Abi'l-Khayr

WOW!! I just read Abi’l- Khayr and it was pretty amazing! The whole first page is true its exactly how it happens. I have had times in my life where I thought I was pleasing God and doing what he wanted me to do… Turns out as soon as I thought I was all great and amazing I got knocked down and it was by God. He humbles people that what he is really good at. He showed me it wasn’t me doing the good things I was doing yet it was Him working through me I was just his tool and he was the engineer. Also the whole thing about how we feel good when “I Love people” and you think you can tolerate and love people for who they are on you own power and maybe with a little bit of Gods help… well I had that wrong too at times. Its funny to see how much I cant do without God I need His love and forgiveness in order to love and accept those around me. The other interesting part about this was the no right to say mine or I… when it comes down to it all everything good you do say or create is Gods by right.

Erigena

So I read Erigena this week. I thought the reading was a bit confusing after the first exert. He makes some sense to me then but I lost his train of thought after this. I liked what he says about thinking of God and His creation as one more than two separate things. I don’t believe this to the extent that I think he goes to but I do believe that God is revealed in nature and he is undeniable because of His creation. I guess its not so much as the earth is God in a literal way its just that you know there is something more than just earth and animals and people. I thought Erigena made it seem as if God lives vicariously through man and His creation. Maybe that’s a misinterpretation on my part. If this is what he is saying I would to say God uses creation to his advantage He does things certain ways so we see and understand His nature from our own ways I guess that really doesn’t make too much sense but I’m having a hard time wording it. I don’t think God takes all shapes and forms but this concept or idea from Erigena is an interesting one to say the least.

Novalis

Ok so this was bad I didn’t get a thing about this passage! I have no idea how he thinks when we dream we are dreaming we are close to waking up??? Really explain this to me Novalis because it doesn’t make sense at all to me. Say what you need to say man I’m not going to judge you I just want to know what you think. I didn’t enjoy this reading at all. I guess I got when hw said we are alone when we are with everything we love because most the things people love leave them empty and not satisfied… so I liked his point here. I have no idea why this guy thinks that marriage is a mystery. Is there something Im not getting about it?

Albert Einstein

Ok so I know the man is a genius and maybe that’s why I found what he was saying to be so far out of my minds grasp. I think there were only two points of his that I understood in the passages. I loved the way he talked about the value of a human being is limited to the to the degree of his self liberation. I think what he is saying is that if we are more liberated more free and know it, feel it, and live it we place more value on what an amazing creation we are. We begin to understand and realize things we could have never seen without this so called liberation. I thought this point to be amazing and it makes me ask myself what is keeping me from liberation? What holds us back as people from finding our liberation of self?

Maximus of Tyre

The Road to hell is paved with good intentions…Do I sound like a jerk? Here is what I say to Maximus of Tyre: I honestly don’t force my beliefs upon others in any way but to say idol worship is all good is ridiculous to me. I think it is a slap in the face to God to use a worldly object to represent Him. Its God he is better than all gold or silver in the world nothing can be made by us to be as good as him. Nothing we make will do God justice. Would it matter to God if you meant well but disrespected Him by using an idol a finite object to represent an infinite being? We cant represent God in an image that our minds are can construct so why try? But the reading was interesting to me sorry if I offended anyone by this I wasn’t trying to… but this is just how I see it.

Heraclitus

Ok so I really liked the fragments form Heraclitus. I thought they were good thoughts for the most part. They seemed to be funny to me also…a few of them I laughed at because of the simplicity of the statement. I also laughed because these are common sense things I think but I didn’t really seem to ever think of them by myself as sad as that may be to say. One statement that struck me was “the way up and down are one and the same” However dumb this sounds to some people it actually makes sense. The idea of everything being in a constant state of change is really legitimate thought. “all things flow, The sun is new everyday, you cant step twice into the same river” all these saying are true and go to show that the world around does change and it is a good thing. I have never thought of change as a good thing but it can be and change is natural no matter if you like it or not. I do think he was right in saying “Its in change that things find rest” this statement is quite a big one and I’m not sure if I fully understand it however I think it’s a good concept and it has to have truth to it.

al-Misri

Misri talks of the saints just like they are talked about in the Christian tradition. The saints are not anyone special yet they are just the everyday people who believe. The saints are the ones God loves as the writing says. God tells these saints a number of things to do in the passage. Most of these things can be found in other religions more specifically in the books of the New and Old Testament. He tells the saints to get rid of those that cause them to sin or stumble. He also tells them to help those in need, encourage, show friendship, and spread good news. This only confirms the root of the Islamic faith being in Judaism. It also goes to show again that it is a religion of peace and love.

Muhammad

Muhammad’s in the writings in the book are surprisingly familiar to me. They speak almost exactly of what Christian books and the Bible for that matter speak of. The ideas of God and what He “is” and “is not” are much the same. I could have sworn I was reading something out of the New Testament if I had no prior knowledge that the passage was Muhammad. I can see where the Islamic religion has its roots in Judaism and the Old Testament. The idea of the Islamic religion being based off of peace and love is definitely true however I think that like all religions somewhere along the line the religions main ideas get lost in translation. Just as this happened for Christianity with the Crusades and there is more I know… Whoever after reading what I did I don’t think like most about the religion in the idea that it is all bad. I do believe that there are extremists sects of Islam that miss Muhammad’s point and give the religion a bad name.