This is why monks say : 'Death to the world'. In their ascetic practices they used reminders of mortality( like actual real skulls) to keep their focus on spiritual goals by meditating on death they sought to detach themselves from the superficial concerns of daily life and to dedicate their energies to prayer repentance and living a life aligned with Divine principles. This stark imagery stood in sharp contrast to the excesses and distractions of contemporary culture
Yes, the pressures (The Dragon) can transfigure us when we take up our cross. Christ turns death into glory. But if we choose to buckle under the pressure and play along with the lie, the Dragon will devour us
Some people think it a homage to children fantasy, the Dragon's presence in a lot of fairy tales, and think the fairy tales themselves as fiction for children.
'Chesterton wrote that children already know dragons exist — fairy tales are there to tell they can be defeated.
In my 56-million people country there are approximately 50 male monks.
Plenty of them are hopeless, discouraged, frustrated with their life, and strangers to any enthusiasm of depth of contemplation.
Unawareness governs nearly uncostested, at least across the West (I am leas informed as pertains the East of Europe and the world).
"Christianity acknowledges this but also warns that the material world itself is a trap designed to lead souls away from God."
Yes, it is.
This is why monks say : 'Death to the world'. In their ascetic practices they used reminders of mortality( like actual real skulls) to keep their focus on spiritual goals by meditating on death they sought to detach themselves from the superficial concerns of daily life and to dedicate their energies to prayer repentance and living a life aligned with Divine principles. This stark imagery stood in sharp contrast to the excesses and distractions of contemporary culture
Can those pressures truly transform people?
Or don't they instead act as catalysts... awakening a/the deep, mostly dormant, core in their being?
That aside, your Substack can save lives — not lives of the body, but lives of the spirit.
🙏🏻
Yes, the pressures (The Dragon) can transfigure us when we take up our cross. Christ turns death into glory. But if we choose to buckle under the pressure and play along with the lie, the Dragon will devour us
Some people think it a homage to children fantasy, the Dragon's presence in a lot of fairy tales, and think the fairy tales themselves as fiction for children.
'Chesterton wrote that children already know dragons exist — fairy tales are there to tell they can be defeated.
To be fair, "to transform" points to a change in shape, and not in substance. Thus it isn't incorrect to speak of transformation in that case.