Dostoevsky said, “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.”

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We know the sound of two hands clapping. But what is the sound of one hand clapping? 

A Zen K?an

The sound of two hands clapping is the sound of a person being elevated into a joyful state by art because they are reminded of their connection to all other people facing the same struggles. The sound of one hand clapping is the silence of suppressed joy and appreciation. It is the person who feels delight in another person but is unable to express that out of fear of embarrassment or some other repressed reason. The one hand is raised in desire to participate, now thwarted by a lack of courage. This reluctance to express one’s feelings to another human being is isolating—it is the deafening, unbearable sound of silence.

Kareem Abdul- Jabbar

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Technology and Religion

If the misuses and abuses of technology depend upon how people engineer, design, envision, imagine, and market culture, then simply introducing new technological tools will not lead to the realization of Christians’ deepest fears. Rather, those fears are only realized when Christians, themselves, are complicit participants in affecting the cultural life produced by the misuse and abuse of new technologies. Religious communities have long critiqued how new technologies fail to meet people’s expectations of their material and spiritual well-being. By taking those critiques seriously, perhaps there could be a more holistic, human solution to address the cultural issues behind the fears inaugurated by technological change.

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Good for Connecticut:

Connecticut will cancel roughly $650 million in medical debt for an estimated 250,000 residents this year, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Friday, saying it is the first state to provide this type of relief.

The effort will liberate many residents from “the cloud” over their heads and give them more freedom to buy a home, start a business or continue with their education, Lamont told CNN. That will help them strengthen their financial standing in a state with a large wealth gap.

“It’s a debt that you had no control over,” Lamont told CNN. “It’s not like you overspent. You get hit by a health care calamity.”

Residents whose medical debt equals 5% or more of their annual income or whose household income is up to 400% of the federal poverty line, or about $125,000 in 2024, are eligible.

Those who qualify do not need to apply – they will receive letters in the mail saying their debt has been eliminated as soon as this summer. More than 1 in 10 Connecticut residents have medical debt in collections.

via Scot McKnight

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Knowledge

True knowledge changes us. “If only I had known,” can also mean, “If only I had been a different person.” Knowledge, in this biblical sense, is much deeper than the collecting and management of facts. In biblical terms, we know by participation or communion. When Christ says of his detractors that they do not know God, he dismisses their mastery of the facts (“And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.” John 16:3) Those who accused Christ and urged the Romans to crucify Him, not only knew the facts of the Jewish faith – they were experts.

Fr Stephen Freeman

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God’s fire

Real fire is destructive; throw yourself into a fire and you will be destroyed.
God’s fire is destructive too because it can swiftly eliminate all self-illusions, grandiose ideas, ego-inflation, and self-centeredness. Throw yourself into the spiritual fire of divine love and everything you grasp for yourself will be destroyed until there is nothing left but the pure truth of yourself.

Scientist and theologian Ilia Delio

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The beauty of rising every morning…

…we all arise from bed each day with some pain—the pain of lost loved ones, the pain of lost dreams, the pain of aging out of relevance. Yet, we endure that daily pain because it is the worthwhile cost of the daily joys and delights we experience in loving, in dreaming, and in growing older among family and friends.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar 

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STILL ON THE JOURNEY

Do twins ever realize that one of them is unplanned?

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Cognitive Overload

“Studies of cognitive overload suggest that the real problem is that people who are thinking about rules actually have diminished capacity to think about solving problems.”

Phillip K Smith

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Gifts

From the viewpoint of a private property economy the “gift” is deemed to be “free” because we obtain it free of charge, at no cost. But in the gift economy, gifts are not free. The essence of the gift is  that it creates a set of relationships.  The currency of a gift economy is at its root, reciprocity. In Western thinking, private land is understood to be a of  “bundle of rights,” whereas in a gift economy property has a “bundle of responsibilities” attached.

Braiding Sweetgrass

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the kind of pastor every church needs

…the new pastor will need to be an excellent communicator, love senior adults and spend all their time with students. They’ll have to be able to manage the complex organization of the local church and raise money to accomplish all the church wants to do. They’ll need to spend 24 hours a day in prayer while going on visitation seven days a week. The new pastor will have to be able to lead a staff, perform funerals and weddings, handle social media, preach, counsel and teach. They will have to handle the intricacies  of local politics and be an expert on the moral and ethical issues of the day.

Mike Glenn

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Dealing with sin

I think it’s noteworthy how, in the Old Testament, there isn’t a whole lot of metaphysical mechanics involved in God’s forgiveness. No great theory of atonement is floated about how God needs to jump through some hoops to remit our sin. All that seems necessary is honesty and confession. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51.17). Admitting our guilt. I think of David’s response to Nathan’s confrontation: “You are the man!” Once David owns his sin his relationship with God is restored. Yes, there are consequences, but honesty mends the relationship.

Perhaps it is that simple. The sin is easily dealt with, but it’s the hiding, lying, avoidance, denial, silence and obfuscation that is killing us. 

Maybe all God wants from us is the truth.

Richard Beck

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Difficulty of aging

If you depend on doctrine and dogma creating certainty more than the person of Jesus Christ, aging is going to be excruciatingly difficult for you…

Phoenix Preacher

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Wise men

The wise men are not as wise in the wilderness as they are in the safety of their sanctuaries. 

Michael Spencer

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Contemplation 

contemplation, the deliberate seeking of God through a willingness to detach from the passing self, the tyranny of emotions, the addiction to self-image, and the false promises of the world.

Richard Rohr

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ONE THING FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT

“I just want to be a normal person.”

Statistically speaking, a “normal person” is physically unhealthy, emotionally anxious/depressed, socially lonely, and financially in debt. ? 

Mark Manson

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Autobiography

“everybody wants an autobiography at the end of their life, a bestseller and [My Story] is a way to do it now.” So so so true. If we could but wait we’d learn our story is, like the rest of the billions of earth’s inhabitants, quite ordinary even if we are special to some and to God.

Being Real – Phillip Plyming

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Social Media

..social media platforms are now a culture of presenting a “positive impression” of ourselves. Here’s a real helpful set of categories of how those impressions are framed:

• First, ingratiation: “the art of getting others to like us, to hold a favorable impression of us as we appear on our front stage.”
• Second, intimidation: “the art of getting others … to fear us” by way of comparison. “My kids all got straight A’s” leads to “That mother is impressive. I don’t stack up.”
• Third, self-promotion. This one hits the bone for us who are authors because our publishers want us to market and promote our own books. And there is only a fine line between saying what we need to say and saying more than what we need to say. I just had a new book arrive at my doorstep this weekend — do I keep it to myself or do I post it on social media?
• Fourth, exemplification: the art of being “seen as worthy and having integrity.” In other words, virtue signaling and grandstanding.
• Fifth, supplication: the art of framing “one ‘s dependence in order to get others to offer help” and resources.

The big ones that Plyming sees most on social media are self-promotion and ingratiation.

Scot McKnight – https://amzn.to/3QWYZIp

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Church

It is easier to live in the world without being of the world than to live in the church without being of the church.

Henri Nowen – Where the night fell 

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STILL ON THE JOURNEY