one of the classes i'm taking this semester is called christian imagination. i don't know exactly how to describe the class this is what it says on the syllabus:
"Our intention in this class is to deepen our understanding of the relationship between the Christian Gospel and the human imagination: that is, all of those ways of expression and communication which depend primarily on images. Imagesâ do not refer only to the visual, but to any meaning-full appeal to the senses. So another name for the course might be "Christian aesthetics": we are concerned not only with "the arts", but with the life of the senses generally, and how it relates to our life in Christ. (The opposite of "aesthetic" is not "rational" or "logical": it is rather "an-aesthetic"). Any Christian who lives in and through a body is encouraged to take the course."
anyway, we're focusing on art, on creating, and what that has to do with our faith, with God, with his incarnation. Christian aesthetics. it's been pretty cool so far. i'm thinking it will encourage my creativity and writing.
last night we learned a bit about icons. the danger in creating an image of God, is that you are potentially creating an idol, because God can't really be captured on paper, in paint, in scuplture. in Islam, there is a great fear of this, so there is no imagery involved in that religion.
with that in mind, we are creatures that think in the form of images, even words, which are formed in visual ways (tractor ---> tract --> "pull apart" can't you just see the earth beeing pulled apart with that word?) images are important. (this is a horrendous abbreviation of a 3 hour lecture by the way, so i'm probably leaving good stuff out)
so we looked at icons, "windows on eternity" he called them. not meant to be exact representations, because who could do that anyway? but to remind us that there are things greater than ourselves.
this picture i posted is by rublev, "the Holy Trinity". the interesting thing about it, is the composition of the picture, the lines, the vanishing point (art terms i don't really know how to explain) are in the front of the picture, at the bottom. not at the top or behind the father son and holy spirit. the effect here draws you into the painting. the viewer is drawn in to the scene and you join the trinity at the table. the miracle of being in relationship with God. simply beautiful.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Monday, January 24, 2005
Saturday, January 22, 2005
living underwater
it has rained pretty solidly for the past week. flooding, landslides, soggy jeans, the whole mess. welcome to vancouver. were this a year ago, i would say, welcome to the pacific northwest. but i have since been learned about geography (not to mention being scolded by my canadian friends) to learn that relative to the rest of the country, vancouver is barely northwest of anything. if anything, vancouver is the canadian southwest. say, like san diego in america. oh how i wish i was in san diego. at least then i would have learned to surf by now, or fattened myself up on many a burrito. mmm... burritos.
i just saw the movie garden state. good film. made me think a lot. watching the "special features", zach braff talks about the storm towards the end of the movie (don't worry i'm not giving anything away). he says (not verbatim) that going through the storm is cold and gloomy and hard, but on the other side of it is spring, new birth, and the characters are changed through the experience. true, true. right now, it is hard for me to believe my socks will ever be dry or that i will see the sun again. it is hard for me to see what is on the other side of my experience at regent, to understand why i am going through the things i am going through now, to understand why i am writing pages of papers and reading hundreds of pages of books. because somewhere on the side of this, the sun will break through, i will finish writing and i will be a different person than i am now. sometimes i wish i could just take a hiatus from being me, go back 10 years or ahead 10 years and meet myself and see what i'm like. because sometimes i think i'm going in circles, being crazy old me, even though i know that's not really true.
the relentless rain, cold and grayness also makes it difficult to appreciate everyday. i suppose in la, where it's sunny all the time, it would make each day unique too. but here, i'd just like to hibernate until the bright exciting parts. i don't really want to live that way, like i'm blanking out the way i sometimes do in class lectures until something grabs my attention. i need something to break the monotony i suppose.
the coffee shop where i get my free wireless connection (with the purchase of a wicked good rooibos tea) is closing now. wrapping up but will continue this thought later on.
i just saw the movie garden state. good film. made me think a lot. watching the "special features", zach braff talks about the storm towards the end of the movie (don't worry i'm not giving anything away). he says (not verbatim) that going through the storm is cold and gloomy and hard, but on the other side of it is spring, new birth, and the characters are changed through the experience. true, true. right now, it is hard for me to believe my socks will ever be dry or that i will see the sun again. it is hard for me to see what is on the other side of my experience at regent, to understand why i am going through the things i am going through now, to understand why i am writing pages of papers and reading hundreds of pages of books. because somewhere on the side of this, the sun will break through, i will finish writing and i will be a different person than i am now. sometimes i wish i could just take a hiatus from being me, go back 10 years or ahead 10 years and meet myself and see what i'm like. because sometimes i think i'm going in circles, being crazy old me, even though i know that's not really true.
the relentless rain, cold and grayness also makes it difficult to appreciate everyday. i suppose in la, where it's sunny all the time, it would make each day unique too. but here, i'd just like to hibernate until the bright exciting parts. i don't really want to live that way, like i'm blanking out the way i sometimes do in class lectures until something grabs my attention. i need something to break the monotony i suppose.
the coffee shop where i get my free wireless connection (with the purchase of a wicked good rooibos tea) is closing now. wrapping up but will continue this thought later on.
Monday, January 10, 2005
snow in the city
it's cold here. but at least it's pretty. doesn't snow much in the city but it snowed over the weekend. pretty exciting! snow is still a novelty for me the california kid. a bunch of us about to go sledding tonight. fun stuff.
Friday, January 07, 2005
happy new year
well.... it's been a while. the reasons for not posting anything new are varied and mundane. school, laziness, busy-ness, insecurity, perfectionism, depression and such all contributed to me now writing much. because who wants to hear me complain? i wouldn't, though my friends here have certainly given me a lion's share of patience and grace in putting up with me over the past few months.
i've just returned from a two week vacation at home that was tiring but at the same time refreshing. Tiring in that not much sleep happens - we're all night owls. Christmas presents are opened with my large extended family at oh, 2 am every year. can't remember when that tradition started, but came about because we had whined and convinced our parents that since it was christmas day already in the philippines we should be able to open our gifts on christmas eve. But time at home was also refreshing to see old friends and catch up and laugh. and go ice skating. and eat crepes. and to see the sun! that's an exciting thing when days in vancouver are a gray and wet and it gets dark at 4:30.
and now another semester awaits. i've got another year of school left after this one. lately i've been wondering what i'm doing here, what i'd like to do after this. not easy questions to answer. i know that i like/love/need to write. it's the context, and content of the writing that are the variables. even in this blog, i'm not quite sure what to talk about - stuff i'm learning in school, culture, or funny things. a combination of those things would be good i guess. i would prefer not to be "like all the other bloggers." but why try to disassociate myself when i am clearly of the armada of people that let fly on the internet? best just to embrace it as is. i do refuse to use such abbreviations as LOL, OMG, and the like. and as you can see, the shift key. mostly out of laziness, than some kind of ee cummings kind of vibe.
blogs are weird. like a diary, but posted freely for all to see. our favorite subject: ourselves. do we need attention that badly? i guess so. or perhaps more an avenue to express ourselves, with the possibility of connecting with someone "out there." i guess that what it boils down to, our main motivation (at least mine) is to connect with others, on the internet, at school, at work, at church, laundromat, coffee shop, etc. how does a world with 6 billion people and counting have so many people that are lonely and disconnected from each other?
i obsessively check others blogs, of people i barely even know. it's like catching the latest episode of a reality tv show. i don't have a tv, so i take entertainment where i can. for some reason, i can't connect to the internet anymore (perhaps my landlords have wised up to me leeching off their wireless network) at home, and now i find it difficult to entertain myself. sad, really. i think i ought to be reading. i used to read like a maniac growing up. my attention span in shorter now, i believe. or i'm just reading harder books. i could go back to reading the black stallion series or hardy boys.
anyway, i'm hungry now. i'll be back soon. perhaps with more interesting thoughts, and maybe not so self-absorbed.
i've just returned from a two week vacation at home that was tiring but at the same time refreshing. Tiring in that not much sleep happens - we're all night owls. Christmas presents are opened with my large extended family at oh, 2 am every year. can't remember when that tradition started, but came about because we had whined and convinced our parents that since it was christmas day already in the philippines we should be able to open our gifts on christmas eve. But time at home was also refreshing to see old friends and catch up and laugh. and go ice skating. and eat crepes. and to see the sun! that's an exciting thing when days in vancouver are a gray and wet and it gets dark at 4:30.
and now another semester awaits. i've got another year of school left after this one. lately i've been wondering what i'm doing here, what i'd like to do after this. not easy questions to answer. i know that i like/love/need to write. it's the context, and content of the writing that are the variables. even in this blog, i'm not quite sure what to talk about - stuff i'm learning in school, culture, or funny things. a combination of those things would be good i guess. i would prefer not to be "like all the other bloggers." but why try to disassociate myself when i am clearly of the armada of people that let fly on the internet? best just to embrace it as is. i do refuse to use such abbreviations as LOL, OMG, and the like. and as you can see, the shift key. mostly out of laziness, than some kind of ee cummings kind of vibe.
blogs are weird. like a diary, but posted freely for all to see. our favorite subject: ourselves. do we need attention that badly? i guess so. or perhaps more an avenue to express ourselves, with the possibility of connecting with someone "out there." i guess that what it boils down to, our main motivation (at least mine) is to connect with others, on the internet, at school, at work, at church, laundromat, coffee shop, etc. how does a world with 6 billion people and counting have so many people that are lonely and disconnected from each other?
i obsessively check others blogs, of people i barely even know. it's like catching the latest episode of a reality tv show. i don't have a tv, so i take entertainment where i can. for some reason, i can't connect to the internet anymore (perhaps my landlords have wised up to me leeching off their wireless network) at home, and now i find it difficult to entertain myself. sad, really. i think i ought to be reading. i used to read like a maniac growing up. my attention span in shorter now, i believe. or i'm just reading harder books. i could go back to reading the black stallion series or hardy boys.
anyway, i'm hungry now. i'll be back soon. perhaps with more interesting thoughts, and maybe not so self-absorbed.
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