Friday, September 13, 2013

handling the truth

                                        
Dialing back on the vitriol of the exchange, it occurred to me this morning that the denouement scene in the movie "A Few Good Men" is a pretty good stand-in for the relationship between (wo)man's heart-felt and sometimes fiery yearning for the ineffable and the spiritual exercises s/he might employ in the course of that search.  In this particular courtroom scene, B-actor Tom Cruise attempts to elicit the truth from A-actor Jack Nicholson:
N: You want answers?
C: I think I'm entitled ...
N: You want answers?!
C: I want the truth!
N: You can't handle the truth!
Spiritual disciplines may have their uses, but I doubt that they have any honest capacity to handle the truth.

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