... chatter about anything, as long as you want.
ADDED: "When people get together they are never silent for a moment. They will always talk. When you listen to what they say, a great deal of it is pointless. There is much harm and little good for either party in such worldly gossip and judgement of others. But as they talk, they are unaware how futile for both of them this chatter is." — Kenko, "Essays in Idleness" (c1330).
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Monks are always hermits. What good that lifestyle is remains a mystery.
Queen Anne's Lace is a wild variety of carrot.
There's a recurring phrase in Georgette Heyer's regency novels: "companionable silence." Is that something that vanished with the 18th century or first years of the 19th?
When you listen to what they say, a great deal of it is pointless. There is much harm and little good for either party in such worldly gossip and judgement of others. But as they talk, they are unaware how futile for both of them this chatter is.
Good thing that never happens on the internet.
Here's a good, brief description of a monastic (cenobitic not eremitic) community I just ran across the other day.
Whether it's a good lifestyle or not often depends on how much a person values prayer. Is prayer an active engagement or a waste of time?
Almost all monastic literature strongly warns against idleness. Going back as far as the earliest literature. Work was seen as a way of staving off accedia and other sins/temptations.
BTW, I was taught that Queen Anne's Lace is poisonous. True? False?
The incredible edible Daucus carota...although this bit of tatting has gone to seed.
Don Cheadle apparently says he hopes Trump will "die in a grease fire". Gee I hope the Secret Service hops right on this.
Ascetic self deprivation of normal life to be alone with some spirit that doesn't like people very much is no part of the Christianity that was lived by Jesus The Nazarene. Other than a few mornings in prayer outside of camp He never went away to the caves or mountains to escape people. Instead he spent a third of his time teaching crowds, a third of his time expelling Demons in bublic, and a third of his time healing diseases in public. He was routinely accused of working on Sabbath, not fasting and being a wine bibber and a glouton for going to parties thrown by Tax Collectors.
I suppose Jesus did not understand the nuances of ascetic religious showoffs, because He never practiced any of it, and The Holy Spirit affirmed everything he was doing.
Before he began his public ministry, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, fasting and praying. Must have influenced the Desert Fathers of the early church, and now their successors.
@tradguy I suppose Jesus did not understand the nuances of ascetic religious showoffs, because He never practiced any of it, and The Holy Spirit affirmed everything he was doing.
Will worship. "In Colossians 2:23, 'a show of wisdom in will-worship,' for ethelothreskia), a word found nowhere else but formed exactly like "will-worship": worship originating in the human will as opposed to the divine, arbitrary religious acts, worthless despite their difficulty of performance." International Standard Bible Dictionary.
There is much harm and little good for either party in such worldly gossip and judgement of others.
In Amerika, we prefer to spell it "judgment." And "acknowledgement" is WRONG altogether.
In America, we prefer to spell it "America".
In America, we prefer to spell it "America". ;-D
"as they talk, they are unaware how futile for both of them this chatter is." — Kenko, "Essays in Idleness" (c1330)" What, anticipating the rhetoric of reaction in 1330? If only Hirschman had known Japanese.
Of course, nothing is more futile than pointing out the futility of human endeavors, except perhaps a blog comment pointing out that meta-futility late on a Sunday evening.
Don't you just love expensive wine?
re: Kenko - This is why I usually keep my mouth shut. Others always fill the silence (not that I want them to, but it's foolish to fight it).
A Tesla or an Audi. Decisions , decisions.
I'm terribly distraught at the thought that there is a space before that comma in my previous comma.
Forgive me.
Forceps, Gargle, Fun,
I'm your host tonight for futile chatter.
Poor Hillary, hasn't she suffered enough at the hands of those evil Republicans.
You know, Brianna's oldest had to go downtown to the PP clinic this weekend. Shame.
Gilberto's son just came back home from his little "clinic" visit finally.
Out here in oregon Queen Anne's lace is a lavish bounty, and a few years back when we were especially broke and were having guests, I'd go raid the wild spaces for them and the butterfly bush volunteers.
Queen Anne's are so charmingly astonishing in their micro-macro design, what do you call it? All of the smaller blossoms that make up that big bloom are themselves mini-mes of that fabulous Lacey white pattern. Oh reverie of summers and small talk and no talk at all.
“We’re still going to try to help and empower people like the one who senselessly shot my niece in the head,” Jolinda Wade said.
"Won't you, come see me, Queen Anne, err Jane"
There are many great things about cancer treatment but perhaps #1, this year, is that the result of the coming election is not nearly as important to you as it might have been otherwise. The inept campaigns of the two pathetic candidates remain entertaining, though. Week 3 of 7 starts now. Chemo on Mondays, Radiation M-F. I still ran 25 miles last week but the side effects really hit this week,they say.
The documentary Into Great Silence is a wonderful glimpse into the life of a vow of silence.
Since I can talk about anything I want, I will talk about tattoos. We went for a walk this weekend on a path around a local lake. The lake happens to have a swimming beach which we passed by. I would say well over 90% of the people swimming at the lake had large tattoos, the kind that cover a limb or trunk or more. If they had a burn that size, they would be in a burn unit. I am seeing more and more of these kinds of tattoos among my patients, too, and on celebrities, so I think it must be a trend. Used to be, tattoos were a sign of rebellion, but when so many people commit that large a chunk of their bodies to tattoos, it seems to me they are no longer rebels but slaves to popular culture.
Mid-Life Lawyer said...
Week 3 of 7 starts now.
Good luck. May you live long enough to suffer through the consequences of this election with the rest of us.
Fun fact: Queen Anne's Lace, like pigeons and earthworms, are not native the North America.
Even more fun fact: The aforementioned earthworms are actually not beneficial for our forest habitats.
"Essays in Idleness"
If that's a reference to the "Smart people are lazy" item, that paper wasn't about intelligence or laziness/idleness. Some MSM reporter made that up.
Mid-life Lawyer There are many great things about cancer treatment but perhaps #1, this year, is that the result of the coming election is not nearly as important to you as it might have been otherwise. The inept campaigns of the two pathetic candidates remain entertaining, though. Week 3 of 7 starts now. Chemo on Mondays, Radiation M-F. I still ran 25 miles last week but the side effects really hit this week,they say.
Situations like yours tend to put things into perspective. I'll be praying for you! Thank you for reminding me of the real priorities. God bless!
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