Joseph Brodsky, 1987 Literature Nobel Prize winner, wrote a poem each Christmas for many years, all of which are collected in his book, Nativity Poems. In an interview at the end of the book, the interviewer asks Brodsky what kind of believer he is. Brodsky comments he is not firmly convicted, but believes "Calvinist." In explanation he says, "Why I say Calvinist -- not particularly seriously -- is because according to Calvinist doctrine man answers to himself for everything. That is, he is his own Judgment Day, to some extent. I don't have the strength to forgive myself. And, on the other hand, I don't feel any particular attraction or respect for anyone who could forgive me. When I was younger, I tried to figure this all out for myself. But at some point I realized that I am the sum of all my actions, my acts, and not the sum of my intentions."
I agree with his attitude: Our actions build us and render us unto judgment.
The connection between our actions and self-possession is explicitly recognized by the author of James (1:22-25):
"Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the owrd and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does."
No comments:
Post a Comment