You know, I never used to give anything up for lent, probably since about 3rd or 4th grade, but I did again for the first time two years ago. I realized that there *IS* a purpose, but that it, unfortunately, is never really communicated, or communicated well.
Really, I think the idea of giving something up for lent has a very Buddhist flavor to it, in that it involves material self-denial. I don't buy the idea of drawing parallels between giving something up and the suffering of Jesus or any of that stuff. Nor do I buy into the whole fish thing. I see lent as an exercise in moving beyond corporeal attachments so as to find the joy in freeing ourselves from such restrictive addictions. That is not to say, of course, that physical pleasures are bad, but only that they can be inhibitive if we allow them to be. They can blind us to the greater pleasures of existence. And, thus, I decided to begin this extended exercise of giving something up for lent again last year.
When I started again two years ago, I gave up caffeine and carbonated beverages (so as to cover the loopholes) quite successfully. I think I'm going to do the same this time.
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Le temps détruit tout
"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling
Last edited by SecretMethod70; 03-02-2006 at 02:26 AM..
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