The Things Of Greatest Importance

ἔσχατος-

-λογία

eskhatos- (ultimate)

-logia (word)

eschatology - lit. - words on the things of greatest importance

________

intro-verete - inner truth

extro-verete - exterior truth

In a perverse turn of the words introverts are now considered to be shy and withdrawn and extraverts are considered to be outgoing and sociable. Nothing could be further from the original, real meanings. Introverts in truth rely on their own mental processes when deciding upon how to make sense of the world, whereas extraverts rely on sources that are external to themselves when understanding life and making decisions. In fact there are a lot of gregarious people who do not trust anyone else's thoughts, and equally so very withdrawn people who continually seek the advice of others around them.

Similarly, when people hear the word eschatology people associate it with the end of time, when in fact it simply refers to that which is of ultimate importance...things like God, and ethics, and reality, and love, and truth. These are each and of themselves eschatological in the best sense of the word.

_______

Sell everything that you have, give the proceeds to the poor, and come and follow me.

- Jesus of Nazareth

That is eschatological.

...it is like announcing that you are going to the North Pole and then taking a walk around the block.

- Soren Kierkegaard

That is eschatological

Read Bonhoeffer's chapter on Ultimate and Penultimate Things - Christians substitute provisional things (eating, playing going to work) for those of the greatest importance (a complete break with the world) all the time.

This is eschatological.

It is only in our own fidelity to our vocation of standing in the presence of God every moment (contemplation) that we can be true to our calling, reality, and our true self.

Everything else is a false self.

Every moment and every event of every person's life on earth plants something in their soul. For just as the wind carries with it thousands of winged seeds, so every moment bring with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest in the hearts and minds of people. Most of these seeds perish and are lost because people are not prepared to receive them, for seeds such as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity, and love.

- Thomas Merton

This is eschatological.