Break It And Take To A Pretty Girl?

"It occurs to me that I have discovered a technique if I should ever find myself scrolling through other foreign cities, raw and bleeding with loneliness: break something that I can take to a pretty girl to be repaired."

- Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers

Wasting Sweetness

"This music out of the sertāo, music made of the dust, sticks, rocks, fickle women, mean shopkeepers, fate, death, sun.

I listen for twenty minutes, for half an hour, keep tight control of myself to not break into tears, to keep from dancing, embracing the singers, taking out all of my money and laying it at their feet. In some sense that I don't understand, it is the most overpowering music I have ever heard; I want to sob, laugh, clap, and jump around; I want to shake one of the listeners, and old man, who seems unaffected and yell at him, "But listen, listen, this is incredible."

As they sing, as they lose themselves in the music, their faces become transfigured. They are radiant with a pleasure that comes from doing something with flawless skill.....

If there is sadness in watching the singers it is one that is grounded in my American sense of values. It is sad to watch great artists wasting their sweetness.....

...... the glittering sound of those tambourines like a gush of water and those pure, plain voices revealing something profound and true about Brazil." 

- Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers 

A Thick Hide Helps

"I'm always embarrassed when people say that I'm courageous. Soldiers are courageous. Policemen are courageous. Firemen are courageous. I just have a thick hide and disregard what silly people say."

-Thomas Sowell 

Forgive But Not Forget?

"Forgive but do not forget, Or you will be hurt again. Forgiving changes the perspectives. Forgetting loses the lesson."

-Paulo Coelho

Divorce Ignorance

"Divorce, if it were rightly done, would be done as an act of love. It would be dictated by love and done for the honest good of the people involved. Such divorce, though rare, remains nonetheless possible and may be necessary. lf it were truly done on this basis, it would be rightly done, in spite of the heartbreak and loss it is sure to involve.

This position certainly represents a change on my part. I recall with embarrassment sitting around a seminar table at the University of Wisconsin in the early sixties. The professor had not yet arrived for our seminar in formal logic, and one of the class members was talking about his divorce proceedings Without being asked for my opinion, I ventured to say, "Divorce is always wrong."

Looking back on it, the strangest thing of all was that no one objected to what I said or even to my saying it. Everyone seemed accepting of it. Of course that was because my words represented a cultural assumption of those days. But in fact I was vastly ignorant of the things men and women do to one another."

- Dallas Willard. Divine Conspiracy. 

Are We Progressing In Virtue? How To Tell!

1st Century Greek Philosopher Plutarch.

"HOW ONE MAY BE AWARE OF ONE'S PROGRESS IN VIRTUE.  What amount of argument, Sossius Senecio, will make a man know that he is improving in respect to virtue, if his advances in it do not bring about some diminution in folly, but vice, weighing equally with all his good intentions, "acts like the lead that makes the net go down?" For neither in music nor grammatical knowledge could anyone recognize any improvement, if he remained as unskilful in them as before, and had not lost some of his old ignorance."

- Plutarch.  Plutarch's Morals. 1st Century Greek Philosopher. 

Adding A Little

"If to a little you keep adding a little, and do so frequently, it will soon be a lot," 
- Greek Poet- Hesiod, "Works and Days," (750-650 BC) contemporary of Homer. 

God Forgives A Thousand

"God passes by all he can. He passes by and forgets a thousand sins, yay, tens of thousands, forgiving them all....."
- George MacDonald. From Christ in Creation

But That Wasn't Real Communism, Socialism, or Marxism?????

But That Wasn't Real Communism, Socialism, or Marxism".

"..... it's all socially constructed, which is really convenient if what to be the author of an entirely social constructed Utopia that you can run. And, then, when the Marxists say, "Well, that wasn't real Marxism", what it really means, and I thought about this for a long time, it's the most arrogant possible statement anyone could ever make. It means, "If I would have been in Stalin's position, I would have ushered in the damn utopia instead of the genocidal massacres. Because, I understand the doctrine of Marxism and everything about me is good."
Well, think again sunshine! You don't understand it. You don't understand it, and you are not that good.

And, if the power was in your hands, assuming you had the competence, which you don't, you wouldn't have done any better, and even if you had, there would have been someone else waiting right behind you to shoot you the first time you actually tried to do anything good. And that is what happened to all the old guard who ran the damn Revolution. Stalin rounded them all up and shot them, along with their families and millions of other people.
So, even if you do happen to be that Avatar of moral purity that you claim implicitly, the probability that you'd act out your goodness in relationship to those possessed by your ideology is zero."

- Jordan Peterson. But That Wasn't Real Communism, Socialism, or Marxism". Lecture. Available on YouTube.

You Are Better Than Stalin As a Marxist

"..... it's all socially constructed, which is really convenient if what to be the author of an entirely social constructed Utopia that you can run. And, then, when the Marxists say, "Well, that wasn't real Marxism", what it really means, and I thought about this for a long time, it's the most arrogant possible statement anyone could ever make. It means, "If I would have been in Stalins position, I would have ushered in the damn utopia instead of the genocidal massacres. Because, I understand the doctrine of Marxism and everything about me is good."

 Well, think again sunshine! You don't undetstand it. You don't undstand it, and you are not that good. 

And, if the power was in your hands, assuming you had the competence, which you don't, you wouldn't have done any better, and even if you had, there would have been someone else waiting right behind you to shoot you the first time you actually tried to do anything good. And that is what happened to all the old guard who ran the damn Revolution.  Stalin rounded them all up and shot them, along with their families and millions of other people. 

So, even if you do happen to be that Avatar of motal purity that you claim implicitly, the probability that you'd act out your goodness in relationshio to those possessed by your ideology is zero."

- Jordan Peterson. But That Wasn't Real Communism, Socialism, or Marxism".  Lecture.  Available on YouTube. 

CAn Men Live Without God?

"The greatest question of our time is not communism versus individualism; not Europe versus America; not even the East versus the West.  It is whether men can live without God." (Will Durant quoted by Ravi Zacharias in "The Real Face of Atheism," p. 19)

Marxism At Is Core Hates Faith

Nietzsche
".....the world had never before known a godlessness as organized, militarized, and tenaciously malevolent as that practiced by Marxism. Within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, hatred of God is the principal driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions. Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to Communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot."
- Nietzsche

Nietzsche on Socalism

- Nietzsche 
Socialism ― or the tyranny of the meanest and the most brainless, ―that is to say, the superficial, the envious, and the mummers, brought to its zenith, ―is, as a matter of fact, the logical conclusion of “modern ideas” and their latent anarchy: but in the genial atmosphere of democratic well-being the capacity for forming resolutions or even for coming to an end at all, is paralysed. Men follow―but no longer their reason. That is why socialism is on the whole a hopelessly bitter affair: and there is nothing more amusing than to observe the discord between the poisonous and desperate faces of present-day socialists―and what wretched and nonsensical feelings does not their style reveal to us! ―and the childish lamblike happiness of their hopes and desires.

- Nietzsche

Ironing Out Your Complex Beliefs

".... it is your actions that most accurately reflect your deepest beliefs - those that are implicit, embedded in your being, underneath your conscious apprehensions and articulable attitudes and surface-level self-knowledge. You can only find out what you actually believe (rather than what you think you believe) by watching how you act. You simply don't know what you believe, before that. You are too complex to understand yourself. 
It takes careful observation, and education, and reflection, and communication with others, just to scratch the surface of your beliefs. Everything you value is a product of unimaginable lengthy developmental processes, personal, cultural and biological."
- Jordan Peterson. 12 Rules For Life

Responsability For A Better Life

"And you must be cautious, because making your life better means adopting a lot of responsibility, and that takes more effort and care than living stupidly in pain and remaining arrogant, deceitful and resentful."
- Jordan Peterson. 12 Rules For Life

I Control Men's Freedom

"These men control people's military or official duties, wages, reputations,  but you control people's freedom. And no one there speak about you at meetings, and no one will ever dare write about you in the newspaper - not only something bad but anything good! They don't dare."

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The Gulag Archipelago. Vol 1, pg 148

So You Want Power Over Others?

"Power is a poison well known for thousands of years. If only no one were ever to acquire material power over others! But to the human being who has faith in some force that holds dominion over all of us, and who is therefore conscious of his own limitations, power is not necessarily fatal. For those, however, who are unaware of any higher sphere, it is a deadly poison. For them there is no antidote."

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The Gulag Archipelago 

Make-Believe Enemies

 "Low totals led to their being kicked out, to the loss of their feedbag. For Stalin could never be convinced that in any district, or city, or military unit, he might suddenly cease to have enemies.

That was why they felt no mercy, but, instead, an explosion of resentment and rage toward those maliciously stubborn prisoners who opposed being fitted into the totals, who would not capitulate to sleeplessness or the  punishment cell or hunger. By refusing to confess they wanted to bring him down. In such circumstances all measures were justified!  If it's to be war, then war it will be! We'll ram the tube down your throat - swalow that salt water."

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The Gulag Archipelago

You Are Welcome Here

Not being welcome is your greatest fear. It connects with your birth fear, your fear of not being welcome in this life, and your death fear, your fear of not being welcome in the life after this. It is the deep-seated fear that it would have been better if you had not lived. Here you are facing the core of the spiritual battle. Are you going to give in to the forces of darkness that say you are not welcome in this life, or can you trust the voice of the One who came not to condemn you but to set you free from fear? You have to choose life. At every moment you have to decide to trust the voice that says, “I love you. I knit you together in your mother’s womb” (Psalms 139:13). Everything Jesus is saying to you can be summarized in the words “Know that you are welcome.”

-Henri Nouwen 

Act Ahead Of Your Feelings

"Act ahead of your feelings and trust that one day your feelings will match your convictions."

- Henri Nouwen 

Listen To Our Stories.

And I’m begging every pastor to find a better way.

Be our father.
Be our mother.
Herald the Word of God.
Steward the riches of the gospel among us.
Love us. Eat with us. Listen to our stories.

- Pastoring in a post-Hybels world. by Michael Frost | Aug 10, 2018 | 

TOSS YOUR VISION STATEMENT

But our church isn’t immune to the pervasive nature of contemporary Christian leadership theory. Recently, it was proposed that we create a new church vision statement. I begged Christine not to give into the temptation to comply with that.

And I’m begging every pastor to find a better way.

Be our father.

Be our mother.

Herald the Word of God.

Steward the riches of the gospel among us.

Love us. Eat with us. Listen to our stories.

And print this quote by Henri Nouwen and stick it on your refrigerator or the noticeboard in your office. And do what he says:
  

  “More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.”

- Pastoring in a post-Hybels world, by Michael Frost | Aug 10, 2018 | 

Ministry Is This

"Ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one's own search for God, with all the moments of pain and joy, despair and hope, at the disposal of those who want to join this search but do not know how. "

― Henri J.M. Nouwen

Cheap Tricks

"His face had the blank corrupted look of a man who has fooled too many people with cheap tricks.

- The Saddest Pleasure: AJourney on Two Rivers.  Moritz Thomsen. 

My True Identity

"Personally, as my struggle reveals, I don’t often “feel” like a beloved child of God. But I know that that is my most primal identity and I know that I must choose it above and beyond my hesitations."
- Beloved. Henri Nouwen 

We Meet The Whole World There

"Prayer and solitude are ways to listen to the voice that speaks to our heart, in the center of our being. One of the most amazing things is that if you enter deeper and deeper into that place, you not only meet God, but you meet the whole world there."
- Beloved: Henri Nouwen

Neithet Dance Nor Crying

We tend to stay away from mourning and dancing. Too afraid to cry, too shy to dance...we become narrow-minded complainers, avoiding pain and also true human joy...While we live in a world subject to the evil one, we belong to God. Let us mourn, and let us dance.

- Henri Nouwen

Creating A Case

Sounds like modern Journalists these days....

""Just give us a person - and we'll create the case!" That was what many of them said jokingly, and it was their slogan. What we think of as torture they think of as good work."
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The Gulag Archipelago.

Dogmatic Anti-Religion

"You wonder why people who hate religion tend to attack it with the same dogmatism that they hate in religion."

- Richard Rohr. The Naked now

Moving From Wondering To Answering

"...asking of questions opened up wonder and encourage spiritual curiosity.....
At that time, Franciscans and Dominicans were like a Catholic debating Society, hardly ever holding the same exact opinion, and in those days both of us could remain inside the Catholic fold. 
Unfortunately, in later centuries this practice degenerated to just needing answers. And preferably certain answers. And preferably about everything. We moved from wondering to answering, which has not served us well at all."
- Richard Rohr. The naked now

I Don't Own The Truth

"Have you ever noticed that in any situation, when your ego is invested, afraid, or needy, it's very hard to smile? But when the truth is not your personal possession, it is very easy to smile."

- Richard Rohr. The Naked Now