As a fan of your work and as more than just an Orthodox Curious, I have noted two observations which probably have nothing to do with your excellent article above but might be worthy in some other way. The two observations are 1) you are not a fan of Internal Family Systems (as mentioned but not by name in your podcast about Therapy and the Eastern Church Fathers) and 2) you clearly have a part that believes you need to Work Out more which is polarized with a part that is trying to protect you from something related to Working Out. As an IFS Practitioner, I will happily volunteer (spoken with tongue firmly planted in cheek) to help your emotional system find Self-leadership with the aid of the Divine energies which will bring these two polarized parts into harmony and alliance as collaborators for your good. This process will not be an intellectual exercise, rather it will be quite existentially experiential (is that redundant?). And I believe the intellectual underpinnings of such an exercise are important and that they align with the Eastern Fathers’ (and Mothers’?) Anthropology though I am not as well qualified to make such a determination as you are. With appreciation for you, Signed, John
This is the exact experience that lead me to click on your interview with Jonathan Pageau about realism/nominalism. I feel like I’ve spent years not only hunting in the wrong forest, but barking up the wrong tree. While I do feel like I’m finally home in the Orthodox forest, I’m still being dragged around by hunting dogs named “rational materialist” and “cynical nominalist,” unable to see the forest for the trees.
I’ve found myself caught in a cul-de-sac of prayer … because how does a rational materialist know if their “prayer has been answered?” When something observable, measurable and quantifiable has physically manifested, of course! I’ve been invited into a much more broad understanding of what prayer is through the Eastern lens as a newly Chrismated Antiochian Orthodox worshiper but I do still have the uneasy sense of a kid on Christmas morning … there’s a bite taken out of the cookie, there are gifts under the tree, there are foot prints in the snow … but the “big guy” is no where to be found. And all I long for is to sit on his lap in mutual delight!
I’m left wondering what’s really “real” and if, metaphorically, my big brother is right about it all being “fake.” It’s a loose analogy and I’m in no way struggling with whether God is “real,” just whether my (and other people’s) attributions to God really are God, or whether I’m just voicing ego and calling it God. Lord, have mercy.
As a fan of your work and as more than just an Orthodox Curious, I have noted two observations which probably have nothing to do with your excellent article above but might be worthy in some other way. The two observations are 1) you are not a fan of Internal Family Systems (as mentioned but not by name in your podcast about Therapy and the Eastern Church Fathers) and 2) you clearly have a part that believes you need to Work Out more which is polarized with a part that is trying to protect you from something related to Working Out. As an IFS Practitioner, I will happily volunteer (spoken with tongue firmly planted in cheek) to help your emotional system find Self-leadership with the aid of the Divine energies which will bring these two polarized parts into harmony and alliance as collaborators for your good. This process will not be an intellectual exercise, rather it will be quite existentially experiential (is that redundant?). And I believe the intellectual underpinnings of such an exercise are important and that they align with the Eastern Fathers’ (and Mothers’?) Anthropology though I am not as well qualified to make such a determination as you are. With appreciation for you, Signed, John
This is the exact experience that lead me to click on your interview with Jonathan Pageau about realism/nominalism. I feel like I’ve spent years not only hunting in the wrong forest, but barking up the wrong tree. While I do feel like I’m finally home in the Orthodox forest, I’m still being dragged around by hunting dogs named “rational materialist” and “cynical nominalist,” unable to see the forest for the trees.
I’ve found myself caught in a cul-de-sac of prayer … because how does a rational materialist know if their “prayer has been answered?” When something observable, measurable and quantifiable has physically manifested, of course! I’ve been invited into a much more broad understanding of what prayer is through the Eastern lens as a newly Chrismated Antiochian Orthodox worshiper but I do still have the uneasy sense of a kid on Christmas morning … there’s a bite taken out of the cookie, there are gifts under the tree, there are foot prints in the snow … but the “big guy” is no where to be found. And all I long for is to sit on his lap in mutual delight!
I’m left wondering what’s really “real” and if, metaphorically, my big brother is right about it all being “fake.” It’s a loose analogy and I’m in no way struggling with whether God is “real,” just whether my (and other people’s) attributions to God really are God, or whether I’m just voicing ego and calling it God. Lord, have mercy.
I look forward to reading the rest of the series!