So what is troubling me about the Pentecost is the way it seemed to birth hierarchy, right out of thin air (pun intended). To do this of course, requires that you believe that Spirit is also authority and that Spirit comes from above. Both of those assumptions, it seems to me were to have devastating consequences over the next 2000 years. First of all, if Spirit is also authority, then the apostles became the first anointed Christian priests, ordained by Spirit itself to spread the message that Jesus Christ had been teaching before he was executed. The Church began, and …
Share:
Pentecost, from the Ingebord Psalter c.1210 Synergy reminds me that yesterday was Pentecost in the Christian calender. This day commerates the day the Apostles were visited by a “Comforter,” Spirit itself. This must have been a transcendant mystical experience. Gnostics for example look to the Pentecost as the pinnacle of the Gnostic mystical journey, looking to me a lot like a collective Buddhist awakening experience: To know the event of Pentecost as an immanent and interior reality is the goal towards which the Gnostic’s striving is always directed. If we are to know this other Comforter, we must somehow come …
Share:
Lynn posts a very nice and comprehensive resource for anyone starting out on an auto-didactical exploration of classical music. She includes a list of good resources and some advice for dealing with fervent advice from others: We serious classical music lovers are a bunch of fanatics; we’re lunatics; we’re scary. We can’t help it; the music we love is like a religion with us and we defend it and argue about it amoung ourselves with all the fervor of religious fundamentalists. When we discover a potential convert our worst fear is that he will get away – that, like most …
Share:
May 31 annular eclipse as seen over Iceland Image via Sky and Telescope
Share:
Michael Herman catches me on the Bowen Island Ferry Cam and posts a photo of me waving at him. I’m the guy with the red circle around him. I was on the phone with Michael at the time. This is me blogging from Bowen Island about my friend in Chicago blogging a webcam image of me on Bowen Island. I’m going to go and sit down now. Feeling a little dizzy here.