Every ant knows the formula of its ant-hill.
every bee knows the formula of its beehive.
They know it in their own way, not in our way.
Only humankind does not know its formula.
~Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Category Archives: christianity
The Uncertainty Principle…
45 Man is nothing but a subject full of natural error that cannot be eradicated except through grace. Nothing shows him the truth, everything deceives him. The two principles of truth, reason and senses, are not only both not genuine, but are engaged in mutual deception. The senses deceive reason through false appearances, and, just as they trick the soul, they are tricked by it in their turn; it takes its revenge. The senses are disturbed by passions, which produce false impressions. They both compete in lies and deception. —Blaise Pascal, Penses
Give us your grace, O Lord, to overcome our complete inadequacy to grasp truth.
Jesus and Humor…
Through the years, I’ve seen a lot of Christians look down on others for their sense of humor, particularly when it is expressed in homily or in any other “spiritual” context. I am not sure how that works, since I believe that all of life is holy. It’s hard to imagine Jesus telling a joke. Yet humor is distinctly human. And Jesus was fully human.
To investigate the concept of Jesus and humor further, I am reading an older book by Elton Trueblood called, The Humor of Christ (Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1964). At first, I was skeptical of what Trueblood might say concerning Jesus’ humor, but he does an excellent job of explaining humor and then demonstrating it. Trueblood begins by defining humor and illustrating it from literature in general.
You may think it strange that he’d have to explain humor, but if you’ve ever been in a different cultural situation, you know that without familiarity with that culture, you need an interpreter just to explain the jokes. Continue reading