If conversations could be consider pieces of art , this is definitely one that I would put in that “category”, like most art expressions it has made me free in ways that I can’t understand and probably never will. Thank you.
Great conversation! I’m about halfway through, this is reminding me of some journaling I did earlier this year in Jeremiah 2: “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters (demonic), and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Satanic)”
Evil always tempts us in this twofold way. Powerful thoughts, thank you!
Agreed. My mind has already been searching the scriptures in my memory for this pair.
In working with people who have been bound with addiction, I think this binary will be a useful heuristic in spiritual direction. The demonic chaos that ensues when the soul seeks its End in creatures and becomes a black hole (rather than a fountain of living water), and the satanic structure of identity/shame and even “treatment” which can at times function as a broken cistern. The demons are routed by the satisfaction and termination of our desires in God and, as Maximus says to Pyrrhus, the satanic is routed when we ascetically “ward off deception” and thus maintain an unblinking identity with the Son (rather than the slaves of Luke 15).
Lord have mercy. Whatever my Lutheran presuppositions thought this conversation was going to be, it absolutely was not any of those things. As you all discussed at the end, the surpassing value of this conversation comes about because of it's deep dimensions. I appreciate the extent to which you all dig into the very nature of the wisdom of God and how unlike our wisdom it is. The statement that, essentially, said that which is holy is as far from morality and immorality and those two are from each other, more fully formed a thought I've had for a long time. I will be turning this hour and a half over for a long time.
This whole exploration was a gift. Thank you for your faithfulness in working through it together.
Just great and such a beautiful ending. Thank you
What an important discussion! I can't think of anything more needed. Thank you.
If conversations could be consider pieces of art , this is definitely one that I would put in that “category”, like most art expressions it has made me free in ways that I can’t understand and probably never will. Thank you.
Great conversation! I’m about halfway through, this is reminding me of some journaling I did earlier this year in Jeremiah 2: “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters (demonic), and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Satanic)”
Evil always tempts us in this twofold way. Powerful thoughts, thank you!
Makes me want to re-read with an eye for these pairings.
Agreed. My mind has already been searching the scriptures in my memory for this pair.
In working with people who have been bound with addiction, I think this binary will be a useful heuristic in spiritual direction. The demonic chaos that ensues when the soul seeks its End in creatures and becomes a black hole (rather than a fountain of living water), and the satanic structure of identity/shame and even “treatment” which can at times function as a broken cistern. The demons are routed by the satisfaction and termination of our desires in God and, as Maximus says to Pyrrhus, the satanic is routed when we ascetically “ward off deception” and thus maintain an unblinking identity with the Son (rather than the slaves of Luke 15).
This is really exploding for me
Lord have mercy. Whatever my Lutheran presuppositions thought this conversation was going to be, it absolutely was not any of those things. As you all discussed at the end, the surpassing value of this conversation comes about because of it's deep dimensions. I appreciate the extent to which you all dig into the very nature of the wisdom of God and how unlike our wisdom it is. The statement that, essentially, said that which is holy is as far from morality and immorality and those two are from each other, more fully formed a thought I've had for a long time. I will be turning this hour and a half over for a long time.
This whole exploration was a gift. Thank you for your faithfulness in working through it together.