Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs > Recent Status Updates

Freud says this about Eternity... that it takes shape from our continuous Egos. But these egos, he says, owe their solidity only due to the illusion of our Ids, in which our Egos are submerged, as they give our primitive self the feeling of Permanence.
Freud has obviously not seen the possibility of a Selfless Eternity!

WOW.

A marvellous read, and a true classic. Back in my freshman year at college, friends who had opted for first-year French got to read this! I was secretly a little envious, though my French back then was hardly good enough...

Wonderfully enchanting read! And Ms Lebak’s intelligence is, as usual, rapier-sharp. Touché!

A remarkably suspenseful theological thriller.
Jane Lebak has written a very fine, swashbuckling tale of covert dissidents in the chambers of the 16th century Council of Trent, and the group of warrior nuns sworn to eradicate their dissent. And she pulls it all off with nary a hitch.
HIGHLY Recommended!

“Man is human only in small numbers; but these need the rest in order to carry out the essential tasks of transformation and nonrepitition which distinguish man from all that is non-human.”
What a captivating thought!

I’ve had a fascination for this pensive and gentle chameleon, Paul Valéry, since I was 18. This book should prove, as Whitehead puts it, a real Adventure of Ideas!

What an incredible - though self-deprecating - mind this great man has! I’m thoroughly enjoying this.

Spirituality easily becomes theologically amnesiac and ends up unaware of the grand and spacious God horizons, the truly vast landscapes in which we are invited to live out the spiritual life.

That’s it for this one. DNF. Certainly not my cuppa tea, as I had hoped. Some things I just can’t stand - like cold-blooded murder - in such an initially innocuous novel as this. False advertising? Perhaps I read the wrong blurb!

I needed some rambunctious humor and zany humanity in the middle of my more serious reading, and this one DELIVERS!

If we want to survive, we have to return to the roots of our faith, both in thought and in practice. We are going to have to learn habits of the heart forgotten by believers in the West. We are going to have to change our lives, and our approach to life, in radical ways.

Stupendously riveting. It leads us through the presence of intimidating 16th century Catholic prelates, as the story of this young nun struggling to clear her record and escape the nightmares of a harrowing coming-of-age unfolds!

A simply unputdownable read! I’m liking this one from the word go - it is vividly written and glitteringly intelligent - an EXCELLENT book.

Marvellous book! A little girl who claims to be from the distant Pinwheel Galaxy claims she’s come to Earth to witness five miracles - this one grabs you from the word go...

Be careful what you wish for.
If you wish to be a man’s man
You might find yourself at the end
A hard-pressed man who missed
The daily frailties that soften you
Allowing you to close your eyes
And Rest In Peace. Perhaps the
Grander wish is to be a woman’s man
...Those are the men missed when
They are finally gone.

He sits with his mother in room 710.
The pain from her broken back is not
Quite so proud today so they seize the
Chance to talk because they both know
Time is thinning...
He sits in her waiting, yielded and still.

I often walk beside a creek with no name
Bursting with frog song. They’re singing
“Shenandoah.” Or at least that’s what I hear.
As I walk I dream dreams of my father
And the love I feel for that unsung man...

Until your tears have fermented
They are only water,
Easily mistaken for raindrops.
But should you endure the season
Your grief might turn to wine,
Your sadness might become
The spirit others will travel
Far and wide to taste...

The memorable poetic voice of Richard Wilbur has been loaned to the immortal Molière in this translation. Long my brother’s fave, he must’ve given it to me sometime in the seventies. I’ve pulled it from my dusty book case for the first time today...

(Caesar) was so much a master of goodwill and service in his soldiers... that (the men) displayed a courage past defeating or withstanding.... Such a one was Acilius who, in the sea battle before (landing at) Marseilles, had his right hand cut off by a sword, but kept on fighting with his left(!)....

She loved him because
His ways were gentle.
How he came to be like
That she did not know
And did not care.
It was enough that he was.
He always greeted her
The way morning breaks,
Sharp but soft.

One of the seraphim flew to me
With a live coal in each hand and
Laid them upon my eyes.
And I saw the great deception was not
That we could be like God
But that we were bred solely for utility.
Then a voice gentle as rain said,
“Now, go tell them they were born
To be monumental in the sun.”

Sticking to what we DO know about this Medieval Saint! Wonderful to get the facts. It’s a collection of entries by Franciscan writers on the man behind the legend.