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28 January 2022

Knowledge and wisdom

 Knowledge and wisdom

That tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable is knowledge. 

Not including tomato in a fruit salad is wisdom! 



19 January 2022

Options and choices

Options and choices are not always the same. Options are possibilities, while choices are responsibilities. And the more choices I make (most often bad ones than the good ones) the better I am as an individual.  My difficulty has been in accepting choices as my own.  The tussle between obedience as a religious and my own personality leaves little room for exercising in a more carefree way ones choices.  The present situation I find myself in, is precisely because of my inability to own up a choice.  And right now, I am not even so sure of all the reasons for that inability!

18 January 2022

Up to what?

Torn between doing something worthwhile and doing nothing... never thought the fight would be down to this!! 

The past few months have been one of real boredom ... boredom of doing nothing! Yet can't get myself out of it. At times there are sparks of interest and zeal, but never really fan out into anything more than dying sparks! 

Willy said it right: "I've to be either passionate enough to complete the task; or be humble enough to leave it and say this is not my cup of tea!" And right now, have neither the passion nor the humility! 

10 September 2021

Re-installing el Capitan on an iMac (early 2008)

Wrestling with an old iMac (early 2008) which I bought second hand on ebay... 

After spending almost 24 hrs trying to merely re-install the macOS (el Capitan), learnt quite a few lessons... the hard hard way! 

Learnt the hard way that you need an apple ID for everything!! 

But after you are forced to create an ID, you need to validate it. 

Fill in your payment and billing details. 

No matter on which system you created the ID, you then need to open one of the apple services (music, itunes, ...) and login and fill in your details again!! 

After all this you get the message that the application (installation) is temporarily unavailable... that's because if you've not downloaded any OS before using that 'new' account, then you cannot download the required software! It requires the ID of the one who purchased it! 

So you're left with no option other than use a usb to start a clean install... easier said than done!! I thought Windows was a nightmare! Apple was worse!  Perhaps it would have been easier if I had another mac system - which I didn't.  So had to juggle between my all-time favourite Linux and Windows. 

By this time discovered a similarly distressed soul who had chronicled his struggle: 

https://blog.dhampir.no/content/reinstalling-a-used-imac-20-inch-early-2008

Using the office Win. 8.1 edition system created a bootable usb. (Downloaded the el Capitan disk image file - not the rar type!!, then loaded that onto the usb using techmac or something). 

Inserted into the first usb port of the backside of the iMac (when viewed from the back). 

Restarted it, used CMD + R to boot from the usb. Learning from the previous site, changed the date to the present time. Got a new error message. Surprise??? 

Then found another apple forum which said, you don't need a usb... just change the date to mid 2017.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250793420

Tried that!! No success.  

Then did a mix-match ... changed the date to starting of 2017, restarted it to boot from the usb... and lo and behold!!!!!!  

Have el Capitan up and running on the iMac!! HURRAH!!! Thanks pretty much to the two websites and their useful info! 

One down, one more to go! Hope apple does not spring any fresh surprises! 

05 June 2021

The Church: Euro-centric?

 The Church is often viewed as European or Euro-centric.  Even among those who see Christianity as a 'foreign religion' they view it so because it is 'from Europe'.  The white man's religion! This is something quite taken for granted.  But we forget - very easily and comfortably - that Jesus and the early Christianity were all very much situated in the middle-East.  Jesus was born and later carried out his whole ministry in Israel. Though it is true that the apostles did cross national boundaries, it is actually with Constantine embracing Christianity and making it the state religion, that Christianity spread far and wide.  That Rome has played a central role in the development of Christianity as a popular universal religion can never be questioned.  But it all began in the middle-East - not in Europe!! 

The universality of the Church and of Christianity is not a quality of it being present in most of the world, and predominantly in Europe.  Universality is its virtue to be able to embrace the world - not the world embracing Christianity.  

04 June 2021

The Ichthys

 For the early Christians, the cross was not the first choice of representation.  The cross was still too traumatic and tragic.  It was more a sign of oppression and tool of death, rather than salvation.  What was actually and most widely used as a symbol of Christianity was the Ichthys, the fish.  


The catacombs do not have a cross. Instead what is found in them is the image of the fish.  This represented the meal, the gathering for which Christians gathered, especially in hiding in the catacombs and in private homes. It represented the Eucharist!  

Perhaps it is with Helena bringing the cross from Jerusalem, along with the soil, and its exaltation as a basilica, that devotion the Cross gained popularity.  I suppose by then the Romans had given up using that means as a punishment (but not sure of that). And as time progresses, the cross soon replaces the fish as the symbol of Christian faith.  

Would Christianity have a different outlook or identity if we would have persevered or chosen to stick to the fish rather than the cross??  I believe it would have had significant impact on how we perceive ourselves to be!  For one, more Eucharistic, for certain!  

13 May 2021

Sunshine

The English obsession with the sunshine is well-known.  Summer is the most looked out for season of the year.  Not only because it is the season for holiday but because the sun is out.  Most preferred holiday destinations are places where it is warm and sunny.  And the best holidays are those that are spent in the sun - even if it is just laying down basking in the sun!! 

As an Indian, I find this fascination with the sun - often bordering obsession - quite amusing.  At times, I wonder what's so special about the sun.  People like me and others from Africa, will do everything possible to get away from the sun!! So seeing others crave for the sun appears a bit weird.  

I guess it is a cultural thing.  I'm sure it is the same feeling the Brits have looking at us amazed by the snow.  Anyway, each of us has our own peculiarities and eccentricities!!  And each one seeks for his or her own bit of sunshine!! 

Selling free

For quite a few days now we have been passing by a particular sign near one of the houses we walk past for our evening Rosary which announces that it is up for sale.  What caught our attention and intrigued us when we first saw it was the tagline: Sell your home for free! 

It really took us some time to get our heads around the meaning of that line.  We ultimately deduced that the housing agent will not charge a fee for overseeing the sale of the house.  Perhaps the tagline best reads: Sell your house without a fee.  Certainly not giving away the house for free!!  

12 May 2021

Prayer

 Prayer and the candle light have much in common.  Like prayer, the candle light is unselfish.  The radiance of the light remains the same;  whether placed in a dark room or out in the sun.  The light does not diminish itself under the sun or brighten itself in a dark room. It emits the same light.  Only when in the dark do we appreciate better the candle and if out in the open we do not seek one.  But that does not affect the candle light. Most often we have recourse to prayer only in times of difficulty.  At other times when everything is going on well we do not really feel the need to pray.  That does not mean the power of prayer reduces. It is our perception of prayer and our need for it that increases or diminishes.  

Another aspect of a candle light is that it is selfless.  No amount of lighting other candles from it will diminish the initial brightness of the candle light.  The candlelight does not say that since it has been shared or divided it will shine less brightly now.  Prayers too when shared do not become less efficacious. 

Another essential feature of the candlelight that we often do not see replicated in prayer is the efficacy of it at all times and for all people.  The candlelight is not partial to the good and less bright for the not-so-good.  No matter who, when and for what purpose, the candlelight is always at its best.  Prayer too is for all.  We often remember those close to us and those who are good to us.  We barely pray for those whom we do not like. 


10 May 2021

Vocation

Everytime we speak of 'vocation' in our religious circles we most often mean 'vocation to priestly and religious life'.  It is as if vocation to married life or any other form of life is not a vocation.  When this partial outlook is pointed out we cover up saying that even they are vocations, but the former is the crowing of all vocations! 

However, I feel strongly convinced that unless and until we really understanding vocation in its universal and true sense, we will only be 'selling' vocation; doing recruitment rather than discernment.  As educators of the young, we are primarily called to help young people discover, discern and follow their vocation.  And every person's primary vocation is to love and be loved!  The vocational discernment is to help young people ask themselves basic questions about meaning and purpose of his or her life.  As long as we sincerely and passionately engage in this noble apostolate we are true to our own calling as Salesians. Otherwise we are only 'pedlars' or vendors of the Salesian career - all in the name of youth ministry and vocation promotion.  

The post youth synod apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis, Christus vivit no. 286 describes the great vocational question that every young person has to ask himself or herself as "for whom am I?"  This is more deeper and way too personal than merely asking oneself, "what am I to do?" or "who should I become?"

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