In order not to be the shortest-lived in my immediate family I just have to make it past next January 30th. But if I live as long as my mother, I'm stuck on this rock until Two. Thousand. Fifty. I hope I learn it fast. I am not as enthused about seeing the progress of the 21st Century in my mortal life as I used to be.
My mother was very devout. I don't know what she had yet to learn as the last nine years of her life were shadowed with dementia. Even in this state she was sweet and kind. Hired caregivers loved to work with her as she threw no tantrums, pulled no one's hair. Maybe her spiritual 'job' was to be there for us to take of in the last years.
At first I neglected to have any Masses said for her because she seemed like a shoo-in.
On top of that, one my sisters received a call from a friend who said she'd had a dream or vision of our mother crossing a street in a park. On the other side, though not visible to the dreamer/visionary, many people eagerly awaited her.
In the last year of her life we lost four cousins in their 50s and 60s. I imagine Mother exclaiming, "What are you doing here already?"
"While there are some things (sins) which we should strive Not to do and repent when we do; this does not apply to the positive agenda of what our mortal life is for." This is a eureka, the heavens just opened! An infinite and unbounded potential awaits before each of us whenever we step out of the small and cramped cave of earthly (fake!) concerns. Haha!
"So, if you are feeling bored, directionless, that your life is futile; then You Are Wrong. It means that you have, so far, failed to do what needs to be done, that you are (to a significant extent) wasting your life"
I suppose you need to disentangle the social and material conditions of your life from the spiritual purpose of your life (or at least not measure the meaning of your life against these conditions). Living in these times might actually be helpful for many of us. As things get more clear, and probably more difficult, it gets easier to put away with more mundane and materialistic concerns and distractions.
I liked Brief Outlines comment a lot: "An infinite and unbounded potential awaits before each of us whenever we step out of the small and cramped cave of earthly (fake!) concerns".
I think that in addition to something not learned, we can be still alive to be part of God's plan involving people surrounding us.
30 September 2021 at 23:30
We are children of God; but that fact means we are as varied in our destinies as mortal children of human parents.As the best human parents recognize that each child is unique, and has an unique destiny in the world; then it is the same for God. This ought to be obvious from the fact that God made this world with an extraordinary variety of people in an extraordinary variety of situations. Indirect evidence comes from the work of spiritual evil in the world now; which attempts to make all Men, all over the world, The Same (i.e. 'equal') and compelled to the same (demonic) ideology of value-inversion. Form an inner perspective; this means that a Godly life should Not be regarded as living according to a universal template. While there are some things (sins) which we should strive Not to do and repent when we do; this does not apply to the positive agenda of what our mortal life is for. Our specific life is for us to learn some-thing (or things) of need for our eternal resurrected life; but that need will vary greatly between persons. After all (to take one example); many die in the womb or childhood; while some live the full biological span or beyond it. Since God sustains us alive, such vast differences in lifespan strongly imply very different life tasks among people. We each need to ensure that we personally learn what we most need while alive - and fail in this is to fail in mortal life - to waste our mortal lives. If we are still alive, this means we still have something very important to learn. This is the positive agenda for our own actual life; and it cannot be read anywhere but we each must discover it.So, if you are feeling bored, directionless, that your life is futile; then You Are Wrong. It means that you have, so far, failed to do what needs to be done, that you are (to a significant extent) wasting your life - and finding how and working on it, is what you ought to be doing.Now.
"We are each a child of God - but it is hard to grasp the implications of this fact"
4 Comments -
In order not to be the shortest-lived in my immediate family I just have to make it past next January 30th. But if I live as long as my mother, I'm stuck on this rock until Two. Thousand. Fifty. I hope I learn it fast. I am not as enthused about seeing the progress of the 21st Century in my mortal life as I used to be.
My mother was very devout. I don't know what she had yet to learn as the last nine years of her life were shadowed with dementia. Even in this state she was sweet and kind. Hired caregivers loved to work with her as she threw no tantrums, pulled no one's hair. Maybe her spiritual 'job' was to be there for us to take of in the last years.
At first I neglected to have any Masses said for her because she seemed like a shoo-in.
On top of that, one my sisters received a call from a friend who said she'd had a dream or vision of our mother crossing a street in a park. On the other side, though not visible to the dreamer/visionary, many people eagerly awaited her.
In the last year of her life we lost four cousins in their 50s and 60s. I imagine Mother exclaiming, "What are you doing here already?"
29 September 2021 at 22:02
"While there are some things (sins) which we should strive Not to do and repent when we do; this does not apply to the positive agenda of what our mortal life is for."
This is a eureka, the heavens just opened! An infinite and unbounded potential awaits before each of us whenever we step out of the small and cramped cave of earthly (fake!) concerns. Haha!
30 September 2021 at 09:46
"So, if you are feeling bored, directionless, that your life is futile; then You Are Wrong. It means that you have, so far, failed to do what needs to be done, that you are (to a significant extent) wasting your life"
I suppose you need to disentangle the social and material conditions of your life from the spiritual purpose of your life (or at least not measure the meaning of your life against these conditions). Living in these times might actually be helpful for many of us. As things get more clear, and probably more difficult, it gets easier to put away with more mundane and materialistic concerns and distractions.
I liked Brief Outlines comment a lot:
"An infinite and unbounded potential awaits before each of us whenever we step out of the small and cramped cave of earthly (fake!) concerns".
30 September 2021 at 18:11
I think that in addition to something not learned, we can be still alive to be part of God's plan involving people surrounding us.
30 September 2021 at 23:30