These two! Not again! It’s not that they caused a lot of commotion up here, because there is always quite a bit of activity.
No. It’s just that, well. How can I put this nicely? Let us start with Georgie, um, I mean Bishop Berkeley. First of all, he is quite particular about how one pronounces his name. The One In Charge knows that for some reason the Bishop prefers “Bark-lee” instead of the perfectly reasonable “Berk-lee” as in the name of one of Sistertech’s university clients in California.
Second, he became well known in philosophical circles, especially during that odd period called “British Idealism”, for promulgating some peculiar ideas. (Oh dear! Sistertech did not mean to make a pun out of this.) He had this bizarre notion (that’s better) that “to be is to be perceived”, or as the Latin speakers among us say: esse est percipi. Really! Everyone, up here at least, knows that there is nothing further from the truth. You would not believe the flak the Bishop received upon arrival. Some of the more rowdy angels were actually quite mean. They would deliberately bump into him whilst in cloak-mode (i.e.,invisible). Then they’d say, “Sorry. I didn’t see you.”
It rattled him terribly. But Sistertech quietly felt that he should have foreseen–I suppose I’ll let the pun stand–what his reception was going to be. Angels, above nearly all other things, exist but are unseen. “To be is to be perceived”? Outrageous if one allows oneself to meditate upon it.
We get these bogus complaints in the Customer Satisfaction Department all the time. The calls go something like this:
Hello? Yes. I’d like to register a complaint about a prayer request.
Yes. How may I help you?
Well, that’s just it. I prayed to feel a heavenly presence during my job interview, but I didn’t feel anything.
People. Please. Just because you don’t feel or perceive it, it does not mean that one of us isn’t there!
From Sistertech’s point of view, which, of course, is the correct one, the appointed Psalm for Bishops Berkeley and Butler directs us to those things which, while “unseen” are indeed eternal and everlasting.
Psalm 119:89-96
89 The Lord exists for ever;
your word is firmly fixed in heaven.
90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
91 By your appointment they stand today,
for all things are your servants.
92 If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my misery.
93 I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
94 I am yours; save me,
for I have sought your precepts.
95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me,
but I consider your decrees.
96 I have seen a limit to all perfection,
but your commandment is exceedingly broad.