THE LIMITS TO CONSENT

'I don't believe that we can ever leave power behind in sex, that we can enter a zone blissfully free of inequality. I don't believe that consent miraculously displaces the imbalances of power that operate on our every interaction. 'Tomorrow sex will be good again,' says Foucault, wryly, playfully; that's the ideal, and that's the delusion. The negotiation of imbalances in power between men and women, between all of us, occurs minute by minute, second by second. And there is no realm, whether sexual or otherwise, in which that act of negotiation is no longer necessary. Whatever we do, in sex and elsewhere, we calibrate our desires with those of the the other, and try to understand what it is that we want. But we don't simply work out what we want and then act on that knowledge. Working out what we want is a life's work, and it has to be done over and over and over. The joy may lie in it never being done.'

Katherine Angel, Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and desire in the age of consent, p.114.

HOW CELIBACY CONFRONTS YOU WITH REALITY

'Celibacy can leave us with a lot of time to sit alone with our thoughts and God, should we be so daring. It can provide a perspective that invites me to contemplate meaning and eternity and what is really true and lasting. It can also be a doorway into a godly hopelessness, because there is no locus of hope in this life. Celibacy has removed all the temporal hopes. No date. No special someone. No engagement or marriage or first child or grandkids. "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14).'

Greg Johnson, Still Time to Care, p.239.

THE RIGHT LONGINGS BEHIND OUR WRONG DESIRES

'What is bent when I experience that internal pull to homoeroticism? Well, actually, quite a lot about me is bent. My sexuality may be the least of my issues. But when considering homoerotic temptation, what else is going on? Certainly, this is not less than the temptation of indwelling sin; it is more than that. That's always how sin works.

What good thing has been bent? What is going on?

For one thing, we're dealing with a legitimate God-given human human longing for community. Yes, this longing has become sexualized in ways that distort God's creational design. But it is a legitimate longing nonetheless. It might be a longing for healthy intimacy - to know and be known. It might be a longing for acceptance, a need to feel wanted. Our longings for intimacy, community, and friendship, our longings to be loved and accepted, our recognition of human beauty - these are not evils. The longing for nurture, inclusion, and affirmation are not evils. The longing to matter to someone, to be unique and special to them, the longing for family - don't you dare call these sin. They are core human needs we all share as image bearers of God. We all long to be delighted in. We all long for companionship. We all long to be seen inside and out. These longings are good longings placed there by God.

God does not call us to put these to death,. These are not sin. They are part of how he created us as human beings designed for relationship. These are good longings that inborn sin bends in spiritually unhealthy directions. Sin over desires the good, to our own damage. That's how sin works - by blending the good. That's true for all of us.'

Greg Johnson, Still Time to Care: What we can learn from the church's failed attempt to cure homosexuality, p.137.

I HURT, THEREFORE I AM

'Descartes said, 'I think, therefore I am.' But I prefer to say 'I hurt, therefore I am. I think that's closer to our experience.'

Ellis Potter, 3 Theories of Everything, p.4. 

WHY MUSIC & STORIES ARE SO POWERFUL

'Music and stories are so powerful because they are microcosms of the basic structure of the universe.'
Ellis Potter, 3 Theories of Everything, p.5.

INDIVIDUALISM VS. INSTITUTIONS

'The great challenge of many Western nations is coherence in the face of increasing individualism and a dizzying diversity of opinion, in which consensus becomes nearly impossible. Strongholds such as states, institutions, and churches are buckling under the challenges of our decentralizing moment.'

Mark Sayers, A Non-Anxious Presence, p.109.

WE LIVE FOR COMFORT

'The fruit most valued by the contemporary stronghold of self is comfort. In the contemporary world, feeling good is the expected normative state of being. When one doesn't experience good feelings - if a task is unpleasant, if a relationship goes through a difficult period, if a job is tough - it is taken as a signal that something is wrong, or that something is wrong with you. The absence of good feelings becomes an amber warning light.'

Mark Sayers, A Non-Anxious Presence, p.107.

THE EFFECT OF ANXIETY ON CONTEMPORARY NETWORKS

'As a network is swamped by chronic anxiety, it is marked by reactivity. Those within the system no longer act rationally, but rather, high emotion becomes the dominant form of interaction. The system's focus is directed toward the most emotionally immature and reactive members. Those who are more mature and healthy begin to adapt their behavior to appease the most irrational and unhealthy. This creates a scenario where the most emotionally unhealthy and immature members in the system become de facto leaders, shaping the emotional landscape with the focus on their negative behavior and what they see as the negative behavior of others. The anxiety present envelops the vision of the organization within the system.'

Mark Sayers, A Non-anxious presence: How a Changing and Complex World Will Create a Remnant of Renewed Christian Leaders, p. 98.

BEING A WRITER

'All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a bout of some painful illness.'

George Orwell, 'Why I Write' in Essays, p.6.