So if you've been seeing any movies lately or you are a movie buff of any level you will undoubtedly know about the new movie thats coming out called The Golden Compass. However you may or may not know about the controversy surrounding it. There is a big to do over the movie. The books that the movie is based on where written, according to the author, to be the parallel of the Narnia books. He says that where as the Narnia books espouse Christianity, which is about as true as saying Dune espouses drug abuse and desert living, his books are pro atheism.
That being said you can understand how "The Church" has decided to boycott the movie. I found this....disquieting. One of the things that I have yet to fully come to terms with is peoples inability to draw lines and stick to them. Its a movie, and the makers of the movie have gone to lengths to take out any sort of religious propaganda. So what are you afraid of, are you scared your kids might read a book? Then make sure they don't read the books its that simple. Besides I've read plenty of books that espoused views that where not held by me, it didn't really change the way I saw things. I just thought "that was a good story". Besides, they're kids. There going to go, watch the movie and enjoy it for what it is, entertainment. On top of that most people go watch the movie simply because they don't want to read the book.
In the end though there is something more deep seeded I feel to this argument. I think most of those parents boycotting the movie would readily agree that they wouldn't take their kids to see any R rated films. Most I think would even say they don't like R rated films because of violence. I also think that you would find that many of those self same parents took their kids to see The Passion, which is a movie about watching Jesus get a beat down then tortured to death. This begs the obvious question, which I hope is the overarching question of this entire post. "Where do you draw the line?" and more importantly "Will you stick by that line?"
I think anyone would readily agree that an easy measure of a man is whether or not he sticks by his word. You won't take your kid to a movie because the author is an atheist? Well you might as well stay home from now on and never watch another movie unless its produced by In Light Broadcasting. Most writers of books and movies are atheists, "*gasp* say it ain't so!" I think you should draw the line and say thus farther and no more and stick by it. If you find that you start making exceptions to the rule then its time to reevaluate the line you drew. Is the line not in the right place, or is it simply your just not strong enough to stand by what you said?
I can think of a story which typifies this. Me and some of my friends where at an Applebees once. My friend was recounting a rather odd story. During the story he made mention of a necklace someone was wearing made out of fake penises. Now he had no trouble saying the word penis. But once it came to the point in the story where he was describing the fact that a certain female person had her genitals pierced he refused to say the word clitoris, or vagina for that matter. It bothered me to no end. Now I'm not one to go around yelling penis and vagina, but lets face it if I'm trying to describe something and it involves me talking about genitalia I'm not shy about naming either organ. The thing that bothered me was that he either draws the line at not saying either word or has no problem saying either word. Same thing with cussing. If you don't like it thats fine whatever, just don't go around saying that "shit" is ok to say but "fuck" is taking it too far. Once me and some friends where playing Guitar Hero and my friend, who's house we were in, said "shit" (for sake of understanding we will say his name was Jeff) . A few minutes later my other friend, lets say his name was Brian, said "fuck". Then Jeff proceeded to get mad at Brian for having said "fuck" in his house. After I recovered from my brain aneurysm, I thought how can you cuss in your house and then get made cause someone else cussed in your house? He said it was because what Brian had said was worse than what he had said. Personally I think if he had said either word in the presence of his mother it would not have gone over well either way.
Someone once said "be cold or be hot but don't be lukewarm", words to live by if you ask me. I'm not saying I'm perfect where this is concerned but I'm trying. I can at least see the value in reevaluating my lines when I see discrepancies between what I preach and what I do. Personally I'd rather live what I'm preaching and not preach what I'm not living.
So as you think about taking your kids to see the movie, think about all the times you've taken them to see movies that had atheistic writers, think about harry potter and how that had wizards and witches in it and about how you could argue that it "encouraged" witchcraft, and lord of the rings with all of the violence and the wizardry in that, then think about that little line that you've mentally drawn in the sand. Personally I'm going to go see that movie, heck I'll probably even go out and get the books and read em.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
A Look At Philosophy....
I've lately been drawn again and again to the subject of philosophy. For someone who's whole world more or less revolves around questions, I'm surprised I've never really ever taken a closer look at philosophy until now. As I thought about philosophy the Great Divine made an interesting point. That Philosophy is the science of asking questions which can only be answered by divinity. Philosophy is really a process, a process of asking questions that reveal new questions. The answer is never the ultimate goal, the answer is more a key to new questions and if you take the process far enough you always run into questions that can only be answered by divinity (my mother is great at this: "have you seen your brother?", "did you talk to him?", "what did he say?", "a new job?", "do they give him benefits?", "what kind?" and so on. Until I feel ready to throttle her, of course she usually hits upon the really important questions near the end and you get used to the interrogations after awhile and I can see the validity in them). Its often enough the middle ground between science and spiritualism, dabbling in both and reconciling the two often enough.
I like to think of it as a process of refining. You refine your questions until you reach the questions that really matter, those that deal with things way beyond our ability to grasp or understand. It also helps you get a grip, gives you perspective by making you remember that you are just one person in billions. Wikipedia describes it thusly: "Though no single definition of philosophy is uncontroversial, and the field has historically expanded and changed depending upon what kinds of questions were interesting or relevant in a given era, it is generally agreed that philosophy is a method, rather than a set of claims, propositions, or theories. Its investigations are based upon rational thinking, striving to make no unexamined assumptions and no leaps based on faith or pure analogy."
Its all part of something I like to call mind vs magic. The idea that there are 2 extremes, the extreme of the mind being someone that thinks logically and once they run up on something that can't be explained through science or logic doesn't turn to spirituality or divinity to explain it but comes up with some excuse or simply accepts it as a phenomenon and nothing else and then they put their faith in science to one day explain it away. The extreme of magic is no less dangerous, spirituality, religion, superstition. This person holds on to belief systems without first examining each question carefully against his beliefs, so like the person who operates purely from the mind state they often hold beliefs incongruous with one another, they throw away the ideas of logic and reasoning thinking them dangerous weapons that undermine faith.
I have a mantra that I like to use "balance in all things". I think its a good mantra to have and does a good job of explaining who I am and the way I am. Often I find that I will take an opposite stance to something that is being discussed, ala the devils advocate. Its just part of the way I am, I think that both sides of an argument should be present in order for people to have an open and honest discussion of something. Interestingly enough even when something that I agree with comes up I will take the subject and slant it, come at it from another angle almost undermine the argument just to be sure that some other side to the argument is present. Shadraq can attest to this as we had a discussion about the wording for one of his polls he did on his blog.
This also explains the way I see this argument. I think that the "mind" and "magic" should be used together, that you should have beliefs and a system of beliefs in things greater than yourself but you should also use the mind to think logically about any questions which arise, weighing them against your belief system. There are some things that can't be explained by the mind and those often must be taken on blind faith, but there are also things which can be examined through use of logic and reasoning and you should examine things in that way (the previous discussion of pentagrams being a prime example of this). This way your not left with an incongruous belief system, going around killing people because they are suspected of witchcraft...
I like to think of it as a process of refining. You refine your questions until you reach the questions that really matter, those that deal with things way beyond our ability to grasp or understand. It also helps you get a grip, gives you perspective by making you remember that you are just one person in billions. Wikipedia describes it thusly: "Though no single definition of philosophy is uncontroversial, and the field has historically expanded and changed depending upon what kinds of questions were interesting or relevant in a given era, it is generally agreed that philosophy is a method, rather than a set of claims, propositions, or theories. Its investigations are based upon rational thinking, striving to make no unexamined assumptions and no leaps based on faith or pure analogy."
Its all part of something I like to call mind vs magic. The idea that there are 2 extremes, the extreme of the mind being someone that thinks logically and once they run up on something that can't be explained through science or logic doesn't turn to spirituality or divinity to explain it but comes up with some excuse or simply accepts it as a phenomenon and nothing else and then they put their faith in science to one day explain it away. The extreme of magic is no less dangerous, spirituality, religion, superstition. This person holds on to belief systems without first examining each question carefully against his beliefs, so like the person who operates purely from the mind state they often hold beliefs incongruous with one another, they throw away the ideas of logic and reasoning thinking them dangerous weapons that undermine faith.
I have a mantra that I like to use "balance in all things". I think its a good mantra to have and does a good job of explaining who I am and the way I am. Often I find that I will take an opposite stance to something that is being discussed, ala the devils advocate. Its just part of the way I am, I think that both sides of an argument should be present in order for people to have an open and honest discussion of something. Interestingly enough even when something that I agree with comes up I will take the subject and slant it, come at it from another angle almost undermine the argument just to be sure that some other side to the argument is present. Shadraq can attest to this as we had a discussion about the wording for one of his polls he did on his blog.
This also explains the way I see this argument. I think that the "mind" and "magic" should be used together, that you should have beliefs and a system of beliefs in things greater than yourself but you should also use the mind to think logically about any questions which arise, weighing them against your belief system. There are some things that can't be explained by the mind and those often must be taken on blind faith, but there are also things which can be examined through use of logic and reasoning and you should examine things in that way (the previous discussion of pentagrams being a prime example of this). This way your not left with an incongruous belief system, going around killing people because they are suspected of witchcraft...
Monday, November 12, 2007
A Look At Symbols and Their Meaning
I once had a discussion with a friend of mine about pentagrams. I told him a little bit of the history of the pentagram, about how it represented different things to different people. At the time my understanding of the symbol was that it represented fire, earth, wind, water, and spirit to paganists.
Now the point of the discussion that I had had was the idea that Christianity saw the pentagram as a satanic symbol. That somehow this shape (and lets not fool ourselves, thats really all it is) encapsulated all of the evil in the world. I made the point that it was really just a symbol that had been taken from the pagans and then used by the satanists. Why they chose this symbol I'm not sure. He was apt to agree and see the point.
That however was not the end of the debate as later on it reasserted itself with some of my other friends as we again discussed it. This time my friend (the same one mentioned earlier) was the one to bring it up and he added some facts that I wasn't aware of, mainly the fact that Christians had used this symbol before the satanists had. I was a little shocked cause I didn't know anything about this. One of the other people we were discussing it with was hard pressed to let go of his upbringing and bring himself to take an objective look at it. He felt that satan/evil/ and darkness where inexorably tied to this simple shape. To be fair he is rather young, only a sophomore in high school still living at home and unwilling to question his beliefs and the beliefs of his parents. This time around I brought up the point that the pentagram was and is exactly what the name implies: a five pointed star and nothing more than that. A shape that you would learn in geometry no different from a square or an octagon. That different people see different signs and symbols in different ways and that if that is the case then how can there be truth in a symbol? How can there be universal truth in shape, at least as far as its symbolic meaning is concerned? If Jesus hadn't died on a cross but had hanged instead wouldn't Christians venerate the noose instead of the cross? Then I dug this up, for the purpose of this little blog I did a little bit of research (I looked it up on wikipedia) and pulled this from it: "Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia. The pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol. Christians once more commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus,[1][2] and it also has associations within Freemasonry." An interesting little tidbit, one that I think most people are totally ignorant of. Certainly something I was ignorant of. To think that people once wore pentagrams to symbolize the wounds of Christ, but now they attribute such a symbol to satan worship.
It was an interesting idea to me and one worth revisiting. This idea of symbolism and of personal symbolism at that. As we all have some sort of personal symbolism in our lives. What certain shapes and certain things represent to us, may not translate to others. There is no power in shapes and symbols unless someone puts it there. But even then it doesn't carry to recreations of that symbol. Perhaps there was power in the cross that Jesus actually died on. However I don't think that that power translates to the crosses people created to wear around their necks.
Although people would make the argument that they don't truly believe that the symbol holds any power that it simply represents Jesus's death on a cross and his resurrection, but somewhere in their subconscious is a deep rooted notion that it does in some way hold power. This is shown to be true simply in the choosing of the symbol. Why a cross and not something else?
At the same time isn't the power of this symbol simply in the crosses representation? If only the power to remind people of their salvation? Then, however we come again to the point that it is only a PERSONAL SYMBOLISM. That although the power may exist it only exists for that one person, and is only true for that person who clings to those beliefs. For a pagan the cross is simply that, a cross, it doesn't represent anything to them.
Then the question changes, is it possible for a person to put power into an object? Does it require the Great Divine or is a persons own power, having been placed within them by the Great Divine, enough? Is it possible for someone to work the raw "winds of change" within themselves? What of the story of our Order about the man who asked for a double portion of power, that he might have twice as much power as his teacher? Then received the robe from his predecessor and struck a river with that same robe and the river parted. Are we to believe that the robe held the power or the man held the power? If it was just the robe than what of the Great Divine? How did he factor into this, did he simply infuse the man with the asked power? Then why the need to have the robe in the first place? There are stories from our Order of people praying over water and using it to heal the sick. What of this? Then there is the story of one of our Order who was told by the Great Divine to speak to a rock so that water would come from it, but he disobeyed and struck the rock, but water still came.
In the end we return to the original question: "Is a pentagram inherently evil?" or we can ask a more broad reaching question which I think is better anyways, "Can symbols be inherently evil or good?". I believe that the answer is a solid and resounding, NO. How is it possible that a shape could be evil. If this was the case wouldn't school children everywhere be releasing darkness and demonic forces as they draw space scenes (cause as we are all aware most children draw pentagrams when making stars)? Wouldn't everyone wearing a cross be somehow changed simply by the wearing? We know this is not the case.
Side Note: there is some interesting reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram to be had there. Especially the geometry part.
Now the point of the discussion that I had had was the idea that Christianity saw the pentagram as a satanic symbol. That somehow this shape (and lets not fool ourselves, thats really all it is) encapsulated all of the evil in the world. I made the point that it was really just a symbol that had been taken from the pagans and then used by the satanists. Why they chose this symbol I'm not sure. He was apt to agree and see the point.
That however was not the end of the debate as later on it reasserted itself with some of my other friends as we again discussed it. This time my friend (the same one mentioned earlier) was the one to bring it up and he added some facts that I wasn't aware of, mainly the fact that Christians had used this symbol before the satanists had. I was a little shocked cause I didn't know anything about this. One of the other people we were discussing it with was hard pressed to let go of his upbringing and bring himself to take an objective look at it. He felt that satan/evil/ and darkness where inexorably tied to this simple shape. To be fair he is rather young, only a sophomore in high school still living at home and unwilling to question his beliefs and the beliefs of his parents. This time around I brought up the point that the pentagram was and is exactly what the name implies: a five pointed star and nothing more than that. A shape that you would learn in geometry no different from a square or an octagon. That different people see different signs and symbols in different ways and that if that is the case then how can there be truth in a symbol? How can there be universal truth in shape, at least as far as its symbolic meaning is concerned? If Jesus hadn't died on a cross but had hanged instead wouldn't Christians venerate the noose instead of the cross? Then I dug this up, for the purpose of this little blog I did a little bit of research (I looked it up on wikipedia) and pulled this from it: "Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia. The pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol. Christians once more commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus,[1][2] and it also has associations within Freemasonry." An interesting little tidbit, one that I think most people are totally ignorant of. Certainly something I was ignorant of. To think that people once wore pentagrams to symbolize the wounds of Christ, but now they attribute such a symbol to satan worship.
It was an interesting idea to me and one worth revisiting. This idea of symbolism and of personal symbolism at that. As we all have some sort of personal symbolism in our lives. What certain shapes and certain things represent to us, may not translate to others. There is no power in shapes and symbols unless someone puts it there. But even then it doesn't carry to recreations of that symbol. Perhaps there was power in the cross that Jesus actually died on. However I don't think that that power translates to the crosses people created to wear around their necks.
Although people would make the argument that they don't truly believe that the symbol holds any power that it simply represents Jesus's death on a cross and his resurrection, but somewhere in their subconscious is a deep rooted notion that it does in some way hold power. This is shown to be true simply in the choosing of the symbol. Why a cross and not something else?
At the same time isn't the power of this symbol simply in the crosses representation? If only the power to remind people of their salvation? Then, however we come again to the point that it is only a PERSONAL SYMBOLISM. That although the power may exist it only exists for that one person, and is only true for that person who clings to those beliefs. For a pagan the cross is simply that, a cross, it doesn't represent anything to them.
Then the question changes, is it possible for a person to put power into an object? Does it require the Great Divine or is a persons own power, having been placed within them by the Great Divine, enough? Is it possible for someone to work the raw "winds of change" within themselves? What of the story of our Order about the man who asked for a double portion of power, that he might have twice as much power as his teacher? Then received the robe from his predecessor and struck a river with that same robe and the river parted. Are we to believe that the robe held the power or the man held the power? If it was just the robe than what of the Great Divine? How did he factor into this, did he simply infuse the man with the asked power? Then why the need to have the robe in the first place? There are stories from our Order of people praying over water and using it to heal the sick. What of this? Then there is the story of one of our Order who was told by the Great Divine to speak to a rock so that water would come from it, but he disobeyed and struck the rock, but water still came.
In the end we return to the original question: "Is a pentagram inherently evil?" or we can ask a more broad reaching question which I think is better anyways, "Can symbols be inherently evil or good?". I believe that the answer is a solid and resounding, NO. How is it possible that a shape could be evil. If this was the case wouldn't school children everywhere be releasing darkness and demonic forces as they draw space scenes (cause as we are all aware most children draw pentagrams when making stars)? Wouldn't everyone wearing a cross be somehow changed simply by the wearing? We know this is not the case.
Side Note: there is some interesting reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram to be had there. Especially the geometry part.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Why vs What
Another post? Yea, I know, I know. But when you figure I might not post again for another month you realize I'm kind of compacting a months worth of posting into one day.
Now this is something I've been learning from the Great Divine for some few years now. Like mathematics everything in this "little" lesson builds upon itself.
Now for quiet a few years I used to ask the question "Why?". Why this and not that? Why now and not later? On and on and on. Until the Great Divine finally got fed up with it and told me something that changed the way I saw everything (please for my own sanity's sake no one say "paradigm shift"), it "changed my lens". He told me that "Why is not important, why is not the question you should be asking. What is an important question. Stop asking why, and start asking what." Now reading this you might think, "Yeah, so? I knew that. Its pretty simple." Thats all well and fine, but its like so many things in life. Until you KNOW it, you don't know it. Someone can tell me how to find the area of a curve, give me the formulas and everything. But until it clicks somewhere in my brain until it all comes into focus in that one moment of mental clarity it doesn't mean diddly. The same was true for this. It was a simple thing to say, and it seemed so obvious but I hadn't thought of it and hadn't been doing it till that moment.
After that little revelation I would catch myself asking "Why?" and I would take the question and formulate a new one that was a "What?" question instead. "Why did this happen?" vs "What do I do now?" After doing this for some time there was another level of revelation that the Great Divine showed me. That answers where not as important as questions. That it was more important for me to ask the right questions than it was for me to try to find the right answers. If that makes any sense, cause how can someone find the right answer without the right question. A detective understands this truth. He goes into the investigation knowing that the right questions will bring about the clues he needs to close the case. His job is based on asking the right questions. Because there are things that he may not be looking for that may come out if he asks them.
The next level of revelation is the idea that what causes action it brings change and order. Why brings stagnation and it brings chaos. For example, think about all the people who ask why, think about the way they act what they do. They are stuck dwelling on the past trying to make sense of it, while the world moves on and they miss it. Even if they get an answer to their question they are not satisfied, it will not help any. Like a toddler who asks you why continuously but is never seemingly satisfied with the answers they are given.
If I know what answer I seek, but not what question to ask I may never get the right answer. But if I know what question to ask, I will come across answers which I would never have even dreamed of.
"The key to the mysteries of the universe are not hidden in answers but questions." This is the last level of revelation, something seemingly simple but again there is a difference between a simple knowledge of the sentence in which you can recite it and a moment of mental clarity where the sentence changes the lens through which you view the world. Where something simple like that changes "the way you are".
Now this is something I've been learning from the Great Divine for some few years now. Like mathematics everything in this "little" lesson builds upon itself.
Now for quiet a few years I used to ask the question "Why?". Why this and not that? Why now and not later? On and on and on. Until the Great Divine finally got fed up with it and told me something that changed the way I saw everything (please for my own sanity's sake no one say "paradigm shift"), it "changed my lens". He told me that "Why is not important, why is not the question you should be asking. What is an important question. Stop asking why, and start asking what." Now reading this you might think, "Yeah, so? I knew that. Its pretty simple." Thats all well and fine, but its like so many things in life. Until you KNOW it, you don't know it. Someone can tell me how to find the area of a curve, give me the formulas and everything. But until it clicks somewhere in my brain until it all comes into focus in that one moment of mental clarity it doesn't mean diddly. The same was true for this. It was a simple thing to say, and it seemed so obvious but I hadn't thought of it and hadn't been doing it till that moment.
After that little revelation I would catch myself asking "Why?" and I would take the question and formulate a new one that was a "What?" question instead. "Why did this happen?" vs "What do I do now?" After doing this for some time there was another level of revelation that the Great Divine showed me. That answers where not as important as questions. That it was more important for me to ask the right questions than it was for me to try to find the right answers. If that makes any sense, cause how can someone find the right answer without the right question. A detective understands this truth. He goes into the investigation knowing that the right questions will bring about the clues he needs to close the case. His job is based on asking the right questions. Because there are things that he may not be looking for that may come out if he asks them.
The next level of revelation is the idea that what causes action it brings change and order. Why brings stagnation and it brings chaos. For example, think about all the people who ask why, think about the way they act what they do. They are stuck dwelling on the past trying to make sense of it, while the world moves on and they miss it. Even if they get an answer to their question they are not satisfied, it will not help any. Like a toddler who asks you why continuously but is never seemingly satisfied with the answers they are given.
If I know what answer I seek, but not what question to ask I may never get the right answer. But if I know what question to ask, I will come across answers which I would never have even dreamed of.
"The key to the mysteries of the universe are not hidden in answers but questions." This is the last level of revelation, something seemingly simple but again there is a difference between a simple knowledge of the sentence in which you can recite it and a moment of mental clarity where the sentence changes the lens through which you view the world. Where something simple like that changes "the way you are".
What are Blogs?
Your probably wondering why this post was posted the same day as the one below. Good question, well I had quiet a bit to say I guess (its a part of being a rather quiet person, you think overly much and never really have a way to get it out. Then when an avenue presents itself it all comes tumbling out, usually without rhyme reason or any cohesiveness. Although to the one who's talking it all makes sense.) and really didn't want to write it all down in one long post.
So as I wrestled with the thought of even starting this blog I was of course drawn to the question of "What do I hope to accomplish?". The answer was "to discuss those deeper things that are on my mind" as I did have a blog before that was more a diary than anything else, and that was more due to the fact that I had to write for my audience.
It also led to me dissecting others blogs. It seems to me that blogs, like diaries do more to reveal "the way a person is" than anything else. Now, let me take a second to explain what I mean by that phrase. "The way a person is" is everything that makes them who they are, the lens through which they see their world as well as they way they act talk and do everything. Its an all encompassing phrase. The way you talk, the way you walk, the way you think that people with piercings all over their face are weird, the way you see things as dirty even though no one else does, the way you think that people are staring at you even though no one is.
Now take for instance, Tom's blog The Emancipation of the Freed. Even if you have never met the man you can tell from the way he writes and what he writes about, the color and tint of the lens he sees the world through. Now I'm not saying one color or tint or whatever is better than the other, I'm merely pointing out that what is seen through those lenses is not always what is seen through other's lenses. Just because you can see through the Great Divines lens doesn't mean that the color or tint of your lens still isn't present. That I think is a topic of discussion for some other post however.
Then we move to something else, Shadraq's blog The Edge. Has a seemingly similar feel but you can tell that the direction and aim is different. Its as if hes still working within the visible light spectrum but instead of the color blue hes working with the color green. Weird analogy, and I don't think even I fully understand what I just said.
His blog is very spiritual like toms, but you can tell that the two blogs differ in some way. Whether you can put your finger on it is something else entirely. The obvious differences are the way in which they relate to that spirituality. Tom is very forward about it, seemingly very traditional in his views. He relates to his world in a very traditional sense although continues striving to see it with a different lens. Shadraq relates to his spirituality through movies, music, etc. but most importantly through the parallels he can draw between his spirituality and Star Wars. For tom its the movie BraveHeart.
Shadraq tries to see clearer through his lens while Tom strives to change the color hue and tint of the lens he already has. Part of that I think is the age difference Tom has lived with his lens for longer than Shadraq and he has seen as clear as he can through it. Now its time to change the color and the hue to see the same scene differently.
But lets move on, to Joe's blog. With Joe's blog its a lot less about spirituality, more just a direct transcribing of his brain to electronic paper. Its like he opened a door and let you walk in. Its messy inside like it is in all of our brains. There are inside jokes you don't get, things that don't make sense, however when viewed through his lens it would all make sense. His blog is a lot harder to dissect. Its a much more....emotional blog maybe? Instead of taking what hes seen/experienced and trying to relate it to you in a way you can understand it, he's trying to get you to relate to him. He's not writing for his audience but inviting the audience along for a ride in his mind as he looks at the world.
All that to say what? Reading a persons blog is about finding out "the way a person is"? Maybe, but whether or not you realize it thats whats happening. Something to keep in mind next time you read something on someones blog.
So as I wrestled with the thought of even starting this blog I was of course drawn to the question of "What do I hope to accomplish?". The answer was "to discuss those deeper things that are on my mind" as I did have a blog before that was more a diary than anything else, and that was more due to the fact that I had to write for my audience.
It also led to me dissecting others blogs. It seems to me that blogs, like diaries do more to reveal "the way a person is" than anything else. Now, let me take a second to explain what I mean by that phrase. "The way a person is" is everything that makes them who they are, the lens through which they see their world as well as they way they act talk and do everything. Its an all encompassing phrase. The way you talk, the way you walk, the way you think that people with piercings all over their face are weird, the way you see things as dirty even though no one else does, the way you think that people are staring at you even though no one is.
Now take for instance, Tom's blog The Emancipation of the Freed. Even if you have never met the man you can tell from the way he writes and what he writes about, the color and tint of the lens he sees the world through. Now I'm not saying one color or tint or whatever is better than the other, I'm merely pointing out that what is seen through those lenses is not always what is seen through other's lenses. Just because you can see through the Great Divines lens doesn't mean that the color or tint of your lens still isn't present. That I think is a topic of discussion for some other post however.
Then we move to something else, Shadraq's blog The Edge. Has a seemingly similar feel but you can tell that the direction and aim is different. Its as if hes still working within the visible light spectrum but instead of the color blue hes working with the color green. Weird analogy, and I don't think even I fully understand what I just said.
His blog is very spiritual like toms, but you can tell that the two blogs differ in some way. Whether you can put your finger on it is something else entirely. The obvious differences are the way in which they relate to that spirituality. Tom is very forward about it, seemingly very traditional in his views. He relates to his world in a very traditional sense although continues striving to see it with a different lens. Shadraq relates to his spirituality through movies, music, etc. but most importantly through the parallels he can draw between his spirituality and Star Wars. For tom its the movie BraveHeart.
Shadraq tries to see clearer through his lens while Tom strives to change the color hue and tint of the lens he already has. Part of that I think is the age difference Tom has lived with his lens for longer than Shadraq and he has seen as clear as he can through it. Now its time to change the color and the hue to see the same scene differently.
But lets move on, to Joe's blog. With Joe's blog its a lot less about spirituality, more just a direct transcribing of his brain to electronic paper. Its like he opened a door and let you walk in. Its messy inside like it is in all of our brains. There are inside jokes you don't get, things that don't make sense, however when viewed through his lens it would all make sense. His blog is a lot harder to dissect. Its a much more....emotional blog maybe? Instead of taking what hes seen/experienced and trying to relate it to you in a way you can understand it, he's trying to get you to relate to him. He's not writing for his audience but inviting the audience along for a ride in his mind as he looks at the world.
All that to say what? Reading a persons blog is about finding out "the way a person is"? Maybe, but whether or not you realize it thats whats happening. Something to keep in mind next time you read something on someones blog.
Oculus Tempestas
Odd name for a Blog I know, don't flatter yourself though as I could really care less about what your opinion of it is. I figured though that I would start with a simple explanation of why I chose it. It's simple really I've always referred to myself as "The Eye of the Storm". Not sure why, its something that came to me from the Great Divine so I can only guess at its implications.
I imagine its how the Great Divine sees me just as much as it is the way I see myself. The Eye of the Storm is quiet compared to the rest of the storm. There is no wind in the Eye of the Storm, everything is serene and the eye opens up to the sky so that light can shine in on it. So while the surrounding storm picks up and moves things and reeks its havoc the eye is untouched. Its mostly how I see myself, seemingly unchanged while others are pushed and pulled and put down in other places, some people are swept away others destroyed by the winds of change that flow around me. I think it also says something about my timid quiet nature. Although I'm not very timid when I'm mad or upset, but most of the time I keep my thoughts to myself and my mouth closed. Now that I'm writing this I realize that I could write an entire book about the parallels but thats really neither here nor there.
Oculus Tempestas, it should read Oculus of Tempestas but lets be honest that doesn't sound as good. At least let me be honest and say it didn't sound as good to ME. Anyways, thats it in a nut shell.
I imagine its how the Great Divine sees me just as much as it is the way I see myself. The Eye of the Storm is quiet compared to the rest of the storm. There is no wind in the Eye of the Storm, everything is serene and the eye opens up to the sky so that light can shine in on it. So while the surrounding storm picks up and moves things and reeks its havoc the eye is untouched. Its mostly how I see myself, seemingly unchanged while others are pushed and pulled and put down in other places, some people are swept away others destroyed by the winds of change that flow around me. I think it also says something about my timid quiet nature. Although I'm not very timid when I'm mad or upset, but most of the time I keep my thoughts to myself and my mouth closed. Now that I'm writing this I realize that I could write an entire book about the parallels but thats really neither here nor there.
Oculus Tempestas, it should read Oculus of Tempestas but lets be honest that doesn't sound as good. At least let me be honest and say it didn't sound as good to ME. Anyways, thats it in a nut shell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
