tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63316840486617867812024-03-19T06:18:37.781-05:00With God in the BushShannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-25186178030807847962013-05-03T15:54:00.002-05:002013-05-03T15:54:29.707-05:00TranspositionThis poem recently won an award <a href="http://www.utmostchristianwriters.com/gallery/gallery506.php" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
I.<br />
<br />
Like a woman from a Once-upon-a-time, who had a child<br />
in a lonely prison cell, that was clammy all year round<br />
for seven years, while she waits and draws him pictures<br />
on the walls, to teach him what the world outside is like;<br />
the one he’s never seen, not even in his dreams.<br />
<br />
Out of charcoal from old fires she conjures the magic pictures<br />
building cities in the sunlight, putting ships upon the ocean<br />
growing gardens full of rose trees, setting planets into motion<br />
sprouting forests on the knees of the misty Pyrenees.<br />
<br />
Until one day she realizes he doesn’t understand, and he<br />
thinks the world outside is made of skeletal black lines.<br />
She cannot make him see it, and through festering frustration<br />
she exclaims in agitation, “But it’s not like that at all!”<br />
and his picture of the world dissolves into a vacancy.<br />
<br />
II.<br />
<br />
Sunburned breezes in the clover, moonlight prancing on the water,<br />
and the shadows on a swallow’s ashy wings – these are the things<br />
that cannot be explained or understood until you see them,<br />
the things that simply have to be rejected or believed.<br />
<br />
Kiss of unconnected minds, the erotic sacramental, the<br />
quintessence of inertia-splitting dreams – these are the things<br />
at risk of being lost in translation. No amount of explanation<br />
from the people at the window can convince the rest of us<br />
that they’re larger than our minds, made of more than lines.<br />
<br />
We are the Flatlanders, watching from the wrong dimension<br />
rehearsing our incontrovertible syllogistic reductionism<br />
to keep from being taken in again, forgetting that we can<br />
analyze all the facts and miss the metamorphosis.<br />
<br />
III.<br />
<br />
Agnus Dei (qui tollis peccata mundi) miserere nobis,<br />
because You know that this is all we have to work from –<br />
these fugitive extrapolations from the ineffable ambiguity<br />
of a few nebulous moments, an incredible concoction of<br />
ridiculous cell-quivering laughter blown from the back<br />
<br />
of the restless stars, and the numinous nausea flowering<br />
out of orchestral suite #3 in D Major, along with<br />
all the unreasonable tears. Maybe we are not so much to blame<br />
for our startled skepticism when the things beyond thought<br />
<br />
are converted into movements of atoms, transplanted into<br />
this world of boring desk-jobs and broken TV sets, incarnated<br />
into flimsy melanotic bodies, hereafter vehicles of beatitude,<br />
transposed into words and symbols and impossible molecules<br />
of bread. This is the miracle of the marriage of Heaven and Earth.Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-3728220621013199262013-01-11T22:59:00.001-06:002013-01-12T15:44:40.200-06:00Brown Lands<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have seen the brown lands laid out beneath the sky</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Like a dead man’s skin, that should have been </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Extinguished in a crematorium, days ago </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Or at least scooped into the ground,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you prefer to be unsanitary.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have seen this shrunken dust pan </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Littered with drunken telephone poles </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And squalid paper houses and overgrown </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Railroad tracks rusting under stalled coal carts, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ground furrowed with filthy bales </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rolled out of prehistoric weeds</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In need of a cemetery.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But there is no grave big enough to bury this rotting carcass. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It would need a collapsed neutron star. Short of that, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The snow might do it. But it is the 22nd, and still bare.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wishes don’t work here, and dead men don’t dream </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of white Christmases. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have seen myself walk stumbling through the wastedness, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wondering if the sky is real and feeling the distance.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There comes a point when you stop counting steps, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When steps become like memories of stars long since gone out. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But everything looks the same, so there is no way of knowing</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whether you are simply inscribing invisible circles </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of thrice stamped dirt.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have seen this and I know I have seen it before</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A reflection of myself, out of an imaginary window </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the skin of my mind, turned inside out and hung to dry</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On display with the fashion jewelry.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">From here you can see everything and nowhere is there anything to see </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is my dead body. This is the empty hauntedness, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This choking closeness to the dirt, these frustrated feet</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Still walking. These eyes grown angry out of loneliness </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Afraid of forgetting even how to hate, afraid of getting dull. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Eyes that would burn the sick grass from the ground, the hair </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">From my skin, could they convert welling disappointment </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Into radiation. But they can’t. They can only wander tired wilderness, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Embarrassed at their failure, acutely aware of separation. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For You are far away, and the very wind is brown. How long </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shall I try to fly with my feet on the ground?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What are you looking for, picking your way through dead country</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Burnt alive in summer and then left to freeze, like a refugee? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let the emptiness stifle you. Your mind is a wheel returning. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Your body is a space-time continuum with no edges, and the horizon</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Never comes any nearer. You will always feel the distance. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
<br />
</span></span>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-28992183837056516462012-10-24T13:35:00.001-05:002013-01-12T10:40:24.843-06:00Capax Infiniti<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Nothing is yours
except the essential things – </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky.</i></span></span><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> ~Cesare Pavese</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This lonely windblown instant on the gravelly edge</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">of a muddy middle-of-nowhere parking lot</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">right before the storm.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This sweet and sweaty apple-blossomed breeze</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">drifting dusty-fingered across your skin</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">ready to be smelled.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Air is yours.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This shadow hair’s breadth sheltering your eyes</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">extracting exhaustion out of achy muscles</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">restoring worn-out cells.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This brilliant way to put the world on hold</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">temporary cessation of suffering</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">rewarding work well-done.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Sleep is yours.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">These fragments of intangible alternative</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">semi-sublime subconscious tessellations </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">constructing a way out.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">These liquid-mirror tremblesome reflections</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">thrill-shot with an impulsive oblique shimmer </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">of something else and other. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Dreams are yours.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This vast, ship-eating rhythm of infinitude </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">sucking sand from underneath your feet</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">back to its throbbing soul.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This crushing depth of interstellar density </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">rocking salt-surf giving you a reason </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">to reach the other side.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The sea is yours.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This architect of all unanswered questions</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">star-speckled absurdity of agelessness</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">glimpse of greater worlds.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This lonely paradoxical iconoclast</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">never tired of surprising earth-sick eyes</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">with archaic cloud-patterns.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The sky is yours.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">All this is given. In order that you</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">may remember, may not forget that</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">nothing is yours except the essential</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">except the liminal something in your </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">body that responds, for just as long as </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">you are able to keep yourself enchanted.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nothing is yours except what is given.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘God only gives, and has only Himself </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">to give.’ Maybe that is what it means? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Nothing is yours except
God.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>~ </i>by Shannon Lise</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Note<i>: This poem was originally published as part of the Utmost Christian Writer's <a href="http://www.utmostchristianwriters.com/poetry-contest/recent-winners.php" target="_blank">2012 Poetry Contest</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.utmostchristianwriters.com/poetry-contest/recent-winners.php" target="_blank"> </a></i></span></div>
Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-23402587361565175252012-09-24T12:58:00.000-05:002012-10-27T11:45:08.110-05:00Amusing Ourselves to Death: The Degeneration of Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There are some books which everyone ought to read and few people do. Neil Postman’s <i>Amusing Ourselves to Death</i>
is one of them. His analysis of the devastating effects of the
entertainment age on the quality of public discourse offers uncommonly
keen insights into the way thought and culture are shaped by technology,
and the resulting trivialization of every aspect of society.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />In
an effort to make the essential concepts of this analysis accessible to
people who quite understandably lack the time or the motivation to read
the entire book, I have taken the liberty of condensing the main ideas
of Postman’s book into a very brief summary, which I hope will at least
be thought-provoking. <br /><br />Of
course, no abridgement can conceivably do justice to the original,
especially an original of such rare caliber as this, and I naturally do
this with some reluctance, part of which stems from the realization that
I am not able to retain either the author’s original eloquence or the
wealth of examples with which he demonstrates the legitimacy of his
claims. But when you recommend books to people as often as I do, you
realize that most of the time even the most sincere and glowing
recommendations seldom arouse an interest strong enough to lead someone
to read an entire book, and a synopsis of some kind is much more
palatable.</span> <span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />
All culture is a conversation. The transmission of ideas permeates every
aspect of society, whether it is politics, religion, education or
entertainment. What most people do not realize is that the <i>form</i>
which public discourse takes is what regulates the content of that
discourse. To some degree, the form actually dictates the content. The
medium used to convey ideas provides a unique mode of communication and a
unique orientation for thought and expression, and is highly
influential in determining what kinds of ideas prevail. Technological
developments inevitably alter the way ideas are communicated.<br /><br />
To illustrate how technology influences how people think, take the
invention of the clock, which created a moment-to-moment metaphor in our
minds, making us think of time as a series of independent,
mathematically measurable sequences, dissociated from human events. The
microscope, by revealing hitherto invisible biological structures,
suggested the purely psychological possibility of a similar
structuralizing of the mind. Enhanced medical technology improved health
and simultaneously introduced the notion that the malfunctions of
nature and the ravages of time are not final, that both the body and
mind are artificially improvable.<br /><br />
For a given culture, truth is defined by and derived from the media of
communication through which information is conveyed. When we understand
media as epistemology, we see that a major medium shift changes the
structure of discourse, encouraging certain uses of the intellect,
favoring certain definitions of intelligence, and demanding certain
kinds of content. Some mediums are more exclusive than others. Smoke
signals, hieroglyphics and the spoken word do not have the ability to
say the same kinds of things that a written alphabet does. The written
word freezes speech and enables criticism and an entirely new conception
of knowledge.<br /><br /> Of
course, all medium shifts necessarily involve tradeoffs. When
print-based epistemology replaces oral-based epistemology, things like
modern science, modern prose, and individualism are made possible, but
things like poetry, religious sensibility, and sense of community lose
their significance. They continue to exist, but their value is seriously
undermined and they become a residual epistemology. <br /><br />
The Age of Reason in America and Europe was also the Age of
Exposition. America was founded as a typographic nation. One could
almost say that it was founded on the printing press, which shaped the
political ideas and social life of the country. Of course, today we have
more printed material than early America ever did, but we also have
other forms of communication which were lacking then: radio, telephone,
television, photography, etc., which is why in early America the printed
word wielded a monopoly that it does not wield today.<br /><br />
In a print-dominated culture, public discourse tends to be
characterized by a coherent, systematic arrangement of facts and ideas,
and the focus is on serious, logically ordered content and semantic
meaning. The typographic mind is primarily rational. Engaging the
written word and following a line of thought requires intellectual
alertness, a strong attention span, and considerable powers of
classifying, inference-making, and reasoning, as well as the ability to
detect falsehoods, over-generalizations, contradictions and other abuses
of logic. The written word is propositional and sequential and fosters
an analytic management of knowledge. <br /><br />
From colonial days onward, America boasted the highest literacy rates
in the world. Literacy was not confined to the aristocracy. Not only
books, but newspapers and pamphlets were widely popular, and the oratory
of the nation, which was stately and impersonal, reflected its
typographic nature. Sermons, lectures and political addresses were
generally written speeches recited to an attentive and patient audience
who had the ability to orally absorb complex arguments made by means of
intricate, lengthy sentences. Oratorical charisma was designed to be
easily transferable to the printed page. Because reading was not an
elitist activity, and because the masses of the common people had access
to the printed word and were capable of engaging in rational
discussion, the emergence of a national public conversation was made
possible.<br /><br /> The Age
of Exposition is over. Today, our culture has abandoned typography for
television, and simultaneously entered the Age of Show Business. We must
realize that every technology has an inherent bias, and no technology
is simply an extension of a previous technology. Television is not a new
and improved version of the printing press; it is a totally different
medium with a totally different message. To say that television is
entertaining is an obvious and hardly threatening observation. But
television is not merely entertaining. Television has made entertainment
the natural format for the representation of all experience. Television
doesn’t simply present entertaining subject matter; it presents all
subject matter as entertaining. The distinction is subtle but essential.
Entertainment has become the supra-ideology of all discourse on
television. It gives us the impression that nothing is to be taken
seriously and it produces a fragmented cultural conversation.<br /><br />
There are several reasons for this. For one thing, television is an
image-based medium. It uses pictures, not words. Employing exquisite
photography, accompanied with suitable music, it is aimed largely at
emotional gratification and requires minimal skills to comprehend. With
clips that average less than 3.5 seconds, the mind is never forced to
concentrate or focus for long periods of time, but instead is trained to
be passive and inattentive. Television inevitably implies a strict time
constraint, and all material must be seriously abridged and summarized.
Thus, television focuses only on the highlights, and there is no room
for verification or extensive explanation. Details are overlooked. Doubt
or uncertainty of any kind is impermissible. There is no time to pursue
a particular line of thought, and no time for reflection. Sustained,
complex discussion is simply not suited for television, which must
compress the content of ideas in order to fit the requirements of visual
interest. The show has to keep moving. It is all about performance. A
televised ‘discussion’ is comprised chiefly of witty, one-line comebacks
that give impressions, but have no depth. Television, by its very
nature, cannot accommodate depth because it doesn’t have space for it.
It orchestrates the transmission and exchange of images, not of ideas.<br /><br />
There is a vast difference between symbols that demand
conceptualization and reflection and symbols that evoke feeling.
Language is cognitive, appealing to the mind; images are affective,
appealing to the emotions. Propositions are true or false. Pictures are
not. You can like or dislike a commercial, but you cannot disagree with
it, because it is not based on a propositional truth claim. Advertising
is not a statement about the value of the product, but a
pseudo-therapeutic drama focusing on the value of the consumer.
Businesses focus on market research, not product research. Commercials
do not convince, they entertain. Our thought processes are controlled by
media that is image-centered rather than word-centered. These forms
have no concrete message and do not say anything definite. Rather, they
work by powerful implication to impose their special interpretation of
reality on our minds. The philosophy television commercials expect us to
accommodate can be summed up in the belief that all problems are
solvable, and that they are solvable instantly, through the intervention
of technology and technique.<br /><br />
Television is different from film, music and radio because it is the
only technology that encompasses all forms of discourse, from sports and
weather to scientific advances and government policy. The demands of
good showmanship trump the demands of any particular discipline.
Television dictates how the world is to be staged, and the metaphor
persists even off screen, controlling the way that politics, religion,
business, education and other essential social matters are conducted.<br /><br />
The shift in technology started with the world of news and reporting.
Significant developments in this area began even before the advent of
television, with the invention of the telegraph. Born out of the 19th
century ambition to conquer space and make the world small by
disassociating communication from transportation, the telegraph created a
continental information grid that destroyed the prevailing definition
of public discourse and introduced context-free information, the value
of which was no longer based on its usefulness, but on its novelty,
interest, or amusement, transforming news into a commodity. The new
definition of ‘newsworthy’ that evolved from this alteration embraces
irrelevance and amplifies impotence. The majority of the information the
average person hears on the news is divorced from any possibility of
meaningful action on the viewer’s part. Today, ‘watching the news’ is
the act of listening to an anchor rattle off a series of disconnected
and largely useless facts and events concerning people and places that
mean nothing to the listener. News has become a show, revolving around
all the essentials of a show – good actors, appropriate music, and
sensational stories. It has turned into entertainment.<br /><br />
We see the political effects of this same phenomenon in the reduction
of political campaigns to advertising that focuses not on a candidate’s
carefully articulated sociological perspective on the world, supported
by historical background, economic facts, and coherent arguments, but
rather on an artificial projection of that candidate as a likeable,
experienced, virtuous (and preferably good-looking) man or woman, who
has easy, simple solutions to every problem. Politicians are no longer
expected to be statesmen; they are expected to be celebrities, and they
are assimilated into the general culture as such. This commercialized
approach robs political discourse of authentic ideological content.<br /><br />
The trivialization of religion is perhaps even more blatant. When
religion is translated from its traditional context into an entirely
different medium, it is no longer the same thing. Television strips
religion of everything that makes it a profound, historic, sacred
activity; tradition, ritual, dogma, theology – it is all lost. A
television show is not a frame for sacred events. There is no religious
aura, no slice of enchanted space-time removed from the ordinary and
profane world around us and transformed into an otherworldly reality.
When religion is turned into televangelism and presented as
entertainment, it is impossible for it to retain its essential focus and
the door to idolatry is opened. Even if unwittingly, the preacher, with
his indispensable charisma, inevitably takes center stage. Religion
becomes a show. Furthermore, because people have no obligation to watch
any particular television show, and will only watch a show if they want
to, televised religion must offer people something they want. It must be
something fun and emotionally satisfying. Thus, there is no room for
complexity or stringent demands. But true religion has never offered
people what they want; only what they need.<br /><br />
There are many more examples that could be made, but hopefully the
ones included here are enough to convey an idea of the impact that a
technology shift like the one our society has experienced, along with
the resulting evolution of communication mediums, can have on a culture,
as well as the potentially disastrous effects.<br /><br />
There is no reason to believe that medium shifts necessarily result in
equilibrium. Some media are epistemologically superior to others, and
typography is superior to television, for clear reasons. Of course, the
shortcomings of television as a medium of communication do not lie in
aesthetic considerations. There is no objection to the trivialities of
television, as long as they are recognized as trivialities. It is when
television becomes a medium for ideas which are allegedly ‘significant’,
that it becomes dangerous. When television becomes the central agent of
public discourse, the seriousness and clarity of that discourse is
threatened and is in danger of degenerating into silliness and
absurdity. When that happens, the culture loses its coherence and
creates a generation of people who are so addicted to entertainment and
so busy amusing themselves, that they are all but incapable of rational
thought. And people who are incapable of rational thought are incredibly
easy to control.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Cross-posted at <a href="http://www.thehightide.com/2/post/2012/09/book-review-amusing-ourselves-to-death.html" target="_blank">The High Tide Journal</a></i> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-39208879711655212502012-08-06T10:48:00.001-05:002012-09-24T14:01:31.990-05:00June, 1832<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
These dragging summers scorch our streets </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With drought that bakes the cobblestones, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And blisters naked gamin feet</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And sears our eyelids in the heat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of barricaded danger zones.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We find the bullets in the bricks </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of houses that have lost their souls,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In gutted, broken-windowed wrecks</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The inauspicious side-effects,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now riddled full of cartridge holes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not long for Paris to forget </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just one more sultry afternoon,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While bodies rot in streaking sweat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And stagnant gutters reek with death;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The panic will be over soon. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rubble in the Chanvrerie</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which used to be a barricade,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It crumbles to obscurity – </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another disappointed dream</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of men who stayed when no one came.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their carcasses will not resent</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The scavenging of hungry hands</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That cannot realize what was meant,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or recognize the compliment;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They knew we wouldn’t understand.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elusive like the hazing heat, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The unacknowledged idol of</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The comrades of the ABC –</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They thought that it was liberty,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They should have called it love.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our sunburned city wonders why,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And shrugs their tragedy away</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But streets that swarm with feasting flies</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are sticky with their sacrifice;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their blood has blessed this summer day.</div><br>
Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-22578737595177866482012-07-02T21:03:00.001-05:002012-08-06T10:47:06.731-05:00Solitary<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> I.</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don't know, but I've been thinking</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That maybe I would like to spend a year</i><br />
<i>In voluntary solitary detention</i><br />
<i>Somewhere far away from here.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’d like to make a
fence to block the world out</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’d like to build a
wall without a window </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’d like to take this
web of galvanized wires </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Linking my brain to
the rest of my world </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
This part of me
that’s not myself</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
This artificial
stimulation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Emotional connection
with omnipotent frustration </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’d like to turn the
wires all to spider strands</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Floating in the
shining autumn air</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Slice them with a
sweeping paper scimitar</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Or a rusty pair of
nail scissors</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Leave them dangling,
dissolving in the dark</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(When the electricity
shuts off</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
No more static)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">II.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br />Don’t know, but I’ve been thinking</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That maybe I would like to go away</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">From all this very arbitrary tension</i><br />
<i>Spinning a million reasons I should stay.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’d like to find a
lonely little place</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Away from voices,
faces, shallow feelings</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Lock the door and
throw the key away </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Out of sight, out of
mind, out of reach.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I think I’d like to
wipe my memory</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Of all the things I
wish had never happened</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I’d like to recreate
reality – alone.<br />
I
am three-quarters sick of shadows</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Three-quarters made
of mindlessness</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Indecent incongruity
and callousness </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I am not even sure
you want me</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Come away.</i> A voice stuck on replay.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I wish I could (don’t
you see?)<br />
Maybe I will (what then?)<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">III.</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t know, but I’ve been thinking</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That maybe I would like to be quite sure</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t look now, but did I mention?</i><br />
<i>I am foundering in failure.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Is it weakness?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
This escapist
discontent,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Melancholic addiction
to loneliness?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Is it selfish?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
This egocentric
rejection of normality,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Illogical antipathy
toward all things inevitable? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Or is it the voice on
replay?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Come away</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Come away </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
From myself</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
From the other side
of the Void.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Try to forget those
monstrous motives</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(As if Omniscience
could forget)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Try to work it out
regardless</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(As if Omnipotence
could <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">try</i>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Take me away for a
year, I do not ask for more</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Lock me up for good –
but not for ever</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Isn’t that the point?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><b>IV.</b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t know, but I’ve been thinking</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That maybe I would like to make a wish</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And keep it like a nova in suspension</i><br />
<i>Until we learn to play this hit-and-miss.</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I am ready to say
goodbye, now</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Deep-sinking into
insignificance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Because the world is
dead to me</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(At least, it was
supposed to be)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Because the corpse in
question is the only way of waking</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Because the life unlived
still has to be the life unwasted</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Abstractness is so
hard, you know</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
So this is why I want
to go</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Bury the face I tried
to kill</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Find a reason to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">be still; and know</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Run off like a
vigilante, traveling higher and further </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Decamp and throw my
guns away, with the nerve of a deserter</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Search the lonely side-streets
for the records of a murder</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
After all this time,
I want to go through with it</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Aborted assassination
attempt</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Or was it suicide?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(Do you understand
yet?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
‘Cause I don’t. Not
quite.)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t know, but I’ve been thinking</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That maybe I would like to spend some time</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In voluntary solitary detention</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Learning how to die. </i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.25in; text-align: left;">
<i> </i></div>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-57201074729267725082012-04-04T13:38:00.013-05:002012-10-27T11:46:47.260-05:00Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDkwpanS_joB1gyoPDnSTHqPQOWwcB6jF49uorPim_9O_Cz0uTp0fOVsOnaPNILQBDTqrPD6Vd3gUkI5q6nfUPfXLryQmubQDw_Y3_toaL72ikOMA6CdgyejDIK3JRptszUJX5ynZH7J0/s1600/darwins_blackbox_sm.jpg" style="color: white;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727617878712303522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDkwpanS_joB1gyoPDnSTHqPQOWwcB6jF49uorPim_9O_Cz0uTp0fOVsOnaPNILQBDTqrPD6Vd3gUkI5q6nfUPfXLryQmubQDw_Y3_toaL72ikOMA6CdgyejDIK3JRptszUJX5ynZH7J0/s200/darwins_blackbox_sm.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 200px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 132px;" /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe takes the theory of evolution to a molecular level, setting out to establish whether or not the origin of certain complex biochemical systems can be explained in terms of Darwinian evolution, natural selection, random variation, and gradualism. His findings are remarkable. Starting out with detailed examination of the functions of several different all-important biochemical systems, (including cilium, antibodies, the immune system, protein transport systems, and blood-clotting), Behe explains how every cellular process is initiated and controlled by highly sophisticated, finely calibrated molecular machines. He then goes on to demonstrate why the inherent complexity of many of these systems is indeed irreducible. Illustrated with brilliant analogies, his expositions are not only meticulously accurate, but also entertaining and readable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An irreducibly complex system is one with no functional physical precursors. Irreducible complexity on a macroscopic scale has featured in many scientific discussions and many people are familiar with Darwin’s classic explanations of how complex structures such as the eye might have gradually evolved. But Darwin’s explanations are only addressed to a macro-level of anatomical steps and structures that Darwin believed were simple, but which we now know are not, thanks to improved technology. Our knowledge of the workings of microscopic biochemical systems is greatly increased, but the theory no longer matches the data, and no new explanations reconciling gradualism with molecular complexity are forthcoming. Instead, questions about molecular evolution are faced with a complete lack of relevant scientific literature on the topic and condescending silence on the part of the scientific community.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maintaining scrupulous objectivity, Behe goes on to discuss the theory of intelligent design, which is based on the assumption that if a biological system was not produced gradually, it must have arisen as an integrated unit - it must have been designed. Analyzing the scientific community’s overwhelmingly negative reaction to a discovery that is as groundbreaking as the quantum revolution, it cannot be denied that the tension surrounding the theory of intelligent design has its roots in the supernatural ramifications of the theory. However, while historical antagonism between science and religion are regrettable, it must not be allowed to color our thinking and influence our willingness to follow the observational data wherever it leads. Science is a vigorous attempt to make true statements about the physical world, and a priori philosophical commitment puts artificial restrictions on legitimate scientific inquiry. Insisting that the behavior of the universe can be explained through purely material causes is scientific chauvinism. As Behe aptly states:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
‘The philosophical commitment of some people to the principle that nothing beyond nature exists should not be allowed to interfere with a theory that flows naturally from observable scientific data. The rights of those people to avoid a supernatural conclusion should be scrupulously respected, but their aversion should not be determinative.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ultimately, no scientific theory can compel belief in a specific worldview, whether it is atheism, Christianity, or Buddhism, and there is no reason to be afraid that it will. We must give everyone broad latitude for their beliefs. People must be free to choose their own defining philosophical principles. But when Richard Dawkins insists that anyone who denies evolution is ignorant, stupid, insane, or wicked, when John Maddox predicts that religion will soon have to be regarded as anti-science, when Daniel Dennett compares religious people to wild animals who may have to be caged, then we have reason to fear that aggressive intolerance will lead to coercion as people try to force their convictions on other people in the name of science.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When it comes to intelligent design, it is worth pointing out that the scientific community faced a very similar situation not too long ago. Until about eighty years ago, scientists believed in a stationary universe that was eternal and infinite. The idea of a finite universe that expands and had a beginning was extremely repulsive to many people, partly because it appeared to be friendly towards the Judeo-Christian creation account. Einstein hated the idea so much that he manipulated his equations in order to make them predict a stable universe. In the end, the observational data won out, and the Big Bang model succeeded. Today, intelligent design is in the same predicament. But as the weight of the scientific evidence shifts dramatically, we would do well to keep up with it. According to Behe:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
‘A rigorous theory of intelligent design will be a useful tool for the advancement of science in an area that has been moribund for decades.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">Cross-posted at <a href="http://www.thehightide.com/2/post/2012/04/book-review-darwins-black-box-by-michael-behe.html">The High Tide Journal</a></span></div>
Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-57885574611914801922012-02-17T09:31:00.005-06:002012-10-27T11:50:49.554-05:00Daytimes Of This World<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sun went out</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like I knew it would</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(They say it went down, but I know better</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is out – forever and for good.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This lingering twilight is our last.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
It wasn’t much to mourn, that twilight</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Sky-gray flatness like galvanized steel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Not even a touch of trembling mist –</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
Unromantically dull.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But it was all we had;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now it’s gone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(We have begun to forget what color is</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Already – and the worst hasn’t come.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We dread these dark hours ahead.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Maybe we wish they would actually end</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Cut us off now, before we get worse </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
We are afraid of what we will become</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
Uncomprehendingly blank.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I walk back to the porch</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Without even turning round</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Across a sinking lawn that we won’t see again;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then I stop – staring at the ground.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A little white wildflower stares back,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Barely discernible in the deepening dusk</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
One of hundreds, if it were day again</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
But right now this is all I can see </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
And it is enough.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Time goes on. Like I knew it would.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Distracted pupils glaze over,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Tired of straining nerve receptors </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Trying to make sense of this lightlessness </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Invisible eyes eventually accept invisibility.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
Don’t you see?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sallow skin grows damp and gray,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Too decayed to find itself repulsive</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Are we glad we cannot see it?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
But wait – what does it mean to see?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
Don’t you know?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It isn’t like there’s anyone to talk to</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I am stalk-silent. I don’t even care;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Whatever sanity there was in me has died</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
So there’s no point. But still, sometimes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
I wonder what would happen if I tried.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am immortally tired, yet I survive</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Something stronger than sanity sustains this mind</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Holding it together, keeping it alive</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
What would you say if I told you? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">
It’s a picture of a flower, fast-fading white.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The last thing I saw</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the grass somewhere</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Don’t know where you are, hidden in the dark</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But my God! – it is good to know you’re there!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-38216667918360092142011-12-25T12:00:00.000-06:002011-12-25T12:00:02.361-06:00The House of Christmas<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">There fared a mother driven forth<br />Out of an inn to roam;<br />In the place where she was homeless<br />All men are at home.<br />The crazy stable close at hand,<br />With shaking timber and shifting sand,<br />Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand<br />Than the square stones of Rome.<br /><br />For men are homesick in their homes,<br />And strangers under the sun,<br />And they lay their heads in a foreign land<br />Whenever the day is done.<br /><br />Here we have battle and blazing eyes,<br />And chance and honor and high surprise,<br />But our homes are under miraculous skies<br />Where the Yule tale was begun.<br /><br />A child in a foul stable,<br />Where the beasts feed and foam;<br />Only where He was homeless<br />Are you and I at home;<br />We have hands that fashion and heads that know,<br />But our hearts we lost---how long ago!<br />In a place no chart nor ship can show<br />Under the sky's dome.<br /><br />This world is wild as an old wife's tale,<br />And strange the plain things are,<br />The earth is enough and the air is enough<br />For our wonder and our war;<br />But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings<br />And our peace is put in impossible things<br />Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings<br />Round an incredible star.<br /><br />To an open house in the evening<br />Home shall all men come,<br />To an older place than Eden<br />And a taller town than Rome.<br />To the end of the way of the wandering star,<br />To the things that cannot be and that are,<br />To the place where God was homeless<br />And all men are at home.</p><p class="MsoNormal">~ G.K. Chesterton<br /></p>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-80163375965066439272011-12-19T19:37:00.002-06:002012-09-24T14:04:01.781-05:00Moondocked<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JbTVMwgeB32fo6rV8kOTJzyWtZEiC4RAzzNX6fB77aS5LseR1y5oPYCx4uyc0c1tky77rodoKRK4DQ7Ge_fQMx52FP5TdduSP4AxAd1Qa-cPtgrFS9PlgnUYq3Zx66IOeZLCDyHapv8/s1600/008.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JbTVMwgeB32fo6rV8kOTJzyWtZEiC4RAzzNX6fB77aS5LseR1y5oPYCx4uyc0c1tky77rodoKRK4DQ7Ge_fQMx52FP5TdduSP4AxAd1Qa-cPtgrFS9PlgnUYq3Zx66IOeZLCDyHapv8/s400/008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688391961576370818" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4egxz7jnf497cwGWZpM0eB_sfxoWYHEf5psI1pFEsRJOFT19ZksHJ9CeptaC6vT2jo9VoKQpiBVTDlrb-uQzCcbghwWOyp1w1QdBGV1xLjTVWXnpFdbGEaoMuY9mV9PTvloSHN-04hdo/s1600/004.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><br /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqbmwv9vQ747pmEmz0sZx95WW6IkubUjKXc7QmGhJlizlvprcqmnz59lkEv7QUsr7JhG74N1MzhoEsdy5pPTFUPShBCGpDmoy7kalxMn0BIJIKVI1t3NouA8raUTvKMjD9wyn_Am6AxSk/s1600/December+057.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqbmwv9vQ747pmEmz0sZx95WW6IkubUjKXc7QmGhJlizlvprcqmnz59lkEv7QUsr7JhG74N1MzhoEsdy5pPTFUPShBCGpDmoy7kalxMn0BIJIKVI1t3NouA8raUTvKMjD9wyn_Am6AxSk/s400/December+057.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688388728786652818" border="0" /></a><br />Medium: Acrylic on canvas<br />Artist: S.J. Raora Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-25456918833893499432011-12-05T17:53:00.004-06:002011-12-09T21:39:43.764-06:00The Everlasting Man: A Spiritual History of Mankind<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCnf49d3AArdSU0qcKzNjzxM4M3daoMqqvW9XwGq9Ozq7W6tJT1nXM8BtB_LinpJfvAaG_9yU0KodvFLi88CGajKw9BfqRMFOinWxBomvOklzYoAQ-3ViMhbQBsmAPcqpLhTj4Ps3t27s/s1600/%2524RGU9BOH.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCnf49d3AArdSU0qcKzNjzxM4M3daoMqqvW9XwGq9Ozq7W6tJT1nXM8BtB_LinpJfvAaG_9yU0KodvFLi88CGajKw9BfqRMFOinWxBomvOklzYoAQ-3ViMhbQBsmAPcqpLhTj4Ps3t27s/s200/%2524RGU9BOH.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682811345044083106" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">‘There are two ways of getting home,’ Chesterton writes, ‘and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place.’ <i>The Everlasting Man</i> is for those of us who are having a hard time getting home by the first way. This refreshing and intensely unique work of Christian apologetics invites us to step back and make an imaginative effort to see the whole idea of Christianity from the outside.<br /><br />The Everlasting Man is a brilliant annihilation of the clichéd assertion that Christ and his religion stand side by side with similar myths and religions, which Chesterton denounces as 'a very stale formula contradicted by a very striking fact.' It is the story of the spiritual journey of collective humanity.<br /><br />In true Chestertonian style, there are sections that tend to be a little repetitive and wordy, but they are all so incredibly witty and entertaining that we forget to be exasperated. The author makes generalizations in order to emphasize his point, and probably oversimplifies some things, but his insight is remarkable. His reverent sincerity is not in the least compromised by his devastating sense of humor, and his knack for turning secular dogmas inside out and transforming them into solid arguments for the legitimacy of Christianity is astounding. By putting the Christian story into context, he endeavors to demonstrate that Christianity is a sensible, enlightened conclusion that has yet to be successfully contradicted.<br /><br />The first chapter, which is really an attack on H.G. Wells’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Outline of History</i> and focuses primarily on how man is fundamentally different from animals<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">,</i> is admittedly a little dated, and Chesterton’s speculations concerning prehistoric man show the influence of early 20<sup>th</sup> century Darwinian thought. In the face of the intimidating ‘new science’ and the tremendous implications thereof, Chesterton felt the need to demonstrate that Evolution and Christianity were by no means mutually exclusive, and show how the secular Evolutionist's sociological explanations of man's religious development have no basis in fact.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Moving on, Chesterton provides an in-depth analysis of paganism, which is inestimably beneficial for anyone who is hopelessly confused as to why there are so many religions, and how to make any sense of the confused and chaotic history of mankind. He distinguishes the several universal elements of human religion, and explains the historical, mythological, and philosophical roots of Christianity and religion in general, highlighting the legitimate role of each and contrasting the Western and Eastern mindsets. He calls to our attention a certain awareness of God which manifested itself from the beginning of civilization in every mythology, in every culture. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Getting deeper into the ancient tangled tree of mythology, the book makes a crucial distinction between mythology and the two darker branches - demonism and eroticism - that grew up alongside it, complicating the scene. Eventually, the development of demonism led to a major conflict that culminated in the epic power struggle between Rome, which represented the best of paganism – honor, virtue, justice, structure, and an ethical concept of man and society – and Carthage, which represented the very worst – a demon-infested, devil-worshipping inhumanity. (I guarantee you will never look at the Punic wars the same way!) In the end, a Roman victory was what preserved a state of civilization capable of receiving the ultimate divine revelation – the Messiah incarnated.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The second half of the book is about the coming of Christ Himself, the escape from Paganism, and the growth and role of the Church. It explains Christianity’s relation to comparative religion, contrasting it with Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism, showing how all other belief systems overlap, and how Christianity is fundamentally different from every other creed and is the ultimate consummation of all genuine religion, transcending all others. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Chesterton also talks about the ‘melting pot’ movement that came to ascendance during the decline of Rome, blurring the lines of cultures and religions, and wantonly mixing gods and traditions from every corner of the globe. For awhile it threatened the newborn Church with extinction, not by extermination but by absorption and compromise, seeking to undermine the concept of a single almighty Deity, a concept that had been rigorously preserved for thousands of years through Judaism, which was the only creed with a god who was ‘narrow enough to be universal.’</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the end, the Christian story was what fulfilled all the mythologies. The Christian story was what broke the philosophers’ static and circular infinity and produced a philosophy that could move forward. The Christian story is the greatest story because it is true. The real purpose of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Everlasting Man </i>is to retell that story in a new and revelatory way by putting it into context.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>[Cross-posted at <a href="http://www.thehightide.com/2/post/2011/12/book-review-gk-chestertons-the-everlasting-man.html">The High Tide Journal.</a>] <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-14690531139485798172011-11-29T08:44:00.006-06:002011-11-29T13:03:48.634-06:00The Christmas Revolution<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv54dzvfVpag46MSRDAkHUo3bo5UD0LkXxXXC_UO4989fvSJnGO1mVRJYmzZrWGlYtRiX1gSNxND4MupNpFZezmAVhqSJ5Bjtd5ytDA6s-GCNwWBIIRtbxDkjjbc0E_SXWMDR6Zg-NDjk/s1600/christmas-bells-ornaments-wallpapers-1024x768.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv54dzvfVpag46MSRDAkHUo3bo5UD0LkXxXXC_UO4989fvSJnGO1mVRJYmzZrWGlYtRiX1gSNxND4MupNpFZezmAVhqSJ5Bjtd5ytDA6s-GCNwWBIIRtbxDkjjbc0E_SXWMDR6Zg-NDjk/s200/christmas-bells-ornaments-wallpapers-1024x768.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680487146113071922" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">In this short excerpt from 'The Everlasting Man', G.K. Chesterton reminds us of what Christmas really was - and is. </span><br /><br />'Christmas for us in Christendom has become one thing, and in one sense even a simple thing. But like all the truths of that tradition, it is in another sense a very complex thing. Its unique not is the simultaneous striking of many notes; of humility, or gaiety, of gratitude, of mystical fear, but also of vigilance and drama. There is something defiant in it also; something that makes the abrupt bells at midnight sound like the great guns of a battle that has just been won. All this indescribable thing that we call the Christmas atmosphere only hangs in the air as something like a lingering fragrance or fading vapour from the exultant explosion of that one hour in the Judean hills nearly two thousand years ago. But the savour is still unmistakable, and it is something too subtle or too solitary to be covered by our use of the word peace. By the very nature of the story the rejoicings in the cavern were rejoicings in a fortress or an outlaw’s den; properly understood it is not unduly flippant to say they were rejoicings in a dug-out. It is not only true that such a subterranean chamber was a hiding-place from enemies; and that the enemies were already scouring the stony plain that lay above it like a sky.<br /><br />There is in this buried divinity an idea of undermining the world; of shaking the towers and palaces from below; even as Herod the great king felt that earthquake under him and swayed with his swaying palace. This is perhaps the mightiest of the mysteries of the cave. Indeed the Church from its beginnings, and perhaps especially in its beginnings, was not so much a principality as a revolution against the prince of the world. It was in truth against a huge unconscious usurpation that it raised a revolt. Olympus still occupied the sky like a motionless cloud moulded into many mighty forms; philosophy still sat in the high places and even on the thrones of the kings, when Christ was born in the cave and Christianity in the catacombs.'Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-80522037616815438482011-11-20T21:31:00.002-06:002011-12-09T21:45:37.867-06:00Arguing About Slavery<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92PaFTtY6ca9UlLDNPVKHA-rXLvmlv-x2qYLAEYSzUqlZM0ZBc4uSPFaLATn1iqnYmnWxOjy6WQnnNQ8m9kwRjdDKzYWzF2bVg6OGSY3oX1RM5VW2P9fqnUuUi4lkqP-bWvmxo-t5-C4/s1600/slavery.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 142px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92PaFTtY6ca9UlLDNPVKHA-rXLvmlv-x2qYLAEYSzUqlZM0ZBc4uSPFaLATn1iqnYmnWxOjy6WQnnNQ8m9kwRjdDKzYWzF2bVg6OGSY3oX1RM5VW2P9fqnUuUi4lkqP-bWvmxo-t5-C4/s200/slavery.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684340755114856786" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->As appropriate as the title is, William Miller’s landmark book is not really about arguing about slavery. It is about the fight for the right to argue about slavery in the first place – a subtle, but significant distinction. Miller takes us back to the pre-Civil War America of the 1830’s and 40’s, an America where any discussion of the issue of slavery at all was taboo. <em>Arguing About Slavery </em>is a compelling account of a fascinating and all but forgotten episode in the history of the greatest humanitarian victory of the age. The Civil War itself has a habit of eclipsing everything else around it. But the fact is that battle over slavery didn’t start with Sumter or the Confederate Secession. It started twenty-five years before Lincoln’s inauguration, on the floor of Congress.<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br />The country was divided on many things, but slavery was not one of them. The North vs. South mentality, as it then existed, was based almost entirely on industrial threats to agriculture and the economic and social implications of this tension. The institution of slavery was practically embalmed in the Constitution itself; it had been the great compromise of the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. Now it was a part of America and the greatest contradiction of its time went virtually unquestioned by the republic that led Europe to liberty. Even the Northern states that had abolished slavery within their borders, ignored it elsewhere. It was an embarrassing reality that was best not brought up, because nothing could possibly be done about it. In 1830 Abolitionism was a pathetic minority movement that tried to survive in Maine and a few other northeastern states, and was resented and considered radical even by the North. The violent anti-abolitionist reaction to the formation of the American Anti-Slavery society reflected public opinion. It was not encouraging.<br /><br />But, as is always the case in a good story, there were a few brave people who stood up to the tyranny, people who not only saw the evil of slavery as a crying shame, but had the foresight to realize that it must either be abolished or drag America down into moral and eventually social collapse. Enter John Quincy Adams, cast as the indomitable hero. After a long, productive life of celebrated public service, Adams, nicknamed ‘Old Man Eloquent’ returned to the House of Representatives at age sixty-three, to fight his final political battle.<br /><br />Using the original transcripts of the Congressional proceedings, Miller tells how the change that started in the House of Representatives infected the rest of the country, and brought about a 180-degree transformation that was nothing short of miraculous. Full of wit and color, the story is told with lively characterization, wry humor that borders on comic relief, and plenty of historical context that makes the era come alive. In addition, we learn a great deal about the practical side of how Congress actually works, about rules and technicalities that are constantly being manipulated to serve a particular purpose.<br /><br />The book doesn’t get to the Emancipation Proclamation or the Thirteenth Amendment. It ends with the overturning of the infamous gag-rule which had officially prevented discussion of slavery in Congress for years. It was the end of a long, tedious battle against the suppression of free speech and the right to question the moral justification of an accepted conventionality – the right to argue. It was the beginning of a much larger battle that would ultimately decide not only a massively important moral question, but also the destiny of millions of desperate human beings. But that battle could never have been fought if it weren’t for the movement that started in Congress with a few courageous men arguing about slavery.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">[Cross-posted at <a href="http://www.thehightide.com/2/post/2011/10/arguing-about-slavery-by-william-lee-miller-the-lost-history-of-the-congressional-civil-rights-battles-that-paved-the-way-for-the-american-civil-war.html">The High Tide Journal</a>.]<br /></p>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-5337366399351898732011-10-11T14:56:00.003-05:002011-11-29T12:52:57.022-06:00A Second Childhood<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWanV8NZEw6zmFbkxDyXNlsOvYuEsEwxI8l9rVgeQe1zoG6wNRg5LU739Y-03ml0BBKim-dvuImftYYehadipBVppi7nql0cdZKKiKJAXMt-2VIX4T2qjiZsgsfIhlaWVijYpPp2ufrkU/s1600/tree-swing.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWanV8NZEw6zmFbkxDyXNlsOvYuEsEwxI8l9rVgeQe1zoG6wNRg5LU739Y-03ml0BBKim-dvuImftYYehadipBVppi7nql0cdZKKiKJAXMt-2VIX4T2qjiZsgsfIhlaWVijYpPp2ufrkU/s200/tree-swing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680492644967716162" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">When all my days are ending </p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">And I have no song to sing,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">I think I shall not be too old </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">To stare at everything;</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">As I stared once at a nursery door</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Or a tall tree and a swing.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Wherein God’s ponderous mercy hangs </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">On all my sins and me, </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Because He does not take away </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">The terror from the tree</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">And stones still shine along the road</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">That are and cannot be.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Men grow too old for love, my love,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Men grow too old for wine,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">But I shall not grow too old to see</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Unearthly daylight shine</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Changing my chamber’s dust to snow</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Till I doubt if it be mine.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Behold, the crowning mercies melt,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">The first surprises stay;</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">And in my dross is dropped a gift </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">For which I dare not pray</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">That a man grow used to grief and joy</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">But not to night and day.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Men grow too old for love, my love,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Men grow too old for lies;</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">But I shall not grow too old to see </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Enormous night arise</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">A cloud that is larger than the world </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">And a monster made of eyes.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Nor am I worthy to unloose </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">The latchet of my shoe</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Or shake the dust form off my feet</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Or the staff that bears me through</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">On ground that is too good to last</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Too solid to be true.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Men grow too old to woo, my love,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Men grow too old to wed;</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">But I shall not grow to old to see</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Hung crazily overhead</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Incredible rafters when I wake</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">And find I am not dead.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">A thrill of thunder in my hair</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Though blackening clouds be plain,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Still I am stung and startled</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">By the first drop of the rain;</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Romance and pride and passion pass</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">And these are what remain.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Strange crawling carpets of the grass,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Wide windows of the sky</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Soon in this perilous grace of God</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">With all my sins go I,</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">And things grow new though I grow old</p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">Though I grow old and die.</p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton<br /></p>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-75163166238842819132011-08-13T20:10:00.003-05:002011-11-29T13:17:56.906-06:00On Solitude - The Necessity of an Honest Assessment of Individual Self-Sufficiency<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAkFW9rGaA0ddywUjH9a1HMWTsqLvT6u748_HarN3hojPbA0rYfY296ZJoeENXjDwISb_zQ5b7eTrRz6_kmJ5IHZm6mMjTMk7NnxnopLO8jJpCBMBW1orAlTU1pfH8XP6IcPVGEfMBbI/s1600/220px-Chateau_d_if_view_from_cell.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAkFW9rGaA0ddywUjH9a1HMWTsqLvT6u748_HarN3hojPbA0rYfY296ZJoeENXjDwISb_zQ5b7eTrRz6_kmJ5IHZm6mMjTMk7NnxnopLO8jJpCBMBW1orAlTU1pfH8XP6IcPVGEfMBbI/s200/220px-Chateau_d_if_view_from_cell.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680497672240901202" border="0" /></a>The nature of solitude, as well as the consequences, benefits and dangers thereof, is a question of substantial philosophical significance that has constantly confronted humanity. Francis Bacon, Michel de Montaigne, Alexander Pope, Henry Thoreau - these are a few universally recognized names that comprise the historical group of eminent scholars who have written extensively on this admittedly broad subject. Their reflections are many and varied and have provided us with valuable insights, but, while the essayists excel at isolating and discussing specific aspects of solitude, it seems like they have largely failed to address what I believe is the crucial issue at hand- the necessity of an honest assessment of individual self-sufficiency, which is the premise that any relatively comprehensive consideration of the concept should eventually come down to. When solitude is defined as the absence of external stimulation (intellectual, sensual and emotional), as manifested in an objective environment, then, and only then, do we begin to see what it really means. The question confronts us - what happens when we are deracinated from our present support system, when we are deprived of what we consider to be (and as such, take for granted) certain basic, essential elements of our lives? Things that, whether we realize and admit it or not, make up an alarming percentage of the person that we equate ourselves with, and have a considerable influence on our self-image? When we lose the parts of our lives that are not really ‘us,’ what is left? What is our intrinsic value? Who are we when we are truly alone? The potential answers to these questions border on frightening. There are three major factors involved that must be considered in this discussion - the definition of self-sufficiency, the nature of our transient environment, and the result of mental speculation on a theoretical illustration of solitude. <span lang="EN"><br /><br /><p>I do not in any way employ the term ‘self-sufficiency’ in a strictly literal sense, because in the real human world it is an entirely impossible state of existence, and the word’s implicit self-contradiction very nearly categorizes it as an oxymoron. As the sole consummation and fulfillment of the soul, God, the Supreme Good, the utter actuality which has no opposite, is the only self-existent, self-sufficient reality, and all other autonomy is relative to this ultimate, because the will of the created is only independent in proportion as it is within the will of the Creator. (My intention here is not to defend this basic assumption, but to work from it.) Therefore, our definition of self-sufficiency is not to be interpreted as independence of God, but rather, independence of all else. It is impossible to be independent of an omnipresent God, and thus, it is likewise impossible to be absolutely alone. With this in mind, we redefine our concept of solitude. We are no longer asking, ‘who are we when we are alone?’ Now the question is, ‘who are we when we are alone <i>with God</i>?’ More often than not, our current environment effectively conceals the implications of this question. It acts like an anesthetic, desensitizing our already callous consciousness of the actual state of our relationship with the Ultimate, diverting us from ourselves, creating a complicated clockwork exterior that we identify as ‘our life’ without ever asking how much of it is actually <i>ours.</i> </p><br /><p>Our current environment is a dichotomy, separated into the social and natural, both of which heavily influence who we are. Our social, or human environment, (generally considered the more apparently essential of the two,) is a result of our inherent need for human society and is comprised of an intricate, layered network of individual and group relationships, which gives us a sense of community and security. Family, friends, partners, relatives, co-workers, acquaintances and even strangers - individual and <i>en masse - </i>all affect our lives in distinctive ways that are different for each of us. We are not talking about the abstract concept of ‘social environment’, but about <i>my </i>specific social environment, what it means to me, how it influences who I am and who I think I am, how much my worldview depends on it, and what I would be without it. Our natural, or physical environment, also affects us. Our immediate daily surroundings, the place where we live, the comforts and conveniences we are accustomed to - these are the things that constitute <i>our </i>unique world. Direct contact with Nature itself is usually an important part of that world, connection with natural beauty, with forests and oceans and mountains, with an affirmative external reality. Most of us have probably experienced the temporary depression that comes from a prolonged absence from the ‘great outdoors’, so to speak. These things generally constitute a stabilizing atmosphere that confirms and reinforces what we claim to believe about the world. We need them - they are part of our support system. They stimulate us, mentally, emotionally, sensually, intellectually, and spiritually. What we must realize is that they are temporary, and that they are emphatically not part of who we are. We can lay no claim to either Nature and the constantly renewed inspiration it affords us, or to the people around us, and the support they provide, as some meritorious element of our own character. It does not require much creativity to imagine the radical alteration our lives would undergo in the absence of our current environment, social or natural.</p><br /><p>This idea of solitude is largely an exercise of the imagination. Most of us are never really alone, at least, not to any significant degree, or for any significant stretch of time, so it can be difficult to grasp the essence of an idea that must, in all probability, remain abstract. But sometimes, an arbitrary ‘random’ experience unconsciously constructed of certain settings and sensations coming together, almost accidentally, at just the right time, in just the right way, will seep through the dense, complex stratum of the finite reality that shields us from our own inadequacy, and shock us with a fleeting glimpse of what solitude must be. A long walk on a deserted road in the middle of a rainy night. A crawling afternoon spent alone upstairs in an empty office, staring at an LCD screen. A sultry evening spent hurrying through the crowded streets of a giant city of 8.8 million nameless strangers. A visit to the ruins of an ancient Greek temple on a tiny isolated island in the middle of the Mediterranean, enclosed by an infinity of sky and sea. What if these relatively average, albeit potentially thought-provoking, experiences were magnified to the limit of the endurable? Several easily recognized historical and literary examples, stereotyped, but nonetheless valid, leap to mind. What if you were condemned to life-imprisonment in a North Korean death camp? Marooned indefinitely on Isla Alejhandro Selkirk? Drafted into the Red Army? Incarcerated in solitary confinement in the Château d'If for fourteen years? Forced to pass the rest of your life in hiding alone in the backwoods of Missouri, or the wilderness of 15<sup>th</sup> century Northern Scotland? What if something like that happened to us? These examples are imperfect illustrations of the absolute solitude that will eventually overtake every individual soul - we must realize this is not a question of <i>if </i>but of <i>when - </i>when our life, as we see it, impermanent and therefore undeniably unreliable, falls apart and leaves us alone with the Ultimate.</p><br /><p>So the question remains. Are we self-sufficient? The only one who can really answer that question is the individual person asking it of themselves, and the answer will probably be different for everyone, but by the time we are capable of seriously asking it, we should be able to provide a valid answer. We owe it to ourselves to do so. And, if we find that we are largely dependent on other things and other people, on our current external environment, which is temporary at best, then we owe it to ourselves to change that - whatever it takes. </p></span>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-76290237786803956102011-05-08T14:33:00.023-05:002011-05-08T20:30:16.528-05:00Mission Impossible - The Biblical Concept Of Perfection As An Attainable Goal<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliQv6C3gX6Oc5iJ2jqMg1srqDzWldRHfHJw1J9F03BjDXP95IZUG1SKKwrjdjX9mRIhVFC-XglgagwOyenl-BzonUQ8Y1qnQspJs52SRbLNLhU547tCSYqWEGCYZoU4K-9BT0k8b8FUk/s1600/Bible_16.png"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604493193809386994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliQv6C3gX6Oc5iJ2jqMg1srqDzWldRHfHJw1J9F03BjDXP95IZUG1SKKwrjdjX9mRIhVFC-XglgagwOyenl-BzonUQ8Y1qnQspJs52SRbLNLhU547tCSYqWEGCYZoU4K-9BT0k8b8FUk/s200/Bible_16.png" /></a><br /><span lang="EN"><span lang="EN"><br /><p>A subject of significant controversy in the Christian community, 1 John 3:9-10 deals with a crucial aspect of practical Christianity and is one of the most awkwardly baffling passages in the New Testament.</p><i><br /><p>9. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. </p><br /><p><br />10. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. </p></i><br /><p><br />Backing up to the four verses directly preceding these, (1 John 3:5-8) we see the same concept. <i>‘And you know that he appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.’ </p></i><br /><p><br />As it turns out, 1 John is actually full of similar, albeit often less explicit references, contrasting the one who sins with the one who doesn’t, insisting that actions mean everything, that the true Christian cannot sin. It is a difficult concept. </p><i><br /><p>If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 2:29<br /></p><br /><p>We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him. 5:18 </p><br /><p>If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; 4:20</p><br /><p>By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and His commandments are not burdensome 5:2-4, </p><br /><p>He who has the Son has the life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 5:12,<br /></p><br /><p>And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 2:28</p><br /><p><br /></i>In the Bible, repetition very often constitutes significance. This concept is repeated over and over again. It is important.<br /></p><br /><p>A straightforward reading of this passage - this whole book, in fact - along with a multitude of similar verses in other parts of the Bible, also suggest the concept that people who sin are not born of God, that God’s children do not sin, that we are called to be sinless.<br /></p><br /><p>Romans 8:37 <i>- we are more than conquerors through him who loved us; </p></i><br /><p>Matthew 5:48 <i>- be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect; </i><br /></p><br /><p>Romans 6:2,6,11,14 - </p><i><br /><p>How shall we who died to sin still live in it?<br /></p><br /><p>knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is freed from sin;<br /></p><br /><p>Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin;<br /></p><br /><p>for sin shall not be master over you</p></i><br /><p><br />Hebrews 7:25 <i><br /></p><br /><p>Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him.</p></i><br /><p>So is this really what God has asked us to do? Be perfect, without sin? Does it mean what it says? A commonly offered, ‘saving interpretation’ of this idea is that the Greek for ‘practices’ in the key verse, 1 John 3:9, can be interpreted as ‘practicing continuously.’ So that maybe what the verses means is that he who sins continuously is not born of God. But that argument is weak at best, and the reasoning behind it does not hold up very long. What does it mean, to not sin continuously? No one does that. Not even the godless sin all the time. And committing murder just every now and then does not qualify you to be someone born of God. It isn’t about spacing our sins out enough. The problem remains, and we cannot explain these verses away as metaphors.</p><br /><p>The obvious meaning that comes from a straight forward reading seems to be the only explanation. To be born of God, one must be without sin. Which brings in the root question - is it humanly possible to be without sin? Has it ever been achieved? Can it be? Has God asked us to do the impossible? Does he want perfection now, in this life? Isn’t that just something promised only after we die?</p><br /><p>Going even further back, all the way to 1:6-10, we stumble across another set of verses that provides a much needed balance, and at first appears to present an insurmountable paradox. First the groundwork for the concept of perfection coming up in the next few chapters is laid - </p><i><br /><p><br />6. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.</p><br /><p>7. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. </p><br /><p>And then the almost relieving jolt back to reality. </p><br /><p>8. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. </p><br /><p>9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.<br /></p><br /><p>10. If we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. </p></i><br /><p><br />Of course. We knew that. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So what is the point about being called to perfection? Is it less of a reality than the latter? Surely not. But then, admitting that we have sinned and striving after holiness as an attainable goal are not exactly opposites. </p><br /><p><br />Perhaps the biggest lie that Satan is using today to suppress the Church and stifle growth is the belief that this is how it has to be, because no one, especially not ‘us’, can ever be free of sin this side of eternity. A sub-conscious acceptance of mediocrity that stifles all our efforts at holiness before they can even take shape. That is why most people never achieve a life of holiness, perfection without sin. And with the concept of the inaccessibility of perfection, another worse idea, with no logical relation to the former, inevitably slides in - that I am never going to be much better than this, so I need to just accept my faults and weaknesses, since it’s who I am. And that is the great stumbling block.</p><br /><p><br />We have been given a practical guide to holiness in the life of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels. People underestimate the importance of living as Jesus lived, and using the life of Jesus as a role model. And coming back to the 1 John 3:9 question - maybe it is not so much a question of whether we are ‘sinning continually’ or not, as a question of where we are going. Are we eliminating sin in your life? Are we becoming sinless - working steadily towards perfection as a practical goal? If perfection weren’t possible, God wouldn’t have called us to it. It is certainly worth thinking about. And even if there is room for debate on the definition of perfection this side of eternity and the degrees of perfection attainable, there can be no doubt that God is calling us to something much higher. Our standards are too low. While learning in whatever situation we are to be content we must still never fall into an indolent satisfaction or acceptance of where we are spiritually. We must always be pressing farther and deeper, working towards sinless perfection.</p><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span></span>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-13651847049354968362011-03-28T16:49:00.003-05:002011-03-28T17:43:56.520-05:00The Law - Part Two<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoPVg4eCgwQfCyVWSj7dqEzyLzLH6ob8GGja-zwWjbCeXE-D0Us1t1czJvvM6EJ2xCrALFnU4FTPg17ov-psEkBQXqvoJohmer9rhBzL-4CvbVrtaGR7Fd1iTqPqHJvbl-teZafewt4I/s1600/magna_carta.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 100px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589265246321344770" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoPVg4eCgwQfCyVWSj7dqEzyLzLH6ob8GGja-zwWjbCeXE-D0Us1t1czJvvM6EJ2xCrALFnU4FTPg17ov-psEkBQXqvoJohmer9rhBzL-4CvbVrtaGR7Fd1iTqPqHJvbl-teZafewt4I/s200/magna_carta.jpg" /></a> <span lang="EN">The proper function of the law is to prevent injustice from reigning. It is a purely defensive, negative concept. It must be. People say that, if the law regulates justice, why shouldn’t it regulate labor, education, and religion? Because then it would be committing an injustice, destroying its first function. The law is force, imposing negation. Applying force to labor, education, or religion, or anything <i>except </i>justice, is destroying liberty - and justice. They tell us our doctrine has stopped at liberty, and should have gone on to fraternity. But that is false philanthropy. Enforced ‘fraternity’ destroys liberty. Justice is the only thing the law can enforce. <br /><div><br /><p>The republics of the world have been arguing about ‘universal suffrage’ for as long as we can remember. But if the Law were confined to its proper functions, then everyone’s interest in the law would be the same, and no one would have any reason for trying to control it, and those who voted could not inconvenience those who did not. Unfortunately that is not the case - the law has been perverted, and has taken it into its head to take property from one party and give it to another, under the pretence of organization, regulation, protection, etc. So now every one wants to participate, and every class must fight to control the government and the franchise, either to protect themselves from plunder or to use the law to plunder others. Perverted law causes conflict. </p><br /><p>Perverted law, or legal plunder, has an infinite number of names. They call it tariffs, protections, encouragement, subsidies, public schools, minimum wages, guaranteed jobs, insurance, social security, etc. All of these are examples of the government violating its responsibility, acting outside its lawful functions. </p><br /><p>People say that the law must take care of ‘charity,’ must protect and provide for people with no money. But the law is not a source of money. Nothing can enter the public treasury for the benefit of one citizen or class unless other citizens and classes have been compelled to put it there. There is no money outside society. The law cannot be an instrument of equalization unless it takes from some to give it to others, becoming an instrument of plunder. </p><br /><p>People say that the law must be responsible for educating the poor. But the law is not a shining torch of learning. In society, some persons have knowledge while others do not. The law can do one of two things - permit a natural transaction of teaching and learning to operate freely, or force people to pay for government appointed teachers to instruct the ‘poor, uneducated.’ The latter is a violation of liberty and property.</p><br /><p>Law is force, and it can only provide artificial unity and fraternity.</p><br /><p>Socialism confuses the distinction between government and society. And just because some thing should not be done by the government, does <i>not </i>mean that they should not be done at all. Private organizations and individuals can do those things, without the use of force. That is the only difference between <i>private </i>and <i>official. </i>The government cannot be made to produce what it does not contain - wealth, science, religion, and the other things that constitute prosperity.</p><br /><p>What is this concept of ‘liberty’ that all this political turmoil is focused on? It bears some definition. What else could it be, but the union of <i>all </i>liberties - liberty of conscience, education, association, travel, labor, trade, and the press? It is the freedom of everyone to make full use of his faculties, as long as he does not harm anyone else while doing so. It is the destruction of despotism. It is the restricting of the law to its rational sphere of organizing the right to lawful defense, of punishing injustice.</p><br /><p>If law is confined to preventing injustice, what is the alternative? If we cannot apply law to conscience, education, labor, trade or association, then there are a hundred inherent risks in letting those things alone, with nothing to regulate them, and men will undoubtedly misuse and abuse their liberty in those areas. But that is still the best case scenario and the law still has no authority to regulate them until there is obvious injustice being committed. If we choose to surrender those rights to an absolute, arbitrary, invalid power, the situation is much worse.</p></span></div>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-61839715479245149212011-03-05T16:25:00.011-06:002011-03-28T17:24:46.303-05:00The Law - Part One<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzmPBUyrFcdAg9hyphenhyphen5Vr4R0nMgeZIy8JsY69ol7KGbqeflJdsElsrSfJvWp307JiZEgNlT1qsPBbDGRVFMmdf2dfhkRQ2RVrkABBlKM_4Ohl_33H9VfC3p5sHTPSKrSyLzPlRvzE-4_EU/s1600/imagesCAG1X6L9.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 225px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581774895787648818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzmPBUyrFcdAg9hyphenhyphen5Vr4R0nMgeZIy8JsY69ol7KGbqeflJdsElsrSfJvWp307JiZEgNlT1qsPBbDGRVFMmdf2dfhkRQ2RVrkABBlKM_4Ohl_33H9VfC3p5sHTPSKrSyLzPlRvzE-4_EU/s400/imagesCAG1X6L9.jpg" /></a> <br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNwbLtxBUHb3WXjaWAUCbB5NVC08w3UjcoWTFAquo_4Z7K5hJoev2PVJYiO7UllyUxnTVP5F2QS5uj7xRPf-A-PKSdNoTLm5FttgYSrOWewXRxBI9HzIBFBMrgL06lO3jOXf7wZcwUg0/s1600/Scales-of-Justice1.jpg"></a><span lang="EN">In 1850 a French liberal theorist by the name of Frederic Bastiat wrote a short book called <i>The Law. </i>It is an extraordinarily unique work - certainly not your typical revolutionary doctrine - and it provides a simple, concise sketch of some fundamental principles of government. <br /><div><br /><p>Reading it inspired me to put together a very brief compilation of what I have come to believe are some of the most important ideas about government. </p><br /><p>History has painstakingly taught us that government in general is a necessary evil. There is no perfect government. Men are corrupt. If they weren’t, we wouldn’t need laws. But in the fallen state of mankind, enforced laws are <em>necessary.</em> There are some forms of government that are better than others, and it is worthwhile to figure out what those are. Most people think that the American republic is the best example so far of a national government. That is probably true. But, apart from being universally misunderstood, this monster which used to be called a republic is far from flawless and is screeching towards collapse at roller-coaster speed. Not quite an ideal. I think it would have worked out better and lasted longer if America’s Founders had incorporated some of these principles into the fabric of the government.</p><br /><p>First off, to get at the root of the problem, we need to define ‘government.’ The words <i>law </i>and <i>government </i>have been used interchangeably, which is alright, but keep in mind that law is the practical application of moral principles and government is a social force. By its very nature, government is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense. Each of us have a natural, God-given right to defend - even by force - our person, liberty, and property. Those rights do not exist because men have made laws, but on the contrary, they are what have caused men to make laws. Therefore it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force for the constant, collective protection of these individual rights. This government does not intervene in private affairs, <span lang="EN">and its only duty is to protect men from each other, for the common safety of all. Man must accept the privileges and the responsibilities of his existence, having no argument with the government, and having no reason to blame or thank the government for anything.</span></p><br /><p><span lang="EN"></span>The nature of law is to maintain justice, and no society can exist without respected laws to a degree. Law must not contradict morality. It is founded on morality. The myth that ‘we cannot legislate morality’ is false. What else <i>can </i>we legislate? For example, the reason we have traffic laws is so that accidents will not occur, because vehicular manslaughter is murder and murder is wrong. </p><br /><p>As seen throughout the entire history of the world, mankind has a fatal tendency towards satisfying his needs and desires with the least possible pain or labor. This is the origin of plundering the products of the labor of others. The only thing that will keep man from plunder is when it becomes more painful than labor. The purpose of the government is to use the collective force to punish plunder and protect property.</p><br /><p>Unfortunately, in practice, the government does not confine itself to its proper function. In fact, it often acts in direct opposition to its own purpose, annihilating the justice it is supposed to maintain, destroying the rights it is meant to respect. It has placed the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous, who aim to exploit others. The imaginary ‘rights’ of the government is one of the biggest lies in the history of the world. If an individual cannot lawfully encroach upon the person, liberty or property of another individual, than neither can the government. This point cannot be overstressed. What right to authority or dominance do men collectively wield that they do not wield individually? </p><br /><p>The government cannot operate without a dominating force; this force must be entrusted to one man or one class of men, who will nearly always try to use it to benefit themselves. Thus it is easy to understand how law is exploited and corrupted and morphs into a weapon of injustice. The few practice ‘legal’ plunder upon the many, until the victims of this plunder recognize their state, and according to their degree of enlightenment, seek either to bring an end to it, or to join it. When the latter attitude prevails and the masses rise up and seize the power of government themselves, chaos generally ensues, followed by universal injustice and a battle of classes.</p><br /><p>To be continued shortly. </p><br /><p><em>Read <a href="http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html">'The Law' </a>online.</em></p></span></div></div>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-47317804672626170312010-12-17T11:44:00.007-06:002011-11-29T12:59:34.981-06:00Storm Shine<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5br-BD2C5puZJw-oNC1rSRwYM6L8797fciAzIuOg5JQ4CcMh3atUeYa7ILgfL4CocDTspxJjJzkUu1A-LZSTg1lxDsW5OtKRLtt8HjI3SYW7rv4PwF1fzAT7iMqFhVjqW1N4Mffn2Gg/s1600/shannonscastle.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5br-BD2C5puZJw-oNC1rSRwYM6L8797fciAzIuOg5JQ4CcMh3atUeYa7ILgfL4CocDTspxJjJzkUu1A-LZSTg1lxDsW5OtKRLtt8HjI3SYW7rv4PwF1fzAT7iMqFhVjqW1N4Mffn2Gg/s400/shannonscastle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552075962244814898" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhalAI1uBSAxyIoh7xh79BKEF7aDqfE187Sg1bgIrhjcdq_TZG5tE0mw_4fNBagJkDA9b9ZwcrCacxV6zC3uy-0hj9WQRkMRNrz9ryY9qpsfCMOfVWKHLvcGimiQgCZ6nd7nt_rB2qlcxo/s1600/Llyr048.jpg"><br /></a><br />Medium: Acrylic on Canvas<br />Artist: Raora aka S.J.Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-85849296125872277452010-10-28T12:36:00.008-05:002012-02-17T09:38:23.665-06:00Sehnzucht<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNIE7ja7kIJqj1uMU79z7XR77hu-a7tQ1gVXF3-GQh3iaba-6cBQvXcqpnXIY55jhAxuNZ6MwkJDymOqu_PtRdyMtRHqO1Ju7cIKhBgnFMx-bkRJmvdbAKd3TcIqVuk02FuZdcHcEBlk/s1600/Sunset.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNIE7ja7kIJqj1uMU79z7XR77hu-a7tQ1gVXF3-GQh3iaba-6cBQvXcqpnXIY55jhAxuNZ6MwkJDymOqu_PtRdyMtRHqO1Ju7cIKhBgnFMx-bkRJmvdbAKd3TcIqVuk02FuZdcHcEBlk/s200/Sunset.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680500554427333778" border="0" /></a><br /><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">So this is what it feels like, and this is what it means<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /--><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">This thing that I cannot explain and you cannot believe.<br /><br /></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Colors caught and frozen on a canvas<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The last light of the sunset on the sea<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Raw aching thrill in tune with strangled instinct<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">The shadows of an uncreated thing.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Foaming whisper of the wind-wracked ocean<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Salty sea-stung air inside your eyes<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Coal black outline of a deathless dragon<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">Scratched on ancient walls before all time.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">This is the blinding secret, the world will never know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><i>I realize I cannot hold on but I will not let go.<br /><br /></i></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em></em><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Crash of rain and fire-splintered sky<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The wide calm of deep places in the dark<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Fractious craving of a dim illusion<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">The story that will break and bleed your heart.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The slicing storm that knocks you in the face<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And leaves you with bewildered breathless laughter<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The smoking mist that seizes on the day<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">And stains the summer sky forever-after.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Intangible intensity that burns without a name,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><i>This thing that will not show its face and will not go away.<br /><br /></i></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em></em><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The dying spirit of the soaring wave<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">That hangs between two fleeting beats of time<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Ecstatic sickness of a stifled brain<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">Still searching for a thing it cannot find.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A diamond with a thousand gleaming facets<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A shadow in a giant’s magic mirror<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">You wash the glass with tears of desperation<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">And sell your life to try and see it clearer.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">This is the awful promise since before the world began. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">You know you have to listen and you have to understand.<br /><br /></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Strange sweet smell of blossoms in the darkness<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Flash of dancing feet on marble floors<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">That lilting tune that you cannot remember<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">You know that it will never let you go.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Echo of long-dead laughter in the dawning<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Glancing moonlight on an ancient blade<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The half-forgotten heart of bleeding fire <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">That cast the stars before the world was made.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Is it right for us to wonder, is it wrong to question why? <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">This thing that it is not within the world to satisfy.<br /><br /></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Running till your shattered body breaks <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Thirsty wolf lunging behind the sun<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A shadow sun forever shifting shape<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">And none of it will ever be enough.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And every glimpse is burning with desire<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Magnetic whirling, crush and suck you in<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Flicker of lonely longing, cutting fierce<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">You want it without knowing what it is.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Lethal virus, just ahead, almost close enough to touch<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">But you’re going round in circles and you’re never catching up.</span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">You can modify your tactics, turn and run the other way<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>But there is no neutral zoning so you’ll never get away.</em><br /></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></p>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-61115275204516963942010-10-27T11:53:00.000-05:002012-10-27T12:05:27.989-05:00Braveheart<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This is the Braveheart theme for piano. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(I mostly just picked it out by ear, so I'm not sure if it is exactly right.) </div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='250' height='201' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzc_6Frq5AcmLv65oWBabB3qH7LoHEYPSNacDAxWzo5iq4z8eZzaS3DcJRV-Y7fyq1UHUkOtqrHrQs3_Vb5LA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-55994694679191786352010-08-19T14:11:00.002-05:002012-02-18T12:06:28.085-06:00Beneath A Phrygian Sky<p><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/exJmnYa8nok&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/exJmnYa8nok&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></p><p> </p><p>Beneath A Phrygian Sky :</p><p>The moonlight it was dancing<br />On the waves, out on the sea<br />The stars of heaven hovered<br />In a shimmering galaxy</p><p>A voice from down the ages<br />So in haunting in its song<br />These ancient stones will tell us<br />Our love must make us strong<br /></p><p>The breeze it wrapped around me<br />As I stood there on the shore<br />And listened to this voice<br />Like I never heard before<br /><br />Our battles they may find us<br />No choice may ours to be<br />But hold the banner proudly<br />The truth will set us free</p><p>My mind was called across the years<br />Of rages and of strife<br />Of all the human misery<br />And all the waste of life </p><p>We wondered where our God was<br />In the face of so much pain<br />I looked up to the stars above<br />To find you once again </p><p>We travelled the wide oceans<br />Heard many call your name<br />With sword and gun and hatred<br />It all seemed much the same </p><p>Some used your name for glory<br />Some used it for their gain<br />Yet when liberty lay wanting<br />No lives were lost in vain<br /></p><p>Is it not our place to wonder<br />As the sky does weep with tears<br />And all the living creatures<br />Look on with mortal fear</p><p>It is ours to hold the banner<br />Is ours to hold it long<br />It is ours to carry forward<br />Our love must make us strong</p><p>And as the warm wind carried<br />Its song into the night<br />I closed my eyes and tarried<br />Until the morning light</p><p>As the last star it shimmered<br />And the new sun's day gave birth<br />It was in this magic moment<br />Came this prayer for mother earth</p><p>The moonlight it was dancing<br />On the waves, out on the sea<br />The stars of heaven hovered<br />In a shimmering galaxy</p><p>A voice from down the ages<br />So in haunting in its song<br />The ancient stones will tell us<br />Our love will make us strong</p><p>~Loreena Mckennit<br /></p>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-79004041648834201662010-07-22T13:42:00.019-05:002012-02-17T09:39:06.954-06:00The Waiting<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><em>This poem won first place in a national poetry contest<a href="http://www.hslda.org/Contests/Poetry/2010/2010winners.asp"> </a>this year.<br /><br /></em></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><!--?xml:namespace prefix = o /--><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">When the Voice first spoke into the heart of Night;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And the first cold hues of chaos swept the sky.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">When Time went tumbling out of the deepless dark<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And the curtain of the blackness fell apart. </span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">One moment was enough to see the dream<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Something too calm and awful to be seen,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A wild, wordless whisper of a song<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">That bound the ages till the end should come.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The music entered all eternity <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And broke its way into infinity <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The newborn Light went out and lit the Sun<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">The Voice alone saw all that was to come.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And long before the making of the curse,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Before the first blood stained the firstborn earth,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">It spoke in silence deep within the Night,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><em>The End will come and all will be made right.</em><br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">This age is ending - God calls home the stars,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The world is plagued with great and little wars<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The dying sun is swollen, dim and red,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">And things that once were good and green are dead.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">We watch the evening twilight fade away,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The ancient earth is weary, old and gray.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The fire has spread across the earth’s dark plains,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">The broken world will never be the same.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Now all the living things have shrunk and withered<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The mountains tremble and the pale sky shivers<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A wind has come from off the northern seas<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">A storm from hell to shake the shuddering trees.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:0;"></span><span style="font-size:130%;">The thunder of God’s wrath is drawing near <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">We close our eyes in hopes that we might hear,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">In starry hollows long forgot and gone,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">The music of that wild, wordless song.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:0;"></span><span style="font-size:130%;">But nothing rises from the deep abyss<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">No sound of music splinters this silence <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">We are too deep in blood and treachery <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">To hear the voiceless breath of ecstasy.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">We are the only living ones that know<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The curse - tremendous joy, tremendous woe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Despair is rising like an evil mist<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">We never dreamed that it would come to this.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And all the summer stars are dim with tears<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">For all the shattered hearts through all the years<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">They fade like autumn flowers in the snow<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">That sink to sunless depths that no man knows.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:0;"></span><span style="font-size:130%;">The raging sea looks up beyond the sky<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And lifting up his broken voice he cries,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">‘Oh God of Stars, when will you make an end?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">When will the judgment of the world begin?<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">‘Beyond all sundered seas made dark with sorrow<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Beyond the sunken shadow of tomorrow<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">What mercy will we find beneath the sun,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">When all is done and said, and said and done?’<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:0;"></span><span style="font-size:130%;">And do you think that heaven ever hears<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The wail of broken hearts and human tears?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The voices that are shrieking in the night<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">The stifled whispers of the murdered light.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Has God reversed the cycle of the world<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And sent it hurling backwards to the void?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The anguish of existence does not end<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">We fail and hope and live to fail again.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And shall we somewhere find at close of day<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A place to wash all memories away? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">But there are things the world cannot forget<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">And there are things the heart cannot forgive.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The earth is plunging through the pathless void<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The Dark is taking hold of the entire world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">And hearts that never wavered split and break<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">Still screaming that it should not be this way.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The sky above is sickening with fear,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The face of Time is stained with bloody tears<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">And everywhere we turn we look on Death -</span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">We realize now that we have nothing left.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">But deep beyond the barricade of fear <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Within the thunder of the storm we hear,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">The Voice that called us from the heart of Night</span></p><p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><em>The End will come and all will be made right.</em></span><br /><br /></span></p>Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-71146923945525857372010-07-07T07:54:00.008-05:002012-10-27T11:51:14.659-05:00The God Who Is There – The Shift to Post-ModernismEarlier this year I read a fascinating book called<span style="font-style: italic;"> The God Who Is There</span> by Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffer combines philosophy and theology in order to give a historical explanation of how we got where we are. Here is a very condensed summary of Schaeffer’s point.<br />
<br />
Man has always been looking for a universal. The whole tragic history of mankind is based on man trying to find a universal outside of Christianity, with which to explain the world and give meaning to life. The unifying factor of non-Christians is rationalism. Until the 20th century men were rational optimists, working from their finite selves in hopes of finding a way to make sense of the Universe. They were humanists. They were able to do this because they were, without realizing it, working with the Christian presupposition of absolutes and anti-thesis, which they had no logical right to do, because without Christianity there can be no absolutes.<br />
<br />
But with the arrival of the twentieth century a shift in non-Christian thinking began to take place. Exactly when it all started cannot be pinned down, but as a general rule, it was the year 1890 in Europe, and 1935 in America. The shift spread gradually, in three different ways. First, it spread geographically, beginning in Germany, spreading across the Continent, crossing the Channel to England, and then crossing the Atlantic to America. Second, it spread through society, working its way downward from the educated upper classes to the lower working classes. Third, it spread from one area of thought to another, beginning with philosophy, then art, music, general culture and theology.<br />
<br />
It all started with philosophy. Men began to realize the contradiction of supporting rationalism with absolutes and they tried to do away with absolutes all together. Philosophers Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Satre, Jasper, and Hegel began it. They were no longer rational optimists. They reached what Schaeffer calls, ‘the line of despair,’ and they went beyond it. They gave up hope of trying to find a rational universal that would contain all thought. Logic had failed to come up with a meaning for life, so they forsook reason and tried to find something, anything that would give life meaning. Thus Nihilism came into being. Nihilism, the belief that everything is chaotic and meaningless, is the simplest form of despair. But in the struggle to get out of despair, and find an answer to nihilism, one is led even deeper into it. The next level of despair is the acceptance of a blind optimistic hope of meaning, based on a non-rational ‘leap of faith.’<br />
<br />
The ensuing dichotomy is that the rational and logical, result in lack of purpose and meaning, and the non-rational and non-logical result in some kind of an incommunicable, unexplainable, unaccountable existentialist ‘experience’ that can give meaning to life. This ‘experience’ is usually achieved by means of drugs and other forms of Eastern mysticism. But they could not reconcile the rational with the non-rational so they gave up the traditional idea of thesis and antithesis and replaced it with the concept of synthesis – the combination of partial truths to obtain a higher truth. But men cannot live with the conclusions of this system. In practice, one simply cannot entirely reject the methodology of antithesis, without a total alienation of man from himself, by some form of mental breakdown.<br />
<br />
The result of inability to actually practice the conclusions of either of these worldviews, has led modern thought to the third level of despair, a level of mysticism, of ultimate Nothing. The artists followed step soon afterward. The pillars of modern art - Picasso, Gauguin, Cezanne, Van Gogh. They introduced impressionism. They tried to abandon the particulars, and instead strove to capture the universal on canvas. Their pictures and the tragic stories of their lives reflect their failure. Then Duchamp and others introduced the element of chance into Art. It lost all its meaning. Pierre Schaeffer did the same thing with Music, producing senseless cacophony that reflected the message of Modern man. There is no meaning. When it comes to the fourth category, the general culture, we find pop music that combines the concept of drug use, the psychedelic, and vague pantheism, heavily reflecting the decline of humanity. In the cinema, Nihilistic and Existentialistic films follow suit.<br />
<br />
Karl Barth and the liberal German theologians opened the door of theology to the new mentality. In order to reconcile Reformation Christianity to the post modernist philosophy, they tried to do away with all the supernatural elements of Jesus, and recover the ‘historical Jesus.’ But they failed dreadfully. They discovered that if you remove the supernatural that is so intricately intertwined with the ‘historical,’ then there is no Jesus left. Then they could have either gone back to the original Reformation theology or gone ahead to nihilism. But they did neither. They created a new theology, a neo-orthodoxy, a religious existentialism that no longer held all the answers, and was in fact, an anti-theology.<br />
<br />
Neo-orthodoxy seems to have an advantage over secular existentialism, in that it can use certain religious terms to provide an illusion of communication of the incommunicable ‘final experience,’ whereas secular existentialism cannot. Every word has two parts - the dictionary definition and the connotation. The new theology therefore uses words, such as ‘pantheism’ that can have no actual relation to the subject, but their connotation makes the hearer thinks that he knows what is meant. The secret to the strength of neo-orthodoxy is that it uses symbols, such as ‘god’ with a connotation of personality that provide an illusion of meaning. Its philosophy is ‘Do not ask, just believe.’ Men fall for this because it sounds spiritual and vibrant, and because they want a ‘greater reality’ and are sick of cliched religious phrases and forms. They do not realize the danger of using undefined words. They are taking a leap of faith into an irrational, semantic mysticism.<br />
<br />
All these factors have worked together to make this monster called Post-Modernism. Humanity has stepped off the cliff, and fallen into madness. Today, every non-Christian is somewhere on a line between two points. On the one hand is the external reality about man, God, and the Universe. On the other hand is the logical conclusion of his false presuppositions, which are not compatible with reality. He is torn between these two consistencies. In order to rescue him from this dilemma, one must identify a man’s presuppositions, find the point of tension he is currently at, and then lead him farther and farther away from reality, to the logical conclusion of those presuppositions, until he recognizes the contradiction and realizes that his worldview simply doesn’t work. Then and only then can we bring in the solution, the thing that does work, God’s answer to man’s dilemma.Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331684048661786781.post-82893807000784309072010-06-17T16:11:00.002-05:002012-02-17T09:46:51.891-06:00MacbethOh horror, horror, horror!<br />Dark the thoughts that haunt my waking<br />Darker still the dreadful waiting<br />That consumes my tortured sleep.<br /><br />If it were done when ‘tis done,<br />It were best it were done quickly<br />But the question wants an answer<br />When it’s finished, is it done?<br /><br />Oh horror, horror, horror!<br />Dark the dagger I am holding<br />Darker still the blood is flowing<br />Through my fingers to the floor.<br /><br />Time and time alone will tell<br />If the prophecy is finished<br />When I wear the crown of Scotland<br />I will know that it is done.<br /><br />Oh horror, horror, horror,<br />Dark the stains upon my fingers<br />Darker still the wild whispers<br />From the burning heart of hell.<br /><br />The witches’ word is answered<br />And Hecate proven faithful<br />But the wild wind is shrieking<br />That the terror is not done.<br /><br />Oh horror, horror, horror!<br />Dark the shadows of the midnight,<br />Darker still the dying daylight<br />For Glamis has murdered sleep.<br /><br />There are faces all around me<br />Pale and bloody in the darkness<br />But my broken heart is crying<br />Can it not be all undone?<br /><br />Oh horror, horror, horror<br />Dark the empty throne I wanted<br />Darker still the hallways haunted<br />By the wraith of ravished sleep.<br /><br />Now Birnam wood is marching,<br />The long road to Dunsinane<br />And the wild wind is shrieking<br />It is done! It is done!Shannon Lisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16958362988079965253noreply@blogger.com2