⎺Original Poetry from Thomas Roe
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Interstate Rest Stops for Those in the Slow Lane
Even if you don’t have kids in tow, dropping out of the interstate fast lane for a few minutes certainly can’t hurt. Reduce the blurring effect of modern transportation. Ignite your curiosity. And experience what Ray Bradbury called the “pores of life” instead — its finer features, texture, and details.
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Wonder, Love, and Mushrooms
That is a surprising progression — from mushrooms to meaning, but it is possible because all things are united by their ultimate cause. The thoughts we draw from reality are like the fruiting bodies of a vast interconnected “network of being.” Beyond this, the Christian encounters reality not merely as “being” but also as a created order — an order that is, as Gerard Manely Hopkins puts it, “charged with the grandeur of God.” The inky cap mushrooms along my favorite walking path owe their existence to a creator. This gives my interactions with them a truly personal dimension. God is the giver. They are gifts. And I am the…
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On Nonconformity and Virtue
Recent articles of note from the world wide web.
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“Desert Father Donkey Kong”
⎺Original Poetry from Graham Pardun
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Travel That Shatters Our Images: Revisiting Brideshead
The way out of a tiresome tour bus and onto the pilgrim road is an odd, unpredictable combination of grace and a mind willing to leave preconceived frames at home.
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Bernanos on Boredom
Well, as I was saying, the world is eaten up by boredom. To perceive this needs a little preliminary thought: you can't see it all at once. It is like dust. You go about and never notice, you breathe it in, you eat and drink it. It is sifted so fine, it doesn't even grit on your teeth. But stand still for an instant and there it is, coating your face and hands. To shake off this drizzle of ashes you must be forever on the go. And so people are always 'on the go.' Perhaps the answer would be that the world has long been familiar with boredom, that…
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André on Boredom
"Okay. Yes. We're bored. We're all bored now. But has it ever occurred to you, Wally, that the process which creates this boredom that we see in the world now may very well be a self-perpetuating unconscious form of brainwashing created by a world totalitarian government based on money? And that all of this is much more dangerous than one thinks? And that it’s not just a question of individual survival, Wally, but that somebody who’s bored is asleep? And somebody who's asleep will not say no?"
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Kevin H. Gary on Boredom
Resignation to boredom, or knee-jerk attempts to escape it, are similar in that both responses resist reflection on this problem. In a capitalist society, producers often want people to dread boredom and be unreflective about it, so consumption becomes simply a knee-jerk antidote to it. Given the pervasiveness of boredom, the multitude of negative behaviors that are causally linked to it, and the economic system that benefits from it, the problem of boredom merits careful attention, especially in education. When schools graduate students who are unable to endure boredom, and who cannot discern when to accept boredom or when and how to challenge it, then schools have failed to equip…
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Lewis on Apologetics
It is very difficult to produce arguments on the popular level for the existence of God. And many of the most popular arguments seem to me invalid. Some of these may be produced in discussion by friendly members of an audience. This raises the whole problem of the 'embarrassing supporter'. It is brutal (and dangerous) to repel him; it is often dishonest to agree with what he says. I usually try to avoid saying anything about the validity of his argument in itself and reply, "Yes, that may do for you and me. But I'm afraid if we take that line our friend here on my left might say etc.…
