The 2019 Paddock Lectures at General Theological Seminary ~ Rowan Williams

I had the pleasure to hear Dr. Rowan Williams give the Paddock Lectures in February of 2019.  General Theological Seminary has posted the videos of them on YouTube, which is quite wonderful. Well-worth some of your "screen-time" this Advent.

pmc+

Knock

Knock, & the door will be opened. -Luke 11.9

Rowan Williams ~ "45 Years of Being Christian"

General Theological Seminary has their own Manhole Covers!

I took a walk with our little child yesterday through the NYC neighborhood of Chelsea, and walked by General Theological Seminary, the oldest seminary in The Episcopal Church. While I am very proud of my own seminary, Virginia Theological Seminary (vts), I thought that General was just wonderful and beautiful, and I know that they have some outstanding scholars and some wonderful programs. What really got me envious, was the fact that they have THEIR OWN MANHOLE COVERS! Right there on 21st Street on the sidewalk, you will find several of these covers, very very cool!


Just so cool!!

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

The Happiest Person in the World

Over at "On Not Being a Sausage," Professor Deirdre Good (of General Theological Seminary) has an interesting post on Matthieu Ricard who is known as "the Happiest Person in the World." And, you can hear a BBC Radio program about him HERE.

I'm going to try to get a bit happier; not an altogether bad New Year's Resolution!



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Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, has been called the “happiest person in the world”. Emily Kasriel in the BBC World Service program "Heart and Soul" finds out from him what happiness is.

First, a sense of direction is very important. A sense of flourishing comes from inside, where the mind translates all the circumstances. This gives inner strength and freedom. Genuine happiness comes from altruistic love, inner peace, and not on external circumstances such as things that give us pleasure like meals with friends. Putting hopes and fears outside of us is ultimately disappointing.

In general make distinctions between mental emotions that are toxic: hatred, anger, jealousy. Cultivate inner love and peace and genuine compassion. This involves training. We need to first evoke compassion by thinking of an image such as a child we love and how much we wish health and happiness for that child. Do not let that thinking and imagining go but cultivate it. This is what we practice.

Read Deirdre's post HERE. See the BBC coverage HERE.