2nd - 9th Dec 2007

'Humility' is sometimes regarded negatively as a sign of weakness. True humility is the opposite of arrogance, which is at the heart of conflict and war. Humility says, I am passionate about what I think and believe, but I may be wrong.

"If thou wouldst become a pilgrim on the path
Of love
The first condition is
That thou become as humble as dust
And ashes."

Al-Ansari (from 'The Persian Mystics', translated by Sardar Sir Jogendra Singh, John Murray Ltd, 1939).

Additional Thoughts

This Slav proverb reminds us, not only that our own evolution is a result of the elements thrown out by dead stars, but that humility is not contrary to our human dignity:

"Remember you are of the earth, therefore be humble;
remember you are of the stars, therefore be noble."

And a specifically spiritual quotation from William Temple who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1942-4:

"The source of humility . . . is the habit of realising the presence of God. Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself that of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all."

William Temple(1881-1944, from 'Christ in His Church', Macmillan & Co Ltd, 1925).

25th Nov - 2nd Dec 2007

Life is so full of problems and difficulties, we may think that this is what life is all about; yet we may contemplate that:

"The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved; it is a reality to be experienced."

J J van der Leeuw (from ‘The Conquest of Illusion’, Alfred A Knopf, 1928).

Additional Thought

Dag Hammarskjöld , who was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 to 1961, wrote a personal journal about his own inner struggle. One entry:

"Is life so wretched? Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddied? You are the one who must grow up."

18th - 25th Nov 2007

The philosopher, John O'Donohue, wrote

"Sometimes, unfortunately, it is suffering or threat that awakens us… When your soul awakens, you begin to truly inherit your life. You leave the kingdom of fake surfaces, repetitive talk and weary roles and slip deeper into the true adventure of who you are and who you are called to become…

"Now you realise how precious your time is here… Now you are impatient for growth, willing to put yourself in the way of change. You want your work to become an expression of your gift. You want your relationship to voyage beyond the pallid frontiers to where the danger of transformation dwells. You want your God to be wild and to call you to where your destiny awaits."

John O'Donohue (Irish poet, philosopher).

Read the whole of O'Donohue's article at http://www.johnodonohue.com/reflections/

11th - 18th Nov 2007

Are we loosing our sense of wonder which has, in the past, been linked with a search for knowledge? Today many people study in order, for example, to obtain a degree or to publish an academic paper – not so much to satisfy their curiosity and wonder. Has wonder a place in our universities?

"To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand."

José Ortega y Gasset (1883 1955, Spanish philosopher).

Additional Thoughts
One of the most significant Jewish theologians clearly linked wonder with knowledge:

"Wonder rather than doubt is the root of knowledge."

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972, Jewish theologian; from 'Man Is Not Alone').

We know that young children have an amazing sense of wonder:

"The qualities that children have which adults often lose are these: an insatiable curiosity, an infuriating persistence in asking why or how, energy and drive to explore and discover, a touching sense of wonder and a tremendous capacity for enjoyment."

Revd Dr Frances Young (theologian; from 'Can these Dry Bones Live?' SCM Press, 1982, p5).

Finally:

"We die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady
radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond reason."

Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961, Swedish diplomat & the 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations).

4th - 11th Nov 2007

How do we cope with grief and suffering? Usually very badly as it affects our very being. Jim Cotter, like many people, has experienced much pain in his life and expresses our reactions to it in this paraphrase of one of the 'Beatitudes':

"Miserable are those who wallow in self-pity:
they will sink into bitterness and despair.
Blessed are those who accept their experience of sorrow:
they will grow in courage and compassion."

Jim Cotter (from "Prayer at Night: A Book for the Darkness". Sheffield: Cairns Publications, 1983).

Additional Thought
I think it is worth quoting extensively from Harold Kushner's book 'Why Bad Things Happen to Good People':

"In the final analysis, the question of why bad things happen to good people translates itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now it has happened.

"Are you capable of forgiving and accepting in love a world which has disappointed you by not being perfect, a world in which there is so much unfairness and cruelty, disease and crime, earthquake and accident? Can you forgive its imperfections and love it because it is capable of containing great beauty and goodness, and because it is the only world we have?

"Are you capable of forgiving and loving the people around you, even if they have hurt you and let you down by not being perfect? Can you forgive them and love them, because there aren't any perfect people around, and because the penalty for not being able to love imperfect people is condemning oneself to loneliness?

"Are you capable of forgiving and loving God even when you have found out that He is not perfect, even when He has let you down and disappointed you by permitting bad luck and sickness and cruelty in His world, and permitting some of those things to happen to you? Can you learn to love and forgive Him despite His limitations, as Job does, and as you once learned to forgive and love your parents even though they were not as wise, as strong, or as perfect as you needed them to be?

"And if you can do these things, will you be able to recognize that the ability to forgive and the ability to love are the weapons God has given us to enable us to live fully, bravely, and meaningfully in this less-than-perfect world?"

Harold S Kushner (from 'Why Bad Things Happen to Good People', Pan Books, 1982, p152).