[11/1996] Can words and the ideas/concepts they reflect die? I would say ‘yes’ when one has a full/enduring ‘wilderness’ experience. ‘Wilderness’ here is a metaphor for existential tests that break down the paradigms of societal spheres. I feel obliged to maintain my integrity while being open indiscriminately to life possibilities/experiences, to share this way of being with my wife and daughters unconditionally, and -- in an experimental/didactic way -- to prompt/encourage others who are looking toward this way of being. I agree with the nihilist re the irreversible death of (virtually?) all attempts at ‘God’ language. However, I do not agree that the nihilist has the final/last word. One cannot be fully ‘home’ in a ‘wilderness’ experience without discovering and living ‘wholly’ because the compartmentalization and fragmentation of societal spheres fail in a ‘wilderness’ existence, because a ‘wilderness’ existence cannot be endured except ‘in whole’. I am disappointed with liberal theologies since Schleiermacher in that liberal theologies do/did not establish a face-to-face presence with ‘the world’, but instead continue/d to rethink ethics, spirituality, theology within the ‘religious’ sphere. Liberal theologies thus are limited in at least two ways – i.e., (1) in the expectation that a culled out/down theological revision of outdated ‘religious’ thought/language leads to fully engaging ‘the world’ (a modern form of a ‘religious a priori’) and (2) in remaining within the traditional/orthodox ‘religious’ paradigm/sphere, claiming to belong there.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Fragment -- #43
[11/1996] Can words and the ideas/concepts they reflect die? I would say ‘yes’ when one has a full/enduring ‘wilderness’ experience. ‘Wilderness’ here is a metaphor for existential tests that break down the paradigms of societal spheres. I feel obliged to maintain my integrity while being open indiscriminately to life possibilities/experiences, to share this way of being with my wife and daughters unconditionally, and -- in an experimental/didactic way -- to prompt/encourage others who are looking toward this way of being. I agree with the nihilist re the irreversible death of (virtually?) all attempts at ‘God’ language. However, I do not agree that the nihilist has the final/last word. One cannot be fully ‘home’ in a ‘wilderness’ experience without discovering and living ‘wholly’ because the compartmentalization and fragmentation of societal spheres fail in a ‘wilderness’ existence, because a ‘wilderness’ existence cannot be endured except ‘in whole’. I am disappointed with liberal theologies since Schleiermacher in that liberal theologies do/did not establish a face-to-face presence with ‘the world’, but instead continue/d to rethink ethics, spirituality, theology within the ‘religious’ sphere. Liberal theologies thus are limited in at least two ways – i.e., (1) in the expectation that a culled out/down theological revision of outdated ‘religious’ thought/language leads to fully engaging ‘the world’ (a modern form of a ‘religious a priori’) and (2) in remaining within the traditional/orthodox ‘religious’ paradigm/sphere, claiming to belong there.
