Something twigged when you mentioned the 'God Within' Mr Shriver. What was it? thought yours truly. Who said something more ascerbic about it? Who was it??

Aha!! Chesterton in Orthodoxy. (He does not much like the god within).

"Of all conceivable forms of enlightenment the worst is what these people call the Inner Light.

Of all horrible religions the most horrible is the worship of the god within. Any one who knows any body knows how it would work; any one who knows any one from the Higher Thought Centre knows how it does work.

That Jones shall worship the god within him turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones.

Let Jones worship the sun or moon, anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the god within. Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners."

Hope the above was not too OTT. In any case, Happy New Year.

Best,
Mary Cunningham
London

So this year, why not make your new year's resolution simply this: check the mirror every day for a view of your inner strength, resolve and will. Soak it up for just an instant. Feel the energy. The power is not simply within you, but is you, for you are power. Embrace who you are and what you can be. You are the architect of your life, the captain, the pilot who needs no make believe co-pilot.

That's a source of strength that lasts a lifetime.

Your revolutionary idea would be the end of right wing evangelism, all of which is based on the idea that humans are totally depraved and cannot know God without the intercession of Jesus (ie, their version of Jesus based on biblical literalism).
More power to you! God didn't make junk, and I'm as capable of knowing Him through my heart as any evangelist.
You posit a real revolution, Mr. Shriver, one that would end the tyranny of protestant calvinism in america, and I hope you can convince the misled followers of Know-it-Alls Dobson, Falwell, and Warren to join your movement so we can all be free to worship in our hearts without their smarmy intercession. Mary Cunningham busted Chesterton, follow her example and rise up against all the calvinist heresy that is dividing our culture. God loves all his creation, not just the evangelicals. The inner light is available to all, and don't trust those that would deny it--they are selling something.

MC quotes Chesterton:

"Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence..."

And it's still doing so 2000 years later.

Dear Tim,

I've heard people reject God's power, sovereignty and love by comparing our insignificant size to that of the universe. That is so far from the truth. Our size only proves His power and might. I’m sure a parent of a newborn would not compare the significance of their precious baby to that of the Himalayas, based on the size differential (or anything else). God truly lives in us if we let him. Just as Alice looked in the looking glass to find her direction and purpose, so should we. I’m going to take your lead and find my direction and purpose given to me by the Divine Creator.

Albert Schweitzer once said, “I never allow the magnitude of the task to blind me or keep me from doing what I can to change things.” You have inspired me to take each day of 2009 and look in the actual, as well as proverbial, looking glass for my inner energy, direction and purpose for this year, and make significant changes for good.

T

"The divinity is within you."

Maybe not.

TIME TO TAKE THOSE CAPTURED 'SUICIDE BOMBERS' AND PUT THEM ON TV ++++ WITH MAJOR COVERAGE ++++ SAYING THEY'D BEEN 'TRICKED.'

BY ANALOGY TO VIETNAM, UNTIL THOSE IN POWER STARTED HAVING THEIR SONS & DAUGHTERS SERVE AS SUICIDE BOMBERS [IN VIETNAM, IT WAS THE DRAFT] THOSE IN POSITIONS OF POWER IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD WILL CONTINUE TO USE ++++ CHEAP LABOR ++++ I.E., SOMEONE ELSE'S SON OR DAUGHTER ++++ TO DO THE DIRTY WORK. AND THEY WILL SEEK OUT VICTIMS TO CARRY THEIR SUICIDE ATTACKS AMONGST THE INJURED.

DERANGED INDIVIDUALS, ESPECIALLY DUE TO DRUG OR ALCOHOL ABUSE, OR OTHER MAJOR LIFE TRAUMAS ALWAYS RESERVE SUICIDE AS THEIR 'LAST ESCAPE' FROM REALITY -- UNTIL THEY REALIZE THAT SUICIDE IS NO ESCAPE, OR THEY, ONCE AGAIN CHOOSE LIFE.
--------------------
GIVING UP ONE'S LIFE FOR ANOTHER IS PERHAPS NOBLE, BUT IT IS NOT AS NOBLE AS LEARNING HOW TO FORGIVE AND THEN MOVE ON.

FORGIVENESS IS THE GREATEST HUMAN ATTRIBUTE, FOR IN A WORLD OF PERFECT JUSTICE, OR PERFECT KARMA, DESTRUCTION IS THE RESULT.

PERHAPS THIS IS WHY THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE SAME GOD, HAVE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS NOT LIVED IN PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND AS RADICAL FORMS OF ISLAM WERE EXPORTED TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, THEREIN CONFLICT HAS BEEN BREWED ANEW.

Mr. Shriver:
Thanks for your comments (and CBBLND and others).
It does seem a bit strange to look in the mirror to find god. It might even come across as arrogant.
I'm looking for a revolutionary resolution in people from just about the opposite perspective. I'd like us all to see that in and of ourselves we are completely UNable to make the changes we want and need for ourselves or others. That is the start for us to seriously look for a solution.
That will lead us, if we search seriously, to the Lord about whom you post. His name is Jesus. And He came to save us from our sins. There is no other way. I repented of my sins and trusted Jesus for forgiveness. I've been adopted into His family. I accepted His invitation into His life.
It's been an amazing ride so far. I encourage you to consider that as a revolutionary resolution, too.
Much grace,
StephenS2S

CB Blind, Tim Shriver, and all:

Friends,

I used that quote of Chesterton because IMHO it encapsulates the difference between the Christian meaning of our creation and that of the Stoic, or in this case Hindu.. After all, Chesterton was a man who reasoned himself from atheism to Catholicism passing through many of the other religions in his journey.

In this passage—a famous one—he pokes gentle fun at the notion that we should look inward for our salvation. No! writes Chesterton: we shouldn’t look for “the divine *within*. We are made in Christ’s image—Christ, perfect as man AND god!—but it doesn’t mean we share his divinity. We should look OUTWARD, not inward—outward to fellow Christians, outward to the Real Presence in sacrifice of the Mass, outward to the work of the Christian missionaries as they labour in the vineyard. Outward to all of humankind, imperfect though it is, made in the image of the Creator. As Chesterton wrote, “That Jones shall worship the god within him turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones.”

I must admit to seeing glimpses of the divine in other people, mostly newborns. When each one of my red-headed daughters (OK they weren’t red-headed at the time) was brought up to me I looked at them—where did you come from, I asked each one—where?

But when all is said and done --and a lot more is SAID than done—we are what we DO. And the Christian message is: there is one who will help us, that we are not alone in our efforts. That is the meaning and hope of the passage.

Again Happy New Year.

I appreciated Timothy's essay here - it's not always easy for committed Christians, Catholics in particular, to entertain or even examine other religious views.

Here we have the classic Cartesian dualism embodied in the Abrahamic faiths, as contrasted with the monism that is typical of Eastern religions - including Buddhism.

See below a link that delves into the philosophy that Tim refers to in the article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta

Thanks for the interesting replies Mary C and others, I understand that from your point of view, there is no god within to be found, and far from busting GK Chesterton you endorse him. I must therefore have offended you in asserting that the calvinist view of total depravity of man is problematic to society. that said,
I do reject it, and furthermore I believe it is pernicious. Yet as true believers you cannot see the harm done to non-christians. I submit God does not bear malice toward non-christians, but oftentimes believers in biblical literalism do disregard the rights of non-believers: Gott mit uns, ergo the devil must be in those "others", so "let god sort 'em out".
I understand there are "free-will" christians and there are "pre-destination" christians. You sound like the latter. And evangelical. Having found a way to salvation, you accept the word of your scripture that yours is the only possible way, quoting John 3:16, etc.
But in my view God can create as many Jesuses as he likes. He can decide to change his mind even if somebody writing a couple hundred years after the fact says, in a language I dont understand,that God said thus and so. And free will is a gift we have, and although you disagree, I have the right to believe in a personal inner light, and not be harassed by the calvinists for it. A willingness to look within for inspiration leads to the concept that others have the right to do so in their own way, and that God loves all his creatures not just the ones who think they are "chosen", or "saved".

" The Magi gave the child Jesus 'gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.' Why did they bring Him gifts? These gifts were not in recognition of what Jesus wanted but of who He was. The gold was the recognition of his kingship, the frankincense of his priesthood and the myrrh of the death that he would die.

" These gifts show not that the child Jesus was needy but that we are, who long for this priestly king who gave his life for us. The magi go to seek Him with their bags full of precious things, but more importantly they depart with their hands empty, and thus able to receive gift of all that Jesus is.

" This Christmas most of us will have given and received gifts. But the heart of all these celebrations is the one who needs no gifts from us but is pure gift. His very being is given to Him by the Father from all eternity, and He comes to give Himself to us in turn. To receive that gift, then we too need empty hands. We need to recognize that God's fullness of life is what we most deeply yearn for and create a space to receive it."

--- Father Timothy Radcliffe OP

The Visit of the Magi

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2. and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.

5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

----Matthew 2:1-12 (NIV)

Dear Dr Shriver

Since I already wished you a Happy New Year in my post on a previous essay, this is to wish you and yours a Happy Epiphany or Three Kings' Feast!

Since traditions seem to interest you, I wanted to share one from my own childhood in Kerala. As a member of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, we treated the Feast of Epiphany more important than Christmas. (It may have something to do with Eastern Christian Churches celebrating Christmas itself on 6/7th January, long after the the rest of the Christian world has already celebrated Christmas). We celebrated Epiphany like a feast of lights, ?to mark the star that guided the Magi to Jesus, a wee bit like a uniquely Kerala Christian version of the commonly known Diwali, Festival of Lights, celebrated by many Hindus outside Kerala. At Epiphany we used to light oil lamps fixed to a thick cylindrical plantain shoot/stem. Traditions have changed since then of course, and may even have been different in different parts of Kerala even in my childhood. What I have is only a vague recollection of what we called the "Pindi kuthi Perunnal," (translated from Malayalam, the language of Kerala, it stands for Pindi = plantain stem/shoot, kuthi = to pierce, meaning piercing the plantain stalk with lamps, perunnal= feast). My family slowly began to follow more Latin Rite Roman Catholic traditions after we moved out of Kerala, especially after we started attending the Roman Catholic Church.

Soja John Thaikattil
Sydney, Australia

Dr Shriver, you wrote:

Here's Easwaran's account of a particularly compelling New Year's tradition from his Hindu upbringing:

In Kerala state, South India, where I grew up, the new year is ushered in with a ceremony many centuries old. The night before, while most of the family is asleep, a special shrine is assembled with all kinds of lustrous objects--yellow flowers, brassware, gold jewelry, ripe fruits, lighted oil lamps--arranged around a mirror draped with garlands. The next morning, each member of the family is led to the shrine with eyes closed and asked, "Would you like to see the Lord?" We open our eyes, and shining in the midst of this bright setting, we see our own faces in the glass. It is a beautiful reminder of the divinity in each of us."

________________________________________

Although I'm a Christian from Kerala and therefore cannot speak with any certainty about Kerala Hindu customs, I wish to share my two cents about another version of the tradition you mentioned. Malayalam New Year's Day is celebrated on 14 April. It is known as VISHU. Vishnu is one of the supreme Hindu gods mentioned in the oldest Hindu Scripture, the Rigveda. It helps to remember that Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala are the most orthodox of Hindus, who follow only the three oldest of a total of four Vedas. "VISHUKANNI" is the offering made on New Year's Day, 14 April, to Vishu, the Hindu god, or to any one of the incarnations of Vishnu that the particular family may happen to worship as family deity. (Since Krishna is considered one of the incarnations of Vishnu, the family may place the Vishukanni or offering before the idol of Krishna instead of Vishnu.)

Vishukanni or the offering to Vishnu/the incarnation of Vishnu, the family deity, may consist of many different things, depending on the means of the family. A yellow colored flower, Cassia fistula, called "Konna Poovu" (Poovu = flower), signifying the color of gold, used on this occasion called "KANNI KONNA," is an integral part of the offering, since flower is always a part of any offering made to Hindu gods. The offering/Vishukanni is prepared by the lady of the house and she views it first on New Year's Day/Vishu and lights the lamp. This first viewing of the god Vishnu/family deity and the offering made to god is referred to as "KANNIKAANAL" (kaanal = sight). She leads the other members of the family with their eyes closed to Vishukanni (= family deity + offering) so that they may view it as first thing in the New Year. It is basically a way of wanting to see God first thing in the New Year, and offering Him the very best and wishing God's blessings for an abundant year ahead. Hindus make an offering to God knowing that God gives everything back in abundance. If a mirror happens to be placed along with the offering, (the choice of offering is varied and need NOT include a mirror), it is to reflect the offering placed before the deity and make it look even more abundant, implying God multiplies whatever is offered to Him.

Vishu KAI-NEETAM (kai= hand, neetam = stretch out or give) is a part of the celebration when gift of money is given to children. Wearing new clothes is also part of the celebration. Children may burst firecrackers and burn sparklers, as is commonly practice as part of Diwali celebrations in other parts of India.

Hindus in Kerala as far as I'm aware worship some Hindu deity or another and are not in the habit of looking at the mirror and worshiping themselves as god. Meditation and muddled interpretations of the Vedanta philosophy, through all its New Age forms, is not the way of the average Hindu, or the Indian society I have known in India. I have no doubt that the modern, highly intellectual Indian American community living in the US has several interpretations of Hinduism, each one equally valid because Hinduism has no uniform teaching and Hinduism is literally based on the different experiences of God by different persons.

Dear Dr Shriver

Here a recipe for what we in our family used to call "Vishkanni," because we were given to understand (at least in the part of Kerala from which I come) it formed one of the items of the Hindu Vishukanni. It is only a guess. My apologies to all Kerala Hindus if I got my guess wrong. Since I'm not sure if I have got the recipe right, I will not embarrass the Kerala Hindus by attributing my recipe to them, or even to my family for that matter.

Vishukanni according to Soja John Thaikattil (copyright 2009)

Ingriedients: (Quantity to be determined depending on how many people are to be served)

1. Rice (not parboiled, but a fine raw risotto variety)

2. coconut milk/cream

3. freshly grated coconut (deep frozen variety preferable if fresh coconut cannot be used)

4. cashew nuts

5. melted butter/ghee

6. jaggery (Indian brown sugar) OR pure maple syrup

7. cardamom pods

Give the cardamom pods a good knock with a hammer, so that the pods crack open and the tiny black fragrant seeds are partially crushed.

Roast the cashew nuts in melted butter or ghee and put aside.

Rice, with the crushed cardamom pods, and a tiny pinch of salt (much less than the usual quantity used when cooking rice for ordinary purposes) added to it, is to be cooked gently and slowly with half water and half coconut cream, stirring frequently.

When the rice is almost done, add the freshly grated coconut. The freshly grated coconut is not to be overcooked or taste raw.

After taking down the cooked rice from the stove, add the roasted cashew nuts.

Prepare the caramel with jaggery by boiling the jaggery with some water and boiling it till it turns sticky. Alternatively pure maple syrup may be used.

Spread the cooked rice on a pastry tray.
Pour a thin layer of jaggery caramel or pure maple syrup.
Cut into cubes or rectangles and serve.

Guten Appetit!

Important:

1. This dessert has almost no high quality nutritional value.

2. You are more likely to enjoy its taste if you are from Kerala and love the taste of coconut in everything. The quality and taste of the rice and the quality and freshness of the coconut used does play a very important role.

If the desert turns out to be a disaster, just blame the rice and the coconut. You may even blame me for giving such lousy instructions for its preparation. I have had to rely on my childhood memory of having eaten the thing. I haven't eaten it in a long time and have never made it myself.

PS:

I forgot to mention:

1. Please remove the cardamom pods before spreading the cooked rice on the pastry tray.

2. The rice porridge pastry should not be thicker than two inches (5 centimeters).

3. The jaggery caramel or maple syrup should be spread thinly and evenly on the spread cooked rice. This dessert is not meant to be too sweet.

4. I mentioned risotto rice only to emphasize that the rice must be able to absorb lots of water and be somewhat sticky without being too sticky. I do not know the name of the rice that is used in Kerala, which has several varities of rice. Rice used for Italian risotto comes closest to the quality of rice for this dessert. Parboiled rice is not suitable because it is non-sticky and does not taste particularly good in a desert. Basmati rice although fine is not suited to this rice pastry.

Soja,

Many thanks! I appreciate especially your admission you;d never made it yourself, only watched. I once tried to give a friend a recipe for (Irish)soda bread--having watched my gran make it countless times--and it turned out badly. Which is putting it mildly.

Blueball

Catholic teaching places great emphasis on good works. This is as true for Catholics today as it was for the ancients. The Church teaches that we can find Christ in *others*, especially the poorest, and you will (and have) found many of the Church's greatest saints labouring amongst them. As I understand it, Luther taught that man was saved by faith alone, and *only* through the action of God, that nothing--NOTHING!--we do can effect our salvation. God alone decides who is saved.

This has never been the teaching of the Church. We are taught that good works are as necessary for salvation as receiving the sacraments. Catholicism, above all else, is a group effort. Chesterton wrote that the joy of the religion is recognizing that there are others to help you on your path: "Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners."

GKC's book "The Man who was Thursday" made the same point, only in the guise of a murder mystery, complete with anarchists intent on blowing up the world.

Hope you access this. It's late in the blog.