"RE-INVENTING THE WHEEL"

Every generation has its' own philosophers, mystics, sages etc. Essentially, they all re-hash what came before. Nothing really "new" or "Earth shattering" has ever occured...save the INCARNATION. Maybe some of the "old" guys really did have the elusive Gift of Wisdom and it might be prudent for us to heed their messages. The following quotation is so familiar yet is PROFOUND and it behooves us all to ponder the message.....Pax....Doubting Thomas....


This is a quotation from John Donne (1572-1631). It appears in Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII:
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."