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.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Monday, September 13, 2004
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
The thing about getting wet is water.
You can see some of the rock jumpin' pictures on Phil's webpage
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
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.
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.
Monday, August 30, 2004
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 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.
Saturday, August 28, 2004
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.
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.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
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*
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*
Thursday, August 12, 2004
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.
What the? Are they really this daft?
The Church of Reality
This, truly, is classic.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
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.
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.
Monday, August 09, 2004
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Thursday, May 27, 2004
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
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.
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.
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.
| "What a mystery is this, that Christianity should have done so little good in the world!
Can any account of this be given? Can any reasons be assigned for it?" |
| You are John Wesley! When things don't sit well with you, you make a big production and argue your way through everything. You complain a lot, but, at least you are a thinker and not afraid to show it. You are also pretty liked by people, and pretty methodological about your life and goals. You know where you're going. Some people find you irritating, so watch out for people leaving you out of things they do. |
What theologian are you?
A creation of Henderson
Yeah, this is sorta accurate. I like Wesley, though, so that's ok. REPENT! Almost Christians have no place in the kingdom, Christ's death has real power!
Monday, May 24, 2004
Friday, May 21, 2004
Belated happy Feast of the Ascension. Tonight (er, a few hours ago during Thursday night), I went to the first service I have ever gone to that focused on the Ascension. This, I learned, is one of the most important feast days of the Church year. The Ascension ushered in a new era in our relationship to Jesus Christ, and was the culmination of his time on earth. Not many people were at the service, unfortunately.
The way Fr. David, the priest at Blessed Sacrament, described the event's significance was that Christ's relationship to man went from particular to cosmic. While on earth Christ was more evidently present than he is now, he was also only available to those few hundred people who actually saw and talked to him. Now, outside of our realm, he is available to all mankind. Much of the rest of the sermon Fr. David talked about the means God has provided for us to reach Christ now that he is available for us, but less evident. Ultimately this is through faith, but involves the reading of scripture, the sacraments, and other Christians' love.
An interesting Biblical thought that I came away with, as well, was from the Old Testament reading from the cyclical. It was the ascension of Elijah. Elijah's ascension in the fiery chariot was more dramatic than Christ. But Christ will come again in martial glory. I thought that Elisha might be reckoned as the Church, and that Elijah might be reckoned as Christ in an allegorical interpretation with edifying results.
The way Fr. David, the priest at Blessed Sacrament, described the event's significance was that Christ's relationship to man went from particular to cosmic. While on earth Christ was more evidently present than he is now, he was also only available to those few hundred people who actually saw and talked to him. Now, outside of our realm, he is available to all mankind. Much of the rest of the sermon Fr. David talked about the means God has provided for us to reach Christ now that he is available for us, but less evident. Ultimately this is through faith, but involves the reading of scripture, the sacraments, and other Christians' love.
An interesting Biblical thought that I came away with, as well, was from the Old Testament reading from the cyclical. It was the ascension of Elijah. Elijah's ascension in the fiery chariot was more dramatic than Christ. But Christ will come again in martial glory. I thought that Elisha might be reckoned as the Church, and that Elijah might be reckoned as Christ in an allegorical interpretation with edifying results.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Holy crap! This is so pathetic it's beyond the scale of comprehensible patheticness.
Tired of your friends and family telling you to get a girlfriend?
Want to make that certain someone a little jealous?
Need a confidence boost? Just feeling lonely sometimes?
With an Imaginary Girlfriend, you can carry on a completely fictitious, yet authentic looking relationship with the girl of your choice.
www.imaginarygirlfriends.com
Tired of your friends and family telling you to get a girlfriend?
Want to make that certain someone a little jealous?
Need a confidence boost? Just feeling lonely sometimes?
With an Imaginary Girlfriend, you can carry on a completely fictitious, yet authentic looking relationship with the girl of your choice.
www.imaginarygirlfriends.com
Monday, May 17, 2004
There can be no greater desire for a man than to see the face of God. In Him the end of all our loves is met, for He is the only infinite end of love. All other objects will be exhausted by love, we can come to the end of them. But God is the origin of all things, and never changes.
I think we can all benefit from asking ourselves a simple question: Is there anything in my life that I desire more than seeing the face of God?
There are two approaches to remedying such a misguided problem, it seems. First, that we might grow in love with God. This must be done by increasing our faith. And second, that we can eliminate our false loves. We'll find them again after we lose ourselves in God.
I think we can all benefit from asking ourselves a simple question: Is there anything in my life that I desire more than seeing the face of God?
There are two approaches to remedying such a misguided problem, it seems. First, that we might grow in love with God. This must be done by increasing our faith. And second, that we can eliminate our false loves. We'll find them again after we lose ourselves in God.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
This is a picture that Luke Shackleford, my friend on the Doulos (a two year trip on a library boat ministering the cause of Christ around the world), sent to me this week. It's taken from the bridge, I'm assuming, and you can see Luke's head at the bottom. Forgive the amateurish compression, it was a big file.
In the letter he talks about standing at the front in choppy water and jumping, timing his leaps with the movement of the ship to get higher. This is a very Luke-like thing to do, for those of us who know and love him. He can also grab you with his shoulder blades.
Luke Shackleford is a remarkable man!
In the letter he talks about standing at the front in choppy water and jumping, timing his leaps with the movement of the ship to get higher. This is a very Luke-like thing to do, for those of us who know and love him. He can also grab you with his shoulder blades.
Luke Shackleford is a remarkable man!
Friday, May 14, 2004
Troy
I really enjoy the Iliad. It's a great story, and great poetry (in the translations I read, anyway) crafted by an obvious genius.
Because of this I really wanted to go to the movie, and I was curious not only to see if it was entertaining, but to see their interpretation of the book. It was entertaining. It's almost 3 hours long, so buckle your seat belts. Some kids in my theater thought it was boring. Brad Pitt was pretty good as Achilles, most everyone I talked to before the movie thought he was perfect for the role (including myself), but I was a little irritated by his flatness in this movie. His voice just doesn't go up and down the way voices ought. Eric Bana suffered from a similar problem. O'Toole, of course, did excellently, as did Sean Bean in his limited role as Odysseus.
The tricky thing with the Iliad is making it enjoyable for an American audience used to redemptive stories. It's just not hopeful. The end of the book comes before Achille's death, but after Hectors: there's really no hope in it at all. The war has been going on for 10 years, and the end is not in sight.
In the movie, so far as the director was able, there was loads of hope and a somewhat happy ending. Homer moans from beyond Styx at that.
Silly quibbles that I have with the movie:
What was up with all that iron in a bronze age society?
What was up with all those people riding horses to battle?
No Diomedes? Bummer.
Aeneas' role is too small, and he won't be king anyway.
So.. I guess I'd recommend it if you like the Iliad or war movies. It's worth the student price.
I really enjoy the Iliad. It's a great story, and great poetry (in the translations I read, anyway) crafted by an obvious genius.
Because of this I really wanted to go to the movie, and I was curious not only to see if it was entertaining, but to see their interpretation of the book. It was entertaining. It's almost 3 hours long, so buckle your seat belts. Some kids in my theater thought it was boring. Brad Pitt was pretty good as Achilles, most everyone I talked to before the movie thought he was perfect for the role (including myself), but I was a little irritated by his flatness in this movie. His voice just doesn't go up and down the way voices ought. Eric Bana suffered from a similar problem. O'Toole, of course, did excellently, as did Sean Bean in his limited role as Odysseus.
The tricky thing with the Iliad is making it enjoyable for an American audience used to redemptive stories. It's just not hopeful. The end of the book comes before Achille's death, but after Hectors: there's really no hope in it at all. The war has been going on for 10 years, and the end is not in sight.
In the movie, so far as the director was able, there was loads of hope and a somewhat happy ending. Homer moans from beyond Styx at that.
Silly quibbles that I have with the movie:
What was up with all that iron in a bronze age society?
What was up with all those people riding horses to battle?
No Diomedes? Bummer.
Aeneas' role is too small, and he won't be king anyway.
So.. I guess I'd recommend it if you like the Iliad or war movies. It's worth the student price.
Gaspar Contarini is an interesting person from the Reformation. He was a Roman Catholic whose view of Justification was more in line with the Reformers than with the Roman Catholic church's, however, he was very active as a cardinal in seeking reform from inside the church, and not from the outside. This weekend I start work in earnest on a paper that will seek the answer to why Contarini stayed in the Roman Church despite his reading of Romans.
Another interesting hisotrical study that I've been flirting with is the Colloquy of Regensburg, which was attended by Contarini, Gropper, Eck, and Pighius from the Roman Catholic side; and Melancthon and Bucer (the successors respectively to Luther and Calvin) on the other. These are big names! The agreement they came to was that there were two justifications: one forensic, and one internal. The agreement was rejected by both the Pope and by Luther, so it came to naught.
Some ecumenical movements today are based upon this colloquy, and unity minded Christians seek to exploit it. I doubt it would work, though Anglicans and Lutherans seem to find it helpful, but I don't think the Church will ever be unified again until the coming of Christ. This is unfortunate, for Paul calls us to be Christ's spotless bride. How can a bride be spotless if she is disunified?
Another interesting hisotrical study that I've been flirting with is the Colloquy of Regensburg, which was attended by Contarini, Gropper, Eck, and Pighius from the Roman Catholic side; and Melancthon and Bucer (the successors respectively to Luther and Calvin) on the other. These are big names! The agreement they came to was that there were two justifications: one forensic, and one internal. The agreement was rejected by both the Pope and by Luther, so it came to naught.
Some ecumenical movements today are based upon this colloquy, and unity minded Christians seek to exploit it. I doubt it would work, though Anglicans and Lutherans seem to find it helpful, but I don't think the Church will ever be unified again until the coming of Christ. This is unfortunate, for Paul calls us to be Christ's spotless bride. How can a bride be spotless if she is disunified?
This article is worth reading, I found the link on Dr. Reynold's blog. It's good to put the administration and our country in perspective.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Chesterton's works on-line!
This site is attempting to collect the complete works of G.K. Chesterton in one wonderful web-site of wisdom and wit. Worth some time perusing works that otherwise might not be found.
There's also a blog on-line called G.K. Chesterton's blog. It is not updated very regularily.
And here's a self-portrait of Chesterton:
This site is attempting to collect the complete works of G.K. Chesterton in one wonderful web-site of wisdom and wit. Worth some time perusing works that otherwise might not be found.
There's also a blog on-line called G.K. Chesterton's blog. It is not updated very regularily.
And here's a self-portrait of Chesterton:
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Last night I finished my semester long class on Virgil/Dante and the Divine Comedy. At the end of it I felt compelled once more to abandon all vain pursuits for my proper end: to see the face of God and exist in communion with Him forever.
What more is there to life than this simple goal? What felicity is there on earth that compare to the felicity of divine love?
And yet, I am continually reminded of my weakness, my unworthiness to complete the cause I was created to complete. Certainly unable to climb the steps on my own, God will provide the light that shows the way to the Empyrium, and the point about which the entire cosmos revolves. He has provided the wings, and gives the breath that fills them. Only by recognizing our complete dependence on Him, assured by His own desire for us to see Him, and succored by the blood of our Lord on the cross, may we come to eternity prepared.
Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
What more is there to life than this simple goal? What felicity is there on earth that compare to the felicity of divine love?
And yet, I am continually reminded of my weakness, my unworthiness to complete the cause I was created to complete. Certainly unable to climb the steps on my own, God will provide the light that shows the way to the Empyrium, and the point about which the entire cosmos revolves. He has provided the wings, and gives the breath that fills them. Only by recognizing our complete dependence on Him, assured by His own desire for us to see Him, and succored by the blood of our Lord on the cross, may we come to eternity prepared.
Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Monday, May 10, 2004
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
My 17 year old cat is being put to sleep tomorrow. I'm losing a less-than-human friend that's been part of myhome for most of mylife. I can still remember picking her up from the breeder when I was four, and now she can hardly move because of heart failure.
Pippin was a remarkable Siamese cat who comforted me through the vast majority of my life through her subtle, gentle, and consistent presence. Her watching eyes, prideful bearing, mischevious spirit and constant loyalty will be remembered by every one of my family as long as our memory's last.
I took some pictures of her tonight with Phil's digital camera to remember her by. Once I download them I might post one here. Cats are good pets, I highly recommend having one.
Pippin was a remarkable Siamese cat who comforted me through the vast majority of my life through her subtle, gentle, and consistent presence. Her watching eyes, prideful bearing, mischevious spirit and constant loyalty will be remembered by every one of my family as long as our memory's last.
I took some pictures of her tonight with Phil's digital camera to remember her by. Once I download them I might post one here. Cats are good pets, I highly recommend having one.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
CNN Report on the Prisoner Scandal
The government's response to the prisoner abuse scandal seems appropriate. In an Arab world that already hates America, images of Americans dehumanizing Arabs will be humiliating and infuriating. It's about the worst thing that could happen public opinon wise in this conflict. When we claimed the moral high ground in deposing a corrupt dictatorship that commited crimes like this regularily, we can't go and do the same thing.
The American soldiers involved in these horrific acts, therefore, sinned not only against the people that they were abusing, but against the very country that they were serving. And that should be sobering to their consciouses. May God have mercy on them, as He does on us, and may America excersise His Judgement upon them.
The government's response to the prisoner abuse scandal seems appropriate. In an Arab world that already hates America, images of Americans dehumanizing Arabs will be humiliating and infuriating. It's about the worst thing that could happen public opinon wise in this conflict. When we claimed the moral high ground in deposing a corrupt dictatorship that commited crimes like this regularily, we can't go and do the same thing.
The American soldiers involved in these horrific acts, therefore, sinned not only against the people that they were abusing, but against the very country that they were serving. And that should be sobering to their consciouses. May God have mercy on them, as He does on us, and may America excersise His Judgement upon them.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Friday, April 30, 2004
R.A. Torrey's voice! Listen to the Biola founder's sermon on the Bible being the word of God from www.sermonindex.net.
Basically, The testimony of Jesus Christ that it is the word of God. Old Testament: Mark 7:13, Matthew 5:18, John 10:35, Luke 24:27, 44, John 5:47. New Testament: John 14:26, John 16:12-13, Curiously, J.P. Moreland made a similar argument in a context lecture a few years ago.
5 divine testimonies to Christ in support of the authority of Jesus:
1. Christ accredited to us by the divine light that lives, for he lived as never man lived. Read gospels, and see that Christ did live.
2. Jesus Christ is accredited to us by the divine word that he spoke.
3. Jesus Christ was accredited to us by his divine actions. (the miracles)
4. Jesus Christ is also accredited to us by his divine influence on all subsequent history.
5. Jesus Christ is accredited to us by the Resurrection from the dead.
He then compares these testimonies to parrallel claims that might be made by progressive Biblical critics, which is pretty rich.
Very cool to hear the voice of one who influenced Biola firmly. He says "where" funny though. Listen to his pronunciation of everywhere. everywhARE!... I dunno, could be the recording.
Basically, The testimony of Jesus Christ that it is the word of God. Old Testament: Mark 7:13, Matthew 5:18, John 10:35, Luke 24:27, 44, John 5:47. New Testament: John 14:26, John 16:12-13, Curiously, J.P. Moreland made a similar argument in a context lecture a few years ago.
5 divine testimonies to Christ in support of the authority of Jesus:
1. Christ accredited to us by the divine light that lives, for he lived as never man lived. Read gospels, and see that Christ did live.
2. Jesus Christ is accredited to us by the divine word that he spoke.
3. Jesus Christ was accredited to us by his divine actions. (the miracles)
4. Jesus Christ is also accredited to us by his divine influence on all subsequent history.
5. Jesus Christ is accredited to us by the Resurrection from the dead.
He then compares these testimonies to parrallel claims that might be made by progressive Biblical critics, which is pretty rich.
Very cool to hear the voice of one who influenced Biola firmly. He says "where" funny though. Listen to his pronunciation of everywhere. everywhARE!... I dunno, could be the recording.
Check out this link to see what music was topping the charts in England on your birthday!
Since I can't find the link and somehow it got messed up in the whole copy/paste routine, you may now click on that hyperlink to go to Google. Google something cool and let me know about it. Word.
Since I can't find the link and somehow it got messed up in the whole copy/paste routine, you may now click on that hyperlink to go to Google. Google something cool and let me know about it. Word.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Monday, April 26, 2004
Jonathan, your subconscious mind is driven most by Love
Your instinct to love and be loved is rooted very deeply in your subconscious and affects most of the decisions you make in life — whether you are aware of it or not.
You inspire people to experience their true feelings of love and act kindly towards others. You also value your personal relationships more than most people.
Your unique capacity to love may be greater than those around you, which means you may have more to give in relationships than your friends or romantic partners do.
Your psyche is very rich; the more you learn about it, the more you will understand who you really are.
This from my tickle inkblot test. I took it because Animaniacs always inspired me to take one of these tests, and I saw it on Leslie's blog and thought "hey, that looks like fun!" I don't agree with it, though, I'm too selfish of a person for this to be true.
Your instinct to love and be loved is rooted very deeply in your subconscious and affects most of the decisions you make in life — whether you are aware of it or not.
You inspire people to experience their true feelings of love and act kindly towards others. You also value your personal relationships more than most people.
Your unique capacity to love may be greater than those around you, which means you may have more to give in relationships than your friends or romantic partners do.
Your psyche is very rich; the more you learn about it, the more you will understand who you really are.
This from my tickle inkblot test. I took it because Animaniacs always inspired me to take one of these tests, and I saw it on Leslie's blog and thought "hey, that looks like fun!" I don't agree with it, though, I'm too selfish of a person for this to be true.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Saturday, April 24, 2004
Friday, April 23, 2004
Good news!
This is both edifying as a potential political blow to Kerry and as an admirably constant stance by the Roman Catholic Church. Not that the bishops will always do what the Vatican says, of course...
This is both edifying as a potential political blow to Kerry and as an admirably constant stance by the Roman Catholic Church. Not that the bishops will always do what the Vatican says, of course...
Thursday, April 22, 2004
This brings new information to the French/Russian resistance to an Iraqi war. I read another article recently fingering bank accounts closely related to Chirac himself as being part of this oil-for-food scandal.
The U.N., being a group full of people, is destined to have many other scandals beyond this one. People sin. They do wrong things. And thus they must be held accountable. Any organization of people without accountability shouldn't be trusted. That's one of the US's main objections to the world court that we won't take part in, and it's a good one. Laws limit people's sinful potential, but the executors of the law must not be above it.
The U.N., being a group full of people, is destined to have many other scandals beyond this one. People sin. They do wrong things. And thus they must be held accountable. Any organization of people without accountability shouldn't be trusted. That's one of the US's main objections to the world court that we won't take part in, and it's a good one. Laws limit people's sinful potential, but the executors of the law must not be above it.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
There are some awful diseases out there. Just a few weeks ago I spent a few hours reading up on all the CDC's information on rabies. This way, I'll know if I have it! It makes me feel sick reading case reports of victims, though. It's tragic when people die, especially when it's from an unpleasant disease. Here's a link to their information on it. Fortunately, treatment of rabies is very successful and is now much less pleasant than it used to be. Used to be you got a long series of shots right in your stomach. Now there are fewer shots.
The CDC's website is just in general interesting reading, though. You can find information there on biological weaponry, plagues around the world, and other delightful disease related subjects.
Another disease that I find frightening, and thus interesting, is hantavirus. I've heard from my family friends living in the Eastern Sierra that people are so afraid of this disease that they are now burning down sheds that they own rather than cleaning them out. That way they don't have to worry about catching this disease. The CDC recommends taking a lot of precautions to keep rodents out of your house that might carry the virus. Here are some suggestions for prevention, and then for cleaning up. The cleaning up section gives a good idea of how seriously this disease is taken by health authorities.
The CDC's website is just in general interesting reading, though. You can find information there on biological weaponry, plagues around the world, and other delightful disease related subjects.
Another disease that I find frightening, and thus interesting, is hantavirus. I've heard from my family friends living in the Eastern Sierra that people are so afraid of this disease that they are now burning down sheds that they own rather than cleaning them out. That way they don't have to worry about catching this disease. The CDC recommends taking a lot of precautions to keep rodents out of your house that might carry the virus. Here are some suggestions for prevention, and then for cleaning up. The cleaning up section gives a good idea of how seriously this disease is taken by health authorities.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Monday, April 19, 2004
This is clever and funny. I'd check it out...
They call it,
Lord of the Peeps
It's clever, because it's peeps in Lord of the Rings scenes, from the movie. Worth taking a peep at, anyway.
They call it,
Lord of the Peeps
It's clever, because it's peeps in Lord of the Rings scenes, from the movie. Worth taking a peep at, anyway.
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Wow! I got another question in my e-mail box just tonight, so I'll answer it before I go to bed. I don't like to keep anybody waiting.
Juno writes:
If you had ONE WISH, what would it be? To be pampered? To experience ultimate relaxation? For Jenna Rink, played by Jennifer Garner in the upcoming release "13 Going on 30", it's the chance at being pretty and popular. Sign up today for Juno MegaMail for a chance to make your wish come true!
Dear Juno MegaMail,
First off, Juno, I just want to compliment you on your rare name. Not many girls are named after the wife of Zeus now-a-days, since paganism has lost its powerful grip on our culture. I'm edified to see that your parents haven't forgotten their hellene roots, and are paying tribute to the goddess of the hearth.
Now I'll address your questions, one at a time.
What would be my one wish?
Wow! I'm a little uncomfortable answering questions that are about me, with me being here to help you and all. Seriously, though, if I had one wish it would be to see Christ. Either that or to be Holy, so that I might see Him. I guess just asking for that without the work is sort of evil, though. On a less serious note, though, I'd sure like a twinky!
I don't really want to be pampered, although this "ultimate relaxation idea" sounds interesting. Man... ultimate relaxation. I'm seeing rows of corpses at a resort or something like that. Nobody's moving. Plastic smiles and pasty white faces. Hmm... although it does sound enticing I think I'll pass on that for now.
And thanks, Juno, for the valuable info on this dangerous character, Jenna Rink. I'll be sure to be looking out for her and for her by her alias, Jennifer Garner. I'm sorry to hear that she wants to be pretty and popular. Those are very unnatural things for someone to want, and I hope that she's seeing a doctor about it.
Finally, Juno Mega-Mail, thanks for the offer, but I already have a girlfriend, so I'll be passing it up.
-Jonathan
Juno writes:
If you had ONE WISH, what would it be? To be pampered? To experience ultimate relaxation? For Jenna Rink, played by Jennifer Garner in the upcoming release "13 Going on 30", it's the chance at being pretty and popular. Sign up today for Juno MegaMail for a chance to make your wish come true!
Dear Juno MegaMail,
First off, Juno, I just want to compliment you on your rare name. Not many girls are named after the wife of Zeus now-a-days, since paganism has lost its powerful grip on our culture. I'm edified to see that your parents haven't forgotten their hellene roots, and are paying tribute to the goddess of the hearth.
Now I'll address your questions, one at a time.
What would be my one wish?
Wow! I'm a little uncomfortable answering questions that are about me, with me being here to help you and all. Seriously, though, if I had one wish it would be to see Christ. Either that or to be Holy, so that I might see Him. I guess just asking for that without the work is sort of evil, though. On a less serious note, though, I'd sure like a twinky!
I don't really want to be pampered, although this "ultimate relaxation idea" sounds interesting. Man... ultimate relaxation. I'm seeing rows of corpses at a resort or something like that. Nobody's moving. Plastic smiles and pasty white faces. Hmm... although it does sound enticing I think I'll pass on that for now.
And thanks, Juno, for the valuable info on this dangerous character, Jenna Rink. I'll be sure to be looking out for her and for her by her alias, Jennifer Garner. I'm sorry to hear that she wants to be pretty and popular. Those are very unnatural things for someone to want, and I hope that she's seeing a doctor about it.
Finally, Juno Mega-Mail, thanks for the offer, but I already have a girlfriend, so I'll be passing it up.
-Jonathan
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Click on this cool article about scientific testing on the durability of peeps. It's entertaining enough to read!
Phil Hagelberg writes:
What do you think about the oppression of the geckos that is so prevalent in our culture? What can we do about it?"
Wow, Phil. Thanks for the e-mail. I love to answer hard questions like this one, and I'm sure my readership loves it, too.
Geckos have a special place in our collective consciousness. This is for two reasons: First, they're lizards. As we all know, we were once lizards too. Second, that Geiko direct commercial spokesperson gecko was really cool, and everybody wanted to be like him. I mean, I wanted to be like him because of his ultimate coolness factor.
However, even this special place in our consciousness is not enough to protect the lowly gecko. As he scurries around on the ground people sometimes step on him, and other times they don't. Although I hear that happens less often. The reason for this is geckos are just nasty. Suction cup feet? What's that all about? It's like those toys that stick to the inside of your car window, but it moves. That just freaks me out, and I know it freaks out other people,t oo.
So, I guess I'd ask you: what SHOULD we do about it? It turns out we should actually oppress these geckos more, because they're nasty freaks of nature.
Coincidentally, this same reasoning works for justifying the oppression of the French.
Hopefully that helped, Phil! Send me more e-mails at askruthie@hotmail.com, addressing them "Dear Ruthie" and get them answered! Or you could send it to jrrowley[at]juno.com and address them to me. Either way, something will happen, and I'll bet you like the result.
-Jonathan Rowley
What do you think about the oppression of the geckos that is so prevalent in our culture? What can we do about it?"
Wow, Phil. Thanks for the e-mail. I love to answer hard questions like this one, and I'm sure my readership loves it, too.
Geckos have a special place in our collective consciousness. This is for two reasons: First, they're lizards. As we all know, we were once lizards too. Second, that Geiko direct commercial spokesperson gecko was really cool, and everybody wanted to be like him. I mean, I wanted to be like him because of his ultimate coolness factor.
However, even this special place in our consciousness is not enough to protect the lowly gecko. As he scurries around on the ground people sometimes step on him, and other times they don't. Although I hear that happens less often. The reason for this is geckos are just nasty. Suction cup feet? What's that all about? It's like those toys that stick to the inside of your car window, but it moves. That just freaks me out, and I know it freaks out other people,t oo.
So, I guess I'd ask you: what SHOULD we do about it? It turns out we should actually oppress these geckos more, because they're nasty freaks of nature.
Coincidentally, this same reasoning works for justifying the oppression of the French.
Hopefully that helped, Phil! Send me more e-mails at askruthie@hotmail.com, addressing them "Dear Ruthie" and get them answered! Or you could send it to jrrowley[at]juno.com and address them to me. Either way, something will happen, and I'll bet you like the result.
-Jonathan Rowley
Friday, April 16, 2004
I wish that the Catholic Church would stick to their guns. Kerry is a joke Catholic. He strikes me much more as a wishy-washy ritual "this makes me feel good and gets me votes so I'll continue to do it" kind of person.
If you are a Catholic, you should follow the dogma of your church. And the dogma of the Catholic Church states that politicians can't oppose Church doctrine. Kerry does this! He's apostated himself, alienated himself from the keys. Be consistent, Church, deny him the sacrament. Pray for his soul, that he comes back into the fold. You've excommunicated far better men than Kerry.
One of the things that makes the Roman Catholic Church what it is is its emphasis on heirarchy and submission. This is an asset, and I find it attractive. But the way they use it is so messed up that it pains my soul. I guess it bothers me in general when I see a high and lofty ideal that would be wonderful stepped on and spat on. If you really thought the Pope was the Vicar of Christ on earth, wouldn't you give him a little more respect than Kerry gives him?
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/16/kerry.catholics.ap/index.html
If you are a Catholic, you should follow the dogma of your church. And the dogma of the Catholic Church states that politicians can't oppose Church doctrine. Kerry does this! He's apostated himself, alienated himself from the keys. Be consistent, Church, deny him the sacrament. Pray for his soul, that he comes back into the fold. You've excommunicated far better men than Kerry.
One of the things that makes the Roman Catholic Church what it is is its emphasis on heirarchy and submission. This is an asset, and I find it attractive. But the way they use it is so messed up that it pains my soul. I guess it bothers me in general when I see a high and lofty ideal that would be wonderful stepped on and spat on. If you really thought the Pope was the Vicar of Christ on earth, wouldn't you give him a little more respect than Kerry gives him?
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/16/kerry.catholics.ap/index.html
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
I found this on some high schooler's blog who claimed Einstein said that 98% of the world's population couldn't solve this puzzle. That's silly, unless he just meant that because most people can't speak English. Anyway, you can try your hand on it. I figured it out in 10 minutes, but it's 10 minutes straight of work, and it is kind of hard to keep track of all the information in your mind during that time. So I used notepad. Maybe that's cheating, and that's why it's considered so hard, because I would have a really hard time doing it all in my head. You can post in the comments if you solve it. I think there's room if you use abbreviations. I haven't seen any answers, myself, though, so we can argue about it if you think I'm wrong on something. I'll post the answers if anybody replies.
I take it as an implicit premise that the houses are lined up on one side of the street.
On a street, there are 5 houses painted 5 different colors. In each house lives a person of different nationality. These 5 people each drink a different beverage, smoke a different brand of cigar, and keep a different pet.
Question: Who owns the fish?
Hints:
1. The Briton lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pallmall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the man who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.
I take it as an implicit premise that the houses are lined up on one side of the street.
On a street, there are 5 houses painted 5 different colors. In each house lives a person of different nationality. These 5 people each drink a different beverage, smoke a different brand of cigar, and keep a different pet.
Question: Who owns the fish?
Hints:
1. The Briton lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pallmall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the man who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.
Hey hey hey hey hey!
I got answered by the Ribman meister, as well. So check it while you still can, eventually you have to pay to access the archives at ucomics.
Let's just say mine was about mullets. I think that's more than enough to peak people's interest.
Ribman answers my question here!
I got answered by the Ribman meister, as well. So check it while you still can, eventually you have to pay to access the archives at ucomics.
Let's just say mine was about mullets. I think that's more than enough to peak people's interest.
Ribman answers my question here!
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Friday, April 09, 2004
This is the funniest e-bay description that I've ever read. I have some tears in my eyes from reading it. That might have something to do with being really tired, too, but my roommates agree it's funny. So, my point is, read it!
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
This is a story. I'm sitting down at my computer to write a story.
This is a story about salt. Salt is great. Sometimes I eat salt. Othertimes, salt eats me, if you know what I mean.
Mostly, though, I am the eater in my relationship with salt. It seasons all of the foods that I eat. I partake in the grand parade of sodiumness. Other times, though, I am the seasoning on the meals of the salt. This story is about one of those times.
During a long hot spell, people got really thirsty and then they sweated. Lots of sweat filled lots of bottles in dingy floors around a room of steamy vinyl couches and old coffee tables peppered with moldy magazines. It was the salt collection agency's main office, where the government collected sweat-salt for study and later reclamation and commercial use. The people who worked there, of course, were a little weird.
One of them was named Sal. Sal used to walk to work every day, even when it was 100 and the humidity condensed on the shop windows' edges that lined the way he walked. By the time he reached the room where he worked, his shirt was soaked, and he smelled pretty bad. But the smell didn't really matter, because he worked in an office that was full of jars and other containers, some with poor lids, that were full of wonderfully odored sweat. And he could always wring off his shirt into a jar and add to his personal collection of salt jars. He really liked his jars of salt. A lot of the salt in the office was from his body. The truth was that Sal sweated profusely almost every day of the year.
The office itself didn't have any air conditioning. Instead it had old foggy windows, slid open to allow in whatever breeze the stifling atmosphere created, swaying the broken and bent faded yellow blinds that kept the blazing sun from baking the inside. Two 50s styled circular fans on tall stands swept the room with their breath too far away from the windows to affect any effective air circulation. One of them had a few streamers attatched. The colored streamers flowed and danced in the current, the happiest element in the beauru.
Sal walked into the office late a Monday morning some time in the middle of week. "It's hot outside. Should be good for business," he said.
Sal spoke not to a person, but to a large pillar that he had erected from reclaimed salt in the corner of the room. He was currently in the process of working this salt into a human figure during his lunch breaks. It was something to keep his mind off of his boring job, anyway. And it was good company. The only other employee that worked in his office was a small round lady that cleaned the office every weekday afternoon from 3-6, and a supervisor that came down from the main office in the state capital once a week to check on his collection progress.
In general his collection progress was good. He was efficeint at his job, no matter how much he hated it. He had a few regular sweat collection routes that he ran, depending on the day. Wednesdays he started the day at the local gym. There he would receive whatever sweat the showers' filters had caught the day before. There was usually quite a lot of it, sometimes up to 5 gallons. After the gym he'd drop by the post office where recent clothing alterations in the postal carrier uniform had upped the production and conservation of sweat per person quite a lot. He had maybe 10 gallons from the entire postal workers union. Then he would go off to the police department: 2 gallons. His last stop Wednesday and every day was at the sweat drop off point. There local conscientious citizens would drop off their personal sweat collections. This was quite a lot, and would take maybe an hour to fill his tanks with it and take it back to the office. There he would work on draining the salt, and start on the refining process to reclaim the valuable salt.
I visited it once. Only once, though. Remember that statue that he was making in the corner? Well, it turns out she didn't like me very much. So she ate me. Fortunately she was just salt, so I broke my way out and walked home.
And that's the end of my story.
This is a story about salt. Salt is great. Sometimes I eat salt. Othertimes, salt eats me, if you know what I mean.
Mostly, though, I am the eater in my relationship with salt. It seasons all of the foods that I eat. I partake in the grand parade of sodiumness. Other times, though, I am the seasoning on the meals of the salt. This story is about one of those times.
During a long hot spell, people got really thirsty and then they sweated. Lots of sweat filled lots of bottles in dingy floors around a room of steamy vinyl couches and old coffee tables peppered with moldy magazines. It was the salt collection agency's main office, where the government collected sweat-salt for study and later reclamation and commercial use. The people who worked there, of course, were a little weird.
One of them was named Sal. Sal used to walk to work every day, even when it was 100 and the humidity condensed on the shop windows' edges that lined the way he walked. By the time he reached the room where he worked, his shirt was soaked, and he smelled pretty bad. But the smell didn't really matter, because he worked in an office that was full of jars and other containers, some with poor lids, that were full of wonderfully odored sweat. And he could always wring off his shirt into a jar and add to his personal collection of salt jars. He really liked his jars of salt. A lot of the salt in the office was from his body. The truth was that Sal sweated profusely almost every day of the year.
The office itself didn't have any air conditioning. Instead it had old foggy windows, slid open to allow in whatever breeze the stifling atmosphere created, swaying the broken and bent faded yellow blinds that kept the blazing sun from baking the inside. Two 50s styled circular fans on tall stands swept the room with their breath too far away from the windows to affect any effective air circulation. One of them had a few streamers attatched. The colored streamers flowed and danced in the current, the happiest element in the beauru.
Sal walked into the office late a Monday morning some time in the middle of week. "It's hot outside. Should be good for business," he said.
Sal spoke not to a person, but to a large pillar that he had erected from reclaimed salt in the corner of the room. He was currently in the process of working this salt into a human figure during his lunch breaks. It was something to keep his mind off of his boring job, anyway. And it was good company. The only other employee that worked in his office was a small round lady that cleaned the office every weekday afternoon from 3-6, and a supervisor that came down from the main office in the state capital once a week to check on his collection progress.
In general his collection progress was good. He was efficeint at his job, no matter how much he hated it. He had a few regular sweat collection routes that he ran, depending on the day. Wednesdays he started the day at the local gym. There he would receive whatever sweat the showers' filters had caught the day before. There was usually quite a lot of it, sometimes up to 5 gallons. After the gym he'd drop by the post office where recent clothing alterations in the postal carrier uniform had upped the production and conservation of sweat per person quite a lot. He had maybe 10 gallons from the entire postal workers union. Then he would go off to the police department: 2 gallons. His last stop Wednesday and every day was at the sweat drop off point. There local conscientious citizens would drop off their personal sweat collections. This was quite a lot, and would take maybe an hour to fill his tanks with it and take it back to the office. There he would work on draining the salt, and start on the refining process to reclaim the valuable salt.
I visited it once. Only once, though. Remember that statue that he was making in the corner? Well, it turns out she didn't like me very much. So she ate me. Fortunately she was just salt, so I broke my way out and walked home.
And that's the end of my story.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
This is truly very, very frightening. Christian influence in culture will be wrenched from our hands, whether or not we like it.
http://www.californiarepublic.org/archives/Columns/JohnsonH/20040405JohnsonScoutophob.html
http://www.californiarepublic.org/archives/Columns/JohnsonH/20040405JohnsonScoutophob.html
Friday, April 02, 2004
www.titanicsociety.com
This is an interesting website that glorifies sacrificial courtesy done by men for women and children. It has good ideas, I think, of saving history from revisionist doctrine. That makes me happy, someone needs to make sure that history is represented in a light that will edify and teach people to live better lives, rather than merely tear at the fabric of our society and the traditions we hold dear.
This is an interesting website that glorifies sacrificial courtesy done by men for women and children. It has good ideas, I think, of saving history from revisionist doctrine. That makes me happy, someone needs to make sure that history is represented in a light that will edify and teach people to live better lives, rather than merely tear at the fabric of our society and the traditions we hold dear.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Chernobyl created a dead zone of empty cities and villages as people were evacuated out of the area in the days following the meltdown. Here's a website by a Russian woman who goes to Cherynobyl to drive around on her motorcycle. She takes pictures and has put them up. It's the image that all those apocalyptic novels foretell in doom and gloom, but real. It happened.
From the Dead Zone
A source for more information on the Chernobyl disaster can be found here. This is dry, but good to read for fairly solid and very dry thoughts on the issue. Here's a much more readable report that says most of the same things without all the documentation.
It's impossible, it seems, to establish just how much this has effected the world and people. But let's hope nothing like it happens again.
From the Dead Zone
A source for more information on the Chernobyl disaster can be found here. This is dry, but good to read for fairly solid and very dry thoughts on the issue. Here's a much more readable report that says most of the same things without all the documentation.
It's impossible, it seems, to establish just how much this has effected the world and people. But let's hope nothing like it happens again.
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Us protestants ought to make our fundamental writings more accessible on-line for all to read. It can only be beneficial, right? The Roman Catholic Church has New Advent, which has a ton of Church fathers' writings in English, and even the whole Summa Theologicae. The whole thing! And the supplementary material that completes it, written after the death of Aquinas! I mean... that's awesome, and I take advantage of it all the time. But there's no website that I can find with a collection of all the early reformers' writings for free. There should be, we have enough money. We just need someone to organize it.
For example: Ulrich Zwingli. I did find the 67 Articles on-line in English, but that was only because I knew the first line and entered it into Google. This is the man who is responsible for beginning the revolution that resulted in the doctrine followed by mainstream Evangelicalism in America. Someone should be interested him!
For example: Ulrich Zwingli. I did find the 67 Articles on-line in English, but that was only because I knew the first line and entered it into Google. This is the man who is responsible for beginning the revolution that resulted in the doctrine followed by mainstream Evangelicalism in America. Someone should be interested him!
Monday, March 29, 2004
Oh, that gif about Saturn reminds me of one of my new favorite sites. It's space.com, but more specifically the subsection titled NightSky. For example, did you know that there are going to be two comets visible to the naked eye this spring? That's the prediction, anyway. There are also 5 planets visible at one time in the same sky for a little while.
So you can check out either www.space.com or skip to the more practical information at spacewatch in the same site.
Something that sounds really interesting is the Venus transit of the sun April 8. Unfortunately it will happen before the sun rises here out West, but if you're on the east coast it might be worth getting up early to see. It only happens in 8 year intervals every 243 years.
So you can check out either www.space.com or skip to the more practical information at spacewatch in the same site.
Something that sounds really interesting is the Venus transit of the sun April 8. Unfortunately it will happen before the sun rises here out West, but if you're on the east coast it might be worth getting up early to see. It only happens in 8 year intervals every 243 years.
Happy Monday night. Soon it will be Tuesday: a good thing, generally.
It's sad only having Torrey one night a week now-a-days, and doing it on Monday night is a bummer because it means that you don't have it to look forward to. Monday is just hard to look forward to during a nice restful weekend, no matter how much I know I ought to be looking forward to it.
Watch the winds on Saturn in this gif file.
It's sad only having Torrey one night a week now-a-days, and doing it on Monday night is a bummer because it means that you don't have it to look forward to. Monday is just hard to look forward to during a nice restful weekend, no matter how much I know I ought to be looking forward to it.
Watch the winds on Saturn in this gif file.
Sunday, March 28, 2004
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Marsiglio of Padua, a fairly controversial thinker from the Rennaissance argued from an Aristotelian framework for a weighted democratic form of government. While it is a similar conception to the American experiment, he was not really all that influential in the formation of this country. And I'm going to hijack from him an argument that has implications on the gay marriage debate. Of course, he claims to hijack the argument form Aristotle, so I'm just following in his own footsteps.
The controversial presupposition would be that "every whole, or at least every corporeal whole, is greater in mass and in virtue than any part of it taken separately." I think this flies.
Historically the parts of the state may be seen as increasing degrees of community: that is: marriage -> family -> clan or village -> City-state -> State
In this way marriage can be seen as a microcosmic part of the state.
If marriage is a microcosmic part of the state it is an essential element to the state's correct function.
Marriage in its unique relationship to the state, as a microcosmic part, must be protected by the state in order for the state to operate successfully.
I think that the current marriage debate is actually an effor to un-define marriage into a meaningless social contract, bereft of all true meaning. In effect, destroying marriage is breaking a leg off of the state's stool. I'm afraid that it only has three legs.
The controversial presupposition would be that "every whole, or at least every corporeal whole, is greater in mass and in virtue than any part of it taken separately." I think this flies.
Historically the parts of the state may be seen as increasing degrees of community: that is: marriage -> family -> clan or village -> City-state -> State
In this way marriage can be seen as a microcosmic part of the state.
If marriage is a microcosmic part of the state it is an essential element to the state's correct function.
Marriage in its unique relationship to the state, as a microcosmic part, must be protected by the state in order for the state to operate successfully.
I think that the current marriage debate is actually an effor to un-define marriage into a meaningless social contract, bereft of all true meaning. In effect, destroying marriage is breaking a leg off of the state's stool. I'm afraid that it only has three legs.
Here's a neat article by Tom McClintock. He ran for governor here in California during the Recall Election as the conservative Republican Candidate. Dr. Reynolds posted some interesting thoughts that seem to apply to the conundrum California Republicans faced during that election on his new blog.
I think this is a neat argument, and the implications are pretty wide reaching. The natural question that arises for me is: what is the place of an atheist in the government? And the answer seems to be a pretty resounding "nowhere" because a government run by a consistent atheist would be dangerous.
I think this is a neat argument, and the implications are pretty wide reaching. The natural question that arises for me is: what is the place of an atheist in the government? And the answer seems to be a pretty resounding "nowhere" because a government run by a consistent atheist would be dangerous.
Thursday, March 25, 2004
This is a good website if you're interested in following the Palestinian Conflict. Seeing as it's heated up to such a fiery temperature in the last few days, this may be a good idea. I think everyone is waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to drop, and there to be a disasterous terrorist attack on Israel in response to the assassination of Yassin.
Haaretz
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Have you heard of the wondrous Rev. Dale Owen? Here's an example of his beautiful thoughts:
"Today I heard a young man say, "You don't understand me" to his mother in the grocery line. This lad wanted some candy. The mother stood there over him with all the authority given to her by years of oppressive culture and said, "No." How I dread those words! I went forward in the line and put a gentle hand on the lad's shoulder, "Here, young person. Here is your candy. God wants you to have it." He looked at me with tears streaming down his face, "Thank you, mister." he said. "No thanks to me," I said. "God never says no to you."
The lady in line began to become upset. "You will spoil the boy!" she cried. "Yes," I said, "just as God spoils us with rainbows, roses, and kittens." She looked at me with incomprehension and took away the candy. "No." she said. The boy understood. He began to cry. How I wished I could have helped him, but the state protects abusive parents."
So beautiful that it brings a tear of joy to my eye. If only more people understood life like he does. Use this link and read his blog, as well. Good stuff.
http://www.revdaleowen.org/
"Today I heard a young man say, "You don't understand me" to his mother in the grocery line. This lad wanted some candy. The mother stood there over him with all the authority given to her by years of oppressive culture and said, "No." How I dread those words! I went forward in the line and put a gentle hand on the lad's shoulder, "Here, young person. Here is your candy. God wants you to have it." He looked at me with tears streaming down his face, "Thank you, mister." he said. "No thanks to me," I said. "God never says no to you."
The lady in line began to become upset. "You will spoil the boy!" she cried. "Yes," I said, "just as God spoils us with rainbows, roses, and kittens." She looked at me with incomprehension and took away the candy. "No." she said. The boy understood. He began to cry. How I wished I could have helped him, but the state protects abusive parents."
So beautiful that it brings a tear of joy to my eye. If only more people understood life like he does. Use this link and read his blog, as well. Good stuff.
http://www.revdaleowen.org/
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Monday, March 01, 2004
Friday, February 27, 2004
I saw the Passion tonight. It is a very good movie.
I don't know how to describe the feelings the movie creates in me, nor do I know how to accurately comment on it. I think that its best quality is that it creates a means of experiencing the sacrifice of Christ. This kind of knowledge has been revered through the history of the Church as an edifying way of non-analytical knowledge of God. A lot of people seem to have come out of it joyful, I felt subdued.
One interesting goal of Gibson's was to create opposing emotions in his audience. Often he would try and portray an evil character, such as Satan, as beautiful, so that you are drawn to it, and then reveal its wickedness. I think that he does this with the Roman soldiers as well. I think that's why the scourging scene was hard for me, the Roman soldiers seemed like real people. They were doing a job that to them was an athletic event of types. They had enough good to not repulse you entirely but at the same time, you were angry at them for the amazingly wicked work they were doing on the body of Christ. It was interesting.
Anyway, I'm pretty drained, so I won't try and write anything intelligent. Good night all.
I don't know how to describe the feelings the movie creates in me, nor do I know how to accurately comment on it. I think that its best quality is that it creates a means of experiencing the sacrifice of Christ. This kind of knowledge has been revered through the history of the Church as an edifying way of non-analytical knowledge of God. A lot of people seem to have come out of it joyful, I felt subdued.
One interesting goal of Gibson's was to create opposing emotions in his audience. Often he would try and portray an evil character, such as Satan, as beautiful, so that you are drawn to it, and then reveal its wickedness. I think that he does this with the Roman soldiers as well. I think that's why the scourging scene was hard for me, the Roman soldiers seemed like real people. They were doing a job that to them was an athletic event of types. They had enough good to not repulse you entirely but at the same time, you were angry at them for the amazingly wicked work they were doing on the body of Christ. It was interesting.
Anyway, I'm pretty drained, so I won't try and write anything intelligent. Good night all.
Monday, February 23, 2004
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/23/offbeat.maggots.antibiotics.reut/index.htm
Somehow I think this trend won't quite catch on. Most people just won't want to have bugs in their skin. I know I don't want bugs in my skin, but I might do it if my doctor prescribed it.
Perhaps there will be a new wave of prescription drug commercials for maggots. Maggotex is recommended by doctors everywhere and is known to be extremely affective as a method of helping to heal wounds, while cutting down on antibiotic use! It'll have pictures of smiling people all happily doing death defying stunts, because they're not afraid of being wounded. They'll just use their maggotex, and it'll get all better!
Also: Lem is an uncle! You can see pictures of his new nephew using the link to his pictures, and then clicking on his link to his brother's main site. Once there it won't be too hard to find, they're pretty proud of the new addition to their family, no surprise there.
And also: My brother got married this weekend in Colorado Springs! So good for him. The church he got married in was beautiful, and so was the ceremony. Nobody fainted and I think they even got the fingers right for the rings. By now he should be flying home or driving north to Santa Barbara for the rest of his honeymoon. The wedding itself was beautiful, and the reception was fancy fun. If you want to see pictures, Dan Peckham took a bunch and may post them, so you can check that out if you'd like.
Here's where he and Becca stayed the first two nights of their honeymoon: http://home.navigators.org/us/gleneyrie/index.cfm They had the best room in the whole castle. Very nice!
Here's a link to the church where he got married. It has some links to "Sights of Grace" and you can see the actual building. Not great pictures, but you can get a good idea of how beautiful the buliding is. And the inside is amazing, too. It has a high vaulted ceiling made of wood resting upon stone pillars that go up two stories or so and run down the length of the building. Very nice as well!
Somehow I think this trend won't quite catch on. Most people just won't want to have bugs in their skin. I know I don't want bugs in my skin, but I might do it if my doctor prescribed it.
Perhaps there will be a new wave of prescription drug commercials for maggots. Maggotex is recommended by doctors everywhere and is known to be extremely affective as a method of helping to heal wounds, while cutting down on antibiotic use! It'll have pictures of smiling people all happily doing death defying stunts, because they're not afraid of being wounded. They'll just use their maggotex, and it'll get all better!
Also: Lem is an uncle! You can see pictures of his new nephew using the link to his pictures, and then clicking on his link to his brother's main site. Once there it won't be too hard to find, they're pretty proud of the new addition to their family, no surprise there.
And also: My brother got married this weekend in Colorado Springs! So good for him. The church he got married in was beautiful, and so was the ceremony. Nobody fainted and I think they even got the fingers right for the rings. By now he should be flying home or driving north to Santa Barbara for the rest of his honeymoon. The wedding itself was beautiful, and the reception was fancy fun. If you want to see pictures, Dan Peckham took a bunch and may post them, so you can check that out if you'd like.
Here's where he and Becca stayed the first two nights of their honeymoon: http://home.navigators.org/us/gleneyrie/index.cfm They had the best room in the whole castle. Very nice!
Here's a link to the church where he got married. It has some links to "Sights of Grace" and you can see the actual building. Not great pictures, but you can get a good idea of how beautiful the buliding is. And the inside is amazing, too. It has a high vaulted ceiling made of wood resting upon stone pillars that go up two stories or so and run down the length of the building. Very nice as well!
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/7968114.htm
I really should make this a hyperlink, but I'm just that lazy that I'm not going to. I haven't done that with any of my posts, and by golly, I'm not planning on starting all over again now.
This is cool, though. Although I think the achievement is somewhat empty because it doesn't sound like any one person can claim to have read the entire corpus of Shakespeare's works in that one night. But perhaps that's my horrible individualism showing. Perhaps the community's achievement is really something special. I suppose it would be impossible to read all of Shakespeare in one night if you were going to have every person hear every piece of work that he wrote.
I wonder if they read them really quickly, too. Did they slur their words? Did they enunciate? The world will never know.
In conclusion: Shut up, kid!
I really should make this a hyperlink, but I'm just that lazy that I'm not going to. I haven't done that with any of my posts, and by golly, I'm not planning on starting all over again now.
This is cool, though. Although I think the achievement is somewhat empty because it doesn't sound like any one person can claim to have read the entire corpus of Shakespeare's works in that one night. But perhaps that's my horrible individualism showing. Perhaps the community's achievement is really something special. I suppose it would be impossible to read all of Shakespeare in one night if you were going to have every person hear every piece of work that he wrote.
I wonder if they read them really quickly, too. Did they slur their words? Did they enunciate? The world will never know.
In conclusion: Shut up, kid!
Thursday, February 12, 2004
"Where have you gone, Joe Demaggio?
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
"Joltin' Joe has left and gone away"
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/12/people.garfunkel.ap/index.html
Not at all surprising, but you'd think age would make people more sensible.
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
"Joltin' Joe has left and gone away"
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/12/people.garfunkel.ap/index.html
Not at all surprising, but you'd think age would make people more sensible.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Not much to say, just felt like saying something.
Here's a project to work on: look for people's functions. Why did God make them? Why do they exist? How will they be at the end of their life, or perfected in heaven? The Way of Affirmation doesn't focus on looking at people merely as we perceive them at first glance, but attempting to peer into their sinful souls to find the potentiality they possess. Williams says that we exist for our function, not our function for us: but this is Dante's idea. This explains how Dante says amazing things about Beatrice and believes them to be true. Because she will be perfect, and if you look at her in perspective of her telos, then she is right now.
And I wonder what love is other than this conception of Dante's: if love is a desire for the good. If this is the case, then Dante's Way of Affirmation works by following functions further up and in to their ultimate source, the End of all things, the Final Cause of the world, who is God everlasting.
And then apply Dante's worldview to Christology. I don't know how to describe it, but it looks heart-stopping from here.
Here's a project to work on: look for people's functions. Why did God make them? Why do they exist? How will they be at the end of their life, or perfected in heaven? The Way of Affirmation doesn't focus on looking at people merely as we perceive them at first glance, but attempting to peer into their sinful souls to find the potentiality they possess. Williams says that we exist for our function, not our function for us: but this is Dante's idea. This explains how Dante says amazing things about Beatrice and believes them to be true. Because she will be perfect, and if you look at her in perspective of her telos, then she is right now.
And I wonder what love is other than this conception of Dante's: if love is a desire for the good. If this is the case, then Dante's Way of Affirmation works by following functions further up and in to their ultimate source, the End of all things, the Final Cause of the world, who is God everlasting.
And then apply Dante's worldview to Christology. I don't know how to describe it, but it looks heart-stopping from here.
Friday, February 06, 2004
The Way of Affirmation
Charles Williams, in his famous work The Figure of Beatrice distinguishes between two ways for Christians to approach the world. Is the entire world an image of the Father? Or is the world a distracting sea of false images distracting from our conception and sight of the sole source of our pleasure: God? The Way of Affirmation, the latter view, sees the entire world as pointing to God. The pleasure we find in "things" is Godly pleasure, when experienced correctly. Dante takes this view to its furtherst conclusion, following the image of God in the eyes of Beatrice whilst spiralling upward through the nine celestial spheres. Ascetics take the other opinion. Williams includes a poetic account of renunciation by Dionysius the Aereopogite
Both are pious ways of seeing the world. Both center on God as the center of the universe, and both are difficult for man to live out well. However, the Way of Affirmation appears neglected in modern day Evangelical protestantism. This is disturbing, because I think that the way of Affirmation is a powerful tool in creating beautiful art, which will aid in spreading the kingdom of God on earth. Dante's Comedia is the most powerful testimonial to this, and is, in itself, a full catalog of the Way.
Something I'll be wondering about from now on is how the two ways relate to different theologies. Is any theology adaptable to either one? I'm not sure.
Charles Williams, in his famous work The Figure of Beatrice distinguishes between two ways for Christians to approach the world. Is the entire world an image of the Father? Or is the world a distracting sea of false images distracting from our conception and sight of the sole source of our pleasure: God? The Way of Affirmation, the latter view, sees the entire world as pointing to God. The pleasure we find in "things" is Godly pleasure, when experienced correctly. Dante takes this view to its furtherst conclusion, following the image of God in the eyes of Beatrice whilst spiralling upward through the nine celestial spheres. Ascetics take the other opinion. Williams includes a poetic account of renunciation by Dionysius the Aereopogite
Both are pious ways of seeing the world. Both center on God as the center of the universe, and both are difficult for man to live out well. However, the Way of Affirmation appears neglected in modern day Evangelical protestantism. This is disturbing, because I think that the way of Affirmation is a powerful tool in creating beautiful art, which will aid in spreading the kingdom of God on earth. Dante's Comedia is the most powerful testimonial to this, and is, in itself, a full catalog of the Way.
Something I'll be wondering about from now on is how the two ways relate to different theologies. Is any theology adaptable to either one? I'm not sure.
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Monday, February 02, 2004
Statement by NFL Executive Vice President Joe Browne regarding the Super Bowl halftime show:
"We were extremely disappointed by elements of the MTV-produced Halftime show. They were totally inconsistent with assurances our office was given about the show. It's unlikely that MTV will produce another Super Bowl halftime."
Now this is good news. Although the Super Bowl itself was entertaining, the half-time show was not. In fact, I don't think I was entertained at all for the entire 12 rushed minutes of horrendous music and hideous dancing and costumes. Please, please, please, don't subject us to this again, halftime people! The finale, the disgusting disrobing of Janet Jackson, truly fit the show's degenerate feel. Kid Rock's performance that desecrated the flag (although I suspect that was not his intention), the feminine male dancers, the ugly hip-hop music performed by P-Diddy and Nelly, all of it was a summation of our culture's widest spread evils. Bah humbug!
Football, on the other hand, is hardly evil or dark and twisted. It's a wonderful intelligent game. It reminds me of chess. Brilliant minds think out complicated strategies consisting of different plays and emphasis that result in actions on the field. The players train to fulfill their part as best they can, and then implement the strategies, hopefully with the guts to rise above the limitations of their humanity through gigantic efforts of soul. It really wants me to study it now, because watching the different defensive formations and movements and how the offense responds to and causes them is very interesting. And the fundamental question is so basic: how do you get the ball to the other end of the field while staying within the parameters of how to play set out by the rule book? But there's a lot of humanity involved in fulfilling that role, a lot of minds and bodies and hard work, both on and off the field. I think that our ability to work on hard on accomplishing goals like this is one of America's strengths, if we can persevere, and so I see good reasons to hope on, I guess, and maybe, like the game, the wickedness and depravity of our nation is just the half-time show in our game of success.
"We were extremely disappointed by elements of the MTV-produced Halftime show. They were totally inconsistent with assurances our office was given about the show. It's unlikely that MTV will produce another Super Bowl halftime."
Now this is good news. Although the Super Bowl itself was entertaining, the half-time show was not. In fact, I don't think I was entertained at all for the entire 12 rushed minutes of horrendous music and hideous dancing and costumes. Please, please, please, don't subject us to this again, halftime people! The finale, the disgusting disrobing of Janet Jackson, truly fit the show's degenerate feel. Kid Rock's performance that desecrated the flag (although I suspect that was not his intention), the feminine male dancers, the ugly hip-hop music performed by P-Diddy and Nelly, all of it was a summation of our culture's widest spread evils. Bah humbug!
Football, on the other hand, is hardly evil or dark and twisted. It's a wonderful intelligent game. It reminds me of chess. Brilliant minds think out complicated strategies consisting of different plays and emphasis that result in actions on the field. The players train to fulfill their part as best they can, and then implement the strategies, hopefully with the guts to rise above the limitations of their humanity through gigantic efforts of soul. It really wants me to study it now, because watching the different defensive formations and movements and how the offense responds to and causes them is very interesting. And the fundamental question is so basic: how do you get the ball to the other end of the field while staying within the parameters of how to play set out by the rule book? But there's a lot of humanity involved in fulfilling that role, a lot of minds and bodies and hard work, both on and off the field. I think that our ability to work on hard on accomplishing goals like this is one of America's strengths, if we can persevere, and so I see good reasons to hope on, I guess, and maybe, like the game, the wickedness and depravity of our nation is just the half-time show in our game of success.
Sunday, February 01, 2004
*yawn*
Just "got back" from a retreat that wasn't too far away to begin from. I suffered from dehydration! I vomited and had a fever everything. Oh, so much fun!
But the retreat served well to refresh the mindset that I'd like to live in. Now it's time to get back to living in a community. Right now we're trying to find times to meet. :-)
Just "got back" from a retreat that wasn't too far away to begin from. I suffered from dehydration! I vomited and had a fever everything. Oh, so much fun!
But the retreat served well to refresh the mindset that I'd like to live in. Now it's time to get back to living in a community. Right now we're trying to find times to meet. :-)
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