Writing this from the horizon of Thanksgiving, eager to see some family and eat yummy traditional American Thanksgiving food (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, etc). The last few weeks have been packed tightly with things to take my attention away from being an acceptably consistent blogger. Attempting to remedy that now!
So as schedules are busy and the holidays invite many times of lovely gatherings, it is my study to focus and enjoy the little things that bring some joy to an everyday. Here are some things I've been enjoying lately:
- Early sunsets might be disliked by the majority of people (with that pesky time change a few weeks ago), but you cannot deny these Autumnal sunsets are beautiful and they remind me that Winter is coming. Colder air is on the way, which delights me and I get set in my mind to all sorts of dreamy notions. Also, when the sun sets before I leave work, I get to see Jupiter and Venus in the sky on my way home. I love seeing the planets in the clear sky. Yes, I will always be an astronomy nerd, but also the mysterious creation of God is astounding. Sometimes we lose sight of what is beyond our small lives as we grind through our everyday workflow.
- A religion lecture at Florida Southern College. Having the opportunity to return to campus and sit in my favourite room "The Hollis Room" (the original library was in this room; it's a Frank Lloyd Wright treasure) was so fun for me. The lecture was given by Dr. Ian McFarland from Emory University. His talk was titled "Christian Hope and the Goodness of Creation". He had written books on this topic, so he knew what he was talking about. He read an academic paper that was dense and so full I had a hard time keeping up with notes I wanted to jot down. There were many interesting ideas I would like to dive into sometime, such as escatalogical forgetfulness, and he used an illustration of Dante forgetting after drinking from the river Lethe. I was fascinated by his ideas on re-memory in the process of redeeming sin or painful experiences. He argued how scars are resistance to the evil that caused the harm and that this present life is where the contours of eternity are showing themselves. So many deep insights I could swim in for awhile. Getting to be a student (there were lots of students there, but it was open to the public), listen to a very knowledgeable professor, take notes, and learn more about something I am keenly interested in sums up many of the best ways to spend an evening. I wish there were more of these kinds of events!
- Two books I am reading right now are absolutory delightful. One is a book of aphorisms The Pocket Oracle and the Art of Prudence, wisdom on how to work well with people and live a life ruled by prudence. It was written over 350 years ago by Baltasar Gracian, a Spanish Jesuit Priest who published this book of wisdom in 1647. These nuggets of advice are often rather cold and calculating, and so applicable to the world we live in today. It's uncanny, and I am taking notes.
The other book is White Holes (a black hole in time reversed, so fascinating) by Carlo Rovelli, who is the poet of theoretical physicis. He imaginatively takes the reader on a journey into a black hole and across the quantum line briefly before magically exiting by way of a white hole. Time is in reverse and I am utterly astounded and love following this journey. What I love even more is his use of the parallel journey of Dante in The Divine Comedy, with his trek through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and rising to Paradiso. It's beautifully corresponded, these two stories, and I absolutely love the marriage of science and literature through the imagination. I have been aching to re-read The Divine Comedy again, and now even more so.
Happy Thanksgiving! Many blessings to you and your loved ones.
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