So I bought a box of chocolates,
left them at my girlfriend’s door.
Found them scattered on the pavement,
she’d thrown ‘em from the 13th floor.
Like a path of broken glass and flowers
‘neath my feet,
on days like this, all I can say is,
life is bittersweet.
left them at my girlfriend’s door.
Found them scattered on the pavement,
she’d thrown ‘em from the 13th floor.
Like a path of broken glass and flowers
‘neath my feet,
on days like this, all I can say is,
life is bittersweet.
Put somewhat flippantly, but I can't spend all my time crying about life's inequities. (See my other seventeen blogs for that. No, not really.) But if you think about it, there is a certain bittersweetness that characterizes our existence down here.
Like the letters Paul of Tarsus wrote in prison. Like the rim of the Grand Canyon. Like The Book of Sorrows. Like “Dark Line” coffee with Bailey’s. Like the Road to Emmaus, the guys recognizing their best friend only after he had departed...
My aim is to explore the paradoxical relationship between joy and longing, wonder and sorrow, pain infused with pleasure. Because ultimately our emptiness tell us as much about our souls as our satisfaction. And all philosophical systems, to be really cogent, need to postulate satisfactory answers for both ends of the spectrum, both elements of a black and white photo, so to speak.
Now, lest I get misunderstood before I even get my boxing gloves on: This is no ying yang type of statement. And I like to rag on Naturalism (makes for really boring fiction, incidentally). In fact, both those systems, Naturalism and various schools of Eastern thought, fail miserably to provide answers for life’s bittersweetness. My exploration of life is fueled by God who became Christ. God and man. Man and God. Now that’s bittersweet, more so the longer you look.
Stuff you find here will pertain to an accurate understanding of life’s paradoxes, mysteries and contradictions, seen through a Christ-dedicated lens. As well as musings on how Christ’s glory is reflected in unexpected or subversive ways... with additional thoughts thrown in for free. Pretty wide-ranging, you say. Indeed. But so were Leonardo Da Vinci, Lewis and Clark, and the buffalo. And they’re all famous.
You should also know:
I’m decidedly anti-snob, especially anti intellectual snobbery (which should be understood to include vocabulary snobbery). I think it’s more pertinent and usually harder to say something significant in a lucid way than to dress it up in words incomprehensible to the average People reader.
I used to be a Bohemian
But I got tired of being a snob.
I packed up and left Greenwich Village.
I moved off and got a real job.
Right. So I’m pretty much anti-snob on all fronts, except for book-snobbery, coffee-snobbery, basketball-snobbery, and maybe a few more garden variety counts I’m forgetting. (Subliminal message: Read Joseph Epstein.) But it seems that you could divide all bloggers, somewhat superficially, into two camps: snobs and anti-snobs, in terms of what they say and how they say it. I’m just being up-front about my voting preference.
So there you have it. A post-postmodern page dedicated to chronicling Jesus’ glory as expressed in life’s bittersweetness.
5 comments:
I just wanted to jump in on and recommend the lectures held by Nick Cave. The Secret Life of the Love Song and The Flesh Made Word. Even if you are not a fan of the music he writes you cannot deny his masterful ability to adress the bitter sweet issues in life. It's a bit religious in nature but as I understand it so are you...
Schweinrich
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll look him up. (Didn't realize he gave lectures.)
"Religious in nature?" To a degree, although I've come to distrust the word "religion." My relationship with Christ must be living to have any worth at all. Too often "religion" implies a stale routine, a set of duties. Joyless. As U2's Bono once said, "Religion is this sort of -- artifice, you know, the building, after God has left it..."
God is after our hearts, our very lives.
I can respect that. You seem to have a healthy attitude to life and it's main issues. That I envy.
I'm a bit curious to what you think about the aforementioned lectures. They should be available on DC++ or a local store near you. No pressure:)
The Schwein
liked the poem a lot, light yet meaningful!
and htanx for dropping by my blog , do visit agn
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