"No man has greater love than this that he lay down his life for his friends"
Blogging is like group therapy... international no less... encouraging clear expression of innermost thought... submission to Other for criticism... Other reciprocating... receiving feedback - the rough with the smooth... giving feedback - the harsh with the gentle... and growth... character cultivates... a gift to those around... friends, best friends, family, children, lover, spouse, parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, communities, business partners, colleagues, mates, girls, lads... truly the greatest gift is the attended life...
4 comments:
Jeff... the word therapy has it's roots in the greek work attend... Socrates said the unattended life isn't worth living... to Christianise it I would say it means taking the log out of your own eye so you can see clearly... to become aware of your stuff that you dump on those around you... James Hollis said that the greatest gift you can give someone is an attended life... not sure I'm being clear here?... peace DM
I agree that blogging is like group therapy. And, like therapy, everyone in the group is crazy to one degree or other.
I guess the "attended" life is one where you are paying attention to what you do and why and are developing the disciplines that allow you to change your life... like attending to a garden maybe?... so for example one of the things that irks me is the amount of control, manipulation and agenda that is prevelant and so damaging in a church context... most people in church are not aware of it... many people out of church are aware of it and don't want to be part of church because of it... in my life I am currently becoming aware of the amount of resistance I am generating in others that can then lead to conflict... I have searched out techniques that help me deliberately change and become more aware... the attended life is one where you pay attention to your internal world as well as your external world... where you "know yourself"... where you can choose to change whatever you like in your life... does that make more sense? peace DM
LOL... I think that "attending" is a lost art... we have it in our tradition but don't recognise it... sometimes I hear people talking about spiritual disciplines and practices but from my judgemental perspective they seems religious and shallow... I guess I want them to be able to describe it fuly without resorting to using "Christian" words...
I know what you mean about "attending" too much... I think finding the balance of how much to attend to is part of the attending process itself... the balance of desire freedom vs pushing yourself too hard to get it...
However for me acceptance has been one of the main things for me to learn... and I find most "Christian" thinking the antithesis of acceptance... the "Christian" standard is that I'm never good enough... sod that for a game of cards...
And so far I don't have the words and analologies to communicate what I think and feel really effectively... oh well... forever onwards... *grin*
peace DM
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