“Jesus is never afraid to put things in a hard way. He’s not afraid of using a word that’s inevitably going to be misunderstood. He puts his truth out there; dealing with it is the listener’s problem. He is saying, in effect, “Struggle with what I’m saying!” In general, Jesus doesn’t spend a great deal of time qualifying his point and making sure everybody understands it clearly. As Rainer Maria Rilke writes, “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.”

Live everything. Live the questions.

It’s so great to get a response from you on here. From my own experience and a lot of people I know/have observed at Biola and similar colleges, insecurity is played out in spiritual and academic ‘intenseness.’ It’s like the Christian/acceptable way of being really sexy and ‘in.’ People are/can be intense because the minute they’re not, they fall apart. I like what you’ve said a lot and the fact that it’s not necessarily Biola’s fault. I like certainty in my life, but I feel more truly secure when I am comfortable with my questions and not being camped in either/or too often. But it doesn’t often feel secure… I had a conversation with my cousin recently, and she told me about living ‘truthfully’ and not necessarily trying to make things the way you want them to be or ‘should be.’ I like that. That sounds freeing.

Ah, Pseudo-Dionysius… negative theology came up in our British Spirituality lecture here in London. I knew there was something there when I first read him. It just fit, you know?

Oh what a lot I’m learning in these few months.

Kelsey

You ask boldly and well, you have since I’ve known you. You challenge me to do the same.

Gratefully,
Jonalyn