And then I remembered this little gem from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers* (Agathon 15):"It was said of Abba Agathon that for three years he lived with a stone in his mouth, until he had learned to keep silence."
* Personal Trivia Note: Some of you know this already, but I did a major portion of my masters degree research on the Desert Fathers. For whatever that may be worth....
love it. Thank you my friend for the kind honor and your words.
ReplyDeletejust saying "hi"...i like the idea of "stonemouth". i think it could probably be quite useful at times :-)
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Caterina Benincasa once said "Preach the truth as if you had a million voices. It is silence that kills the world." ;)
ReplyDeleteSwandive: :)
ReplyDeleteLucy,
Thanks for saying hi. I'm glad you liked the idea. I'm thinking "stonemouth" might be a good candidate for the name of my next blues band. :)
Barbara,
On the other hand, there's this:
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." ~Ecclesiastes 3:1
It seems that you vs. (but in this case not as in against :) me here have tapped into the age old monastic tension of the active vs the contemplative.
Thanks. :)
i am assuming that the band would therefore be only instrumental??? ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhile true, that wasn't my intent. I just wanted you not to be so hard on yourself. There is more than one way to look at the dust you stir up. No doubt Caterina kept her silence at times as well -- depending on the season, as it were.
ReplyDeleteLucy,
ReplyDeleteYou would think so...but...no chance. :)
Barbara,
Thank you. If it sounds like I am "too hard on myself," then--wait, let me check--it sounds wrong, I'm not. :)
I do think Agathon and his fellow deeert abbas were too hard on themselves though. Hack, sometimes those boys were unhinged. Having studied them extensively though, I understand why they did what they did....
I actually prefer a middle path. ;)