I read the following intriguing quote from Anthony Appiah this morning: "The French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas made much about the difference between the saying and the said. The 'said' is just the content of whatever proposition you’ve asserted. But the 'saying' is an act — a way of opening yourself up to another." I had never heard of Levinas before, but Wikipedia characterizes him as “a philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the relationship of ethics to metaphysics and ontology” — nice work if you can get it. I haven’t had a good chat about ontology in awhile, but then, I have a rather small social circle. Well, technically, it’s an oblate spheroid, but whatever.
One of the trips I co-led to the Holy Land was attended by a husband and wife of the most opposite spiritual persuasion. She was a committed Christian and he defined himself a “scientist”. I personally think he was more of a man who simply required something tangible, as do 75% of the population in order to ascribe belief. Scripture served as a reference, however, since only a few geographically referenced places were certain, almost all in the Old Testament times, he was very challenged to accept Christ, other than historically. Then on one of our last days, we visited I high hill overlooking the plains where the final days are to occur…Armageddon. One can see many miles in every direction. There he saw truth. “I get it now,” he repeated over and over.
My husband wasn’t a Christian and he didn’t believe in God. He was curious though and even agreed to do an Alpha course . The love from the people there touched him but he found he couldn’t talk to them on an intellectual level. I once said to him that the most important thing in life is love. He didn’t comment. He was a scientist ,he taught physics. He died in 2022 on April 15 th. Nearly there date wise. One of his last messages to me was in a text, “you know darling ,you are right. The most important thing is love” I really hope he met the greatest love of all.
One of the trips I co-led to the Holy Land was attended by a husband and wife of the most opposite spiritual persuasion. She was a committed Christian and he defined himself a “scientist”. I personally think he was more of a man who simply required something tangible, as do 75% of the population in order to ascribe belief. Scripture served as a reference, however, since only a few geographically referenced places were certain, almost all in the Old Testament times, he was very challenged to accept Christ, other than historically. Then on one of our last days, we visited I high hill overlooking the plains where the final days are to occur…Armageddon. One can see many miles in every direction. There he saw truth. “I get it now,” he repeated over and over.
My husband wasn’t a Christian and he didn’t believe in God. He was curious though and even agreed to do an Alpha course . The love from the people there touched him but he found he couldn’t talk to them on an intellectual level. I once said to him that the most important thing in life is love. He didn’t comment. He was a scientist ,he taught physics. He died in 2022 on April 15 th. Nearly there date wise. One of his last messages to me was in a text, “you know darling ,you are right. The most important thing is love” I really hope he met the greatest love of all.