Grace ...

Here's another excerpt from de Merlner's Diary. 

From The Diary of Neuchar de Merlner, Europa, 2112

Verse 57: Nova Conta, Section 6

La grâce (Grace)

God offers us all redemption without condition and the peace that comes from it. But we have no proof of this peace if it is offered only in heaven and only after we die. If we have no proof in this life, then why should we bother with God? 

We bother because the peace that is offered is the peace during our life, not peace in heaven: redemption occurs here while you breathe and forgiveness comes from God.

It is beyond mere mortals made of heart and flesh to forgive the callous murder of the innocent. And it is beyond us to forgive ourselves for those deepest of sins, those acts of knowing cruelty that warp the skeletons of our adulthood with guilt. But God can forgive and will if you ask. That is why it is called God’s grace, and why it is a miracle.

And granted that miracle we may live our lives again and benefit others, not to seek forgiveness, but because we’ve been blessed.

A bit about Neuchar de Merlner ...

I thought you might want to know more about Neuchar de Merlner. Exerpts from de Merlner's books and diaries are included here and in the H:I series because Meriel's family, including her mother's friend, Teddy, sometimes sought guidance in his thoughts. Included to the right is "As If By God's Hand." Others excerpts will follow.

"Neuchar de Merlner taught philosophy at the University of Europa, Martinsburg, during the twenty-second century. His early treatises on epistemology and hermeneutics focused on observation and validation. Though well regarded, his brethren considered him too grounded in science for their lofty speculations. De Merlner is much better known for his less rigorous works such as the aphorisms published in his Diary.  Considered a post-modern ecstatic philosopher, de Merlner incorporated the Greek ‘anima’ and the spiritual into his writings to comment upon the existential human experience. As such, he was deeply loved or hated depending upon the religious convictions of the reader." 

(ref. Galactipedia)

The Arc of History

... one of the lighter aphorisms of de Merlner.

Verse 63: Nova Conta, Section 8

L'arc de l'histoire (The Arc of History)

History is not geology or astronomy… it is human history: the decisions, hopes, and desires, translated into passionate actions by humans, therefore its trajectory is not written in stone or the stars.

For the wheel of history traces not a cycloid, or a disembodied moral arc leading us back to Eden or toward utopia, but the vector sum of the actions of individual humans, and therefore is not inevitable. 

(c) 2015 B. R. Strong, Jr.