Search found 151 matches

by Speculum
July 19th, 2009, 1:53 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Rilke
Replies: 6
Views: 21607

Re: Rilke

With the help of Yahoo! Babel Fish, I say, vielen Dank!
by Speculum
July 18th, 2009, 7:14 pm
Forum: The Sand Box
Topic: prayer
Replies: 11
Views: 30936

Re: prayer

anvil46 asked, "Where is everyone? My fellow sand boxers, have u all found enlightenment and have left me alone on this empty shore?" Speaking for us, when summer finally comes to Maine after our long and cold winter, we spend much of our time outside, cleaning up winter's leftovers (broke...
by Speculum
July 18th, 2009, 6:46 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Rilke
Replies: 6
Views: 21607

Re: Rilke

Re-reading these posts today, the line "If your drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine" jumped out at me. With your permission I hope, I am going to post it tomorrow (Sunday the 19th) as this week's Here A Thought . I say "with your permission" because, unable to translate German...
by Speculum
July 18th, 2009, 6:39 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: "religion"
Replies: 2
Views: 13081

Re: "religion"

I am reading, and thoroughly enoying, Founding Faith by Steven Waldman. It is about the evolution of religious freedom, the concept of separation of church and state, and the like, in the country's early days. The book addresses the political/religious views of the "Founding Fathers": Fran...
by Speculum
May 29th, 2009, 4:36 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: From Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Replies: 7
Views: 22410

Re: From Dietrich Bonhoeffer

People tend to just ignore all the others and also to ignore when, where and by whom it was written - in the darkest of times, in the Gestapo prison December 1944. But knowing that, it goes so deep... Yes, particularly when reading this powerful verse, And when this cup You give is filled to brimmi...
by Speculum
May 29th, 2009, 4:25 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Rilke
Replies: 6
Views: 21607

Re: Rilke

And once the earthly loses sight of you, say to the quiet earth: I flow. To the rushing water speak: I am. Good stuff. As it happens, the past several days I have had occasion to think about physical death and its meaning, if any. This morning, I posted some of my musing on this subject at TZF's pa...
by Speculum
May 23rd, 2009, 1:11 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: From Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Replies: 7
Views: 22410

Re: From Dietrich Bonhoeffer

For me, at the heart of this thread is this question, What is the purpose of religion, of religious practice? Is it to make us better citizens? Is it to give us comfort in the midst of our troubled lives? Is it to offer promise of eternal life in the face of mortality? Or is it some other, and if so...
by Speculum
May 21st, 2009, 9:03 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: From Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Replies: 7
Views: 22410

Re: From Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What is bothering me incessantly is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today. As I read it, that is one of those questions which no one can answer for another. In a way, it is like a koan : Our answer measures our “spiritual temperature”. As for me, whe...
by Speculum
April 21st, 2009, 2:04 pm
Forum: The Sand Box
Topic: prayer
Replies: 11
Views: 30936

Re: prayer

I only try to reduce blasphemy [please easy with the reaction I use it as a noun ] as an aid to my fellow beings . While we are cursing we can not have the joy that is our birth-right, anger cuts us off immediately from our CREATOR , not because we are being punished by the CREATOR but as cause and...
by Speculum
April 12th, 2009, 8:40 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Prayer
Replies: 12
Views: 31853

Re: Prayer

...the latter is the prayer that is heard and for which I am accountable. Scary -- but only scary until I realize that The Listener is not taking notes and planning reprisals. Nicely put. A Minister told me once that the translation of 'The Lord's Prayer' is very simplified for the laity . It is li...
by Speculum
April 5th, 2009, 2:14 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Movie Suggestion
Replies: 5
Views: 20488

Movie Suggestion

Last evening, Anna and I watched The Man From Earth . We enjoyed it a lot, enough that I'm thinking I will watch it again today. Here are a couple of sentences from the description at Amazon: Based on renowned sci-fi author Jerome Bixby's final 1998 manuscript, Man From Earth is the long-awaited fil...
by Speculum
April 2nd, 2009, 3:20 pm
Forum: The Sand Box
Topic: just a small thing
Replies: 12
Views: 32577

Re: just a small thing

Psalm 42:1: "pants for the water brooks." Very amusing. At an estate auction, Anna got me a nice oil painting based on that verse, actually with the verse itself included in the work. It's on TZF here . On another message board I see almost daily how the bible is used to prove (1) once sa...
by Speculum
March 31st, 2009, 4:06 pm
Forum: The Sand Box
Topic: just a small thing
Replies: 12
Views: 32577

Re: just a small thing

Nicely put, Neo. Speaking of Zen, here’s an apt story: The Zen master Mu-nan had only one successor. His name was Shoju. After Shoju had completed his study of Zen, Mu-nan called him into his room. “I am getting old,” he said, "and as far as I know, Shoju, you are the only one who will carry on...
by Speculum
March 25th, 2009, 8:06 pm
Forum: The Sand Box
Topic: just a small thing
Replies: 12
Views: 32577

Re: just a small thing

This is a tough nut for me. As you have undoubtedly read here and elsewhere on TZF (and if not, please read The Simple Way ), if God is Infinite, as must be so otherwise God's not God, then God is All There Is, and if God is all there is, then what is "evil"? To be sure, there are hundreds...
by Speculum
March 25th, 2009, 7:43 pm
Forum: The Sand Box
Topic: movie 'The Man From Earth'
Replies: 1
Views: 10877

Re: movie 'The Man From Earth'

Thanks for the tip. I'll look for it.