Lem's posted a great passage on love and marriage by C.S. Lewis on his blog. It's pretty late at night for me to add anything to it, but this is the big event in my life right now.

Phil is preparing to enter marriage with his girlfriend of over three years. We were friends with Phil for only a month after arriving at Biola in the Fall of 2001 before he and Alisha were going out. It's worked out beautifully, and we've seen them grow incredibly both as a couple and as individuals. They're people of admirable character, and Phil has provided wonderful leadership and love in our house with his commitment to a common purpose of community living. Alisha, too, has noticably matured, growing into a God centered woman with serious concerns for his kingdom, as even a fairly shallow acquaintance over the last few years could reveal. Their relationship is a great opportunity for growth for the two of them, and our whole community is excited about this next step.

Tomorrow is the rehearsal, and Friday's the main event. Exciting times for all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I found an interesting article on the history of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" through Hugh Hewitt's blog. Here's the link: Mark Roberts.

While I was typing out "Hark the Herald Angels," I accidentally typed "Hark the Herald Angels Sin." That's a funny typo.

Star Wars Christmas Album

The above link is to a site making fun of a Star Wars Christmas Album. Yes... a Star Wars Christmas Album. I'm not joking. Not only is it Star Wars, and Christmas, starring Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, but also it has BON JOVI! Anyway, the link has all this amazing information on it. So I submit it for your viewing pleasure. Be warned, though, it is laced with a lot of profanity.

An interesting piece of information was found by my girlfriend the other day while she was reading Christy, the book about a teacher in rural poor mountain American communities way back when.

It turns out "Mountain Dew" refers to moonshined alcoholic beverages from the back mountains! I know, I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true!

Here's the link she sent me: The History of Mountain Dew". This is a reliable source, too, since it's the drink's main website.

It's interesting that people think it will sell better if it uses alcoholic names. I, personally, don't buy soft drinks because of that, because, hey, I want a soft drink! Curious history lesson, though.

I read a good definition of poetry this semester.

Samuel T. Colderidge's definition, found in his Biographia Literaria, is, in my opinion, pretty spot on. His view is that poetry is the most pleasurable form of written expression, and this is because it is an organic whole. That is, every part plays into every part, and the unified idea is thereby communicated the most effectively. The pleasure comes from looking into the details and finding, again and again, more of the whole: the idea (hopefully a truth) that the poem communicates.

The problem for the Romantics in defining poetry was the use of meter. Coleridge's definition resolves this: meter is a way of organizing words such that every one has a proper place. This allows the words, in a way that a novel can never achieve, to each have an ideal place, a place where they can communicate the idea most effectively through rhythm and rhyme, etc. Meter also allows one to create a feel that prose cannot, for example, the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner is written as a mariner's ballad. This kind of poetry is intrinsic to a certain kind of England, and creates the character of the Mariner. It creates a time and a place through which the character can be understood while minimizing narrative time.

That's why poetry can be so condensed, and why dense poetry is so pleasurable, it's food for thought for days and days.

The Sophomore Torrey students are going to be able to use this text as their text this year in reading Chaucer. This is cool, becuase they'll be reading the actual book in the actual language, using this helpful site. This version of Chaucer is an edited version that uses the archaic vocabulary, but it's glossed with modern English equivalents and modern spelling. From looking over a tale, it looks to me that sometimes the gloss will be absolutely necessary but sometimes it will be redundant. All the same, it's a neat opportunity.

The version can be found here: Michael Murphy's Chaucer.

Here's a link to a site without the modernized spelling that includes a great deal of Middle English literature available to the public, including Gawain and the Green Knight and Chaucer: both Troilus and Cressida and the Canterbury Tales. I love these kinds of databases.

The Middle English Collection at the University of Virginia Library.

To even get a sense of what this is saying, sometimes, you'll need this site, which provides a neat introduction to translating Middle English into Modern English, and teaches some interesting things aobut Modern English in the process.

I saw Torrey Theater's production of a Christmas Carol last night. It inspired me to be happy, merry, and charitable this Christmastime. Good production. I almost cried when Tiny Tim died during the Christmas Future section. And when I came out I was full of Christmas cheer. If that's not a good production of a Christmas Carol, then I don't know what is!

I'm also reading the book with Libby. It's very good, as well. The stage production borrows most of its lines straight from its pages.

Anthony Flew, a leading British atheist, has become a theist. This is a major earthquake in the philosophical world.

Famous atheist now believes in God from Yahoo News

Also, the philosophical journal headed up by professors at Biola University, my own school, are going to publish an interview with him discussing his change in beliefs. While he's not a Christian, he is very sympathetic to the Christian religion. Here's a link to the interview:

Anthony Flew interview on Biola's Website

What strikes me in reading the interview is how reasonable a fellow Flew is. He's the sort of rational person that a fellow wouldn't mind talking to about anything. If someone is willing to change a belief that's very important to them because the evidence suggests that they're wrong, when thay're as old as he is, then they are humble in the face of Truth. That's just a great attitude for someone to have. I hope that this is the first step in a progress towards the true God.

I found something else at Jonathan's Ink, a Torrey grad's site, citing this interesting article by an atheist in response to Flew's conversion. Carrier tries to downplay and dismiss it.

Richard Carrier at secweb.com"

It sounds like a rear-guard action to keep more people from following Flew out of the coop. Fair enough.

A week and a half until the official end of the semester. Today is, in a sense, the last Wednesday of the semester.

I've had more than enough thoughts in the last week to fill a hundred blog posts, but the busy days have crowded them out of my mind. Exteriorly enforced mental discipline is not pleasant, but perhaps I'll grow from it.

Anyway, if there's one time I might be able to post, it's right before I start my work for the day. On the slate for this morning is a chapter of Historiography work in my text-book, followed by a dose of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica on the Incarnation and the salvific power of Jesus Christ, God incarnate but true man, who walked earth 2000 years ago. To combine the two subjects of the morning: consider that Jesus Christ's life is a historical reality. Jesus really did walk and talk and do the miracles that the Gospels record. God really was walking on earth, 2000 years ago. God walked the earth, and yet... I still struggle with sin and not living entirely for this same God.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Listening to a lot of music lately, as I'm working at my computer continually. I've decided that the song that most represents for me this summer is Run, by Snow Patrol. This British rock song elicits, still, strong emotions and melancholy thoughts. Also, it brings back mememories of sitting on the back porch with Libby, or Lem (There's a particularly vivid memory of him dancing all crazy to the song), or Phil, with the music very quietly playing in the dark night.

It was nice when it was so warm we could all relax outside into the late evenings on Friday nights. Even so, the summer was somewhat melancholy because it didn't seem like I got to spend enough time with Libby. Funny thing is, I still don't feel like I get to spend enough time with Libby, and I'm not sure that I do get to spend any more time with her than I did in the summer... in fact, perhaps less. But the semester is soon to end!

I am tired of it, so it's about time. I wouldn't mind returning to this last summer, if only for the pleasant night-time weather, which is now replaced by chilling cold, which sends us all rushing indoors.

My first project once the rush of the semester's end is itself over, is to develop Christmas spirit, of which I've only felt glimmers at Church and in a few reflective thoughts walking from one place or another on Christ's wonderful gift. But, the general communitity spirit hasn't effected me yet. Christmas lights spark slight interest, but then are forgotten because of all the stress. I used to really like Christmas lights. I hope that I do again this year.

Erk.

Erk indeed, I am going to go to bed, now, because I think I have exhausted any useful work on my thesis, which I am turning an extensive outline in of tomorrow. It's not as much as I'd like to turn in, but I'm proud of what I did get done because I like my argument, which is of course the meat of the whole paper.

I like the argument because I think I'm right and I think nobody else has ever argued it before. That's great!

This is worthy of comment: Holland has instituted policies that allow taking an infant's life, after birth, at the consent of the infant's parents or in cases of extreme pain or insolvable illness.

Two reports:

Here

AP News service

Some commentary:

Hewitt

Reynolds

Some strange things are on the internet. Here are two of them:

1. Hannukah is brought into the new millenium with this hip rendition of a new Hannukah song. It's to the tune of that song by OutKast.

2. Llamas finally receive their due laud with this ballad, a fascinating mixture of text, graphics, and joyful music in one fabulous shockwave file.

Enjoy, if you can. Personally, I'm enjoying the last stages of a paper due tomorrow.

I'm about to go to bed. I was just finishing up some formatting for a paper due tomorrow. *yawn* This is a good song by U2, from their new album. This is really their most Christian album, yet, I wonder if it will affect their popularity. Time will tell.

"Yahweh"

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

This is chock full of Biblical imagery. Good stuff.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

After finishing up my first paper of this weekend, I took a couple of hours and went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow at the Dollar Theater. I'm glad I did. It passed two hours quickly and engagingly.

First thing that strikes a viewer of this movie is the novel lense effects. Everything is surrounded by a blur and ethyreal glow. This is done for two reasons, that I can tell. One, it adds a fantastic feel to the movie. This fits in well with its antique comic book style. Second, it helps to combine the live action characters and their computer generated settings. The thing is, the whole movie is filmed in front of green screens and then filled in with computer generated robots, people, and scenery. All the acting - there are only maybe thirty people acting in the entire movie - is filmed, which is good since computers cannot communicate in the same way that people do.

Along the lines of live actors, the director made an interesting choice: he had quite close shots on the faces of the people in the movie. This was nice, as it helps you connect with the character. This isn't as extreme as in the Good the Bad and the Ugly, but that wouldn't have fit in this movie.

The actors portrayed did a tolerable job. Jude Law was good, and Gwenyth Paltrow was, too, and their interaction got better as the movie went along. Actually, the whole movie seemed to get better as it moved along. The intentionally thrown-back style wasn't enough to sustain my interest, but the plot did, from probably about a quarter of the way into the movie. From the point when Jude Law and Gwenyth Paltrow are drawn together in the action, there was enough action to keep me entertained. Their relationship was pretty funny, too, as neither is trustworthy.

The premise is this: It's some time around the 1940s, and Gwenyth Paltrow is a reporter on the trail of a mysterious case in which scientists are disappearing slowly. As she makes a break, monstrous robots march into New York and wreak havoc. Enter Sky Captain, a pilot who runs a mercenary organization that benevolently aids the free countries of the world. Slowly they unravel the mystery of the missing scientists and robots, finding a sinister plot involving a doomsday device and the end of the world.

I liked it, and the romantic tension between Jude Law and Gwenyth Paltrow is quite humorous. I think it would be a pretty good date movie. I can't remember any cussing, and the violence wasn't at all gory. A clean, fun, movie... good for the whole family.

Amazon.com has a section for free mp3 downloads. If people so desire, they can upload their music onto the site. It's a pretty neat idea, especially since Christmas is coming! I'm going to get some free Christmas mp3s. Awesome cool legalness.

Marvin Olasky participates here in some inter-Christian ideological discussions on political "single mindedness." A difficult issue, but one worth considering. His article is here

The judicial theories of the more liberal leaning ideologues are frightening. It may well be that the single issue for voters ought to be a support for the Constitution, as properly understood. I really think a vote for Kerry was a vote against the Constitution, because his intellectual presuppositions destabilize the document as a basis for a country's law. And that pretty much sinks America's heart.

This is an interesting perspective on Iraq.

This is a picture of me. Behind me is the eminently lovely Libby Moothart. She's the best.

I look disturbed in this picture, but I assure you that any such disturbance only enhances my quality of living, rather than in any way interfereing with my functionality.

Rolling Stone magazine's top 500 is readable at their website. Imagine, number three, is a rediculous, self-referentially incohrent song. That it is so popular boggles my mind. I really can't understand the appeal, besides a pleasant tune.

There are other songs, by the Beatle's (a more level headed group than Lennon alone, from what I can tell), that deserve greater recognition. Bah!

Big news over on Dustin's blog (and no, it's not just that he actually posted). So... congratulations to the happy couple!

It's raining outside... really really hard.

I had always interpreted "sheets of rain" as describing vertical patterns of rainfall, but tonight it's giant drops coming down in horizontal sheets, that make the ground dance with deflected rain a foot in the air. Freak shower, but one that I appreciated very much.

Thanks, God.

Marsupials.

Wonderful animals.

Truly. They're one person on the outside, but in a little pouch, there's another life! Growing there, waiting to come out. I see some cool metaphorical tints to the animal. But the thing is, if you're the average google user trying to find something out about something like a marsupial, you're going to end up on my blog.

While there are many strange things that lead people to searching my site, marsupials are probably one of the most common hit gatherers.

Other things include:
1. Zwingli
2. pictures of Rachel robinson (who apparently works for mtv?)
3. bill and becca (that one came from texas)

But just today I got a hit from someone searching for "small marsupials." Another time I got "marsupials with big eyes." That one is creative.

So, here's some info on marsupials.


http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/marsupial/marsupial.html

http://www.americazoo.com/goto/index/mammals/8.htm


Dunart's are so cute. Have fun!

Keats' poem, "Sleep and Poetry" is excellent, as well. It's much longer than the Elgin Marbles, but his vision of poetry is fascinating. I find his view of a mature poet fascinating.

The poem is very pleasurable.

This marine was a true soldier-gentleman.

It's still Wednesday, but my time stamp will say it's Thursday. It's an hour off.

Today we talked about sin in class. St. Thomas' view of sin was, as normal, very reasonable. We're getting into soteriology now with which I disagree, but that's ok.

It's interesting to talk about sin. When in a Torrey session, one of the most important things is to strike on something that you don't know, something that you don't understand. If the unknown thing is good, it will inspire love in you as you strive to draw nearer it. This echoes the great pursuit of the soul for its creator, and is indeed part of the same pursuit, on smaller scales. But sin is just not the sort of thing you can love. It actually doesn't really exist, as a thing, but only as a perversion of other things, as imperfections of perfection.

What I found myself loving was humanity, instead. The leader of our session wisely led us in that direction. The goal was to understand the soul, and we ended up spending a lot of time talking about the will, and basically Thomistic anthropology. And, as interseting as it was, this is the first session we've really spent talking about anthropology. Last session was creation, which could have served as a kind of bridge from theology, but it didn't really work. Instead, this session seemed... dirty. Not dirty in the sense that it was sinful, but dirty in the sense that man is a low being, and not worthy of worship. God's glory, in our sessions too often obscured by obfuscation in language, and our own incapacity for comprehension, still shone threw in the nature of the thoughts we considered. And now it's just not as good.

All the same, I hope that in understanding man, and how we fall into sin, I can myself avoid it more often in the future. It is also helpful in appreciating the cross. Sin is truly wicked, and it is all our own fault.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.

On Seeing The Elgin Marbles For The First Time
John Keats

My spirit is too weak; mortality
Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep,
And each imagined pinnacle and steep
Of godlike hardship tells me I must die
Like a sick eagle looking at the sky.
Yet 'tis a gentle luxury to weep,
That I have not the cloudy winds to keep
Fresh for the opening of the morning's eye.
Such dim-conceived glories of the brain
Bring round the heart an indescribable feud;
So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,
That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude
Wasting of old Time—with a billowy main,
A sun, a shadow of a magnitude.


I don't think this is anywhere near the best poem ever written, but as it's Keats, and thus by the pen of a man with a remarkable poetic talent, I'm posting it here. It's a puzzling work, I find. the metaphor of the eagle is evocative but a bit confusing. And the middle section, about not having the cloudy winds to keep fresh puzzles me more than the rest of it.

The poet is responding to looking at the Elgin Marbles, which are the Athenian Parthenon's frieze, brought to England by Lord Elgin (hence the name of the marbles). I wanted to know what they were representing but, as is often the case, the meaning or story of the marbles is obscured by the story of what is happening with the marbles. Such contemporary concerns are far from interesting, but I suppose relevant to some.

This link needs a little context. In the summer before we moved into our former apartment, in Tropicana by Biola, my roommate, Phil, needed a place to stay. He ended up staying in the apartment of a friend who got married partway through that summer. While on his honeymoon, this fellow found some video games at a garage sale and sent them down for Phil to keep safe. Among these video games were a number of comic books.

These comic books were not just any comic books, though. No, they were Masters of the Universe Mini-comics, complete with overblown product placement. Phil immediately recognized their value as troves of golden humor, and acquired them from our friend. They are now, and have been for more than a year now, permanent residents of our bathroom.

So, here is a very comprehensive listing of these comics, including, I think, the ones we have.

He-man comics at He-man.org

Move to Canada!

Canada's Immigration Website

If you're a leftward leaning American, then you're probably dissatisfied with the movement of our country. That's fine. You can move to Canada!

Here's a picture taken after the heavy October snows that swept over the Sierras. It's incredibly white. Not only that, but the snow has outlined the long valley caldera, right around Crowley Lake. I think you can see Lake Mary, but I'm not sure exactly, it's a fairly distant satellite image in real color. You can see Edison and Mono, though. Mono is a peculiar shade of green, and stands out from the rest of the visible lakes because of its color.

It is quite high resolution.
Sierra Snowfall

Since yesterday I've had one Libby Moothart as my girlfriend for more than a year! Woo hoo!

Man, Half-Life 2 is coming out in a few days, and Halo 2 JUST came out. If I had an infinite supply of money and time, I would have some fun. As it is, I won't probably play either of these games, as I have no X-Box, and my computer's about half the necessary requirements (actually, maybe less than half...) for Half-Life 2. This is probably a good thing.

This is an interesting idea. A blog called Belmont Club is compiling up to date commentary specifically (at the moment anyway) on the battle going on in Falluja. From the title, it appears their plan is to produce instantaneous contemporary history, and make it available outside of the main-stream media. While intriguing, I don't think it's a very good way to do contemporary history. All the same, the social function of another route around CNN, CBS, etc. is fascinating.

Blogspot, in hosting free blogs that allow freedom of use in a way Xanga doesn't, or any other place, really, is playing a big role in the blogging movement. I wonder if they're proud of it. I think perhaps they should be, although blogs I think are somewhat limited in their reliability.

This blog has gotten more and more political of late. For this perhaps I owe some regret, for it is somewhat time consuming and more than a bit out of my area of expertise.

That said, here, have some more politics:

Jonah Goldberg writes an article that I think does a good job of exposing some funny tendencies of the Left.

I liked these bits the best:

"There's no time here to dismantle fully the edifice of condescension and ignorance constructed by Maher and Smiley (I put Dowd in a different category). But what offends them so much about religion is that it is a source of authority outside — and prior to — politics. What has offended the Left since Marx, and American liberalism since Dewey, is the notion that moral authority should be derived from anyplace other than the state or "the people" (conveniently defined as citizens who vote liberal). Voting on values not sanctified by secular priests is how they define "ignorance." This was the real goal of Hillary Clinton's "politics of meaning" — to replace traditional religion with a secular one that derived its authority not from ancient texts and "superstitions" but from the good intentions of an activist state and its anointed priests. Shortly before the election, Howell Raines fretted that the worst outcome of a Bush victory would be the resurgence of "theologically based cultural norms" — without even acknowledging the fact that "theologically based cultural norms" gave us everything from the printing press and the newspaper to the First Amendment he claims to be such a defender of.

"What Maher, Raines, and Smiley fail to grasp is that all morality is based upon transcendence — or it is merely based on utilitarianism of one kind or another, and therefore it is not morality so much as, at best, an enlightened expediency or will-to-power. It is no more rational to vote based on a desire to do "good" than it is to vote based on a desire to do God's will. Indeed, for millions of people this is a distinction without a difference — as it was for so many of the abolitionists progressives and civil-rights leaders today's liberals love to invoke but never actually learn about."

I think this is a really critical point to make between liberals and conservatives. Although liberals would have you believe that they are the voice of progress and we the voice of stubborn foolishness, both groups acutally exist within the same categories, the liberals are positing ideas that have true or false values, and living by them, just like conservatives. The argument has to be about whether or not these ideas are true. "Voting on values not sanctified by secular priests is how they define "ignorance." This was the real goal of Hillary Clinton's "politics of meaning" — to replace traditional religion with a secular one that derived its authority not from ancient texts and "superstitions" but from the good intentions of an activist state and its anointed priests." The ideas Goldberg presents here are what I spoke of earlier in this blog when I said a vote for Kerry would be a vote for French Revolution style democracy. Their revolution scraped vainly at the Godhead, endeavouring to pull even Him down from his throne. They placed the god of reason in Notre Dame. To them, rights were given by the state, and thus the Terror was not unthinkable. People died because of beliefs like this. Beware of them.

Oh yeah, and I wrote a post earlier today that made this same point, but deleted it, because I felt it might not have shown sufficeint charity to those with whom I disagree. But here's the same idea from someone else: "I think the great irony of this election is that for all the talk of how the bigoted Right won, the Left's loss has sparked far more bigotry. Their clever trick is to defend their hatred of the religious by calling it a hatred of bigotry itself — a rationalization no liberal would tolerate from any other kind of bigot." It's true. There is more hate in Michael Moore for George Bush than for Osama Bin Laden. As Christians, our transcendent moral code dictates we must love even our enemies, and as hard as that is, I hope we can live by it.

Wisconsin school's allow the teaching of creation

Strong responses by evolutionists as indicated in this manner is a sign of fear of new ideas (or old ideas re-appearing). How funny that groups so keen on "intellectual freedom" really have no interest in intellectual freedom at all.

They are afraid of losing their hold on our culture.

I think this is the authentic teaser for the last of the prequels. Anyway, it's worth a peep, anyway. Looks gritty and dark, and they've gotten James Earl Jones again for Vader. Maybe. Obviously, a lot of the quotes are from the other movies.

The Trailer

Some neat pictures of a volcano erupting in Ireland courtesty Bubbs and my sister-in-law. They may be viewed here.

You can also get real color satellite imagery here. The earth observatory website is one of my favorites, it has some really beautiful images of earth, in very high resolutions.

From msnbc: In the end, Ohio was the fulcrum, and exit polling data suggested that it was older voters and white evangelical Christians who clinched the deal for Bush. The president won 56 percent of the vote among voters ages 60 and older, and he took three-quarters of white evangelical voters, who made up 25 percent of the state’s electorate.

Evangelicals won the election for Bush, as Dr. Reynolds has been saying, the conservatives of America are the majority of this country. It just took some muscle flex, and Bush has been re-elected.

A comment by Dr. Rood, a very bright professor of mine here at Biola, got me thinking about the mission of America. Often, people like John Kerry, dilute the traditional goal of the United States by removing from it a universal grounding. In other words, my country can't be the best country in the world, because there are so many countries, and there's no absolute basis upon which to base a claim for supremacy.

Here's the deal though, America IS the best country in the world: and to be an American entails a belief in this, at some level or another. This is because, America's a creed of sorts, as G.K. Chesterton points out. To be an American means to think that this grand experiment of democracy has the ability to be successful. And the reason it will be successful seems to stem from its basis in the nature of man and the universe.

To base something as an accurate representation of the natural order of things is only possible when the order is knowable, obviously. So, Kerry is a bad choice, and I hope that he's not elected today, because Mr. Global Test doesn't seem to believe in the efficacy of Reason.

I voted today, doing what little I could in this gigantic republic. It is in God's hands whatever the result will be.

American Pie is here expounded with helpful annotation.

Curious.

Stem Cell Research

I have found that the position of those opposed to embryonic stem cell research is rarely well represented on mass media sources. I do not know why, except that the bias of the media supports it. I suggest, however, that it is an inhumane practice very much worthy of our censure.

The basic position of those members of society who, like me, will be voting against Proposition 71 is this: experimenting on human beings is morally reprobate.

The problem with a lot of society today is that they have no real conception of what humanity is. Naturalistic thought truthfully provides no reasonable basis for the sanctity of human life, or even a sufficeint definition of what humanity is. Evidence of the latter is that nobody treats human cells better than other cells, despite their genetic identity.

Those of us who believe in the soul define personhood metaphysically. That is, there is an immaterial element to all humanity, which is called the soul. I can see no reason to believe that a human being, biologically, is not a human being metaphysically. And since the dignity of humanity comes from the possession of this immaterial substance (in conjunction with the matter, it's in no way morally flawed), abortion is immoral.

Abortion should never be cemented by building upon it other frameworks. Using aborted embryonic stem cells is like using a murder victim's body for research without their consent. I can't vote for the government to supply money to such an endeavor.

I'm tired.

It's interesting that so much of the world has a strong opinion about the American election. It's also interesting that so much of it is opposed to George W. Bush. Of course, by "world" I can't actually mean the "the entire population of the world." There is no way to poll the entire world, and a very great deal of it is not informed and has no opinion, I assume, on the American election.

The World watches America vote

Anyway, in a sampling of people around the world who are concerned with American politics and are not Americans there seems to be a majority that disagrees with Bush, as well as I can figure. This is somewhat tentative, still, but I'll go with it.

Why? Why do they care? And why do they oppose Bush?

I think the questions end up answering themselves if one sees them as one and the same. That is, they care because of Bush, and that's why they oppose him. America's current offensive stance against terrorism, while the strongest and most effective strategically, is also likely to be one of the most offensive. People are worried when the world's giant is angry.

So, why should this not worry conservative voters? Well, when did the majority ever start dictating what truth is? In general, the countries in which people may have an opinion on this subject are going to be more technologically advanced, since the polls are taken on the internet. These countries of the world, unfortunately, are likely to be the least Christian. How does this matter? Christians can understand like nobody else taking a stand for something that one sees as true. A death for others is the foundation of our faith, and martyrdom is the very meat of our early religious history.

In other words, America has the unique condition of being the most Christian country in the world at the present moment.

This also explains why this election is so heated, it really does boil down to a Christian versus non-Christian world-view, or at least world-views consistent with Chrsitianity versus a secular, French Revolution style, understanding of the Constitution.

Torrey Conference ended up being pretty good, session-wise. I've gotten nowhere near enough work, done, though, as I thought would happen.

All of the speakers had good style and pretty good messages. None of them were perfect, of course. One gave an exposition of Romans 1-11 in order to do Romans 12. It was really good, as he layed out completely a reading of Romans that comes straight out of Luther. That was an enjoyable trip down the backbone of Protestant theology, even if it's hard for me to understand.

I'm convinced there is a forensic element to justification, but I'm not convinced that's all there is. It seems to me there must be a change of soul in order for God's knowledge of us to remain correct. So, are regeneration and justification really different things?

We also had a pleasant Calvinist exposition on Ephesians 2:8 Thursday night that was thrown into a sermon on sovereignty largely to irritate the Wesleyans and Armenians in the crowd, as the speaker admitted. As I tend in the Wesleyan direction I knew he was poking at me, but I wasn't really bothered. I'm not bothered by God's sovereignty and I don't see the verse saying what he thinks it says.

Today's sessions were somewhat poor. The last session was a sparsely attended worship session that I wasn't all that inspired by. My taste in worship has changed somewhat dramatically since I regularly attended Calvary. I just don't speak that language from the heart anymore. The liturgy appeals to me more. But I don't think that the worship service was awful. It was mainly a taste issue (based on what I think are probably real issues in the worship movement). He definitely was from Orange County, though. He really spoke the dialect. There's an intonation that's so typically Orange County, mainly, especially in the South/Central OC young white people subculture.

Torrey Conference is this week. What a burden!

Instead of being at all a time to relax a little and learn some sound Biblical teaching, it is a time when I have twice as much time that's required to be spent in a class but just as much homework and work. What a joke!

Biola should excuse upper classmen from Torrey. If not all upper classmen, at least commuter upper classmen, or all seniors. It's a joke to expect us to go to the same number of conferences as Freshmen when we obviously have a lot more work to do. Our professors are less inclined to care about Torrey conference homework-wise than other professors. I have two important papers to work on, a session to prepare for next week, and a senior thesis to log a lot of hours on. What a great opportunity! I could worship God by doing the thing that I should be doing in a dedicated manner. Or I could go to a sermon of potential value. It's just frustrating, especially since there's no more reasonable grace for exemptions.

I'm trying hard to not be cynical, but I really am struggling with this.

They don't make movies like they used to...

Tonight I celebrated the end of my school week by partaking in some good old fashioned Indiana Jones action. I hadn't seen the Temple of Doom yet, so I checked it out from the Biola library in order to educated my previous ignorance with the brilliant light of new knowledge. I don't regret it.

It's a really suspenseful and dark movie. From the opening fight scene on there is rarely a moment where you're entirely relaxed. Libby and I were reassuring each other that it would be alright at several peak scenes just because it was so hard to believe that it would be. I don't think I've seen an action movie that builds suspense as constantly and consistently nearly as grippingly as this movie did.
It has some really disturbing things in it, too, which made it surprising that it was rated only PG. They freaking carve a man's heart out of his chest.

It's always fun watching Indiana Jones, though. I love Harrison Ford's character and acting, as well as his boy side kick. The girl was a little annoying, but that's somewhat par of the course, from what I remember from the first movie. The women are always getting in trouble and increasing the tension.

The gripping roller coaster style ride of this movie is about as good as you can orchestrate in an action movie. I wish they still did this as well, but I think action movies have moved on to different focuses now.

I got rain-wet walking from the library to my car ealier under a rainbow pregnant sky. The ominous darkening East frowned fiercely against the brilliant Western blue. Today was an exhilarating day to be alive.

The Trinity

I had the priviledge of journeying with 9 other students today through three hours of a discussion on the Trinity via Thomas Aquinas. It was one of the most enjoyable sessions that I had for a long time. I was able to grasp a vision of what a unified trinity might look like for the first time in my life. Thomas' view may not be completely correct, but it works well enough to guide one's thoughts in contemplation of God. So here's a summary of what we talked about, likely mostly for my own benefit in posterity.

His arguments begin with procession. There are, in a human soul, two kinds of inward processions. If our soul is created in the image of God, then these two kinds of processions will be present in God. These processions might be understood as conception in the intellect and love, which is any movement of the will. Concepts are words: thus the Word is the Concept of God within God. God being God, any concept He had would be perfect. This is the Word. God's internal movement (He is pure act, after all) towards Himself (and us, in God's conception of us) is a movement of His whole self, and thus the procession of the Holy Spirit is fully God.

To distinguish between the three persons whose essences are identical, St. Thomas relies on relations. Based on the processions, we can understand 4 relationships in God: Filiation, the relationship of a son to a father; Paternity, the relationship of a father to a son; Spiration, the relationship of the Father and the Son to the Spirit (a special kind of relationship used to describe God's will's procession); Procession, the relation of the Spirit to the Son and the Father.

There is an important, but difficult to understand distinction in what kind of relationships exist upon which his arguments rest. That is, there are relative relationships: the relationship of one thing to another. This kind of relationship does not inhere as an accident in the thing related. That is, if I move about my keyboard in front of or behind my monitor, it won't change the keyboard at all. It will be relating to the monitor in a different manner, however. The other kind of relation is the relation of something in which there is an inherence of accidents. An example of this is the black coloring of a Bible's cover. The Bible isn't defined by the black, so the black must be relating to the book in some way.

Aquinas takes this distinction to say that this second kind of relation in God will not be accidental, but essential. This is based on his simplicity doctrine, which I won't argue for here. Those relations I described earlier are all essential in God, then.

From this discussion, Aquinas is free to move on to the discussion of Persons. Personhood is defined as distinct substance of a rational nature. But, wait, isn't substance essence? How can there be three persons of distinct substances if there's only one essence? This problem is solved by a proper understanding of what substance is. Substance can be understood either as essence (or ousia) or it can be understood as the genus of things that are. St. Thomas eliminates the first definition and clings to the second, which has three properties. One part of this is the important term "hypostasis." This is understood as that which accepts accidents. That is, what underlies all of my blond hair, blue eyes, etc. When people refer to me, they don't refer to my accidents, but tomy substance or hypostasis. It can also mean the "natural thing," in which part I am in substance a human. My substance is the human substance. In another way I am "subsistence," or an individualized something.

The last article we worked on in session was the most difficult but most rewarding part of our journey. It is Question 29, Article 4 of the Summa. In this section he explains his vision of the Trinity in more detail than he had yet done (I suppose he's been doing this all along, but this article is a kind of culmination). There is a lot of work done in a few sentences of the last paragraph in the responsio of this article, but it's worth looking at.

Here's the text:

Now distinction in God is only by relation of origin, as stated above (28, 2, 3), while relation in God is not as an accident in a subject, but is
the divine essence itself; and so it is subsistent, for the divine essence
subsists. Therefore, as the Godhead is God so the divine paternity is God the Father, Who is a divine person. Therefore a divine person signifies a relation as subsisting. And this is to signify relation by way of substance, and such a relation is a hypostasis subsisting in the divine nature, although in truth that which subsists in the divine nature is the divine nature itself.

He says this:

1. Distinction in God based on relation.
2. Relations in God are essence of God.
3. The Divine Essence is self subsisting.
C1: Therefore the Relations in God are subsistent.
C2: Therefore the Godhead is to God as Paternity is to God the Father.
4. God the Father is a Person.
C3: Therefore Divine Person signifies a relation that's subsisting.
C4: This signifies relation by way of substance, and this is a hypostasis subsisting in the Divine Nature!

This explains the Trinity. It lays out a relationship between the Persons and Essence that makes sense with a simplicity of God doctrine. It's pretty beautiful, if you see it. It's probably easiest to see when talking about with someone, though. Then the image is shared and it's pretty exciting. It comes together and makes sense. You can see how each person is God, truly, and how God has distinctions that are Persons, truly. It's a great beginning to two more sessions on the Trinity. I'll be leading the next one.

Columbus Day is this week.

There was a parade in Denver held up by some American Indians and other protesters, reported as front page news by cnn.com. In recent years it has occurred to me, as a result of a more educated mind and greater time in books, that Columbus, and the image of Columbia, are critical symbols in our national fabric. Unfortunately, these have been discarded as the outmoded images of Manifest Destiny and non-politically correct western-centered pride.

There were definite, truly evil things that happened as a result of Columbus' discovery. He did things that he ought never have done in America. But equally true is that we still owe him our recognition. Sure, the Indians were in North America before anyone else, and the vikings were the first Europeans over here. But the reason that we owe Columbus recognition is not the novelty of his find, but the heritage of his discovery. The Native Americans and vikings' discovery did not lead to our country's existence. Our country's existence stemmed from the Rennaissance wanderings of one Christopher Columbus. And to not recognize that would be unfair and proud. And the recognition of Columbus' gifts in different modes, including a single day can be positively seen as a little repayment of a vast debt.

So, remember Columbus Day! Be proud of being an American, and be thankful that Columbus made that possible!

Justin Shelby is doing a lot better today! He is conscious and responsive. This is a major answer to a lot of peoples' prayers. As tomorrow is the first day of the week after the event, it looks like a long hard time is finally coming to an end. Praise be to God!

My blog is over a year old, now. I started it October the first of last year, and now it's October the eigth of this year. I've come a long way since then.

Curiously, I'm reading the same things now in my Romantic Literature class as I was a year ago in Torrey. We have moved on to Coleridge, leaving Wordsworth behind us for the moment.

Coleridge's style of poetry is more enticing to me than Wordsworth's. His descriptions of nature, I think, fit the sensibility that I have had tempered in my experiences in the mountains. Anyway, I've enjoyed what I've been reading so far. Today in class we began discussing "Kubla Khan." This poem is the most eerie pieces of poetry that I have ever read. I literally tremble when contemplating it for any length of time. I suppose further study would eradicate this intensity of response, but for the moment it is thrilling.

The most directly pleasing aspects of this poem is its power to replicate in your soul the exact feelings described in the metaphor. This, to me, is a powerful argument that what is described in the poem is not only Nature and inspiration, but our nature, from which inspiration flows. The pleasurable fear it produces is a result of it describing in pleasing terms what I am like, both good, evil and powerful in my tremendously vital imagination. When I say pleasing I do not mean "so much fun inside of myself" but rather I am attempting to capture the natural movement of the soul towards beauty which results from reading beautiful language. The poet draws us with his eloquence to imagine his metaphor, and then we realize its power, and withdraw instinctively from the disturbing quality it possesses, and perhaps feel a little betrayed by a poet who demonstrates, and then claims, a powerful authority over us.

Anyway, here's the poem, which was published by Coleridge preceded by this introduction:

Kubla Khan

IN Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea. 5
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossom'd many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills, 10
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But O, that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted 15
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced;
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst 20
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion 25
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reach'd the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war! 30

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device, 35
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she play'd, 40
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me,
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long, 45
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair! 50
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Cute kittens!

This picture on Dustin's site made me do a google image search for kittens. Kittens sure are cute. They're so small! And they've got big eyes, and big feet! Cats really are wonderful creatures to have as pets. I wish I didn't have a cat allergy. Die nose die!

Doom the movie?

Oh the horrors that this may unleash.

Ghengis Khan's Palace?

Looks like they might have found the Khan rulers palace. Sweet. Genghis Khan connected East and West, destroyed the Islamic Caliphate of the Middle East (or what was left of it) and threatened Europe. His followers maintained a peaceful trade route from China to Europe, letting Marco Polo travel overland to China. Very sweet to find out more about him.

I've been watching the Mount Saint Helens cam pretty religiously lately. And today I was totally watching when it erupted! It's still frame, but it was fun none the less to be one of the first people to see the images. I'm so cyber-connected it's not even funny.

Looking at Lem's pictures of the Joshua Tree trip make me want to go back there again. The sky's so blue, it just looks pleasant. I love California, it's so beautiful.

I love the desert, especially in Joshua Tree's exotic high desert vallies and rocky outcroppings. The sun kisses it intensely under the clear blue dome towering above you.

I also like the spaciousness, the wide open freedom. I noticed today how each house of the city is a person-space. There is so little non-peopled space around me right now. But if I drove to Joshua Tree there would be easily accessible, non-peopled wilderness. It is awesome.

The ocean is pretty much self-explanatorily awesome. In session it struck me that standing on the beach and gazing out over the ocean is like our perception of God sometimes. We can see the ocean, and recognize that it is the ocean. We can even describe some positive things about it. We can also describe it by remarking on what it is not, it's limitless, it's depthless, etc. Same with God. We can see Him sometimes, and we can know some things about Him, but He extends far far far out of our range of sight. And that's just the surface. There are inexhaustible depths below His relations to us.

And of course, California's mountains are some of the most beautiful in America. The dizzying sheer plunges in the Sierra Nevada provide ample food for a beauty starved soul. Crystal lakes forested thickly by arrow-straight pines, marching in rows up into the granite wilderness make me home sick. I realized that I only got to go to Mammoth once this summer. That's really sad. I miss the sun drenched alpine meadows nestled amongst solid granite towers so much. Shoot, it makes me homesick imagining it.

Must read more Wordsworth, must mature imaginative faculty, to be able to connect in my parlor to the most sublime natural things. There's a transition from loving California: the Romantics. I don't know if Wordsworth's ideas are the best, but the man loved nature, and the man connected to it in a unique way from which we can learn at least a route of pleasure.

I'm going to bed now, because it's very late. I'm staying up mostly to listen to a Smashing Pumpkin's CD of Phil's. I enjoy early 90s rock a lot more than most things that are being made today, and a heck of a lot more than all the 80s junk that's being shoved in our face recently.

The Debates:

The political debates, for me, a decided voter, are still a fascinating spectatcle.

Here are some of Bob Novak's notes from the debate, on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/blog/09/30/novak.blog/

Hugh Hewitt's blog weighs in with commentary and a scorecard:

http://hughhewitt.com/#postid973


My thoughts:

In the beginning I was a little disappointed in Bush, because I found him repeating the same theme in the same way too often. He kept pressing Kerry's view on Iraq, some times in ways I thought were unnecessary. An addendum might be that I am not your swing voter, and so my responses may not be accurately generalized.

Kerry's view of Iraq came off very weak, all the same. He refused to say that Iraq was a mistake, when he was asked, and tried to synthesize his old statments, of Iraq being a threat, and agreeing we needed to go in, while condemning Bush's choice and lamenting our mess over there. I found his synthesis required straight out contradiction, and was ultimately convoluted untruths. It would be better if he committed one way or the other. Bush does not have this problem.

Interestingly, Kerry claims greater subtlety than Bush. Bush is not subtle in the debate, true, he is straightforward. Kerry is less direct, but I don't see him as being subtle in any consistent or logical way. Major bummer for him.

I had wished that Bush had addressed the development of tactical nuclear weapons jab. It was a good move on Kerry's part. It reflects powerfully his view of the world, which is much less US-centric than Bush's. For example: the "global test" cited by Kerry for discerning the proper time for pre-emptive strike.

I used to think that way, until I read Shakespeare's King John. Now I'm convinced that serving another people above your own would be a wicked way to lead. Bush's duty is to his country, and he recognizes this. To what does Kerry owe his allegiance first and foremost?

I watched Andy Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind today.

How happy is the blameless Vestal’s lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sun-shine of the spotless mind!
Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resigned.

-Alexander Pope, from Eloise to Abelard.

The movie is a creative story surrounding the relationship of a man, Joel, played by Jim Carrey, and Clementine, played by Kate Winslet. Because of the rocky nature of their relationship, after one year Clementine decides to erase all of her memories of Joel, without telling him. It was an impulsive decision to break up with him.

Joel decides to exact his revenge by following suit. But, as the memories disappear he realizes how much he treasures them, and a great deal of the movie takes place inside his head, as he frantically attempts to rescue whatever memories that he can, while the crew of the company he has hired works feverishly to finish the job he hired them to do.

The movie ends up being an enjoyable meditation on the nature of relationships, their troubles, and the solution to these troubles. It reminds me of the river Lethe, at the top of Purgatory in heaven. However, the erasure of memories in Dante had a nobler purpose. It was the final purgation of all evil, and the memories were re-instated with the holy context given to all of life in the vision of God that is the felicity of Paradise.

The movie is rated R, though, so it's to be approached with caution: it has a lot of swearing and some sexual content. That's not too suprising.

I registered on-line today to get a free Stat Counter for my site! I look forward to seeing all the neat information I can get. Thanks to Phil for the tip. If you want one, it's easy, free, and hasn't got any spam attatched or anything! Check it out at www.statcounter.com.

Banana Phone, meet the Badgers.

I was in Joshua Tree this weekend with Phil, Lem, Dustin, Joe, and Tim.

It was fun. It was kinda hot, though, in the 90s. We camped at Black Rock, which is actually barely on the outskirts of the park, and you can't access any of the rest of the park from it. It doesn't have any of the rocks, but it does have nice fauna and flora. It is also a little higher than the rest of the park, so we were hoping that would moderate the temperature a bit. It's also the closest part of the park.

I learned a little more about coyotes on this trip. They were all around our campsite, I think because they can get water there. At night we would hear them singing, a burst now and again would bely their nearness. The night we arrived I saw one run by our campsite in the moonlight. I really could see its shadow better than its body, but it sped by like a hovering ghost. It looked supernatural. Later, as I stood, admiring the morning's golden radiance on the desert, a jack rabbit burst out of a nearby bush, maybe 3 or 4 feet away from me on my left, and sped thumping by, ears flat on his head. Immediately following this a coyote burst out of the bush, saw me, made a quick left turn, slowed to a lope, and disappeared behind a bush several yards away. I followed, curious to see more of the dog, but he was not to be found. This is despite me constantly watching the bush for further movement, and looking in the desert all around it. It is as if it disappeared. His craftiness really took me by surprise, but it reminded me again of the Coyote of Navajo legends.

Staplers!

Staplers are a wondrous invention of the Civilized World, designed to organize and collect our lives into handy manageable stacks.

One can call these inventions any number of things, but one of the best things to call them is "click-clicks." Why? Because that's what they sound like when you use them, which is onomatopeia. Murmur is another good word that's onomatopeiac. My girlfriend has introduced me to this innovative presentation of the concept of Stapler with her poetic genius.

My girlfriend is a Stapler Goddess. She dwells on Olympus in the mailroom. Her favorite staplers are small. That way they are cute and handy. These staplers are therefore the most blessed of all, as she pays them special attention. She is a good goddess, unlike all those other amoral Greek deities. We're all lucky to have her looking out for our office supplies.

All Hail Queen Libby! Majestic Goddess of the Click-Click! Beauty weilding staples of healing and comfort!

The Prophet of the Goddess speaks, there is a revelation. "Keep clicking on."

The revelation is over. Go back to your meaningless lives.

Whoa! What's this? Dustin Guenther has a BLOG! Check it out!

Dustin's Blog is SO COOL!

Check out Banana Phone on Phil's site!

Early one morning
With time to kill
I borrowed Jebb’s rifle
And sat on a hill
I saw a lone rider
Crossing the plain
I drew a bead on him
To practice my aim

My brother’s rifle
Went of in my hand
A shot rang out
Across the land
The horse, he kept running
The rider was dead
I hung my head
I hung my head

I set off running
To wake from the dream
My brother’s rifle
Went into the sheen
I kept on running
Into the south lands
That’s where they found me
My head and my hands

The sheriff he asked me
Why had I run
And then it came to me
Just what I had done
And all for no reason
Just one peace of lead
I hung my head
I hung my head

Here in the court house
The whole town was there
I see the judge
High up in the chair
Explain to the court room
What went through you mind
And we’ll ask the jury
What verdict they find

I felt the power
Of death over life
I orphaned his children
I widowed his wife
I begged their forgiveness
I wish I was dead
I hung my head
I hung my head

I hung my head
I hung my head

Early one morning
With time to kill
I see the gallows
Up on a hill
And out in the distance
A trick of the brain
I see a lone rider
Crossing the plain

And he’d come to fetch me
To see what they’d done
And we’d ride together
To kingdom come
I prayed for god’s mercy
For soon I’d be dead
I hung my head
I hung my head

I hung my head
I hung my head

I like the Johnny Cash version of this song.

A few items of interest:

1) This website contains interesting flash animations that involve kitty cats in music videos. Some of them are creative, but I can't vouch for all of them. Trippy. So, check out Rather Good

2) Tonight I'm going to enjoy some free tickets, courtesy of the Torrey Honors program, to see the Lord of the Rings symphony at the Hollywood Bowl. This is my first time going to the Bowl, and the music's good. I'm looking forward to it.

3) I was thinking about Chesterton's article today about America, when I happened upon a section in my historiography that peaked my interest. It talked about a Tory historian who was exiled from America. An American exile seems strange to me. But it's not. If you disagree with the Creed of America (our Constitution), then you haven't got any real call to be an American. And Chesterton talked about it, but the full implications were driven home.

In other countries, you can have different ideas about government and live there, because the government isn't based on an idea, but on a state of affairs. But in America, the social contract is defined by the ideas in the Constitution. Doesn't this entail those that are living document advocates of the Constitution should be thrown out of the country? They disagree the document means anything, anyway, in a proper sense of meaning. :-)

So, this kinda ticks a guy off:

Spanish Newspaper advertisement

There's some controversy on how to properly translate it. I take it passively, as a charitable translation, and am still offended. One spanish blogger diagrees. He says you should translate it actively. The two ways to take it are: 1) You can do a lot in a day, imagine what can happen in three months. Or, 2) A lot can happen in a day, imagine what can happen in three months. My initial translation was the second, as I said, because I don't think people would be that inhumane. But, if you think about, it's still an example of sensationalistic News reporting that is trying to make money explicitly off other people's suffering.

HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!


Visit the The International Talk Like a Pirate Day Website

More Chesterton on our great country:

It may have seemed something less than a compliment to compare the American Constitution to the Spanish Inquisition. But oddly enough, it does involve a truth, and still more oddly perhaps, it does involve a compliment. The American Constitution does resemble the Spanish Inquisition in this: that it is founded on a creed. America is the only nation in the world that is founded on creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence; perhaps the only piece of practical politics that is also theoretical politics and also great literature. It enunciates that all men are equal in their claim to justice, that governments exist to give them that justice, and that their authority is for that reason just. It certainly does condemn anarchism. and it does also by inference condemn atheism, since it clearly names the Creator as the ultimate authority from whom these equal rights are derived. Nobody expects a modern political system to proceed logically in the application of such dogmas, and in the matter of God and Government it is naturally God whose claim is taken more lightly. The point is that there is a creed, if not about divine, at least about human things.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/martin.ward/gkc/books/america.html It's from a book he wrote on visiting America (What I Saw in America) published in 1922.

I think he has a better idea about the nature of America than most Americans have anymore. It's a common sense, clear cut, obvious interpretation. If people'd look, they'd see he's absolutely right. I hope that America doesn't forget the Declaration of Independence, because without it we're no better than the Terror, and we're bound to be in for it sooner or later.

Here is an article by Chesterton titled: On American Morals. It is dated, of course. It seems to be from the 1920s, and was published in '29.

His general criticisms are that America's moral values are not based on any sort of reasonable system, but rather on irrational association. I wonder if he is not in some way right. Alcohol is by no means inherently evil in and of itself. It has no moral quality. For that matter, neither does cocaine. But, on the other hand, things can be dangerous and unfit for the commonweal because of mankinds' weaknesses.

The last paragraph I found particularly punchy and thought provoking because Chesterton attacks racism. I wonder, however, whether or not Chesterton is attacking a particular American quality or a particular human quality. The quality of irrationally associating doesn't seem inherently human, though it may be inherently democratic. I wonder how fostered American idealogy is by those in power. If you can create a population that's hedonistic it will assist the selling of goods. If you can create a non-thinking populace, then demagogues will find power much more easily.

If you haven't ever seen Johnny Cash's video of "Hurt" you probably should. It's the most powerfully sad music video that I've ever seen. It makes me so lonesome I could cry.

Lem took this cool picture of me. Man, I'm cool!



He has a few other pictures from a trip a small group of us took to Denny's last night. It was pretty fun. I drank ranch dressing with a straw.

I'm working on a paper for Romantic literature, and I've decided to address directly the issue that puzzles me most about the Romantics. How can a group of people that produce such good art have such a bad epistemology? So I'm going to write about Wordsworth, who seems the most sensible and is undoubtedly the most orthodox of the Romantic period.

Wordsworth is described as having something that seem to me very similar to the erotic type experiences that we learn about in Plato's Phaedrus. How could have that kind of experience using the faculty of imagination? Unable to answer this question with an internal inquiry of Wordsworth's works, I'll instead try to figure out how he thought he had that experience. Important poems in my paper will be The Prelude, which I hope I can read in full by the time I write the paper, but am somewhat skeptical about, and the Ode (Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood) which is a poem I lead a session on my Junior year fall semester, anyway. I'll throw in Tintern Abbey for fun if I have time.

Also, this is cool. Some people recognize the innate greatness of some people. Then they name things after that person.



Of said phenomeon this is one example.

This last weekend I went on a retreat where I got to jump off a 30 foot high rock into a lake. That was fun, but scary. The thing about jumping off big rocks is gravity. You push yourself forward, but then you're totally out of control until you hit the water. And then you get wet.

The thing about getting wet is water.

You can see some of the rock jumpin' pictures on Phil's webpage

I'm reading Blake again right now. What a crack-pot genius-head.

I enjoy his poetry on one level, as it's very simple verse and flows easily. Yesterday I read a sampling of the Songs of Innocence and today I read a sampling of the Songs of Experience. I read the whole books last year, and was impressed. I get frusturated by his views on the temporal Church, though, which impress me as little better than insults to the bride of Christ. And, for a man who has such faith in the dignity and ability of mankind, he sure doesn't seem to like them very much.

He has a bit of work to do to sell me on his epistemology, also. What is the Poetic Genius? How can I understand the world with my Imagination? Of course, taking a class on Romantic literature, I'll have quite a bit of time to think about it.

Peter Kreeft is coming to Biola in October. Awesome. He's going to sit in on a Saturday meta-Torrey session. The man who edited the Summa of the Summa is going to discuss the Summa with us. Awesome!

As I come to the end of my readings in the Summa Theologicae, I am working my way currently through the suffering of Christ. It is a meditation upon which the work of Mel Gibson provides elucidation and imagery that cannot begin to express the suffering described by St. Thomas. Thomas' concern is not only in the power of Christ's physical suffering, though that is truly a concern to him, but also the suffering of Christ's soul in the sadness the Man of Sorrows underwent.

The Passion of Christ

It is a good reminder of the effect of our sin in the very God who loved us so much that He died for us. It is a powerful deterant in those who love God.

Good old Holland. We've always known that the Netherlands were ahead of the curve, but now they've really pulled out ahead with their toilet technology. It's quite clever, yet... slightly disturbing. It has a certain degree of artifiical intelligence. When will the ethical question be raised: is it ok to use another sentient being as a commode?

I guess it's better than televisions.

Talking Toilets in Amsterdam

After you check out that article, check out some commentary on the phenomenon by Achewood here.

I can't edit posts at the moment, so I'm just starting a new one on the same old subject. I thought I'd post the link I've been reading off of for anyone whose curious to glance over. It's about 70 pages long, so I doubt anybody's going to want to read this for fun. Treatise on God as the First Principle

Scotus is an amazing architect of reason. He builds up a bunch of conclusions and uses them to prove his points, slowly putting one conclusion upon another. He tests each piling by considering objections, and then moves on. As I said before, his reasoning is very concentrated. There is a considerable language barrier to overcome to really tap into his Aristotelian Medieval Christian thinking.

John Duns Scotus is the most boring person I have ever read, because he is the least rhetorical logitician that I've ever read. Straight argument, no frills, from a fire-hose.

Unfortunately, my poor soul's accustomed to poetry. I feel a bit like Boethius, right after he meets Philosophy.

Blame Canada!

Read her where a Canadian MP calls us stupid

I don't feel sorry for her. I don't appreciate her attitude, of course, but she's entitled to her opinions about our country. And I'm entitled to my opinion about hers.

*wink*

Check this out!

Time Travel Fund!

What a brilliant idea. Let's make a church... that believes in true things!

What the? Are they really this daft?

The Church of Reality

This, truly, is classic.

I really love Mockingbirds. They're probably some of my favorite birds. They are vibrant and full of life, but their eyes sparkle with a glint of intelligence and knowing most other birds lack.

They also have spunk. I've seen mockingbirds chase after hawks and divebomb cats numberless times. And they have such a variety of voices to choose from in scolding their enemies. The funniest mock I've heard is a car alarm. It was from a bird that lived along the parking lot behind my parent's house.



Anyway, I thought I'd share my love of the mundane today.

This Saturday at work, my coworkers and I were passing the time by marveling at marvelous men of history: the kind of people that seem to come along only a few times in a millenia and change the course of history forever. In our discussion I brought up the remarkable St. Thomas: the kind of mind that comes along once a millenia and changes the world forever with its brilliance and forcefullness. As I am reading Chesterton's hagiography about him at the moment, I was struck by the ignorance that so many people today have about him, the middle ages, and the Church.

While on an academic level, the middle ages is appreciably better understood, in high school we are fed straight lies that disagree with the majority of the history of critical work on the medieval period. While many still speak of the Dark Age, even in academia, there are good reasons to believe there was no such age. But, thanks to Gibbon, the Enlightenment, Moderns and the Rennaissance, millions can't consider the possibility that there wasn't. But people during the Middle Ages never believed there was a dark age. Learning never died. The written word was preserved by the Church. Civilization was preserved by the Church. Europe was more unified than it has ever been at any other time by a giant overarching authority structure that spoke with words of light rather than demanded obedience by the sword. Maurice Keen, a historian of the period, defines the Middle Ages as the time when Europe was Christendom: Charlemagne to the Council of Basel.

What historians sometimes mean when they refer to the Dark Age, I have come to understand, is that it was a time when many classical texts were lost. There are two observations I would make on this: First, this is partially true, but not completely so. While many Greek works, notably most of Aristotle and most of Plato were lost, many Latin works were not. And, while there was interest in these works, there was greater interest in the educated class for the Christian Fathers and the Bible. This is not surprising. Nor is this a sign of ignorance. This is my second observation: it is actually a totally understandable and reasonable view of the world that they lived in. Do not works breathed by the Holy Spirit merit a greater degree of inspection than works created by man alone? In a society that held to the Dogma of the Church, this behavior did not token ignorance or stupidity, but virtue and intelligence.

As a scholar who envies the life of the students in the universities of the twelth century, I find the arrogant position of the modern or post-modern student as being of superior intelligence and knowledge (usually because of a more accurate model of the natural processes of the world) annoying. Natural philosophy, or what we call "science" is not the Queen we take her for. The Queen of the sciences is, and always has been, Theology. And Saint Thomas, a friar who gave up the joys of the world out of a love for God, was one of her most brilliant handmaidens. It would be well for more of us from this darkening age to read him.

Go to Homestarrunner.com and play the new Peasant Quest game if you've ever been a fan of the King's Quest series. Great fun!

Hey all.

I know I haven't been posting much lately. There really isn't very much to post about, though. My life has been continuing pretty even kealed throughout this summer, and it's gotten a bit repetitive and unexciting here towards the end. All the same, I do not desire it to come to an end. I relish the calm that comes with summer, and the absence of stress. 40 hours a week beats all work all the time that I have during school sometimes, although it is certainly a lot less stimulating.

I would like to point out that I tried to post last week. Unfortunately that didn't work. So we're trying again exactly one week later out of the vain hope that somehow I'll do this thing right.

Alright.

As a Christian, undoubtedly one of the most difficult things about sharing God with people is that we are so unworthy to discuss his majesty.  The yawning divide between the infinite glory of God and our finite existences is truly beyond our grasp to reach.  Yet, is there anything, anything at all in this temporary world, that can compare to the enjoyment and happiness that can come through a relationship with the Goodness himself?  He is the end of all our existences, and we try to make ourselves happy with people, events, causes, and all other distractions.

It depresses me to venture out into the wasteland of the internet, and read about people's lives on the blogosphere, where so many people are struggling through life focused on the mundane and temporary for their own sake.  It's a depressing thought because God has reached out to draw us to live in everlasting love and happiness in communion with him, and we are equipped by his grace to do so.  While the gap between God and us is certainly unbreachable on our own merits or powers, God is gracious. 

I pray that in my life, my prayers and my works would ascend to the throne like incense from a swinging censor.
And that in my community, the sacrificed body and blood of Christ would be a ministry to all that I know through his Grace given freely to me.

It is strikes me again how beautiful Christianity is, and how Christ has provided such a clear light in our world.  The light of grace is clearer and more radiant than the most refined diamond.

Christ have mercy upon us.

After Reading Dante's Episode of Paolo and Francesca, A Dream

by John Keats

As Hermes once took to his feathers light,
When lulled Argus, baffled, swooned and slept,
So on a Delphic reed, my idle spright
So played, so charmed, so conquered, so bereft
The dragon-world of all its hundred eyes;
And seeing it asleep, so fled away,
Not to pure Ida with its snow-cold skies,
Nor unto Tempe, where Jove grieved a day;
But to that second circle of sad Hell,
Where in the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw
Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell
Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw,
Pale were the lips I kissed, and fair the form
I floated with, about that melancholy storm.
 
Being a Dante fan, this poem is fascinating to me.  What is Keats point of writing a poem about a dream about the second circle of the Inferno?  This last semester we discussed somewhat the pitfalls of eros, and the considerable power in the dream of pagan love's beauty, yet so far from the consuming love of God.  I wonder what Keats take on the issue is?

Off on vacation in a few hours! Woo-hoo!

No posts since Monday because I have nothing interesting to say.

I finished that fragment of Hyperion today by Keats. It was awesome. It looks like Keats was setting up a conflict between Apollo and Hyperion, the old and new sun gods, but there isn't enough to really get a glimpse of where he was going. Instead there are well written scenes where gods fallen from glory reside together in brokenness. The poem ends with Apollo on an island going through some sort of inner conflict that's manifesting itself in glory and spasms. I wish that Keats would have gotten a lot more done than he had.

It's inspiring me to read Paradise Lost again. Not really time, though.

My life is rated PG-13.
What is your life rated?

I got my life rated according to the MPAA guidelines.

My weekend so far:

Saturday was a fun party where I watched The Two Towers again. First off contract party over 21! My friends at the Cellar put on a great party. They've cleaned out their garage into an excellent TV room. It was a lot of fun. It was also the first party I've been to where I've run into family I didn't know was coming. My brother and his wife showed up a little after me.

The highlight of Saturday was a short phone call from Libby. Missing her.

Watched some Avril videos for some reason.

Today I went home to celebrate the Fourth. Watched the nation's 228th birthday celebration in D.C. on PBS and went outside to see all the fireworks that were going on. Tonight there were more illegal fireworks than we've ever seen on a Fourth. Rockets and starbursts were all over the neighborhood. Sounded like a war-zone. On my way home I saw a bunch of cars parked on the side of the 5 to watch the fireworks from Disneyland. That struck me as a pretty awful idea if anyone had a blow-out, as the shoulders were solid with cars. I hope the CHP finds out about it so they can prevent it next year.

Interspersed I've been nursing a sick toe, reading Keats and playing some Knights of the Old Republic on the X-Box.

Keats is a Romantic poet not only in the literary sense but in the modern sense of the word. He seems quite concerned with male and female relationships whith ethical values paralleling our modern society's pretty closely in the area of sex. The poems I've read, Isabella or the Pot of Basil and the Eve of St. Agnes both have fiery lovers pining fiercely away for the one that they love. They're good poems. Isabella is especially powerful and shocking. I read a little of Hyperion and it resembled very closely a pagan version of Paradise Lost, with Saturn acting a convincing Satan. It was very good.

Anyway, happy Fourth of July.

Hello.

Free things rule. For example, my roommate just found this little metal object sitting atop a door jam. Totally free of COST!

MALE LACTATION

The pressing question of the day is:
Can male human beings produce milk from their nipples?

On the pro side:

The milkman says that yes, men can milk!

Yael and Don
say that, yes, perhaps they can, but what would be the point?

Fact Index weighs in wonderously.

href="http://www.teenhealthfx.com/answers/1712.html">http://www.teenhealthfx.com/answers/1712.html

And that's enough on male lactation. It sounds like guys probably can lactate, but I think it's nasty. So I'm not going to think about it anymore.

*shiver*

And now begins my boring weekend.

I think I should try and watch a Brando movie this weekend. I haven't seen Streetcar. I loved him in The Godfather, though.

Speaking of movies, saw Fargo the other day. It was a well made movie, and quite engrossing. This despite slow and steady pacing and a deliberately understated mood. The Coens used different elements of the movie effectively to create an atmosphere that made even the most heinous of crimes seem every day. That disturbed me at the end, but I'm not sure whether or not it was completely morally bankrupt. I certainly understand why so many people love it. It was pretty funny, too.

dum de dum

Added a link to Lem's blog on the side panel. Check it, yo.

Got the computer hooked up to the internet for a little today. So I can post.

It is now summer.

Let the mindless work begin! Let the mind take a break.

And then, after that, I will begin to read the Summa Theologica.. Shall I try to finish it? All blog readers: you can read along with me.

To join in the fray, I guess I'll do a top-ten book list, too. The criterion on Dr. Reynold's blog was: "To make the top ten list (or the close 20) is to have read the book more than five times, carefully, and not for work. The top ten list must have influenced my life for more than five of my forty years. Books in the top ten list should still be meaningful, thus giving some slight preference to the grown up me."

That's a little tough for a 21 year old, and eliminates all the books that I have read in Torrey. So I'll tweak it a little, since eliminating all of the books in Torrey neuters my reading depth severely. My criteria is this: that it has shaped my paradigm or aided my process of sanctification significantly.

Top Ten:

1. The Bible. My whole life has been shaped by this singular literary masterpiece. The thoughts and concepts in it make up the sum of my thoughts, taught to me regularily from a very young age. I believe that most of my aptitude for learning came not from public school, but from Sunday School.

2. The Dawn Treader. Lewis was a staple of what my mother read to me at night before I went to bed, but for some reason this book's romantic tale resonated the most powerfully with me. The vision of the noble Reepicheep sailing into the end of the world over liquid light has been a model of manhood for me my entire life.

3. The Lord of the Rings. I've read this epic at least every other year since second grade. I love the vision of courage in the face of evil, and the battle for a waning civilization ennobles my mind to facing the task before us today.

4. The Divine Comedy. I read this the first time only two years ago, but it is the kind of book you fall in love with not because it's easy reading, but because it's hard reading, and it takes discussion and thought to milk the rich concepts out of it. The impression I receive from it is that same impression I receive from the last chapters of the Dawn Treader, a poet sailing through a sea of liquid light. Its beauty is astounding.

5. Le Morte d'Arthur. Hic Iacet Arthurus, Rex Quondom Rexque futurus. My heart is the resting place of this great king, and the Senegral is the most beautiful part of the book. Galahad beats his father at being a knight because he beats his father at being a man: he is perfectly virtuous.

6. Winnie the Pooh. I imagine this betrays the lack of depth in my reading, youth and shallowness of soul, but this, along with Peter Pan, has had a profound impact on my concept of the imagination and its role in my life while growing up. I still return from time to time to that magical place at the top of the Hundred Acre Woods.

7. The Opuscula of Saint Francis. Anything by Francis I love. I love books written about Francis. I find him the most delightful of all the saints, and his spirituality the most impactful on my own. I would be have joined the Franciscan order if he were alive today, so that I could serve God under him in simple holy love, and his theology of nature allows my own great love to thrive.

8. That Hideous Strength. When I read this book in high school, I learned to love things for what they really are. When it spoke of Logres, I understood the Ideal Britain, and yearned to understand the true America (Columbia, perhaps?).

9. The Aeolian Harp. Coleridge's poem's vision of beauty captured me. I love many of his poems, but this one and Kublai Khan especially. They've helped me to refine my imagination to see beauty. I don't know if this one will stay on here for my whole life, for I hope to find better and holier poets.

10. Hamlet. It's a toss up between The Life of King Henry V and this play, but no English speaking person should deny a Shakespearean influence on their life. Shakespeare taught me politics and the duty of the individual to the state.

Alexander the Great the movie is coming out, by Oliver Stone. I don't know if it will be any good, but it will be worth seeing, anyway. Another big Grecian epic! Only this time the Greeks get wiped by someone from their northern boondocks: Macedonia.

The trailer is out, too: you can find it at The trailer at quicktime.com

Colin Farrel never struck me as the sort of refined princed, educated by Aristotle himself, to take over the entire world.