Then you will judge yourself unworthy of God, but where you will go if not into His grace, I don’t know…yet. Many upon many, maybe millions, of souls exist in Hopelessness. Other not so Divine planes exist.
Science, thinking is equivalent to porn, a sex addiction or any drug addiction. Science hollows Man out then Man turns to the material universe for fulfillment with all his obsessions and addictions…everything to escape his emotions, to escape God’s talking to him.
You’re using the basics of existence to aid your argument? That’s weak when there’s so much greatness you could bring forth from all the sciences.
A good dose of French blood + a good dose of English blood + a sprinkling of Indigenous North American blood
What are the possibilities on the French side?
… Napoleon was an Italian masquerading as a Frenchman
… Hebrew … apparently lots on the southern coast of France in antiquity
… Greek … Roman …
What are the possibilities on the English side?
… indigenous as in Stonehedge peoples
… Celtic as in Irish peoples
… certainly German as in Anglo “Saxons”
What are the possibilities on the Indigenous North American side?
… Inuit as in Eskimo
I’m not living der at the moment … spent most of the last 11 years in China … grew up in Northern Ontario … spent most of my adult life in Southern Ontario … never lived in Toronto.
Time zones suggest you live in the West? How many generations your family been in Canada?
On my dad’s side, I’m the first to be born in Canada. Before that, he was in Iraq. On my mom’s side… oh, lots. I think at least 3. Before that, they were British.
James … I have long … and hard … pondered the purpose of my time in China. Some of the stuff that popped into my consciousness … in no particular order is:
In part an escape from the pain associated with proximity to my family in Canada. I have often thought and stated that my immediate family, friends, acquaintances … ergo … everyone … has consistently rejected and persecuted me. Today I realized I was lying to myself and others. More accurately stated all these people are comfortable living with their “world view” which is diametrically opposite to my own. Hasn’t always been that way … I lived the first 43 years of my life with the same world view. At age 43 my world view was turned upside down … inside out … ergo … shattered. I have countless times tried to go back to my old world view for the sake of my family … it didn’t work. I have found that interacting with family despite opposing world views is simply ‘duty’ … filial piety … and duty is a poor proxy for love. The story of my life is exquisitely stated in the words of Paul Anka’s song “My Way”
In part my fascination with Chinese culture history and philosophy. I arrived with typical preconceived Western notions of China … Chinese people are oppressed … atheists … Communists … ergo … evil. My experience has taught me exactly the opposite. Let me share a taste of the irony … irony for me anyway. October 1, 1949 Mao Zedong became the undisputed leader of China. His famous quote … “today China has stood up” … ergo … before today China was on it’s knees. One of the first things Mao Zedong did was order the construction of an “indoctrination centre” for the indoctrination of future Chinese leaders. His choice of location … Beijing … is not surprising. His choice of location within Beijing is intriguing. He chose the spot that housed the tombs of Matteo Ricci and about 63 of his successors … all of them 16th - 17th century Jesuit missionaries. One would expect given Mao Zedong’s aversion for all things religious … especially Western religion … that he would have ordered the tombs be destroyed or at a minimum relocated. He built the “indoctrination centre” around the tombs … careful not to disturb them. For the past 66 years or so all the Chinese leaders have often walked by these tombs. Most would argue … so what! … insignificant. Yet we all stumble around in the dark … every day … ergo … not a single individual has ever been conscious of Total Reality.
An infatuation with the philosophy of Lao Tzu and Confucius … stemming from my belief in the existence of stunning parallels between Lao Tzu/Confucian thought and Western religious/philosophical thought. Read a story about a well respected Chinese man from Hong Kong. He said … paraphrasing … I converted to Christianity because of Confucius … I converted to RC faith because of Ste Therese of Lisieux.
My recent affection for Zhuang Zi may point to the answer(s) to my dilemma. I was introduced to him many years ago but until very recently I didn’t want to dilute my affection for Lao Tzu … his predecessor. I stumbled on a quote from Zhuang Zi …[b]
Let me start by explaining what I mean by “Holy Grail”
the not’s first
not Dan Brown’s Mary Magdalene
not some cup or chalice from the last supper
not the “Round Table” holy grail
the specifics …
the ‘whole enchilada’
the ‘big kahuna’
Some readers may wonder "How will you know if you find it? For me, analogous to the question … "How do you know when it’s time for a poop? … You just know!
Some readers may wonder “What is there to do after you find it?” Hypothetical in the extreme … yet I will offer some speculation. For me … if the ‘whole enchilada’ is revealed to me it … it seems logical that my task would be to ‘help’ others who are on the same path.
Let me explain my use of the word “help” … I use it in this context …
Lifting the ‘veil’ … removing the ‘veil’ … is the purview of the Author of Creation. Those who attempt to usurp this authority are all charlatans.
To your question Phyllo … I would no longer stumble around in the dark … I would walk in the light.