The Lazy And Ambivalent Bible Scholar Part Two

Here is hiking William high above the timberline before the snows come.
(photo W Hayes)

In yesterday’s post I got started on this topic. I thought maybe it was a complete idea but maybe there is more. I was going on about feeling like I was not quite fitting the mold anymore. I was just a half a notch off from the norm.

Today I am telling myself that is okay, there is a place for that. This Bible Guys class that I am part of is has a definite Protestant slant to it. So maybe that is the reason for me feeling semi out of place. I’m not a Protestant anymore and my Catholic drift has brought different sensibilities to the table. Thank you for letting me work this out.

One of the notions that has been big in my life that has shown up with the drift to Catholicism is the idea that for my practical purposes God has three main attributes. This is not a limit on God but it is a unfolding of my perception I would say. The three are Truth, Beauty and Goodness. So when we work with that we see that these are three pathways on which it is possible to get closer to God.

The search for Truth could take place in the study of the Bible or in other quests for knowledge. Beauty can be appreciated in many forms in our environment, a trace of God’s esthetic everywhere and it leads us to gratitude. When I think of Goodness I think of St Francis or Pope Francis, people that personify it and I wonder how to mirror that. This is all a very thumbnail sketch but maybe it is sufficient for now.

Anyway, my beloved Bible Guys seems engrossed in their quest for knowledge of God. And here is Felipé in a typical class day trying to follow along but dreaming of Beauty or contemplating Goodness. I wander into these other realms as the Guys march on. This is just where I am these days, not complaining but noticing.

Just as we as Pilgrim’s return to our old lives after the Pilgrimage and sometimes we struggle to fit in again. I am having this same feeling here. Somehow we have changed and it is unnerving since we like the familiar of our old situation. Can we live with this tension? Can we do more than just live but can we thrive with it?

learning to thrive loves, Felipé.

2 thoughts on “The Lazy And Ambivalent Bible Scholar Part Two”

  1. Hi boss,

    What a nice topic to unravel… don’t you think? Indeed… when these changes happen… how do we do to fit in again? And do we have to fit in again? I like this idea that we may not need to “choose” within fitting in and not fitting in… maybe we just can live with the two scenarios… finding those places “in between” where we still belong to places, even if our way of belonging is different from the one we used to experience in the past…

    Maybe that is to be non-dualistic… maybe that is where our pilgrims spirit resides, in this ability to feel comfortable with others even when the others don’t exactly “look like” me…

    Off to sleep!
    Thin places Loves,
    Cris

    1. Cris ~ Maybe this gets easier the more times it happens or that you realize that it has happened. It is totally important to feel comfortable with it finally though. It is just the way things are. Felipé.x

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