Posts

Posted on

Conversation Opener: Miracles

From Huston Smith’s ‘The World’s Religions’ chapter on Christianity – pg 323

“The Gospel accounts, written by members of the early Church, vibrate with wonder at his performances. Their pages… teem with miracles. We have seen that these impressed multitudes , but it would be a mistake to place our emphasis there. For one thing, Jesus did not emphasize his miracles. He never used them as devices to strong-arm people into believing him.”

It’s interesting, right, that in the world’s most popular religion we have this dichotomy? Here we have a God who chooses to demonstrate its power through control and manipulation of the material world (water to wine, curing the blind, etc.) when the very ‘salvation’ it teaches has little to do with creating dominion or control over earthly things.

Continue reading “Conversation Opener: Miracles” »

Posted on

Drink deep.

A poem I wrote over Thanksgiving, 2015.

One writes a page – she’s got it down:
comes back to it when back in town,
picks just the words to earn her crowns,
make pages come alive.

His songs embrace this tuning more:
if ever they become a bore
the next performance, change the score,
and melody, it thrives. 

Our houses we build brick by brick.
We paint the walls until they’re thick – 
so filled with things that make us tick
and with our pretty wives.

We learn this from an early age
Each actors on our private stage,
won’t settle for what’s on the page-
to mend scripts we’ll contrive. 

And so I take this talent learned
(to craft the things for which I’ve yearned,
by force of will wrest gold I’ve earned)
and lift myself I strive.

But twisting talent inward’s hard
For me today (no piece of art)
and me of ere are miles apart,
and living different lives.

Continue reading “Drink deep.” »

Posted on

Not a writer? Write something anyway.

Against what feel like all the excuses in the world, I write these words. 

I’ve been sitting and listening to lectures on YouTube for the past few days – watching, with great concern, the spread of a virus throughout the world, comforting myself with the idea that in simply listening to intellectuals debate ideas (some topical, some fundamental) I’m accomplishing something, which is undoubtably true. 

But the mere fact that I’m rationalizing my ‘listen-don’t-speak’ behavioral pattern indicates I’m very much aware that while I know I’m accomplishing something, I ultimately still feel like I’ve been procrastinating.

It’s a vague sense of procrastination, I’ll admit, probably because I’m not sure exactly what I should be doing, at least not fully. And hey – I’ve been listening and learning lots of new things, and that can’t be all bad, right? 

But in the end, the guilt overcame the justifications and I opened my computer and started hacking away.

Continue reading “Not a writer? Write something anyway.” »