Scott Brightwell dot Org

I’ve had a fairly intense spiritual weekend this weekend. I watched a couple of movies that (regardless of how good the movies are) got me to thinking about deep topics. I watched “United 93″ and “Artificial Intelligence. ” Both have their good and bad points. The movies aren’t the point. The point is I came to realize the Meaning of Life this weekend. Seriously. I’ll tell you, just keep reading.

There are two aspects to the answer. They’re the answers to the questions “Why was I created,” and “What is my purpose?”

The first question is one of existence itself. What sustains us as living, real, vital persons? What defines me as being? What, if it were taken away, would cause me to not exist? I’ll give you a clue, it’s not “I think therefore I am.”

The second question has to do with the purpose of my existence. What am I here to do? What should I be working for? Why keep going?

And the Meaning of Life is… (more…)

Let us not render evil for evil, and we shall not receive our due for our sins. For we find the forgiveness of our trespasses in the forgiving of our brothers; and the mercy of God is hidden in mercifulness to our neighbor. Therefore the Lord said, “Forgive, and you shall be forgiven,” and, “With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.” See how the Lord bestowed on us the method of salvation and has given us eternal power to become sons of God! St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662)

One of the fathers went off to the city to sell his manual work, and seeing a naked beggar, he was moved by compassion and gave him his own habit.  The poor man went and sold it.  When he heard what he had done, the old man was very annoyed and repented of having given him the habit.  That night Christ appeared to the old man in a dream: He was wearing the habit and said to the old man, "Do not grieve, for see, I am still wearing that which you have given me."

Eastern Orthodox Church - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

I did a bold thing… I edited the description of the Orthodox view of salvation in the Eastern Orthodox Church entry in the Wikipedia. See what you think.

This is a big week for the kitchen. We get floors and cabinets to go with our new drywall. This has been a big project, removing structural walls to expand the kitchen and move a bathroom from one location to another. We didn’t have to tear into any external walls though, which is good. I’ll post more when more progress has been made.

Also, this is a test of the new “lightbox” plugin that I just installed. Click on the image for a larger view. It works great don’t you think?

January 2006

To do something well you have to like it. That idea is not exactly novel. We’ve got it down to four words: “Do what you love.” But it’s not enough just to tell people that. Doing what you love is complicated. — Paul Graham

This is an excellent article that everyone should read at paulgraham.com.  I’m archiving it here without permission. (more…)