Archive for July, 2006

Poem of the Week: Sonnet

{ July 26, 2006 @ 1:36 pm } · { Love, Poetry, Uncategorized }
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Yet another sonnet phrased about love

But at a loss to find the words to write.

Is it this? Is it that? Ah, who can prove

That love is such and such: this wrong, that right? 

It is all looks and smiles, as Leo once wrote.

Tender, soft looks and smiles are the words by

Which love whispers and with which now has smote

My heart and hastens me to smile, to cry, 

To look, to speak with more than looks to her.

What words can express our joy and passion?

Who can compose a sentence that whispers more

sublime truths than smiles seem to fashion? 

I cannot find the words with which to say

“I love you.”  Know I say it anyway.

Soul?

{ July 24, 2006 @ 1:33 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Somehow, those deep, almost unanswerable questions always pop into my mind at times that are completely unfeasible to answer them.  As I was driving to a barbeque I suddenly began to wonder, “What is the soul?”

Bad timing.  That isn’t exactly a topic of conversation for bocce ball.

The greatest commandment commands that we love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  Most people have a good idea what is meant by heart and mind, but soul?

Webster’s is the furthest I have been able to research the question so far.  The soul is what inimates us, moves us.  Aristotle wrote about the soul in the Nicomachean Ethics which will probably be my next read.

I feel kind of sheepish that I have never inquired into the nature of the soul before when it is obviously so integral to philosophy and faith.  Most people seem to only have a vague idea what the soul is.  As I begin this persuit, I am sure I will post on this subject again.

If you have any pointers on where to look for instruction or any knowledge about the nature of the soul, please comment.

Poem of the Week: Old West

{ July 20, 2006 @ 3:05 pm } · { Poetry, Uncategorized }
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Back then

Men wore big hats

Women wore long dresses

And rascals caroused in the bars—

Old west.

Poem of the week: Triolet

{ July 12, 2006 @ 3:54 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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A simple lie the baker told

And closed up the brand new shop.

“The flour’s out, the bread is sold.”

a simple lie the baker told.

The patrons left, the oven’s cold.

He watches the business flop.

A simple lie the baker told,

And closed up the brand new shop.

Is it Good that Nietzsche “Killed” God?

{ July 11, 2006 @ 1:50 pm } · { Faith, Philosophy, Uncategorized }
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Let me begin by clearing up the important details right now.  Nietzsche said that God is dead for a very specific reason.  According to him, God was a concept man had created and had needed, but during Nietzsche’s day and age, man had outgrown that need and therefore was able to abandon and let the concept of God die. 

Whether or not you like the idea of God being a concept man created in order to cope with the world and that concept being laid aside when it was no longer needed, it seems to be a pretty common view.  People who still believe in God are often looked at as naive for clinging to a silly, uneducated concept.

Here is the reason it is good that Nietzsche killed the concept of God.  When we allow the concept of God to die in our own lives as well as in general, it allows us to begin to search out the living God.  Many people today see no need for a concept of God but don’t understand that God might be someone.  As a Christian, I often fall into the trap of accepting a concept of God as good enough and fail to remember that God is active, alive, and holy.  Our culture accepts science as legitimate and discards the religious and supernatural.  In reaction we often try to explain God logically and reasonably and gloss over the fact that He is not a syllogism.  The scientific method can’t test for God.

When we lay to rest the concept of God that we can control and mold we free ourselves from one of the most destructive, binding lies that will ever enter our lives.  Nietzsche sounded out the idols “with a tuning fork as with a hammer.”  In other words, the idols will ring hollow when struck.  Living with only a concept of God is a hollow way to live. 

Casting down the idols we build up frees us to see the world more rationally but also allows us to seek the God who does not fear the tuning fork or the hammer.   The living God is uncontrollable. We do not define him; rather, we draw close to him because he allows us to.  A concept of God will never lead to the joy of reverence.  A concept of God will never make you feel like you have come close to something that can undo you but that also loves you dearly.  A concept of God will not free your mind to search, to pursue hard questions.  A concept of God creates slavery; following a living God makes a person unable to be enslaved.

Lay aside the concept of God and search for the God who is real.

Poem of the Week: Bumble Bee

{ July 5, 2006 @ 1:20 pm } · { Poetry, Uncategorized }
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Tumble me Bumble-bee! You sting!

Glass flappers, hasp raspers, six legs,

yellow and black sections and rings.

 

Flossum dan Possum man! Your dead!

Not yet gone but flat on your back.                              

Are you dying or just going to bed?

 

Honely molf, Lonely Wolf! No pack!

Wandering pondering: alone

Except when you’re on the attack.

 

Moggie tad, Doggie lad! No bone!

Dig on boy, dig on, keep trying.

Pull em up, new treasures unknown.

 

Ruman noy Human boy! Stop crying!

Go to bed. Sleep! I’ll stop rhyming.

A Poem A Week

{ July 3, 2006 @ 1:28 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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My sister and I have decided to try and write a poem each week.  I’ll probably post them here each Wednesday.  This week will be a terza poem. I know that you are so excited you can hardly wait until Wednesday, but thats too bad. Wait anyway.