Saturday 14 May 2011
The Mass Energy
Even in science, great energies are released when there is a change of state. The greatest energies of all times are those experienced during the changes of state of Christ: Annunciation, Crucifixion,Ressurection,Ascension, Pentecost etc.All these energies are experienced in one singular event: The Holy Eucharist. It is memory that we need, memory with faith, then we see how supposed past events are in fact a present reality, such that happen now, now! We can now imagine the kind of 'bang' that takes place as all these macro infinity energies are fused together into one singular act. The act of the Mass.How great is the value of a Mass!
The Journey Of Prayer
Prayer is dialogue, work is prayer, in fact work is also a dialogue, we should purify our work to make it a perfect dialogue with God.The beginning of prayer is this work about self; our daily bread (food, money, health, comfort, success etc). The noontide of prayer is this work for peace( peace of soul, of family , of country, of the world etc). The night and summit of prayer is this work for the kingdom of God. This absolute and total abandonment to God, keeping back no interest or desires, but only His will. It's not as easy as written.
Friday 13 May 2011
The 7th Habit
Some months ago , I wrote about the 'Hierachies to Wisdom'; but that is spirituality. I wish now to write about the path to that spirituality.
I have always been influenced by 'Maslow's Hierachies of Needs' and I have been fascinated by Steve Covey's '7 Habits of Highly Effective People'. I would like to talk about what he described as the 7th habit, and would like rather to put them into hierachies, acording to Maslow.
Covey described the 7th habit as 'Sharpening The Saw'; there, he described the works of sharpening the saw as physical, mental, social and spiritual. He didn't particularly put them into hierachies, and we should be careful to do this, but i have found that, towards the journey to spirituality, and according to Maslow, some paths do take more preeminence, depending on the stage in which we are.
I will also refer to the parable of the talents, and would endeavor to relate them to the 7th habit according to Maslow's hiearachy. Now , i would say, 'physical' is 10talents, 'mental' is 20 talents,'social' is 30 talents while spiritual is.... how many talents?We should bear in mind that the spiritual is also the opening forth of another journey entirely which i described in the 'Hierachies To Wisdom'. We should also remember that the ability to give back to Him who has given us these talents is what we should ultimately strive after, so we should not be distressed , regarding whichever state we feel we are, for it is not in being gifted that success is judged, but in our capacity to deepen whichever state we are, and perfect it , so as to give it back to Him who has lavished such gifts on us ; that is why my attempt towards putting these into hierachies will always be a dangerous one.
This brings me to another fascinating parable of Christ :The parable of the sower. We should note how the sower was so liberal with his seeds , in the hope that some would fall on rich soils, but the point I want to drive at is that God works everywhere and on everyone, even the blindest in faith. This capacity to see goodness in everyone is what will eventually influence our salvation. The attempt by whatever religion to box God and keep Him personal is a futile one. We can deepen our vision of goodness by experiencing His works in people through this reflection of the 7th habits, and the more an individual, group, society or nation grows through these 7th habits, and arrive at the path of the spiritual ( which i describe simply as awareness)the more their salvation is fostered. And if we feel we are the ones that have attained this depths of the 7th habits , we should bear it in mind that the capacity to recognise and give back the Giver is our salvation. What should we give? Our nothingness ( that is a different discussion )
The Hierachies of The 7th Habit
1)Physical
I have always been a staunch defender of eros, the starting point is our bodies. The reason? The Word has been made flesh, the Word has become Eros.We should take care of our bodies, our health, we should endeavour to look good, eat well and exercise, even the starting point described by Maslow is the physiological needs, if the body is so bad, why did Christ Himself perfome all those numerous healings? Looking good is serious business. We dont have a second chance to make a first impression, and since the bulk of humanity look at the physical and physique as a first impression, we had better look good or we will loose out, that is the first attraction, and it is not to be discouraged, but to be advanced , we must go beyond the physical, it is because a great lot of us stay put at this level that is why our advancement are crippled. There is a great deal beyond the physical. Physical duties are just the starting point of a long long journey. Tell the models that they do well , but they should go beyond.
2)Mental
We enter another horizon where we devote ourselves to the tasks of the brain. Intellectual work is the next work and it is just apparent how few are those who take this serious.This sort of intellectual task is not of the sort which we venture into as under duress, or in order to gain some financial benefits, it is our passion and interest about reality, and we only need to go into our higher institutions of learnings to see how few professors there are,then we shall begin to see how few are those who devote themselves to this mental business, the remainder of us are distracted by money and making ends meet.Education is an eternal project, we must continually exercise our intellect, otherwise we risk the chance of not advancing to the next level.Even though i have to say that this sort of education does not necessarily have to be in a formal environment, it is a sort that demands 'paying attention'. This 'paying attention', otherwise called studies open up a great awareness towards realities which are hitherto unknown. The path towards truth is a mental one. We miss it entirely when we feel our mental strife ends in school.
3)Social(Emotional)
The world is fast realising that skills alone and mental ability is not sufficient for growth.Emotional intelligience, the ability to keep a group and forge ahead, keeping mutual peaceful coexistence, this intuitive ability is what every leader of the 21st century needs badly and it is the life line of the world. How many learned people we see who lack this ability, it could be learned, yes,but I feel it works better when it is innate, and we need to 'pay attention' to develop it.This emotional ability in the society is the true work for peace, it is the boundary between the physical world and the spiritual world, it takes place in the society, one needs to love humanity to cultivate a positive emotional intelligience. Until the world advances towards this path, true knowledge cannot be sustained.
4)Spiritual
Spitituality is nothing but awareness, it is enlightenement. It is the destination of the 7th habit. If you would want to read more about this, begin by reading 'Hierachies To Wisdom' on this blog...
I have always been influenced by 'Maslow's Hierachies of Needs' and I have been fascinated by Steve Covey's '7 Habits of Highly Effective People'. I would like to talk about what he described as the 7th habit, and would like rather to put them into hierachies, acording to Maslow.
Covey described the 7th habit as 'Sharpening The Saw'; there, he described the works of sharpening the saw as physical, mental, social and spiritual. He didn't particularly put them into hierachies, and we should be careful to do this, but i have found that, towards the journey to spirituality, and according to Maslow, some paths do take more preeminence, depending on the stage in which we are.
I will also refer to the parable of the talents, and would endeavor to relate them to the 7th habit according to Maslow's hiearachy. Now , i would say, 'physical' is 10talents, 'mental' is 20 talents,'social' is 30 talents while spiritual is.... how many talents?We should bear in mind that the spiritual is also the opening forth of another journey entirely which i described in the 'Hierachies To Wisdom'. We should also remember that the ability to give back to Him who has given us these talents is what we should ultimately strive after, so we should not be distressed , regarding whichever state we feel we are, for it is not in being gifted that success is judged, but in our capacity to deepen whichever state we are, and perfect it , so as to give it back to Him who has lavished such gifts on us ; that is why my attempt towards putting these into hierachies will always be a dangerous one.
This brings me to another fascinating parable of Christ :The parable of the sower. We should note how the sower was so liberal with his seeds , in the hope that some would fall on rich soils, but the point I want to drive at is that God works everywhere and on everyone, even the blindest in faith. This capacity to see goodness in everyone is what will eventually influence our salvation. The attempt by whatever religion to box God and keep Him personal is a futile one. We can deepen our vision of goodness by experiencing His works in people through this reflection of the 7th habits, and the more an individual, group, society or nation grows through these 7th habits, and arrive at the path of the spiritual ( which i describe simply as awareness)the more their salvation is fostered. And if we feel we are the ones that have attained this depths of the 7th habits , we should bear it in mind that the capacity to recognise and give back the Giver is our salvation. What should we give? Our nothingness ( that is a different discussion )
The Hierachies of The 7th Habit
1)Physical
I have always been a staunch defender of eros, the starting point is our bodies. The reason? The Word has been made flesh, the Word has become Eros.We should take care of our bodies, our health, we should endeavour to look good, eat well and exercise, even the starting point described by Maslow is the physiological needs, if the body is so bad, why did Christ Himself perfome all those numerous healings? Looking good is serious business. We dont have a second chance to make a first impression, and since the bulk of humanity look at the physical and physique as a first impression, we had better look good or we will loose out, that is the first attraction, and it is not to be discouraged, but to be advanced , we must go beyond the physical, it is because a great lot of us stay put at this level that is why our advancement are crippled. There is a great deal beyond the physical. Physical duties are just the starting point of a long long journey. Tell the models that they do well , but they should go beyond.
2)Mental
We enter another horizon where we devote ourselves to the tasks of the brain. Intellectual work is the next work and it is just apparent how few are those who take this serious.This sort of intellectual task is not of the sort which we venture into as under duress, or in order to gain some financial benefits, it is our passion and interest about reality, and we only need to go into our higher institutions of learnings to see how few professors there are,then we shall begin to see how few are those who devote themselves to this mental business, the remainder of us are distracted by money and making ends meet.Education is an eternal project, we must continually exercise our intellect, otherwise we risk the chance of not advancing to the next level.Even though i have to say that this sort of education does not necessarily have to be in a formal environment, it is a sort that demands 'paying attention'. This 'paying attention', otherwise called studies open up a great awareness towards realities which are hitherto unknown. The path towards truth is a mental one. We miss it entirely when we feel our mental strife ends in school.
3)Social(Emotional)
The world is fast realising that skills alone and mental ability is not sufficient for growth.Emotional intelligience, the ability to keep a group and forge ahead, keeping mutual peaceful coexistence, this intuitive ability is what every leader of the 21st century needs badly and it is the life line of the world. How many learned people we see who lack this ability, it could be learned, yes,but I feel it works better when it is innate, and we need to 'pay attention' to develop it.This emotional ability in the society is the true work for peace, it is the boundary between the physical world and the spiritual world, it takes place in the society, one needs to love humanity to cultivate a positive emotional intelligience. Until the world advances towards this path, true knowledge cannot be sustained.
4)Spiritual
Spitituality is nothing but awareness, it is enlightenement. It is the destination of the 7th habit. If you would want to read more about this, begin by reading 'Hierachies To Wisdom' on this blog...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)