Esaay on Gray Introduction

Sing to me, O Muse, of Precious Balance, of Judgement hard won, of the Tao of metis

The hall of Elrond's house was filled with many folk . . . .

Frodo looked at them in wonder, for he had never before seen Elrond, of whom so many tales spoke; and as they sat upon his right hand and his left, Glorfindel, and even Gandalf, whom he thought he knew so well, were revealed as lords of dignity and power.

Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping silver beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his dark eyes were set like coals that could leap suddenly into fire.

J. R. R. Tolkien, quoted from The Lord of the Rings, Book 2, Many Meetings

I was chatting (in the technological sense) with some friends last night [this two years and gone], and remarked that my hair had grayed since last they saw me, December. It being now March [N.B. of 2007], I was vehement at the change. A gracious lady made remark that graying (actually whitening, I read in wikipedia) distinguishes men.

Which is the common observation of early 21st culture. At least in the industrialized world, and I suspect uniformly. Gray hair on a man signifies wisdom, victorious struggle, and dignity. On the other hand a woman's gray hair simply means she isn't young. Which, at least in this pleasure driven cultures that value objects, means she doesn't have one of the two qualities of worth to a woman. And of course that she's likely quickly losing the other: beauty.

(I dissent with the notion that age must rest ungraciously on women. I think we can see the beauty of potential: a young girl or small gazelle or budding gardenia; and the beauty of fulfillment: a mature woman or grizzled wapiti or withered wreath.)

Perhaps it is a specific and concrete achievement to notice, to appreciate the beauty, the good of each thing.

Abbey

I want to found a missional, multigenerational, covenantal, family abbey.

Abbey
Place of refuge, quiet, work, prayer:
Community Life (Life with one another.)


Missional
We have a shared hope of the Best;
we hold out the words of life to the world that is dying.
We honor the image of God in every human, and enjoy the creation of God in everything--we remember the Incarnation.
We embrace sorrow and suffering as crosses--they remind us of the Passion of the Cross.
We not only permit parting but encourage multiplication--we return to "unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it will bear no fruit." We pass through death to find Resurrection.
We edify one another, in one accord with God's Holy Spirit, forming His Church, gathering in Jesus' Name.


Covenantal
3 vows:

Obedience with Charity; Charity in Authority (Love)
A Few Disciplines Among Many-Secret Giving, Swift Compliance, Bearing With One Another

Faith and Faithfulness (Faith)
A Few Disciplines Among Many-Chastity, Prayer, Recalling the Truth of One Another

Simplicity and Purity (Hope)
A Few Disciplines Among Many-Keeping Short Accounts, Giving Time, Believing the Best of One Another


Family
We want households, pairing, the issue of children, the increase of man's promised dominion over the earth; we want travel, hospitality, help, adoption; we want art, craft, intellect, passion, expression; all redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We desire nature in all its fullness to be penetrated and enfolded by supernature in all its emptiness.

Site that support's Julie's Well

I have in mind to start a site to collect money, maybe sell T shirts for Julie's project in collaboration with Mission: Water for Life.

He Knows Your Name

Each grain of sand is a beautiful work of art.

And not a sparrow falls, ...

This gives a certain amount of texture to God's covenant with Abraham to make the number of his descendants like the grains of sand on the seashore, like the stars in the sky.

Power vs Grace

Power is transferrable.

Power to kill, power to heal, power to organize, power to communicate. Any of these might be used for evil, or could be used for good.

Grace is personal.

Grace is transgressive. Grace is a bigger word than mercy, and orthogonal to power in several ways--I must think a while to enumerate.

Thought brought to mind while watching Iron Man, particularly the "Oh my goodness, I've been enabling betrayal and the death of my countrymen scene." It wasn't that I thought that plot arc was terribly well executed--I had no sense of truth in Stark's realization: it seemed superficial, like watching Jim Carrey in his first few non-comedic roles.

Feast of the Ascension

I learned a new word today.

Giaour. It is word of Turkish origin that Muslims use to refer to infidels, or Christians, or Greeks. It is old. Lord Byron wrote a poem titled Giaour.

I learnt it from Lepanto. If ever I own or have access to a camera regularly, I'll record it for you on the 'tube. (In no sense do I understand conversational Deustch; I just like how it sounds, and am amazed by what one can learn without understanding the narrator.)

So it wasn't the wasted day I labored to make it after ten.

My point in bringing all this up is that I had no idea, none, that Chesterton wrote verse. It's like suddenly discovering that in your friend's attic are the scores of really good portraits she's done for the last twenty years which she never mentioned. Also: Cervantes reference!

And his voice through all the garden is a thunder sent to bring
Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.
Giants and the Genii,
Multiplex of wing and eye, 45
Whose strong obedience broke the sky
When Solomon was king.
...
And death is in the phial and the end of noble work, 100
But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.
Don John's hunting, and his hounds have bayed—
Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid.
...
Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
(Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain, 140
Up which a lean and foolish knight for ever rides in vain,
And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
(But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)

Breath

Brain Dump inspired by ones from months back. Apologies for implied hierarchy, had I my way these would scattered around the pageview and slowly move.

Unseen
Heavenly
Living/Dead
Information dense/bearing/loading
"At just the right moment"
Love or Hate
Best or Worst
Ruling or Being ruled; Dominion; Hierarchy
Voice
Spiritual
Very Good or Very Bad; Dichotomous; Self arranging to extremes
Equilibrium
Homeostasis
Rhythym
Balance
The nature of God

Should rule Flesh and Bone

More at Spirit 2

Love is near

27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

Acts 17

The word that saves is right here,
as near as the tongue in your mouth,
as close as the heart in your chest.

Romans 10

For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
...
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
...
That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, ... for he is thy life, and the length of thy days ... .

Deuteronomy 30


I should perhaps note that the Romans 10 link is to Paul's explanation of the Deuteronomy 30 quotation. If you balk at my connection between the word of God and God, perhaps this from the beginning of John's gospel will explain:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

If you wonder at my identity between God and love, most succinctly I will refer again to a part of a letter traditionally in John's name about Jesus:

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

It is extremely clear,
then: Love is near.

13I bring near My righteousness [in the deliverance of Israel], it will not be far off; and My salvation shall not tarry. And I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel My glory [yes, give salvation in Zion and My glory to Israel].

Isaiah 46

What I'm All About

I should write down that which utterly engages me:

Grace.

I like it, but I don't understand it. (Dave Garth thinks one of the marks of grace is that something is wonderful but incomprehensible).

Systems.

I like playing with systems, among other places in gaming, in writing and programming. I like being part of them, in community. I like thinking about them, all over, over and over.

In some essential way it pleases me to think substantively of structure, to muse contentedly of form, to realize the body of style. Thus I like design and interfaces.

People.

Edited 2008 April 16 to add people. It was when I was perhaps eight that I thought, "Each person is a universe entire, apart from any other; we occasionally brush one to one, but only as galaxies passing through galaxies. The whole remains apart."

And that's it. That's all I can remember just now that I love wholeheartedly.

The Ise Shrine

The Ise Shrine is rebuilt adjacent to its current site every 20 years. It's on its 61st iteration as I write this. It's an example (another is wikipedia) of love as a renewable building material in Chapter 5: When Personal Motivation Meets Collaborative Production of Shirky's book Here Comes Everybody.

We don’t often talk about love when trying to describe the public world, because love seems to squishy and private. What has happened, though, and what is still happening in our historical moment, is that love has become a lot less squishy and a lot less private. Love has a half=life too, as well as a radius, and we’re used to both of those being small. We can affect the people we love, but the longevity and social distance of love are both constrained. Or were constrained–now we can do things for strangers who do things for us, at a low enough cost to make that kind of behavior attractive, and those effects can last well beyond our original contribution. Our social tools are turning love into a renewable building material. When people care enough, they can come together and accomplish things of a scope and a longevity that were previously impossible; they can do big things for love.

It's encouraging to me when folks tell me that we have structural changes that increase the power of love. A part of that is that I deeply love systems. The function of institutions (I used to say government, but that's a synecdoche) is to make evil hard and good easy.

Now We Can Do Big Things For Love

Edited 20080329 to correct doff to dopp.

Life teaches us that motivations other than getting paid aren't enough to add up to serious work.

And now we have to unlearn that lesson, because it is less true with each passing year. People now have access to myriad tools that let them share writing, images, video--any form of expressive content, in fact--and use that sharing as an anchor for community and cooperation. The twentieth century, with the spread of radio and television, was the broadcast century. The normal pattern for media was that they were created by a small group of professionals and then delivered to a large group of consumers. But media, in the word's literal sense as the middle layer between people, have always been a three-part affair. People like to consume media, of course, but they also like to produce it ("Look what I made!") and they like to share it ("Look what I found!"). Because we now have media that support both making and sharing, as well as consuming, those capabilities are reappearing, after a century mainly give over to consumption. We are used to a world where little things happen for love and big things happen for money. Love motivates people to bake a cake and money motivates people to make an encyclopedia. Now, though, we can do big things for love.

Clay Shirky, from Here Comes Everybody!, Chapter 4: Publish then Filter

Thomas has been promoting this book for several days, in several ways. I read a bit and talked to him for an hour and a half or so, in the middle of the day. Then I left for my father's house, in quest of, among other things, my dopp bag (which my mother assures me is simply another way of saying 'toiletries bag').

(If you should see a red leather dopp bag, somewhat frayed, do not approach it. Call the police immediately. It is suspected in the removal of myriad whiskers and three unobjectionable beards, as well as countless travel ablutions. It is to be considered armed [razor] and extremely dangerous.)

I read the above driving to Opelika and while loitering over chili in my mother's house. It's one of the more delightful things I've read, and I wished to share it with you; because I love you.

Easter 6 Friday Morning (83)

Luke 9:28-36 (The Message)
S
While he was in prayer, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became blinding white.

O
An implication is that this is what prayer actually does to anyone who prays. Or, Luke could be saying this is what dear, dear love looks like between the Normal Father and Son.

S
... At once two men were there talking with him.

O
An implication is that they were there all along, vide supra. Or, this is once again what prayer does--it brings unlooked, unexpected comfort and assistance.

S
...
32-33Meanwhile, Peter and those with him were slumped over in sleep. When they came to, rubbing their eyes, they saw Jesus in his glory and the two men standing with him.

A
I take it that Peter was the leader in sleeping.

...
"Master, this is a great moment! Let's build three memorials: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He blurted this out without thinking.

O
Peter here clearly thinks the show is over.

S
...
As they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God.

A
If you've ever wondered how to explain your awareness of God to someone without the relationship, well, I have too. This would be a good place for me to do further research on the Greek to get at what Luke is precisely conveying.

S
... Then there was a voice out of the cloud: "This is my Son, the Chosen! Listen to him."
And they continued speechless, said not one thing to anyone during those days of what they had seen.

O
And the glory that came before, the ennobling of Messiah, the appearance of the witnesses, the cloud of glory and the wonder of the Presence, all this is capped by this recognition.

A
It should be called the Election and the Presentation, not the Transfiguration.

The apparent weaselliness of the end of the text for today would make me suspicious if I were dubious about Scripture or God as he's revealed in the Bible.

Hebrews 4:14-5:6 (The Message)
S
Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, "You're my Son; today I celebrate you!"

A
The nature of the Kingdom of God is that none of us choose the honor of our duties; He gives to each of us exactly what is Best in the way of charge.

P
The thing John Sewell says, about how the way to really please God is to believe Him and His promises, rises up within me. You know I'm yours; now you know that I know I'm yours, bought with ultimate love. So whatever's up today, whatever you're doing, I want to join in.

Thank you for Thomas, Thomas, Kevin, Nikki, Roger, Becky, Mike, work, school, my kids in Sunday School, the whole community of faith, the wide world of the lost, and how they intersect unit to unit and part to part.

Amen.