#gnōsis

[fredy-holzer]

fredy-holzer #fredyholzer por fredy holzer

[noosphe-re]

*gno-

*gnō-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to know."

It forms all or part of: acknowledge; acquaint; agnostic; anagnorisis; astrognosy; can (v.1) "have power to, be able;" cognition; cognizance; con (n.2) "study;" connoisseur; could; couth; cunning; diagnosis; ennoble; gnome; (n.2) "short, pithy statement of general truth;" gnomic; gnomon; gnosis; gnostic; Gnostic; ignoble; ignorant; ignore; incognito; ken (n.1) "cognizance, intellectual view;" kenning; kith; know; knowledge; narrate; narration; nobility; noble; notice; notify; notion; notorious; physiognomy; prognosis; quaint; recognize; reconnaissance; reconnoiter; uncouth; Zend.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit jna- "know;" Avestan zainti- "knowledge," Old Persian xšnasatiy "he shall know;" Old Church Slavonic znati "recognizes," Russian znat "to know;" Latin gnoscere "get to know," nobilis "known, famous, noble;" Greek gignōskein "to know," gnōtos "known," gnōsis "knowledge, inquiry;" Old Irish gnath "known;" German kennen "to know," Gothic kannjan "to make known."

—Etymonline

[brendanelliswilliams]

My Extemporaneous Homily for Trinity Sunday

[This extemporaneous homily given today on the Feast of the Holy Trinity at The Chapel of St. George is transcribed from an audio recording. I added a few clarifying words to the transcription, but I’ve otherwise preserved the spontaneity of the form in which it arose and was originally shared. Subsequent to the Mass this morning, I’ve been reflecting a lot on the work of the éskhaton (the ‘last things’, the ‘completion’) and its relationship to related notions in other traditions. I will likely do some reflective writing on that to share with all of you soon. But, in the meantime, here’s my little ‘Word of Life’ from this morning’s Mass. May it bless.]

The concept that is really in my heart and mind this year as I reflect on the Feast of the Holy Trinity is ‘participation’. And I’m thinking of this in terms of a particular technical theological framework, which has real application for us, I think. It’s known as ‘participatory eschatology’. ‘Participatory eschatology’ simply means that the way the final or last things, the completion of things, comes about is through our direct participation in the divine work. That’s all it means. Rather than us sitting around waiting for something to come from the sky and magically change everything, we participate in that transformative power of the divine will, as it goes out into the whole of Creation, and, according to an ancient mode of Christian theology I very much embrace, eventually brings all life back into union with itself. That notion is called apokatástasis: the ultimate ‘wholling’ or re-union of all Creation. 

We’re all invited to participate in that movement, in that divine unfoldment. And I think if the doctrine of the Trinity is worth anything, it’s that. It’s a reminder that we’re being invited to participate, not merely to have ideational constructs that sound fancy or that we’ve inherited and assumed as ‘beliefs’ without really understanding what they point to. If we get stuck there, we’re in trouble. And we’ve been stuck there a lot throughout the history of the Church, particularly in the West. We’ve been stuck a lot in ideas and beliefs. And that’s not a good place to be.

I’d like to read you something from the early Church. It’s a wondrous thing to look back at some of this theology—particularly the monastic witnesses from the early Church—and realize that a more expansive, breath-embracing understanding of Christian tradition was present in the beginning. It’s not a trend that we came up with because we wanted to conform the Church to our own modern ideas—it’s not that at all, actually. This expansive, mystical understanding of theology is really present in the early Church. This is from St. Macarius the Great. He says:

‘The soul that is found worthy to participate in the Holy Spirit and be illuminated by Her radiance, and by the ineffable glory of Her beauty, becomes Her throne and Her dwelling place. Such a soul becomes all light, all face, all eye. The soul becomes entirely covered with the spiritual eyes of light; nothing in it is left in shadow.’

Elsewhere St. Macarius also says that ‘God reveals God’s own nature to the soul and is discovered by the soul in direct knowledge (gnōsis), in wisdom, love, and faith….[with] the overseeing guidance of the spiritual intelligence’, so that the soul’s divine participation might blossom. ‘In short,’ he continues, ‘God made the soul like this so that it could be His own bride, that it might have communion with the Divine, to be merged in union with God, and so become as one spirit with God.’

That’s the journey, my friends—nothing less than that. To become merged in totalizing re-union with the Divine Ground: that’s our task. Not just to help a few things in the world here and there—that’s great too, but it’s really this divine re-union or ‘divinization’ (theosis) that we’re called to. In that, we participate directly in the life of the Trinity, in its spiritual economy: we are not looking at it as an object somehow removed from us, outside our direct experience, but we each become a Son or Daughter: we become another ‘Anointed One’, the Divine Child in Trinitarian reckoning, which lives and moves in unceasing communion with the Source, through the power and energy of the Holy Spirit. That’s what it means to be sanctified, to become a Saint.

And I want to say that we don’t have any more time to waste on anything short of this. I think you all have a sense—whether it’s consciously, not fully consciously yet, or whatever stage of processing you happen to be in—that the world is unraveling: the external world that we find ourselves in is unraveling. And we’re rushing head-long into these unprecedented modes and degrees of novelty, of bizarreness, of deconstruction and collapse: in our institutions, in the way we sustain ourselves on and with the Land, and all these other things. 

So, we don’t have time anymore to be stuck in beliefs and strange ideas we don’t fully grasp the application of. That was a luxury of the past. And now it’s incumbent upon us to do what St. Macarius is pointing to: to engage this process of real interior transformation, so that the whole Creation may be helped in its transformation, to come back into union with its Source. 

For these words, and all that has been offered here this morning, Amen.

Fr. B.+

[gingermcl]

The word Gnosis means “knowledge," especially "special knowledge of spiritual mysteries” from Greek gnōsis meaning "a knowing, knowledge; investigation; a being known, higher knowledge of spiritual things," from PIE *gno- "to know."

I thought of No sys. As in no system. When you achieve gnosis, you realize that the system of man is all an illusion. Gnosis requires not trying to please the system or caring what anyone else thinks.

We also must know the system to get out of this realm, we must know that the system is trying to take us over and extinguish our divine spark. Remove as much of your energy from the matrix as you can. Turn off weapons like televisions and movies, and spend time in nature, being creative with a hobby or going withi instead. You must be able to question everything and have faith in yourself in order to know the system, recognize its control tactics, and get out from under it.

True gnosis comes from within. It is an inner knowing that may literally come from the DNA. Mankind has plenty of “junk DNA l that needs reactivated. I’m sorry but creation doesn’t make junk or things to turn on later. Our DNA was once fully functioning and has been turned off. Perhaps with junk food or drugs hence the term junkie.

One has to be open to receiving higher knowledge and have an open mind. Information can come from anywhere and density scan app and when we least expect it. I take coincidence as a sign. I’m on the proper path. Gnosis requires trusting in the self more than the external.

I have extensively studied religion since I could read, and the only one that resonates with me as any type of majority truth is gnosticism.

If you shut your mind down when you hear something you think it is possible, you have closed off your mind to learning. You do not have to believe or agree with everything that you hear. There’s nothing to be gained from trying to argue someone into seeing your point of you but you stand to learn a lot if you shut your mouth and listen. You never know what part of a message may trigger in or gnosis for you. Anytime you hear a message, throw out everything that doesn’t feel right to you, and only focus on the parts that stick with you, or that pull at your heart strings.

We cannot convey intuitive visions and knowledge to others. Gnosis is between you and your maker. This doesn’t make the information not true or any less important. I have found intuitive knowledge to be most important. You should not doubt yourself. I think of dreaming, we have dreams, and we can’t show them to others, but people don’t doubt we dream because they dream too. everyone can also achieve inner gnosis , but you have to turn off a lot of the distractions in the external and trust yourself to do so.

Spend time in silence so that you can listen to the words of your soul or higher existence. The word, silent rearranges into listen. One must be able to sit in silence to be able to listen to his spirit. We need to be able to tune out the system, and tune in to within.

[pleasepassgrace]

Knowledge

According to 2 Peter 1:5, after virtue or excellence, the next quality we are to diligently and lavishly add is knowledge. This is the Greek word gnōsis, and it also means “comprehension”. But what is this a knowledge of? When a person first starts their relationship with Jesus, they start with a basic understanding of Him and His Word. Eternal life itself is knowing Him (John 7:3), and 2 Peter…

[chrisengel]

Anosognosia is a deficit of self-awareness, a condition in which a person with a disability seems unaware of its existence. It was first named by the neurologist Joseph Babinski in 1914.[1] Anosognosia results from physiological damage to brain structures, typically to the parietal lobe or a diffuse lesion on the fronto-temporal-parietal area in the right hemisphere,[2][3][4] and is thus a neurological disorder. While this distinguishes the condition from denial, which is a psychological defense mechanism, attempts have been made at a unified explanation.[5] Anosognosia is sometimes accompanied by asomatognosia, a form of neglect in which patients deny ownership of body parts such as their limbs. The term is from Ancient Greek ἀ- a-, "without", νόσος nosos, "disease" and γνῶσις gnōsis, "knowledge".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anosognosia

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus  Christ. To him be the glory both now and in the eternal day. Amen.

de auxanō en charis kai gnōsis ho hēmeis kyrios kai sōtēr Iēsous Christos. autos ho doxa kai nyn kai eis aiōn hēmera. amēn. - 2 Peter 3:18 | Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament (MOUNCE) The Mounce Reverse-Interlinear™ New Testament Copyright © 2011 by William D. Mounce. All rights reserved worldwide.

[tomasorban]

Circumambulating the Alchemical Mysterium: Introduction

A L C H E M Y  may be described, in the words of Baudelaire, as a process of ‘distilling the eternal from the transient’. As the art of transmutation par excellence, the classical applications of alchemy have always been twofold: chrysopoeia and apotheosis (gold-making and god-making)—the perfection of metals and mortals. In seeking to turn ‘poison into wine’, alchemy, like tantra, engages material existence—often at its most dissolute or corruptible—in order to transform it into a vehicle of liberation. Like theurgy, it seeks not only personal liberation—the redemption of the soul from the cycles of generation and corruption—but also the liberation (or perfection) of nature herself through participation in the cosmic demiurgy. In its highest sense, therefore, alchemy conforms to what Lurianic kabbalists would call tikkun, the restoration of the world.

Almost invariably, the earliest alchemical texts describe procedures for creating elixirs of immortality—of extracting transformative essences from physical substances in order to render metals golden and mortals divine. Through this, the earliest alchemists innovated physical processes such as distillation and fermentation, extraction and refinement, and the analysis and synthesis of various chemical substances. However, it must not be forgotten that the earliest contexts of ‘material’ alchemy were not proto-scientific, but ritualistic. Whether one looks at the Taiqing (Great Clarity) tradition of third-to-sixth century China, the Siddha traditions of early medieval India, or the magical and theurgical milieux of Hellenistic Egypt, the most concrete alchemical practices were always inseparable from ritual invocations to and supplications of the divinities whose ranks the alchemist wished to enter. Moreover, in east and west alike, the alchemical techniques themselves were allegedly passed down from divinity to humanity. Alchemy was a divine art (hieratikē technē).

Whether stemming from the entheogenic properties of physical elixirs, or developing independently, the desire to encounter the divine directly through inner experience (gnōsis, jnāna) was soon cultivated via internal practices of a meditative or metaphysiological character. Here the elixir began to be generated within the vessels of the human body in order to transform it into an alchemical body of glory. Thus, the two basic traditions—external and internal alchemy; neidan and waidan, laboratory and oratory—can, in the final analysis, be regarded as complimentary approaches to the same end: the attainment of perfection through liberation from conditioned existence.

Despite these generalising remarks, and despite the unusual aptness of Baudelaire’s phrase, it must nevertheless be conceded that the effort to define alchemy to everyone’s satisfaction may well be impossible. On one hand, alchemy needs to be defined in a way that encapsulates the living breadth and depth of the world’s alchemical traditions. On the other hand, such a definition must also be internally consistent with the many specific, historically contingent (and at timescontradictory) expressions of alchemy. Moreover, the very attempt to strike such a ‘golden mean’ between the universal and particular, between the ‘synchronic’ and the ‘diachronic’, is something of an alchemical act in and of itself—the elusive, indeed transformative, point where ‘art’ becomes science and ‘science’, art. In this respect, alchemy may well be seen to inhere precisely in such ‘nodal points of qualitative change’ (as Jack Lindsay called them in his landmark study of Graeco-Egyptian alchemy), or in instances of ‘qualitative exaltation’ (as the twentieth-century alchemist, René Schwaller de Lubicz, described them with regards to the ‘teratological proliferations’ of biological species).

Rather than offer a single, rigid definition (which will quickly become restrictive), what I would like to do in this introduction is present a series of linguistic, historiographical, and phenomenological ‘circumambulations’ around the alchemical mysterium. In so doing, I seek to trace some of the more salient contours of the alchemical landscape, and, if possible, glimpse the presence of its elusive ‘centre’. One of the merits of approaching alchemy by circumambulation is that it affords a much wider circumscription of the phenomenon than the narrowly fixed parameters of disciplinal specificity usually permit; it therefore allows a more eidetic or phenomenological insight to develop—an approach that, in German philosophical traditions, is seen to promote actual understanding (Verstehen) rather mere explanation (Erklären). As Hans Thomas Hakl points out in a recent study of Julius Evola’s alchemical works, circumambulatio is precisely the approach taken in order to engender an actual experience of the realities that allegedly underpin the multiplicity of Hermetic symbols. It is, potentially, a method of ‘knowledge by presence’ rather than simple ‘representational knowledge’. Of course, such approaches, which are fundamentally morphological in their method, are also ahistorical in character, and so what must be offered here is not an exclusivelyphenomenological approach, but a circumambulation that is also tempered in the fires of historical rigour. Such an approach, in my experience, is fundamentally more balanced than either of the extremes.

At the same time, it must be recognised that there is an inherent tension to this balance; a tension that requires one to embrace a Heraclitean ‘harmony of contraries’ between deeply opposed methodologies. In circumambulating a centre, whether as an ‘essentialist’ or ‘relativist’, the ultimate nature of the centre, indeed the substantial existence of the centre itself, must remain an open question. As the Dao de Jingremarks, ‘thirty spokes meet in the hub of the wheel, but the function of the wheel is in the empty part’. Without the concrete spokes of empirical-historical data, we may not become aware of the centre, and yet this centre, which is empty, is precisely the function (the phenomenological Verstehen) around which the spokes revolve, giving them their form, their function and thus their meaning. Both aspects are interdependent and both must be equally accounted for. Thus, before we open up to any deeper phenomenological perceptions, our circumambulations must begin by first situating alchemy in its concrete historical-linguistic and historiographic contexts.

[christophe76460]

RHAPSODIE DES RÉALITÉS

PASTEUR CHRIS OYAKHILOME

COMMUNIER AVEC LE CONNU

Afin de Connaître Christ, et la Puissance de sa Résurrection et la Communion de ses souffrances, en devenant Conforme à Lui dans sa mort (#Philippiens 3:10).

Le mot « connaître » dans la partie soulignée du verset ci-dessus vient du grec « ginōskō ». Ici, l’Apôtre Paul fait allusion à CONNAÎTRE Dieu comme si vous faisiez une découverte; comme quand nous disons: « Découvrez Jésus ». Ce genre de CONNAISSANCE ne vient que par RÉVÉLATION.

Lorsque vous ÉTUDIEZ les Écritures, Dieu vous RÉVÈLE certaines choses. Et lorsque vous PRIEZ, il y a plus de CONNAISSANCE de Dieu qui est COMMUNIQUÉE à votre esprit. Tout cela fonctionne par RÉVÉLATION. Cependant, au verset 8, Il nous montre un autre type de CONNAISSANCE; Il dit: /«Et même je regarde toutes choses comme une PERTE, à cause de l’EXCELLENCE de la CONNAISSANCE de Jésus-Christ mon Seigneur… »

Cette fois, il parle de « gnōsis » (grec); il s’agit ici de ce que l’on peut appeler la CONNAISSANCE SCIENTIFIQUE; « une découverte ». Mais il RÉVÈLE encore un autre type de CONNAISSANCE dans #Philippiens 1:9; Paul dit: « Et ce que je demande dans mes Prières, c’est que votre Amour Augmente de plus en plus en Connaissance et en pleine Intelligence. » Le mot « connaissance » est ici le mot grec « epignōsis ».

Epignosis est la CONNAISSANCE qui permet d’INTERAGIR avec ce qu’on connaît. C’est la CONNAISSANCE EXACTE, COMPLÈTE et PRÉCISE de Dieu, résultant en une BONNE QUALITÉ de vie. Ce type de CONNAISSANCE est la CONNAISSANCE issue d’une RELATION. Il Ne s’agit Pas seulement de RECEVOIR des RÉVÉLATIONS ou de ce que vous avez Découvert à travers l’Etude. À ce stade, vous INTERAGISSEZ avec ce qui vous a été RÉVÉLÉ et vous DÉTENEZ une CONNAISSANCE VÉRITABLE.

Lorsque vous n’avez pas cette CONNAISSANCE, les choses ressemblent à de la SPÉCULATION pour vous; même votre PRIÈRE pourrait paraitre comme du tâtonnement. Mais lorsque vous CONNAISSEZ et INTERAGISSEZ avec Celui qui répond aux PRIÈRES, les choses sont différentes; vous avez de l’ASSURANCE et de l’ENTHOUSIASME pour PRIER. Il s’agit de votre CONNAISSANCE de Celui à qui vous adressez votre PRIÈRE.

Il y a une DIFFÉRENCE entre un chrétien qui espère que s’il fait quelque chose, il obtiendra un certain RÉSULTAT, et celui dont la foi est BASÉE sur la PAROLE; la FOI qui s’appuie sur une RELATION avec Dieu. Lorsque vous OPÉREZ dans cette RELATION, dans la PRIÈRE, vous N’avez qu’une chose à faire: PRIER la VOLONTÉ du Père; ACCOMPLIR la VOLONTÉ du Père sur la terre.

Ceux qui Ne connaissent Pas la Parole sont facilement DÉPASSÉS par les circonstances et engloutis par les crises de la vie. Vous devez ACCORDER plus d’attention à la PAROLE et GRANDIR dans « l’Epignosis» de Dieu.

#PRIÈRE

Cher Père, merci pour le Bonheur que procure ta Parole, par laquelle Tu m’accordes continuellement la Perspicacité Divine dans les Choses Profondes et complexes de la Vie et du Surnaturel. Je m’abandonne à la Connaissance par un Appétit Vorace pour la Parole. J’ai la Connaissance Exacte, Complète et Précise de Dieu, Résultant en une Bonne Qualité de vie, au Nom de Jésus.

LECTURE DE LA BIBLE EN 1 AN

Marc 2:23-3:1-12 & Lévitique 11-12

LECTURE DE LA BIBLE EN 2 ANS

Actes 19:8-20 & Psaumes 25-26

[fredy-holzer]

fredy-holzer #fredyholzer por fredy holzer

[euniceoladokun]

READ THE CAPTION Should we do a bit of Greek word today? 🥳🥳🥳 Leggo...💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻 In Colossians 1:9, we see how Paul prayed that the believers at Colosse should be filled with the knowledge of God's will. The prayer has a context but permit me to make some harmless biases from this text. The Greek word for the word 'knowledge' is 'epignōsis' which means full discernment. In contemporary English, we can say an accurate and complete understanding about an event, person, place or life. There are other words used for knowledge in the Bible like 'gnōsis' which means a knowledge based on personal experience or perception. Paul didn't use this Greek, he intentionally used the aforementioned. The believer in Christ has an accurate knowledge about God's will for his life. I know he does not always know everything because of the frailty of his mind but HE CAN know them if HE WILL PRAY. Paul prayed the prayer because it's a possibility. You can have a comprehensive, detailed, complete and accurate knowledge of God's will for your life. I took a course in psychology sometime that taught on how every human is wired to fall into trial and error. I believe strongly that the theory is true but hey, you are a believer in Christ; governed by a different reality. Declare with me: Thank you Father because your ways are not hidden from me. I always know what to do because I am properly led by Your Spirit. #lttb #theoperationsofthedivinelife #day17 https://www.instagram.com/p/CO-u3J5tAUh/?utm_medium=tumblr

[brendanelliswilliams]

A Word for the Feast of Pentecost

Since I now give all my homilies extemporaneously, I cannot share word for word the reflection I gave this morning at the Festal Mass of Pentecost, but this is a brief summary of what I offered, which I thought might be worth revisiting and typing up:

In the general course of things, folks go on debating endlessly about ideologies, trying to reassure themselves or create more of a veneer of whatever they happen to think is right and just in the world, but the core human problem—the decisive error and ‘original sin’, if you will—is and always has been existential. It is, in a word, our ignorance: our lack of gnōsis (i.e., our lack of experiential knowledge about the way things really are).

Without transforming the foundation of the human heart and mind through a direct experience of the inter-relationality of all things, violence, chaos, and confusion will go on ad infinitum. The Divine must be experienced as utterly immanent to the whole of Life. It must be known and felt in our very bones. Holding the mere idea of it is insufficient to the critical task at hand. The same can be said for love. And, in fact, love and the Divine Presence are, in Christian theology, part of one and the same metaphysical Reality.

If the Feast of Pentecost tells us anything worthwhile in our own time and place, it’s that we have to awaken in the purgative fire of Divinity—each one of us, here and now. That Divinity is always already present within and all around us, but if we do not do the work to wake up to it and thereby become clear vessels for its transforming work, then we will remain forever in the fevered dream of ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing’.

Unless we understand this awakening as the core of the Christian invitation to co-create the Kingdom of Heaven—and, indeed, as the core of every expression of religious thought and practice—then our religion is little more than an anachronistic fetish. In this time of profound unravelment, I pray that we all would come to know the ever resounding invitation of Spirit to be unified with the isness of her Life, and take that invitation seriously; and that we would learn to discard all that is incidental or corrosive to that one most needful endeavor.

[gingermcl]

The word gnosis means knowledge," especially "special knowledge of spiritual mysteries, from Greek gnōsis "a knowing, knowledge; a judicial inquiry, investigation; a being known, from PIE *gnō-ti-, from root *gno- "to know." Other words with the root gno are know, knowledge, ignorant, diagnosis, prognosis, and recognize to name a few. I define gnosis as knowledge from within from the intuition or dna versus the external myself.

[garamterang]

Buah Iman Kristen

Sermon Minggu, 27 September 2020 Oleh Wahyudi Purnomo 2 Petrus 1:5-9

Shalom saudara-saudara, Kita bersyukur, hari ini kita masih diberi kesempatan untuk mengadakan pertemuan ibadah Minggu, meskipun di bawah bayang-bayang pendemi covid-19. Pada kesempatan ini, saya mengajak bapak, ibu, saudara semua untuk membuka hati dan pikiran tentang "Buah Iman Kristen Sejati". Nas Alkitab hari ini 2 Petrus 1:3-15, penekanan pada:

"Justru karena itu kamu harus dengan sungguh-sungguh berusaha untuk menambahkan kepada imanmu kebajikan, dan kepada kebajikan pengetahuan, dan kepada pengetahuan penguasaan diri, kepada penguasaan diri ketekunan, dan kepada ketekunan kesalehan, dan kepada kesalehan kasih akan saudara-saudara, dan kepada kasih akan saudara-saudara kasih akan semua orang." - 2 Petrus 1:5-7 (TB)

Buah Iman Kristen adalah karakter nyata sebagai berikut:

1. "Kebajikan". Kualitas ini digunakan untuk Kristus (atau Allah Bapa) dalam ay 2 Pet. 1:3. Ini adalah salah satu buah Roh (Gal. 5:22-23). Ini adalah antonym dari "kelebihan" (2 Pet. 2:3,14). Lihat topik khusus: Keburukan dan Kebajikan dalam PB di 1 Pet. 4:2.

2. "Pengetahuan". Suatu pengetahuan (gnōsis) akan Injil yang memimpin kepada keserupaan dengan Kristus adalah hal yang indah. Guru-guru palsu itu menganjurkan pengetahuan palsu yang menyebabkan penyelewengan.

3. "Penguasaan diri". Kebajikan ini menggambarkan seseorang yang mampu mengendalikan tarikan egosentris dari sifat dosa akibat kejatuhan (Kis. 24:25; Gal. 5:23; Tit. 1:8). Dalam beberapa konteks, yaitu 1 Kor. 7:9 hal ini menyinggung pada aktivitas seksual yang tidak pantas dan karena kecenderungan Antinomian dari guru-guru palsu, konotasi ini mungkin tercakup di sini.

4. "Ketekunan". Istilah ini merujuk kepada daya tahan yang aktif, sukarela, dan sabar. Ini adalah karakteristik yang seperti Allah, yaitu kesabaran terhadap orang dan keadaan (Rom. 5:3-4; Yak. 1:3).

5. "Kesalehan". Ini adalah sebuah istilah penting dalam surat-surat pastoral, secara etimologis kesalehan dalam bahasa Ibrani “tamam” yang artinya menjadi lengkap, selesai, tanpa cela, semua, menyeluruh. Jadi kesalehan secara etimologis berarti sempurna, komplit, selesai. Orang yang saleh adalah orang yang mempunyai kualitas utuh atau tanpa cela di hadapan Allah.

6. "Kasih" ( 2 Pet. 1:7; NASB NKJV "kebaikan persaudaraan, cinta", NRSV "saling kasih sayang dengan cinta", TEV "Kristen kasih sayang dan cinta", NJB "kebaikan untuk saudara-saudara dengan cinta"). Ini adalah istilah majemuk Yunani phileō, yaitu kasih dan adelphos, yaitu saudara. Hal ini juga terjadi dalam 1 Pet. 1:22. Dalam konteks ini mengacu pada saudara dan saudari seperjanjian. Sering dikatakan bahwa phileō mengacu pada kasih yang lebih rendah daripada agapeō (2 Pet. 1:7), tetapi dalam bahasa Yunani Koine istilah-istilah ini bersinonim (Yoh. 5:20, yang menggunakan untuk phileō kasih Bapa bagi Yesus) . Namun demikian, di sini dan dalam Yoh. 21 mungkin ada pembedaan yang disengaja.

Ilustrasi:  Iman ibarat pohon buah-buahan  yang berakar-bertumbuh-berbuah. Di pekarangan tempat tinggal kami ada dua pohon buah (mangga dan jambu air). Awal bulan Januari 2020, ketika kami mulai tinggal di rumah dimana kami tinggal sekarang,  pohon-pohon buah itu dililit oleh "rayutan" dan benalu. Saya berusaha membersihkannya, memotong sebagian ranting-ranting yang sudah tidak produktif, dan untuk pohon mangga sedikit saya lukai agar berbuah  manis. Kini daun-daunya pulih, dan mulai berbunga dan berbuah. Puji Tuhan!

Rupanya itu yang dimaksudkan oleh perumpamaan dalam Yohanes 15:1-8.

1. Ranting yang tidak berbuah/tidak produktif dipotong, dibuang - menjadi kering dan dibakar habis. Ini gambaran Kristen palsu yang tidak bisa diperbaiki, terbuang dari persekutuan dengan Tuhan Yesus dan saudara-saudara seiman.

2. Ranting yang produktif/berbuah dibersihkan, dan tinggal dalam Pokok Anggur - Kristus. Sebagai pokok anggur Yesus telah dilukai, disiksa, digiring di Via Dolorosa dan akhirnya disalibkan. Dengan jalan itu Yesus menjadi pokok keselamatan. Kita yang percaya dan menerima-Nya menjadi ranting-ranting yang diselamatkan. Tetapi agar ranting-ranting  berbunga dan berbuah manis, dibersihkan, bahkan juga dilukai, agar lebih banyak berbuah manis.  Ini gambaran Kristen Sejati, yang tinggal dalam Kristus (pengetahuannya bertambah-perilakunya berubah) dari hari ke sehari. Hidup kita terus berubah meneladani Kristus, tumbuh di dalam kasih-Nya, berbuah dalam pelayanan-Nya.

Kesimpulan: Panggilan, kuasa Illahi, dan janji-janji Allah yang besar untuk masa depan kekal janganlah dijadikan dasar untuk membenarkan orang Kristen menjadi manusia yang statis, pasif, dan tanpa inisiatif. Seharusnya orang Kristen terdorong aktif untuk memacu semangat kekristenannya, penuh inisiatif dan dinamis. Sikap ini mengarahkan orang Kristen pada pertumbuhan dan perkembangan yang normal, sehat, dan bertanggung jawab. Tidak hanya itu, orang Kristen juga dimampukan untuk menjalani kehidupannya dengan penuh dinamika, bertumbuh, dan berkembang. Keadaan seperti ini hanya akan dialami oleh setiap orang yang telah melekatkan diri dalam jalinan persekutuan dengan Tuhan Yesus Kristus dan tidak membiarkan diri hidup dalam kepasifan tanpa inisiatif.

Kristen telah terlibat dalam panggilan, kuasa, dan janji-janji Allah. Hal itu membawa dampak pada kemampuan kita untuk memancarkan sifat-sifat baik seperti: kebajikan, pengetahuan, penguasaan diri, ketekunan, kesalehan (takut akan Tuhan), kasih kepada saudara-saudara, dan kasih kepada semua orang. Semua sifat ini harus ada dalam diri kita sebagai orang-orang yang percaya kepada-Nya. Dan apabila semua sifat-sifat ini telah orang Kristen tambahkan pada imannya, maka Allah akan membuat kita giat dan berhasil dalam pengenalan akan Yesus Kristus, Tuhan kita (8).

Perhatikan dan selidikilah pengenalan Anda akan Yesus Kristus! Jika Anda belum mengenal benar siapa Yesus Kristus berarti Anda belum menambahkan sifat-sifat baik itu dalam kehidupan beriman Anda. Sebaliknya jika sudah memiliki pengenalan yang benar akan Dia, berarti sifat-sifat itu harus segera ditambahkan.

Rahasia kehidupan rohani kita terletak pada pengenalan akan Tuhan Yesus Kristus. Tanpa itu kerohanian kita akan mengalami kekeringan dan kemunduran. Kita akan kalah karena gagal mengatasi dosa yang setiap saat mengganggu hidup kita. Bertumbuh dalam pengenalan akan Allah dalam Kristus, dalam persektuan-Nya, serta bersekutu dengan komunitas anggota Jemaat-Nya keharusan untuk menghasilkan buah yang tetap.

[matlloydpoet]

regnōsis In this online-exhibition, selected artists were invited from all over the world to envision the post-corona era, taking into consideration the socio-political and individual rearrangement and redeployment which will take place in a pandemic-free world. What is the new knowledge (gnosis - γνῶσις, gnōsis, f. in the Greek language) gained after a possible introspection during this isolation? Reflecting how the new world will be operating and the adaptation that it might entail, regnōsis* should be understood as a process of re-establishing and regaining knowledge in a scenario of a new order. The exhibition will launch on April, 25th 2020. Participating Artists: ------------------------------------ Andrea Sonnenberg (US) Androula Kafa (CY) Baptiste Burlot (FR) Fumiaki Asai (JP) Geralnd Zahn (AT) Johanna Walderdorff (DE) Lefki Savvidou (CY) Łukasz Wierzbowski (PL) Mat Lloyd (GB) Moritz Berg (DE) Nick Bueltge (DE) Nika Kupyrova (UA/AT) Sergio Pradana (ES) This exhibition is an initiative by Eleni Angastiniotou and Lefki Savvidou in order to enforce cultural activity during the period of isolation, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. *The title regnōsis was inspired by an article written by German future researcher and visionary Matthias Horx, “Die Welt nach Corona”/ “The Post Corona World”. (at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-kP0-bBYS4/?igshid=87v34extf21a

[deadpanwalking]

Anosognosia (/æˌnɒsɒɡˈnoʊziə/, /æˌnɒsɒɡˈnoʊʒə/; from Ancient Greek ἀ- a-, “without”, νόσος nosos, “disease” and γνῶσις gnōsis, “knowledge”) is a deficit of self-awareness, a condition in which a person with some disability seems unaware of its existence.  It was first named by the neurologist Joseph Babinskiin  in 1914.  Anosognosia results from physiological damage to brain structures, typically to the parietal lobe or a diffuse lesion on the fronto-temporal-parietal area in the right hemisphere, and is thus a neurological disorder.

I mean, the irony of loving literature as much as I do while also managing to fail every English class I’ve ever taken is not lost on me.  When I was a kid, I used to lie awake praying that God would have some fucking pity and reach into my cranium to hotwire it until it made sense.

During my junior year of high school, one of my counselors finally thought to have me tested instead of writing me off as an underachieving asshole.  My verbal IQ score was fifty points above my performance IQ (“You’ve got the engine of a Porsche in the body of a Ford Taurus,” the testing psychologist had said, and to this day I can’t think of a better way to explain it).

I was officially diagnosed with a Non-Verbal Learning Disability© (an affiliate of Autism Corp. & subsidiary of Right Hemisphere Brain Dysfunction enterprises) but since I wasn’t showing obvious physiological symptoms aside from being clumsy, nobody really thought to look further than that.  

It netted me extended time on tests and papers which was enough until I got to college, and then it wasn’t.  At all.  The less said about that, the better.

Anyway, I wasn’t too far off with that first concept—at least the part about reaching into my cranium.  Last week’s MRI shows that a congenital arachnoid cyst on my right frontotemporal lobe has had a thumb on the scale from day one —the left hemisphere compensated by making me rely on my verbal skills for almost everything, but when it came time to, say,  compose an essay or do rote geometry or manage my time during an exam, I instantly became that kid from the Midvale School for the Gifted comic.

Q: But surely, brain surgery is kind of drastic, considering the fact that the cyst is benign, right?

(The punchline to this would be even funnier if I hadn’t spent years being abused and ridiculed and humiliated over being unable to do my fucking homework; if trying to stay in college didn’t almost kill me; if dropping out didn’t incinerate whatever was left of my self-worth.)

A:  Nope.  At any point, a low-risk endoscopic decompression procedure would have definitely made a whole host of cognitive and executive functions so much simpler for me.

For the longest time, I thought that if I could just bring home a report card that wasn’t a fucking trashfire, it would unlock the secret level where my mom didn’t hurt me, and now I get that she would have found another excuse—but at least I could have had a chance to thrive and grow in some meaningful way, you know?  Instead, I am finding this arachnoid crap out at 34, at the tail end of a protracted grieving process for a stillborn dream of teaching metaphysical poetry to undergrads (I’m at whichever Kübler-Ross stage where you Accept The Things You Cannot Change while concurrently getting drunk and/or high).  

Jesus.  Like, I just wanted some technician to wave an electromagnet over my head so that I could maybe have a few good months in between depressive episodes and now I have to think about how some sack of cerebrospinal fluid in my brain was doing some Keyser Söze ass shit the whole time I was trying to live my life.