My dad taught me two things..."Never to say never and never say always..." It seems to me that "scientists" and "theologians" spend a lot of time trying to prove various origin arguements...but in reality the odds are very slim that science will be able to prove anything. Will they ever be able to re-create....creation? I don't think so...let's spend our energies on the really important mysteries of faith that surround us and share common ground where it exists today! Merry Christmas!!!
Wayne,
Thanks for your comments. Finding the common ground and focusing on today are indeed two important keys to getting along and making life meaningful. And a Merry Christmas back to you.
Tom
Tom, Robert Greenleaf would have agreed with your comments about mystery. Some very good friends and theologians faulted him for asking "mystery" to bear the weight as the source of the impulse to serve and to even act as a de facto doctrine of God. But Greenleaf said that all of his writings were autobiographical and, in my humble opinion, you have correctly identified the key numinous event in Bob's experience that animated his interests in science, servanthood and faith traditions. Throughout his life, Bob continued to honor mystery, being attentive to its presence in everyday happenings and reestablishing contact with it through his personal meditative practices.
Today we have a heightened interest in measurable outcomes, which is not all bad. After all, Greenleaf's "best test" for a servant-leader relies on outcomes that are "difficult, but not impossible, to measure." But verified outcomes cannot substitute for the primal courage it takes to embrace mystery in one's inner, personal journey, nor can they answer all the paradoxes inherent in the life of a mature servant.
Don
Don,
Your chapter "Awe of the Stars" was extreemly interesting. As I learn a little bit of what is known or theorized about the creation of the universe, I have started to wonder if servant-leadership is just another example of the attraction and connection that all the components of the universe have with all the other components. Maybe servant-leadership is like the undefinable gravity that seems to have been the source of so much of the universe. Anyway thanks for writing such an interesting book. I throughouly enjoyed reading it. (Now if only I could learn to spell).
Tom
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