Language and Reality

Realizing that language is composed of symbols, words, and sounds that are designed to evoke a mental/emotional image of reality, it occurs to me that we often have committed the fallacy of treating the words, even the thoughts, as the reality. The words are not the reality, the thoughts are at best constructions and sense making of the deeper Truth. Only starting Tomlinson, and am already finding a resonance with thoughts and reflections of recent nights.

A critical realist understanding of God-talk Maintains that there is an objectively knowable reality called God who exists independently of human minds, but then stresses that this reality cannot be descibed in any literal sense; that all the models, metaphors, and images we use to speak of God are mere human devices to grapple with that which is unspeakable. (p. 37)

“In the beginning was the Tao…”

peace

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The Politics of Spirituality, Stringfellow

Just started this very promising book thanks to Tim, and already ran into this quote following a section on how often terms like spirituality or even the name of the Holy Spirit are used to manipulate, imply meaning where one does not know, or simply to seem superior.

Biblically, the Holy Spirit names the faithfulness of God to his own creation.  Biblically, the Holy Spirit means the militant presence of the Word of God inhering in the life of the whole creation.  Biblically, the Holy Spirit is the Word of God at work both historically and existentially, acting incessantly and pervasively to renew the integrity of life in the world. (p. 18)

Sounds to me like the God I grow to know.

Another quote for any who find my humble efforts in the posts below odd, or obscure:

Yet, no idea of god is God; no image of god is God; no conception of god, however appealing or, for that matter, however true, coincides with the living God — which the biblical witness bespeaks — present, manifest, militant in common history, discernible in the course of events through the patience and insight of ordinary human beings.  The living God, whose style and character the Bible reports, is subject now, as in the biblical era, to the witness of human beings, to their testimony describing what they have beheld of the intent, involvement, self-disclosure, effort, and concern of the Word of God [Tao in Chinese] in this world.

peace

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Peace

Garden Path

Truth is
Tao is
Life is
Accept is

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Pi Tze

Placing Pi Tze in China

Placing a saying by my mentor, Pi Tze, inside a tower on the Great Wall on top of a mountain in China.  An easy tribute to a man of great thought, wisdom, and caring.

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Tao Te Ching 29

If you want to grab the world and run it

I can see that you will not succeed.

The world is a spiritual vessel, which can’t be controlled.

Manipulators mess things up.

Grabbers lose it.  Therefore:

Sometimes you lead

Sometimes you follow

Sometimes you are stifled

Sometimes you breathe easy

Sometimes you are strong

Sometimes you are weak

Sometimes you destroy

Sometimes you are destroyed.

Hence the sage shuns excess

Shuns grandiosity

Shuns arrogance.

Lao Tzu

I like it.

(Before anybody warns me I am headed off into la la land…It is not about the religion of Taoism, with all of its worship of spirits.  It is based on living true to that which already was when the earth was still without form and void and which formed all things.

Confused?  It is confusing.  Even the book I have is translated by a person who believes it is connected to the spirit based eastern religion.  That religion does use it and venerates its author.  Most heresies contain as much truth as possible or nobody would believe them!

For the other view, see the book I wrote about earlier.  One more quick connection to the true “Tao,” the Chinese translation of John says, “In the beginning was the Tao…”)

peace

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I have run another lap

Had a very good final day with my kids.  One young man came up serious and polite and said, “I want you to know you have been a turning point in my life.”  Pretty wonderful for a fourth grader!  Lots of hugs, some second and third hugs about did me in.  As much as kids love summer, they are going to miss our class time together.

Also got to share with them that while we stay neutral in public schools and require respect for all views, it does not mean that all things are equal and true.  Assured them that there is Truth, there is right and there is wrong, there are choices that lead to a quality life and ones that do not.  I congratulated them on being the highest achieving homeroom I have ever had.  I reminded them that when they see me at school next year, we are still teacher and student.  But, I also assured them that now when they see me away from school they are my young friends and free to ask me anything they need to know about Truth, right, wrong, life.  AND I am free to answer!

I promised them that they will be in my prayers until we are back together and invited them to have their parents contact me if they need anything over the summer.  We laughed a lot, learned a lot, and practiced loving respect.  I cannot ask any more than that of my little friends.  Well done kids, well done!

peace,

Greg

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The palace or the fringe

Still thinking about all these issues of leadership, another thought from the Old Testament narrative strikes me.  Very rarely did the people hear the words of God from the king in the palace.  Far more often the voice of God came from those strange prophetic voices arriving from the wilderness.  Maybe God does more direct talking to people from the fringe than from power no matter who wins?

By the time of the New Testament, Jesus seems to have little interest in the political leaders of the day.  Preceded by the last of the wilderness wild-men prophets, He calls us directly to the Kingdom of God rather than men.  Looks to me like he is far more interested in the fishermen, mothers, lepers, widows, possessed, adulterers, and children than any of those who sat in positions of power.  Theirs is the Kingdom.  Our task  is to reach upward to God and outward to His people.  Perhaps that is how we render unto God what is God’s while we do our duty and vote as best we can, then pray for whoever wins in order to render unto Caesar?

peace

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Frank Schaeffer tells the truth

This is lifted directly from an article by Frankie on the Huffington Post.  All I can say is Amen!  If this strikes any chord at all, check out the whole article!

Conclusion
The Republican problem is a systemic disparagement of government, community, faith in our institutions, family, God’s creation and the mitigating institutions that put a check on something any party aligned with a religious movement should know all about: sin. Greed is not the only problem. Human weakness and stupidity (i.e., “sin”) is the problem! And the genius of the American system is supposedly that we have a system of checks and balances to mitigate our fallen state. You have destroyed those checks and balances.

Bush felt no guilt about promoting completely unqualified people to high posts merely on the basis of social, ideological or political connections. I’ll take that a step further: I don’t think Bush ever wanted the government to work. You Republicans hate our government as bitterly as our terrorist enemies do. You have been trying to deconstruct it. Since the government is seen as the enemy of freedom by you, if it doesn’t work so much the better!

We have met the enemy and he is us! When Islamists tried to destroy our country by flying planes into the Pentagon and the World Trade Towers, we rightly called them terrorists. When the Republicans in the Congress and the White House set about destroying our country, our standing in the world, our military and our economy, but much more effectively, you called them statesmen. It is time for all Americans — including all you who are patriotic Republicans — to sweep away these putrid earth-consuming, family killing, government bashing “me” worshipping individualistic fools–that or to watch our country be swept away by them. We can’t afford eight more years of this willful ignorance. Obama in 2008!

Frank Schaeffer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/an-open-letter-to-all-rep_b_127709.html

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Rieger Preface and Conclusion

Much of what I was looking for Rieger to add in the various chapters is present in the Conclusion. It is also there in the Introduction if re-read informed by the rest of the book.  (Tim probably already knew that!) But, it would not have the same power without working through the ages of empire in the various chapters.  When the book is finally read in full, Rieger’s arguments have a fullness.  I do highly recommend this book to any willing to do the work of encountering all of it.

The relationships of power and empire are everywhere I live and work.  They are in the small daily interactions with children in coerced public education and in the meta structures of the system.  They are as evident in my church interactions as in a Humvee in Iraq.  And I have much to contemplate about my understanding, my role, my theology, and my response.

And I think the questions of basis for argument will have to be part of every conversation from now on.  In a world that has surrendered all notion of absolute, external, verifiable truth neither science nor religion can assume that anyone will respond to our facts or revelations as anything more than opinion.  How do we ‘prove’ anything to anybody in a world where there is no acceptance of the possibility of unassailable first postulates or laws?  How do we shake people out of the comfortable numbness of ignorant surface level relativism — is it not the new opiate of the people?

Meanwhile, as this book points out very well, empire thrives unexamined, unchallenged, unnoticed even if it is now killing us all, not just the 30,000 children a day of the poor.

peace

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