2007-08-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

"... I stand here dazzled / with my heart in flames / in this world of wonders ..."
--Bruce Cockburn, "World of Wonders"

2003-10-20T14:56:00.000-05:00

Extending the discussion of faith expressed and inferred in contemporary times,
here are a few of the stars I navigate by in the postmodern world:

"It is true, that a little philosophy incineth man's mind to atheism;
but depth in philosopy bringteth men's minds about to religion."
--Francis Bacon, "Of Atheism"

"Paraphrasing Francis Bacon,
one may say that superficial and egocentric knowledge leads to atheism,
while genuine, deep, and objective study leads to faith in God."
--_Scientists Who Believe_, p 9

"With the kind Thou dost show Thyself kind;
with the blameless Thou dost show Thyself blameless;
with the pure Thou dost show Thyself pure;
and with the crooked Thou dost show Thyself astute ...
For Thou dost light my lamp; the Lord God illumines my darkness."
--from Psalm 18

"To the pure, all things are pure;
but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure ..."
--Titus 1:15

"The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge."
--from Psalm 19

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen,
being understood through what has been made,
so that they are without excuse."
--Romans 1:20

"I remember my songs in the night.
My heart muses and my spirit inquires ..."
--Psalm 77:6

"Nothing worth havin' comes without some kind of fight.
Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight."
--Bruce Cockburn

"The law of associated ideas applied spiritually means that
we must drill our minds in godly connections. How many of us
have learned to associate ... the early dawn with the early dawn
on the sea of Galilee after the resurrection?
If we learn to associate ideas that are worthy of God with
all that happens in Nature, our imagination will never be at the mercy
of our impulses."
--Oswald Chambers, _Daily Thoughts for Disciples_, 10/1 reading

"The inventory of philosophical vocabulary used in classical China
to define this kind of 'knowing' tends to be one of tracing out,
unraveling, penetrating, and getting through ... to trace out
the connections among its joints and sinews,
to discern the pattern in things, and, on becoming fully aware
of the changing shapes and conditions of things,
to anticipate what will ensue from them."
--_Sun Tzu: The Art of Warfare_, pp 56-57
translated by Roger T. Ames

"The artist penetrates the concrete world in order to find
at its depths the image of its source, the image of ultimate reality."
--Flannery O'Connor

"He that can apprehend and consider vice
and all her baits and seeming pleasures,
and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer
that which is better, he is the true wayfaring Christian.
I cannot praise a fugitive and cloister'd vertue,
unexercis'd and unbreath'd, that never sallies out and sees her adversary ...
[T]rue temperance [is that which can] see and know, and yet abstain."
--Milton, _Areopagitica_ (thanks to William Booth)

"The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He awakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught."
--Isaiah 50:4b

"Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants."
--Deuteronomy 32:2

"And as I said to my son, 'If you wanted to volunteer
for fascinating, dangerous, necessary work,
this would be a great job to volunteer for--
trying to be a wide-awake human during a dark age
and keeping alive what you think is beautiful and important."
--Ventura/Hillman, _We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy
and the World's Getting Worse_, p 237

"Be a good son, a good brother and a good friend,
and if you have energy left after attending to conduct,
then study books."
--Confucius as translated and paraphrased by Lin Yutang

"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
--I Corinthians 1:25

2000-11-30T13:04:00.000-06:00

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage ...
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
--Psalm 84:5 & 7

pathfinders