Please enter in a spirit of worship.
There are double doors leading into the meeting hall at the Quaker meeting house I go to. Before a meeting starts, they are propped open. On each door there is a little sign:
It's just a little reminder to calm down, and set the traffic jams and taxes aside before coming in. A thoughtful message, and an appropriate place for it.
However, this has an interesting effect. When the doors are closed, the signs are on the inside of the doors. That means that, after the meeting is over, when it's time to go back into the rest of the world, the door you have to walk through has a little sign:
Imagine, for a moment, that you are entering the world. What would it mean to enter the world in a spirit of worship? It seems to me that if more people did this, every day, when they leave their houses, or even their bedrooms, to go out into the world, it would be a much more peaceful place.
I doubt the signs were intended to be understood this way, but it's a fortuitous thing nonetheless.
Cordelia | January 8, 2004 11:14 PM
Reminds me of martial arts practice, where we meditate before practice and before we leave the mat. Maybe MA itself is a form of religious practice @_@
-Cordelia, not feelign too secular
melancthon | January 9, 2004 12:42 PM
Actually, seebs, I have no doubt that the signs were intended to work that way. It's a good philosophy to have, regardless.
seebs | January 9, 2004 01:04 PM
I asked, and apparently it was unintentional. But it's a happy way to look at things, so I'm keeping it.
seebs | January 9, 2004 01:11 PM
BTW, Mel, if you're the Mel I know from that old mud, drop me a line sometime. (I'd email you, but your domain doesn't seem to exist?)