1. In my reading today of Judaism: The Evidence of the Mishnah, Jacob Neusner states (on page 235) that the Mishnah “portrays a world fully perfected and at rest.” If that’s the case, however, why does it discuss punishment of crimes, or ways to deal with sins? Or is the Mishnah saying that law and order that deal with human flaws create a world that is perfected and at rest?
2. At Latin mass this morning, we had political priest. He referred to John Cassian, the desert monk of the fourth-fifth century C.E., who encouraged monks to fight off their lust through memorization of Scripture. The more their mind is pre-occupied with the holy, his rationale was, the less it would be focused on the carnal.
Maybe this can work, at least somewhat. When I’m trying to memorize something, I’m focusing a lot on what I’m trying to memorize. But lust can still be in the back of my mind.