On Man's Epistemic Ontology

02/13/2006 8:08 AM-8:31 AM

When either reaction is viable, choose to enjoy it. Either reaction is always viable. Practice noticing. What meaning is inherent to life? Is there one? There are two layers that must be dealt with (dualism rises again). There is that meaning that God intends and that meaning that we discover (or invent). Is there any guarantee that these two coincide? No. We cannot know God’s thoughts, even in Scripture. We pull the meaning from Scripture as surely as we do from experience. All I’m saying is, when you can, pull a better meaning from the data of this limited telescope.

Meaningfulness of meaningfulnesses, all is meaningful. Go to the way of the corpse – consider her ways and be wise – having no mind, she sleeps without tossing and turning. Having mind, go thou and do likewise. Slow down to the speed of contentment. Rejoice in all things, having no knowledge of what, if anything, lies beyond the house of the dead. Does the tree worry? No, it has no sin and no mind. And yet Christ died that all creation might be redeemed. Why did St. Francis preach to the birds if the birds are free of sin? Because he was nuts. God grant me that hard science.

Why climb the mountains if the joy can be found in falling into the valley stream? Why not? It’s something to do. And this I have found: what does a man require to be happy? – To have a sedative in the evening and coffee in the morning, and work during the day that keeps his mind from the fear of damnation. Focus on a single point and don’t let it go for as long as you can. Then walk and see the meaning in the arch of your foot. Again and again and again. When the sadness comes, be thankful until the thought passes. When a man fears death, he has found his epistemic ontology. When a man rejoices in his fear, he has no master. Walk me now to the shallow streams where the crayfish scuttle under rocks and hide for games with glass jars and water hoses. We walk from here to here. If we can, we walk from joy to joy. Do not worry if you drop it. It won’t break for long. Then pick it up and keep walking. I am not my own. I am mine. The thin lifeline is enough. Our scanty knowledge will do. If Christ is Christ, God planned it thus and has a reason for the darkness beyond the house of the dead. If Christ is not Christ, what has it cost me to pretend otherwise? Perhaps Allah will send me to that place in hell reserved for the unbelieving children of the book. So be it then. If God will not grant man peace, then man must grant it to himself. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner. The pilgrim says this with each step and finds himself in paradise already. So be it. So be it. So be it.