Dame Julian of Norwish

Once again, I love the beginning of this.. "There are no accidents. God is not a well-intentioned bungler. All things that happen, even the most ostensibly terrible ones, happen by God's will. If you don't see the point, please look again.. there are no accidents. To realize this is to enter into God's love." It really should be placed on doorposts of houses and in our hearts. I think about that almost all the time. Everything happens for a reason, it's just really hard to see sometimes. Sometimes it seems like there was absolutely no reason. But everything is connected and helps us become who we are. I think it's better to learn and try and find the good in everything that's happened, instead of being bitter and taking it out of the rest of the world.
I don't know what to say about the rest of the reading that everyone has already heard or said. This reading just reminded me of teen church nights.

The Cloud of Unknowing

“And be sure not to think of anything but himself, so that nothing may work in your mind or in your will but only himself.” This just reminds me of the same idea: to let go of everything, and once you have nothing, then you will have everything. The way I normally think of Jesus and Christianity is not to let go of everything so God can come from within, but to let go of everything and replace it with everything the church teaches. I don’t really know what to say because I don’t want to insult God, even though I’m not sure what I believe in anymore. I do believe that there’s someone or something out there, but whoever or whatever that someone is, I don’t think he wants us to concentrate our everything on him. I think he must love us and want us to be happy and live the life that he’s blessed us with. I believe in what Buddha said... “But when you realize that something is unwholesome and bad for you, give it up. And when you realize that something is wholesome and good for you, do it.” And I believe in being nice and helpful to everyone, and hopefully they’ll be nice and helpful back. But I really think that every religion started from the fear of dying and what’ll happen to us after. Everyone wants to believe that there’s something better for us in the life after death. It helps everyone get through their days and their lives knowing and feeling comforted by the idea of a God who will take care of us after. But what if there’s not, what if when we die, we die and that’s it. What if we don’t go anywhere cool, we just stop existing.

Gregory of Nyssa

My favorite part that really hit me was the beginning when the rabbi asks the scholars “Where does God dwell?” And they laugh and reply “God is everywhere, of course. “ But the rabbi disagreed and told them “God dwells wherever man lets him in.” That’s such a powerful statement. I agree and disagree to some extent. Yes, you should believe in God in order to let him in, but isn’t he already in all of us? And isn’t he suppose to love and help everyone?

“In our human existence physical health is a good thing; and indeed it is a blessing not only to know the reasons for good health but actually to enjoy it. Now suppose a man should speak the praises of good health and then proceed to take food that was unwholesome and contained unhealthy juices. What good would his praise of health be, when he himself was afflicted with disease?” He makes such a good point that I can’t even say anything in return. How can we mistreat the bodies we’ve been born with? Most of us slowly kill our bodies with alcohol, cigarettes, and greasy heart clogging delicious foods. It’s horrible, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to change. Maybe the devil is in all of our fast food. Temptations are no good.

John the Evangelist

When I was little my dad use to always tell me the same thing to explain God to me, “Behold, I make all things new. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.” (My dad isn’t Catholic, he doesn’t believe in anything but my mom is a strong believer.) The idea that God is the alpha and the omega means so much if you think about it. There is no beginning; we will never know the beginning, because God is the beginning. And there is no end, the end is with God and he is the end. I always wonder then: Who made God? I was always told that God made God.

Once again, back to the same idea of enlightenment being within, “The spirit you have received from him remains in you, and you don’t need to have any man teach you; but that spirit teaches you all things, and is the truth.” When I read that I think about truth as the knowledge about God. I’m not sure what they mean exactly by “truth.” So then why don’t they believe in clearing the mind and letting the knowledge just come to you from within? Why is it absolutely necessary that you must to go to church once a week to learn about God and his teachings about what’s right and wrong? Some religions are so similar, yet so different.

The Gospel of Thomas

This reading really surprised me. It reminded me of everything we’ve just been reading. “It will not come if you look for it. Nor can you say, ‘It is here’ or ‘It is there.’ For the kingdom of the Father is already spread out over the earth, but people don’t see it.” It’s exactly what everyone has been saying in the Hinduism and Buddhism readings. I’ve never heard Jesus and Buddha sound so similar before, and that says a lot because I use to go to church at least twice a week for about 9 years. The part where Thomas says Jesus says “But the kingdom is inside you, and it is outside you. If you know yourselves, then you will be known; and you will know that you are the sons of the living Father.” That is exactly what everyone’s been saying about being enlightened. It comes from within, and you already know it, you just have to clear your mind and truly know yourself.

I really like where it says “Recognize what is in your sight, and what is hidden will become clear to you.” How I understand that is that when you recognize everything in sight, and really understand, then you will start to see things that you’ve never seen before because of the new understanding.

Jesus of Nazareth

The beginning paragraph is the best part. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.” It’s really hard to follow that, but I think if everyone could then we’d be much better off. Anger between two people or two countries can build so easily, it happens everyday. Even if it started off as an accident, like a girl A glares at girl B, now girl B hates girl A, so girl A hates her back, then they’re friends get involved and you have two schools hating each other. That’s only a minor thing, anger towards other countries builds up all the time as well, before you know it, countries hate each other because of one or two guys.

I really like when he says “Don’t judge, and you will not be judged; don’t condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.” The way you treat everyone, is the same way you’re treating God. God is in all of us so we should start treating everyone else well if we expect God to treat us the same way in Heaven. I think of judging as more of an acceptance. Because judging is seeing the world the way we think it should be, rather than how it is, so that’s what we base our judgments on. So if you start accepting everyone, then people will tend to be more accepting of you. And if you forgive, people will tend to be more forgiving towards you in the future, and so will God. And if you give, you will be rewarded in Heaven.

Tzu-ssu

“The sincere person does the right thing without trying,” then what do you say about the people that make mistakes. Are they not sincere because they messed up? Or maybe they weren’t sincere because they were trying to outsmart fate. To be something they’re not so in a way they are lying to themselves and must lie or do a wrong thing to be the person they are trying to be. “Live in perfect serenity with who you are.”

“The mature person accepts his situation and doesn’t desire anything outside it. If he finds himself rich and honored, he acts as a rich man should act; if he is poor, he acts as a poor man should act;” I disagree with parts of that, but I guess to find perfect serenity within yourself than you should be content with what you have.