Blake

Proverbs of Hell: I laughed and I reflected. These read to me like a bunch of "one liners". "The cistern contains: the fountain overflows". Is this about polarity? The Yin/Yang dynamic seems to be him evening out his mind. For this there is that. "The most sublime act is to set another before you." This is parenting. We are no longer exclusively "me" because "me" is now "we". Why does he title this Proverbs of Hell? Most of these phrases are so beautiful they can't be hell. My favorite is "Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without Improvement are roads of Genius". Society has often looked at the "new idea" as being totally absurd. Without those that are absurd we would not have the inventions we have today but are the fine tuned inventions really the best thing for us? "Where man is not, nature is barren." This comes from a man who knows that men have a purpose. I could not imagine for the centuries past how hard it must have been for males to know that there was a bonified reason for their existance. If humans were not able to figure out that it is a man's sperm that impregnates a woman, would men still feel like "Why am I here, when females have babies and we don't"? As I keep writing I am beginning to understand Blake's Proverbs of Hell title.

Kafka

These writings were very interesting to me. "The Messiah will come only when he is no longer necessary." This is profound for how many times do we need something and we find a way to do with out then it appears. In times like these a enjoy in the humor of God. How funny he is.
I would have to agree to his idea that humans have two great sins, both lead to the one, impatience. I never thought about how to return or if we can. Could it be that simple. I am a very impatient person and it has been a great challenge for me this Lenten season to work on this one. I have fallen off my path of calm behavior as did Jesus with His cross. Impatience has kept me from finding peace and that could be what happened in the Garden. Due to thier impatience they lost peace.

Heraclitus

"You can't step twice into the same river". This is the perfect reminder that nothing remains the same. You are at the river with loved ones and playing in the water. Swimming upstream and walking on the shore are the way that you are sharing in the beauty of creation. As you swim, you pass a leaf floating downstream. Then you float downstream. As you start your way back up to jump off a rock, you see that leaf is gone. This is not the same river you were just floating down because that leaf is a new one and it is from a different tree. The ebb and flow of life becomes very clear. That frog is new and that Hawk just landed in a tree. Tomorrow the river will be different and it is going to be a great day.

Maximus of Tyre

I understand the commandment about not worshiping idols. In some contexts the image of Mary or the Rosary can be viewed as this. I love that Maximus acknowledges that we need the "help of sounds and names and pictures". How beautifully he has given comfort for the fact that we are simple and sometimes we can focus on an innate object or a mountain and see God. I believe the Druid teachings that humans need simple things to help them focus on the Great One. For them it is a rock or a tree, something not made by man, and one can see the Almighty in the best of His works.
I love that he does not want to pass judgment about images and what people see or hear. That is what we are taught in Christianity, "Judge not lest ye be judged" and yet some do only this. How often have you heard, "You can't do that or you are a sinner"? Maybe this is one of those things that Jason talked about in class. We do pick and choose which rules we want to follow. Thank you, Jason, for speaking those words and truths. It is a good reminder of the human condition.

Abu hamid al-Ghazali

"...he must be loved by those to whom his beauty and his majesty are revealed." It seems to me to be a bit concieted. In every writing that we have read on Islam, they all hint that they are the only ones to recieve these gifts. I was taught that we have all recieved the grace of God and we will all come to our own relationship with Him. I feel like Christianity, in my world, is much more forgiving than Islam. I would not want to be taught that it will be God's choice to love me or not or that God will be selective in revelation. How do you hear God, and how do you see God? The last paragraph feels the most real to me. Ask for forgiveness and you shall recieve it. JUST ASK.

Muhammad

I was quickly stopped by a single phrase and I am struggling working past it. The phrase by Muhammed is this, "My sevant does not cease to come near Me until I love him; and when I love him, I am the sight he sees with and the hearing he hears with and the hand he recieves with and the foot he walks with."
I thought that He loves us no matter what. I believe that we see from His eyes and hear with His ears, but sometimes we ignore Him. But as the prodigal son was unconditionaly loved so are we. All we have to do is surrender to Him and we shall have the Kingdom of God.
The surrendering is the only commonality that I found in this group of writings by this man. I know this because I have closed myself off due to this statement.
Iwent back to read this group of writings and then I find the "We". Is this "We" the trinity? I don't understand Islam.