The Supernatural Terror Of Simone Weil As Fiona Apple Fetches The Bolt Cutters.

Man only escapes from the laws of this world in lightning flashes.  Instants where everything stands still, instants of contemplation, of pure intuition, of mental void, of acceptance of the moral void.  It is through such instants that he is capable of the supernatural.  (11) As I read through Simone Weil’s Gravity and Grace, first … Continue reading The Supernatural Terror Of Simone Weil As Fiona Apple Fetches The Bolt Cutters.

Branches And Sky Unbecoming Or A Few Thoughts On Chaos.

I will tell you: one must have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star.  I tell you: you still have chaos in you.  (Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra, 46) χάος in Greek means “infinite space, the expanse” and the “nether abyss, infinite darkness,” also “unformed matter.”  In Hesiod‘s Theogony, we begin the … Continue reading Branches And Sky Unbecoming Or A Few Thoughts On Chaos.

Thinking About The God Pan While Taking A Walk With Arthur Machen, Nick Cave, Genesis, Sean Carroll And The Cat In The Hat As A Deer Stock Back Home Bubbles.

Look close at a tree.  I mean, really close.  A tree is really, when you look close a bit alien, a bit other than you, if you’re human, and then again there’s something familiar looking back out at you.  Other and you.  Rooted to place and branching above, its skin is alive and revealing of … Continue reading Thinking About The God Pan While Taking A Walk With Arthur Machen, Nick Cave, Genesis, Sean Carroll And The Cat In The Hat As A Deer Stock Back Home Bubbles.

Remembering Harvey / Chapter Three / One Hundred Years Of The Same Morning.

Morning.  Sleep with scattered images of pigs running through flooded woodlands on the end of a vast sea reclaiming what always belonged to it and it alone.  Woke up and walked out before coffee to see what the sky had brought us. Water on all sides, but a slight rise of earth and grass has … Continue reading Remembering Harvey / Chapter Three / One Hundred Years Of The Same Morning.

Spring Lamb With Roasted Vegetables, Agnus Dei, William Blake, the Tenebrae Choir, Broadway And Seventeen Years Of Therapy.

Spring lamb.  First born and first kill.  Three to five months old and now on our table, well one of its legs.  An offering for new growth and warmer days.  Flesh and sign of a flayed god and his ascendance into blue skies.  Once upon a time a celebration at the end of fasting. The … Continue reading Spring Lamb With Roasted Vegetables, Agnus Dei, William Blake, the Tenebrae Choir, Broadway And Seventeen Years Of Therapy.

Nuns Brew And Drink Getting Closer To Thee, Though Not Quite Close Enough, And Thoughts on Woman Made in God’s Image . . . Or Is That God Made In Woman’s Image?

Give this day O Lord to Sister Doris Engelhard who crafts beer 80,000 gallons annually, as brewmaster at Mallersdorf Abbey in Germany.  Contrary to my thoughts on the distance of God in my last post, Sister Doris speaks of a close relationship with the Almighty. She always felt that she had an intimate relationship with God. “I have … Continue reading Nuns Brew And Drink Getting Closer To Thee, Though Not Quite Close Enough, And Thoughts on Woman Made in God’s Image . . . Or Is That God Made In Woman’s Image?

Night Thoughts For North Carolina

It’s a dinner party.  Wine passed down the table.  Angels have appeared at Abraham and Sarah’s door, and as good hosts the old couple provide food and drink. And the LORD appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lifted … Continue reading Night Thoughts For North Carolina

The Anatomical Theater: Heart and Blood

This beautiful looking cow heart you’re gazing at appears courtesy of Regula Ysewijn, who blogs under the title Miss Foodwise.  Stuffed with kale, bacon and mushrooms this hearty repast reminds us that any body part in a human we probably dine on when it comes from an animal.  More about this fabulous dish later, for … Continue reading The Anatomical Theater: Heart and Blood

The Anatomical Theater: Bones

It’s November 8, 1895, late at night, and Wilhelm Röntgen, Professor of Physics in Worzburg, Bavaria sits in a dark room.  He’s enclosed a discharge tube in a sealed, thick, black carton.  He lifts a paper plate covered on one side with barium platinocyanide in front of the discharge tube and the plate turns fluorescent. … Continue reading The Anatomical Theater: Bones

A Midterm, Two Ribeyes and Skeletor

Above, the Fury of Achilles as painted by Coypel Charles-Antoine in 1737 captures the divine-infused killing spree the Greek hero embarks upon after his friend Patroclus is killed by Apollo, Euphorbus, and Hector. Quite appropriate for this post as Gabriela and I spent the week helping to create a midterm for three-hundred and fifteen Honors … Continue reading A Midterm, Two Ribeyes and Skeletor