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Poemen said, ‘If a monk hates two things, he can be free of this world.’ A brother inquired, ‘What are they?’ He said, ‘Bodily comfort and conceit.’
“In modern democracies, however, an ethos of public sacrifice is rarely needed because freedom and survival are more or less guaranteed. That is a great blessing but allows people to believe that any sacrifice at all—rationing water during a drought, for example—are forms of government tyranny. They are no more forms of tyranny than rationing water on a lifeboat. The idea that we can enjoy the benefits of society while owing nothing in return is literally infantile. Only children owe nothing.”
― Freedom
― Freedom
“The Bible is clear here: I am to love my neighbor as myself, in the manner needed, in a practical way, in the midst of the fallen world, at my particular point of history. This is why I am not a pacifist. Pacifism in this poor world in which we live -- this lost world -- means that we desert the people who need our greatest help.”
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“Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.”
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“ If your expectations are always those of someone content to live without physical challenge, then when it comes time for mental, moral, or emotional challenge you fail to meet it because you are out of practice. Meeting and overcoming obstacles are skills that can be honed, as opposed to talents with which we are born. The best way to prepare for the inevitable shit that life occasionally hands us all is to live in a way that prepares you for it. If you can treat personal tragedy like a heavy set of 20 squats, you'll do better than someone who has never met any challenge. Intentionally placing yourself in the position of having to complete a task when you don't know if you can is the single best way of preparing to be in that position unintentionally.”
― Strong Enough? Thoughts from Thirty Years of Barbell Training
― Strong Enough? Thoughts from Thirty Years of Barbell Training
Christopher’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Christopher’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
372 books
|
63 friends
1,731 books
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226 friends
499 books
|
45 friends
476 books
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150 friends
1,112 books
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137 friends
843 books
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65 friends
67 books
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59 friends
709 books
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193 friends
More friends…
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Polls voted on by Christopher
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