What Makes the Flowers Grow?
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On Humility
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Humility seems elementary, even negligible, until we look at the abundance of things that it makes possible. It is a doorway to beauty, truth, and life's inexhaustible sweetness. It allows us to learn from everything and everybody. It brings about reconciliation; we cannot build community without it. As social media and the contemporary information deluge draw forth what Lama Marut calls an "unprecedented exaltation of the ego," humility helps us to let go of the stories we tell about ourselves and to reach out to others with loving concern.
The word "humility" comes from a root meaning from the humus — the earth. When we are humble, we are literally well grounded. That depth of experience abounds in this topic's pages, which range from book excerpts to prayers to quotes to teaching stories ,and more. These resources provide a variety of ways to discover a lowly virtue that deserves to be held in high esteem.
-- Spirituality and Practice
The word "humility" comes from a root meaning from the humus — the earth. When we are humble, we are literally well grounded. That depth of experience abounds in this topic's pages, which range from book excerpts to prayers to quotes to teaching stories ,and more. These resources provide a variety of ways to discover a lowly virtue that deserves to be held in high esteem.
-- Spirituality and Practice
Grace Happens
If you are a scholar with a humble heart, you may be more interested in outcomes than credits. What is most important to you is that the ideas are made available for public consideration, not that you are recognized for them. You feel a bit uncomfortable with all the self-celebration of academic culture, and for that matter Facebook culture, with its focus on individual agents. It seems self-centered, lapsing into narcissism. You find yourself appreciating the passive voice, omitting the agent.
And if you believe that the universe itself is enfolded in a great compassion, then you might well imagine that, from the perspective of the Great Compassion, what is most important is the compassion not its source. You, too, might wish that people would speak of your work with the passive voice. What is important to you is the activity itself.
In process theology the matter is deepened by a recognition that individual agents, understood in isolation from their actions, are non-existent. For process theologians the agent is the activity; the subject of a process of concresence is the process itself. This is true of people as well as God. God is in in the Godding. Additionally, the idea that an individual agent produces something all by herself or himself, without being influenced and energized by multiple others, is likewise an illusion. The process of concrescence, divine or human, is animated and partly composed of the energies (and thus the agency) of others.
The passive voice is wrongly criticized as lazy, cowardly, weak, abstract, inactive, and lifeless. But in some circumstances it may send exactly the right signal. When it comes to grace, it can best be said: God is the Grace, God is the Love, God is the Creative Transformation. No need for so much reference to God. Let there be the grace, the love, the creative transformation itself. That is enough. Let God have a humble heart, too.
And if you believe that the universe itself is enfolded in a great compassion, then you might well imagine that, from the perspective of the Great Compassion, what is most important is the compassion not its source. You, too, might wish that people would speak of your work with the passive voice. What is important to you is the activity itself.
In process theology the matter is deepened by a recognition that individual agents, understood in isolation from their actions, are non-existent. For process theologians the agent is the activity; the subject of a process of concresence is the process itself. This is true of people as well as God. God is in in the Godding. Additionally, the idea that an individual agent produces something all by herself or himself, without being influenced and energized by multiple others, is likewise an illusion. The process of concrescence, divine or human, is animated and partly composed of the energies (and thus the agency) of others.
The passive voice is wrongly criticized as lazy, cowardly, weak, abstract, inactive, and lifeless. But in some circumstances it may send exactly the right signal. When it comes to grace, it can best be said: God is the Grace, God is the Love, God is the Creative Transformation. No need for so much reference to God. Let there be the grace, the love, the creative transformation itself. That is enough. Let God have a humble heart, too.
I'd Rather Not Say
Fear and Loathing of the Passive Voice
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"Most lines in passive voice omit the agent, and sometimes that’s the desired effect...In passive voice we may omit the agent because we don’t know who they are, or it’s implied or unimportant, or we’d rather not say."
-- Stan Carey, from the Passive Voice is Not to be Shunned |
The Shyness of God
"The Love in whom the universe unfolds - the Holy Spirit -- loves the passive voice because it omits the agent. The Holy Spirit is not vain and doesn't need to be flattered. Nor does the Spirit want to be turned into an isolated object in the human imagination. Truth be told, the Spirit is a little shy, a little modest. So it's best to stop saying "God does this" or "God does that." It's fine just to say "grace happens" or "love unfolds" or "healing occurs." These are in the present simple tense. Let the Spirit be in the action itself. And if people don't want to think of these happenings as divinely animated, that's alright." (Jay McDaniel)
"There is, however, in the Galilean origin of Christianity yet another suggestion which does not fit very well with any of the three main strands of thought. It does not emphasize the ruling Caesar, or the ruthless moralist, or the unmoved mover. It dwells. upon the tender elements in the world, which slowly and in quietness operate by love; and it finds purpose in the present immediacy of a kingdom not of this world. Love neither rules, nor is it unmoved; also it is a little oblivious as to morals. It does not look to the future; for it finds its own reward in the immediate present." (Alfred North Whitehead)
"There is, however, in the Galilean origin of Christianity yet another suggestion which does not fit very well with any of the three main strands of thought. It does not emphasize the ruling Caesar, or the ruthless moralist, or the unmoved mover. It dwells. upon the tender elements in the world, which slowly and in quietness operate by love; and it finds purpose in the present immediacy of a kingdom not of this world. Love neither rules, nor is it unmoved; also it is a little oblivious as to morals. It does not look to the future; for it finds its own reward in the immediate present." (Alfred North Whitehead)
What is the Passive Voice?
A Grammar Lesson
"The references to passive constructions in the vast body of work on English grammar, usage, style, and writing are unremittingly negative. Passives, we are told firmly, over and over again, should be shunned. A diverse assortment of unpleasant maladies will afflict your work, it is claimed, if you use passives: your writing will become weak, dull, vague, cowardly, bureaucratic, and dishonest.
The descriptive failure of English grammars to describe the passive adequately is partly due to a centuries-old tradition of talking about English grammar as if English were typologically similar to Latin, the international language of higher learning at the time when grammatical study of English began. Latin had morphologically distinguishable infinitives, gerunds, gerundives, present participles, subjunctives, future tense forms, and passives, all with their particular endings on the verb. English has none of this, but is traditionally described as if it did.
It is not verbs that exhibit passive voice in English, but larger units. The underlined verb in a passive clause like She has been questioned by the detectives is exactly the same as the one underlined in the active clause The detectives have questioned her. Passive clauses are marked by the use of devices (participial inflections and accompanying verbs) that have other uses too. To construct an adequately general description of passive constructions we need to focus not on the verb but on larger units, specifically the verb phrase (VP) and the clause."
Geoffrey K. Pullum, Language and Communication 102 (vol. 26, no. 2, June 2010), 34-44.
The descriptive failure of English grammars to describe the passive adequately is partly due to a centuries-old tradition of talking about English grammar as if English were typologically similar to Latin, the international language of higher learning at the time when grammatical study of English began. Latin had morphologically distinguishable infinitives, gerunds, gerundives, present participles, subjunctives, future tense forms, and passives, all with their particular endings on the verb. English has none of this, but is traditionally described as if it did.
It is not verbs that exhibit passive voice in English, but larger units. The underlined verb in a passive clause like She has been questioned by the detectives is exactly the same as the one underlined in the active clause The detectives have questioned her. Passive clauses are marked by the use of devices (participial inflections and accompanying verbs) that have other uses too. To construct an adequately general description of passive constructions we need to focus not on the verb but on larger units, specifically the verb phrase (VP) and the clause."
Geoffrey K. Pullum, Language and Communication 102 (vol. 26, no. 2, June 2010), 34-44.