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

Naivete

April 30, 2018
Year 3, Day 120 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

Our bodies are much with us.  We would have difficulty in describing ourselves without our mortal bodies.  And yet, our bodies may be the most expendable of the factors that make up who and what we are.  At eighteen years of age, if not before, we begin to decline, but believe the process will take considerable time, so do not give much attention to death, the sure end of our few mortal decades. This very Page that will record some of my thoughts today will outlast the body and brain that freighted those thoughts to a machine and paper.  However, the care of the body has priority with mortal life.  We care for it, cleanse it, feed it, present it,… Read more

Counseling for Counsel

April 29, 2018
Year 3, Day 119 | No Comments
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Most human beings feel there is a mysterious power they own.  They don’t know what it is, but it is there. It is somewhat analogous to the power that children feel belongs to them in the power of their parents.  It is seen in modeling.  If my mother liked it, did it, avoided it, and I knew through my own awareness and/or experience her modus operandi, then I liked it, did it, or avoided it.  Her words and actions affected my thinking and conduct, until the years accumulated and I rebelled against some of that power with its pattern.  The words were still strong and representative, but I was, like all my friends, seeking my own way – at first… Read more

War And Peace

April 28, 2018
Year 3, Day 118 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

Even as I am writing this Page, the military powers of the Gaza Strip and Israel are lobbing missiles at each other’s countries.  The rockets from both sides have caused considerable damage to buildings and other property, and the loss of life in Gaza has been largely borne by civilians although the weaponry has been aimed at targets believed to be refuges for militant leaders.  Israel is at significant advantage in having weaponry that intercepts the Gaza rockets so to minimize both damage and loss of life.  That defensive weapon has been provided by American authorities.  Israel taunted by Gaza rockets is mobilizing at the border, perhaps to follow through with surface invasion.  Analysts have responded to all this with… Read more

Minority Opinion

April 27, 2018
Year 3, Day 117 | No Comments

It is said that early on to the emancipation of slaves in the United States that Lincoln polled his cabinet on the matter.  The Secretaries all voted Nay, and Lincoln voted Aye.  He then added, according to the story: The Ayes have it.  Authority trumped majority.  That action plus the legalization of citizenship approved by Congress, and attached to rights (righteousness) related to the meaning of all humanity have likely made Lincoln, a revered President of our nation.  Driven by the morality of life, he did not hesitate to identify that morality with God.  If officials of government referred to God in our everyday national life as he did they might be rather roughly treated by critics, professional and lay,… Read more

Suggestion

April 26, 2018
Year 3, Day 116 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

The text here seems unlike any other in the Bible.  Like other Psalms from the pen of Asaph, this 82nd Psalm offers a revelation practical to any search for truth about life in the mystery of God.  On the surface the few verses teach that there are other gods than God, but that God is the only God.  The word gods here is a euphemism.  Straightforwardly the writer makes clear that the individuals, commonly identified in the mass as mankind, are gods in the sense of nature gods.  Human beings can be gods.  (Note the difference here in the lower case ‘g’ in gods – as human, and the singular most high God is identified in capitalization.) It is firmly… Read more

Hellish Is Not Hell

April 25, 2018
Year 3, Day 115 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

Today, October 13, 2012, I set aside my standard agenda for the afternoon and felt strongly that I should return to the theme of hell in my writing.  It is, and has been for millennia, a nagging subject.  Nearly every society that has left records offers opinions about hell as a flaming location, presumed by some to be in the bowels of the earth or sun, and the place of the damned from among earth’s population.  Escape is thought virtually impossible, or if escaping there is a wandering about in the bowels of hell.  Mythological persons have attempted to rescue beloved family members from hell, but failed – except for Christ who is seen as visiting hell (the place of… Read more

Thermometers and Thermostats

April 24, 2018
Year 3, Day 114 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

To find balance in life we need to differentiate between the ideal set of circumstances, and what it is that we have to work with.  To do so we need good information (education), perceive well what we have received (understanding), and act well on what we find (wisdom).  This is the biblical pattern accented in Solomon’s major interest in his writings.  The data even from Solomon must be analyzed for application.  What may have been true in Solomon’s era may not be true in ours.  This understanding does not carry any threat to the doctrine of biblical inspiration.  That doctrine holds, offering God’s message to mankind related to his revelation to the status of the divine situation for mankind in… Read more

Fear

April 23, 2018
Year 3, Day 113 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

Fear must be given attention, not only because it plays so large part in the life of mankind, but is a major theme in Scripture, both in the fear of God and the fear of human beings – in ourselves and among ourselves.  There is a fear component in human beings that serves us well, but distorted by the person in fear may be destructive even to life.  There are numerous illustrations of fear as benefit (affirmative) and fear as debit (negative).  In the verse cited above the fear of God is an affirmation to benefit, and the fear of mankind is a debit to loss.  Fear may be intense related to the subject of fear that leads to awe… Read more

Thought Systems

April 22, 2018
Year 3, Day 112 | No Comments
Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

Given the variances of presuppositions, there will always be conflicting but legitimate intellectual and experiential contexts appearing in personal and social life.  The tension created in the reality of differences can be made friendly, if the various contenders understand and respect each other in consideration of contending ideas, ideas that are important to serious searchers for truth and the good life.  (Few persons of any orientation are opposed to the discovery of truth and the good life.)  The statement sounds simple and idealistic.  It is hard to come by in reality.  It would not be generally difficult if it were not for the recalcitrance of mankind.  Many human beings are fired up so find even fair competition that might be… Read more

Afterwards

April 21, 2018
Year 3, Day 111 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

Current printed periodicals that have survived the internet barrage have been undergoing change in effort to survive in the world of commerce.  Even the best ones have wrestled with losses in readership, funding, influence and respected staff.  Nevertheless, many fine titles remain even under economic threat of death.  Many have disappeared, and others embraced changed business structures to survive.  Much printed space is now given to meaningful information that sometimes appears more educative than media organs formerly used.  There was always some information but much for distraction, especially related to problems, life negatives, entertainment, and gossipy/racy features.  Only in recent years did the newspaper coming to me dedicate regularly a section to the discoveries of science.  I applaud what I… Read more

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