I think it’s the land…
December 11, 2009 | Filed Under Poetry | Leave a Comment
I think it’s the land. The streams, the forests, the vast emptiness. The land created me. I’m wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I‘m more at home in the vacant lots. But I have a love for humankind, a love of truth, and a love of justice. I think I have a dualistic nature. I’m more of an adventurous type than a relationship type.
-Bob Dylan
This is where I live…
December 10, 2009 | Filed Under Pictures | 3 Comments
I take it for granted way too much. But man this is beautiful… And really there is nothing in the world like a man, his dog and nature.
Sufjan Stevens Christmas Songs
December 5, 2009 | Filed Under Poetry | Leave a Comment
Here are some of my favorite Christmas songs sung by Sufjan Stevens. Christmas always reminds me of a better place… a world of peace and joy and quiet holiness. A small little event in the history of men, leading to the transformation of men.
Dedicated to all of my friends. You make the world a better place. Hope you enjoy.
Sister Winter. This might be my favorite of all… All my, friends, I, return to Sister Winter. All my, friends, I, apologize… And my, friends, I, return to, wish you, all the best! And my, friends, I, return to, wish you, a happy Christmas!
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
It’s Christmas Time
That Was The Worst Christmas Ever
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Joy to the World
Amazing Grace
Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!
Star of Wonder
We Three Kings of Orient Are
Holy, Holy, Holy
Every child…
December 4, 2009 | Filed Under Small Talk | 2 Comments
Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water-bugs, tadpoles, frogs, and mud-turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb, brooks to wade in, water-lillies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine-cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries, and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of his education.
–Luther Burbank
Fools Enough We Are
December 4, 2009 | Filed Under Small Talk | Leave a Comment
If we are fools enough to remain at the mercy of the people who want to sell us happiness, it will be impossible for us ever to be content with anything. How would they profit if we became content? We would no longer need their new product. The last thing the salesman wants is for the buyer to become content. You are of no use in our affluent society unless you are always just about to grasp what you never have.
- Thomas Merton
It’s Christmas Time
December 4, 2009 | Filed Under Poetry | Leave a Comment
Yeah! Today we go pick out our Christmas tree, decorate and all that fun stuff. And then there’s the music. The best music in all the Universe.
Darkness Shrouded
December 4, 2009 | Filed Under Poetry | Leave a Comment
(Words from the song Come O Spirit! by Isaac Wardell)
All our knowledge
All our sight
lies in darkness shrouded.
All our labors
wrought in strife
hath our judgement clouded
Oh consume
our wrong desires
Holy Ghost, our souls inspire.
All our riches
All our crowns
cast we now before Thee
Scales removeth
Chains unbound
boldy we implore Thee
As You knit us
once together
Fasten us to You forever.
David Bazan’s New Record Curse Your Branches
December 4, 2009 | Filed Under Poetry | Leave a Comment
I’ve been a big fan of Pedro The Lion since the late 90s. One of my favorite albums of all time is the 1998 It’s Hard To Find A Friend with classic songs like Big Trucks and When They Really Get To Know You They Will Run. Some have called Bazan one of the greatest song writers of our generation, and I think that’s a fair assessment.
One thing that’s always struck me about David Bazan (the guy behind Pedro The Lion who now performs under his own name) is his disarming honesty and lack of pretension; refreshing and compelling. The stories he tells, the satire he weaves, the poignant criticisms he makes … they carry a lot of weight … just because the guy has a lot of integrity. He cares about truth.
Anyone who’s followed Bazan’s career closely has most likely recognized an arc of tension between his Christian faith and reality. The tension, one might say, of absurdity. A tension that at least gave the appearance that he was uncomfortable in his own skin, maybe even a bit angry. This tension is something I’ve lived, and I’m sure many others have too.
I’m not afraid to say i don’t know…
December 4, 2009 | Filed Under Poetry | Leave a Comment
Love this duet from Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer. Beautiful.
So fragile, these beliefs of ours…
December 3, 2009 | Filed Under Small Talk | Leave a Comment
“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.”
–Leo Tolstoy
Most people who know me don’t know that for all intents and purposes I was an atheist from the ages of 24 to 27. I really didn’t tell anyone because I wasn’t completely sure what I believed and it changed (and continues to change) from day to day. During that phase, I’m sure there were days when I did indeed believe in God. But those days were rare. My general attitude was simple:
sure, I’d like the Christian story to be true because really I think it is the most hopeful and compelling cosmology ever told… but i’m enlightened now. it’s too simplistic. too medieval. too dependent on the community of men. as a category of people… well they just royally f*ck up too much. including me. so screw it. i’m done.
It’s really tough being an intellectual person in this current mental environment that we live in. And it’s damn easy to get angry at God for everything and anything in this crazy, absurd world. A world full of selfishness, power struggle, dishonesty, infidelity, death, injustice, etc. A world in which nothing noble and pure remains. And in the process of blaming God for this mess, it’s easy to slip into the conclusion that really, that God – the one I’m angry at – doesn’t exist.
You know what. Facing reality one day, it occurred to me how fragile our mental states are. There struck deep in my soul the idea that the entire cultural and social edifice upon which my belief system is built is royally f*cked up. There are so many delusional fantasies that our society buys into which are far, far more absurd, ridiculous and dangerous than the narrative of a personal God who made the world and loves its creatures.
Coming to terms with the fragility of our common beliefs and the structures upon which they are built caused me to question the deep cynicism and skepticism with which I had been looking upon the world. It reminded me that the greatest things I have known in this life have been the things of God, His Son and The Holy Spirit. It reminded me that I’m a creature – that I was brought into this world. It reminded me of how wonderfully natural it is to be thankful. The Breath of Life came upon me – continues to come upon me. So long as I am willing; I am being made into something beautiful.
Forget the narrative of a self-worshiping culture. It’s blinding death.
My broken chips are all in with signposts of glory and greatness and a perfect joy.