Farewell, Farewell Great Ship, Titanic.

Tomorrow is closing night for Titanic the Musical. The culmination of over two months of work, over in a day. Music learned, blocking solidified, friendships built. It will be so weird not to be able to say, "See you tomorrow!". To think that "Goodbye" may be for the last. But I know that if I am meant to see someone again, I will. God said, "I know the plans I have for you", Declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; To give you a hope and a future."

So, may we meet again, dear friends. As we depart the empty stage tomorrow, may you ever remember me, as I will remember you. You have truly changed my life, and I hope I have blessed yours. May God bless you in all that you do, everywhere you go, and who you become. :)

And I quote,

As you imitate great men, live your life to be imitated.

It seems that when I want to express myself, the best way is with the words of greater men and women, whether from a book I read or a song I have heard, their words seem to express what I yet cannot. Their thoughts seem to be on a higher plane, not completely alien to my mind in it's infancy, but the perfection of how I want to think.

As a kid in church I used to imitate an older gentelman in how I sat when I prayed and how I sang. Mere imitation on a physical level.

The strongest memory I have of Bill Bennet is when he prayed. It sounded like he was talking to his dad. Like Jesus when he said when praying, "Abba" which is roughly translated as "Daddy" Mr. Bennet has since gone home to be with his father, but that memory remains impressed upon my heart and mind. When I pray, I try to emulate Mr. Bennet. but it's no longer a mere physical thing. I'm beginning to understand the depth to his relationship with God, as mine deepens.

I realize that it is not enough to have role models, but I should strive to become one myself. Imitation is necessary to learn, but there is a time to eat solid food and not only learn, but be learned from.

Here I am in the dawn of my life. It's been a nice morning, but the evening, it is promised, will be beautiful.

My goal for the end of my life is to be imitated, to leave a lasting legacy for ages to come. And when I die, I want people to know that God has said to me, "Welcome home, good and faithful servant"

Did you know you can go back and edit old posts as if you just wrote them? Here I am 3 months later editing this empty post I created as if I was writing it in June. It's such a powerful feeling, to not be bound by time. It's like I'm in a fifth dimension. How incredible would it be to be able to write to yourself months, even days earlier and comment about what you're about to do, warning against, or encouraging various choices....

Somehow, I don't think I'd be any wiser for it. I think that I would get fed up with myself and ignore me. Most of the time, I don't listen to God, who does know what will happen, and I blatantly ignore Him; Why should I listen to a finite wretch like myself?

(Hi, Lincoln!)

Mirror Images

Our soul is above our mind, as our mind is above our emotions. There is an order to our beings. I never understood the nature of the trinity of God till, as Jesus says, I understood earthly things. I couldn't wrap my mind around the concept of God, "three-in-one" till I saw an image of God. Man's spirit is made up of three parts. The Soul, Mind, and Heart of Man mirrors Father, Son and Spirit of God. What perfect design! The completion of us is Him. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind." To love God in this way is to perfectly reflect the God who made us in His Love. How could we give any less to such a loving craftsman? The commandment is so simple....

And yet...I fall so short. :-/
I don't feel like a Man when my being is not reflecting His. I'm not complete till I return his love. And not just an emotive love, a feeling, but where my whole being, heart soul and mind, perfectly balanced, embrace God completely and are filled up...and consumed.

Change my heart, Oh God. Make it ever true. Change my heart, Oh God. May I be like You.

Farewell

“Goodbye” doesn’t cut it.
“I’ll miss you”, not close.
“I’ll remember you always”
Is merely verbose.
And so, with a hug,
A touch and a smile
I’ll speak beyond words,
“Goodbye for a while”

Joy

Joy is when the whole man is “filled up”, or satisfied; When one’s being is completed. And complete joy is when Heart, Soul, and Mind are completed completely. Pain, is when some or all of these are lacking. Obviously, there’s physical pain, but of all kinds, it hurts the least. There’s emotional pain, when we feel sad, or angry. Mental pain, when we’re in anguish, and indecision, or a logical paradox. When your soul is in pain, it hurts like…well, Hell. Actually, that may be more accurate than you think. In heaven, we will be made into a real Man; in Hell, we will be stripped from it. Pain is in a sense, a longing for the True, real reality. It is when joy is lacking that we feel pain, and the pain is the absence, the not being complete. A sick man longs to be well, but a healthy man never longs to be sick. The completion of sickness is health, and the completion of pain is Joy. Pain is a signpost pointing to Joy, and it is quite real, but we cannot stop and mistake the sign for the road; The road that leads to Joy.

Pain

A bit moody, but grounded. I'll post a follow-up shortly. Comments welcome.



Pain is real. It’s almost the realest thing I know. Philosophers argue in circles about what reality is, and whether you can know anything, and the only real way to break the circle is pain. It practically shatters it. To see if you’re awake, you pinch yourself. What is pain, you ask? Pain is the woman standing crying at your door with her two year-old daughter after a fight. It is the two year-old alarmed saying, “Mommy, are you alright? Why are you crying mommy?” Pain is the cry of the man who is dying, slowly without a cure, who you’ve never seen cry. Ever. Pain is the man who can remember the wing-span of the first airplane he flew, but can’t remember what happened the day before. Pain is knowing that some of the best men you know, your role models, are slowly dying, and won’t be there in a few years…



Why?

A pressing issue

My analysis of the an article by Mona Charen for Rhetoric class.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen120707.php3

Mona starts off by telling us where she was during the infamous Virginia Tech school shooting. We immediately remember where we were, what we were doing when we heard the news. While she has us thinking with her, she tells she felt anger, and we feel it with her. Already, by the end of the first paragraph, Mona has touched the pathos of our emotions.

She goes on to call to mind other, equally horrible shootings, and shows that there is a common theme to them all. We would expect that such horrible crimes are committed by the devils of humanity, for the cruelest of reasons, but we are surprised, and our souls are deeply disturbed by what she is suggesting. These “outcasts” of society are generated by society and are doing these things for fame. A man has two things that are his and his alone; Life, and a name, the former which is fleeting, and the latter which more often than not passes away silently with the first. People will kill to be remembered. It reminds you especially of Achilles in Homer’s Illiad, where he chose fame over a long life. Recalling to mind a verse I wrote:

“A Mortal has but life and name,
Long life or e’erlasting mem’ry gain
‘Twas Achilles choice to choose;
Fore’er in mem’ry, but life to lose”

The main point of her essay is that the media is giving them the fame they desire. What disturbs the soul the most is that what makes the popular media popular is the people. The middle class audience with multiple TVs and about a computer per person, with the paper delivered to their door cannot but take another look at themselves. If a plead for fame, no matter how horrible, is presented right, we are persuaded by the media not only to answer the request, but encourage the next person that it’s worth it.

She gives an exhortation for the media to stop encouraging indirectly(or directly, depending how you look at it) current and potential killers. This exhortation is also directed at us.

Mona gets you to feel emotion with her so you keep reading, and connect with her logic on a deeper level so you feel as if her thoughts are your own. She clearly portrays shootings in a light that pulls us closer to her argument. Presenting us with stories that create questions, she then answers them for us. She then takes us to the point of the article and shows us that we are personally greatly responsible. We are transported out of ourselves by the very act of being transported quite into ourselves. This is sublime, and is good rhetoric.

Reading this Essay reminds me immediately of the book that started the year, Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, and after reading ten books this class, I am fully In agreement with the title of the book that wraps the year up in Great books, Ideas really do have consequences.