Considering what's important

Defining what is important is, on one hand, very easy.  One simply has to say, "loving God and loving neighbor."  But this answer is far too abstract to really be of any help.  But these things must be fleshed out to be applied to practice.
The thought of what is important can take on a different perspective when it comes to communicating this to someone else.  We can use our words, and this is the easiest way to communicate, for one can easily lie (either deliberately or unconsciously).  We can also communicate what is important by how we spend our time and money.  This way, someone else interprets our actions and can identify what they think we think is important.  But there is a fairly large potential for error, for someone else cannot really know why someone else is doing something.
If we want to communicate what is important to our children it must be a combination of the two, in a very definite manner.  Those things that we do, that we make a big effort to do, even in the face of inconvenience and cost, communicate to our children that it is important.  Do we make a point of setting aside time to pray, regularly, even when we are tired?  Do we plan on, way in advance, to watch a particular sporting event?  Do we hang up icons in appropriate places in our home?  Do we hang up "12" signs in our windows or vehicles?  I am not going to comment on the appropriateness or inappropriateness of these things, but these do require communication with our children.  Because our fallen state inclines to the things of the flesh, anything we do, whether actually important or not, will be seen by our children, and the weight that appears to be associated with them will communicate a message to our children.
So what does this all mean?  It means that everything we do, whether actually important or not, if appearing as important, will be defined as important, and our children will respond in like.  This means we had better be articulate and well thought out in our actions, for we are communicating through them.  Our children will love what we appear to love.

Definitions

I've spoken about my thoughts on definitions, previously, but I think another round may be worthwhile.  My job presents numerous opportunities to interact with a variety of people, usually of the average Joe, working class.  Which I think is a good thing.   Regular people tend to be more honest, as their reputations typically aren't at stake, due to things that may say. 
I work with Protestants of a variety of stripes, with Sikhs, with agnostics and with atheists.  Most of all of these are good guys, in the practical sense.  But interacting with such a wide variety introduces an interesting situation.  When speaking with a non Christian, the manner in which they view me is in large part controlled by their definition of Christianity.  This usually means "modern evangelical" or "Roman Catholic".
The problem comes down to this: modern evangelicalism had taken over the center stage of what people think of as Christianity.  It is almost the case that the eastern Orthodox Christian cannot use the term "Christian" for himself because doing so lumps him into Protestant Americana.  This introduces a lot of confusion and difficulty.
This sort of thing has happened numerous times throughout history and all over the globe.  A particular term or phrase or definition is in use and a minority or sectarian group with take the term and redefine it to their own end.  Fair or not, it happens. 
Maybe I am over thinking this.  Is it important that people understand who we are?  Especially when a faulty view introduces trouble into a situation?  In this particular situation, much of the difficulty comes from the relative obscurity of the Orthodox faith in America.  Far too many people simply don't know what it is.  To witness with your actions and not with your words may sound nice, but in this instance, it is misleading.  Orthodox Christians don't want our life example to lead people into a Protestant church.  We want them in the historic, apostolic church. 
I don't know what the answer is, but I suspect that it may have something to do with loving neighbor and being prepared to give an answer for the hope we have.

What if?

What if something very foundational to your very essence, something that, in part, defines who you are, something that you have held and believed for as long as you can remember, is wrong? 
The first thing to acknowledge is that you will not let go of this something very easily.  Foundational presuppositions are, usually, things we don't even think about, but simply embrace. They are things we believe without questioning.  We need to recognize that if one of these presuppositions are pointed out, identified and brought to light, so as to be questioned, we should be thankful.  The thing about the historic Christian faith is its unfailing solidity.  Any question, all questions for that matter, can be answered by the Church.  This is not to say that the logician or rhetorician will necessarily be satisfied with any particular answer given, but this has more to do with THEIR presuppositions rather than the validity of the answer.
So as followers of Christ, we have nothing to fear.  Ask any question and seek out any valuable knowledge.  For when you do, the right answer will lead you to Christ. One can almost guaranteed that everyone has some area or some belief that is erroneous.  Be thankful when you find it and embrace the discomfort of challenging it.  This is called growth.  Life is either growth or regression, we never stand still.

The standard is black and white, the practical is subjective

This thought just occurred to me the other day.  It may be wrong but the concept is intriguing.  It seems that we as Christians want to appeal to our faith as a hardline, written standard.  A line in the sand which one finds themself on either side.  But when it comes down to simple, practical living, everything seems to fade into shades of gray. 
We are told never to judge anyone or to presume to know what someone else is doing and what they ought to be doing. We are told to mind our own business and never think we are better than anyone else. 
This is not to say that sin is winked at or coddled.  Sin is sin and needs to be confessed and repented of.  But again, other people's sins are not our business.  That is between them and their priest.
So practically speaking, sin is sin but we need to love others and think the best of them, even to the point of not considering others weaknesses and downfalls.  We should think of others as not sinning but having a reason for what they do, something we may not understand.
I guess it's all about humility.

Occam's razor

The basic idea behind Occam's razor is simplicity.  With just about any problem,  the right answer is probably the simplest one.  This mentality seems to be overlooked in Darwin's theory of evolution.  Darwin was certain that the fossil record would reveal a gradual progression and development of various species. But the findings in the developing field of paleontology has not supported the theory.  The most recent paleontologists reject Darwin's theory as wrong.  The same scientists, instead of following Occam's razor, have posited the theory of punctuated equilibrium.  I won't go into the details of the theory, but suffice to say, it's ridiculous.
In my opinion, the most obvious, and simplest answer is that of big numbers.  I would suggest that the further one goes back in time, the more species one will find.  In other words, the reason we are finding so many unknown fossils is that there simply used to be many more species of animals.  Time and survival of the fittest has reduced the number of species to what we currently see.  The weaker species have gone extinct, while the stronger species have continued with us.  We see animals go extinct all the time.
I'm not a scientist, but my theory simply makes sense.

Self control

A thought occurred to me as I thought upon the fruits of the spirit.  The fruit of self control is just that, a fruit.  A fruit is the result of something else.  This means that self control is not a tool we use to accomplish something or to avoid doing something, it is the fruit of something, namely, the Holy Spirit.  This means that we as Christians, as we grow in our relationship with God, will see the fruit of self control.  As Orthodox Christians, we have told that we are to use to grow in holiness.  As we use these tools, the fruit will come.  The great thing about this is that as this fruit manifests itself, we will be even more strengthened to grow more in sanctity.  It's a great circle.
In a sense, we can say that it's not our great efforts of self control that will help us, but our life in the church, humbling ourselves under this authority and following the life of the church.

Hypocrisy

The concept of distraction has been on my mind lately.  It seems to me that this is probably one of the most effective tools to keep us from seeking after holiness and eternal life.  But these thoughts have led me to another concept, that of hypocrisy.  Every time I sin, I am being a hypocrite.  My claim and desire is to hate sin, but when I sin, am I not saying the opposite?
I wouldn't dare put myself in the same company as Paul, and his comments on "I do not do what I want to do, but that which I do, I do not do."  I am much weaker and fleshly than that.
We sin because we allow ourselves to be distracted, to be tittilated, to forget things eternal. 
When we learn to focus, to think on things of actual importance, rather than pop culture or sports or music or movies, we can begin to cleanse our minds and our hearts.
I'll say it again: use the tools the church has given us.  Prayer, fasting, confession and the Eucharist.  Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Cesspool

I hate to be harsh (well, most of the time), but the land of the free and home of the brave AKA America, had pretty much lost all vestiges of a Christian faith.  We live in a land that promotes death, in the form of legal abortion and legal euthanasia, promotes pleasure, in the form of pornography, entertainment, sports, music, movies and thrives on self centeredness, in the form of vanity and gluttony.  What once was, at bare minimum and Christian form of moralism, has become a veritable cesspool of practical atheism.  As Christians, we have allowed ourselves to be content with corn and peanuts.  We really must demand more.

The question that comes to my mind is this, "How bad must things become before we respond in some tangible way?"

Literally speaking

In the Protestant world, there is a lot of discussion about the real meaning of Jesus' words in Matthew about cutting off the hand or gouging out the eye.  There is lots of debate about taking this literally or metaphorically.  But they are really missing the point.  Ask yourself the simple question: would you cut off or gouge out anything to gain eternal life?  Or better yet, would you give up the Lexus or the mansion or any level of comfort in order to love neighbor?
It could even be stated as simply as, "Are we willing to follow the church's instruction by fasting, going to confession and attending liturgy?"  These tools are really about doing what we ought in order to sanctify ourselves.

The example of the saints

Over the past twenty centuries, the Church has recognized many individual "saints", people highly devoted to loving God and loving neighbor.  These lives, because of the example they set, ought to be imitated by us.  Obviously, many of the details will be different due to culture, time and setting.  In other words, some of these men and women were monastics in different countries during a different century.
But there are still many things in which we can imitate them.  What are those things?  That is an answer we must determine for ourselves.  Another question in conjunction with this is that of our own goals and motivations.  What are we seeking and why?