A Map of Life Ch. 1

Here are a few of the notes I took.

This chaper begins by stating that in all things created, it is in man alone that spirit and matter are united.

I continued reading and this quote caught my eye

"Those who do not accept the revelation (of God), ...can neither direct their own lives aright nor help other men... From such men the world has little to hope and an immense amount to fear....In a word the reason for their helplessness, both in relation to themselves and in relation to others, is that they do not know what man is."

It goes on to say that we can't know what something is until we know what it is for. The only way to find out what something is for, is to ask it's maker. In the case of men our maker is God, so the only way to truly know what our purpose in life is for God to tell us.

"Accepting his word (God's), we know the purpose of our existence and we can proceed to live intelligently according to it. Short of this knowledge, intelligent living is not possible for us."

I think the biggest question of the chapter is: What according to you, is the purpose of man's life?

I guess we'll just have to keep reading to find out what the answer is. That's all for now, so until next time.....

The chat goes ever on and on...

I have Ria and Love2learn mom with me right now. We'd like everybody to comment and keep this going. This began as a discussion on this quote. It has evolved into a chat on God's Will, Faith and Reason, Spiritual danger and prayer life. To follow it in a slightly erratic fashion, our discussion flowed in this general course:

First, the definition of "relative" and "absolute" truths. How we interact with others, and keeping our diversity without building up walls because of it while striving towards unity and truth. We talked about the importance of recognizing others' opinions and circumstances while preserving the ideal of absolute truth, and finding the and recognizing truth in a way of life that is strange to us.

Then we explored the Accidentals and Essentials of our thoughts, opinions and beliefs, the Church, and our lives; e.g., The Church does not require us to believe that Our Lady appeared to the three children at Fatima, but if we do not believe in the True Presence, we cannot honestly consider ourselves Catholics.

This led to discussion of people who would be guided easily by minute circumstances to what they presumed was God's Will. And how mincing minor affairs can lead to absurd conclusions, and therefore emphasizing the significance of logic.