Sightseeing In Delaware
9 years ago
8/31/07
8/27/07
Buzz off, I'm happy here
"To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." - Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430AD) Numidian-born Theologian
Is it our place to wait around to be taught, or should we be stepping out to grasp knowledge and experience for ourselves? Possibly a mixture of the two? There seems to be a tendency to set ourselves in a patterned daily lifestyle and expect those over us to endow us with wisdom. We, like sponges, absorb only what they work to produce, to one extent or another. There must be a difference between living our lives in a manner better than the majority of the mob and opening ourselves to something more. To excel. There is a need for a mind set of reaching out and taking hold.
Note the quote at the beginning of this post. The general mass wishes to stay comfortably within the total abstinence area, it's simpler, safer and, may I suggest, lazier? Fear based? I haven't yet searched out every reason for this. It takes a quantity of effort to seek out the perfect balance that overreaches that exuded by a "better" lifestyle. Truthfully, it just takes too much energy to allow ourselves to be brought into a place of openness with God that equips us with the ability to sense where His balanced pathway may be.
Relax, I'm not implying the idea of mediocrity, wishy-washiness or fence-stitting. To have a high standard is a part of the "excelling" lifestyle. But then one may take it to the extreme only because it places you in a highly comfortable position; a position not based on knowledge or understanding, but merely an easy following of tradition. Tradition, too, is never to be tossed aside on a whim, however, when a sharp-edged relationship with God is sacrificed on the altar of mindless tradition following, what then can we expect? A mass of robots, possibly.
So, ask yourself why. Why do we do this? Why don't we do that? Why should I resist mediocrity and stand for something far beyond a "better" life? Why should I not wait around to be fed like a baby bird? Why must I seek something that will most likely be uncomfortable? Don't be a mindless being... "Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the men of old, but seek the things they sought."
Seek; don't float down the current of life. Swim away from the falls of the "better." Climb up the banks of the Best and excel.
Sounds good? Well...
Is it our place to wait around to be taught, or should we be stepping out to grasp knowledge and experience for ourselves? Possibly a mixture of the two? There seems to be a tendency to set ourselves in a patterned daily lifestyle and expect those over us to endow us with wisdom. We, like sponges, absorb only what they work to produce, to one extent or another. There must be a difference between living our lives in a manner better than the majority of the mob and opening ourselves to something more. To excel. There is a need for a mind set of reaching out and taking hold.
Note the quote at the beginning of this post. The general mass wishes to stay comfortably within the total abstinence area, it's simpler, safer and, may I suggest, lazier? Fear based? I haven't yet searched out every reason for this. It takes a quantity of effort to seek out the perfect balance that overreaches that exuded by a "better" lifestyle. Truthfully, it just takes too much energy to allow ourselves to be brought into a place of openness with God that equips us with the ability to sense where His balanced pathway may be.
Relax, I'm not implying the idea of mediocrity, wishy-washiness or fence-stitting. To have a high standard is a part of the "excelling" lifestyle. But then one may take it to the extreme only because it places you in a highly comfortable position; a position not based on knowledge or understanding, but merely an easy following of tradition. Tradition, too, is never to be tossed aside on a whim, however, when a sharp-edged relationship with God is sacrificed on the altar of mindless tradition following, what then can we expect? A mass of robots, possibly.
So, ask yourself why. Why do we do this? Why don't we do that? Why should I resist mediocrity and stand for something far beyond a "better" life? Why should I not wait around to be fed like a baby bird? Why must I seek something that will most likely be uncomfortable? Don't be a mindless being... "Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the men of old, but seek the things they sought."
Seek; don't float down the current of life. Swim away from the falls of the "better." Climb up the banks of the Best and excel.
Sounds good? Well...
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