Fick den tanken idag - att bloggosfären faktiskt påminner om klostermiljön - genom att personer som är så olika de bara kan bli slipas mot varandras olikheter.
Så länge de inte undviker varandra förstås. De som gör det drar sig undan det grova sandpappret som tar bort de värsta kantigheterna. Innan det är dags för finputsningen.
Här några citat av Johannes av Korset i anslutning till detta. Hittar dem just nu bara på engelska på nätet. (Byt ut "monastery" och "community" mot bloggosfären.)
"Remember that when you entered the monastery, you did so that “all may fashion you and try you. Thus, to free yourself from the imperfections and disturbances that can be engendered by the mannerisms and attitudes of the religious you live amongst, and draw profit from every occurrence, try to imagine all in the community are artisans, as indeed they are - living there just in order to prove and try you.”
“Some will fashion you with deeds, others with words, and others with thoughts and looks against you. To all of this be submissive, as the statue is to the craftsman who carves it, to the artist who paints it, and to the gilder who embellishes it.”
“If you fail in these matters, you will never learn how to overcome your sensitiveness and feelings, nor will you get along well in the community with the religious, nor attain holy peace, nor free yourself from many stumbling blocks and evils.”
För den som är intresserad av att lära sig mer om Johannes spiritualitet kan jag rekommendera denna artikel - Reinventing Mysticism - A simple and deep introduction in the message of Saint John of the Cross - som är just vad den utger sig för att vara. Mästerlig sammanfattning av det viktigaste!
Bara en pärla av många:
"He believed that God made man for only one purpose : God wishes to live united with man.
"You marry the person you love most. You marry the person whom you consider as the most beautiful and precious in your eyes. You marry the person without whom you feel life would be impossible to live. God feels all this when he ponders about you and me.
In this union, the soul submerges itself in a strong way in God - and He gives himself even more fully to her. Passionate love on the part of God. Passionate love on the part of man. A passion which leads to total union between God and man.
The Saint prefers the word union to the word perfection, because union is more dynamic, more alive. Perfection implies the law, something cold and dead; it implies stress and effort. Union on the other hand means togetherness, love. It means necessarily two persons, a relationship which grows and develops. It means self giving by God and self giving by man. It means a tension of love." (God is a Feast)
"Every wish and aim of the soul - and of God - in all its works, are the end and completion of this state, therefore the soul does not tire until it comes to this state ... Now it is resting in the arms of its beloved, by whom she feels embraced continually in the spirit. This embrace is real and through it the soul lives the life of God."
I repeat. This is not a simulation but a reality. And the greatest news this morning is that you can be the protagonist of this adventure of love. Christian life is not obey - live a respectable life - be a good boy - and you go to heaven if you have followed the rules... It is a love story."Etiketter: andligt liv, blogg, bloggosfären, Johannes av Korset, karmel, kloster, mystik |
