Need for Perfection

Have you been confused and indecisive, because what stands in front of you are two great options and you really don’t know what is the best? Have you ever despaired for not taking the right decision? Ever been baffled by the number of choices that you have to choose from, and wondering if you actually missed out the better one? We all have been there at some point in our lives. The real question however is why this confusion? Why is it that there is no end to our desires? Why is supply always less in comparison to demand?

I firmly believe we somehow have an idea of perfection within us. This is engraved into our nature, into our very being. We all have a sense of some kind of perfection deep within us. Talk to an artist, a poet, a writer, an engineer, a designer don’t go too far, for we all have a small element of all these within us. So it is sometimes good to sit and ask ourselves, from where do we get this sense of perfection within us? The constant urge and need to update things, constantly trying to figure out a better state of existence, a need for change. Satisfaction has become a rare phenomenon, although there is a constant effort to find this satisfaction in our lives.

True and authentic perfection is found only in the Divine. The conflict of options, the problem of confusion and indecisiveness arises, because we drifted away from The Perfect One and rather resorted to imperfect things in life. We have made the least important things of life as the most important and the most important things have become insignificant. Perfection is far away from our; satisfaction is way away from us, because we have decided to move away from THE PERFECT ONE. Moments of moving towards the Divine are the most satisfying and authentic moments of experiencing perfection at least in a subtle way.

Ageless Students

We learn things at a pace. Some of us learn at a faster pace and some of us slower. It is not the pace alone;  circumstances and situations that come up in life also play a pivotal role. These circumstances that arise in each of our lives are so distinct from the person sitting right next to us. The lessons learnt are so different and the whole methodology is so very distinct as well. There is a lesson in everything and everyone around us. Hence, it is of pivotal importance that we keep our eyes and minds open, to observe and learn from these great teachers around us. Happiness, sorrow, wealth, poverty, married life, single life, children, not being able to have children, the old flock, the young, faithfulness, laziness, kings, beggars, flowers, birds wild animals, cattle, wind, fire.... the list keeps going on.... everything in life reveals to us a new lesson. I guess, I can dare to say, "foolish is the man who thinks that he has understood it all, and there remains nothing to be learnt." It does not matter at what age one says that, it will turn us into the very personification of foolishness.

Every culture has had and still does have its own schools and approaches to wisdom. Even though psychologists have avoided wisdom from their textbooks, it is refreshing to know that, this trend is slowly changing, thanks to people like Vivian Clayton. Wisdom reveals itself (herself) to those who keep their eyes and minds open; those who acknowledge the experiences of life as teachers. How to learn from experiences is another great dimension in our approach to wisdom. Loosing a battle and hence learning the lesson that victory can never be achieved is the lack of understanding as to how to takes notes from the teacher named life in the classrooms of experience. One needs a teacher to reveal a method to approach the school called life. This teacher should be chosen with much care, for if you choose a teacher who is not well equipped to look deep and help you look deeper, then you stand the great risk of a shipwreck. The greatest problem of our generation is, we are all self-proclaimed teachers and have lost the humility of being a good student. It is only a good and humble student of today that will turn into the greatest teacher of tomorrow. Life is an unending schooling process, each moment becomes a teacher thus transforming us into ageless students.

The Abundance of Goodness

“HE has been good to me. I am not worthy, but HE has been good to me.” These are words that came from a sincere heart. A life that looks back and forward and sees the Divine presence, full of providence, consolation and hope.

Now this does not mean that there are no struggles in the life of this person. It does not mean that this person has nothing else that remains to be fulfilled in life, no more ends to meet. His life is still a struggle, I am pretty sure we can all say that about our lives. Fortunately he calls it the struggle to be perfect (he takes St. Matt. 5:48 pretty seriously).

The goodness of God can be experience only when one is ready to taste it. The Source of all Goodness does not enforce himself upon us. On the contrary He simply invites us to go and experience the abundance of goodness that flows from him. The life that takes the invitation seriously and goes to the great banquet of goodness, mercy, forgiveness and above all the banquet of holiness lacks nothing. It is such a life that can stand amidst the most tremulous moments of life and say…. HE has been good to me. 

When we decide to attend a banquet to which we have been invited, we make sure that we are dressed according to the ethos of the event and are well groomed. The best is offered from our side as well. We have kept away the ‘other options and avenues’ where we would have placed us. Attending the Divine Banquet of goodness, in a similar manner, requires us to keep our lives free from other engagements, to wear the right attire and attitude so that we become a part of the host’s friends and company, and not left alone because of our silliness and laziness. We offer our best to acquire the best. Offering our best – now that has a sacrificial tone to it, resounding the words of Romans 12:1 and the acquisition of the best – holds the tone of an outpour of grace, far beyond our comprehension. 

Moments of Failure

“My friend, do you trust me? I am not a bad person; I am not a bad person. It just happened, I do not know how. I know I am wrong! I know I failed! But I not a bad person! Am I?”  

Words of desperation and loneliness I witnessed in the near past. A desperate cry, that touched me so deep from someone I knew for a very long time.

 

I am pretty sure we all come across such moments in our life. Moments, which take us deep within ourselves, and brings up those tough questions. What am I? Am I such a beast? How could I even do that or think of doing something like that? By the way, if you encounter such thoughts once in a while, its good news, it’s a good sign. You are still human! You haven’t killed your conscience and there still remains the remnant of goodness within you. The real problem is when these questions never arise in our lives. The real problem arises when we have become numb or have stopped to take a moment to look within ourselves.

But for those of us who sometimes question ourselves and find ourselves almost on the verge of loosing it, THERE IS HOPE. The hope remains in the fact of recognizing that we are failing to be an agent of goodness and love. Moments of failures are moments of partial enlightenment, those are moments disguised as great teachers of wisdom, correcting you and leading you to a path, which brings true hope and strength. A failure takes away the veil of blindness. It reveals to us true friends and those disguised as friends. It reveals to us our weakness, shows us the areas we need to work harder in our lives. It proves you and defines your character. What you do with your failures determines how well you will succeed the next time.

Now those lines do not, by any way mean that one should keep jumping into the pit of failures to learn from them, founded upon the excuses of desire, lust and selfish ambition. These vices have been proved 100 % successful in turning us humans into beasts, the most vicious of its kind.

Do not judge a book by its cover. A diamond is made from the most darkest and ugly looking carbon. The next time we are ready to point that finger and pass the verdict of judgment and condemnation remember the words of the great Theanthropos, “Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone.”

Welcome!

Christ is Risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

It is with great joy and humility that we bring to you this blog. The purpose of this blog is to bring to you the faith, the hope and the challenges of the Ancient Church, which still survives in our world. The Orthodox Church has been here for more than 2000 years now. One of the most challenging problems that we face is, to hold close to our hearts, the faith handed down to us through the Holy Apostles and the Fathers after them.

Why should I care about this? What do i get out of this? These are some of the questions that can come to us when we read the above lines. Well here is what I think about it - we all have our philosophy for life. Each one has one's own. This philosophy is our foundation on which we build our world-view. Now imagine a situation where a builder is building a huge building on a weak foundation. Our faith and the things and concepts that we believe in, becomes an essential part of our identity, it defines our personality and our very being. Therefore it becomes very important as to what is it that we are rooted in.

This blog is a humble attempt to explore the depth of Orthodoxy. Above and beyond a mere philosophy for life…this has been the lifestyle of a community which comprises of the rich and the poor; the learned and the illiterate since the time of the Holy Apostles.

Come, Explore, Talk, Think and BELIEVE!