Religious figures thoughts on life as a process

January 23, 2015 7:38 PM

Can you give me quotes from historical or mythical religious figures on the thought that life is process, that one is never "finished"?
posted by falsedmitri to Religion & Philosophy (7 answers total)

"Only wait to know that wherein God appears in thy heart, even the holy seed, the immortal seed of life; that that may be discerned, distinguished, and have scope in thee; that it may spring up in thy heart, and live in thee, and gather thee into itself, and leaven thee all over with its nature; that thou mayst be a new lump, and mayst walk before God, not in the oldness of thy own literal knowledge or apprehensions of things, but in the newness of his Spirit."
~ Isaac Penington, 1616-1679
posted by Middlemarch at 8:57 PM on January 23, 2015

Best answer: I thought Meister Eckhart would have something to say along these lines, but looking over it again, it's more that he sees temporality itself as a flaw to cope with through self-negation, living in the present, etc. But there's this:

Know that no man in this life ever gave up so much that he could not find something else to let go. Few people, knowing what this means, can stand it long, [and yet] it is an honest requital, a just exchange. To the extent you eliminate self from your activities, God comes into them--but not more and no less. Begin with that, and let it cost you your uttermost. In this way, and no other, is true peace to be found. -- "The Talks of Instruction"

There's also this, which has some bearing on how that connects to life as a whole:

For if life were questioned a thousand years and asked: "Why live?" and if there were an answer, it could be no more than this: "I live only to live!" And that is because Life is its own reason for being, springs from its own Source, and goes on and on, without ever asking why--just because it is life. Thus, if you ask a genuine person, that is, one who acts [uncalculatingly] from his heart: "Why are you doing that?"--he will reply in the only possible way: "I do it because I do it!"

Where the creature ends, there God begins to be. God asks only that you get out of his way, in so far as you are creature, and let him be God in you. [...] The moment you get [one of your own] ideas, God fades out and the Godhead too. It is when the idea is gone that God gets in. -- "The love of God"

You get the sense he thinks this is always available to you and that you actually could make yourself a "wilderness" pretty consistently, if you strive for it, but he's definitely not fond of people who're self-satisfied in their goodness or aiming at a specific set of norms they could coast by on, so it's not something you finish becoming as long as you're alive.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 11:09 PM on January 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

I like this saying from the Analects of Confucius (it's chapter 2, #4):

The Master said: When I was fifteen I set my heart on learning. At thirty I took my stand. At forty I was without confusion. At fifty I knew the command of Heaven (Tian). At sixty I heard it with a compliant ear. At seventy I follow the desires of my heart and do not overstep the bounds.

While it doesn't say, exactly, that life is never finished it's an eloquent suggestion that the most basic moral abilities are won very slowly, over a life-time. Thirty years from achieving a mind without confusion before he's able to follow his heart! So, a reminder to have patience and look to the longer personal narrative.
posted by bertran at 2:59 AM on January 24, 2015

Are you looking for quotations regarding reincarnation as a continuous life?
posted by aryma at 5:15 PM on January 24, 2015

This quote from Thomas Merton (20th Century Trappist monk), speaks to life as a process, but not one of progress, but rather one of transformation through self-realization:

“Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself.”
posted by forthright at 6:43 PM on January 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @aryma: I hadn't considered that. Whether the process is over one life or many I think is irrelevant. So what do you have?
posted by falsedmitri at 7:59 PM on January 24, 2015

"The years pass. The times change. The only thing that survives and transcends this inevitable process, that shines brighter with each new era, is the record of a great human spirit that has endured struggle and remained true to its deepest convictions to the very end."

"Life may be more akin to a series of meets than a single marathon. You can lose a race here or there, as long as you win in one contest, in one area. All the struggles you endured will become a prized investment in your own person."

"If we suppose this lifetime to be the be-all and end-all of existence, we cannot lead a truly profound life. Belief in something eternal brings out our full humanity."

"To strive even higher, to do even better—the creative process is a desperate struggle to go beyond what we were yesterday. It is a battle against resting on our laurels, against the fear of losing what we have. It is an adventure into unknown territory."

"The struggle between happiness and unhappiness is the story of human existence. The struggle between peace and war is the history of the human race. The power that leads us to eternal victory amid these struggles is the power of good within us."

- Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International, an organization that practices Nichiren Buddhism and the prayer "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo."
posted by shelle at 4:55 PM on February 15, 2015