💯 TREE 645: A high degree of perfection

L A W R E N C E × J E F F
c h a p t e r · 1
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Brother Lawrence says:

That we ought to quicken, i.e., to enliven, our faith. That it was lamentable we had so little; and that instead of taking faith for the rule of their conduct, men amused themselves with trivial devotions, which changed daily. That the way of Faith was the spirit of the Church, and that it was sufficient to bring us to a high degree of perfection.

For the first 50 reads I was thinking, What does this have to do with me? I’m not in the Church. But I like the idea of being brought to ‘to a high degree of perfection’. I like getting things right. However you do that, it’s the opposite of changing the focus of your attention all the time.

Next, Lawrence does some Stoic-flavoured stuff: ‘… whether [God leads] us by suffering or by consolation, for all would lie equal to a soul truly resigned.’ When life gets hard, ‘that then was the time for us to make good and effectual acts of resignation, whereof one alone would oftentimes very much promote our spiritual advancement.’ Pretty standard self-improvement stuff. The point is that his path to satisfaction and perfection requires steadfastness.

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Chapter 1 summary:

• There is a place for awkward people in this world.

• You can get, yes, satisfaction.

• Getting satisfaction is achieved by continual conversation with the universe/source/God. Giving attention to ‘trifles and fooleries’ gets in the way of the conversation.

• Faith can bring you ‘to a high degree of perfection’. ‘Trivial devotions’ that change often are the enemy of faith.

We don’t know yet what Lawrence thinks ‘trifles and fooleries’ are. We don’t know how this continual conversation is supposed to work, except that it involves an attitude of ‘I’m doing this thing no matter what my circumstances are’.

I like doing. I have a busy brain. For me, doing is fun. ‘Just being’ is agony. So if there is a way to enlightenment that works with a busy brain instead of against it, count me in.

Let me introduce you to Seratones.

I took a quick look at chapter 2. We’re getting into some SUBSTANCE next week.

Skyler is getting ready to move house. FIELD GUIDE is going to be spotty for a while. We’ll do a TREEpeat or Further Afield tomorrow.

Grow slowly
Jeff