Daily pages of reflection...for knowledge, understanding, to wisdom
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Suffering

April 15, 2019
Year 4, Day 105 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

A major reason, perhaps excuse for some persons, for doubting the reality of God is that suffering is  common to mankind – especially is it offensive when found in innocent children.  Sincere doubters usually have additional explanations for their doubts, like the massive destruction of nature’s furies in fire and flood, eruptions and tornadoes, and seeming disorders in an ordered world.  Most atheists sincere in their treatment of the issue about divinity are not as stern about suffering as they are about what they believe ought to be the natural evidence to be found, presumably in science, that offers irrefutable proof of super- natural intelligence (God).  To this argument God responds that faith is the better route for mankind to… Read more

Masking

April 14, 2019
Year 4, Day 104 | No Comments
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Our lives are sometimes distorted by masks, either our own or those of others – likely some from both.  It is not always that we are wearing a mask to deceive.  Perhaps most times we are trying to alleviate tension, or add some dimension to the moment or thought.  We may not even know that we may be masking.  It is easy to recognize a real mask, common long centuries past to represent the character of a drama.  A lad using a female mask was seriously taken as female because of the mask.  The common practice created the concept that we, as human beings, may mask what we really are so to give the illusion as real of what we… Read more

Ordinary

April 13, 2019
Year 4, Day 103 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

God means for us to live the moderation life, by which ancient philosophers would prefer it to be identified as the golden mean.  God knows we are not perfect, so puts us in a context of formation – of improvement.  He does mean for us to take the high road of righteousness as pilgrims in progress, but he holds firm and compassionate understanding of the imperfect human being in an imperfect environment.  God actually adapts to us, and asks only that we reciprocate to him.  In that mutuality we often tilt balances to our preferences.  God responds by changing the calibrations of nature so to press us toward the golden mean.  Ezekiel, Chapter 16, presents something of the story of… Read more

Legacy

April 12, 2019
Year 4, Day 102 | No Comments

Following World War II, Hugh Hefner introduced to the public the proposition that sex was natural, not necessarily related to morals or marriage and family processes.  The key factor in popularizing Hefner’s views was found in the magazine, Playboy.  It is interesting that the title was not Playman, but Playboy.  Even in the title there was, and remains, an illusion of immaturity, of adolescence.  For several decades the Hefner approach gained attention, and even gave some social acceptance to soft pornography.  The pornography appearing before Hefner was produced on pulp paper, with poor writing, mediocre photography and unsatisfactory art.  Merely to handle such a magazine seemed lowbrow.  Hefner began his venture with quality paper (sometimes called enamel), excellent photography (with… Read more

Relationships

April 11, 2019
Year 4, Day 101 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

There appear a number of large and small transitions in a normal personal life.  The large ones are from embryo to baby, from infant to child, from child to puberty, from puberty to adult, from adult to physical maturity, from that maturity to physical decline, and from that decline to death.  Within those large transitions, are small ones leading to the contexts of the larger ones.  Some persons have identified the large and the small as the doors of our lives.  We go through doors that lead us from a smaller room (context of life) to a larger room (context of life).  Each room has its additions and mysteries.  That progression (context/personal) is overlaid with various other progressions (contexts/social) that… Read more

Problem-Solving

April 10, 2019
Year 4, Day 100 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

If I were to write another book I believe it would be on the theme of: Little Things.  The importance of little things in our lives is of no little importance.  I often read the advice columns in the news media to discover what the current style and themes of casual counsel have taken.  They have changed several times in my lifetime, and have taken on greater depth through the decades, but they have through all the changes been taken by little things.  With reference to her vacation the author of a fine current newspaper column used notes sent to her from readers to fill the lines in this week’s series.  They refer to: poor communication to the person just… Read more

Remembrance

April 9, 2019
Year 4, Day 99 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

We would like to be remembered in some way, especially by our families, but even in larger scope than is commonly the case.  A motivation of Abraham Lincoln was that he wanted to achieve something to be remembered.  Persons with this idealism tend to think futurely, and in some context that has promise for their mortal hope.  One finds the urge in the artist, writer, leader, inventor, but also in the common person, perhaps with reduced expectations or pride.  Henry James, of the eminent James family in America at the turn of the twentieth century, wanted an: affluence of favor but without the taint of popularity. The feeling appears to have been so strong among the James personages, that each,… Read more

Pleasure

April 8, 2019
Year 4, Day 98 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Adulteress, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop, ca. 1545–50

Virtually everything in the human context can become reflective of that in the spiritual.  This perception has something to do with Jesus using parables to teach spiritual truth.  Even with much ignorance, we understand in somewhat broad coverage what natural life requires, and much of its meaning.  So it is that analogy/comparison/contrast (parable) became the human approach Jesus used to freight spiritual meaning.  From that system he drew out listeners with their questions of interests related to the great issues of life.  On occasion even the disciples urged more clarity from him.  In the passing of the days (there were only a thousand of them) He did confront squarely the explanations of vital matters related to them and the ministry… Read more

God and Humanity

April 7, 2019
Year 4, Day 97 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

It is well that we remind ourselves from time to time that when we have outlined the broad factors (contexts) of anything we haven’t said the last word, or made all the contributions (with amendments) to better understanding and application of them.  We may need to meet with others to fill out the scenario, and to test our own thinking and models.  One purpose of these Pages is to introduce ideas, experiences, and concepts that we might share, so to flesh out factors of daily life through discussion and trial, with other searching persons.  Factors may be small, sometimes even appearing frivolous, when measured by the expanse of the context of life, but each person plays a part, sometimes a… Read more

Contradictions and Conundrums

April 6, 2019
Year 4, Day 96 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Adulteress, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop, ca. 1545–50

Our lives are blessed and cursed by our own interpretations, perhaps kept private.  Thoughtful persons know that the same stimulus will provide one message to this person or group, and another to that person or group.  As individuals and groups increase so do the interpretations of the same or similar stimuli.  Further, the intensities vary.  It is possible to love little or to love much, with considerable difference in the variables in between and the meanings.  It is possible to feel anger leading to programs to counter the anger producing response, and anger that may lead to violence.  Predispositions and presuppositions are so varied that without some exchange, sought in good will, there is not likely going to be agreement… Read more

← Newer posts
Older posts →