“Wrongly or rightly you think that I have a right to the name of Christian“ — Simone Weil
“Wrongly or rightly you think that I have a right to the name of Christian. I assure you that when in speaking of my childhood and youth I use the words vocation, obedience, spirit of poverty, purity, acceptance, love of one's neighbor, and other expressions of the same kind, I am giving them the exact signification they have for me now. Yet…”
Lover (III) by George Herbert (inspirational to Simone Weil)
Love (III)
Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.
“Awakening” by Amoda Maa
Standing at the fork in the road, dazed and bewildered. What happened to the world we knew? What happened to the ground we stood on? What happened to reality?The road ahead, so uncertain now. The ground beneath us, so ready to crumble. Our vision, so clouded and nothing seems real.Did we go to sleep and wake up in a virtual reality game with new rules? Did we go to sleep and get lost in a nightmare?
“Creeds” by Peter Rollins
“I believe creeds aren't worth the paper they are written on...But I still believe in God.
I believe that if you look at my life, you'll only sometimes see what I believe.
I believe that if we have two coats, we should give one away (though I don't do it).
Today I don't believe in anything; tomorrow who knows.
I sometimes believe in God — one who existed before time, beyond gender or fathom.
Make of heaven and earth and ginger (all good things), whales, two-hundred-foot cliffs, cloud banks, shipwrecks,
And in Jesus Christ, God's only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost- how?
“When I Despair…” by Mahatma Gandhi
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”
“Benediction based on the Beatitudes” by Brian McLaren
Blessed are the curious
for their curiosity honors reality
Blessed are the uncertain and those with second thoughts
for their minds are still open.
Blessed are the wonderers
for they shall find what is wonderful
Blessed are those who question their answers
for their horizons will expand forever.
SOURCE: FAITH AFTER DOUBT
“A Taoist Priest” (a Zen Poem) - found in ‘Tao of Jeet Kune Do’ by Bruce Lee
“The empty-mindedness of chi sao applies to all activities we may perform, such as dancing. If the dancer has any idea at all of displaying his art well, he ceases to be a good dancer, for his mind stops with every movement he goes through. In all things, it is important to forget your mind and become one with the work at hand. When the mind is tied up, it feels inhibited in every move it makes and nothing will be accomplished with any sense of spontaneity. The wheel revolves when it is not too tightly attached to the axle. When it is too tight, it will never move on. As the Zen saying goes:
“Love After Love” by Derek Walcott
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
MR. WALCOTT’S BIOGRAPHY - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/derek-walcott
“The Mystic, the Evangelical and the Fundamentalist” - Author Unknown
There is an old anecdote in which a mystic, an evangelical pastor and a fundamentalist preacher die on the same day and awake to find themselves by the pearly gates. Upon reaching the gates they are promptly greeted by Peter, who informs them that before entering heaven they must be interviewed by Jesus concerning the state of their doctrine. The first to be called forward…
SOURCE: ‘How (Not) To Speak of God by Peter Rollins (Paraclete Press, 2006), page 21
“No More Second Hand God” by Buckminster Fuller
Here is God's purpose-
for God, to me, it seems,
is a verb
not a noun,
proper or improper;
is the articulation…