Perpetual childhood 20.25

[rva_jeremy]

Nau7ik, I appreciate the degree to which it's frustrating that these threads tend to go off the rails and diverge from the OP's original intent. I especially sympathize with the feeling of being criticized for, perhaps, not appreciating every dimension of a topic simply because one has to start somewhere to start a thread. I hope you will discover a slight bit of comfort in the knowledge that Blossom and I, at the very least, have benefited tremendously from the meanderings of the discussion, a discussion that likely would not have occurred had you not started it. I feel I understand the point you were trying to make, but I also think others have widened that point so that we all get exercised and taken outside our comfort zone a little bit. It does not undermine the point you're making about discernment and perpetual childhood, but it does perhaps take it out of the pure definitional realm into one that becomes a bit more nuanced, emotional, and even personal. I think that's far from a misunderstanding of your point; it's instead an attempt to really grapple with it rather than just admire the abstraction from afar. Am I making any sense?

In any case, thank you, Nau7ik, for putting a fine point on the subject of "perpetual spiritual childhood" and allowing us to color outside the lines a little bit. It's very useful to know where the lines are, so that we know when our feelings conform to those lines and when they don't. It's not intended to denigrate the value of getting sharper lines, though!