The oppoiste of war isn't peace, it's creation

Both Alyosha and Enjolras have brought up topics that I find fascination, love to ponder, and could discuss for hours, and they know it. However, I also am going to wait to broach the almost limitless topic of music.

I have been indoctrinated at various points in my education, and some of you know by whom, to believe that every conflict, every relationship, every moment in History can be explained in terms of economics. While I do not completely buy this, Enjolras's lament over the lack of creativity in today's society instantly made me think of Marx's theory of the worker and the effects of the industrialization and modern economics on the theory of the person.

Now don't worry, this is not going to turn into a complex discussion about economic theory. Marx, however, believed that people did not work to live but rather lived to work--humans by definition were workers, cogs in the economic machine. This idea has been so integrated into modern thought that many politicians and economists, in America at least, would be horrified if they realized they had bought a piece of Marxist philosophy so whole heartily.

This is one of the primary things that has removed the idea of creation from everyday life. A single person is rarely responsible for a product from start to finish anymore. Instead, they are another point on the assembly line, mass producing identical products that are devoid of all craft. Work, the act of creating something and of providing for yourself and your family has a salvific value. The shift from people as craftsmen to people as workers has done its best to remove the human dignity and the value of the product.

In particular, this is can seen in the arts, where it is almost impossible now to earn a living do art for arts sake. There is no obvious economic value in painting pictures, writing poetry, or composing music so these have been subordinated to other ends. Now if you want to study art it is usually in terms of a career such as graphic design or interior decorating.

Creating something for no commercial purpose does, like Enjolras said, bring a certain amount of satisfaction. More than that however, by creating something is a way for man to imitate his creator-it is a form of prayer and something that so desperately needs to be reclaimed in modern society. So bake an pie, knit a sweater, paint a picture and when ever possible support those who are craftsmen rather than huge corporate chains.

the answer is blowin' in the wind

Sorry Aloysha, I am not going to talk about music, not yet anyways.

Yesterday the weather was very angry, or at least frustrated. The wind seemed like it was trying to blow the world away and at the time this seemed like an excellent idea. I felt trapped in the details of life. I had to go to work, then spend hours doing homework when all I really wanted to do was go for a walk, in the wind and dancing leaves, and then curl up in bed with the The Graveyard Book. But I did not think my Professors would agree that this was an acceptable alternative.

I felt like the windstorm, angry at the world, trying to it blow away, destroy it. The wind has a freedom that is too often lost in everyday life. And I'm free, like the wind, like I'm gonna live forever. It's a feeling time can never take away. It's so easy to get sucked into a routine and have your life consumed by details. This goes back to the idea of contemplation that Aloysha and Robert Owen Hood have been talking about. It's not always that we don't appreciate the beauty around us or know that it's there, although sadly this is often true, but that we don't have time for it right now.

One of the problems with the modernity of our lives is how much it removes us from our world. It is easy to live out a day without any interaction with nature. Our technology, our cities, our advanced methods of transportation all make our lives more convenient, but in the process make it easier for us to take for granted things like trees, grass, the smell of a forest or the sound of water trickling down rocks. We have to designate time now if we want to experience this, have to go out of our way, and too often our busy lives make this difficult. And so we do it less, forget it, and replace it with television.

But there is another component to this, one I think was more related to my frustration the other day. I wanted to destroy because I felt I could not create. There is not any time in my life right now to devote to creating anything. Cooking, gardening, knitting, all simple acts, but each has a product. I am spending so much time studying and advancing my mind that sometimes I feel like I am not utilizing it. This raises the question is there a practical aspect to contemplation? I do not think there has to be, but I think man requires this, needs to feel he is contributing to the earth in a somewhat tangible way. There is a satisfaction in being able to look at something and know that you made it. Ultimately this is realized in art. Man attempting to perfect his creations, achieve a better painting, a more beautiful song, each reflecting his world, himself, his humanity.

Will there be music or will there be war?

I am sorry for the length of time between this and my last post, but I too suffer from a lack of leisure time. In our current culture the absence of work is looked down upon. It seems to be the thought that if one is not working then one is not being productive. This is completely false. As Robin Hood has stated "leisure is more than a state of not working, it is an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul which allows people to look on the world in wonder and wonder in turn leads to contemplation." If our world is to change people must think. They must contemplate on their existence, on the world around them, and on ideas and ideals. This is part of the very essence of being alive, of taking each day as it comes.

This brings to mind, at least it brought to my mind, music. The very word has a passion and fire, yet also a sense of peace and understanding. It is alive, and ever changing. A force so powerful that it can change history, create wars and revolutions. Music most perfectly realizes the endless yearning of the soul. It is so powerful that it can never be explained. To one never having heard of it, it would be impossible for one to convey the passion, the life, the moods of music. Music is one of the highest forms of art, giving inspiration to anyone who has the ears to hear. If one does not have time for leisure, if one does not think, not contemplate, then they will never hear, they will never even be able to hope to understand.

As I have said previously my lack of leisure time has effected my posting. Again it causes me to barely even start to explore a topic that even the most powerful and insightful minds have great difficulty in properly conveying the meaning of, for that is the power of music. Therefore I say we use this as an introduction that has simply opened the floor to music.

Stand and Stare

I am sorry to beat the topic of Halloween over the head, but it is difficult to ignore at the moment and I have just a few things to wrap up. First, Aloysha accepted my challenge and carved an amazing pumpkin last Sunday, thereby celebrating (in a small way) the holiday. Secondly, I think that my qualms about the current attitude towards and celebration of Halloween is indicative of a deeper problem--lack of leisure.

That may seem like a very strange assertion, but without real leisure there is no contemplation. Thus, people spend no time trying to figure out the meaning behind the holidays they celebrate, or to wonder why they perform their daily traditions let alone admire and celebrate the world. For leisure is more than a state of not working, it is an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul which allows people to look on the world in wonder and wonder in turn leads to contemplation.

Current society does not really allow for leisure. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics tells me Americans work, on average, more than 50 hours a week. This leaves little down time. The time they are not at work Americans have filled with consumer substitutes for leisure--either they scheduled that time with activities so they are still on the go, or spend it shopping, watching tv, or the like. When time not at work is spent in such pursuits is it surprising that holidays have become so commercial? According to Josef Pieper, the pursuit of these mindless distractions not only prevents people from confronting the awesome reality of existence. It undermines and even corrodes civilization and culture.



As a parting thought I will leave you with a favorite poem of mine on the topic.


What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep, or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

--William Henry Davies

Beauty in the madness

"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star."
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Better to light a candle

... One day a tortoise will learn how to fly

Everyday life is saturated by traditions that most people perform without thought. Removing one's hat upon entering a building, placing flowers on a grave or candles on a birthday cake, even putting the fork on the left when setting a table--these are customs that people observe on a daily basis, usually without giving their actions any thought. Just, however, because people do not think about the rituals they perform or the traditions to which they subscribe does not mean that those traditions should be abolished. Each of these has a meaning and purpose which they do not loose just because people no longer think about them. In his book "The Thing--Why I am Catholic" Chesterton tells a parable of a gate approached by two reformers, the first of whom looks at it and says "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." The second, whom Chesterton calls the more intelligent reformer, replies "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."

The same can be said about the traditions surrounding Halloween. Carving jack-o-lanterns, distributing candy, dressing in costume, there was a meaning behind the establishment of each of these and they should not be abolished until that meaning is remembered and understood. Because a knowledge of the origin of these things is not reflected in peoples current practise of them is not a reason to stop, nor, as Aloysha claims, does it turn them into nothing. Whether giving out candy on Halloween originated from grave offerings for the dead, from the tradition of providing strangers with hospitality or from something else entirely, the original meaning is honored whether people do so intentionally or not. And, perhaps more importantly in this day and age, there is something to be said about people performing rituals and practicing tradition whether they realise what they are doing or not. For, whether you bow or courtesy to the queen, genuflect before a tabernacle, watch fireworks on the 4th of July, or merely hold a door for a stranger, the point of rituals is to pay respect to something outside oneself and to put oneself in perspective of system larger than themselves--something modernity, with its emphasis on individuality and conflation of liberty and a complete lack of rules, tends to forget.

So the beauty of the day is in the traditions. The mystery of the Danse Macabre is that it was not a one time thing but rather happened regularly allowing everyone to participate. So, if Aloysha wants to attempt to be alive this Halloween he will attempt to carry out the traditions, but with the proper reflection about what those traditions mean and proper reverence to those they honor.

You wanna fly...

then lets fly.

Robert Owen Hood has previously stated that Halloween has become a day celebrating consumerism and promiscuity. In this remark we agree completely. Whatever it once was, Halloween has become a day of costumes and candy for children, a day which many people in the United States would say is their favorite holiday. However, underneath this corrupted mindset, under this superficial day, there is something more. As Robin Hood has said, it was a day meant for remembering the dead, who, by all means, should be remembered. Now I know not how peopled viewed death at the birth of this day, but I know that now death is viewed completely wrong. And that wrongness is exemplified in Halloween.

Death is dark, it is a mystery, it does have fear, but it is not evil, it is not "spooky," with ghouls and zombies and the such-- it is a beauty. And in this culture of Halloween that beauty is gone. The day celebrating death should be like the Danse Macabre. It should have that feeling, that aura of mystery and not only darkness but also light. As was said, there are two sides to every coin. The dead should be remembered. We should care, as Enjolras said, about what they died for. They're death meant something, it still means something. And we should honor them. In death the greatest victory, the greatest mystery of all occurred-- Christ died. Death, therefore, should have a day in remembrance of its beauty, and it should forever be remembered as one of the greatest gifts from God to man.

That is why I have a vendetta for Halloween. It has taken one of the most extraordinary things and turned it into nothing. it has taken the evil in this world and made it friendly and childish. I am against the superficial aspects of this day, but that does not mean, as Robin Hood as pointed out, that one must not live. We must throw out the fakeness, so that the beauty may be seen. We must dance the Macabre. It is a two sided coin, yet I make my own luck. Therefore, concerning a challenge I was recently issued, I accept. I will strive not to let the culture ruin the day, and will attempt to be alive. I will remember, and hope to understand.

There are two sides to every coin

I would like to begin by saying that I agree with everything that Aloysha said in his last post. However, I believe that it is only half of the story. As artists employing the chiaroscuro technique know, it takes deep shadows to bring out the light. The powerful and haunting depictions of humanity present in the work of Edgar Allen Poe, among others, is achieved by their continual awareness of the skull beneath the skin. Silas's exhortation to Bod at the end of The Graveyard Book is made more poignant by the fact that the boy had been raised in a graveyard.

What I am saying, of course, is that people can only achieve the zeal for life that Aloysha is advocating if they keep their mortality in mind. This is what Tolkien meant when he said that death is the gift of the One to Men. While it can be a bitter gift, it is death, the knowledge that time is limited, makes each experience touching and meaningful and focuses people on the moment at hand.

This discussion is especially apt at this time of year, with Halloween around the corner. The origins of Halloween are in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which was their New Year celebrated on November 1st. This feast, coming at the end of the harvest was their way of remembering the year past and preparing for winter which so often brought death with it. They further believed that on the eve of the New Year the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, and so used this night to remember their dead.

The current issues with Halloween then lie not in their original origins but in the modern distortions of the day. It was not until more recent times that Wiccans and others tried to make it a day devoted to the devil. However, I believe it is the much more common practise of ignoring all meaning of the day that is more troubling. It has become a day celebrating consumerism and promiscuity. As said Cady says in Mean Girls, "Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it." But I will come back to this idea at a latter point.

So my challenge to all of you, but particularly to Alyosha who has a vendetta against the day, is to enjoy Halloween but to use it as an opportunity to memento mori. That knowledge is a gift that will help you truely live.

P. S. The quote of this week is my response to Enjolras first post.

If everyone were hobbits. . .

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." - J. R. R. Tolkien

Taking a stand

I was at a debate the other day where some girls tried to convince me that there was no difference between the lives lost in war and those claimed by abortion. They told me that being pro-life, that believing life is sacred and needs to be treated as such, meant that I could never be in support of any war. No matter what your religion or your stance on abortion may be, this claim should appear absurd. There are things or people worth dying for, causes in this world worth laying down your life. Denying this robs human life of some of its dignity, its sacredness.

I'm not arguing either side of the current war in which the United States is involved. I am simply arguing against complete pacifism, the idea that there are no causes worth going to war over, is very dangerous. I don't understand how these girls could see themselves as so passionate and such crusaders for their ideas if they don't believe this. Your beliefs, your ideas, your dreams, your morals, your ideals, your faith, these are what constitute you. They influence every decision you make, the way you see the world, and the way you live your life. What is your life worth if not these? A mark of being truly alive is being willing to lay down your life for something greater than yourself, believing or caring strongly enough about something else to make that sacrifice.

I am not advocating throwing your life away. I agree with President Bartlett, "A true hero will give his life for his country, but he would much rather live for it." Do what you can, live for what you believe is right, chose those things for which you will fight to the death, and when the world truly demands it, follow through.

A human mind

Knowledge quells wonder. In a sense this is true. The more you know about something the less you I don't want to wait why can't I just write write like I usually do write what i think write what i've never thought or at least never realized i've thought. what's in my head what's blocking my brain why do I have trouble finding the words i love words it's never been a problem before that's not true some papers just wont come some ideas sometimes thinking too much gets in the way i second guess i dont know enough can't express ideas in a smooth fluid way cant say what im trying to say dont know what it is im trying to say just write the words that come there's a story out there, capture it writing in itself can lead to truth so many of the greatest writers went insane writing is dangerous you explore things maybe youre not meant to go too deep take a step too far this is my mind you want to see inside you wont understand i dont understand i dont want to write things out for you do i have an obligation to the others does this have to fit a format is there something acceptable, something unacceptable when i write does it need a style a convention will you be mad if it's this, if i don't follow the rules. i love english i love structure i believe its necessary in language in writing i think its proper i think it reveals a beauty in the words and there's a magic to it someone like Oscar Wilde who can use words like that creates a whole new dimension its an art form there's a message in the style not just the words. but sometimes you need to throw that away just write for the sake of writing just see where the ideas take you just take what you get what comes into your head and then goes onto the page. why are you reading this? why am i writing this? when i started i had an idea in mind, maybe i'll come back and write about it later, but the words wouldn't come my mind is a jumble and i couldn't say what i wanted. this is how i journal, stream of consciousness, no rule is absolute, sometimes there's structure sometimes though you have to throw away the rules. you have to get the ideas some things can't be constrained there's a freedom to this. a freedom from convention that lets you get to something deeper and then you can go back and refine it, make it comprehensible to others, but sometimes just write for yourself, it can help you figure out what you're really thinking and probably show you something about yourself, something about what goes on inside your head how brilliant it can be even in it's randomness the connections and associations you make without even realizing it. there's something beneath all of this, there's something deeper, something more, get there however you can, think in different ways, wonder, question, consider however you want, don't let others tell you how. That won't get you somewhere new, just where they are. Go down your own path, fly on your dreams

Half of me wants to apologize for this. I was serious when I said I started off with an idea in mind, hence the beginning couple lines and then the leap into confusion. But after a week of midterms I couldn't really handle writing anything resembling an essay. So instead I wrote a journal entry, which is scary because this really is a glimpse into my mind, displayed on a page and I don't usually let other people see that. So you don't get an apology, just a promise that I won't do this often, that usually my writing be much more comprehensible. Take this as whatever you want, try to enjoy it, but at the very least laugh at the absurdity of a human mind.

MANALIVE

Is it so great a thing to be alive? After being asked this question my immediate response was: Yes!
Not simply surviving, but living is one of the greatest challenges. Every day we must face this same difficulty and every day we must both accept it and rejoice in it. We have but one life in this world, let us live it. It is the way in which we live, it is the prospect of treating each inconvenience rightly, treating them as an adventure.
"I don't want to survive, I want to live!" The Captain in Wall-E says this remark to Auto when Auto is telling him that they will survive in space. The captain has seen this world's wonders and its beauty and he wants to live, he wants to experience these wonders, to see these beauties first hand. He doesn't want to survive, he wants to live, he wants to be alive. This mere line makes this movie astounding, but the fact that an animated film, meant for children can have such a incredible message, brings up the fact that people do care about other people in this world. It gives credit to there being persons in this world who want to spread joy. And one of the things which will allow people to enjoy living, which will allow people to love being alive, is for people to take each day as it comes, and as Neil Gaiman puts it, to leave no path untaken.
In Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book the same point about living is made. Bod, a boy raised in a graveyard, is told by his guardian Silas "you're alive, Bod. That means you have infinitepotential. You can do anything, dream anything. If you change the world the world will change. Potential. Once your dead, its gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished." As Gaiman so poetically phrased when we are alive in this world then we can do anything. When we are alive we must be alive, not simply walk though this life, but live our life to the fullest. "Every man dies, not every man truly lives. " (William Wallace, Braveheart)
And finally, G.K. Chesterton's MANALIVE, one of the most profound books which I have ever read, deals almost entirely on this subject. But I am by no means capable of giving a justifying summary, nor will I attempt to pick out a quote that exemplifies my point in a book where every line is profound. I will only say to read it, and live your life.
MANALIVE.

The Point of Fantasy

The other day a teacher brought a class into the library requiring that each student check out a book. Most students just wandered up and down the shelves waiting for something to catch their eye. One such group skipped the Fiction section altogether with several comments along the lines of "fiction is dumb" and "what is the point" (phrased much more vulgarly and less articulately).

Mentally I immediately objected and began formulating a defense of fiction, which for me centered on fantasy, the most fictiony of fiction and what I am sure was the actual focus of their objection. "Fantasy isn't suppose to have a point--it is something above quantifiable practicality, like hope or freedom or chocolate. As Terry Pratchett said 'Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can.'"

I, after mulling it over for several days, no longer am of this opinion. While that might be the point of most fantasy I do not think it is what the goal of fantasy should be or what good fantasy achieves. Fairy stories, like those by the Brothers Grimm, are meant to teach us how to view the world. That there is good and evil in the world, that people's fate and success are not necessarily tied to their virtue, and that there is a transformative power in the world (grace or a fairy godmother) are all lessons learned in fairy tales. As Chesterton said in Orthodoxy (and Chesterton usually puts things best): ".. the chivalrous lesson of 'Jack the Giant Killer'; that giants should be killed because they are gigantic. It is a manly mutiny against pride as such. For the rebel is older than all the kingdoms, and the Jacobin has more tradition than the Jacobite. There is the lesson of 'Cinderella', which is the same as that of the Magnificat - exaltavit humiles. There is the great lesson of 'Beauty and the Beast'; that a thing must be loved before it is lovable. There is the terrible allegory of 'Sleeping Beauty,' which tells how the human creature was blessed with all birthday gifts, yet cursed with death; and how death also may perhaps be softened to a sleep."

That does not mean that fantasy must than be allegorical or meant to teach a specific moral like Aesop's fables. Instead, it takes the world and puts it in a new light, thereby illuminating some truths that might get blurred in day to day life. Good fantasy and fairy tales help mold a persons imagination and to provides them with a framework to interpret the world. It does more than tone the muscles of the mind, it provides a road map and guide book for the created world.