  I recently attended a professional workshop led by an expert. There seems to be a suspicious number of these things coming from somewhere like water spots on a popcorn ceiling, but in the humble spirit of a lifelong learner, I continue to put on an brave face in hopes that the next might be the one that finally gets me over the hump of mediocrity. The hour and a half session prefaced as if the primary focus were going to be theology. I like theology and it’s relevant to my profession, so I decided to attend. But besides my newly refreshed coffee, everything that followed was a tour de frustration.
An invitation to our upcoming series starting Tuesdays at 7pm on May 18th on Practical Spirituality: Practices that Help...
Sabbath Examen Fasting Enneagram Giving Cheers and Peace, Jared  Jared Witt | April 9, 2021  Jesus didn’t save humanity. He saved Zaccheus, who realized he needed more out of his relationships with others than just what he could swindle from them.
Jesus didn’t redeem humanity. He redeemed the criminal hanging beside him who said, “Remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus didn’t forgive humanity. He forgave his executers who were casting lots for his clothing. Jesus didn’t have compassion for humanity. He had compassion for the woman at the well who had had five husbands.  Jared Witt | April 2, 2021  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? Silence. No response. I shout again into the silent vacuum. I cry to the void and hear nothing back. Can I speak more clearly? Did I enunciate? Were they not the pious cries you’d hoped to hear? I cry out differently and in a different tone. Still nothing. Nothing. Nihilo. Silence.  Jared Witt | April 1, 2021  If you spend enough time with Jesus, there may come a time where someone looks at you a bit puzzled and says, “What kind of Christian are you, exactly?”
They’re puzzled, because you seem to show no interest in belonging to an exclusive religious club; you’re intellectually nimble and open-minded rather than calcified and dogmatic; you don’t just mindlessly discriminate against certain groups of people because the people who wrote your holy book 2,000 years ago discriminated against them; you’re less concerned with convincing them to be a Christian than you are with showing them that you are one. In short, you associate a whole bunch of behaviors and characteristics with Jesus, which they don’t associate with Christians. And now they’re confused.  Jared Witt | February 4, 2021  A monk and his novice sat on a bench enjoying the morning. Along came a young man who, in his rush, tripped over the monk’s robe.
“Easy there, young man,” said the monk. “Where are you off to with such haste?” The boy apologized and said, “I know a merchant who is taking on an assistant. I must find him before he hires someone else.” “Is that what you desire?”  Jared Witt | Nov 27, 2020  Sometimes my mind reaches an impasse in its efforts to understand itself. I wheel around and around the same problem like I’m in a Parisian roundabout, and the issue that I’m having is the center island. It rarely occurs to me to just take the next exit off to the side and get on with my life. And whenever a particular street sign catches my eye and alerts me to that option, I’m utterly dumbfounded that I’d probably missed it countless times before.
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff is unlikely to be a household name for most, I’m guessing. But if you’ve studied the Enneagram at all, it may ring a bell. He reclaimed and codified many of the concepts of the Enneagram, though that was more or less a side hustle in his intellectual oeuvre. The eccentric Armenian left home at a young age on the hunch that it is in fact possible for humans to achieve a higher state of consciousness and improve their “state of being.” For him, this occasionally meant high forms of meditation, but more often, it meant simply not yelling at the dog because you’ve had a hard day at work. In fact, he would develop a way of speaking about the latter as being no less a transcendent topic and every bit a part of the conscious spiritual life as, say, sitting legs folded, palms up on a mountain top.  Jared Witt | Oct 15, 2020  What John Adams said:
"I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain." What ended up happening: "I must study politics and war, that our children may have liberty to study politics and war in order to give their children a right to study politics and war."  Jared Witt | Oct 9, 2020 "Finally, beloved,
Whatever your voter base wants to hear, Whatever is profitable, Whatever maintains law and order, Whatever gets a retweet, Whatever pleases your kind of people, Whatever investors want, If there is anything advantageous and if there is anything that helps the bottom line, think on these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen on network news and the Bull of Wall Street will be with you." - Philippians 4:8-9 (a paraphrase) |
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