Friday, January 1, 2010

The Four Elements of Lax's Spirituality

This, from a book about Lax, The Way of the Dreamcatcher:
  1. Finding his true self. He said that "a person is created by God as an individual so that God wants him or her to be themselves."
  2. Living in the present moment because that is where you find God and holiness.
  3. Paying careful attention to what one is doing. "Every moment in life can be a prayer if it is dedicated to God."
  4. Finally, Loving God and your fellow man and having compassion for him.

8 comments:

  1. I try to avoid thinking of endings and beginnings, or their resolution, on the occasion of the New Year; this is a continuum, after all. But the invitation is all around. The first statement from Lax reminded me of one from Merton. I had to fish for it. It is from an October 1958 journal entry:

    Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself.

    If I believed in making resolutions on one particular day, and if that day were New Year's, and if today were that particular New Year's Day, this is the resolution I would make.

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  2. Me too, John C.

    Thanks for the Merton reference.

    Someone sent me this New Year's Day quote, which seems also relevant:

    "I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower - the Light in my darkness, the Voice in my silence."
    ~ Helen Keller

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  3. You can see element 2. in Lax's poetry - the lack of metaphor or simile in Lax. What a great name: Lax - it sounds like Dr. Seuss: "relax said Mr. Lax, and you'll find light in the cracks!"

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  4. wonderful! You should write a Dr. Seuss-like book about Mr. Lax, Gunter. All the elements are there.

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  5. Not a bad idea - he had the right kind of face for Seussish illustrations too!

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  6. You're right! I think it's a great idea, and I'm sure Lax would love to be caricatured in a Seussish book. Do you know any good artists? I've got lots of ideas for a story line!

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  7. I think I could manage the illustrations: I used to do a lot of cartooning. Were you thinking of a circus angle?

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  8. The circus angle is the only way to go, don't you think?
    I need to re-fresh myself with some Dr. Seuss books, and then I'll see what I can come up with. This might really be a good idea, Gunter! Maybe we shouldn't talk about it publicly anymore, lest someone steal our idea!

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Amounting to Nothing, Brother Paul

  Brother Paul Quenon, Photo by Rhonda J. Miller .  Sorry monk that I am, I never amounted to nothing. Somebody must have laid a curse on me...