Above Numbers 6:24-26
Nice.
Ichthus77"
I was not quoting a verse.
That was actually a prayer that I was saying for you, Ichthus, in those moments. That is what came to me when you asked me what I would really like to say.
It is the Aaronic blessing, Arc. No?
Yes, it is.
Thank you.
Ichthus77
Sometimes I think that THAT can lead us into problems. We do not always treat ourselves as well as we should. So then, how will we treat others better. As we say, we cannot love others rightly if we cannot love ourselves rightly.
That immediately made me think of the Old Testament God, how cruel He was/could be at times, though I find it really difficult to believe in Him in that way. That was the people and the writers.
Can you give me an example of that? Do you think that behaving perfectly responsible will always come across as being perfectly merciful?
Can you give me an example of that?
THAT (treating the other as self in his image) is not the problem. If we did that consistently, we would treat ourselves and others well, and if we did the opposite consistently, there would be no one to treat well or poorly. At least…in this phase of life.
- Have you read the New Testament? No difference. 2. Have you noticed the folks he commanded to be completely wiped out … weren’t? There are different takes on why. But. Either way… they were definitely… not protected. But it was not just the enemies of Israel who were disciplined. He disciplines those he loves. We will all be salted with fire.
Do you believe in mercy killings? If not, some kinds of responsibility may not come across as merciful to you. God does not adapt who he is so that he can be misunderstood in order to be well-received. If there is a most (completely) perfect being who has demonstrated his perfect mercy in taking responsibility for his imperfect work, ought not we try to understand what he means, rather than inserting our own meaning into his work?
It means you know your strengths and weaknesses are innate (given), and your moral vices and virtues are chosen in collaboration (concurrence) with the one who gave you the innate capacity, and there would be nothing to choose otherwise.
I’ve felt a few of those spine-tingling moments in my time, Arc ; ) when being receptive and open unto the Universe/being in the suitable frame of mind, for it to occur/to attract the phenomena.
Or the phenomena attracted back
Yes! That is really something to experience, MagsJ, – almost like something other-worldly. That is God or the Universe giving back – acknowledging our existence/presence with such an epiphany. I remember one time experiencing this as a I stepped in mud. Yes, mud!! Almost alchemical.
It kind of reminds me of – but not quite --but still perhaps in the same vein, one of my favorite quotes by Rainer Maria Rilke.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
I am not capable of reading Rilke’s quote without experiencing those shivers… each and every time. How it does resonate within me.
Wouldn’t that be swell, Meno_?
When we emit positive bodily energies, we attract alike back… bright beacons of pure joy and much happiness, so being the light at the end of our own tunnel, but hopefully not getting tunnel-vision but a broader spectrum of vision.
…chasing One’s tail, pas nécessaire. ; )
Yes, and by way of tunnel vision circling around and and around, hopefully not the kind talked about nowadays as prevailing in so called after deat tunnels of light, for wouldn’t that be dreadful to experience being cat like and see eternity from that point of view,
Nietzche certainly meant more than that in his eternal recurrence!
You’re such an upbeat lady.
Best to live in accordance with that which offers the utmost accord, in allowing an optimally-bearable constant recurring of time… of days, weeks, months, years.
Did Nietzche achieve that, through what he believed and in the way he lived his life? The jury’s out, on that one…
For me, the sense of an isolated self, one of aloneness, is problematic. I need others. What of me this need implies is that we are all in this world to glean some sense of self from each other. Then there is the me who has communed with God in silence and alone. From that I get the feeling that I am a spiritual being, but not without need of contact with others like me. Just plain me-ness, or an isolated I, is a problem for me at least.
It used to really get under my skin… still does in a way… thinking of ourselves as “beings in relation” rather than authentically unique. It felt conformist. It felt like integrity was lacking.
But there is something crazy good about putting these two things together:
- integrity (synchronized with unmoved mover)
- self-sacrifice (switching perspectives with the other, who will have to move with you if there is going to be movement, due to 1)
Pivots away the dross. Produces irons & diamonds.
& roses from fertilizer.
& stuff like that.
But. It takes iron to sharpen iron, & … let’s just say sometimes I feel the dross. Other times I am paranoid I’ll get yoked with a friggin dumbass. (“I’m the dumbass” was covered in feeling the dross.) Just having proper pride for everyone 
Welcome back Ierrellus… do you get to commune with others.
Solitary <–> communing —> balance = equilibrium achieved. I too probably share that plight, in needing more we/less me, time.
You can be around people 24/7 & never be around people.
Like dirac’s sea or branes if left inactivated.
Like a dormant ganglion, or encapsulated spore, or 0-day blablabla. Except benign, of course. Totally neutralized. The science is well known.
Thanks for the welcome back. For me the suffering of physical and mental illness alters perspective of self and other. Hopefully I can contribute a positive note to these discussions.