Will and Rebels

thought one:

what if your will went away? all of a sudden i realized how much i take my will for granted... maybe it's not will only... that i would care.

thought two: re: self-actualization

self-actualization = reaching your full potential... who does? why are we satisfied with sufficient? why do i fade to "getting by" SO quickly? why am i incorrigibly late to class? the stuff of psychology... let me tell you. (if only i knew!)

thought three:

last night i remembered something: when i was 1-2 feet shorter and a good deal less advanced in age, i would, dorkface that i have always been, go jump on my siblings (not all at once) and ask more or less politely for them to "talk to me." invariably, they would reply, "well, what do you want to talk about?" to which i would respond, quite logically, "i dunno." [seriously... they were the adults. it wouldn't be that hard for them to think of SOMETHING.

the point of all this recollecting is thus: when you find a kid, talk to him. if you're tired of the doublespeak of everybody over 16, find someone under that age and have a chat. have some good questions for him; he'll have some good answers, especially when you're not expecting them. listen to him. make him think, but LISTEN.

thought four: from Comandante Che

[upon visiting a poor miner and his wife in Chile:]

"They didn't have a single miserable blanket to sleep under, so we gave them one of ours and Alberto and I wrapped the other round us as best we could. It was one of the coldest nights I've ever spent, one which made me feel a little closer to this strange, for me anyway, human species."

there's a take on the reason for suffering: makes you feel downright human. as if you actually had something in common with the miserable masses. as if you were not invincible. as if the Fall really did matter... and if i may assert an offshoot opinion ("a thought! a thought!"), the more the Fall matters to you, to closer you are, not only to understanding true and fallen humanity, but also to understanding God. we cannot experience or even take in all the pain on this 3rd planet from the Sun. one's pain is a snapshot of God's real-time panorama. we experience it; He understands/ comprehends/ encompasses it. takes it in all at once without removing Himself at all. He does not "leave it at the office." absolutely no divine self-protection. none of our human interactions with our God has been apart from Him knowing ("conociendo") the Fall... i don't know if i would say He is shaped by it, but our understanding of Him is entirely post-Fall... only in Christ do we see the love of God for an actual perfect Creature (is that word legit?); and He sent Him to die for love of wretched, chronically ill rebels. huh.