4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Notes
Track 2 of Hand It Down -- the no-gap doctrine as a bluegrass gospel hymn with chorus.
Source: Acts 17:28 (Paul on Mars' Hill, in him we live, and move, and have our being). Sister to Held by the Mind in doctrine (operational idealism / the no-gap) but in the opposite hymn form -- bluegrass chorus form, the I'll Fly Away line.
Doctrine: there is no chasm between God and the saint; the Mind that thinks the universe thinks the believer where she stands, and the gulf the religious heart strains to cross was never there.
Form: four verses with a chorus between, 8.6.8.6 meter throughout. Female lead with full family-band harmony on every chorus.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
I used to think You stood far off,
A gulf I had to cross,
I built a bridge that would not hold,
And then I knew the loss.
[Chorus]
In Him we live, in Him we move,
In Him we have our home,
There never was a gulf at all,
We never walked alone.
[Verse 2]
Paul stood that day on Athens' hill,
And spoke the verse out plain,
The Lord is not far off, my friends,
But near in joy and pain.
[Chorus]
In Him we live, in Him we move,
In Him we have our home,
There never was a gulf at all,
We never walked alone.
[Verse 3]
And so when I begin to doubt,
He has not stepped away,
The room I'm in, He thinks the room,
He thinks me where I stay.
[Chorus]
In Him we live, in Him we move,
In Him we have our home,
There never was a gulf at all,
We never walked alone.
[Verse 4]
So sing it plain, the saints of God,
We were not built to roam,
We stand inside the very Mind,
That gives us breath and home.
[Chorus]
In Him we live, in Him we move,
In Him we have our home,
There never was a gulf at all,
We never walked alone.
Commentary