Lady Looks Like a Dude, by Ember

So, I was looking up this passage on what are commonly referred to as male or female traits. Many people seem to have prejudice according to the way they are, or prefer to operate, and want to say that either the male, or the female traits are not as good as the other, rather than to say they are both good and necessary and create a harmonious balance together as is symbolized by the Taoist taijitu, yin/yang.  

Fourth, traditional ethics overrates culturally masculine traits like “independence, autonomy, intellect, will, wariness, hierarchy, domination, culture, transcendence, product, asceticism, war, and death,” while it underrates culturally feminine traits like “interdependence, community, connection, sharing, emotion, body, trust, absence of hierarchy, nature, immanence, process, joy, peace, and life.” Fifth, and finally, it favors “male” ways of moral reasoning that emphasize rules, rights, universality, and impartiality over “female” ways of moral reasoning that emphasize relationships, responsibilities, particularity, and partiality (Jaggar, “Feminist Ethics,” 1992). - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-ethics/ 12/30/11

If you look at all the male vs. female traits it seems that Jesus emphasized the feminine traits in his life and teachings. He, "whom God made our wisdom" (1 Cor 1:30) Wasn't he being the perfect example of the "good shepherd"? I can't imagine Jesus treating people the way that the shepherds of the Church, as a whole, treat their flock (there are good examples like St. Francis of Assisi. And remember many of the first apostles gave up their lives for their faith). But, as a whole, what wisdom are they following in doing what they do, this hierarchy? Would Jesus advocate burning at the stake?  Would a woman?  Would a mother? It seems to be very masculine based traits that are employed above the feminine. Why? By whose example? I just said the example of Jesus was to employ the feminine traits. The world was already filled with the masculine to the point of imbalance. Why go the way of dominance? The impartiality in setting down rules and regulations; "They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger." (Mt 23:4), above personal responsibility. This seems to be the way of man and the wisdom of man, not of God.  

What kind of "bride" is the Church preparing for Christ, the bridegroom? They themselves say that the Church is the bride. Yet they are making her out to be some sort of feminist gone wrong, if she is a woman. Or, what? Are we to think that the bride of Christ is male? If she is a woman they are making her abandon her femininity in favor of masculinity, which is feminism gone wrong, or "she" is really a "he" and that makes Christ a homosexual if he were to marry him. Which the church obviously says is wrong! If you think feminism is so wrong, if you think homosexuality is so wrong, then why are you making the Church out to be that kind of relationship? Hypocrites! Lady looks like a dude! There is no balance in the Church right now that is the problem. Femininity has not been respected even though Christ himself showed us this was the way to perfection; balance. God created them male and female. You are imbalanced if you deny one side (rib, in Heb tsela) in either the microcosm (individual person) or the macrocosm (relationships). Christ was physically male (the Word) to the world, but he balanced his personal spiritual masculinity (word) and femininity (wisdom)  and gave us the example of what the world could be in balance; Love. Word and Wisdom united as "one flesh", heiros gamos, the holy marriage, i.e., the image of God.

   

What Does Marriage Mean To Us? by Halcyon8

Is marriage valid in society today?  Is it a heteronormative religious tradition, to be passionately discarded?  Is it a sacred gift, a sacrament, a blessing from God?  If it is from God, does it need to be protected by governmental laws? 

Marriage is a commitment. In a culture where divorce is common and acceptable, what does it mean to make a commitment?  What is the commitment of marriage and why do people want it?

Love.  What is love?  Perhaps: Respect.  Equality.  Being open to understanding, open to compromise, open to personal growth for the happiness of the ones you love. 

I've outlined 3 concepts regarding what I consider to be fundamentally important about marriage:

1--a personal journey of growth

2--social harmony and politics

3--our future as humanity

The Personal Journey of Growth

It's one thing to work on oneself at a slow easy comfortable personal private pace. It's another thing to be confronted (by someone you respect deeply) about your imperfections. Marriage is a commitment to compromise, towards the highest self...because on our own, we aren't challenged to grow, at least not nearly as strongly as we're challenged when confronted with a person who is bound to us, who sees our strengths and weaknesses, our good side and our failings on a daily basis. Being married to another person, to me, is a promise to confront oneself, in the mirror of the other...respectfully, from a place of agreed upon equality.

Social Harmony, Politics, and Government

Along those same lines, living as a member of society requires many compromises for the ultimate end of social harmony and civilization.  We all need to respect each other, at least to a minimal degree, in order to achieve civilization. With each marriage as a microcosm of respect, the whole community is a macrocosm of respect. Marriage is beneficial, on the social level, in that each small microcosm of respect keeps respect fresh and alive. Each marriage, when intentionally held in a place of mutual respect, love, and equality, helps comprise the greater macrocosm of social respect, well-being, and harmony.  So, when society doesn't respect a marriage between two people that want social harmony, society is only shooting itself in the foot by degrading the macrocosm of social respect.  On the other hand, when society shows respect, support, and love for two people that want to be a part of macro social harmony, then the whole system registers a higher frequency of love and harmony. The system reinforces itself from both directions.  Just as each microcosm strengthens the macrocosm, the group strength of the macrocosm supports each constituent microcosm comprising the whole.

Our Future, the Future of Humanity

In an environment of micro and macro respect, healthy adults often discover in themselves a weird and compelling desire to care for and mentor new humans, creating a group otherwise known as "a family". This usually turns out best when it doesn’t happen by mistake. And isn’t it a beautiful statement to humanity that a family is not defined solely by genetics? Even couples who find themselves unable to biologically reproduce, nevertheless often desire to give back to the greater good in the way of parenting adopted children. It shows me a very positive thing about human nature. I really believe that healthy humans want to do good, want to teach love, and want to give of themselves simply for the happiness of others.  That is a very beautiful thing. So, marriage, to me, also is for the future generations. Marriage provides support and context for a healthy environment in which to nurture new humans.

To me, the importance of a marriage ceremony is that it addresses all three of these concepts. From the spiritual core of the couple's humanity, they say to the community that they respect each other as equals to answer to each other for the benefit of the whole community and future generations. The community recognizes this and witnesses this THUS creating an unseen support structure, a framework for the years to unfold upon. Some days are hard. On those days, you are bound not necessarily by your own will, but by the group strength of your place in your community social structure.

Please Listen to Me, by Ember

'My faith has nothing to fear from my scholarship', de Vaux once stated to Edmund Wilson. No doubt it didn't, but that was never in fact the real question. The real question was whether his scholarship, and its reliability, had anything to fear from his faith.

OK, so I purposefully left out the origin and author of that quote up there. Why would I do that? Well, I didn't want anyone to be prejudiced by the title of the book or the author when he/she reads it. Just read  it. What does it mean to you? Do you agree? Do you disagree? If you found out that someone you liked and agreed with wrote it, would you like it more? If not, would you like it less? And why?

Why do we sometimes feel the need to disagree with or malign everything that a person says without any objectivity, just because we disagree with certain things, or even most of what that person says or does? Should we reject truth when we see it because we judge the source as being bad? And is truth always something that feels good to us, or might we be calling certain truth evil just because it feels uncomfortable for us to hear it?  

Take this example, for instance. Should I get mad at my husband if I ask him how a certain dress looks on me, and he says that it looks really bad? It does matter how he says it, and the condition of our relationship, but let's say we have a pretty good relationship. Some people would get mad regardless, so their husband would have to lie in order to keep the "peace". Maybe some people want to live like that, not knowing what other people are REALLY thinking. Maybe they would rather want to hear pleasant lies, but I don't. I do think there are better and worse ways of dealing with situations where sensitivity may be involved.  But good or bad, the truth is more important. What if you and your husband have opened up good lines of communication with each other over the years and when he says, "No, that dress looks awful on you." You laugh and say, "I think I'll get rid of it." Or, what if he knows that you are sensitive about it, so he clarifies and says, "Hun, you are so beautiful, but that dress is not a good style for you. That one that is [color] and [style] looks really good on you." Or, if someone is really just a big jerk, and is trying to be mean, wouldn't you rather know it, than be constantly living a big lie? We can build up good relationships with good people by being honest and loving. Who cares about the other ones?

Also, if I judge what someone says as being bad without acknowledging any truth that it may contain, then how are we ever going to progress? This is not very helpful, "It's black,"  "No, sir, it is white, you are stupid,"  "You're stupid, it's obviously black!" "I'm trying to be civil with you, it's white (what a moron),"  "But can't you see it is black (pompous ass)."

But maybe some people prefer darkness, "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness, rather than light because their deeds were evil."  (Jn 3:19)

Maybe someone wants to know where and from whom that quote up there came from? But if you do, just make sure you also ask yourself, "Why" and "What do I plan on doing with the information?" If you do want to know, I'll write it in the comments, but you have to say please.

You Are Here, by Querci

There’s a lot of excitement in Querci household this week. We’re getting ready for our very first road trip! We will be driving from the Querci residence here in Southern California all the way to Denver, Colorado.

I’ve already bought the essentials, made packing lists, and planned our route. It’s so easy to map a route in this day and age. I love technology! All I need to do is plug a starting point and an ending point into my computer, and within seconds I have turn-by-turn driving directions and a map to wherever I want to go.

So handy! OK. You probably know where I'm going with this. Analogy time.

Destination: 
Let’s sum it up as, “To Know God.”

Starting Point: 
My Puzzle Piece i.e., my God-given gifts and talents. 
(For more on this, see my post Puzzle Pieces.)

Map & Route:  
Imitating Christ and serving others with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and all my strength.

If we have these pieces of information, we should be able to "chart a course," of sorts, to God. So what keeps us from our goal? The problem is that, unlike my cartoon characters, we don’t necessarily know what our “puzzle pieces” look like...we don't always know ourselves.

Haven’t philosophers been complaining about that since, like, forever?

It is wisdom to know others; It is enlightenment to know one's self. 

~ Lao-Tse 

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering. 

~ St. Augustine

‘Know thyself?’ If I knew myself, I’d run away. 

~ Goethe

It's not that we don’t know ourselves at all; what we've been lacking is an objective view of ourselves, our gifts, and our talents, and an objective way to measure them.


If there were a way to objectively assess and measure our human abilities, now that would be a game changer! 


And so it is.


That's what I was talking about in my last post, Jung at Heart. Jung gave us a good vocabulary to talk about human abilities in an objective way.


What's more, inspired by this new vocabulary of Jung, two ladies named Katherine Briggs & Isabel Briggs-Myers took it all to the next level. While the scientific community focused on how these categories applied to crazy people, this mother-daughter team saw how the ideas could benefit regular folks, and created the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) tool. 

The MBTI gives us a simple, accurate way to know ourselves. 


This is a starting point.

Wisdom of God vs. Wisdom of the Wise, by Ember

Wisdom of God vs. Wisdom of the Wise, why is there a difference? The wise can only be as wise as the information that they have. For example, given that the world is flat and you could sail off the edge, like on the Kansas, Point of Know Return album cover, then not sailing far away from shore or trying to travel around the world would be wise, wouldn't it? But the world is not flat, so it is not unwise to travel around the world like Magellan. The problem arises when people think that they are so certain of their first principles, when really they don't have ALL the information as of yet, and might be wrong on certain points. One wrong assumption can lead to a whole lot of "bad" wisdom.

One example of the Wisdom of God vs. the Wisdom of the Wise is in 1 Kings. I think it is funny and I wanted to use it as the example.

Then King Rehob'oam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, "How do you advise me to answer this people?" And they said to him, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants for ever." But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.  1Kings 12:6-8

So, King Rehob'oam did not take the counsel of the old "wise" men, which was based on love and service to others. It seemed like foolishness to him and the other young "wise" men, and they advised heavy handedness instead .  .  .

And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, "Your father made our yoke heavy, but please lighten it for us"; thus shall you say to them, "My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."  1 Kings 12:10-11

OK, Rehob'oam, way to go! Keep the testosterone flowing. I don't think anybody's loin size is going to mean anything when you are lying in your grave. And isn't that somewhat the point?  This world and its wisdom is fleeting. What does any of it profit you for its own sake?  Shouldn't we have our minds on the big picture, on eternity, on God's mind?

"For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Heb 8:12-13 (Jer 31:34)

"Ready to vanish away" like you and I and everything, over the "Point of Know Return". Let us keep ourselves sober and awake that we might catch a ride aboard The Good Ship The Wisdom of God.

Jung at Heart, by Querci

Right now you are doing one of two things: Gathering Information or Making Decisions.


When you read this sentence you are Gathering Information. When you stop reading and decide whether:

• you agree, or disagree; 
• you are interested, or bored; 
• you will continue, or stop, etc;

you have switched to your Making Decisions mode.

But wait, there’s more!


There are two kinds of Gathering Information:
1. Gathering Experiences
2. Gathering Ideas


And two kinds of Making Decisions:
1. Deciding By Values
2. Deciding By Logic


For example:


Gathering Experiences

• Petting a puppy.
• Eating Brussels sprouts.
• Riding a roller coaster.

Gathering Ideas

• Reading about how to care for puppies.
• Learning about nutrition,
• Studying about how roller coasters work.

Deciding By Values

• My puppy is the cutest puppy ever!
• Brussels sprouts taste terrible.
• I like roller coasters better than Farris wheels.

Deciding By Logic

• Puppies need attention.
• Brussels sprouts are nutritious.
• The roller coaster is faster than the Farris wheel.

At least that’s how Jung described it. OK, not exactly like that. 
What I called:

• Deciding by Values, Jung called Feeling;
• Deciding by Logic, Jung called Thinking;
• Gathering Ideas, Jung called Intuition;
• Gathering Experiences, Jung called Sensing.

But the reason I bring it up at all...


...Values, Logic, Ideas, Experiences...
...Feeling, Thinking, Intuition, Sensing...


Do you know what that reminds me of? Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength!


And do you know why that excites me? While, of course, they aren't the "be all and end all" of Heart, Mind, Soul, & Strength, those four categories of Jung are abilities that we can MEASURE! Now that something I can work with!

Where Two or Three Are Gathered, by Querci

I have here for your consideration a full container of Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength. 


From the side it looks like this:

From above it looks like this:

Here are two more containers of Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength, viewed from above.

From this perspective they are identical to the first. But look at a side view of them and you can see differences. Neither is full. They contain different amounts of Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength.

Both are simultaneously the image of the first, but not equal to the first, or even the same as the other.


Now look what happens when we add them together:

We get a perfect image of the first.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.  (1Cor 12:27)

I’m sure by now you’ve figured out that Container 1 stands for Christ, the other two for all of us, and the pictures for the gifts and talents that God has given us.


I wonder what the "Querci Container" looks like? Has it changed over the years? Have I done a good job investing my talents, learning from others, and building up my likeness, or name, into a more complete image of Christ in Heart, Mind, Soul, AND Strength? Or have I built up some areas and neglected others?