I am the beginning and the end." This is said to us who live in the bondage of time, who have to face the end, who cannot escape the past, who need a present to stand upon. Each of the modes of time has its peculiar mystery, each of them carries its peculiar anxiety. Each … Continue reading The Violent Now
The Ghost of the Past
Behold, I am making all things new...Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. Revelation 21:5 (ESV) The past weighs heavy on the present. Its pressure and influence exert an intolerable presence on the present. Unbearable and unforgivable, the past is a relentless master. Its will, hidden and elusive, nevertheless exists as an undeniable phantom. A … Continue reading The Ghost of the Past
The Purgatory of the Future
The most powerful and the deepest reality exists where everything enters into the effective action, without reserve the whole man [or woman] and God the all-embracing – the united I and the boundless Thou. Martin Buber, I and Thou, 89. The progress of time is exhausting. Seemingly against our will, we're pushed forward toward growing uncertainty … Continue reading The Purgatory of the Future
Between Chaos and Order
Justice, in other words, is what the metaphysics of presence keeps trying and failing to identify with some set of institutions or principles. Such identification is impossible, because every institution or principle will produce new, unexpected, injustices of its own. Every imaginable utopia will need a social protest movement. Justice is a ghost that can … Continue reading Between Chaos and Order
