Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
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.
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.
Monday, July 19, 2004
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?
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?
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Saturday, July 10, 2004
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.
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.
Monday, July 05, 2004
My life is rated PG-13.
What is your life rated?
I got my life rated according to the MPAA guidelines.
Sunday, July 04, 2004
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.
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.
Friday, July 02, 2004
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*
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.
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.
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