Simone Weil

"In what concerns divine things, belief is not appropriate. Only certainty will do. Anything less than certainty is unworthy of God."

Woah thats heavy stuff. I constantly say "I believe this" or "I believe that..." when i should be saying "I am certain!" Well in dealing with matters of God and faith anyways. The definition of believe is to accept something as true or feel sure of the truth. The definition of certainty is a fact that is absolutely true or a person that can undoubtably be relied on. Which one would you prefer? Accepting something as true, or knowing something as undoubted fact. I would definitely choose fact.

"Perfect and infinite joy really exists within God."

I really like this quote. It almost sounds like it came right out of the bible. haha. I dont know how i feel about the rest of it though..."My participation can add nothing to it, my non-participation can take nothing from reality of this perfect and infinite joy." Well I understand that with or without me God is perfect...but I'd like to think that each and every person that comes to know the Lord adds to that infinite joy. 

"Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer."

In other words...absolute focus and concentration on God and nothing or no one else is prayer. Not gonna lie this can be hard at times. First of all, how hard is it to find a secluded place where you can give your complete attention to God. pretty dang hard. Secondly, how hard is it to focus on one thing and one thing only for a long period of time. Well for me its very hard haha Our brains are designed to think of a million different things within seconds....i mean our train of thought alone is so weird and random. However, I find that its much easier to control your train of thought in prayer than at any other time. That must be God' doing because I know I would not be able to do that on my own haha

Isaac of Nineveh

"There is a love like a small lamp, which goes out when the oil is consumed; or like a stream, which dries up when it doesn't rain. But there is a love that is like a mighty spring gushing up out of the earth; it keeps flowing forever, and is inexhaustible."

So the lamp in my opinion would  be an earthly love. One that someone has with a spouse or a friend. The oil would be like a persons life span....so when the oil runs out (or a persons time runs out) the love technically goes out. But there is a love that lasts no matter what....under any circumstance. "like a mighty spring gushing up and out of the earth; it keeps flowing forever" And that is the love of God. Inexhaustible. Today in class we had a big discussion about suffering and death, and the whole time a Lincoln Brewster song was playing in my head called The Love of God. The lyrics say "in brokeness, i know you hold me, safe in redemptions arms, and i confess you alone restore me, leading me to your heart. Where else can i turn but to the love of God. "

"When we trust God with our whole heart, we dont fill our prayers with "Give me this" or "Take this from me.""

This is actually something that was recently discussed at the church i regularly attend. The pastor talked about how often when praying, people will ask God for things or to do things in their lives. He said that instead you should just surrender everything to him and lift your heart to him and ask that his will be done. Well at first i was like "why should i pray a certain way...its my prayer not yours..." haha but then i thought about it and what place do i have to ask God to give me something or do something for me when i have no way of knowing if it is his will or purpose for me. 

Thomas Traherne

Thomas has the same idea in his writings about God manifesting in people's souls as in Johannes'. His description of drinking wine really got my attention. I mean the obvious action taking place is the drinking of wine. But symbolically you are quenching your thirst with a gift from God. This makes me think about everything I do and how it is a gift. I mean when we go throughout our day, we dont look at everything being from God. I mean a person can claim they do and more power to em but in all honesty I know i dont. I get caught up in my daily routine and dont think twice about something as small as walking. But we walk because God created us to have legs and have that function.
Something about nature really makes me think about God though. I went to the beach this weekend and as I looked at the beach and the ocean I just couldnt help but feel complete gratitude to God. The creator. I also went to a redwood camp a few months ago with my church and something about the tall trees that reached beyond sight just gave me such peace.
The very last sentence "Which now I unlearn, and become as it were a little child again, that I may enter into the Kingdom of God" describes an idea that has come up in many of the passages in this book. When we become childlike and innocent again we will enter the Kingdom of God. I dont know about you but I long for the day i become like a child again :)

Johannes Scotus Erigena

"How can there be any place not filled with the glory of God?"
Thats what im sayin!
God is everywhere. EVERYWHERE! That alone just shakes me up...in a good way of course. How awesome is that though... I dont know about you but knowing that God is everywhere makes me feel so safe. Because if God is everywhere...then he is always with me...and I am always under his protection. I loved the descriptions used in this passage...."superessential essential...supernatural natural...simple composite..." So basically this is saying He is the opposite and parallel, the same and different. He is everything! haha thats crazy stuff.
I like how he tlaked about God manifesting in the creature. The creature obviously would be us. So in my opinion this means that God manifests(grows) in our hearts until we cant deny that he is there anymore. And then we are consumed by him in every possible way. This concept reminds me of a song called "From the inside out" by Hillsong United. The lyrics say:
"In my heart and my soul I give You control. Consume me from the inside out Lord. Let justice and praise become my embrace to love You from the inside out."
I think those lyrics just really reiderate what Erigena is saying here.

Albert Einstein

Alright so i dont really know a lot about Albert's religious views and what not...but i did find some profound things in what he had to say.
"He to whom this emotion is stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead."
That is harsh stuff...but its true. Im pretty sure he was referring to the scientific side of things. However, from a general view point he is basically saying you better appreciate the world around you. A pastor at my church spoke on perspective recently. He said there are the people that have good ole basic cabel. and there are the people who have high def. The people with basic cabel are the people commonly reffered to as "Sunday morning Christians." The people with high def are those christians that are actively growing closer and stronger in their relationship with Christ. Basic cable people get basic the idea, know the stories somewhat, and see the surface stuff. High Def people get the deep ideas and feelings and see every splinter on the cross. Not to say that either person is better or more important, but there is a definite difference in the way basic cable people view the world around them and the way high def people view it.

"This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us."
This really spoke to me. I mean our world is huge. But to the individual our world is small. My world as of now is Sierra College...Roseville... Rocklin...Granite Bay(which isnt even a city btw haha)....My view of what the world is is so small and condensed. I want to expand my view...reach out to the world around me...help those in need...I dont want to live in the illusion that this is my world...Because the fact is that my world is so much bigger.

Novalis

It funny how such profound thoughts can be stated and delivered in one sentence. sometimes even one word.
"We are close to waking up when we dream that we are dreaming."
Oh Wow how this statement is true. haha Plenty of times when im asleep i will dream that im dreaming...and then seconds later im awake and trying to remember what i was dreaming about haha However, i do think there is a deeper meaning behind this statement. Often people refer to life without God in your life as the time you were asleep. And when you recieve Christ and devote yourself to God you are awakened. So with that knowledge, this would mean that when you start to learn more about God and are actually thinking about how your life would be with him in it...you are closer to becoming awakened. 00

"Philosophy is really homesickness."
Philosophy is the investigation of truths, principles of being, knowledge, and conduct. So basically this statement says that the investigation is really just a longing or searching for home. What is home? In my opinion home would be heaven or a relationship with Christ. Im not sure what this guy meant by home, but if i had to guess that would be my answer....

"There is only one temple in the world and that is the human body."
This reminds me of a verse from the bible:
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have recieved from God? You are not your own... 1 Corinthians 6:19
So those two thoughts alone pretty explain eachother. THe human body is a temple. A temple of the Holy SPirit. Meaning treat it well, its not yours. Its borrowed property. If you mess with it...your messin with the Holy Spirit. Thats big stuff.

Heraclitus

Now this is my kind of passage. For those of you who read my blog often, you'll notice i pretty much unpack a few sentences per passage. Well this passage is made up of one line fragments. Perfect!!!!

"All things flow" I like this statement a lot. I interpret this to mean that all things work together. Or they were made to work together anyways. If you look at it scientifically, every living thing has a flow or a cycle...or everything has a process.

"The sun is new everyday" I think this is a very optimistic view. I like it! ha Every time the sun rises it is a new day. Every day is almost like a new adventure. The sun brings about new adventures. And hey if you had a really bad day...next time the sun comes up you get to start fresh and make the best of the present.

"You cant step twice into the same river." Bascially, you learn from your mistakes and hopefully dont make those same mistakes twice.

"You wont discover the limits of the soul, however far you go." meaning your soul lives on forever. So you may live to be 80 some odd years old...and then you have reached your earthly limit. But your soul has just begun and continues on into eternity.

"To men, some things are good and some are bad. But to God, all things are good and beautiful and just." Wow that is really profound. It makes me think about how many times in a day I complain about things. Or how I judge people. To God, those same things I am complaining about or judging are beautiful and great. How dare i complain or think badly about what God created...