Blood & Ink: Saturday
faith as justification / fuel for change / self-authoring
I was moved by this video…
(Again, religious overtones aside, listen to the intent.)
It spoke to something I couldn’t put into words before:
You can use things to justify your life, or you can use them to amplify it.
- The gym can justify your life: “I’ve earned this chocolate cake!”
Or the gym can catalyze your life: “I’m working hard so I’m not going to sabotage myself.”
You see this everywhere in spiritual practice:
- “The universe will bring me what I need, so I don’t need to do anything.” vs. “The universe will bring me what I need, so I’ll relentlessly pursue my path until then.”
- “There’s no ‘self’ doing anything anyways, so all effort is ignorant.” vs. “There’s no ‘self’ doing anything anyways, so there’s nothing blocking effort from flowing out of me.”
- “Everything is permissible under God, so I will tolerate this evil in the world.” vs. “Everything is permissible under God, so I will honour my feelings and fight against evil.”
Those who truly change their lives allow their practices and faith to catalyze their lives.
The choice—as always—is yours,
Eric Brown.