In my previous post, I talked about how good followers of St. Thomas Aquinas should not feel confined to the letter of Aquinas’ writings, but rather, like Aquinas himself, put whatever was imperfect, the straw of conventions, to the fire, and emerge with the spirit that gives life, that is, to seek after the real core meaning of his teachings and not let the convention used to explain it get in the way of the truth[1]. What is true for... Read more
Near the end of his life, St. Thomas Aquinas had a mystical experience. He had an encounter with God which literally left him speechless. It shook up to the core of his being. He felt that what he had written, in relation to what he learned from it, was meaningless, useless straw which was worthy of being put to flames. He didn’t want to write any more, and despite the pleas of friends and colleagues, he did not finish his... Read more
Jesus, the God-man, looking down from the cross, saw his mother and the beloved apostle, John, standing there beside him. As the perfect follower of the law, Jesus always acted as a good son, honoring and loving his precious mother (cf. Ex. 20:12). Mary was there beside her son, her heart pierced as she watched in sorrow his painful death on the cross.[1] Seeing his mother having no one else there to comfort her, no children to take care of... Read more
As we seek God, the closer we get to him, the further it seems we are from actually knowing him. This is because the great, transcendental nature of God is such that he is beyond anything which our minds can comprehend – try as we might, we end up following the words of the Psalmist, by saying, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Ps.139:6 RSV). The ways of God, likewise, transcend us.... Read more
Tathāgata theology, Having gone, silence. Tathāgata theology, Having come, silence. Hear the word, Beyond silence. Speak the word, Beyond silence. Tathāgata, having come and gone, Speak to God. Tathāgata, having come and gone, Speak about Nothing. Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook: A Little Bit of Nothing Read more
This morning, as a part of the ongoing research for a book I am writing, I read a short work on the Japanese aesthetic approach known as Wabi-Sabi before taking up and reading from a collection of poems by the poet Ryōkan Taigu.[1] One of the first poems of the collections struck me almost immediately. Its sensibility was related to a major theme of my work. The world, and all that is in it, is beautiful. The reason why we... Read more
It has long been known that the story of Kullervo from the Finnish legendarium, the Kalevala, played an important role in the early development of J. R. R. Tolkien’s own legendarium. The Kullervo cycle in the Kalevala served as a foundation for the tragic character of Túrin Turambar in The Silmarillion. There has been for some time a debate as to the kind of influence Kullervo had on Tolkien. It was not until recently that most Tolkien scholars got a... Read more
A monk of the desert once was met by an Epicurean philosopher who wanted to tempt the monk to stop his ascetic endeavors and return to a life of luxury. “You’re missing out,” the philosopher explained to the monk. “I think it is a sound philosopher who told us that we should eat, drink and be merry, for indeed, tomorrow we will die.” “Why are you so enthralled with the things of the earth, if you will lose them tomorrow?”... Read more
A Buddhist monk and his disciple came together to talk about life, the universe and everything. The disciple, having read and many important Buddhist texts, such as the Heart Sutra which told him, “Form is emptiness,” ended up taking a nihilistic view towards the universe. If emptiness is form, and form is emptiness, would it not be best to help the world achieve its proper form and empty it of all its illusions, and so eliminate its apparent content? The... Read more
That’s right. I’m back. As many people might remember, I used to write for several years on the group blog, Vox Nova. Eventually, the negative side of blogging took too much out of me, and so I decided it was time for me to take a break and work on offline projects. The break I hope has done me a lot of good, but recently I’ve been thinking about blogging again, asked a few friends what they thought and decided... Read more
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