Avoiding Idle Talk

*from CCEL; The Imitation of Christ

Shun the gossip of men as much as possible, for discussion of worldly affairs, even though sincere, is a great distraction inasmuch as we are quickly ensnared and captivated by vanity.

Many a time I wish that I had held my peace and had not associated with men. Why, indeed, do we converse and gossip among ourselves when we so seldom part without a troubled conscience? We do so because we seek comfort from one another’s conversation and wish to ease the mind wearied by diverse thoughts. Hence, we talk and think quite fondly of things we like very much or of things we dislike intensely. But, sad to say, we often talk vainly and to no purpose; for this external pleasure effectively bars inward and divine consolation.

Therefore we must watch and pray lest time pass idly.

When the right and opportune moment comes for speaking, say something that will edify.

Bad habits and indifference to spiritual progress do much to remove the guard from the tongue. Devout conversation on spiritual matters, on the contrary, is a great aid to spiritual progress, especially when persons of the same mind and spirit associate together in God.

Ch 2: Having a Humble Opinion of Self

... taken from the Christian Classic: Imitation of Christ (Thomas a Kempis)...

EVERY man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars. He who knows himself well becomes mean in his own eyes and is not happy when praised by men.

If I knew all things in the world and had not charity, what would it profit me before God Who will judge me by my deeds?

Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise.

Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God.

The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. Hence, do not affect wisdom, but admit your ignorance. Why prefer yourself to anyone else when many are more learned, more cultured than you?

If you wish to learn and appreciate something worth while, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.

mewwy xmas~

for those who are edgy abt the 'x' in x'mas, it's not really a Latin X |eks|, but a Greek X or 'Chi' |kai|. in Greek, Christ is spelt Χριστός (Christós), which literally means "The Anointed One", which also means X is a legitimate shortening of Christ in Greek, rather than merely "reducing our Lord to a diminutive x". this usage of Chi is also seen in the Chrismon and Labarum, or "Chi-Rho" symbol (☧), often found on liturgical vestments and altar frontals.




... but on to the main show! mewwy xmas!

reason for the reasons

i like looking at the essence of things.
i despise fixation with forms.

however.

the reasons i employ seem to be for convincing others.
myself, on the other hand, seem less convinced of them.

do i merely reason to throw others off?
do i use reason for their shock value?
am i employing reason or hypocrisy?
do i believe or do i simply lie?

dear Lord...
i need you to be the reason for my reasons
- nothing less would do.

free rice!

ever fancied an expropriation of sesquipedelian locution for the emancipation of the profligate penurious? (i.e. play vocab to feed the poor!)

it really sounds too good to be true... but some nouveau entrepreneur with a heart of gold, thought more for the "least of Christ's brothers" (Mt 25:40) and spawned this amazing little self-running donation.

still not a believer?

me too. and if there's anything on the net which i suspect to be a scam, i trust Snopes.com to talk about it. and they did! the article says it all. for the Wikipedia fans, yup, there's a little article there too. or perhaps you'd rather take a look at what GoogleNews can find.

still skeptical?

well, all it takes is a few clicks to test your own vocabulary (the site donates 20 grains of rice per correct answer) so why not just take a look? use a public computer to test it if you're fearful of hackers - nothing's gonna happen anyway.

http://freerice.com/

or start by checking out their FAQ.
geez, you could really do with less skepticism sometimes.

now go buff up your vocab!

form, essence, cause.

i like complaining when people seem fixated on the exterior. perhaps because it makes me seem slightly wiser, a less skin-deep person interested in what lies underneath. perhaps this is the impression i'm attempting to create for myself, so that my own exterior becomes more attractive.

therein lies a certain question, very primal in nature: why is there an exterior? what makes up the form? does this "exterior form" have anything to do with what lies beneath?

this is one reason why those who are concerned about appearances find it hard to swallow when someone like me tries to ignore the exterior - while i may geniunely be trying to "go deeper", i have also managed to ignore the link between the exterior and the interior.

no form is completely without essence - indeed, some kind of essence must exist in advance to cause the form to appear at the surface. just like every bubble that pops on the surface of a pond tends to have some underlying source, be it biological, chemical or geological.

of course, this does not mean that all types of concern for the exterior is legitimate or acceptable - there may be many different causes for those concerns. some are more acceptable: i want to satisfy my spouse, i want my appearance to bring joy to others, i want to look presentable. others are less acceptable: i want others to think well of me, i want to seduce someone, i want all eyes on me. there may be no straightforward manner of grading the "level of acceptability" these various concern-causes; it seems largely quite a subjective matter at first glance. one would need to apply some manner of moral system to begin such comparisons.

evidently, not all these causes may represent the very essence of a person yet - causal chains can go quite long before the essence is reached. how can one tell if a certain stated reason is the root cause? well, without proper contextual clues, it's probably quite difficult, if not impossible, to be certain.

hence we learn that passing judgement is not good practice. the reason is very simple: we can't be sure most of the time, what someone's causal chain is for connecting a certain form to part of that person's essence. if one can't be sure, then will not the judgement be unfair? if it is unfair, then why judge?

one possible exception does exist. for your own person, it is much more possible to understand the causal chains - you set them up, after all. of course, there are times when even our own reasons have become fuzzy, and that is when we need to sit down and reflect - to clarify our own internal moral systems which we want to subscribe to. ultimately, you're usually still the best person to judge yourself, precluding supernatural powers.

yet, a few conclusions can still be made. for one, most exterior forms have a proper causal chain connecting it to a certain essence - though sometimes what appears to be some "essence" really may be a further front that conceals some other deeper essence. therefore, it is not fair for me to completely discount the validity of forms in general, since some may firmly be connected to real essences.

a cynical disenchantment with appearances is also an unfair judgement.

what's with the music?

Komm, Susser Tod
by Arianne

I know, I know I've let you down,
I've been a fool to myself.
I thought that I could live for no one else,
But now, through all the hurt and pain,
It's time for me to respect.
The ones you love mean more than anything.

So with sadness in my heart,
I feel the best thing I could do,
Is end it all, and leave forever.
What's done is done, it feels so bad,
What once was happy now is sad.
I'll never love again - my world is ending.

I wish that I could turn back time,
'Cause now the guilt is all mine.
Can't live without the trust from those you love.
I know we can't forget the past,
You can't forget love and pride.
Because of that, it's killing me inside.

It all returns to nothing,
It all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down.
It all returns to nothing,
I just keep letting me down, letting me down, letting me down.

In my heart of hearts,
I know that I could never love again.
I've lost everything... Everything...
Everything that matters to me matters in this world.

this song is played at the climax of The End of Evangelion - when everything gets 'destroyed'. it's songs like these that comes to my head when i realise i simply can't find it within myself to finish an essay on a sunday.