[April 2003 journal entry]
It is serious/profound to say to another – “Step here. The ground is firm.” (The ‘ground’ metaphor could be replaced by ‘ice’, ‘wood’, . . .). Decisions/actions imply such counsel. Virtually all individuals – when I observe them in the routines/schedules of the day and especially when I listen to them in conversation – look and sound as if they are confident about the paradigm reflected in and implied by their decisions, their actions, their reactions. I have thought about this recurring observation often over the years. Very few individuals seem cautious, questioning, testing. They instead seem to stride through their lives. This impression has contributed directly/significantly to my reticence to do more than suggest radical (i.e., ‘to the root’) paradigm examination to those with whom I am acquainted. I am, however, always ready to participate in such radical examination with those who indicate a need and longing to do so.
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Reflections on the Search for a Very Healthy Center
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December
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- A ‘non-religious’ view of Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- #178
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- The ‘scrapheap’ Job -- #92
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- ‘the ethical dimensions of patient care’ -- #50
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About the Title of This Blog
[December 1942, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote an essay for his parents, his siblings (and their children), his closest friend (Eberhard Bethge), and his fellow covert resisters imbedded in the Abwehr. I have been privileged to have the assistance of Renate Bethge -- Eberhard’s wife and Dietrich’s favored niece by his older sister Ursala -- as I revised and finalized my translation. Words/phrases in parentheses offer additional nuances, add implied ideas, or indicate alternative translations. ]
The View from Below
"It remains an experience of unparalleled (incomparable) value that we have learned to see for once the great events of world history from below – through the perspective of the barred (put out, cut out, blocked), the suspects, the badly treated, the powerless, the oppressed (restrained), the scoffed (derided, mocked), in short the perspective of those who suffer. (It is) only in this time when neither bitterness nor envy (jealousy) has cauterized (corroded, gnawed away) the heart that we see with new eyes great and small, fortunate and unfortunate, strong and weak; that our view of greatness, humaneness, justice, and compassion has become clearer, more free, more incorruptible (not subject to bribes); indeed, (that we see) that personal suffering is a more suitable (qualified) key (code, cipher), a more fruitful principle, than is personal good fortune for exploring the world by observation and action. It follows that this perspective from below will not be the partisan claim of those forever discontent, but that we are just in all life’s dimensions out of a higher contentment that is grounded properly beyond ‘from below’ and ‘from above’. And so it is affirmed." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Ten Years Later"