Anno Domine

“Our nature consists in movement; absolute rest is death.”
Pensees 641. Blaise Pascal

A little known fact about most sharks is that, unlike other species of fish, they lack the ability to keep oxygen flowing over their gills; they literally must stay in motion at all times to stay alive. Literally, absolute rest would mean suffocation. There go the prospects for opening a chain of Blockbuster Videos on the Great Barrier Reef. One rental of a John Cusack movie and BAM! No return customers. What Pascal is referring to here is a lack of spiritual, emotional, and personal movement; we, maybe a little like the shark, in seeking the comfort of a soft pillow of sterility and control will render ourselves as good as dead by kowtowing to the comfort we think we want. God, I believe, did not intend for us to pursue nothing but comfort. Comfort is Egypt, not the Promised Land. I am totally not saying that the bed I just bought is a work of vanity or self indulgence, but I am saying that flooding my life with a sea of goods and relationships that do not cause me to yearn for something greater, bigger, and truer, then I am pretty much headed for the metaphorical Davy Jones’ Locker. Sometimes, and I am realizing this after a year of unbelievable pleasure and pain, God will pry our comfortable little asses out of our barcoloungers, not because he hates to see us happy, but becasue he wants to see us whole, in pursuit of that which is greater and better than what we might settle for. For instance, I, after several years of frustration, finally took action against comfort by leaving my decent paying and easy job to a leap into the abyss- a leap that, once I finally made it, has turned out to be an amazingly well-suited place for me. I feel propelled and compelled to continue my pursuit of life! Sometimes, though, the things you must leave behind are good things, and the sense in the loss is not readily apparent; in fact, the only thing that can sometimes be learned is that it really hurts, and that is life. I lost two important people simultaneously this last year, two people who I believed were collectively my past and my future. While the lessons are not apparent, I have learned that love and life are themselves creatures that MOVE, and that seeking the safety of comfort and control will bring your path to a slow, slovenly plop on the road.

Man. What did I eat tonight?