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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.2 The social other in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 6 years, 11 months ago
Now the ‘social other’ is all those people and things which over time shape us as a person, and as you say Andrew, “peer pressure is one manner among many of how someone can induct the desires of others”. Peer pressure can be a group or an individual, or something from the corporate world, such as the advertising industry, which tells us that…[Read more]
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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.2 The social other in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 6 years, 12 months ago
Andrew, I am delighted that you are ‘enthralled by James’ manner of explication and want to learn a bit more’. As you progress with the course, I am sure that you will find it truely life changing.
James’ use of the phrase ‘who you are is something which the social other produces in you’ means I think, just that. He is referring to the process…[Read more] -
Sheelah replied to the topic 1.2 The social other in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years ago
That all sounds extremely positive Andrew. If you continue to let Jesus the Forgiving Victim guide you, I am sure it will enrich you with a deeper understanding of Christianity.
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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.1 An odd beginning in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years ago
Why do you think this course is subtitled, “Listening for the Unheard Voice”?
I’m guessing it’s because people effortlessly fall into the habit of ignoring the voice of God, and this course is designed to develop a conscious practice to replace this habituation of which we are unaware.Yes Andrew, and also because I think that God’s message…[Read more]
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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.1 An odd beginning in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years ago
Andrew, there is a great deal here to think about. So, let’s begin with a response to your query “Since I’ve only just started this program, I don’t yet know much about the theological assumptions affirmed by the people operating it.” Well, the course is completely the work of the theologian James Alison, and the “people operating it” to my kno…[Read more]
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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.1 An odd beginning in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years ago
I like very much your reflections on the “habit’ of reading Andrew, and it seems to me that you have followed Thomas Merton’s wise words perfectly. We live in a world of instant everything, of which speed reading would be an excellent example. Your high school habit of pausing and contemplating has no doubt a lot to do with your mature attitude…[Read more]
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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.1 An odd beginning in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years ago
Andrew, thank you for your very interesting comment. I do agree that communication is only real between equals, and that this is included in the reason for the incarnation: we are being addressed by God as by an equal.
We aren’t supposed to have any image of God other than the one we are given, that of an equal. And your notion of our being “i…[Read more] -
Sheelah replied to the topic 1.1 An odd beginning in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 1 month ago
Andrew, welcome to the JFV Forum, it is good to have you on board! The essence of what James is teaching is that Christianity is the process of finding ourselves on the inside of an act of communication that is developing in us a new set of practices. This means that we discover from within what the ideas really mean as we discover ourselves…[Read more]
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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.1 An odd beginning in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 1 month ago
Andrew, welcome to the JFV Forum, it is god to have you on board! The essence of what James is teaching is that Christianity is the process of finding ourselves on the inside of an act of communication that is developing in us a new set of practices. This means that we discover from within what the ideas really mean as we discover ourselves…[Read more]
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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.2 The social other in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 6 months ago
Ben, thank you very much for such interesting responses to the two queries posed in this chapter, and many apologies for my tardiness in replying. I have been travelling a great deal these past weeks and regrettably came down a violent and persistent virus.
Your comment about ‘the freedom to approach things from a philosophical place of…[Read more] -
Sheelah replied to the topic 1.1 An odd beginning in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 7 months ago
Yes, Ben, as you have discovered, the Gospels and Scripture are “completely amazing, all about relationship”. And I assure you that you will hear ‘the healing voice of the Son’ in James’s reading of them. I truly look forward to your reflections on Part 1.
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Sheelah replied to the topic 1.1 An odd beginning in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 7 months ago
Welcome to the “Jesus the Forgiving victim” Forum, Ben, and thank you for sharing such thoughtful insights into your life. It is delightful to know that your have discovered the gift of the Christian contemplative tradition, which I have practised for many years now, so I am sure that we will have some fruitful and I hope enlightening…[Read more]
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Sheelah replied to the topic 4.10 Neighbors & insiders: From sacrifice to mercy in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 9 months ago
Rich, it was a great pleasure. I really enjoyed our exchange of ideas. Do keep in contact perhaps via the “Jesus the Forgiving Victim” face book page, which I monitor. It would be good to have your reflections and reactions shared with others on this journey.
God bless ! -
Sheelah replied to the topic 4.10 Neighbors & insiders: From sacrifice to mercy in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 9 months ago
Rich, it was a great pleasure. I really enjoyed our exchange of ideas. Do keep in contact perhaps via the “Jesus the Forgiving Victim” face book page, which I monitor. It would be good to have your reflections and reactions shared with others on this journey.
God bless ! -
Sheelah replied to the topic 4.10 Neighbors & insiders: From sacrifice to mercy in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 9 months ago
Rich, it was a great pleasure. I really enjoyed our exchange of ideas. Do keep in contact perhaps via the “Jesus the Forgiving Victim” face book page, which I monitor. It would be good to have your reflections and reactions shared with others on this journey.
God bless ! -
Sheelah replied to the topic 4.10 Neighbors & insiders: From sacrifice to mercy in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 9 months ago
Rich, it was a great pleasure. I really enjoyed our exchange of ideas. Do keep in contact perhaps via the “Jesus the Forgiving Victim” face book page, which I monitor. It would be good to have your reflections and reactions shared with others on this journey.
God bless ! -
Sheelah replied to the topic 4.10 Neighbors & insiders: From sacrifice to mercy in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 9 months ago
Rich, you have grasped so well the meaning of Goodness According to Mercy in this final session. And, you are now fully aware of what James describes as “the most difficult truth of all, that we are liked irrepressibly as we are, our journey continues as we seek to discover what the new shape of community will take, one in which there are no…[Read more]
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Sheelah replied to the topic 4.10 Neighbors & insiders: From sacrifice to mercy in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 9 months ago
What you are expressing here Rich is just the fact of being human. I don’t think we ever achieve a state of constant perfection, we all fall back into the archaic sacrificial from time to time despite our best intentions.. This is the essence of the spiritual path, constant awareness and constant striving, James puts it wonderfully:
“Goodness…[Read more] -
Sheelah replied to the topic 4.9 – Neighbors & insiders: The Good Samaritan in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 10 months ago
It is wonderful to read this Rich and to realise how much the course has been life changing for you. It is a beautiful, gradual evolution it is not?
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Sheelah replied to the topic 4.9 – Neighbors & insiders: The Good Samaritan in the forum <i>Jesus the Forgiving Victim</i> Online Course Discussion Forum 7 years, 10 months ago
How very true Rich, community is essential on the spiritual path. We live today in a world that vaunts individualism, which has resulted in a great deal of isolation and self absorption. In Girardian circles the word interdividual is so much more relevant, that is, the web of interconnectedness which is community, with all its messy difficulties…[Read more]
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