In a Dantean world, a good person who stands idly by has committed the atoneable sin of Acedia, which is a purgatory away from the ideal. The gap between simply being good and being ideally good is bridgeable by good works. According to John Ciardi, “[w]ere one to give all of his energy and attention to the pursuit of God’s truth, good works would follow automatically.” [1]
John Ciardi did not provide a list of those good works nor did he elaborate on God’s truth, but I have to know what good works are before I can decide if I am capable of accomplishing them so as to make a difference. Since knowledge of good works can be clearly known by pursuing God’s truth, hence the first step is to find God.
Man has spent centuries on this topic, still he is not done, even as societies across the planet are trending away from a contemplative toward a consumerist life, from accepting a divine plan to designing one’s own and from embracing the eternally holy and spiritual to idolizing transient fame. In this environment, God is invisible in everyday life and the good that is everywhere is a thankless entitlement and taken for granted. Therefore, if the good, like the air, is not considered a part of God’s creation, then God cannot be found.
Living with the absence of God is easy, but I have never been content with an easy life. That would be boring. I cannot stay intrigued for long by the limits of human possibilities when an unlimited number of other worldly possibilities can be realized.
It is on my terms, in the simplistic world that my mind lives, that I make this log, not so much to add to the countless words on the topic of God, but to find my own way toward a limitless space of physical impossibilities and an endless journey of exploration.
Getting there is a challenge. With imagination, or miracles, it is possible. Over the course of my life, I have been on a few trips, sans drugs of any kind, some asked for, most given. It does not matter whether such experiences were truly real or imagined, they were real to me. Thus, with absolute certainty, I know God exists. It is that simple.
Beyond what I had seen or felt there must be more. My imagination is not powerful enough to take me there. Until God adds new tours to my itinerary, I am left to recall those I had been on before. As unbelievable as those experiences were, they were just tours, not a road map of truths. I have to find that out on my own.
It is by writing here that I hope to be illuminated by grace, that I may find God’s truth.
[1] Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Purgatorio, Notes, p. 433. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003.
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