Return of the Vortex…. ?
Dear God, no.
I read in the paper today that certain scientists are claiming that various factors, including the melting polar ice caps, are changing global climate so that last winter may become something of the norm for the eastern United States.
Like global warming may lead to regional ice ages.
The explanation sounded reasonable, but the article did note that more conventional climatologists disagree.
I comforted myself last winter, as I toiled in the biting cold month after month, by telling myself that this was The Winter of a Lifetime. While I am rooting for the conventional climatologists, I also remind myself that I did prove I can do it.
But really, this news story coming just days after I wrote that I am ready for the change of season?
On the other hand, if every Vortex Winter was followed by a summer as sweet as this one?
I might take it.
Anecdotal Wisdom
Do not scorn anecdotal wisdom. Any other kind is just something you read or heard or memorized. In fact the person who continually experiences things contrary to what they believe should happen, given what they are doing in good faith, and doesn’t start to wonder if they got it wrong is really an ideologue, refusing to question his or her premises.
Which can be frightening.
Our human constructs, whether religious or philosophical or political or whatever, make us feel safe, sure that we have a grip on The Real. Realizing that we may have erred is terrifying.
But refusing to admit it and look at things with questioning eyes is a living death.
George Fox…
… was right. There is an inner light. Humans can experience some small glimpse of holy Being.
As humans, though, as soon as we open our mouths it gets distorted.
Wisdom, Be Attentive
I have begun to reread Gaudiem et Spes, the Vatican II document that Francis was obviously referencing when he called his pivotal Apostolic Letter Gaudiem Evangelli. I have recently become aware that whatever the feuds in the very recent aftermath, historically speaking, of that Roman Catholic Council, that Council has recently been defiinitively ratified by Francis, who canonized the two popes most identified with it. It is clear, especially if you are apophatic regarding the age and future of humanity and the Church, that if the doomsday prophets are wrong, as they always have been so far, that the Council, and the post-conciliar popes, will be the major influence on Catholicism for the near, and possibly the not-so-near, future.
Granted, the language of the documents may be off-putting to moderns, postmoderns, millennials, and especially most everyone under the age of 45.
Every reference to the human family is rendered ‘man’.
It is all ‘man’, ‘mankind’. and ‘he’ and ‘his’.
I once wrote a sort of apologia for such exclusive language. Sort of the ‘you know that really means humanity, right?’ approach.
Well if that is what it means then let us say what it means.
Which creates certain aesthetic and grammatical problems for those who pay attention to such things.
But it hit me reading the Council document: the key to this dilemma is in using the real inclusive language. Use ‘we’ and ‘our’ for every ‘man’ or ‘man’s’. Try it. It reads well and if translated like this could have a great impact on the future of, well, Us.
Franciscan My Ass
As I am suffering from acute outrage burnout I am not even going to comment on this. Use your imagination for my rant:
“Fox News commentator Lt. Col. Oliver North, of Iran-Contra Affair fame, is the scheduled keynote speaker for a Sept. 13 benefit dinner in Dallas to support the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land, a U.S-based ecumenical operation dedicated to assisting persecuted Christians in the Middle East.”
Read the whole sorry tale if you must:http://ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/oliver-north-raise-money-franciscan-holy-land-foundation
Painting by Albert Edelfelt
Caelum Et Terra 