5 Principles to Living a Wise Life

I recently read an article by Mark Murray, “’Downhill’, ‘Divisive’: Americans sour on nation’s direction in new NBC News poll”.  The article chronicles the general pessimism and gloom across the country regarding the future of the United States. 

I understand that the article was trying to capture the current political mood of a nation.  However, the article did not reveal anything new to my understanding of the general attitude that I have observed for the last decade. 

If my observations are correct, there is a consensus that there is something deeply wrong within the society of the United States.  The cause of the problem is vigorously disputed but I see very few claiming that there is not a problem.  

I see a lot of fingers pointing to problems that are “out there”.  I hear the shouting of insults from one group at the perceived source of “the problem” and the vitriol response of “the problem” back at the origin of the original insults.  Around and around, we go with hope and optimism the victim of every cycle.  We have ridden this merry-go-round of mutual destruction to the point that we sit in our self-dug holes of pessimism and gloom. 

What are we to do?

This is not the world that I want to live in.  I want this destructive discourse to stop but the question is how.  I believe that the solution that plagues is not out there.  The true problem that inhibits us is within you and within me.  The true problem is that we all lack wisdom.  We lack wisdom and we are being played as suckers because of it.

I follow a simple definition of wisdom:

Wisdom is the application of knowledge and experience to address real problems. 

The solution to our problem lies in being intentional about who we listen to and who we are led by.  We are awash in content.  Most of that content lacks wisdom.  Therefore, we are being blown all about by non-sense. 

The following are four principles of wisdom that I apply in my attempt to stop being played.

Knowledge without Experience is not Wisdom

There are a lot of individuals with credentials telling us what we should do and how we should respond.  Yet, they have never had to implement any of their own ideas.  This is not wisdom.

I was given an article of the Harvard Business Review with a recommendation to read an article.  I immediately flipped to the end of the article, which is my practice, to read about the authors of the article.  The authors were university business management professors who, according to LinkedIn, have never held a job outside of academia.  Also, they had just released a book on the same topic of the article. 

I still read the article, but I read it with a degree of pessimism as to actual practicality of their ideas.  Clearly, they have not implemented their own ideas with the consequences due their own business.  As Nassim Taleb has stated in his book “Skin in the Game”, they have no skin in the game; they bear no risk of the implementation of their own ideas.  At least, they have no skin in my game.  Their game is to sell books and/or meet the academic objective of publishing an article. 

This article provided me knowledge, but not wisdom.

In the same publication, there was another article.  It was written by the President/CEO of a mid-sized organization.  He wrote about his management approach and his experience in implementing that approach with the associated results.  He had “skin in the game”.  He has experience running a complex organization and understands how to apply knowledge to his organization to solve actual problems.  That is wisdom. 

I saved that article because it was written from the point-of-view of wisdom.  I will allow this author to influence me.

We need to be discerning about who we allow to influence us.  The reality is that we all cannot be wise regarding every topic.  However, we can be wise regarding who we will allow to speak into our lives and provide us the basis upon which we make decisions.  Our decisions should be based in wisdom.  If it cannot be based on our own wisdom, then make sure the advice that you are acting upon is coming from wisdom.  Make sure that those you listen to have “skin in the game” and actually have experience in bearing the risk of applying their own advice.

Experience without Knowledge is not Wisdom

I am an engineer.  I have heard the slur on more than one occasion that “I am an educated idiot”.  The premise of this insult is that engineers have the knowledge of engineering but no understanding how things work in the practical world.  There is some truth to this insult.  Many engineers, particularly early in their careers, don’t have the experience to know how things actually work.  They lack wisdom.  They have knowledge but lack the experience.  The career goal of an engineer is to become “wise” in their profession.

The problem with the insult is a diminishment of the need for knowledge.  There is a fundamental difference between being aware of a cause-effect relationship and an understanding of how the cause results in the effect and how to predict or avoid such a relationship.  That takes knowledge; typically, a deep knowledge.

That is knowledge that cannot be learned from a few hours of research on the internet or through watching a couple of YouTube videos.  The knowledge associated with someone who has spent years studying a specific subject in depth should be respected.  There is value in that knowledge because it works in harmony with experience to produce wisdom.

We are often too quick to ascribe knowledge to someone who can recite fundamental facts and statistics, when we need experts.  We need individuals who have devoted themselves to a field of study that results in a deep understanding of their topic.  This doesn’t have to originate from the academic world and there are reasons to be skeptical that the academic world is still providing this knowledge.  True knowledge is still essential; however it is obtained.

I find it shocking how much of the content on the internet fails this test.  There are many people spuing out content that they have derived from their own limited internet searches.  They have no true knowledge.  They find a few articles, re-package them, and publish them as a list of essential recommendations that we either need to start or stop doing.  This is not wisdom.  Why would we allow it to influence us?

The same principle applies to knowledge as with experience.  The content that you are consuming should be based in true knowledge of the subject.  Do not let Google determine the “expert” that you allow to influence your opinion and decisions.  Research the knowledge base of those you listen to.  If they have no deep background in the subject that they are pandering, then don’t accept it as wisdom.

Solving Created Problems is not Wisdom

I don’t need to go looking for problems.  Enough problems have found me.  Yet, I am regularly accosted by solutions to problems that I did not know even existed.  I continually feel the anxiety of needing to have an opinion about a crisis that has no basis within my own life or to express outrage about things, which are beyond my control.  These are problems that are not relevant to my life or for which I have no power to effect.  

Therefore, the first step of wisdom is to determine whether the problem is real or as bad as it is portrayed.  There is a lot of truth in the statement of Rahm Emanuel:

You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.

Rahm Emanuel

The reality is that most of the discord in our society are solutions looking for a problem that can be exploited.  There are many pushing a political, social, financial, environmental agenda that need a problem to achieve their goals.  All one has to do is follow the news for any length of time.  An existential problem will arise that needs immediate action otherwise there will be dire consequences and then it just goes away into the wake of the next crisis.   It is not wise to expend your energy on those manufactured problems.

Wisdom is recognizing that all problems are not real.  The question of who benefits should always be asked.  If there are people getting rich by expounding a problem and/or its solution, then you should be hesitant about how much credence you give to them in your opinions and decisions.

There are other problems that are real, but you have no practical way of addressing them.  Wisdom is understanding that you cannot solve the world’s problems.  They can grieve you, but everyone has limits to the power they possess to change their world.  We need to apply our wisdom to the community that we live within.  The level of energy we expend solving problems should be greatest at the personal level and diminishing as you expand outward.  We all have personal, family, work, city and county problems.  Those problems need wise solutions.  You have the best perspective of understanding whether those problems are real. 

The reality is that if we spend time applying our knowledge and experience to solving the problems in our personal and family lives, we will be going a long way to resolving the real problems in our greater community and not those manufactured problems designed to capture our attention.

The Lack of Virtue nullifies Wisdom

As has already been stated, the purpose of wisdom is to solve real problems.  Inherent within this definition is a necessity that one can trust the application of knowledge and experience of the wise in forming the consensus to solve the real problem for the benefit of the whole community.

The reality is that there are “wise” individuals, who are willing to use their “wisdom” to manipulate others to get them to do what they want them to do.  They are willing to manipulate their knowledge, the information that they possess, so that they can achieve a pragmatic result. 

The result of this manipulation is that these individuals cannot be trusted.

The collapse of trust in our society’s institutions is well documented; just look at any poll.  These institutions have long been the sources of wisdom that we could rely upon.  However, consider the collapse of trust in the institutions of government, media, academia, religion, etc.  The fundamental cause of these institutional collapses has been that those within them have lacked virtue, specifically individuals within them have a pattern of lying, cheating, stealing, and pursuing their own interest at the expense of others.

We need to demand more from the “wise” in our society. 

We need to stop being influenced by persons with knowledge and experience when they demonstrate a lack of virtue.  We need to refuse to vote for them.  We need to refuse to buy their products.  We need to refuse to continue to support them.  We need to refuse to give them our most precious commodity, our attention.  We need to demand virtue in all those we allow to influence us.  Otherwise, we will continue to get corrupted “wisdom” and we will continue to be played as suckers.

It might be strange to place so much emphasis on virtue at a time when there are so many unresolved moral ambiguities.  Therefore, I will keep my premise of virtue as simple as the Silver Rule.  Nassim Taleb, in his book “Skin in the Game”, defined the Silver Rule as:

Do not treat others the way you would not like them to treat you.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “Skin in the Game”

As Taleb points out, “we know with much more clarity what is bad than what is good”.  A virtue becomes the opposite of that bad act that you do not want done to you.   Gerhard Von Rad, in his book Wisdom of Israel”, noted that the ancients were much more pragmatic in the definition of what was good or bad (evil). 

Both good and evil create social conditions; in a completely ‘outward’ sense they can build up or destroy the community, property, happiness, reputation, welfare of children and much more besides.

Gerhard Von Rad, “Wisdom in Israel”

Therefore, the person who uses their wisdom to build up our community, property, happiness, reputation, and welfare for everyone is acting with virtue.  The person who uses their wisdom to destroy our community, property, happiness, reputation, welfare is acting without virtue. 

We need to stop allowing ourselves to be influenced by those who divide rather than unite; those who create the “us versus them” scenarios; those who gain an advantage at the expense of someone else.

Choose Your Team

We all make individual choices about what team we are on.  How about we reject all those teams and make a new team?  A team dedicated to wisdom guided by virtue.   To join this team, you must start by pointing your accusing fingers at yourself.  It is the only way that I can see to get off the merry-go-round of gloom and pessimism.  It will give us the best hope of being able to address real problems as a true community.  

That is a world I want to live in.

Ground

Do we really need to select an analogy for that on which we place our feet?
It is not a playground.
It is not a battleground.
It is simply ground.

The ground is never the same if you don’t stay in the same place. It can be luxurious like a grassy meadow with maybe even a rainbow. It can be steep and rocky like a mountain side with maybe even some conflict to make you slide. It can be hard and fast like a concrete highway, moving so fast it is hard to focus.

We were not built for a specific type of ground. We were built to move, to progress, to transition, to grow but never to hide. We do not do well when we dwell too long on one type of surface. We cannot sustain the battles of the rocky ground indefinitely. We cease to function if we refuse to leave an oasis’ respite once recovered.

We do not do well when we cling to a type of ground because we have ceased traveling. If we don’t move, we cannot claim to be living. Living is loving the destination, the experience of something new in which to sink our toes, the longing for what is over the next ridge, around the next corner, the knowing that we are not home.

We need not worry about the ground we are on. We are not here to build a residence. We are passing through time. Nothing of the ground will last. We need not worry about the ground we are on, whether urge to flee from an uncomfortable occurrence or linger in the comfort of security. Look up from the ground, this is not your home. Look all around, this is not your town. You are a nomad, flowing through time. You have a residence but it is not on this ground. Be curious about the future, hold fast to the hope that will last. Trust that the ground under your feet will transition into something new, but above all stay on the move and enjoy the journey of true living.

Promiscuous Mind

This is the time of year that Spotify provides the summary of your listening habits for the year.  I have started to see these posts from friends and family Instagram.  Therefore, the timing was perfect to run across this quote by Epictetus.    

I look at the hours devoted to specific podcasts and muscians and I wonder if we haven’t just handed over our minds. I have not gotten my Spotify summary yet, so I am not judging or confessing. I am making a plan. I know what I will be looking for when my summary comes in.

Have I had a promiscuous mind?

I am not against intellectual inquire, but let’s be honest, that is not what Spotify is primarily about. It is mostly about entertaining, amusing, distracting, and simply filling the time. Consider who you have handed your mind over to? Consider who has become your primary influencer? Before we ever offer the parts of our body to sin, we offer up our minds.

PICK YOUR PAIN

“You have to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.” 

This is a saying in endurance sports. It seems that endurance sport is the rare place where suffering is exalted and even sought.  We praise those athletes that dig deep, feel the burn, and deny themselves to achieve their goal.

Sadly, the endurance sports’ lesson of suffering’s value fails to make it into everyday life.  Mostly, we want our everyday lives to be free from suffering. In fact, we not only want it free from suffering, but we also want it free from discomfort, frustrations, and general annoyance.

Not all pain is the same, but our reaction to pain, intense or minor, is the same.  Our inclination is to flee pain, avoid it, minimize it, remove it.  However, if everything that does not go our way is suffering in a degree, then it is pain on some scale.

Life is pain because life is a struggle with suffering. We struggle with all those disappointments that are not as we want; big and small; painful and annoying; consuming and distracting.

Perfection is the absence of suffering. 

Those who pursue perfection to escape suffering are the ones who suffer the most.  Humans are imperfect.  Society is imperfect.  Nature is imperfect.  If you demand perfection, you will suffer the more than anyone else.

There is only one who is perfect.

Therefore, life is a management of suffering in all its degrees while we await the perfection to come.

We don’t want to suffer the consequences of an immoral life. 
Therefore, we suffer the lesser pain of self-denial.

We don’t want to suffer want and need.
Therefore, we suffer the discomfort of self-discipline.

We don’t want to be crushed by the inevitabilities of life.
Therefore, we serve others and humble ourselves.

We don’t want to suffer eternal punishment for a sinful life.
Therefore, we lose our lives so that we might gain them.

Now, there is a paradox here for those who are in Christ. We are commanded to follow in obedience, to deny ourselves, to pick up our crosses and follow Christ. We are also told that it is God who is at work in us to will and to act in order to fulfill His purposes. This is the paradox that we all live. How does all that work? I am not entirely sure. However, I do know that within this paradox I have enough incentive and encouragement to endure. I have learned that when I embrace the denial of self, the power to preserve always comes through the Spirit, usually a while after I think I need Him, but in His time.

Suffering reveals our weaknesses.  It reveals what we value most.  Suffering is training.  It reveals perfection if we dare to look.  That is the knowledge that every “liver” of life needs to navigate through all the pain.

Suffering cannot be escaped, but we do have a choice in what we learn. 

Pick your pain or your pain will pick you; learn its lessons or pain will be absent of purpose.  So, dig deep, feel the burn, endure the race because perfection will have its day.

Lost Meaning – Isaiah 1

What is this noise in my sanctuary?
This prattle sung in rythmic repetition.
Why these whispers during solemn prayer?
Hushed gossip of trivialities.
Where is My Word in this Sunday TedTalk?
Bells muting divine meaning and knowledge.

Stop bringing all this meaningless worship!

Light-shows manipulate emotions impure.

Your media productions are detestable to me.

Your striving for personal gain, purpose, and self-improvement, I cannot bear.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Isaiah 1:18

Where has the meaning in your worship gone?
Come now, return the meaning to your praise and worship.
Let you worship flow from true reality, from sins that have been washed clean.
Let your Sunday morn be a time of meaning in all sincerity;
Worship with meaning is pleasing to Me.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a prophet. I am not claiming to have a word from God. I am always hesitant in writing narrative for God or implying that what I have written is in fact from the mouth of God. The above is my application of the Word of God through an actual prophet, Isaiah. This follows along with the thoughts of DID ANYONE NOTICE.

EMBRACING INFINITY

A new creation in Christ Jesus.  The Holy Spirit now residing within me.  I am not sure how this can be.  I don’t feel different as if wholly new but yet changed enough as to not be askew.  A temple to the Lord they say, but holy and sacred this temple does not stay. A grand edifice or pilgrimage terminus this temple is surely not. I wonder, based on what I see, how can He in me and what is a lot?

Made one in Christ, we are told as marriage is meant to be.  Why should I be surprised in struggling to understand the oneness of the divine when the illustration often eludes being defined.

As I gray, I have learned that oneness is much more than an act of coitus. Marriage is a blending. Where do I end and she begins? We are a new creation; something different than from what was when we said “I do”.  This new is no longer she and he but we.  We is an entity of one, a union not created by an institution.  Whole in all of me but nothing without all of her. Never to be divided without being blighted.  The we becomes a diamond, more precious than the separate carbon assignments.

Too often, the focus drifts to the parts mayhem rather than the gem.  Scrutiny is dedicated to the raw material rather than ethereal.  A temple is more than sweat and stone.  The value lies not in a bill of material alone.  Even more disappointing is when we miss the lesson in the example of the mortal which is pointing to more beyond the portal.

Oneness, in marriage, I cannot define.  I cannot explain how it can be, but I say look and see.  Oneness is on display when you cannot help but see the her when you see the me.  That is the moment when a glimpse is revealed of the mystery of this new creation called we.

The whole of wedded oneness is so much more than a goal. It is a sacred symbol written in our DNA. A new creation is marriage’s ballet.  This mysterious mixture of the infinite with the finite. Yet, unlike our example of mortal marriage, 50% XY and 50% XX, the spiritual composition is infinite God and something less.

Consider if the new creation was the number 7 in all its perfection.  What would my portion be?  Surely, not much more than 0.1 of a part can be me.  That is 70 parts, 69 His and 1 me.  That doesn’t seem right, so let’s make it a little more trite, maybe .0001, which will be 70,000 parts with only one of me.  I must confess that it still seems too much credit to the edited element of this new installment. Let’s stretch it out, further and further.  What are the portions to be?  Based on value, He is the treasure by far.  Test it toward holiness, what a joke, there is no contribution from my lowilness.  Examine the value inherent, my worth comes from His image, which is apparent.  What about my contribution to this new creation?  How can one be impressed by the ignorant who merely prayed yes?

Stretch out this mental marathon further to the edge of humilities dawn; divide by 10^-10, 10^-100, 10^-1000.  Move the decimals farther and farther to the right; go as far as your fright.  As humility pushes each place holder to the left, we come upon the cleft of zero’s nothingness, the absence of value, humility’s rest.  We encounter the mortal sin of maths innovators; dividing the numerator by numbers traitor.  It is not that the equation no longer works.  A quotient sin, as man defines, lies in the loss of vicinity, an inability to grasp infinity and the uncertainty in a human’s ability to do anything.

The same is glimpsed when this new creation is split.   A new creation in Christ is a phrase so commonly used, but how to comprehend the me’s and you’s. The infinite in me, no beginning and no end, the alpha and the omega, made one with the finite, infinitesimal me. How can this be?

Oneness, in Christ, I cannot define.  I cannot explain how it can be, but I say look and see.

This new creation is out of sight, but what can see is Him through my small light.  That is what is on display when one’s light burns bright.  If you see me in my small minute, then I have dimmed the infinite.  For those in Christ, when observed in this finite, you cannot help but see the infinite or so it should be.

I wonder if this isn’t the curse in which we all are enmeshed. We cannot be rid of this sinful flesh.  Our portion it must always thresh. No matter how large or small that portion remains, we struggle to find humility’s domains. The place where we can finally see the revealed glory of infinite God without the clouding of you or me.  Maybe, that is the blessing of death, the reduction to nothingness. Knowing my place, to truly participate, in the oneness of Christ Jesus and me.  No longer, Him in me with my portion trying to be stronger.  I long for the day when it will be, I in Him, complete, and all glory to Thee.  Then I will embrace infinity, where there is nothing left for one to do but to praise and glorify the One who is so much more.

Righteous Deciders

 
It seems easier to comprehend a God of the grand and monumental but what of the random and trivial?

Can I make a decision that He does not know?

Can the wind change the course of His intentions?

Can my decision alter His plan?

Can circumstances accumulate beyond His control?

My day will be filled with thousands of decisions, some are recognizable as consequencial but most are not even acknowledged as a decision.

Every decision is a dalliance with the future.  We speculate against the opaqueness of uncertainty.

How silly it is to play a blind prophet when we have One who controls it all? He knows how our individual minds work.  He knows the clouds that impede our thoughts and reasoning.  He has given us wisdom, knowledge, and reasoning.  He has given us prayer. 

Why do we become undone when decisions come?  Could it be that fear has shackled out minds at one of life’s respites because we cannot peer beyond the bend?

Good decision making does not remove uncertainty. It merely enables our minds to live with it. However, we usually live with uncertainty in the most unrighteous of ways.  We glorify the decisive decision makers.  We heap prestige upon the visionaries who appear prophetic of future’s prospects.

Yet, we ignore the One who  holds uncertainty’s tolls.

Believers should display our belief in the most practical of ways, by how we decide.  I suggest that righteousness displayed in decisiveness shows glorious godliness.  

This is my suggestion on how a Christian should decide:

1. Pray
2. Use your mind; use your knowledge and wisdom. They are gifts of God for this purpose.
3. Pray some more.
4. Ensure you are on solid Biblical ground and walking in the Spirit.
5. Pray some more.
6. Ask for wise counsel.  The body of Christ is our gift for this purpose.
7. Pray some more.
8. Weigh the cost. Weigh the benefits.
9. Pray some more.
10. Make the decision and then trust.  

Our decision making should not display anxiety and apprehension.  Our decision making should not be indecisive.  A righteous decider should display belief.  Belief that nothing is beyond God’s power.  Belief that God is a good Father.  Belief that God knows me down to the dwindling hairs on my head. Belief that the Spirit of God has been participating in this decision that I am making.

Belief that in Christ, I cannot make a bad decision.

I can make a righteous decision that may not turn out as I had hoped or planned, but that doesn’t mean it was incorrect to God.

I can make a righteous decision that may result in all sorts of unfortunate, unintended consequences, but that doesn’t mean it’s a mess that God has to clean up.

I can make a decision that displays my faith and confidently live in all the consequences because God holds the past, present, and future.

So, let’s start glorifying God in how we decide.

https://soundfaith.com/logos-media-share/498255

Oreo Cookie of Life

 

Most of the time we over-complicate our relation to the absolute (God).  Now, over-complicate does not mean that we are making our relationship harder than it needs to be.  

Dying to self is a difficult task requiring endurance and perseverance. Over-complicate usually means misalignment; doing things for the wrong reasons.

I have recently engaged in an enlighting task for myself.  I applied a tool of my profession, a logic diagram, to the analysis of my spiritual life.  I want my “what” to correspond correctly to the appropriate “why”.

A logic diagram flows purpose (why) into actions (how).  A well constructed logic diagram readily reveals the reason for every contemplated activity and allows for each activity to be crafted to achieve the true purpose.

My logic diagram resembles an Oreo cookie.

One wafer is to glorify God & enjoy Him / Love God; my purpose.  The other wafer is faith; my how.  Everything between those cookie wafers is my life.

Not very complicated.

It is very easy to allow our relationship with the world around us to dictate out relationship with God or have no relationship with God.  That means we have replaced our wafers and if you’ve got wrong wafers them you’ve got inappropriate relationships.

That is the sweet work of a faithful follower of Christ; getting the sweet filling of life appropriately positioned between the absolutes of God and faith.

https://soundfaith.com/logos-media-share/497549

Pride and Persistence – Numbers 16:8–11

“And Moses said to Korah, “Please listen, sons of Levi! Is it too little for you that the God of Israel set you apart from the community of Israel to allow you to approach him to do the work of the tabernacle of Yahweh, to stand before the community to serve them? He has allowed you to approach him, you with all your brothers, the descendants of Levi, but yet you also seek the priesthood. Therefore you and your company that has banded together against Yahweh. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?””

What does your heart desire?

What is the passion of your life?

What motivation drives you toward your goals?

I have a list of goals that I wrote shortly after graduation from college.  Most of those goals have been obtained.  Some are beyond my grasp.  A few would not be enumerated if the list were written today.

I struggle to discern the motivation behind my own youthful list and now even my middle-aged musings.  Therefore, I will not hazard in the foolish task of questioning the motivation of others priorities since I am baffled by my own.  

However, I am aware of the fine line between pride and persistence.  

A good goal will stretch you.  It will challenge you.  A good goal will require persistence.  Yet, the persistence of a good goal can cultivate a discontent in the unfulfilled now.

How do you live in the unfulfilled now?

Discontent in the now can be dangerous for decision making.  Consider Korah and his followers.  They challenged Moses and Aaron because the role of their now was too little for the hopeful goals of their future.  Their decision to resolve an unfulfilled now resulted not in fulfillment but in destruction.  

They wanted a priesthood that was not God’s will.

I don’t know the all motivations of Korah. I do know that his persistence was motivated by something other than righteousness.  

We are called to contentment in God, which means joyfullness with where you are today.  I often ask myself when I sense a dangerously developing persistence, “will I be content in Christ Jesus, if nothing changes”?  

There have been seasons where the honest answer to this question has been “no”.  We all battle the multiple manifestations of pride.  For me, pride often lurks within the persistence necessary for betterment.  I want to be all that I can be.  I want to live to my fullest potential.

Why?

Why are you striving?  Why are you persistently pursuing your greatest potential?  You have to know your why…honestly know your why…if you are to have any hope of balancing current contentment with righteous persistence.

https://ref.ly/Nu16.8-11 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Bestial Stupor

I have been reading through Soren Kierkegaard’s exploration of Abraham’s faith in  “The Kierkegaard Collection”.

His description:

“People commonly travel around the world to see rivers and mountains, new stars, birds of rare plumage, queerly deformed fishes, ridiculous breeds of men — they abandon themselves to the bestial stupor which gapes at existence, and they think they have seen something.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard

I have never thought of the myriads of social media accounts chronicling something “astonishing” as feeding my bestial stupor.

That might be a little harsh.  However, I am reminded of my own bestial nature of gaping at the creation without ever considering that which is truly amazing…faith.

“But if I knew where there was such a knight of faith, I would make a pilgrimage to him on foot, for this prodigy interests me absolutely. I would not let go of him for an instant, every moment I would watch to see how he managed to make the movements, I would regard myself as secured for life, and would divide my time between looking at him and practicing the exercises myself, and thus would spend all my time admiring him.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Photo by Maria Pop on Pexels.com

There are “knights of faith” living amongst, which are testimony of what is more miraculous than any of God’s other creation.  That is worthy of a pilgrimage to see; a pilgrimage to gape into the infinite.  However, you have to know what you are looking for because a true knight is easy to overlook.

“He lives as carefree as a ne’er-do-well and yet he buys up the acceptable time at the dearest price, for he does not do the least thing except by virtue of the absurd. And yet, and yet I could become furious over it — for envy, if for no other reason — because the man has made and every instant is making the movements of infinity. With infinite resignation he has drained the cup of life’s profound sadness, he knows the bliss of the infinite, he senses the pain of renouncing everything, the dearest things he possesses in the world, and yet finiteness tastes to him just as good as to one who never knew anything higher, for his continuance in the finite did not bear a trace of the cowed and fearful spirit produced by the process of training; and yet he has this sense of security in enjoying it, as though the finite life were the surest thing of all.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard

We once called a pilgrimage to observe and learn from a Knight of Faith, discipleship.  Unfortunately, we don’t hear that term very often and even rarely take that sort of pilgrimage.  We have social media after all.

We have allowed a bestial stupor to blind us to the truly remarkable; exchanged the creator for the creation.

Let’s open our eyes to what makes angels rejoice.  Look around, there might just be a Knight sitting beside you worthy of amazement… worthy of imitation.

“The Kierkegaard Collection” is free: http://a.co/6alGyrH