The power of Benedict’s Rule was this: in a world that was falling apart, it gave structure to small communities of faith that could experiment in a new kind of community. It did not aim to restore Rome to its former glory or even to reform the church. The Rule simply offered people a way…
Category
Drawing
Our Common Identity: We’re All Naked Trash, Headed Toward Death
To understand this let us recall Sartre’s famous reflection on a Parisian waiter. He once saw a waiter who was so absorbed in his role as a waiter that he seemed to define himself in terms of that job. Sartre wrote of how this young man was acting in a mode of inauthenticity because he…
Justin Martyr: We who formerly…
We who formerly…valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possession, now bring what we have into a common stock, and communicate to everyone in need; we had hated and destroyed one another, and on account of their different manners would not live with men of a different tribe, now since the coming of…
New Poem: Conceptual Volition
Conceptual Volition Sometimes the nicest thing anyone can say is, ‘I’m thinking of you.’ What this means is that at this very moment an image of you has appeared in anothers mind. Their heart strings–which extend from the chest up through the neck and attach above the corners of the mouth– have been stretched tightly,…
Someone, and no matter
Someone, and no matter who, inhabits my head like it’s an empty house, he enters, he leaves, he bangs each door behind him, powerless I put up with this ruckus. Someone, and maybe it’s me, palms my most private thoughts, he crumples them, returns them to dust. Someone, and it’s much later now, slowly walks…
The only acceptable time to use the term ‘Tea Party.’
Let me simply say this, regarding the Tea Party Andy: They are offensively misusing the term ‘Team Party.’ And that’s completely unacceptable. Tea Parties are not about large groups of white people gathering together to complain angrily about something they can’t fully articulate. The only acceptable time to use the term ‘Tea Party,’ is when…
Juhan Liiv: Poety of Great Depth and Mystery
Music It must be somewhere, the orginal harmony, somewhere in great nature, hidden. Is it in the furious infintie, in distant stars’ orbits, is it in the sun’s scorn, in a tiny flower, in treegossip, in heartmusic’s mothersong or in tears? It must be somewhere, immortality, somewhere the original harmony must be found: how else…
We Invariably Prefer the Universal Synthesis
“We invariably prefer the universal synthesis, the answer that settles all the dust and resolves every question – even when it is not entirely true – over the mercy and grace of God.” The above quote comes from the always sagacious Richard Rohr via his new book Falling Upward. In this quote he is discussing…
Henry Darger and The Fine Line Between Insanity and Brilliance
Last Wednesday night our movie group watched the documentary film In The Realm of The Unreal, directed by Jessica Yu. In brief, the film documents the incredible story of Henry Darger (1892-1973), a visionary artist, janitor, and novelist. Darger’s story takes place in the Chicago area and tracks his life beginning with his turbulent childhood….
Virtue and Freedom
Virtue is intimately associated with freedom. Think of self-control. While it seems that self-control–saying “No” to the self–is a form of self-limitation it is actually a form of self-liberation. Contrast the addict or the impulsive shopper with the self-controlled person. Who is more free? The person pushed and pulled by compulsions, cravings, and obsessions? Or…