Friday the 13th

[Andruschak]

A couple of days ago, I met with my Spiritual Directer for our monthly session. As always, much of our talk was about my spiritual reading.

Last month he had suggested that I get a copy of AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE by St. Francis de sales. It arrived from TAN books the day before our meeting.

And I noted this sentence on the front page, “A devout life life is a lovely, a pleasant, and a happy life”. I look forward to reading the entire book as time allows.

One book I will be putting aside soon is BENEDICTUS, published by Magnificat Magazine. This is a book of daily readings of excerpts from Pope Benedictus’s writings. The problem is that Benedict is a scholar and a teacher, and his writings tend to be well built structures of exposition and development. As such, excerpts tend to be chunks without proper context.

It will cost a lot more money to buy his books and read his writings in full, but I will probably understand him better then I would from this collection of excerpts. (Opinion)

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I’ve just finished a book by Pope Benedict XVI and I’m about half way through another.

He can be difficult to understand because his writing style is dry.

I’m not sure its his fault, or that of the translator.

In the current book by Pope Benedict XVI that I’m into, “Values in a Time of Upheaval” I’ve been amazed at his explanation of the Tao, Zen, Hinduism and Buddhism.

I was also amazed at his way of defining the terms, conservative and progressive.

Many conservatives would be shocked, in that he’s not the conservative people think he is.

As he explained, conservatives seek to keep the status quo. This is fine, if things are fine the way they are, and you don’t see a need for change. However, if change is needed, and all politicians promise change, then you have to be progressively.

Jim

 

[InLight247]

I’ve just finished a book by Pope Benedict XVI and I’m about half way through another.

In the current book by Pope Benedict XVI that I’m into, “Values in a Time of Upheaval” I’ve been amazed at his explanation of the Tao, Zen, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Jim

If possible, do you mind to share some key points he explained about Zen and Hinduism? I am just curious.

 

[Holly3278]

I am wanting to get the book “Jesus of Nazareth” by Pope Benedict XVI but I currently do not the have money to do so. I figure that I may get the book for my birthday.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

If possible, do you mind to share some key points he explained about Zen and Hinduism? I am just curious.

I’ll give you just a piece on the Tao, that Pope Benedict wrote on.

It is seen perhaps most clearly in the Chinese understanding of the universe: the ordering of heaven, which always remains the same, prescribes the standards for behavior on the earth too. This is the Tao, the law of existence and reality that human beings most recognize and that must govern their conduct. The Tao is both cosmic and an ethical law. It guarantees the harmony between heaven and earth and, thus also harmony in political and social life. Disorder, the disturbance of peace, and chaos arise were people resist the Tao, living in disregard of it or even opposition to it. In response to such disturbances and destructions of societal life, the Tao must be reestablished so that the world can once again be livable. The vital issue is to remain aware of the constant ordering of things or to return to it if it has been abandoned.
page 13 “Values In A Time Of Upheaval” by Pope Benedict XVI,

He doesn’t mention Zen per se,(my mistake) but Buddhism, Hinduism and the faith of Israel.

Keep in mind that the context of all this, is to show the religious values in these traditions and how those values, and of course Christian values, are being thwarted by modern worldly values which are causing the upheaval we’re in.

Jim

 

[InLight247]

Thanks, Jim.

It is very interesting to read what the Holy Father says.
The Chinese writing of Tao is 道.
The Chinese writing of Way is also 道.
The law of heaven is the way it should be.

And we can see lot of God’s inspiration in traditional Chinese characters (not the simplified by Chinese communist). Simplified Chinese characters lost lot of its original meaning, what a shame!

For example, the word boat, the character shows eight people on a boat – 船.

In Chinese 舟 and 船 both mean boat.

So 舟 (left) is boat.
八(upper right) means eight, 口(lower right) means mouth.
Therefore 船 is eight people (mouth) in a boat, that is the story of Noah.

Another example, the word devil writes like this: **魔 **
林 (in the middle of the word) is forest, 鬼(on the bottom of the word) is ghost, the symbols of this character are a ghost in the forest, it tells about Satan in the garden of Eden.

I have a book analyzes many Chinese characters, proving our God’s revelations to ancient Chinese people and influenced the creation of Chinese characters. That book is misplaced somewhere in my house so I cannot tell you the name and author of that book. But our God does reveal Himself to all mankind from the beginning.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

InLight,
years ago I picked up an old book on Taoism. The book was written long before the New Age movement came along, so
the author provided an unpolluted explanation of the Tao Te Ching, without the distortions we see today.

Essentially, the essence of our belief is the Yin, putting that believe into physical practice, is the Yang.

When the Yin and Yang are balanced, you have the Tao, i.e. harmony. When one is out of balanced with the other, you have disharmony.

Of course as Lao Tzu taught, any thing that explains the Tao, is not the Tao. The Tao can not be explained, only lived.

Anyway, in relation to Christianity, I thought this was similar, to the Scriptures. One can not have faith and not good works, and actually live the gospel message, which is the essence of all that is.

Only when we have both faith and good works, do we live according to the Gospel, and hence, in Christ, who is the perfect harmony of life.

In Christ
Jim

 

[marymol]

Thank you much for the many insightful points in the above posts

As mentioned , good to see the glimpses of The Spirit , in so much in our lives, cultures and history … and that imprint of The Spirit from the youngest human person at conception on down …helping us to cherish and value each other and The Author of all that good …

Interesting title - Fri 13th , and its significance in our JudeoChristian culture , for victory of good , through Esther in Old Testament and our Bl.Mother , in our times !
Shalom !

 

[InLight247]

InLight,
years ago I picked up an old book on Taoism. The book was written long before the New Age movement came along, so
the author provided an unpolluted explanation of the Tao Te Ching, without the distortions we see today.

In Christ
Jim

There are a lot of profound and precious wisdom in ancient Chinese philosophy. They are all very good. I can see the concept of one God and the worship of that one God in early Chinese culture. Since all are God’s creatures, all are His children, I believe God reveals Himself to all people.

The problem of New Age is not that it incorporates some oriental stuff. The problem is they promote “self” rather than God, and they paint an image of God they like to have. The fact they include some Chinese philosophy does not make that philosophy bad. Like you said there are distortions and the mixups in the New Age invention.