Micah 6:8

I have new socks. I am happy with them. Got two pair at the Dollar store and they seem to be, unlike some of the chintzy weaves of others, substantial. They've got integrity and don't look bad.

I am at church. Have to wear shoes and socks to church. Well, maybe not - sandals no problem, I suppose, with or without socks. But propriety instructs otherwise. But it also does so about taking pictures of one's foot. I am bored.

While in Bible study I began to drift. Mention was made of the Gnostics, the Gnostic heresy. No on seemed really interested and it was glossed over. The teacher had brought it up with regard to Jesus' humanity where the Gnostics held to His exclusive divinity, His corpus a container, that which is of the flesh unworthy of divinity. That got me going. Wanted to discuss the philosophical nature of this perspective but circumstance not conducive. Made notes otherwise and the moment passed.

Gnosticism derives of Platonism, of a mystical variety as developed by sophistry in the time before Christ. Pythagorean mystery cults, that sort of thing. Simply put, the Platonic holds that the supernatural idea independent of matter is superior to substantial actuality. The pure notion of a sock is better than any sock can be. The perfect sock! So it was with our humanity. In order for our souls to be pure, we need to work at it. Do something. Fast. Meditate. Go into a trance under the influence of music or drugs. Sound familiar? And only a very, very few could attain it. That was how the Gnostics appreciated communion with the Godhead. Congruous with the Brahmanic discipline of yoga, if you catch my drift. Won't touch upon the LSD craze.

Certainly not by grace, attainable by all. The free gift of salvation. In the Middle Ages there was another Gnostic movement... the Cathars. By behavioral and dietary discipline one could attain The Perfect. Some little trouble consequently. Anyway, I drifted until the class was over.

Then went to the service in the sanctuary. The preacher spoke of the miracle at Cana; water into wine. The supernatural aspect, yes, but that, naturally, He was being accommodating. Jesus said, "His time had not yet come." but did the favor anyway at his mother's behest. The preacher made some explanation but again I drifted, thinking about perhaps sampling some good wine sometime.

Following along in my Kindle Bible, detoured into another book loaded. As the preacher expounded, surreptitiously... Marcus Aurelius. Book 8.

This is the chief thing: Be not perturbed, for all things are according to the nature of the universal; in a little time thou wilt be nobody and nowhere. In the next place having fixed thy eyes steadily on thy business look at it, and at the same time remembering that it is thy duty to be a good man, and what man's nature demands, do that without turning aside; and speak as it seems to thee most just, only let it be with a good disposition and with modesty and without hypocrisy.

I looked at my socks and sought to understand. I was glad to be there. Snuck the picture.

Made a friend today. A fellow a little older and former Jesuit priest. We've had some good conversations. After the service I told him what I was thinking during the Bible study. He understood. He knew what I was talking about. That is a blessing.