“Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal, while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before.”
The sentiment is only misguided if you do not fully understand the context. Yes, indeed, the point of Lent is to have no goal. But, as Lent draws to an end we must work even harder at avoiding the temptation of trying to accomplish something. How often we want the right hand to know what the left is doing.
Ascetic practices in Buddhism are referred to as Dhutanga practices. Dhutanga means "to shake up." This is what Lent is supposed to do. Just because you're not accomplishing anything doesn't mean that it's not a lot of work.
I couldn't have said it better myself, after all, I learned it from you. We change our schedule, our sleeping posture, our diet, all for the uncomfortable reminder "to shake up". We are none the better for it other than we are more prepared for the next "shake up". Whether that was Herodotus' context, I'm uncertain. (I figured it must be yours.) I just wasn't sure it came across that way, with all that talk about victory and such.
3 comments:
A misguided (but well meaning) sentiment. There is no goal in lent. Or, put another way: Keep the intent out of Lent.
The sentiment is only misguided if you do not fully understand the context. Yes, indeed, the point of Lent is to have no goal. But, as Lent draws to an end we must work even harder at avoiding the temptation of trying to accomplish something. How often we want the right hand to know what the left is doing.
Ascetic practices in Buddhism are referred to as Dhutanga practices. Dhutanga means "to shake up." This is what Lent is supposed to do. Just because you're not accomplishing anything doesn't mean that it's not a lot of work.
I couldn't have said it better myself, after all, I learned it from you. We change our schedule, our sleeping posture, our diet, all for the uncomfortable reminder "to shake up". We are none the better for it other than we are more prepared for the next "shake up". Whether that was Herodotus' context, I'm uncertain. (I figured it must be yours.) I just wasn't sure it came across that way, with all that talk about victory and such.
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