Rising To The Call
by Os Guinness
Chapter 4, Audience of One
The chapters intros with the famous story of Andrew Carnegie's grand entrance into his hometown of Dunfermline. Carnegie marched through his life with gusto to the beat of his own drum. He's famous for quoting, "Thine own reproach alone do fear" (pg66) Guinness continues "The question is not whether we have an audience but which we have." (pg68) Most people live for the applause of their peers. Many of the worlds greatest lived for their own applause. What people don't realize is that they have the opportunity to decide which audience they are going to please. The first step in this process is realizing that an individual can't please everyone or meet all expectations thus necessitating a choice. Those who fail to make this choice end up pleasing no one, not even themselves and fall into failure.
We know whose applause we live for by recognizing who can hurt us. Winston Churchill was once insulted by a member of parliament. His response was, "If I respected him, I would care about his opinion. But I don't, so I don't." Churchill knew he was right and didn't give two cents for the opinion for someone who was standing between him and his objective. He had chosen to base his self evaluation on something different then the opinion of a random parliamentarian.
Throughout life individuals tend to change who they center their lives around. Parents, friends, role models, celebrities, deities, fictional characters all come and go as audiences we perform for. What is always learned too late is that only deity's are worth living for. If we are created for a purpose and if we don't know our purpose then our life must be centered around the creator of that purpose. The General Charles Gordon said, "The more one sees of life, the more one feels, in order to keep from shipwreck, the necessity of steering by the Polar Star, i.e in a word cleave to God alone, and never pay attention to the favors or smiles of man; if He smiles on you, neither the smile or frown of men can affect you." (pg76)
Using all these historical examples Guinness is trying to illustrate first, that humans live for applause and second that the only applause worth living for is that of God Almighty. It's pretty straightforward lesson flavored by the quotes and stories of real people.
Let Your Life Speak
by Parker J. Palmer
Chapter 4 All the Way Down
Palmer intros his chapter by quoting Dantes intro to his Inferno.
Everything in the next sixteen pages is already here just more wordy and less eloquent. Parker Palmer had a mid life crisis in which he fell into serious depression. He was down in the dark woods and had lost his way. The "good" that he found in those dark woods of depression was Thomas Merton's "true self" The image of God in man. "It is the self planted in us by God who made us in God's own image- the self that wants nothing more, or less, than for us to be who we were create to be. True self is true friend. One ignores or rejects such friendship only at one's peril."(pg69) It is of note that the "Life" in Palmer's title is this true self. When he writes about letting your life speak to you, he's not providing license for following any passion that might seem appealing. So his chapter ends positively with the reality that not even the Valley of the Shadow of Death is a dead end provided we have the right guide.
by Os Guinness
Chapter 4, Audience of One
The chapters intros with the famous story of Andrew Carnegie's grand entrance into his hometown of Dunfermline. Carnegie marched through his life with gusto to the beat of his own drum. He's famous for quoting, "Thine own reproach alone do fear" (pg66) Guinness continues "The question is not whether we have an audience but which we have." (pg68) Most people live for the applause of their peers. Many of the worlds greatest lived for their own applause. What people don't realize is that they have the opportunity to decide which audience they are going to please. The first step in this process is realizing that an individual can't please everyone or meet all expectations thus necessitating a choice. Those who fail to make this choice end up pleasing no one, not even themselves and fall into failure.
We know whose applause we live for by recognizing who can hurt us. Winston Churchill was once insulted by a member of parliament. His response was, "If I respected him, I would care about his opinion. But I don't, so I don't." Churchill knew he was right and didn't give two cents for the opinion for someone who was standing between him and his objective. He had chosen to base his self evaluation on something different then the opinion of a random parliamentarian.
Throughout life individuals tend to change who they center their lives around. Parents, friends, role models, celebrities, deities, fictional characters all come and go as audiences we perform for. What is always learned too late is that only deity's are worth living for. If we are created for a purpose and if we don't know our purpose then our life must be centered around the creator of that purpose. The General Charles Gordon said, "The more one sees of life, the more one feels, in order to keep from shipwreck, the necessity of steering by the Polar Star, i.e in a word cleave to God alone, and never pay attention to the favors or smiles of man; if He smiles on you, neither the smile or frown of men can affect you." (pg76)
Using all these historical examples Guinness is trying to illustrate first, that humans live for applause and second that the only applause worth living for is that of God Almighty. It's pretty straightforward lesson flavored by the quotes and stories of real people.
Let Your Life Speak
by Parker J. Palmer
Chapter 4 All the Way Down
Palmer intros his chapter by quoting Dantes intro to his Inferno.
"Midway on life's journey, I found myself
In dark woods, the right way lost. To Tell
About those woods is hard - so tangled and rough
And savage that thinking of it now. I feel
The old fear stirring death is hardly more bitter.
And yet to treat the good I found there as well.
I'll tell what I saw...." (pg 56)
Everything in the next sixteen pages is already here just more wordy and less eloquent. Parker Palmer had a mid life crisis in which he fell into serious depression. He was down in the dark woods and had lost his way. The "good" that he found in those dark woods of depression was Thomas Merton's "true self" The image of God in man. "It is the self planted in us by God who made us in God's own image- the self that wants nothing more, or less, than for us to be who we were create to be. True self is true friend. One ignores or rejects such friendship only at one's peril."(pg69) It is of note that the "Life" in Palmer's title is this true self. When he writes about letting your life speak to you, he's not providing license for following any passion that might seem appealing. So his chapter ends positively with the reality that not even the Valley of the Shadow of Death is a dead end provided we have the right guide.
No comments:
Post a Comment