OK - I’ll go first.
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:02 pm
I apologize to the room in general and to Brian in particular for my earlier outburst. Not for the sentiment, which I believe true, but for the way it was expressed. I don’t want to reopen the subject as it can’t lead to any useful end.
Any attempt to do so will be ignored by me.
I offer up the following Quote as a jumping off point for discussion in the hope or bringing this board back to life.
And then I can go back to lurking.
“ Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before.
And, taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a Heaven creature or into a hellish creature -- either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power.
To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness.
Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other. “
C.S. Lewis “ Mere Christianity” (1952)
I don’t subscribe to religious underpinnings of this quote but I think Mr. Lewis has hit upon a simple but profound truth. I just don’ think need to invoke GOD or Christianity. I believe the observation is equally true in a purely secular world. The choices you make today are a direct result and consequence of the choices you made yesterday. The effects of these Choices are cumulative. The more you make choices that place you in conflict with your follow creature the harder it is to correct. But it’s important to remember, no matter the choices you’ve made in the past, you still can make new and better choices today. Mr. Lewis and I would both call it the power of redemption. However the Theist believes he needs to appeal to GOD for redemption and I believe he just needs to appeal to his humanity.
Happy Holidays to all!
Any attempt to do so will be ignored by me.
I offer up the following Quote as a jumping off point for discussion in the hope or bringing this board back to life.
And then I can go back to lurking.
“ Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before.
And, taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a Heaven creature or into a hellish creature -- either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power.
To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness.
Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other. “
C.S. Lewis “ Mere Christianity” (1952)
I don’t subscribe to religious underpinnings of this quote but I think Mr. Lewis has hit upon a simple but profound truth. I just don’ think need to invoke GOD or Christianity. I believe the observation is equally true in a purely secular world. The choices you make today are a direct result and consequence of the choices you made yesterday. The effects of these Choices are cumulative. The more you make choices that place you in conflict with your follow creature the harder it is to correct. But it’s important to remember, no matter the choices you’ve made in the past, you still can make new and better choices today. Mr. Lewis and I would both call it the power of redemption. However the Theist believes he needs to appeal to GOD for redemption and I believe he just needs to appeal to his humanity.
Happy Holidays to all!