Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Thread by thread

I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.
- Leo Tolstoy

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Great Thought. thanks for sharing. I had a question, since I assume that Bishop +Hoeller doesn't do much with computers do you know when he will sign (or has he already done it) the concordat that is presented on Jordan+'s Blog? Surely he would not want the EG to be left out of this deep and moving show of unity for Gnostics in our time!

Cheerfully, RK

Fr. Troy Pierce said...

I doubt he's heard of it. Or would think about signing it. He has, after all, merely been living it for half of a century. I just don't get the accord thing, I didn't think Jordan was serious, and now I have a hard time thinking these other folks are serious. It just seems like a show.

Personally, I don't see anything new in it at all, except for vagaries about all being 'apostolic together': but I know better than to ask. I remember that Jordan had serious issues with Gnostic clergy training together. And, in general, any talk of formation falls on deaf ears. So, it doesn't seem like any real movement, more of a publicity stunt.

Padre G said...

'Tis true, Bishop +Hoeller doesn't own a computer, doesn't read blogs and is unlikely to react to any online 'concordant'.

Fr. Troy Pierce said...

I'm virtually there myself with the “doesn't read blogs” aspect. And, basically am there with the “doesn't react to online” _______. Yes, I am someone who has a computer, and even a blog, and doesn't do those things.

I've only been serving as clergy for a little over a decade and I've seen enough of the kind of unreal silliness that crops up from time to time to last me. Talk has always been cheap, on the Internet it has gotten cheaper. In a self-referential environment, people can convince themselves and others of all kinds of things. Gnosticism has always been concerned with what is, the real, the true. It is not a marketing tool, or a brand of religion. It is a means to freedom, not just abstract “freedom,” but freedom here and now. Freedom from delusions, no matter how pleasant or cherished, is a part of that. Freedom from mistaking theories for reality, or opinion for fact, or public opinion for truth.

Or, put another way, building a “Gnostic” Matrix within the Matrix is very different from becoming free of the Matrix.

I'll continue steering this blog back to it's original intent: a place to develop material for a book or two.

Andrea (Acolyte) said...

Well said Rev Troy. Ok now back to the outer Matrix to make a living.

Peace
Andrea