The medieval church forbade usury and claimed that usurers went to hell. However, as the feudal system of the Middle Ages declined and merchants emerged as an emerging power, usury businesses amassed enormous wealth. Usurers donated their corrupt wealth to monasteries, and when they died, they could be buried there. It was a bonus that the donor usurer could receive the sacrament of confession shortly before death. Fear of the afterlife caused poor churches to accumulate wealth, used to decorate walls or build larger, more elaborate structures, leading to the Renaissance era. The unjust usury business sparked a literary and artistic revival. Let go of the illusion that only good things can change the world for the better or the right. The innocence of ignorance about how the world works makes it easier to accept sin and corrupts the world into evil. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
Rest refers to the state of accepting a ‘ meaningless stimulus ,’ rather than being an absence of any stimulus. There is no genuinely meaningless thing in this world; paradoxically, meaninglessness is meaningful because it ‘has no meaning.’ Excessive information and stimulation can destroy creativity . We intentionally need to be in a state of accepting meaningless stimuli in our daily lives. Whether it’s listening to music, enjoying the sounds of nature , or observing ordinary visual scenes that don’t matter, anything is acceptable. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”