Yay! November 15, 2008
Posted by ichthus42 in NaNoWriMo.add a comment
I have officially reached 25k in my novel. I am halfway there which is pretty cool.
Something I’ve learned from play-writing class is that sometimes you just have to get something out of your head no matter how bad or stupid it sounds, or no matter how much you think that you shouldn’t be writing it. And this story is nowhere near to being out of my system yet, so I just need to get out. And I can’t start writing something new no matter how much I want to, since that would be cheating…and I’ve already cheated too many times on stories in the past…
~A
Albert Schweitzer… October 18, 2008
Posted by ichthus42 in Book Quotes.1 comment so far
“Our culture divides people into two classes: civilized men, a title bestowed on the persons who do the classifying; and others, who have only the human form, who may perish or go to the dogs for all the “civilized men” care.
“Oh, this “noble” culture of ours! It speaks so piously of human dignity and human rights and then disregards this dignity and these rights of countless millions and treads them underfoot, only because they live overseas or because their skins are of different color or because they cannot help themselves. This culture does not know how hollow and miserable and full of glib talk it is, how common it looks to those who follow it across the seas and see what it has done there, and this culture has no right to speak of personal dignity and human rights…
“I will not enumerate all the crimes that have been committed under the pretext of justice. People robbed native inhabitants of their land, made slaves of them, let loose the scum of mankind upon them. Think of the atrocities that were perpetrated upon people made subservient to us, how systematically we have ruined them with our alcoholic “gifts,” and everything else we have done…We decimate them, and then, by the stroke of a pen, we take their land so they have nothing left at all…
“If all this oppression and all this sin and shame are perpetrated under the eye of the German God, or the American God, or the British God, and if our states do not feel obliged first to lay aside their claim to be “Christian” — then the name of Jesus is blasphemed and made a mockery. And the Christianity of our states is blasphemed and made a mockery before those poor people. The name of Jesus has become a curse, and our Christianity — yours and mine — has become a falsehood and a disgrace, if the crimes are not atoned for in the very place where they were instigated. For every person who committed an atrocity in Jesus’ name, someone must step in to help in Jesus’ name; for every person who robbed, someone must bring a replacement; for everyone who cursed, someone must bless.
“And now, when you speak about missions, let this be your message: We must make atonement for all the ter rible crimes we read of in the newspapers. We must make atonement for the still worse ones, which we do not read about in the papers, crimes that are shrouded in the silence of the jungle night…”
Novel Characters… October 8, 2008
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So while I’m suppose to be writing a philosophy paper I keep getting these ideas for my novel. I already have this idea that involves several women and only one man, maybe two. The characterization is going to be very crucial and as such the names of my characters are going to be very important in respect to the way they sound and what they mean. Here are the names I have so far.
Ashia- means “life, hope”
Zulema- means “peace.”
Alexis- means “defender, protector”
Amana- means “faithful, loyal.”
Edana- means “fiery.”
Tirion- means kind, gentle.
Rabiah- means “gentle wind.”
Jerika- means “strong, gifted leader.”
Vondra- means “womanly, brave.”
Okay, back to philosophy paper…
Ruby Slippers… October 3, 2008
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I read this book a few weeks ago, and I just have to say that I found it so unlike any book that I’ve ever read about women before. It challenged some of my own ideas about what it means to be a woman and I found the following passage to be so refreshing from what one normally reads/hears…
“The majority of scholars would say that Woman was made for Man. And
in a way she was. She was his help, or ezer in Hebrew. Ezer reminds
me of a certain Ebenezer Scrooge–a grouchy man who eventually grew
into his name and became one who helped. I wonder though, is the name
ezer big enough for women? Could the women in Sex and the City fit
into it? What about Jessica Simpson? How about Hillary Clinton or
Margaret Thatcher? Is it too narrow for them? What about Charlie’s
Angels? Can they squeeze into it? What about today’s working woman?
Is ezer too small for her? Is the name ezer something we understand,
something we want to live with, something we eagerly claim?
If ezer is limiting, then God has limited us. If ezer is not
limiting, then God has called us to an open, free, deep, and wide
place.
The creation story in Genesis is not the only time Scripture uses
ezer; it pops up several times. If we looked at these uses of ezer,
our understanding of Eve–and of all women–may be enlarged, enhanced,
and enlightened. We might see that God calls himself an ezer.
Ezer means deliverer, as in “The God of my father was my ezer, and
delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”
Ezer means warrior: “Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah, And bring him
to his people. With his hands he contended for them, And may You be
an ezer against his adversaries.”
Ezer means protection: “Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you a
people saved by the LORD, Who is the shield of your ezer And the sword
of your majesty! So your enemies shall cringe before you, And you
will tread upon their high places.
Ezer means support: “May He send you ezer from the sanctuary and
support you from Zion.”
Ezer delivers the afflicted and needy: “But I am afflicted and needy;
Hasten to me, O God! Thou are my ezer and my deliverer, O LORD, do not
delay.”
Ezer means a shield: “You who fear the LORD, trust in the Lord; He is
their ezer and their shield.”
Ezer is capable, vibrant help better than strong mountains: “I will
lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my ezer come? My
ezer comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”
Ezer gives hope: “How blessed is he whose ezer is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God.”
So although in Genesis 2, ezer is often translated “helper” or
“helpmeet,” it’s meaning includes far more. Woman is Man’s ezer–she
is a delivering, warring, supporting, shielding, capable, and vibrant
female image bearer of God. What about putting those words in our
BIble’s margin to refresh our understanding of helper?”
~Jonalyn Fincher, Ruby Slippers, Pp. 65-66
NaNoWriMo! September 27, 2008
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So for the past two years, I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month. It’s actually really fun, but both years I’ve never been able to finish. I got about a little over half-way done with the require 50,000 words last year. This year though, I’m prepping myself early and I’m going to finish it no matter what I have to do. Sometimes the motto has to be quantity rather than content, and then just fix the content later. People do this from all over the world and it’s pretty awesome fun to get a group together and do it. Anyway, there’s my plug for nanowrimo. All you writers out there, you need to get on this. It start Nov. 1st and ends Nov. 30th.
Jane Austen… September 22, 2008
Posted by ichthus42 in Jane Austen.4 comments
I have to admit that I really like Jane Austen. It’s terribly cliche to say so, at least in some respects since many people have such an obsession in regards to her writing, but I think she is/was very clever. The more I read and re-read her writings, the more I actually really appreciate her and the better I actually understand some of the things that she seemed to try to get across to people. One thing I think she was particularly good at was satire. Case in point: Northanger Abbey…
Something I wrote for Philosophy Class… September 15, 2008
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“In week one I defined religion as having faith in something(s) or some being(s) to help provide answers about questions about life and how to live. After reading about the various authors over the last few weeks I still believe that my definition is appropriate and useful.
I noticed that those who put forth reductionist theories of religion would probably not consider faith as a reasonable explanation for explaining religion. And yet after reading these various theories about religion, there still seemed to be an element of faith even in those who hold to a more reductionist way to interpret religion. I looked up the definition of faith in the dictionary and the first two definitions really stood out in my mind as I read them. First it means, “confidence or trust in a person or thing (dictionary.com, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith ,accessed September 13, 2008).” And second it means, “belief that is not based on proof (dictionary).” In respect to the first basic meaning, scientists or those who use reductionism to explain religion in a sense put faith in the idea that facts will provide them with all the answers that they need in order to explain life as they see it. They would consider themselves to be more reasonable than say faith in an unseen being because when their ideas are proven wrong or the facts are shown to be wrong or faulty then they should and often do by the very nature of science as self-correcting in areas change their ideas as well. However, whether or not they actually are more reasonable is not the point here (that can certainly be argued) but rather that they put their trust in the facts that sometimes after careful examination either turn out to be not so factual or simply faulty in their interpretation. And in regards to the second meaning of faith, many of the theories are based on assumptions that really cannot really be proved one way or the other through any kind of scientific method.
For example, Tylor made assumptions about the way religion originally was without any real evidence to support them. Religion could have just as easily stemmed from a belief in one God rather than many, or it could have started out as more personal and then become more impersonal for all we know. Freud came up with theories such as the oedipal complex and others not based on scientific proof. And Durkheim makes the assumption that ritual created gods and not the other way around. They belief that there is no god just as much as those who do believe there is a God. So it would seem that in the process of trying to explain religion specifically, faith of some kind is unavoidable.
Just to be clear, the argument I’m making right now is not whether or not scientists in general have faith in regards to their scientific method but rather do scientists or those who break down religion in a reductionist way have to have elements of faith in regards to their theories about religion. Can religion really be explained apart from involving an element of faith in the process? Or is the faith element actually part of what distinguished religion and even the explanation of religion?
This is not an attempt to excuse theories from being critiqued by involving an element of faith in the process, but rather an attempt to question whether or not reductionist theories really are better or more helpful ways of explaining religion than the religion itself is at doing this.“
What do you think?
~Amy
Reductionism essentially is “the theory that every complex phenomenon, esp. in biology or psychology, can be explained by analyzing the simplest, most basic physical mechanisms that are in operation during the phenomenon.” So in other words a traditional explanation for the existence of a God is not good enough because reductionism in a sense when it comes down to the way it is used in regards to explaining religion, seems to operate on the idea that there really isn’t a God/gods or there probably isn’t, but rather that there must be some explanation as to why people believe that he does exists. Supernatural explanations, it would seem, are unacceptable for many if not all scientists who hold to reductionist views of religion in respect to attempting to explain origins.
Peace and War? September 7, 2008
Posted by ichthus42 in War and Peace.2 comments
So I’ve been wrestling with these two ideas for about a year now…
Is there really ever a legitimate reason for one country to wage war on another country?
Is it really possible to be a pacifist but still defend what you believe in?
Is it more cowardly to be for war or against it?
I’m attempting to do research on this, and may even try to write something more in depth about this sometime…
~Amy
“Perhaps…” August 31, 2008
Posted by ichthus42 in Book Quotes.1 comment so far
“Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man–there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as “The women, God help us!” or “The ladies, God bless them!”; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension ; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything “funny” about woman’s nature.”
~Dorothy Sayers, Are Women Human?
Philosophy Class… August 27, 2008
Posted by ichthus42 in School Craziness.1 comment so far
“An attitude of open-mindedness and objectivity is certainly very core to getting the most out of studying philosophy. This doesn’t mean that you cannot still keep values or beliefs that are important to you, but it does mean that you have to be willing to listen to other people and also learn from them as well. In the end this might mean that sometimes you do change your beliefs about certain things or that your beliefs are simply enriched and you have a stronger idea of who you are as a person and what you believe, but hopefully not in an arrogant kind of way.”
