Geoff's Miscellany

Miscellaneous Musings

Thoughts

The Quasi-Stoicism of Ecclesiates

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Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.
(Ecc 7:20-22)

How can you deal with people who speak ill of you?

The Bible is clear that death and life are in the power of the tongue and that those who understand it will reap the fruits thereof.

But what of the power of the tongue being used against you? Does the Bible tell us how to deal with this?

Well, in the passage above, it basically says to remember three things:

  1. Everybody sins, so don’t be shocked when people sin against you.
  2. Don’t internalize the evils said against you (as your servants…or children, students, employees, parishoners, and friends are bound to say at some point).
  3. Remember how frequently you’ve spoken ill of others.

If you can keep these three things in mind, I think you’ll have a much more effective mindset with respect to criticism, insult, and social shaming techniques in general.

A final thought is, “A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool. (Pro 17:10)” If you take insults as rebukes that either contain good advice or worthless advice and are typically tainted by your sinful tendency to be offended or their sinful tendency to insult, then you’ll go far in over coming the need to respond at all.

Summary: Don’t internalize insults unless they contain lessons that will improve you.

On saying yes and saying no

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In the lives of those who are trying to help others and or trying to be successful there is a sort of unspoken debate about yes and no.

Here’s what I mean:

  1. Have Firm Boundaries
    Learn to say no. If you do too much you’ll run yourself ragged, give people unhealthy expectations, be spread too thin to do anything with excellence, and have very little leisure time.
  2. Be Helpful
    Say yes to everything. If you say yes you’ll have more opportunities, be sought more often, have more adventures, learn new skills, and meet new people.

The “if-then” statements above are obviously not certainties. I know people who say, “No” or said it so frequently that they aren’t asked to do anything. And I know people who say yes frequently to the same group of manipulative users that keep them from growing.

More anon.

Does Jesus ever help us make progress in “non-spiritual” pursuits?

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“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Mat 7:12)

In brief, I think the answer is yes.

If, on the basis of this command, you decide that every day at work you will make people excited to work with you because of your efficiency, kindness, humor, and knowledge, then in general your work experience will improve.

If, on the basis of this command, you decide that every day you’ll attempt to give your children/spouse your time, attempt to bless them, assist them in their pursuits, and pray for them, then it is likely that your relationships will improve.

If you treat your home/neighborhood with care, then you’ll help your neighbors feel pride about their neighborhood and homes as well.

Sometimes, imo, the idea that Christians will suffer is taken to mean that they must always suffer.

Lean not on your own understanding?

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Pro 3:1-5 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, (2) for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. (3) Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. (4) So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. (5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

I’ve written about this passage before asking whether or not it was promoting  a form on non-deliberative mysticism.

Another question to ask is this: is the author saying that the young man, “my son,” should never lean on his own understanding?

I think the answer is no. “My son” is clearly among the simple, a group of characters in Proverbs who have the potential to become wise but are in danger of seeking folly instead.

The young man who seeks wisdom in Proverbs ultimately becomes a man of understanding:

Pro 3:13-14 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, (14) for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.

Pro 5:1-2 My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, (2) that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.

Pro 14:29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.*

The stage of life in which one has no understanding is one in which one must rely on the commands of God (that doesn’t change) and the wisdom of teachers. But eventually one must gain the understanding necessary to navigate life in the case of circumstances for which there is no direct command from God or in which there are no mentors.

*In the passages cited, there are two different Hebrew words being translated “understanding,” but they are near synonyms.

Thoughts and Things

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This week I managed to deadlift 325 and 335. That’s good pos operative progress. The 335 lift was at the end of grueling back workout so my forearms and all my back muscles were exhausted. This tells me that I have significant progress to come on dead lift.

Also, this week I starting thinking about how economic principles could easily be used to make predictions about ecology. Biologists have already known this. So have mathematicians. For all I know, somebody told me about it and it just popped into my head.

I have a hypothesis that I need to find a way to test concerning connective tissue damage and the bone disorder that runs in my family.

 

 

Evagrios of Pontus on Imagination in Christian Devotion

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Evagrios of Pontus wrote these instructions for Christian meditation. I think it’s important to utilize the imagination and the feelings in meditation just as much as thoughts and concepts. As humans we are deeply susceptible to hypnotism and rhetoric. This is important because we often can find ourselves convinced of truths upon which we do not act because they do not affect our feelings enough to goad our will into action. And other times we might act without reference to the truth because we’ve been emotionally persuaded into a habit or action. When we meditation upon truths received in the way Evagrios instructs us, those truths can make it further into our lives.

Here it is:

“In addition to all that I have said so far, you should consider now other lessons which the way of stillness teaches, and do what I tell you. Sit in your cell, and concentrate your intellect; remember the day of death, visualize the dying of your body, reflect on this calamity, experience the pain, reject the vanity of this world, its compromises and crazes, so that you may continue in the way of stillness and not weaken. Call to mind, also, what is even now going on in hell. Think of the suffering, the bitter silence, the terrible moaning, the great fear and agony, the dread of what is to come, the unceasing pain, the endless weeping. Remember, too, the day of your resurrection and how you will stand before God. Imagine that fearful and awesome judgment-seat. Picture all that awaits those who sin: their shame before God the Father and His Anointed, before angels, archangels, principalities and all mankind; think of all the forms of punishment: the eternal fire, the worm that does not die, the abyss of darkness, the gnashing of teeth, the terrors and the torments. Then picture all the blessings that await the righteous: intimate communion with God the Father and His Anointed, with angels, archangels, principalities and all the saints, the kingdom and its gifts, the gladness and the joy.”

“Picture both these states: lament and weep for the sentence passed on sinners; mourn while you are doing this, frightened that you, too, may be among them. But rejoice and be glad at the blessings that await the righteous, and aspire to enjoy them and to be delivered from the torments of hell. See to it that you never forget these things, whether inside your cell or outside it. This will help you to escape thoughts that are defiling and harmful.”[1]

 

 

[1] Nikodimos, St.. The Philokalia (Kindle Locations 903-914) Kindle Edition.