“There was once a man; he had learned as a child that beautiful tale of how God tried Abraham, how he withstood the test, kept his faith and for the second time received a son against every expectation.”

SK says true faith involves a “double movement,” infinite resignation and a movement of faith. In order to be a “knight” of the faith, we must be prepared to give up the very thing we hope to always keep.

Abraham faith transcended logic he believed two contradictions:

>>That Isaac was lost to him.<> That Isaac was not lost to him.<<
This is his "movement of faith."

Of course it is absurd to believe these simultaneously. Abraham does not deceive himself, but believes on "the strength of the absurd."

Be absurd today!

Expect the impossible…

Can’t think of any, so here’s GKC

“SUPPOSE that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, “Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good—” At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark.”

~GKC: Heretics

http://gk-chesterton.org

I don’t know.  I don’t think anyone should know.  No one should think they have a clue what to do or what to say.  But . . . and this is a big but . . .  we must indeed respond, reply, and reach out.  We must.  We must obey that urge that instantly compells us to do something.

Why do I say we should not know what to do ahead of time? Because that’s what pretenders do.  A pretender is someone who makes a claim and who believes they have the answer to each of the situations above, and many many more.  Having a pretender to offer comfort is like looking for the answer to life’s biggest questions by holding a seashell up to your ear.  Its just air rattling around, there’s no substance there; there is no heart or life in the noise, there is only the echo of an empty chamber wrapped around and around itself.

That was “cheery” wasn’t it?  Pretenders don’t bring cheer or comfort, I don’t like the way they behave toward hurting people.

Instead of having a plan of what to do, I have a very solid and thought out plan of what NOT to do.

I will not tell people I know how they feel, and you should not either.  It does not matter if my beloved Rover was run over just last week; I will not tell Jack that I understand how he feels about the passing of his canine companion last night.  I know how I felt, but I don’t know how Jack feels.  From my experience I should understand that there has been a loss, that’s all I get.  What is worse than saying “I understand” is launching in to a conversation about Rover and getting sympathy from Jack!

Secondly, I do not offer up my theological, philosophical, or scriptural wisdom and insight and understanding.  In times of tragedy, loss, hardship, fear, anxiety God will make himself known in a much more personal, intimate, and immanent way than my memory verse or spiritual slogan.  I recognize that this is the time to show love and devotion to Biblical teachings by being the word by my actions, rather than handing over the word like an oral or written end-all treatise for the situation.  I know, I know, it is so tempting to do; but the temptation is based on the fact that it comforts me and makes me feel more like God is in control.  It doesn’t make Jack suddenly snap to his senses and wipe his tears away so he can go about his business confident in knowing Rover’s death last night was all part of God’s plan for his life.

There are few things more hollow, in my mind, than passing by someone, right there, at a burial and quoting a verse to them.  A person has a right to their moment and their time to grieve.  We should not do anything that will leave an impression that we think someone should not be grieving.  The same thing, I believe, is true for posting a verse on their facebook wall, especially if you have not seen them since the class of 1973 reunion in 1983.  Posting those words makes you feel better about their tragedy.  I could be wrong, let me know if you disagree, I might be missing something.

So I will state it again, I don’t think I should know what to do, say, or feel in advance, when reaching out to someone in sympathy.

I think it is best to just let them know that we stand with them, we agree with their pain, that’s what sympathy is.  Sympathy is not about offering up solutions or telling someone how they should feel or how they should understand their pain.  Unlike other human interactions, sympathy is not give and take, it is not a win-win exchange; it is not about you and not about me. Sympathy is putting ourselves in harmony with another person’s feelings, it is agreeing with the legitimacy of their pain or fear, it is the power of being in sync with the raw feelings of another person, and it is giving ourselves wholly to their thoughts and needs without getting anything back from them.  This is why I say, I can’t know in advance what to do, say, feel, or how to behave in advance.

Do you agree?   Comments and discussion welcome.  Thank you for reading!

But it was there, right there, and a flood of memories came rushing back.  It happened the other night when I was playing on Google Earth; it was fun to scope out places of childhood memories from an “eye in the sky” right there on my computer screen.  Amazing.

Grossman Hammock

Pretty much desolate and lonely looking, two roads a couple of patches of green, some farming, and a long green rectangle, all immersed in a tranquil bed of nothing.  And I haven’t been there to see it in forever.

My family moved away from Miami when I was 13 or 14. Prior to the move we made a routine, a ritual, an oft repeated trek several times each month to a little Florida State Park in the Everglades.  We camped there in a old travel trailer with no electricity or running water.

The Everglades is the name of a collection of independent ecosystems in Florida that stretch from Orlando down to the base of the peninsula at the Florida Bay.  My part was the Southern watershed; that’s the “real” part, if you know what I mean. Marjory Stoneman Douglas called it a “River of Grass” in the 1940’s and the name stuck.

There were “islands” ranging from a few square feet to 10 acres in that vast river.  For some reason they are called “hammocks” and they consist of elevated land a few feet featuring hardwoods and saw palmettos; they are surrounded by a moat and heavily populated with non-humans.

I picked up information from under-worked park rangers, extroverted Boy Scouts, and the occasional military-type headed out to get in a little extra survival training experience off the clock; I gradually came to learn a significant amount about the ‘glades.’  Wandering out between the hammocks, I knew which ones had clearings, like a private oasis in the middle.

To a boy of 8 to 12 years old, who knew all the “worst case scenarios” it was a place teeming with critters capable of stinging, biting, poisoning, drowning, or chewing off an extremity should you not follow all the rules.  They even had air support ready to swoop out of the sky to consume flesh and organs, leaving the remainder for the ground crew to make quick work of tidying up all except bone.  (I probably had too much fun sharing this information while taking inexperienced campers on guided tours.)

The truth was, most of the inhabitants were happy to mind their own business and remained indifferent to my presence. The gators were sometimes quite lazy and often helped themselves to the catch on my line, thinking it was a catfish snacker I was graciously providing for their bellies; they even appeared to welcome my visits.

The Everglades are willing to teach anyone wanting to learn a great deal about life, beauty, knowing were to step, choosing your friends wisely, discerning who not to trust, and the ever present reality of death.

I often “go there” in my mind when I need to relax and reflect.  I think about the sound of almost-silence.  One can hear nothing but the waves in the sawgrass, the flicking of bizarre little insects, the sound of small birds.

There were, on the weekends, additional sounds made by humans, and I recall those vividly.  Lying in the clover bed of my favorite hammock I could spy on the airstrip just adjacent to the boundary line of the park.  It was a private unregulated runway with a few private planes, one stunt plane, a gathering place for a sail plane club, and parachute school.

A old weathered plywood sign propped haphazardly on a fencepost read “Gliderport and Jump School” in the few remaining paint chips clinging to the wood.

The people there were always happy, smiling, and really enjoying themselves.  They returned to terra firma full of excitement with an urgent need to share all the thrilling details of their journey from the clouds.  It just seemed like there was more to it than what met the eye.

They weren’t just yanking gliders up in the air on long cables or impatiently shoving people out the side doors of moving aircraft; they were literally teaching people how to launch their dream and then facilitating the process of making those dreams a reality.

There was plenty of time to think and watch. Much could be seen and heard like the muffled conversations of jumpers or the sailplanes that can turn or flip unpowered for almost an hour.  I could get close enough to hear the sound of the wind supporting their long polished wings making its own unique whoosh as they pass overhead.

But that was then and this is now. There it is on my computer screen!  That was my park!  That is the road I biked up and own for hours and hours as a kid!  And there, just the left, or East, is a bright green rectangle!  It is the gliderport!  If we ever visit as a family I want to make sure we go there.

No, wait.  I see now that it has long been abandoned.  There are no airplanes, no equipment sheds, no gliders, no muffled conversations from above and not even a whispers from a tips of glider’s wings.  There’s just a building and some farming going on.  Evidently some time ago it died and this is all that remains.  It was like peeking into a coffin from miles above.

Crabgrass and weeds cover what was a well-groomed over-used strip of land that once launch people and their dreams.  Those events thrilled and inspired many on the ground as well.

As I thought about it, I realized there is an analogy here.  Life is full of learnings, trials, beauty and ugliness, picking friends and identifying foes, and ultimately life and death.  But what we do between cradle to crypt exists a place in the mind where we dream and create.  I think we all have a place in our mind that is like that gliderport. It, like the air traffic coming and going from that airstrip, is unregulated.  We dream and then sometimes we move, by our will, to make our dreams a reality for ourselves and others. We launch our dreams and see if they fly, we take a step out, make a leap, and have faith that the chute will open.  Sometimes it doesn’t open.  Then I had to ask myself: do I have “weeds” on my runway?

I had to admit that I do.  I think there’s always going to be a spout or two crop up.  The day to day concerns of life and work drown out the sound of wings.  We get caught up and begin to believe that there isn’t anything else; and we stop looking up.

We have to make a special effort and take the time to revisit our imaginations and cultivate our creativity.  If we are not careful, the weeds will take over before we realize what is happening.

Maybe you’re trying to put something from the past behind you, like I mentioned in the previous post.  If so I want to challenge you to dream, to dream big. God has plans, dreams, and desires for you that far exceed anything you can come up with on your own. Some of His plans are beyond what is in your power to think it up. Remember it is written that

“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

So now let me ask you:  Do you need to weed your runway?

I do that every time I watch Pearl Harbor. Maybe THIS time they’ll pay attention to that radar operator!  But no, it turns out the same way.  Ever really think about why we do that?

It happens to all of us.  And not just when we watch our favorite movie; it happens in real time, in real life.  All of us, at some point or several, have trouble putting the past behind us.

USS Arizona Memorial

Like a mental “cud” we pull it up the past and re-chew it, over and over.  We never seem to be able to completely digest it.  Do you know what I’m talking about?  That’s right, I’m talking about that relationship, that job, that painful situation, that hurtful event, that “thing” in the past that didn’t go at all the way we planned it.  It doesn’t matter if we were at fault or someone else messed things up for us, or even if it is a combination cluster-blunder.

Ever find yourself asking the same questions and answering them in only slightly different ways?  Questions like, “what did I do wrong?”  ”What did someone say about me?”  ”Why did he/she do that/think that/say that?”  When it gets really bad we ask ourselves things like, “What did I do that was so wrong that everybody hates me so much?”  (No one ever shows up or brings a gift to a pity party.)  Sometimes we stoop to the point we blame others not for their action, but for inaction, “why didn’t someone say something/do something/stand up for me/him/her/them?”  We want to go back and re-write the script, and direct the scene ourselves.  We could have done a better job, right?

Do not misunderstand me, I’m not saying that we should not learn from the past in hopes of not repeating the same events.  I am primarily talking about those times when “why” just eludes us.  Is forever beyond our reach.  The times when even eyewitness accounts should be suspect.

Rationally, we know the past can’t be rewound and there are no do-overs.  We also, intellectually, grasp the fact that mulling it over in our minds is not productive, doesn’t move us forward, and will only amount to a loss of a terribly valuable resource: time.

I suppose we just hope above hope for a certain orderliness of things and our wish that a certain disorder would not have occurred.

Do you think that is what is driving us to play the reruns of that failed relationship, that train-wreck event in our career, that natural disaster, or that horrible accident?  We want to imagine it turning out different.  We want the movie to have an alternate ending.  Perhaps we could do something to set it right and tidy up our lives, making our life just like it was before.  We want to direct the action again.

But no matter how many times we go over it, it is still going to turn out the same way.  So what do we do?

We have to move to the point that we not only know the truth, but we internalize, agree, and begin living the truth.  Sometimes it takes a little effort, a little healing, but the important thing to note is this: time does not heal all wounds.  Only God can do that.

How does He accomplish that?

He wants to take that DVD out of the player in our mind and replace it with something else.  He’ll do that, if we let Him.  We don’t actually have an EJECT button, we have a SURRENDER button.  We have to surrender our freedom, our right, our ability to play that event over again.  We can do that if we choose, realize, and have our desires  corrected.  God wants us to desire Him, more than we desire “fixing” the past.  When we make Him the desire and delight of our hearts and minds, He will replace those old desires with desires that are in keeping with His desires for us.

That’s what this means:  ”Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

A post on facebook reminded me today of the power of “agreeing” with God and the desires He has for our lives.  The flip side of that is knowing when to “disagree” or choosing not to agree with the old re-runs of bad movies in our head.  Much like there is a “like” button on facebook, and perhaps soon a “dislike” button, we have to examine our thoughts, with God’s help, and refuse to replay some things.

If we succeed in doing that, then we can move on to the next part.  Ever have a moment when a passage of scripture just seems to “pop” like never before?  A point where certain passages take on new meaning because they are not just words, but our reality?  Today, this truth has become real to me; and this is my reality:  …if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away (that is: all tragic reruns in our memory); see, everything has become new. (II Corinthians 5:17)

I’m free.  You’re free.  We don’t have to go back and wonder who said what.  We don’t have to wonder what would have happened “if only.”  We can’t make the past different, but God can make us different.  Its a new day, and we can be new.  Our life can be a brand-new production, and things will turn out according to God’s script, if we let Him direct us.

And it has.

Larry Platt on American Idol

But then I ran across something interesting on Twitter on Jan 15.  I saw this Tweet:

“@JewishTweets:  JewishTweets Pants on the Ground has gone viral. Perhaps now is a good time to review Judaism’s take on modesty. http://bit.ly/5ei1dj“

My initial reaction was, gee, this reminds me of the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding – who thought every word in every language had its “roots from the Grrrrrreek word for . . . ” (he always had a word to fill in the blank – just watch THIS).  In my mind I pictured – now you’ll have to go with me and use your IMAGINATION – OK, picture in your mind, somewhere, a computer savvy Rabbi – who looks just like Topol from Fiddler on the Roof – and sits at a computer all day tweeting about how just about everything that happens in pop culture is a good as any excuse to “review Judaism’s take on ___ . . . ” (something or other).  You see, I have both an over-active imagination and I’m a fanatical fan of bothTopol and Fiddler on the Roof.  (“If I was a rich man…”)  I wanted it to be someone like him.  I was intrigued;  I retweeted.

One person with about a zillion followers saw my post and retreated it with “– ROFL!”  I picked up about 20 followers in the 5 minutes after she posted that message.  The twittersphere is indeed a strange universe.  But not everyone laughed.

Many sent me direct messages thanking me for passing the link along.  Some sent “amens” – others sent messages of agreement – and a few sent longer messages and spoke of the loss of modesty and manners in our society.  I even exchanged a few very nice direct messages with @JewishTweets, and I’m a loyal follower.

I don’t know whether @JewishTweets is a Topol-like Rabbi with a Mac or more like Selma Blair on an iPhone, its none of my business, but I have figured out that http://www.jewishtreats.com is a great site and resource, and @jewishtweets is a great follow.

Anyway, my retweeting experience made me retreat in thought to a subject I have been closely connected to for many years: manners/etiquette and the timeless notions of honor, dignity, and respect.

I would like to share a passage from an ancient Jewish document.  It comes from the book of Sirach in the Apocrypha.

The Apocrypha consists of 15 books of Jewish literature written between the Old Testament and New Testament period. They are not considered books of the Bible, although some Bibles put them in the middle (with a caveat).  A few of them have historic value, yet are of unknown authorship.  None have any claim to inspiration, revelation, or divine authorship. Most were written as a guide to post-exilic Jewish life and a way to try and prevent idolatry.  They are useful for many reasons I won’t describe now.

What we have is a very interesting (at least to me) writing from the Jewish tradition about manners or etiquette.  It reads much like the text of a magazine article on table manners. But it is something has has been handed down to us from a place and time different from our own in more ways than we can comprehend, and yet truth doesn’t age, or change.

Behavior at Dinner Parties – from Sirach 31: 12 – 31

12 When you sit down at a fancy banquet, don’t let your mouth hang open, and don’t say, Look at all that food!

13 It is impolite to have a greedy eye; remember that. Nothing in creation is greedier than the eye; that is why it sheds tears so often.

14 Don’t reach out for everything you see, and don’t elbow people out of the way to get at the food.

15 Be considerate of the other people at the table and treat them the way you want to be treated.

16 When you get your food, eat it like a human being. Don’t smack and slurp; nobody can stand that.

17 It’s good manners to be the first to stop eating; stuffing yourself is offensive.

18 If there are many people present, don’t try to be the first to be served.

19 A little bit is plenty for anyone with good manners. Besides, you won’t be short of breath when you go to bed.

20 People who eat too much get stomach aches and cannot sleep. If you don’t overeat, you can get a good night’s sleep and wake up early the next morning feeling fine.

21 But if you do get a stomach ache from eating too much, go off and vomit^[d^] and you will feel better.

22 My child, if you listen to what I am saying and put it into practice, one of these days you will thank me for it. Be moderate^[e^] in everything you do, and you will never get sick.

23 People appreciate a generous host, and he deserves their praise.

24 But everybody in town will complain about a host who is stingy with food, and their complaints are justified.

25 Don’t try to prove your manhood by how much you can drink. Wine has been the ruin of many.

26 An arrogant person’s character shows through when he is in a drunken argument, in the same way that iron is tested when it is heated red-hot and then dipped in water.

27 Wine can put new life into you if you drink it in moderation. What would life be like without it? Wine was created to make us happy.

28 If you drink it in moderation and at the right time, it can lift your spirits and make you cheerful,

29 but if you drink when you are angry and upset, it leads to headaches, embarrassment, and disgrace.

30 A drunken fool can lose his temper and hurt himself. His drinking makes him weak and an easy target for angry blows.

31 Never rebuke a person when you have both been drinking. Don’t hurt his feelings while he is having a good time. It’s not the time to criticize anyone, or to ask him to pay back a debt.

( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Sirach+31&version=GNT )

(And pull your pants up!  No, just kidding.)

PS – I also recommend checking out the post from Jewish Treats: http://bit.ly/5ei1dj

The car is meandering around the sweeping curves as the sun peeks though the thick canopy of pine trees, proud to be making its first appearance in over a week.

Suddenly fear grips me.  I remember.  I nearly forgot the thing exists. I avert my eyes away from it. I don’t want to look; I don’t want to see; I don’t want to read.  Oh no, it is going to happen!  Every muscle tenses and my worst fear has become a reality again.

I can’t help it.  I see it.  I read.

“Free Trip to Heaven – Details Inside.”

I am racked with the persistent fear of what churches with changeable signs communicate to the world.

While the members of churches like this probably think . . . No.  Wait.  I actually have no idea what the members think about the variable messaging in front of their place of worship.  Perhaps some research is required.  My eleven year-old saw the sign and he said, “Man, that’s weird.”  There you have it, I can’t think of a better evaluation.

Pithy church signs repel people.  I don’t mean to pick on this one church; I intend to pick on all churches that have changeable signs and use them ‘pithily,’ nothing personal, simply universal.

Years ago I was working with a denominational agency that had a program for churches using lighthouses for the theme.  I think it was called “lighthouses of prayer.”  The idea was to put up a sign in your yard so that you could be the “lighthouse” in your neighborhood for the gospel.  You, your house a lighthouse, cool huh?  Yeah, lighthouses are cool.  I used to play in one as a kid (http://bit.ly/3aRol9); it was a magical place.  But like everything else, lighthouses have a purpose.  How about we look this up together and see what it is?

OK, according to answers.com: “The purpose of a lighthouse is to steer mariners, whilst in dense fog or dark nights, away from cliffs, land and shorelines, coral reefs and other potentially hazardous areas. the lighthouse provides a signal to ships that they are close to such areas.”

Hmmm, interesting.  So rather than be irresistibly drawn toward a lighthouse (like a moth to a flame) if you’re steering your ship around at night and you see a lighthouse, go the other way.  So does it make any sense to want to be a “lighthouse” in your neighborhood?  Do you want your church to be a . . .  “lighthouse?”

Too many churches are truly the “lighthouses” in their community not because of what their sign says on the outside, but what they are like on the inside of the building, or what their people do when they are unleashed upon the community.  Do people living and navigating in the “dense fog” of life or in the “dark night” of the soul want to drop anchor at your church?

Signs are labels and labels tell what is on the inside.  Or at least signs should tell what’s on the inside.  Sometimes they don’t.

There is an organization advocating truth in labeling for food products.  Their mission statement is truth in labeling and they are “dedicated to securing full and clear labeling of all processed food.”  We want to know what we are getting, what we are consuming, and they want all the ingredients listed, honestly listed.  I am pleased that there are consumer groups with volunteers fighting for all of us, to make companies be honest about the ingredients of their products.

But what about the church?

I want to advocate truth in labeling for churches.  I think there should be a fine if a church puts up a sign that says, “The Fellowship of Joy” – if there is no real joy on the inside.  Nor should it be able to put up a sign reading, “The Caring Place” if . . . it . . . doesn’t really care about the community or the people in the community, or, people in general.

Truth in Labeling for churches, there’s an idea!

So what would YOUR church label read?  What if there were a board of neutral objective evaluators – smart people wearing white lab coats and thick glasses – and they visited your church last week.  Stealth is their specialty.  They scientifically determined what should be placed on your church’s sign.  They uncovered the real ingredients, workable and non-workable functions, and the total demands on the end-user.  This week they are returning to unveil what will be placed on your official church “sign.”

You write a new label of ingredients and a sign for your church every week.  By you I mean, you, yes, you, the member, the staff member, the pastor.  What’s the environment in your church like?  Your attitude and actions are all part of the mix.

What does your church sign need to really say?

The University had to give in and hire the guy, no matter how much the establishment disliked his teaching. He was a preaching teaching rebel rock star of reason and faith.

Some notes from his inaugural lecture, following his promotion to “Master” in the theology faculty have been rediscovered.

His text was Psalm 103/104:13

“Some truths are accessible to everyone; others are understood with a great effort of reasoning. There are, however, the highest truths that transcend all human reason and can only be known through the revelation of the Scriptures. This wisdom is profound, finally, because the holy teaching addresses nothing less than the whole point of living, namely, eternal life.”

From M D Chenu, “Aquinas and His Role in Theology” p 60

_______________________________

Centuries before Rob Bell was even a twinkle in his daddy’s eye, or his daddy a twinkle in his eye, or his grandaddy a twinkle in his great-grandaddy’s, oh, you get it:  Thomas was out there proclaiming all truth to be God’s truth no matter where the source.  So while passionately engaged in the use of reason to discover the truths not found in revealed Scripture, he believed the truth of revealed Scripture to be things that were too great to be discovered by human reason and intellect alone.

You really need to read this one, if you are at all interested in Christian philosophy and the life of faith, reason, and the intellect:  http://amzn.com/0814650791

Too often we are told to keep our desires in check. I want to suggest we set two of our desires free.  That’s right, just, let’em go.

Human beings have two insatiable desires.  I will name them later.

These two desires are driven by . . . mystery.  Mystery is truth that has not yet been revealed.  Mystery is the thing that permeates our significant thoughts and affections.

Mircea Eliade said, “Man becomes aware for the sacred because it manifests itself, shows itself, as something wholly different from the profane.” By manifests she means simply “something sacred shows itself to us.” We become aware of the sacred then we are confronted with the ‘wholly otherness’ of the sacred.

The sacred is a manifestation of something of a “wholly different order, a reality that does not belong to our world.” It exists “in objects that are an integral part of our natural profane world.” The sacred happens. It happens to us in a moment when, right before us, an ordinary moment becomes an extraordinary moment. Our awareness of a reality more ‘real’ than the profane is transcended when something lifts us to apprehend the ground of all existence.

We are all driven toward mystery by the natural desires of knowing and to loving.  To know and to love, these desires are insatiable.

Here’s why:

Knowing reveals how much we do not know. This drives us to seek to discover more and more.

Loving increases our capacity to love and drives us to love more and more.

Through knowing, we transcend ourselves and encounter reality.

Through loving, we transcend ourselves and seek what is truly good and valuable.

So set them free.  Untie them.  Each act of loosing our desires of knowing and loving enhances our growth. It stretches us as human beings beyond our tendency of hyper-self-awareness and toward something that is both wholly other and ‘holy other.’