blogging this way is weird, I am typing this Australian time Saturday 17th April
It gets posted on Friday 16th April
time travel for dummies or what!
After work today I am going out into the garden to pull weeds, and tidy up a little.
Hopefully this will restore my sanity and my spirit.
The world of men is a horrible horrible place, the ongoing violence has depressed me big time.
Faith in God restoreth my soul, but sanity and spirit need a little more....
btw email me my gmail w00t if ya wanna say summat to me!
Friday, April 16, 2004
Sometimes book reviews are the best source for a summary of a involved situation:
my thanks to arta for posting in the agonist bulletin board an excellent resource to the history of Islams internal and external dealings with its 'demons', originally from NYBooks.com
also in search of hezbollah is worth the read as well.. if you want to bypass nybooks read it here: agonist bulletin board link
my thanks to arta for posting in the agonist bulletin board an excellent resource to the history of Islams internal and external dealings with its 'demons', originally from NYBooks.com
also in search of hezbollah is worth the read as well.. if you want to bypass nybooks read it here: agonist bulletin board link
Thursday, April 15, 2004
It is not often 'down under' in Australia that I get to read a book ahead of reading the reviews in US or UK journals.
However I managed to complete JO INDS 'MEMORIES OF BLISS' before reading this:
the tablet
Jo has tried to discover sex but all she is doing is muddling around with post-modern conceptions of sex !!!!!! For anyone not across modern sexual practices it is probably an eyeopener of a book but for the rest ho hum.... This is not withstanding Jo's dealing with the effect of MS on her life and her courageous attempts to rise above illness. It is an interesting book nevertheless as it documents and references a wide range of philosophical, sociological and religious viewpoints. It has a very useful bibliography.
For those wanting something more Roman Catholic I recommend "GOOD NEWS ABOUT SEX AND MARRIAGE" by Christopher West. Whilst more Q&A than "Memories of Bliss it is wider in its information, but more moralistic from a 'correct' roman pov!.
I reckon that:
The trouble with sex is that it is trouble, when we are young, and when we are not so young
I agree with the Tablets' reviewer :
"I see what these books are trying to do: they are trying to correct the Jansenistic and overly ascetic approach to sexuality that has characterised aspects of the Catholic Church since the eighteenth century. They are trying to say that the flesh is also God-given, as indeed it is: that is the very meaning of the word “incarnation”. This task should be done: but it should be done better. "
Mary Kenny
However I managed to complete JO INDS 'MEMORIES OF BLISS' before reading this:
the tablet
Jo has tried to discover sex but all she is doing is muddling around with post-modern conceptions of sex !!!!!! For anyone not across modern sexual practices it is probably an eyeopener of a book but for the rest ho hum.... This is not withstanding Jo's dealing with the effect of MS on her life and her courageous attempts to rise above illness. It is an interesting book nevertheless as it documents and references a wide range of philosophical, sociological and religious viewpoints. It has a very useful bibliography.
For those wanting something more Roman Catholic I recommend "GOOD NEWS ABOUT SEX AND MARRIAGE" by Christopher West. Whilst more Q&A than "Memories of Bliss it is wider in its information, but more moralistic from a 'correct' roman pov!.
I reckon that:
The trouble with sex is that it is trouble, when we are young, and when we are not so young
I agree with the Tablets' reviewer :
"I see what these books are trying to do: they are trying to correct the Jansenistic and overly ascetic approach to sexuality that has characterised aspects of the Catholic Church since the eighteenth century. They are trying to say that the flesh is also God-given, as indeed it is: that is the very meaning of the word “incarnation”. This task should be done: but it should be done better. "
Mary Kenny
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
looking forward to the speech by the Reserve Bank of Australia Chief Ian Mcfarlane
on the state of the housing market, the economy generally and the global possibilities
of the financial markets ongoing reactions to terrorism
this google link should work in 8 or 9 hours time following the speech!
on the state of the housing market, the economy generally and the global possibilities
of the financial markets ongoing reactions to terrorism
this google link should work in 8 or 9 hours time following the speech!
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
I enjoyed this....
Last words are especially fascinating. Human beings are speaking animals. For us to be alive is to be in communication. Death is not just the cessation of bodily life. It is silence. So what we say in the face of imminent silence is revealing. It may be resigned; Ned Kelly, the Australian bank robber, managed, “Such is life” just before he was executed. Lord Palmerston, “The last thing that I shall do is to die,” is more defiant or just pragmatic. One may be gloriously mistaken, like the American Civil War general who said of the enemy sharpshooters, “They could not hit an elephant at this distance.” Few of us manage the grandeur of the Emperor Vespasian’s “Woe is me; I think that I am becoming a god.” Pitt the younger is supposed to have said, “Oh my country, how I leave my country,” but the more reliable tradition gives us, “I think that I could eat one of Bellamy’s meat pies.” In fact many dying people ask for food and drink. St Thomas Aquinas asked for fresh herrings, which were miraculously provided, and Anton Chekhov announced that it was never too late for a glass of champagne.
We live in an age of profound anxiety. We are fearful about disease and illness, about our futures, about our children, about our jobs, about failure, about death. We suffer from a deep insecurity, a collapse of trust. This is strange because we are far more protected and safe than any previous generation of human history, at least in the West. We have better medicine, safer transport; we are more protected from the climate, have better social security. And yet we are more afraid.
I spent nine years as Master of the Dominican Order travelling around the world in many dangerous places. I saw civil war and genocide in Africa, thousands of people with leprosy, the signs of endless violence. But when I came back to the West, I found people who appeared to be more afraid than anywhere else. The attacks of 11 September deepened that sense of anxiety. I was in Berkeley, California, when those few anthrax envelopes were sent and the panic was tangible. But we have no need for fear. Jesus has entrusted us into the hands of the Father.
I suspect that this pervasive anxiety derives from the fact that we have a culture of control. We can control so many things: fertility and birth, so much disease can be cured; we can control the forces of nature; we mine the earth and dam the rivers. And we Westerners control most of humanity. But control is never complete. We are increasingly aware that our planet may be careering towards disaster. We live in what Anthony Giddens has called “a runaway world”. We are afraid, above all, of death, which unmasks our ultimate lack of control.
A friend of mine had a sign in his room which said, “Don’t worry. It might not happen.” I composed another for him which said, “Don’t worry. It probably will happen. But it won’t be the end of the world.” It will not be the end of the world because the world has already ended. When Jesus dies the sun and the moon are darkened; the tombs are opened, and the dead walk. This is the end of which the prophets spoke. The worst that one can ever imagine has already happened. The world collapsed. And then there was Easter Sunday.
the Tablet
- they will want your email address to register but if you like the cut and parry of good Christian writings it is worth handing it over.
Last words are especially fascinating. Human beings are speaking animals. For us to be alive is to be in communication. Death is not just the cessation of bodily life. It is silence. So what we say in the face of imminent silence is revealing. It may be resigned; Ned Kelly, the Australian bank robber, managed, “Such is life” just before he was executed. Lord Palmerston, “The last thing that I shall do is to die,” is more defiant or just pragmatic. One may be gloriously mistaken, like the American Civil War general who said of the enemy sharpshooters, “They could not hit an elephant at this distance.” Few of us manage the grandeur of the Emperor Vespasian’s “Woe is me; I think that I am becoming a god.” Pitt the younger is supposed to have said, “Oh my country, how I leave my country,” but the more reliable tradition gives us, “I think that I could eat one of Bellamy’s meat pies.” In fact many dying people ask for food and drink. St Thomas Aquinas asked for fresh herrings, which were miraculously provided, and Anton Chekhov announced that it was never too late for a glass of champagne.
We live in an age of profound anxiety. We are fearful about disease and illness, about our futures, about our children, about our jobs, about failure, about death. We suffer from a deep insecurity, a collapse of trust. This is strange because we are far more protected and safe than any previous generation of human history, at least in the West. We have better medicine, safer transport; we are more protected from the climate, have better social security. And yet we are more afraid.
I spent nine years as Master of the Dominican Order travelling around the world in many dangerous places. I saw civil war and genocide in Africa, thousands of people with leprosy, the signs of endless violence. But when I came back to the West, I found people who appeared to be more afraid than anywhere else. The attacks of 11 September deepened that sense of anxiety. I was in Berkeley, California, when those few anthrax envelopes were sent and the panic was tangible. But we have no need for fear. Jesus has entrusted us into the hands of the Father.
I suspect that this pervasive anxiety derives from the fact that we have a culture of control. We can control so many things: fertility and birth, so much disease can be cured; we can control the forces of nature; we mine the earth and dam the rivers. And we Westerners control most of humanity. But control is never complete. We are increasingly aware that our planet may be careering towards disaster. We live in what Anthony Giddens has called “a runaway world”. We are afraid, above all, of death, which unmasks our ultimate lack of control.
A friend of mine had a sign in his room which said, “Don’t worry. It might not happen.” I composed another for him which said, “Don’t worry. It probably will happen. But it won’t be the end of the world.” It will not be the end of the world because the world has already ended. When Jesus dies the sun and the moon are darkened; the tombs are opened, and the dead walk. This is the end of which the prophets spoke. The worst that one can ever imagine has already happened. The world collapsed. And then there was Easter Sunday.
the Tablet
- they will want your email address to register but if you like the cut and parry of good Christian writings it is worth handing it over.
Well back at work after the Easter Vacation. The city is still half empty as most Canberrans head for the coast or their hometowns for the Easter holiday. I am overloaded with work, but when in doubt blog!
Still no rain.....
This is the Australian news : Big jump in numbers at Easter services
and in Jerusalem: Holy Land's secret Passion
more floss
The bud of a rose is just as beautiful as the
full bloom. Appreciate what you have at the
moment.
--- Anonymous
The Greeks gave us the most beautiful word
in our language: the word " enthusiasm "
from the Greek - En Theo - which means
" inner God "
--- Louis Pasteur
Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive
experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to
success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false
leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every
fresh experience points out some form of error which we
shall afterwards carefully avoid.
-- John Keats
***
Coz this is my blog and I can type what I want:
Michelle - I have nothing to say to you!
***
petulant annoyance dealt with!
Meanwhile I am glad that Mike is enjoying these:
murals1 and murals2
Still no rain.....
This is the Australian news : Big jump in numbers at Easter services
and in Jerusalem: Holy Land's secret Passion
more floss
The bud of a rose is just as beautiful as the
full bloom. Appreciate what you have at the
moment.
--- Anonymous
The Greeks gave us the most beautiful word
in our language: the word " enthusiasm "
from the Greek - En Theo - which means
" inner God "
--- Louis Pasteur
Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive
experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to
success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false
leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every
fresh experience points out some form of error which we
shall afterwards carefully avoid.
-- John Keats
***
Coz this is my blog and I can type what I want:
Michelle - I have nothing to say to you!
***
petulant annoyance dealt with!
Meanwhile I am glad that Mike is enjoying these:
murals1 and murals2
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