Substack Notes Roundup #7
Time, righteousness, silence, and more...
This is the 7th collection of my most recent Substack notes plus some additional reflections. Enjoy.
— The Rainy Day, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?" That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.”
— Herman Hesse, Siddhartha
Being stuck in the past is like sitting on your porch on a moonlit summer night and wishing it were morning.
At that instant, neither the beauty of the present moment nor the prospect of a bright future is as attractive as the nostalgia for a fond memory.
It’s unreasonable precisely because reason has been effectively nullified.
Some call it “having trouble letting go”. I say having no trouble letting go is sheer insanity.
“The unusual European settlement, drawn up from ancient Greece and Rome, catalysed by the Christian religion and refined through the fire of the Enlightenments, turned out to be a highly particular inheritance.”
— Douglas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe
“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)”
— Romans 2:13-15 NIV
Silence is the most vital part of life if incorporated frequently, and yet it has become a terrifying predicament.
The modern world is not just loud, it’s deafening. And in all this noise we can’t hear our own thoughts. Our hearts remain a mystery. We say “I don’t know”, “I have to find myself”, “It’s complicated”, and other ambiguous declarations of our own ignorance while simultaneously falling victims of social media manipulation.
We consciously numb ourselves with an endless sea of distractions; whatever it takes to gag the internal voice whispering ‘responsibility and courage’.
If only we just unplugged.
Seems that mother was right after all; it’s this damn phone.
I want to live in such a way that when people look at me they see Him; that the only way to explain me is through Him; that He resides in me; that I don't exist, only He in me; and I abide in Him, and He in me.
Stillness is a gift from God.
Like a cat, whose instincts are in perfect harmony with the outside world, we can practice stillness and bring into focus the detailed workings of nature and the universe.
But, adding to that, we can also communicate with the deeper levels of our being in a manner that will bring about insight.
In prayer we do just that. We humble ourselves in the presence of God and let His wisdom penetrate mind, body and soul. If one can recognize His voice in silence, he will also recognize His voice amidst the hustle.
“If there were no eternal consciousness in a man, if at the foundation of all there lay only a wildly seething power which writhing with obscure passions produced everything that is great and everything that is insignificant, if a bottomless void never satiated lay hidden beneath all–what then would life be but despair?”
— Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
Reflections
The war on silence is a war on God. We live in an age of distractions and temptations. People love to call both as mere habit or individual preference. In order to fit in we must also indulge in them. Living a quiet and meaningful life, away from the insanity, is looked down upon. Some will say it’s unhealthy, others old-fashioned. Some will downright hate and consider it dangerous. No matter. The world is poisoned. Detaching is the only sane thing to do.
Fantasizing about sacrifice is hypocritical and rooted in pride. In a world obsessed with the self, pride has found a permanent home. How then can a prideful man act selflessly and sacrifice himself? In the end his own body will fight the lie and he won’t go through it. Sainthood enables the possibility of martyrdom. The saint doesn’t need to choose to sacrifice himself. His virtue is radiant and shines only forward. No other path exists except the one that leads to Him.
We are degrees of freedom separated from what our peers are going through. But if we weren’t, we would realize that they also worry about the same everyday problems. How to make a living, how to be successful, how not to make a fool of themselves in class, how to man-up and go speak to that girl they like, how to deal with the terror of an aging grandparent etc. We are not worse in life than them, we simply can’t conceive the severity of their problems. Make friends and talk with others. We are all living our first life.