Sublime

You might think of Augustine as offering a hitchhiker’s guide to the cosmos for wandering hearts.

Remember that the chief characteristic of the modern era is that the responsibility for choosing values has shifted from the tribe and the institution to the individual. Such a privilege is also a responsibility. When the principle of resonance, that is, inner confirmation as opposed to external authority, is accepted as the surest guide to the

The problem with everything from Enlightenment scientism to mushy Eat-Pray-Love-ism is us. If anything looks irrational, it’s the notion that we are our own best hope.

Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.

The trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness. Worship power—you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart—you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.

What if the opposite of loneliness is finding ourselves together? What if friends aren’t threats or competitors but gifts?

In his important book After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre famously says, “I cannot answer the question, ‘What ought I to do?’ unless I first answer the question, ‘Of which story am I a part?’”