Full Circle

[poliphilo]

When last night's TV film about Florence Nightingale (informative but - as a film- not very good) revealed that she undertook her mission as a result of hearing the voice of God, my reaction was not- as it might once have been- "Dear me, what a loon", but ,"Seems like my kinda gal"- which shows, I suppose, that I've finally completed the circular walk I took off on 22 years ago.

At the time I didn't know it would be circular. I though I was walking away from Christianity for good. But that's not how it works, is it? 

As T.S. Eliot says-

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

Also, yesterday evening, I finished Balzac's Le Cure de Campagne- a novel about guilt and redemption which quite unashamedly bangs the drum for old-school catholicism- and, instead of chucking it accross the room, I laid it aside with thoughtful sympathy.

No, I'm not going to ring the bishop and ask for my dog-collar back, but- well- I have to admit the thought has fleetingly crossed my mind. 

What I care about- what I have always cared about most deeply- are the things of the spirit.

Comments

What I care about- what I have always cared about most deeply

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

- are the things of the spirit.

Probably why we became friends. It seems to me that one of the great challenges of our time is to arrive a an understanding of spirituality which is as free as possible of the encrustations of dogma but which still can contain the beauty of our shared histories.
The attempt to understand 'faith' - what it is, why we have it or don't have itis no easy task. I am very happy for the spiritual growth that you seem to be achieving.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Me too! The circular walk? I like that descriptive phrase. I started on mine when I was twelve years old from one Christian sect to another, then out of the churches altogether and into exploration of other faiths, other paths until I came to the place of non-religion, yet still had faith. Ultimately I returned to Christianity. It seems to me that the author of proverbs might have been through the circular walk himself when he wrote "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is OLD he will not depart from it".
Is not that the way it was for C.S. Lewis, too?

[kinderheldin.livejournal.com]

I just thought I'd let you know -- I looked up that very T.S. Eliot quote today (from one of the "Four Quartets") before I read this entry of yours. I guess we're on the same wave-length.

When Things of the Spirit Come First -- the title of a set of Short stories by Simone de Beauvoir.

I try to keep things of the spirit first, although sometimes I confuse them with things of the mind. :>

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Today I was listening to music in the car--church music--and for a moment only I thought I understood God and the universe and everything.

I'm feeling weepy today anyway, because Obama is about to become the Democratic nominee, and only this afternoon I came across an old photograph in a book that showed a ticket booth at a Mississippi movie theater: Colored Entrance Tickets Only. I am so thrilled for him, and for us for doing it right for once.

[craftyailz.livejournal.com]

Erm - if you do want to - can we talk about it, before you pick up the phone??????