Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, May 5, 2009

i. Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.

ii. Don't forget to love yourself.

iii. Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.

iv. Life must be understood backwards; but... it must be lived forward.

v. Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.

vi. Love is all, it gives all, and it takes all.

vii. Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.

- Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher, theologian,
born on this date, 1813 (He was only 42 when he died.)


Well, as sometimes happens, there are so many good things that I just can’t choose one! So here are a few things to meditate on, which will certainly give you more than for one day! And of course I can’t resist a few comments.

i. I have never been bored. Not that I can recall. There is always something to do – including Nothing! As to my life, well, I’ve always tried, or been “driven”, to be my own peculiar Self. And I haven’t regretted it. The only thing that slightly worries me is that I haven’t been bold enough!
ii. Yes yes! If we can’t love ourselves, the rest of trying to love will somehow get tragically twisted. The psyche can’t tolerate self-loathing; it will always project it out onto others.
iii. Dennis often asks me, “How was your day? What did you do today”. I often happily answer (now that I am retired) “Nothing!” And I have found that all that puritan crap about “idle hands” is a lot of hooey. I have more time now to ponder doing “good” – and sometimes doing it!
iv. Regret. As someone once said, the most useless of feelings. Acknowledge the past, learn from it - but push on with Life!
v. Love – including the Christian God who is defined as “Love” - can force nothing. Love may, though, give another the courage to change.
vi. Yep.
vii. I have preached this for decades. (And here I thought I was being original!) All this beseeching God, which often is asking “God” not to BE “God”!, is useless. Along with beseeching God to change the nature of Reality, or the Divine nature, etc. The primary function of prayer is indeed to change us. And it has to be our choice to change. God is patient.

May you have an unbored, Self-fulfilling, idle, unregretful, loving, self-changing day!

Brian+