Comments on: Unpublishing One’s Writing http://kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/ Decimation & Reconstruction: a weblog Wed, 30 Mar 2011 01:38:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Basil http://kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/comment-page-1/#comment-18076 Basil Thu, 24 Aug 2006 01:08:05 +0000 http://blog.kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/#comment-18076 I have read two things on this: 1) obedience to one's spiritual father, even when he's wrong, leads to salvation when done as unto the Lord; 2) each person is responsible for determining when obedience is or is not life-giving. The problem I have with the second is that it is too easy to be slothful and disregard instruction because it is too painful. The spiritual father is usually farther along in the journey than we are, and we often cannot see where the path leads. He is a guide along the way, like a spiritual sherpa. The spiritual father is entirely unlike the pope. However, it may be possible that the local parish priest, when acting in a role as a confessor/spiritual father (the two terms are sometimes used synonymously), should not be given quite the same level of authority in our lives as we might give to an elder/starets. Just thinking out loud here; as always, bounce these ideas off of your spiritual father. ;-) I have read two things on this: 1) obedience to one’s spiritual father, even when he’s wrong, leads to salvation when done as unto the Lord; 2) each person is responsible for determining when obedience is or is not life-giving. The problem I have with the second is that it is too easy to be slothful and disregard instruction because it is too painful. The spiritual father is usually farther along in the journey than we are, and we often cannot see where the path leads. He is a guide along the way, like a spiritual sherpa.

The spiritual father is entirely unlike the pope. However, it may be possible that the local parish priest, when acting in a role as a confessor/spiritual father (the two terms are sometimes used synonymously), should not be given quite the same level of authority in our lives as we might give to an elder/starets.

Just thinking out loud here; as always, bounce these ideas off of your spiritual father. ;-)

]]> By: James http://kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/comment-page-1/#comment-18071 James Wed, 23 Aug 2006 15:46:04 +0000 http://blog.kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/#comment-18071 "It is fantasy to believe that we can be obedient to a disembodied God." Hmmmmm ... that troubles me on so many levels, but then again due to the Incarnation ... I have no trouble with "the Church" as a whole, but I have trouble with the one man issue. It's why we don't have a pope. “It is fantasy to believe that we can be obedient to a disembodied God.”

Hmmmmm … that troubles me on so many levels, but then again due to the Incarnation …

I have no trouble with “the Church” as a whole, but I have trouble with the one man issue. It’s why we don’t have a pope.

]]> By: Basil http://kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/comment-page-1/#comment-18064 Basil Wed, 23 Aug 2006 02:54:10 +0000 http://blog.kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/#comment-18064 The "spiritual father" bit is an example, and irrelevant to the point. Whether one deletes the contents of their webserver by direction of their spiritual father or on their own direction, the point remains. I dare say that, were I asked to "unpublish" everything I've published to date in the last three years, I would reply that it is impossible. To be told to stop publishing would be one thing, but to "unpublish" what has already been published does not really help anyone and is pointless anyway, since the material is already cached elsewhere. One is just being an ass and making it more difficult to find what others have linked to. Obedience to one's spiritual father, in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, is obedience to God. Obedience to the voice in our own head can be <a href="http://www.roca.org/OA/66-68/66n.htm">prelest</a>; obedience, like confession and everything else in the Christian life, must be incarnate. We must be obedient to a real man of flesh. It is only then that the spiritual muscles required to overcome our pride and self-sufficiency are exercised. Can the spiritual father make mistakes? We are not saying that the spiritual father himself is God. God forbid! The obedience is offered --- here is the important part --- as to God, much like veneration to an icon passes to the prototype, so says St. Basil. This can lead to abuse, and each person must determine when the pain of submission becomes death and not life. It is fantasy to believe that we can be obedient to a disembodied God. Never submitting to any spiritual father's instruction is a fairy-tale salvation that will not end happily ever after. The “spiritual father” bit is an example, and irrelevant to the point. Whether one deletes the contents of their webserver by direction of their spiritual father or on their own direction, the point remains. I dare say that, were I asked to “unpublish” everything I’ve published to date in the last three years, I would reply that it is impossible. To be told to stop publishing would be one thing, but to “unpublish” what has already been published does not really help anyone and is pointless anyway, since the material is already cached elsewhere. One is just being an ass and making it more difficult to find what others have linked to.

Obedience to one’s spiritual father, in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, is obedience to God. Obedience to the voice in our own head can be prelest; obedience, like confession and everything else in the Christian life, must be incarnate. We must be obedient to a real man of flesh. It is only then that the spiritual muscles required to overcome our pride and self-sufficiency are exercised.

Can the spiritual father make mistakes? We are not saying that the spiritual father himself is God. God forbid! The obedience is offered — here is the important part — as to God, much like veneration to an icon passes to the prototype, so says St. Basil. This can lead to abuse, and each person must determine when the pain of submission becomes death and not life. It is fantasy to believe that we can be obedient to a disembodied God. Never submitting to any spiritual father’s instruction is a fairy-tale salvation that will not end happily ever after.

]]> By: James http://kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/comment-page-1/#comment-18032 James Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:24:53 +0000 http://blog.kevinbasil.com/2006/08/20/unpublishing-ones-writing/#comment-18032 No, but Martin Luther, as well as others I'm sure, was asked by the RCC to renounce his books. Do we give spiritual fathers that much power in our lives? Does Christ wish us to do so? You will undoubtadly (sp?) say yes. I say, no. No, but Martin Luther, as well as others I’m sure, was asked by the RCC to renounce his books. Do we give spiritual fathers that much power in our lives? Does Christ wish us to do so? You will undoubtadly (sp?) say yes. I say, no.

]]>