“Help us, O God, to rightly remember the birth of Jesus that we may share in the songs of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the magi. Close the door of hate and open the door of love around the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desire…
Category
Christianity
To Own The Truth Is To Lose It | Art by Tony Martin
“The Johannine narrative betrays traces of a way beyond the mirror-play of absolutism and relativism. It wells up from within, it flows between, it blows from without. But this truth is not to be had. To own the truth is to lose it. The flow of truth is in this text the movement of the…
Christians Are Atheists and Anarchists
“What is interesting here in Daniel (Daniel 3: 13-18)…is the conflation of anarchism and atheism. You’ll recall that the word “atheist” was coined by the Romans to describe the early Christians. This was because Christians rejected the gods of the Romans, denied their legitimacy, ultimacy and existence. In short, there is a conflation between the…
Why technology may be killing your soul and ability to think freely. | Art by Robert The
In her 1993 book New Maladies of the Soul, philosopher and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva wrote about how the psychological ailments she found in her patients differed from those uncovered by Freud a hundred years previously. In particular she noted: “Today’s men and women – who are stress-ridden and eager to achieve, to spend money, have…
Open Hands & Closed Fists: Mitch Albom, Rabbis & Truth
I remember sitting with my wise old Rabbi once and hearing a baby scream. He looked at me and said, “Did you ever notice how babies come into the world with their tiny fists clenched?” “Yes,” I said. “Do you know how our sages explain that? They say that babies, not knowing any better, clench…
If all the forest trees were pens And all the oceans, ink?
A fish swims through the sea While the sea is, in a certain sense Contained within the fish! Oh, what am I to think Of what the writing Of a thousand lifetimes could not explain If all the forest trees were pens And all the oceans, ink? Lyrics from The Dryness and The Rain by…
When Good People Do Nothing: Thoughts On Penn State, Personal and Systemic Sin
Some people simply can’t process the horror in front of them. Some people suffer from what the psychologists call Normalcy Bias. When they find themselves in some unsettling circumstance, they shut down and pretend everything is normal. … People are really good at self-deception. We attend to the facts we like and suppress the ones…
Capitalism Get’s Human Nature Right, In One Sense At Least.
…it seems here that capitalism gets human nature right. This is one of the reasons capitalism appears to be more successful than communism. Communism seems to miss the mark on human nature. Ironically by being too optimistic and hopeful, even Christian. People don’t tend to work hard for the good of others. Saints might do…
Nay, we honor no kings without kingdoms
Nay, we honor no kings without kingdoms; nor hear the sound of harps save when the strings are plucked by hands; nor do we see a child playing in our olive grove as if he were a young olive tree. And all words must needs rise from lips of flesh, or else we deem each…
Original Poem: As Viewed By Descendant
What is seen with baby eyes? Perhaps it’s sprouting sights unknown, Dressed in mops and donned with suits. Then forgotten fragrance upon which spilled Gets bumped whenever starry sky’s are held, Fraught until the end we sort; gathered, As if tortured tinder doused in rain, Shivering by night, but held so close (Those baby hands…