Replying to LO25101 --
>But this kind of repentance is not about regret or guilt or shame; it implies
>turning around, to face a new direction. To turn toward the light.
Dear Gerrit,
such a metaphor can easily become a paradigm, an example which organizes
our thinking. When paradigms become 'sticky', they tend to inhibit
metanoia, especially paradigms about metanoia.
In my imagination, the purpose of light is more to make visible than to be
seen itself. Of course it cannot make visible without being seen.
So from this notion, I would prefer to say that metanoia is not so much
about turning toward light but about becoming a source of light self that
enables to see what one couldn't see before. And being a source of light,
there is little satisfaction in having all the others looking at me, for
there is so much I would wish to show which they cannot see if they don't
turn their eyes away from the source of light.
When you are outdoor at night and you happen to have a flashlight. You can
either look in the same direction as the flashlight or directly into the
flashlight, with two very different effects.
Besides, in the light of the new light, you will realize that there is
neither regret nor guilt or shame. There is simply no need to keep focused
on the source of light. To realize this requires what I understand to be
metanoia.
Liebe Gruesse,
Winfried
--"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>
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