Last night Viktor and I went to Cambridge with our TGIF friends Ruby and John to see Ruby sing in the Nelson Mass and Sea Changes. Vic liked the Nelson Mass, because it fit the chapel (have you seen this chapel, it's amazing, the celing is spidewebed. Beautiful! I prefered Sea Changes because it told a story. It was about this town that was washed into the sea bit by bit until even the church with its grand old bell falls in. Later a fisherman and his crew sail over that spot and can hear the bell. You could hear the story flowing from the sounds and the songs.
Peace,
Chris
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Friday, November 11, 2005
"The Door" takes on the Jedi religion
Really funny, mixture of Baptists and Dead Sea Scrolls, and such. Makes me smile!
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
The first set of articles are up at "The Foundation"
They are a pretty good mix, two pro-fair trade, one pro-free trade, and one "let's not get involved." Good stuff, check 'em out!
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
And in Darfur... the bad guys won
Check out the article. Basicly says that the genocide is done in Darfur, but only because there is no one left to kill. 400,000 killed 2 million expelled.
God have mercy,
Chris
God have mercy,
Chris
epiphanies of the morning
Some of my best ideas, and some of my worst, come to me while showering. This morning I was thinking of religion and politics (no surprise) and I had a thought, what would Paul's way of dealing with foreign policy be? My initial thought is that he gives no answer to that question. The second answer I thought of is that his views of the relationships between people can be made roughly analogous to relationships between nations. So if you have a problem first go to the person you have a problem with, then go to other, and so on.
My second epiphany is that the differance between "New Age" stuff and Mysticism proper is that New Agers refuse to let the self disappear.
Also I'm reading two new books 1 is "The Changing Faces of Jesus" by Geza Vermesh, which contains GV's views the Historical Jesus. The other is "The World Hitler Never Made" which is a history of people writing alternative histories about Nazi Germany.
My second epiphany is that the differance between "New Age" stuff and Mysticism proper is that New Agers refuse to let the self disappear.
Also I'm reading two new books 1 is "The Changing Faces of Jesus" by Geza Vermesh, which contains GV's views the Historical Jesus. The other is "The World Hitler Never Made" which is a history of people writing alternative histories about Nazi Germany.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
And over at Univeral-Bones
Things have started. I've published the first chapter of what will be a serialized novel. I'm still waiting for submissions. If you want to submit email me at universalbones@hotmail.com
Peace,
Chris
PS As for The Foundation I'm still waiting for 1 more article, then I'll publish the first batch of 3!
Peace,
Chris
PS As for The Foundation I'm still waiting for 1 more article, then I'll publish the first batch of 3!
I miss America
On this Guy Fawks Day I am in Culture Shock, I want my Motherland.
As I stood solemnly by our bonfire, and watched fireworks above a burning effigy of Parent. I was in culture shock, it was the 4th of July, but it wasn’t. As some of you know I have a mixed feeling about the 4th but tonight none of that was important. All I could think about was home. I said allowed, in distant wonder, "man, it looks like when the British burnt the first White House," before I realized it was not a particularly tactful thing to say surrounded by the attacker’s ancestors. As the bombs burst in air I thought about my American brothers and sisters in Iraq, under bombardment. And as the effigy burnt down the skeletal leavings reaching up like the remains of the World Trade Center quiet hidden tears came. Basic raw patriotism bubbled up in me.
I could go off on a rant about the threat of China and the ineffectiveness of the EU and the UN, but I’m not sure how genuine that would be. Long short its been a night of emotions.
Good night.
As I stood solemnly by our bonfire, and watched fireworks above a burning effigy of Parent. I was in culture shock, it was the 4th of July, but it wasn’t. As some of you know I have a mixed feeling about the 4th but tonight none of that was important. All I could think about was home. I said allowed, in distant wonder, "man, it looks like when the British burnt the first White House," before I realized it was not a particularly tactful thing to say surrounded by the attacker’s ancestors. As the bombs burst in air I thought about my American brothers and sisters in Iraq, under bombardment. And as the effigy burnt down the skeletal leavings reaching up like the remains of the World Trade Center quiet hidden tears came. Basic raw patriotism bubbled up in me.
I could go off on a rant about the threat of China and the ineffectiveness of the EU and the UN, but I’m not sure how genuine that would be. Long short its been a night of emotions.
Good night.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Just read "The Journey to the East" by Hesse
It was fun, and a short read. It metephorically talks about the journey of life, and how you only begin being more than an innitiate after you have suffered. It also has a Christ figure Leo who is a servant, but actualy the president of the "League" and eventually the main character realizes he is simply a candle that must decrease and Leo must increase. Yet, the currious thing about that is that he also suggests Leo is just a character, and Hesse himself is alive, but in giving life to the character he is then becoming less alive. Not entirely sure what to make of it right now. It will take some meditation.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Things are changing!!!
My faithful readers may have thought I have slowed down. The LutherMatrix has become a storing sight for spam, and I've not posted in 9 days. Fear not! This has happened only because I've been working on something new. I have decided to stretch the power of the internet. I have created two blogozines edited by yours truely. Blogozines are self-perpetuating online magazines. I got the idea from Daniel's Lutheran Carnivals. Basicly the reader and the writer become one. The readers supply content for other readers. Universal Bones is my literary magazine, and The Foundation is a political magazine trying to get to the bottom of arguments, and foster healthy debate. If you feel like contributing to either of these publications email The.foundation@hotmail.com or universalbones@hotmail.com .
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Sunday, October 16, 2005
I've been thinking about governing today
I thought about the direction I'd like America to go. I ended up choosing this for my idea for SEIU. Its not as well thought out as it should be, but such is life.
Here are some other thoughts that came to mind:
Pass the Equal Rights amendment- After all isn't it about time?
Achieve Energy Independence- Make a big push for alternative energy technology!
Completely forgive 3rd world debt to the US- If I remember correctly it would cost a very small amount (I know in britian if every citizen paid 1% of their income for a year the 3rd world's debt to the UK would be paid off)
Paying down the national debt- It might involve raising taxes a little, but let's be independent. Avoid entangling alliances.
Election day holidays- Voting is what makes democracy work, but working is what feeds the family. If you had the day off to vote you could do both with ease!
Remove the government's control of marriage- Basicly the government could hand out Civil Unions to anyone they want, but only the church could pronounce someone married.
Establish a new SEATO- Basicly a NATO for Asia. It would stop India and Pakistan from killing one another, it could help in the war vs. Islamic extremism (Pakistan and the Philipines would have new allies to fight the Jihadists) and it would keep China from sole economic/military hegemony of the continent. (by the way I realize this would be an entangling alliance, I'm kind of inconsistant)
Offensive/Defensive weapons ratio- For every dollar we spend on offensive weapons we need to spend 10 cents on defensive things, like vehicle armor and kevlar and such.
Raise the Minimum wage- It seems to make the economy go up, and it helps the poorest out there!
Buy up Russia's excess plutonium- There is lots of it just sitting around. I don't want a dirty bomb anywhere, or a Nuke for that matter.
Here are some other thoughts that came to mind:
Pass the Equal Rights amendment- After all isn't it about time?
Achieve Energy Independence- Make a big push for alternative energy technology!
Completely forgive 3rd world debt to the US- If I remember correctly it would cost a very small amount (I know in britian if every citizen paid 1% of their income for a year the 3rd world's debt to the UK would be paid off)
Paying down the national debt- It might involve raising taxes a little, but let's be independent. Avoid entangling alliances.
Election day holidays- Voting is what makes democracy work, but working is what feeds the family. If you had the day off to vote you could do both with ease!
Remove the government's control of marriage- Basicly the government could hand out Civil Unions to anyone they want, but only the church could pronounce someone married.
Establish a new SEATO- Basicly a NATO for Asia. It would stop India and Pakistan from killing one another, it could help in the war vs. Islamic extremism (Pakistan and the Philipines would have new allies to fight the Jihadists) and it would keep China from sole economic/military hegemony of the continent. (by the way I realize this would be an entangling alliance, I'm kind of inconsistant)
Offensive/Defensive weapons ratio- For every dollar we spend on offensive weapons we need to spend 10 cents on defensive things, like vehicle armor and kevlar and such.
Raise the Minimum wage- It seems to make the economy go up, and it helps the poorest out there!
Buy up Russia's excess plutonium- There is lots of it just sitting around. I don't want a dirty bomb anywhere, or a Nuke for that matter.
Sliced Bread Contest, enter, its cool!
Got an idea that could change the world, well, here is your chance to make it real!
http://www.sinceslicedbread.com/
http://www.sinceslicedbread.com/
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
A book review of “No Man is an Island” by Thomas Merton/musings about alternative Christianities
First things first I want to thank Kevin for buying me this book as a going away present.
"No Man is an Island" is a very well thought out book. It consists of 16 essays about various concepts involved in the spiritual contemplative life. I will draw out the overall logic that runs through all of his essays, then I’ll mention a few thoughts about ethics that this book invoked, his view of pre-destination and free-will, and finally speculate about the philosophical underpinnings of his argument (I warn you I’m not a philosopher in any sense of the word).
I want to give a brief caveat about Merton’s worldview. At various points he writes some things that made me as a Lutheran/protestant cringe. For example "I exist to save my soul" and "God’s will for me is that I should shape my own destiny, work out my own salvation." Yeah, its that Faith/Works thing.
Merton’s basic framework that is found throughout the various essays goes something like this. Most of life’s anxiety and strain comes from dependence on self. But once we start to shake off the blinders of huberious we recognizes that we are all human, all fallible, all fall short. Therefore we need to love one another in spite of our shortfalls. If we don’t, no one will love us. If we are going to love others we needs to love them well.
To love someone well we need to first know ourselves. Merton admonishes us that we should not self examine too much (think of Luther’s thoughts about "bellybutton gazing") because we start to question everything and at its extreme "disfigure our whole personality."
We must not see ourselves totally in our actions, as they are often not our actions, but the actions of our unconscious or of societal compulsions.
To find ourselves we need to "take up our cross" and not the cross we want (for example who wouldn’t want to be beat up defending a higher truth, boatloads of starving refugees, etc [or maybe that’s just me] but who would want to suffer ailment or illness or a dead end job?), but the cross destined for us. Suffering is the most personal act that exists. It asks us "who are you?" It asks what were we, what have we become, what do we want to be. And in this suffering we will realize the contradictions in our answers. We will give up the idea that we are objective, as we often twist facts and information to fit what we know. We need to be humble and accept ourselves for who we are, because if we are not at peace with ourselves all our interactions with others will be rooted in falsity and only spread our internal conflicts into external ones.
Once we know ourselves we must be honest and truthful to the other, we will wear no masks, and be humble. And then we can enter into relationship accepting the other for who they are. We can, to quote Merton "respect their solitude." The other becomes more than a mirror of our own soul. Our love is no longer narcissistic; it isn’t simply creating people in our own image. We are no longer a painter creating a self-portrait out of the other. At base we are recognizing the right of the other to be an autonomous person; we allow the other to have secrets.
Now here is the kicker, apply all that I wrote about the other to God as well as our neighbor. We need to be honest with Him, as He knows us better than ourselves and before we were formed in the womb. Approach God, but allow God to be God,
"If I find Him with great ease, perhaps He is not my God./ If I cannot hope to find Him at all, is He my God?/ If I find Him wherever I wish, have I found him?/ If He can find me whenever He wishes, and tells me Who He is and who I am, and if I then know that He Whom I could not find has found me: then I know He is the Lord, my God: He has touched me with the finger that made me out of nothing."
Reading this got me thinking about ethics. Merton wrote, "We obey people not for their sake, but because we believe their will is the will of God." This kind of blew me away, what does that say about voting, about having bosses, about… everything! I think, I could be wrong, but I think, it means we have to ask ourselves "If Jesus was me, how would he act?"
Merton’s take on the conflict between predestination and free will is all wound up in the idea of Hope. (warning I may butcher his thinking) They are both brought together with the idea of Hope. By our hoping that we are predestinated for salvation we freely choose our salvation.
Finally, I noticed constant sideways references to Plato in Merton’s work. For example, our actions are a shadow of us, but we need to focus on the light that created the shadow, and of course his view of heaven, much like C.S. Lewis’ espoused in the Narnia Chronicles, is that of us (and all of creation) moving from the state of being Emanations to being Form. In heaven a horse will become the perfect Horse, a man will become Man. Nietzsche calls Christianity Plato for the masses, I think this is why. It makes me think. What is Hell then? The first thought of course is Sheol, "the grave", becomes "the Cave" of Plato’s Republic. Another thought I had was that we become the totality of a corrupt and imperfect emanation of ourselves.
A larger question this brings up is what if Christianity had a different philosophical tradition as the background to its history (baring the argument that all philosophy is simply a critique or counter critique of Plato)? I think we can see some generations of this in some present presentations of Christianity.
For example Liberation Theology does in some ways points toward an engendering of Christianity that takes Marxist thought rather seriously. At base it says that God has a preferential view of the poor. There are also Post-Modern Christians that I’ve read about some. The solution to the problem of "a lack of connection between things" is that we need to weave snippets of scripture into a quilt of new thoughts that fit into new contexts. We also need to further democratize theology. How to do this is rather nebulous.
What about a very Eastern Christianity? (I am thinking a little of Borg’s view of a sage-like Jesus) Perhaps like Buddhism there would be a recognition of suffering throughout the Bible (eg Cain, the exile, the destruction of the Temple) culminating in the crucifixion of Jesus. Then there would be an end to the cycle of suffering through the teachings and re-birth of Jesus in… the pure land.
Of course this is REALLY academic. Still, its interesting, I remember a while back there was a historical fiction series where Christianity was spliced with Norse religion and Scandinavia took over Europe… Uffdah!
Peace,
Chris
"No Man is an Island" is a very well thought out book. It consists of 16 essays about various concepts involved in the spiritual contemplative life. I will draw out the overall logic that runs through all of his essays, then I’ll mention a few thoughts about ethics that this book invoked, his view of pre-destination and free-will, and finally speculate about the philosophical underpinnings of his argument (I warn you I’m not a philosopher in any sense of the word).
I want to give a brief caveat about Merton’s worldview. At various points he writes some things that made me as a Lutheran/protestant cringe. For example "I exist to save my soul" and "God’s will for me is that I should shape my own destiny, work out my own salvation." Yeah, its that Faith/Works thing.
Merton’s basic framework that is found throughout the various essays goes something like this. Most of life’s anxiety and strain comes from dependence on self. But once we start to shake off the blinders of huberious we recognizes that we are all human, all fallible, all fall short. Therefore we need to love one another in spite of our shortfalls. If we don’t, no one will love us. If we are going to love others we needs to love them well.
To love someone well we need to first know ourselves. Merton admonishes us that we should not self examine too much (think of Luther’s thoughts about "bellybutton gazing") because we start to question everything and at its extreme "disfigure our whole personality."
We must not see ourselves totally in our actions, as they are often not our actions, but the actions of our unconscious or of societal compulsions.
To find ourselves we need to "take up our cross" and not the cross we want (for example who wouldn’t want to be beat up defending a higher truth, boatloads of starving refugees, etc [or maybe that’s just me] but who would want to suffer ailment or illness or a dead end job?), but the cross destined for us. Suffering is the most personal act that exists. It asks us "who are you?" It asks what were we, what have we become, what do we want to be. And in this suffering we will realize the contradictions in our answers. We will give up the idea that we are objective, as we often twist facts and information to fit what we know. We need to be humble and accept ourselves for who we are, because if we are not at peace with ourselves all our interactions with others will be rooted in falsity and only spread our internal conflicts into external ones.
Once we know ourselves we must be honest and truthful to the other, we will wear no masks, and be humble. And then we can enter into relationship accepting the other for who they are. We can, to quote Merton "respect their solitude." The other becomes more than a mirror of our own soul. Our love is no longer narcissistic; it isn’t simply creating people in our own image. We are no longer a painter creating a self-portrait out of the other. At base we are recognizing the right of the other to be an autonomous person; we allow the other to have secrets.
Now here is the kicker, apply all that I wrote about the other to God as well as our neighbor. We need to be honest with Him, as He knows us better than ourselves and before we were formed in the womb. Approach God, but allow God to be God,
"If I find Him with great ease, perhaps He is not my God./ If I cannot hope to find Him at all, is He my God?/ If I find Him wherever I wish, have I found him?/ If He can find me whenever He wishes, and tells me Who He is and who I am, and if I then know that He Whom I could not find has found me: then I know He is the Lord, my God: He has touched me with the finger that made me out of nothing."
Reading this got me thinking about ethics. Merton wrote, "We obey people not for their sake, but because we believe their will is the will of God." This kind of blew me away, what does that say about voting, about having bosses, about… everything! I think, I could be wrong, but I think, it means we have to ask ourselves "If Jesus was me, how would he act?"
Merton’s take on the conflict between predestination and free will is all wound up in the idea of Hope. (warning I may butcher his thinking) They are both brought together with the idea of Hope. By our hoping that we are predestinated for salvation we freely choose our salvation.
Finally, I noticed constant sideways references to Plato in Merton’s work. For example, our actions are a shadow of us, but we need to focus on the light that created the shadow, and of course his view of heaven, much like C.S. Lewis’ espoused in the Narnia Chronicles, is that of us (and all of creation) moving from the state of being Emanations to being Form. In heaven a horse will become the perfect Horse, a man will become Man. Nietzsche calls Christianity Plato for the masses, I think this is why. It makes me think. What is Hell then? The first thought of course is Sheol, "the grave", becomes "the Cave" of Plato’s Republic. Another thought I had was that we become the totality of a corrupt and imperfect emanation of ourselves.
A larger question this brings up is what if Christianity had a different philosophical tradition as the background to its history (baring the argument that all philosophy is simply a critique or counter critique of Plato)? I think we can see some generations of this in some present presentations of Christianity.
For example Liberation Theology does in some ways points toward an engendering of Christianity that takes Marxist thought rather seriously. At base it says that God has a preferential view of the poor. There are also Post-Modern Christians that I’ve read about some. The solution to the problem of "a lack of connection between things" is that we need to weave snippets of scripture into a quilt of new thoughts that fit into new contexts. We also need to further democratize theology. How to do this is rather nebulous.
What about a very Eastern Christianity? (I am thinking a little of Borg’s view of a sage-like Jesus) Perhaps like Buddhism there would be a recognition of suffering throughout the Bible (eg Cain, the exile, the destruction of the Temple) culminating in the crucifixion of Jesus. Then there would be an end to the cycle of suffering through the teachings and re-birth of Jesus in… the pure land.
Of course this is REALLY academic. Still, its interesting, I remember a while back there was a historical fiction series where Christianity was spliced with Norse religion and Scandinavia took over Europe… Uffdah!
Peace,
Chris
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Prayer request from fellow missionary in Guatemala
Maggie sent me this. Sounds like things are a little ugly right now.
"Hi Friends!
I hope all is well with you guys! It sounds like everyone is having a great time at their various sites.
I have another prayer request - Guatemala is in bad shape right now. I wish this were an email filled with funny stories, but alas.....
We finished language school this past Wednesday and it has been a bit of an adventure ever since, actually our last day was kind of non-existent due to what I thought was only the usual massive amounts of rain that rainy season brings - I don't know if you have heard about it but Guatemala has been ravaged by Hurricane Stan.
I am perfectly safe, as are the other volunteers but the majority of the country is not. Locals here are saying that this hurricane has been more devastating for the country than Mitch back in 1998.
It rained here for 3 or 4 days and has caused massive amounts of flooding and countless landslides. From what I understand from radio reports and newspapers, it seems that almost all the bridges on the Pacific lowlands have been destroyed by the overflowing rivers. There are a lot of people taking refuge on their roofs. In Xela (where I am currently living), the water in Zone 2 was six and a half feet deep. There's no transportation from Xela to much of anywhere.
They are now reporting 250 deaths - I think it may be more by now. I read in an internet article that 30,000 people have been evacuated to shelters from 270 communities.
This is a event with long-term impact. Crops everywhere have been ruined. Most of the Occidente and Sur regions of the country are dramatically affected - this is the area where I was supposed to move on Sunday.
Right now the immediate need is for food and water, but those won't be deliverable until the roads are cleared and bridges repaired/constructed. They are saying it may be two weeks until the roads from here to the Coastal region are cleared and at least 4 days until we can reach the capital city. Marcia thinks it will be longer.
Furthermore, yesterday El Salvador, who was also hit hard by Stan, experienced a large earthquake (I've heard a range on the rictor scale from 5.8-6.5), it was also felt in the Northern regions of Guatemala and in Nicaragua. This is in addition to the volcanic eruption earlier this week in El Salvador and the prediction of another eruption this coming week.
All things considered, we are in high spirits. We are patiently awaiting what we can do to help - attentively observing and taking in all that we can. Please keep us in your prayers.
Peace,
Mags"
"Hi Friends!
I hope all is well with you guys! It sounds like everyone is having a great time at their various sites.
I have another prayer request - Guatemala is in bad shape right now. I wish this were an email filled with funny stories, but alas.....
We finished language school this past Wednesday and it has been a bit of an adventure ever since, actually our last day was kind of non-existent due to what I thought was only the usual massive amounts of rain that rainy season brings - I don't know if you have heard about it but Guatemala has been ravaged by Hurricane Stan.
I am perfectly safe, as are the other volunteers but the majority of the country is not. Locals here are saying that this hurricane has been more devastating for the country than Mitch back in 1998.
It rained here for 3 or 4 days and has caused massive amounts of flooding and countless landslides. From what I understand from radio reports and newspapers, it seems that almost all the bridges on the Pacific lowlands have been destroyed by the overflowing rivers. There are a lot of people taking refuge on their roofs. In Xela (where I am currently living), the water in Zone 2 was six and a half feet deep. There's no transportation from Xela to much of anywhere.
They are now reporting 250 deaths - I think it may be more by now. I read in an internet article that 30,000 people have been evacuated to shelters from 270 communities.
This is a event with long-term impact. Crops everywhere have been ruined. Most of the Occidente and Sur regions of the country are dramatically affected - this is the area where I was supposed to move on Sunday.
Right now the immediate need is for food and water, but those won't be deliverable until the roads are cleared and bridges repaired/constructed. They are saying it may be two weeks until the roads from here to the Coastal region are cleared and at least 4 days until we can reach the capital city. Marcia thinks it will be longer.
Furthermore, yesterday El Salvador, who was also hit hard by Stan, experienced a large earthquake (I've heard a range on the rictor scale from 5.8-6.5), it was also felt in the Northern regions of Guatemala and in Nicaragua. This is in addition to the volcanic eruption earlier this week in El Salvador and the prediction of another eruption this coming week.
All things considered, we are in high spirits. We are patiently awaiting what we can do to help - attentively observing and taking in all that we can. Please keep us in your prayers.
Peace,
Mags"
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