I have had a luxury our genius-host does not: namely, stepping away for a while from these almost daily deep dives into our Bible. My biblio-vaca highlights for me the discipline Amichai has imposed on himself, and my respect for this discipline is enhanced.
This practice is spiritual in its force and intent, for there will be days when he must feel the desire to lay his burden down. A spiritual practice is by definition something undertaken for the sake of the good that you do whether you feel like it or not. And so it is and must be for this project.
Its benefits accrue over time: knowledge grows; a level of self-respect; unknown and unforeseeable blessings arrive. It is also an ethical enterprise, for it exercises a man's discrimination: How to read a sacred text critically, with an questioning, open mind, and to face the mirrors that this process will present. For whatever price that man pays for strapping himself to the wheel of this commitment, he also has the structure of a process that becomes a ritual into which, daily, he can pour an unselfish desire to learn and write and thereby share. If pursued with a desire to find and to tell the truth, such a man will grow stronger.
Amichai, "You are that man."
As a footnote to this post, I am reminded of Hamlet's play within the play wherein he seeks "To catch the conscience of the king," his uncle who murdered his father. He achieves his goal: for Claudius, the usurper, sees himself in the playlet's mirror and knows "I am that man."
Welcome back Peter! So glad to have your kind eye and wise words with us and so appreciative of your appreciation of this labor of love. I'll take 'you are that man' with a grain of salt.. throw it over my shoulder and deal with my davidic lineage as best I can..:) Thank you for that wonderful Hamlet quote! Wait till tomorrow -- biblio-psycho-drama meets its mentor.
I have had a luxury our genius-host does not: namely, stepping away for a while from these almost daily deep dives into our Bible. My biblio-vaca highlights for me the discipline Amichai has imposed on himself, and my respect for this discipline is enhanced.
This practice is spiritual in its force and intent, for there will be days when he must feel the desire to lay his burden down. A spiritual practice is by definition something undertaken for the sake of the good that you do whether you feel like it or not. And so it is and must be for this project.
Its benefits accrue over time: knowledge grows; a level of self-respect; unknown and unforeseeable blessings arrive. It is also an ethical enterprise, for it exercises a man's discrimination: How to read a sacred text critically, with an questioning, open mind, and to face the mirrors that this process will present. For whatever price that man pays for strapping himself to the wheel of this commitment, he also has the structure of a process that becomes a ritual into which, daily, he can pour an unselfish desire to learn and write and thereby share. If pursued with a desire to find and to tell the truth, such a man will grow stronger.
Amichai, "You are that man."
As a footnote to this post, I am reminded of Hamlet's play within the play wherein he seeks "To catch the conscience of the king," his uncle who murdered his father. He achieves his goal: for Claudius, the usurper, sees himself in the playlet's mirror and knows "I am that man."
Welcome back Peter! So glad to have your kind eye and wise words with us and so appreciative of your appreciation of this labor of love. I'll take 'you are that man' with a grain of salt.. throw it over my shoulder and deal with my davidic lineage as best I can..:) Thank you for that wonderful Hamlet quote! Wait till tomorrow -- biblio-psycho-drama meets its mentor.
Very much enjoying this entire series and evaluating David in a new light.