HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013674.jpg
2.01 MB
Extraction Summary
6
People
6
Organizations
1
Locations
2
Events
2
Relationships
5
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Manuscript page / essay / memoir
File Size:
2.01 MB
Summary
This document appears to be page 174 of a manuscript or memoir, bearing a House Oversight Bates stamp. The text is a first-person narrative discussing the nature of religious faith, contrasting the intellectual approach of C.S. Lewis with the simple, pain-filled existence of Brother Lawrence. The unidentified author describes their own eclectic spiritual history involving LSD, Tantric practices, and various religious movements, noting that chronic pain led them to appreciate Brother Lawrence's perspective later in life.
People (6)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Unidentified Author | Narrator ('I') |
The person writing the text, describing their own spiritual history involving LSD, Tantra, and chronic pain.
|
| C.S. Lewis | Subject of discussion |
British intellectual and author discussed regarding his approach to faith.
|
| Brother Lawrence | Subject of discussion |
Born Nicholas Herman; a monk, cook, and sandal repairer discussed for his simple spirituality and chronic pain.
|
| Joseph de Beaufort | Author/Biographer |
Wrote about conversations with Brother Lawrence.
|
| Nicholas Herman | Historical Figure |
Birth name of Brother Lawrence.
|
| Donovan | Musician |
Referenced regarding a song about smoking bananas.
|
Organizations (6)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| British intellectual class system |
Context used to explain C.S. Lewis's perspective.
|
|
| Parisian monastery |
Where Brother Lawrence worked.
|
|
| Black Baptist |
Religious tradition mentioned in author's experience.
|
|
| Yiddish Labovicher (Lubavitcher) |
Religious group mentioned in author's experience.
|
|
| Charismatic Christian Church |
Religious group mentioned in author's experience.
|
|
| House Oversight Committee |
Implied by the Bates stamp 'HOUSE_OVERSIGHT'.
|
Timeline (2 events)
Locations (1)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
|
Implied location of the monastery.
|
Relationships (2)
Author relates to Lawrence due to shared experience of chronic pain.
Lewis described Lawrence's writings as 'unctuous and repulsive'.
Key Quotes (5)
"For C.S. Lewis, religious faith came from intellectual hard work."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013674.jpg
Quote #1
"I am an empirical theist. I have arrived at God by induction."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013674.jpg
Quote #2
"For most of my years, I have been a subject of Jamesian transcendent experience, LSD expansive visions, Sufi moving meditation... Tantric orgasmic withholding..."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013674.jpg
Quote #3
"Recall that I am from a generation that a Donovan song inspired to smoke bananas."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013674.jpg
Quote #4
"The opportunity came from my growingly severe, unfixably chronic, pain."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013674.jpg
Quote #5
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,496 characters)
For C.S. Lewis, religious faith came from intellectual hard work. He was put
off by spirituality that arrived by thoughtless fiat. He rejected the idea of living in
simple and loving direct conversation with the God within, as described by Brother
Lawrence. Lawrence was described as the simple "great awkward fellow who broke
everything." Lewis had little faith in what he perceived as the mindless spiritual
methodology of this selfless, silent, hard working Parisian monastery cook for a
hundred fellow monks who was also their dedicated smelly sandal repairer. Perhaps
reflecting his place in the British intellectual class system, Lewis wrote that
Lawrence's conversations and letters in the brief pamphlet, Practice of the
Presence of God, "...full of truth... but unctuous and repulsive." At the same time,
Lewis spoke of his own experiential evidence for God in Surprised by Joy in which
he admits, "I am an empirical theist. I have arrived at God by induction." It is likely
that Brother Lawrence did not know and did not need to know the difference
between an inductive and deductive argument.
off by spirituality that arrived by thoughtless fiat. He rejected the idea of living in
simple and loving direct conversation with the God within, as described by Brother
Lawrence. Lawrence was described as the simple "great awkward fellow who broke
everything." Lewis had little faith in what he perceived as the mindless spiritual
methodology of this selfless, silent, hard working Parisian monastery cook for a
hundred fellow monks who was also their dedicated smelly sandal repairer. Perhaps
reflecting his place in the British intellectual class system, Lewis wrote that
Lawrence's conversations and letters in the brief pamphlet, Practice of the
Presence of God, "...full of truth... but unctuous and repulsive." At the same time,
Lewis spoke of his own experiential evidence for God in Surprised by Joy in which
he admits, "I am an empirical theist. I have arrived at God by induction." It is likely
that Brother Lawrence did not know and did not need to know the difference
between an inductive and deductive argument.
For most of my years, I have been a subject of Jamesian transcendent
experience, LSD expansive visions, Sufi moving meditation, long distance running,
Black Baptist shouting, Tantric orgasmic withholding, Yiddish Labovicher dancing,
Charismatic Christian Church rock and rolling, Hindi meditative rising Kundalini,
almost any ecstatic crisis inducing, God type. Recall that I am from a generation
that a Donovan song inspired to smoke bananas. I did not personally access
Brother Lawrence's calm, work-a-day, devotional, quietly persistent, perspective
yielding, inner conversations with God until my sixth decade. The opportunity came
from my growingly severe, unfixably chronic, pain. The counter-intuitive insight and
helpful identification was gained from reading about Joseph de Beaufort's
conversations with Brother Lawrence. Beaufort said Lawrence was born with the
name Nicholas Herman in 1611 and renamed Lawrence in honor of his parish
priest. As young soldier in the Thirty Years War of the 17th Century, he was severely
injured. He was left with both sciatic nerves trapped between bone spurs and tissue
scarring from his early twenties. These injuries, involving the two biggest pain-
conducting nerves in the body, left him crippled in gait and in chronically severe
lower back and leg pain from which he would never be free. It was after this time
experience, LSD expansive visions, Sufi moving meditation, long distance running,
Black Baptist shouting, Tantric orgasmic withholding, Yiddish Labovicher dancing,
Charismatic Christian Church rock and rolling, Hindi meditative rising Kundalini,
almost any ecstatic crisis inducing, God type. Recall that I am from a generation
that a Donovan song inspired to smoke bananas. I did not personally access
Brother Lawrence's calm, work-a-day, devotional, quietly persistent, perspective
yielding, inner conversations with God until my sixth decade. The opportunity came
from my growingly severe, unfixably chronic, pain. The counter-intuitive insight and
helpful identification was gained from reading about Joseph de Beaufort's
conversations with Brother Lawrence. Beaufort said Lawrence was born with the
name Nicholas Herman in 1611 and renamed Lawrence in honor of his parish
priest. As young soldier in the Thirty Years War of the 17th Century, he was severely
injured. He was left with both sciatic nerves trapped between bone spurs and tissue
scarring from his early twenties. These injuries, involving the two biggest pain-
conducting nerves in the body, left him crippled in gait and in chronically severe
lower back and leg pain from which he would never be free. It was after this time
174
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013674
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