[May 1999 journal entry]
A close friend recently summarized for me a group discussion at his home during which a sickly older lady said “I am not disappointed with God” in spite of her continued illnesses though all the ‘religious’ alternatives (e.g., prayers for healing, anointing, . . .) as well as medical efforts to relieve her condition have failed. I suggested to my friend that she is an example of how an individual can go through even protracted circumstances safely/fully within the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm. We went on to discuss (1) that not everyone has a family with which to live as this older lady does and (2) that the impact on her family has been sizeable (but remains unstated in conversations such as the group discussion). I further suggested to my friend that -- for me at least – the critical point/threshold was/is whether one isolates one’s self and diminishes/dismisses the circumstances of others or one becomes painfully/radically aware of the breadth/depth of human suffering and thereby becomes acutely/existentially conscious of human suffering to the point that the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm fails.
A close friend recently summarized for me a group discussion at his home during which a sickly older lady said “I am not disappointed with God” in spite of her continued illnesses though all the ‘religious’ alternatives (e.g., prayers for healing, anointing, . . .) as well as medical efforts to relieve her condition have failed. I suggested to my friend that she is an example of how an individual can go through even protracted circumstances safely/fully within the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm. We went on to discuss (1) that not everyone has a family with which to live as this older lady does and (2) that the impact on her family has been sizeable (but remains unstated in conversations such as the group discussion). I further suggested to my friend that -- for me at least – the critical point/threshold was/is whether one isolates one’s self and diminishes/dismisses the circumstances of others or one becomes painfully/radically aware of the breadth/depth of human suffering and thereby becomes acutely/existentially conscious of human suffering to the point that the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm fails.
