Beyond the Coin

The following post is inspired by an article I read from Ravi Zacharias International. I usually get these in my daily email but rarely have the time to read through them but a friend resent this article to me and it really gave me a lot to think about. The article centers around this poem to which I will respond with thoughts of my own and that, reinforced by the article.

"The Apologist's Evening Prayer."

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die. (1)



For the rationalist or the TJ as defined by Myers Briggs, it is easy for our thoughts to replace the reality of God just as these words I write may be the replacement for the quality of relationship that I ought to have with God. I may think of God but if there lacks the connection between the mind and the heart then it causes a pride to think we have it figured out. I use "It" as the general term for everything there needs to be known about existence from myself to the entirety of existence both subjectively and objectively.

As much as we wrestle with our thoughts of the Divine to understand and take one step closer to God, without the recognition that we need to allow these thoughts to transform into the intangible quality that transcends our thoughts whereby, only can we truly experience and enter into God's presence. Our thoughts along with any other form of expression in thought or some other means are only the means, the vehicle if you will, to take us to that place where we are able to meet God. The rest is up to the Will and the Desire to allow the Divine to encounter us that leaves us forever changed, removing what we once thought we knew how to get there and leaves us in awe and changed, not become more fearful; rather, more humbled and amazed at the Divine Love that embraced Death to give us Life.

Isaiah 6.

Darkness Part 1

I am writing this as a reflection to a short essay a dear friend of mine wrote. This idea of darkness is one that is so core to our existence. Darkness:the absence of light. On a more metaphorical level, darkness is the absence of certainty of our environment and an exposition of our vulnerability.

Perhaps it is in darkness we truly realize the core of our very existence: we are dependent beings. It is in darkness we are stripped of vision and thrust into uncertainty. For those of us who may argue that how they may certain in life and every moment has always been an anticipated one. They are always seeing things in a certain light and perhaps claim ignorantly that they will always know what is happening based on their intellect and experience. Yet, I still argue how one can account for the rest of the world who have not experienced this certainty? Would it not be true if we could always be in control and certain in our destiny, then all we know as pain and suffering would then disappear? I think the very existence of the thing we know as darkness, reflects that very certain idea of uncertainty: it reminds us of our condition as dependant beings.

As much as we are uncertain in darkness, we are also certain that in darkness, the more of it there is, the more safe we can feel and perhaps even somewhat blissful in our ignorance. In the presence of minimal light however, we are thrown into uncertainty. Perhaps in our lives, we always have some sort of light and that we do know. Perhaps it is innate inside of us that lets us differentiate this dark and light. It scares us because this light, although minimal, creates silhouettes of things in our lives into horrible monsters when in fact, only , in light that these things reveal themselves to be less horrible. This is where we retreat further into the darkness if we do not know where to intensify this light. Ironic we will feel safe in this darkness.

I will continue this thought later on.