Nothing but some random ramblings for my friends...And whoever else would have any interest in reading this.
A Literal Mess
Excellent thoughts from sungyak:
Nietzsche’s view of ethics is like his view of everything else — that it’s linguistically determined, that it says nothing of reality, that the way things really are (if there is such a thing) cannot be expressed linguistically. If reflected upon with objective sobriety, Nietzsche’s insights…
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry
(via acceptandembrace)
“Based on these results, people who don’t watch any news at all are expected to answer correctly on average 1.22 [out of 4] of the questions about domestic politics, just by guessing or relying on existing basic knowledge.”
However, the study concludes that media sources have a significant impact on the number of questions that people were able to answer correctly. The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly — a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all. On the other hand, if they listened only to NPR, they would be expected to answer 1.51 questions correctly; viewers of Sunday morning talk shows fare similarly well. And people watching only The Daily Show with Jon Stewart could answer about 1.42 questions correctly. “These differences may be small, but even small differences are important when we’re talking about millions of people,” said Dan Cassino.
[And if you didn’t already know…Guess which news organization is the most watched? Follow the link and read on…*sigh*]
@rachelheldevans says well how poor and destructive the teaching and ideology about womanhood is…From secular culture to “evangelical” culture; the dominant views are all pretty pathetic. ”Christian books and conferences tend to perpetuate the idea that a woman’s worth should be measured by the details, rather than the message, of Proverbs 31, and like the magazines in the checkout line, often focus on fitness, domesticity, beauty, and success as ways of earning the favor of God and men…” -Rachel Held Evans
All this “women-stuff” is not only important; it is half of conversion, half of salvation, half of wholeness, half of God’s work of art. I believe this mystery is imaged in the woman of the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse: “pregnant, and in labor, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth … and finally escaping into the desert until her time” (Revelation 12:1-6).
Could this be the time? It is always the time! The world is tired of Pentagons and pyramids, empires and corporations that only abort God’s child. This women-stuff is very important, and it has always been important, more than this white male priest ever imagined or desired! My God was too small and too male.
Much that the feminists have said is very prophetic and necessary for the Church and the world. It is time for the woman to come out of her desert refuge and for the men to welcome her. As we see in the Roman Church today, this is still quite difficult, if you have been an “alpha male” all of your life. No surprise that Jesus came “meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29) to undo the male addiction to power.
Fr. Richard Rohr, adapted from his message, “The Maternal Face of God.” Available in ” On Transformation: Collected Talks Vol. 1” Here: http://store.cacradicalgrace.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CL-C-07&Category_Code=&Store_Code=CFAAC
Historically speaking, in our culture the role of men has been to create, to make new things, to fix broken things, and to defend us from things which could hurt us. All of these are wonderful and necessary roles for the preservation of the human race.
However, most children saw their mother in a different way. She was not a creator, a fixer, or a defender, but rather a transformer. Once a woman has carried her baby inside of her body for nine months and brought it forth, through the pain of childbirth, into the world, she knows the mystery of transformation at a cellular level. She knows it intuitively, yet she cannot verbalize it. She just holds it at a deeper level of consciousness. She knows something about mystery, about miracles, and about transformation that men will never know (which is why males had to be initiated!). Women who are not mothers often learn it by simply being in the “community of women.”
The feminine body can be seen as a cauldron of transformation. Her body turns things into other things—her body turns a love act into a perfect little child. Yet, in her heart, she knows SHE did not do it. All she had to do was to wait and eat well, to believe and to hope for nine months. This gives a woman a very special access to understanding spirituality as transformation—if she is able to listen.
Fr. Richard Rohr, adapted from his message, “The Maternal Face of God.” Available in ” On Transformation: Collected Talks Vol. 1” Here: http://store.cacradicalgrace.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CL-C-07&Category_Code=&Store_Code=CFAAC
