Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

["Jim Forest" <jhforest AT gmail.com>]

Dear Robert,

You wrote:

>> As a military man, I hope peace comes before religious unification.

As it says in an Old Book: "Without vision, the people perish."

>> These eternal religious questions will not soon be resolved.

No, surely they won't. But at least there is a significant process of
Christian-Muslim dialogue now occurring, while productive Jewish-
Christian dialogue has been going on since soon after the end of
World War II.

>> Human humility must bow down before such unknowns.

Yes.

>> Do not shoot at me because we do not agree who God is.

The problem is that very often we shoot each other precisely for that

reason, and not just across major religious borders but even minor
ones.

However it's astonishing that -- apart from the Balkans -- Europe, the
battleground of so many wars, many of which had a religious
component, hasn't been a place of war for 63 years. This surely is in
part thanks to the efforts made here to gradually create a European
Union. It is far from perfect, but we are not killing each other. (As an
American living in Europe, I am one of the immediate beneficiaries.)


>> Let us form some sort of human community even in our confusion.
>> Together we can struggle toward this unknown.
>> All things that rise must converge.

The last phrase reminds me of Christ's words, which I paraphrase: 

"If I be lifted up, I shall draw things unto myself."

Jim Forest

-- 
Jim & Nancy Forest
Kanisstraat 5
1811 GJ Alkmaar
The Netherlands

Forest-Flier web site: www.incommunion.org/forest-flier/

Orthodox Peace Fellowship web site: www.incommunion.org
photos: www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/sets/
recently published: "Silent as a Stone," a children's book about a community of rescuers in Nazi-occupied Paris:
http://incommunion.org/forest-flier/books/silent-as-a-stone-mother-maria-of-paris-and-the-trash-can-rescue/

another new book: "The Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life":
http://incommunion.org/forest-flier/books/the-road-to-emmaus-pilgrimage-as-a-way-of-life/

* * *
Nancy and I have been keeping a journal that follows our recent kidney transplant. A blog has 
been set up for this purpose -- A Tale of Two Kidneys. See: http://ataleof2kidneys.blogspot.com/

* * *