beautiful or true the truth is people will not live it unless they love
it. Thefore, we must take the passions of the people and mould them to
the law of God [truth]." - Brigham Young
What moves you to action, what gives you the passion to tip towards change---to actually fully implement a good tweak, a good truth (and not just hold on to it, never moving beyond mere contemplation)?
Is a tweak just a tweak no matter the source? You would think so. You would think that when it comes to a good idea (truth) it doesn't really matter who is delivering it up to you, or how.
But it does matter.
It matters for the reason Rod Dreher describes in his essay published in the Wall Street Journal, as to why his despair and depression was cured, in the end, not by modern medicine or experts in the field, but by a source he loved and is passionate about...
And "The Divine Comedy" persuaded me
that I was not helplessly caught by my failings and circumstances. I had
reason, I had free will, I had the assistance of good people—and I had the help
of God, if only I would humble myself to ask.
that I was not helplessly caught by my failings and circumstances. I had
reason, I had free will, I had the assistance of good people—and I had the help
of God, if only I would humble myself to ask.
Why did I need Dante
to gain this knowledge? After all, my confessor had a lot to say about bondage
to false idols and about how humility and prayer can unleash the power of God
to help us overcome it. And at our first meeting, my therapist told me that I
couldn't control other people or events, but, by the exercise of my free will,
I could control my response to them. None of the basic lessons of the Comedy
was exactly new to me.
to gain this knowledge? After all, my confessor had a lot to say about bondage
to false idols and about how humility and prayer can unleash the power of God
to help us overcome it. And at our first meeting, my therapist told me that I
couldn't control other people or events, but, by the exercise of my free will,
I could control my response to them. None of the basic lessons of the Comedy
was exactly new to me.
But when embodied in
this brilliant poem, these truths inflamed my moral imagination as never
before. For me, the Comedy
became an icon through which the serene light of the divine pierced the
turbulent darkness of my heart. As the Dante scholar Charles Williams wrote of
the supreme poet's art: "A thousand preachers have said all that Dante
says and left their hearers discontented; why does Dante content? Because an image of
profundity is there."
this brilliant poem, these truths inflamed my moral imagination as never
before. For me, the Comedy
became an icon through which the serene light of the divine pierced the
turbulent darkness of my heart. As the Dante scholar Charles Williams wrote of
the supreme poet's art: "A thousand preachers have said all that Dante
says and left their hearers discontented; why does Dante content? Because an image of
profundity is there."