Yes, I’m Alive

After a frenetic posting pace during the holidays, things have slowed down here. Jaclyn and I are back in St. Stephen and another term is starting at SSU. Here’s what is going on, in point form!

  • We’ve moved apartments within Todd Hall. The new one is bigger, renovated and brighter (more natural light). Pictures to come once we have the place set up.
  • I’m taking three philosophy courses this term. Modern Philosophy (Descartes to Hegel), 20th Century Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion are on the plate. If my head explodes, I’ll post a picture. ;)
  • On a sad note, a former SSU student committed suicide last night. Although I did not know him, many here did. Please pray for his friends from the school, his family, and his fiancée. Everyone’s having a hard time with this.
  • I was contracted to design my first web site. A little nepotism got me a gig designing a website for the company that my Mom works for. Check burbankxpress.com, which is nearing completion.

I leave you with a quote from George Grant, who we read in today’s Modern Philosophy class. In an unpublished paper, he expounds on the question, “What is Philosophy?” Grant contends that philosophy arises from those who “have come face to face with the mystery of existence and who have seen how profound a mystery it is.” He finds that the mystery arises in people in two ways; “first, from just plain wonder at the world around them, and secondly from the anguish of their own lives.”

Fascinating. He concludes by saying:

The life of philosophy is open to us all. And its reward is in truth infinite. For as we face the mystery of existence and pass in thought beyond a superficial view of thew world, there will come to us, out of the mystery and the anguish, the certainty which is rooted not in foolishness but in truth. There will come to us indeed God — not God as he is so often thought of, as an insurance policy for the next world, or as a comforting drug — but God in his real and terrible presence. For that is finally what philosophy is — the practice of the presence of God.

2 responses to “Yes, I’m Alive”

  1. If I had heard that quote in one of my philosophy courses at the U of W I may have dropped dead from disbelief. That said, it sure is brilliant.

    I don’t think philosophy is philosophy unless it’s honest. The ‘best’ thing you hear in philosophy circles, usually directed at Christians or at the very least religion, is that we have our a priori commitments and merely build proofs to support those commitments, thereby being unwilling to examine our beliefs. Truthfully, I’ve scarcely had true, honest philosophical dialogue, a willingness to examine beliefs and assumptions about the world, with anyone but Christians. The difference, in my experience (though of course not without exception), in Christian philosophical dialogue: we’re honest about our a priori commitments. Most of the people I’ve dialogued with at the university have their a priori commitments too, only theirs consist basically/generally that all of my commitments can’t be and aren’t true. Dahhh!!!! Drives me crazy.

    Truly sad about the suicide. Truly sad.

    Lord, have mercy on us all.

  2. Interesting to hear that about philosophical types. It makes me keep coming back to Willard’s injunction to doubt your doubts and that skeptics need to give an account for their unbelief.

    We always have unprovable assumptions. Faith makes the world go round, it would seem.

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