24 abril 2009

Watch Out My Children

08 abril 2009

"Confuscius says, 'That is not advisable.' " - el Turi

thought one: on education, link courtesy el Turi

"[...] education [...] should take place under 'conditions of direction and restraint designed to provoke habits of attention, concentration, exactness, courage, patience, and discrimination' "

"Scientific, historical, philosophical, and poetic voices contribute, each voice expressing 'a distinct . . . understanding of the world and a distinct idiom of human self-understanding.' Education enables the student to participate in the 'endless unrehearsed intellectual adventure' of that conversation."

"[...a curriculum based on] grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Medieval theorists applied these categories literally to the study of language, but Sayers treated them more metaphorically, claiming that every subject has its grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

Grammar => observation and memory
the mastery of foundational facts;

Dialectic
=> reason
examines the connections between facts;

Rhetoric => student’s creativity channeled
expresses the facts and logical connections with persuasive elegance."

"Young children love to learn facts, to chant repetitively, to recite. Grammar fits neatly into that stage. As children move from the grammatical “Poll-Parrot” to the “Pert” stage, they delight in “contradicting, answering back, liking to ‘catch people out’ (especially one’s elders),” and so are ready to have their pertness refined by formal logic. As they enter puberty, they become dreamily, poetically self-expressive, and they gain some sense of the unity of knowledge. Rhetoric then becomes an appropriate study. "


[i love that cheeky stage, darling little hoodlums. the dreamy, poetic phase... not so much.]

thought two:

kulturkampf- /ku 'tour kahmpf/ n.

culture struggle; culture war, i.e. war of the secular state against the Church

It comes from the Bismarck's pro-secularism anti-Catholicism laws in the mid-1800s. (which are thought to have been influenced by Masons, imaginate.)

"Among the measures taken to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church
was the addition in 1871 to the German Criminal Code... which threatened
clergy who discussed politics from the pulpit with two years of prison
;
this article was dubbed the Kanzelparagraph (from the German Kanzel —
"pulpit")."

"In March 1872 religious schools were forced to undergo official government
inspection and in June religious teachers were banned from government schools. "

"The “May Laws” or Falk Laws of 1873 gave responsibility for the
training and appointment of clergy to the state
, which resulted in the
closing of nearly half of the seminaries in Prussia by 1878. "

"In 1875, marriage became a mandatory civil ceremony, removed from the
control of the Church."

thought three: fear of Hell? hope of Paradise?

"If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell,
and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise.
But if I worship You for Your Own sake,
grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty.”


~ Rabia al Basri, 8th century Sufi mystic

a couple years ago, i came across this quote and was very intrigued by it. in the months that followed, i found it a compelling topic of conversation. the general response was, "wow... i dunno if i could say the same, but wow..." (dynamic equivalent)

then i went to Peru that summer, and The Family and i discussed it one day. i asked them what they thought, whether they would still follow Christ if they were not guaranteed heaven, if they would still go to hell.

they laughed.

"that's why we left Catholicism! because Christ does save us from hell and take us to heaven..." Sister Rosalvina said.

"you know, i think i would still lead a moral life because it brings its own good, but be a Christian...? no... i don't think so." remarked Abel.

"ha! if i didn't fear hell i'd be on the street right now, five wives, no problem." another brother said.

i was initially surprised; this folks practice the exact opposite of Christianity-lite. but i think it's because of that entrega, that pagando el precio, that esfuerzo... the more you invest, the more something is worth to you... the more worth it had better have. if your Christianity hurts your flesh and costs you, it had better be for more than psychological stability because that's not always given. Christians are long-term folk... like, eternity long-term. if eternity is a moot point to us, than we are probably pretty pointless to eternity ourselves.

yes, following Christ will cost you. He's His own reward, true, but we err in thinking heaven as something apart from Him... it's Him anticipated, Him practiced for, Him trained to know and worship. [digression: and in heaven... no more sin. no more iniquity. no more hardness of heart and shortsightedness of mind. no more faithlessness. no more disappointing. no more failing the only One who left heaven and braved hell for us. that's my God's holy heaven.] And when, honestly, that hope gets dim, and circumstances are wearisome or greiveous or distracting, thank God that we have hell to fear and bring perspective to our shortsightedness.

i'm wordy, which is why i haven't written much lately. however, i close...

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."
~ st. paul

"But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear ye him."
~ Jesus, Savior and God

"I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you to Myself;

that where I am, there you may be also."

~The Same Christ