Mick does not send me many emails, but when he does it is worth following them up. He recommended this site, and in doing so says something about all of us who blog about faith.

We are struggling with the journey.

Part of this “bog” is my autobiography. Joshua Liebman in his “Peace of mind,” writes: “One man’s spiritual Odyssey may be of interest to others seeking peace of mind.” For many, the supreme quest of humanity is peace of mind. Gerald Jampolsky, in his “Love is letting go of fear,” says this about peace: “[w]e have been given everything we need to be happy now. To look directly at this instant is to be at peace now” (p. 7). The Christian view is that the peace that the world gives is not the peace that the Lord Jesus gives: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (John 14:7).

Contrary to Jampolsky, as much as I feel strongly drawn to a fellow Jew (as I feel to a lesser extent with Joshua Liebman), “look[ing] directly at this instant” of the eternal now, living in the vibration of the eternal now, living in a “nowgasmic” encounter with other selves, this is not the Christian way – nor the Torah way – to find the peace that surpasses all understanding. The peace that the Lord Jesus gives is intimately tied up with this basic human question: “How can man be saved from sin?” The two (Jewish) psychologists I mentioned are vehemently opposed to this view, and try to dissipate the notion of sin, where the effort to do so is, arguably, the mother of dissipation itself. My biography, if not an Oddysey, is the story of my spiritual journey from enslavement (to Self) to adoption into the family of God through Jesus (the) Christ.

Nothing new here, but do not move along. Donne said it better.

Sixteen

Father, part of his double interest
Unto thy kingdome, thy Sonne gives to mee,
His joynture in the knottie Trinitie
Hee keepes, and gives to me his deaths conquest.
This Lambe, whose death, with life the world hath blest,
Was from the worlds beginning slaine, and he
Hath made two Wills, which with the Legacie
Of his and thy kingdome, doe thy Sonnes invest.
Yet such are thy laws, that men argue yet
Whether a man those statutes can fulfill;
None doth; but all-healing grace and spirit
Revive againe what law and letter kill.
Thy lawes abridgement, and thy last command
Is all but love; Oh let this last Will stand!

John Donne