Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Scholasticism

"Ocean inside a skull-cap,
Seeking the universal code in letters.
The mind is like a flower on icy water.
An eye within the petals."

As I've always suspected, the intellect of the mind is but a starting point. Some distinctions are helpful, but not all. I think spiritual seeking invites us past these distinctions to see how they all ultimately flow together. This is the closest I've come yet to being able to describe Tao. Perhaps even this is not necessary, like trying to distinguish the thing itself from one's experience of it. The intellect gives us a measure of objectivity, but by our humanity, that remains so small. Once when I was co-teaching a confirmation class at my old church, the main facilitator asked the confirmands how they imagined God. What one boy said will stay in my mind forever: "I think God is a crazy little kid with a science project." It made me laugh at the time, and it still does. It may sound scary, but to me, it is comforting. I've found myself feeling that I'd rather be a subject of His work than a mere object of His plan. 

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