COFFEE BREAK 110

+ updated at 2:01pm EST.

+ Hermitary offers "The Way of a Pilgrim: a Russian Orthodox Hermit's Path." It begins:

Readers of The Way of a Pilgrim quickly discover two levels of narration in this simple and unassuming nineteenth-century religious classic. The first level presents a heartfelt apologia for silent prayer in the Orthodox Christian tradition, namely, the "ceaseless" prayer or the so-called Jesus prayer. Cited as the authority for the Jesus prayer is the Philokalia, a literary collection of writings of the Greek-speaking Church Fathers supporting the tradition of hesychasm. Yet The Way of a Pilgrim does not pursue theological argument. It is imminently practical in its advice to simply start praying.

But if this level of presentation were the only one, The Way of a Pilgrim would not be of interest as more than a classic of spirituality. The second level of narration, which underlies the entire work and arguably is the main reason for the work's simplicity and attraction, is the literal but subtle presentation of the hermit life. The narrator is a solitary and a wanderer calling himself a pilgrim. The wandering hermit's example is presented as the model existence for those who would truly lead a spiritual life.

The interplay of these two levels of presentation, always overlapping and concurrent, makes The Way of a Pilgrim a wonderful book: simple, edifying, and of universal spiritual appeal.

+ It is 10:50 am and it has been snowing for about an hour.  Perhaps we will have another inch or 2 of the glorious white stuff before this is over.

+ I'm about halfway through The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, the famous author of The Da Vinci Code.  Like his previous thrillers, this is gruesome, gripping, fascinating and controversial.  I am sure there is misleading or erroneous information about the Masons and other organizations.  Nevertheless, one can learn a lot about symbols and quests for meaning in this and other books by Dan Brown.

+ Gita and Jive offers a summary of the Bhagavad Gita, The Song of God, one of the most important sacred texts of Hindus.  I have offered the first comment on this post including my reaction to Viola Larson's post on the BG, "The Bhagavad-Gita, the Bible: grief and being human".  Here is my comment:

Great summary, John. There is amazing wisdom in this Holy Book and I'm looking forward to the sharing here. I see our friend Viola Larson has already decided to share and completely discount and totally misunderstand the BG in her post "The Bhagavad-Gita, the Bible: grief and being human".

As you know, John, I am acquainted all too well with grief and I find Viola's critique of the BG to be far off the mark. Without ways to attain detachment from worldly things and devotion to the Eternal, I could easily be stuck in grief. I have seen all too many people stuck in grief and all kinds of other emotional dead ends. A Christian classic which deals with getting on with life after a period of grief is The Way of a Pilgrim. This hermit finds a new and wonderful life through following a spiritual path centered in the Jesus Prayer: "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen" or just "Lord Have Mercy."

Liberation is a major theme of all of the planet's great wisdom traditions. Nobody should discount or deny the wisdom of Hinduism. It is enormous. Thanks again.

+ Love + John A Wilde + Whitesboro NY + The John A Wilde Blog + We are intimately, intricately and infinitely connected by a matrix of unconditional, unlimited and uniting love which is miraculous, mysterious and marvelous.