, & I hate Chennai!
I want to live & work here, & periodically visit other great places in this world…

– The Voice from the sky in the Gospels:
“This is my son in whom I am well pleased” – unconditional acceptance (radical grace)
+
“Listen to Him” – the Call to join the divine mission of humanization.
+
Silence – carrying the Cross (dark night of the soul)!

Baptism – free adoption.
Feet-washing – humble service
Eucharist – death & resurrection!

If this is not the very essence of Christianity, what is?!

– Orthodox mystic
&
Heterodox activist
Heterodox mystic
&
Orthodox activist

– Does character have anything to do with appearance?

– Me time
We time
You time
They time
All time!

– Fast walking & slow jogging
Slow deep & fast shallow breathing
Free, copious & reflective, sparse speaking

– A prophet (who is one) among the exiles!

– “In the thirteenth year, at the Kebab river, the heavens opened…”
History & revelation!

– Is monotheism more violent than polytheism?

– Eze.3:14 – do you want the hand of the LORD to be upon you?!

– The opening of the heavens ~ the unveiling of the face of GOD

– My Bibles:
NET version with full notes
New Oxford Annotated Bible (with the Apocrypha – NRSV)

10.9.15

– Spiritual formation – remember that change is sandwiched by learning & growth!

– I’m developing a swagger, is it good or bad?
Do I care?

– Babe
Vs.
Baby

11.9.15

– I must beware of letting my life be hijacked by the ethereal/cyber/mental (opposite of spiritual/eternal/real) world. I must put the physical/social/vocational front & dead center!
This is the danger I face, in contrast to most other people, who might be enchanted & trapped by the mundane/business/troubleshooting dimension…

– Look at me, searching for the free tracks on iTunes, when Apple Music (free trial) is out! 😉

– Take micro-breaks between work to breathe & move.

– “Break the mould – the traditional boundaries created by disciplinary straitjackets – & unfold a new geography, that unsettles all contemporary maps……!”
– Jeremy Carrette (from “Foucault & Religion”)
What can someone like me who is into spirituality/theology gain from performing mundane chores or studying cold logic?

– Compare the messianism of the Jews and the Christians.

– The historical Christ and the theological Jesus

– Diplomatic immunity – fuck it!
Bureaucratic apathy & arrogance
Vs.
People’s fury & solidarity

12.9.15

– Work:freak ~ 3:1

– Distinguish:

The fool
&
The clown

– “In behalf of…”

– Healing cultural traditions
Adjective or verb?

– “Curanderismo”

– Imaginations, representations & differences

– Division of labour, social control & urban culture

– Introduction – definitions, questions & models

– “…the effort to escape from totality, in order to understand the politics of control.”

– The formation & performance of identities

– Intensity & the ordinary
The search for the ‘really real’ & the return to the everyday…
Pragmatism & playfulness

– iPad is not good for multi-tasking!

– Investigative & communication skills for engaged citizens

– New Media

– Participative ecology

– Morality, legality & ethicality

– Disclosure, privacy & consent

– debrief

– Impartiality & public interest

– Humanities – Social Sciences – Natural Sciences

– Global epidemiology of domestic violence

– Policy research, ethical guidelines, best clinical practices & health outcomes

– Contextualizing applications of the core curriculum

– Prevention & response
Competencies & interventions

– Evidence-based approach

– Distinguish:
Good/loving
&
Nice/kind

– Philosophy:
Classical
Vs.
Enlightenment
Vs.
Postmodern

13.9.15

– The usual contemplative rhythm must be maintained even on the freak-out day & Sabbath.

– Gospel emphases:
Mission for salvation
Vs.
Salvation for mission

– Distinguish:
Disbelief
&
Misbelief

– Male infanticide (biblical)
&
Female foeticide (contemporary)

– I despise their values/standards, so I don’t mind being considered as a brute/clown, in their midst!

– Yesterday – Keerthika (Devi’s – the maid – daughter) & Murugan’s wedding reception
Today – Abigail Eterna’s (Danny/Augustine’s daughter) baptism

14.9.15

– Your key question is “Who are you following/worshipping?”
My key question is “What kingdom are you seeking/serving?”
Discipleship
Vs.
Teleology

– My email subscriptions:
Daily Manna (from Biblica)
World Wisdom – Weekly quote
Pocket – recommended reading
Brain Pickings newsletter
School of Life
Coursera

– Jesus Christ:
Person > Work > Teachings