on the walk

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?— MARY OLIVER (from House of Light by Mary Oliver 1990.)

We are four posts in with our tour of tips for spotting heresy. Today we get to one that was already mentioned in an earlier comment: Karma.

Karma is the popular notion that we all get what we deserve. The word comes from Hindu philosophy. In Hindu philosophy, the notion of Karma is a detailed and complicated belief about how the world fundamentally works. But when we encounter the notion of Karma is it usually just a sloppy notion that “what does around comes around.” However just because our notion of karma lacks philosophical sophistication does not mean that it lacks power. And it pops up a lot in conversations and books in a way that convinces me Continue Reading »

Here is a link to a story of some people who found a creative and gospel driven way to be like Christ.  Check it out.

on the walk

-Ethan

I’m partying with the family for a few days to celebrate my wife’s birthday.  So no posts for a bit.

on the walk

-Ethan