This really resonated with me and taught me something. I think it was dennis prager who said the reward for keeping the sabbath is the sabbath, So I love this added perspective that the actual punishment for sin is the sin. Can't wait to share this with my kids.❤️
Fasano's poem was the first thing that came to my mind when you were posting on X about this. I teach at a high school level, and I want to so badly make my students understand that The Work is so important, but it feels impossible to put into words.
"This week I ran across some nudnik who thinks “Reading books is now a waste of time” because “AI reasoning models can distill key insights and tell you how to implement them.”"
Speaking as someones 1st memory involves reading a book nudnik is not the term/word I would use. I'm thinking Moron, (almost but not quite) A Half-Wit.
I've been reading a lot of CS Lewis lately and I'm finding that he is like "The Simpsons" or" South Park", for almost every subject that's brought up, it feels like CS Lewis "has done that already". What your talking about Spencer, loving the journey of the thing rather the thing itself, reminds me of something Lewis talks about in the "Weight of Glory":
"The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."
But I must confess, I did use AI to find the quote.
"... thinking of yourself like a hunk of metal is what leads you to act like a hunk of metal, and eventually to bow down before other hunks of metal—a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Reading a book to gain knowledge has value, I suppose, but I actually love it when reading feels like an interaction, a relationship, a journey that I go on with those in the story. It's the same with viewing great art or listening to excellent music. What stirs in me is unique to me, becoming a little building block in who I am becoming. So yes, a process...
Your letter today brought some personal experiences to mind for me. I was a fencer (sword-fight) in college and several years after, till I had kids. My instructor was an old man who has taught for 50+ years. He told me "Nothing is by luck or a fluke, what you did - your method of approach - IS the touch (in fencing a point is called the "touch"). The journey cannot be separated from the destination. You need to HAVE a goal, but the goal is just a manifestation of how you got there. I think "the work" of survival is a part of living. If machines take all the work, there certainly won't be more great art or progress in philosophical endeavors; because we don't have that even now. Instead we waste our time with 10 s. cat videos and other mundanities; That won't change until we change what we value. We need to value time spent well vs. more "free time." the question is "Free for what?"
I am training for the Boston Marathon. I live in MA and it's been a cold winter. I have a training plan and just get up, very early and run around the beautiful Charles River and in my neighborhood in the suburbs. I really don't think about the race usually, but I am grateful for this goal that pushes me experience the happiness of doing something hard. Race day is a gift. I thank God everyday for my health and am raising money for a local charity. I've been running for 40 years. It brings me joy every time. No one else can run for me. I have to put in the work.
Do you think that the Lord’s Second Coming will include a definitive description of life in heaven and the kind of people that will want to live there, as well as those who will choose to go “elsewhere,” and of course, a description of what life in “elsewhere“ will be like?
I am presuming that, with the Lord’s careful preservation of our freedom as human beings (without which we would not be human), we would greatly benefit by having that part of this mystery of human life resolved.
And how will we know when He is making/has made His Second Advent? Will it be obvious, or just as mystifying His first time around?
This really resonated with me and taught me something. I think it was dennis prager who said the reward for keeping the sabbath is the sabbath, So I love this added perspective that the actual punishment for sin is the sin. Can't wait to share this with my kids.❤️
Fasano's poem was the first thing that came to my mind when you were posting on X about this. I teach at a high school level, and I want to so badly make my students understand that The Work is so important, but it feels impossible to put into words.
It’s really about what we’re doing here on this planet at all
It's the experience. The excitement, the enjoyment is doing something not just looking. What a good poem.
A bit off topic
"This week I ran across some nudnik who thinks “Reading books is now a waste of time” because “AI reasoning models can distill key insights and tell you how to implement them.”"
Speaking as someones 1st memory involves reading a book nudnik is not the term/word I would use. I'm thinking Moron, (almost but not quite) A Half-Wit.
I've been reading a lot of CS Lewis lately and I'm finding that he is like "The Simpsons" or" South Park", for almost every subject that's brought up, it feels like CS Lewis "has done that already". What your talking about Spencer, loving the journey of the thing rather the thing itself, reminds me of something Lewis talks about in the "Weight of Glory":
"The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."
But I must confess, I did use AI to find the quote.
But a lovely quote all the same. Thank you for posting.
"All the way to heaven is heaven ..."
- Catherine of Siena
My patron saint.
Good for you! Have you read Sigrid Undset's biography of her? It's exhaustive (and exhausting -- so much in those 33 years!), but so worth the effort.
I have read many mini bios. Is it true she was illiterate?
If I remember correctly, yes. Her letters to Gregory XI were dictated.
"... thinking of yourself like a hunk of metal is what leads you to act like a hunk of metal, and eventually to bow down before other hunks of metal—a self-fulfilling prophecy."
"You Are What You Think" by Norman Vincent Peale
As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)
Reading a book to gain knowledge has value, I suppose, but I actually love it when reading feels like an interaction, a relationship, a journey that I go on with those in the story. It's the same with viewing great art or listening to excellent music. What stirs in me is unique to me, becoming a little building block in who I am becoming. So yes, a process...
Your letter today brought some personal experiences to mind for me. I was a fencer (sword-fight) in college and several years after, till I had kids. My instructor was an old man who has taught for 50+ years. He told me "Nothing is by luck or a fluke, what you did - your method of approach - IS the touch (in fencing a point is called the "touch"). The journey cannot be separated from the destination. You need to HAVE a goal, but the goal is just a manifestation of how you got there. I think "the work" of survival is a part of living. If machines take all the work, there certainly won't be more great art or progress in philosophical endeavors; because we don't have that even now. Instead we waste our time with 10 s. cat videos and other mundanities; That won't change until we change what we value. We need to value time spent well vs. more "free time." the question is "Free for what?"
"You, Lord, were within me, while I was outside.
It was there that I sought you.
I rushed headlong upon these things of beauty that You had made.
You were with me, but I was not with You.
They kept me far from You,
those fair things which,
if they were not in You,
would not exist at all!"
~ St. Augustine, "The Confessions"
I am training for the Boston Marathon. I live in MA and it's been a cold winter. I have a training plan and just get up, very early and run around the beautiful Charles River and in my neighborhood in the suburbs. I really don't think about the race usually, but I am grateful for this goal that pushes me experience the happiness of doing something hard. Race day is a gift. I thank God everyday for my health and am raising money for a local charity. I've been running for 40 years. It brings me joy every time. No one else can run for me. I have to put in the work.
Wow.
Loving the music while I read, it adds another dimension to the letter. Top notch quality!
Some questions:
Do you think that the Lord’s Second Coming will include a definitive description of life in heaven and the kind of people that will want to live there, as well as those who will choose to go “elsewhere,” and of course, a description of what life in “elsewhere“ will be like?
I am presuming that, with the Lord’s careful preservation of our freedom as human beings (without which we would not be human), we would greatly benefit by having that part of this mystery of human life resolved.
And how will we know when He is making/has made His Second Advent? Will it be obvious, or just as mystifying His first time around?