The last couple of posts have come out of a state of mind and soul in me that I have had a hard time understanding myself. In neither have I written down exactly what is on my heart, though both have a little bit of it. Just now, visiting Fr Stephen's blog
Glory to God for All Things, I found some sayings of Elder Porphyrios that come closer than either of my own posts to express what I have been experiencing. He says…
Man has such powers that he can transmit good or evil to his environment. These matters are very delicate. Great care is needed. We need to see everything in a positive frame of mind. We mustn’t think anything evil about others. Even a simple glance or a sigh influences those around us. And even the slightest anger or indignation does harm. We need to have goodness and love in our soul and to transmit these things.
We need to be careful not to harbor any resentment against those who harm us, but rather to pray for them with love. Whatever any of our fellow men does, we should never think evil of him. We need always to have thoughts of love and always to think good of others. Look at St. Stephen the first martyr. He prayed, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’ (Acts 7:60). We need to do the same.
Quoting from Fr Stephen's post The Fascination of Wickedness
The last couple of posts have come out of a state of mind and soul in me that I have had a hard time understanding myself. In neither have I written down exactly what is on my heart, though both have a little bit of it. Just now, visiting Fr Stephen's blog Glory to God for All Things, I found some sayings of Elder Porphyrios that come closer than either of my own posts to express what I have been experiencing. He says…
again, I am shivering, not because of the cold, since it is warm today, but because of this beautiful wisdom!! Thanks Romanos!
ReplyDeleteThis idea makes its way into Guitar Craft as well...
ReplyDelete"It is not necessary to be cheerful.
It is not necessary to feel cheerful.
But look cheerful."
On the surface this seemed superficial, but Robert Fripp explained it - that we all live in states of peril, and we are not unique or isolated in our suffering. Every person on earth has a reason to frown if they choose to. Why impose your frown on someone else, who already is bearing their own burden? So we turn our attention to the face - to relax expression of tension in order to work together.
One of the other aphorisms of interest to Robert, which you may recognize as an Athonite theme:
"Remain in hell without despair."
Which is generally stated from St. Silouan:
"Keep your mind in hell and despair not."
http://www.agrino.org/cyberdesert/despairnot.htm
Yes, Jacob, I think you told me about Robert Fripp's interest in Orthodox wisdom, and as truth is truth wherever we find it, Orthodox or not, people can relate.
ReplyDelete"It is not necessary to be cheerful.
It is not necessary to feel cheerful.
But look cheerful."
Yes, a good aphorism. This has been my philosophy at least since I watched the film Harvey for the first time. That film showed me a side of life I had totally missed.
One of my earliest blog posts has a related idea: http://cost-of-discipleship.blogspot.com/2006/03/peace-begins-with-smile.html
As to Abba Silouan's saying, "Keep your mind in hell and despair not," when I first read the book A Monk of Mount Athos I think I understood what he meant by it, and perhaps I still do, but I have found a different saying that means to me what I think his saying meant to him. It is from the psalms for Day 24 (Anglican cycle),
I have faith, even when I say, "I am completely crushed."
Psalm 116:10 Jerusalem Bible
I also blogged about this state of spirit in more detail here:
http://cost-of-discipleship.blogspot.com/2008/07/peace-of-christ.html
Thanks for commenting, Jacob. It's good to hear from you.