"Because of the tender love which [God] has for us all, he comforts readily and sweetly, meaning this: It is true that sin is the cause of all this pain, but all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well. These words were revealed to me most tenderly, showing no kind of blame to me or to anyone who will be saved."
Julian of Norwich
I have just read a book called "36 Arguments for the Existence of God" and this quote is in it and is discussed.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange because since I have read the book several quotes, references, names etc that are in the book, that I have never heard about before, have also come up in different places.
Recommend the book. I have to read it again. Too much to take in first read.
Is sin the cause of all pain?
ReplyDeleteAll is well from what/whose perspective?
NickyJ - before we can establish that 'sin' is the cause of all pain from any standpoint other than blind faith, we have first to establish that 'sin' exists at all...
ReplyDeleteNickyJ -
ReplyDeleteIf you look at what I wrote before about "sin" in Seven Deadly Sins? you might understand why I identify with the thinking in the quote.
I believe that "all is well" is in the viewer's perspective on their own situation. My experience, and what I've read, point to those with awakened spirits being able to see this, and I shall certainly enlarge on this later.
croissantneuf -
ReplyDeleteDefinitely something to think deeply about. I still cannot grasp why having the belief that "all is well" is necessarily desirable.
croissantneuf -
ReplyDeleteMy understanding of what Julian was trying to say is along these lines:
All is as it should be - as God wills it - and only your own sin prevents you from seeing that.
Taking that a stage further:
Concern for, as an example, your own physical well-being or that of anybody else is a mere vanity... in 'the grand scheme of things' your personal comfort isn't significant... complaining while you're being tortured is a sin, you should be praising God for the opportunity to bear witness...
(Don't take this as saying I agree with a single word of it... I'm offering you all something to kick against)
NickyJ - I said when I set out that I don't have answers. I have found that the spiritual experience doesn't react well to analysis, it's more tied in with faith, which isn't much subject to logical rigour. Whatever though, you gave me pause and prompted me to write a bit about God next.
ReplyDeleteRichard N - I think you've got it. Personally, I don't agree with all she wrote here.
Both - I have experienced and know many who have experienced an "enormous sense of well being" in a spiritual experience, especially when meditating, all being "told" that everything will be OK. Or "all will be well." The idea that all ISN'T well doesn't sit with me at all. I experience this world being exactly as it is and hence as it is meant to be. The idea that there's something wrong with the world, or what is happening to me, would be the greatest sin.