A thing I'm working on, and I haven't got it in the right form yet. It came into my head this morning.
When people talk of loss and mourning, they say that the thought of their beloved in heaven consoles them. I wonder if we're not getting backwards again, or maybe inside-out. The thought of anybody being in heaven is sheer joy. We mourn because it's not us. We mourn because the condition of our world is such that being in heaven is being cut off from us. Heaven is not a comforting thought, it's the reality. Sorrow and pain are the "thoughts", the reaction to being outside heaven when someone we love has gone in.
Swapping it around (or rearranging it, anyway) doesn't trivialize the loss if you don't let it. Loss is strong and bitter and hard. It's that bad losing someone we love, because the love that went between us was that good, and because the fallen world is that bad without it. But the base state is all good. Think of how dark and persistent the pain of loss is, and consider that it's temporary. Consider that the good and the whole and the perfect is stronger. How strong must it be?
When people talk of loss and mourning, they say that the thought of their beloved in heaven consoles them. I wonder if we're not getting backwards again, or maybe inside-out. The thought of anybody being in heaven is sheer joy. We mourn because it's not us. We mourn because the condition of our world is such that being in heaven is being cut off from us. Heaven is not a comforting thought, it's the reality. Sorrow and pain are the "thoughts", the reaction to being outside heaven when someone we love has gone in.
Swapping it around (or rearranging it, anyway) doesn't trivialize the loss if you don't let it. Loss is strong and bitter and hard. It's that bad losing someone we love, because the love that went between us was that good, and because the fallen world is that bad without it. But the base state is all good. Think of how dark and persistent the pain of loss is, and consider that it's temporary. Consider that the good and the whole and the perfect is stronger. How strong must it be?
Last night I finally got around to seeing The Muppets. Today I have spent a few hours watching Muppet-related things.
I really liked it! ( Not terribly spoiler-y, but, y'know. )
( And then I went and got philosophical )
Aw, geez. I gotta go buy all the movies now, don't I? *g*
I really liked it! ( Not terribly spoiler-y, but, y'know. )
( And then I went and got philosophical )
Aw, geez. I gotta go buy all the movies now, don't I? *g*
So. Just saw the trailer for this year's Doctor Who special: "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe." (link includes the mini-scene for the charity auction, which was hilarious, and now I'm wondering why it's the straight showrunner who plays up the Doctor's attractiveness)
I want very very much for it to be a fine and wonderful ripoff of Narnia. Because I think C.S. Lewis would have loved the show, or at least its concept. That he died the day before it premiered is both weird and sad. (I've wondered also if Tolkien saw it and what he thought, 'cause he died in 1973, and you know his grandkids would have been into it.)
In any case, I squeed a little when the Doctor lamented, "What are they teaching you in school these days?" So are they suggesting that Digory Kirke was based on the Doctor?
I want very very much for it to be a fine and wonderful ripoff of Narnia. Because I think C.S. Lewis would have loved the show, or at least its concept. That he died the day before it premiered is both weird and sad. (I've wondered also if Tolkien saw it and what he thought, 'cause he died in 1973, and you know his grandkids would have been into it.)
In any case, I squeed a little when the Doctor lamented, "What are they teaching you in school these days?" So are they suggesting that Digory Kirke was based on the Doctor?
A haiku:
Stripped, sanded, reglued,
Will soon be sky blue again
Now: a naked chair.
( The photographic version )
Stripped, sanded, reglued,
Will soon be sky blue again
Now: a naked chair.
( The photographic version )
- Tue, 07:49: Surgery is trauma, but the disease is worse.
- Tue, 09:53: The christian life is easy for no one. We've all got a different thing to learn.
- Tue, 13:30: October strawberries. Really good ones, too. Go figure. #strawberries http://t.co/qfBmktL3
- Tue, 13:40: Ever since 1997, warm Octobers scare me. #stormof97
- Tue, 13:49: @katiegiesbrecht Massive snowstorm? School closed for a week (or more)? Lots of people lost power? Omaha & Lincoln got it.
- Tue, 15:18: Carl Orff: writer of teaching methods and apocalyptic operas.
- Tue, 15:32: @nevesytrof I don't get it...
- Tue, 15:35: @nevesytrof Right. Yes. Okay. #ifailatpuns
- Tue, 18:05: @jonacuff Thank you, Twilight.
- Пн, 10:29: If God weren't patient, I'd have no hope. Now if only *I* were patient.
- Пн, 12:10: Chocolate. I need chocolate. No, really, I'm almost out.
- Пн, 12:54: Today I am thankful that my job lets me sit in my favorite reading chair while working. It JUST fits with my desk.
- Пн, 15:09: Frayed emotions. Gorgeous weather. Not a day for thinking, really. *sigh* #QuarterEndAngst
- Сб, 10:40: Peter Furler has a solo CD out? I know what I need to buy today. #newsboysfangirl
- Чт, 14:58: You know you're Nebraskan when you anchor patio furniture not against thieves, but the wind.
- Чт, 18:22: "Three Irrational Beliefs" http://t.co/RXd6v57Z Useful advice, not just for pastors. Thanks, Dad!
- Пт, 08:09: The chair of my denomination is an old school Doctor Who fan. #christiangeek #whoknew
- Пт, 08:16: @MadMerryMeg Do you think people would go to a musical tragedy?
- Пт, 09:28: Re:@madmerrymeg good point. But how long would it be?
- Пт, 09:31: @nevesytrof Yeah, but who goes to the opera? #musicsnob
- Пт, 11:02: @nevesytrof or you could check out the sci-fi audio dramas at bigfinish.com many of which are full-cast. I like 'em!
- Пт, 13:19: Lunch: Jimmy John's roast beef, Fitz's root beer, plus a gorgeously sunny day, out on my balcony. Fantastic.
- Пт, 14:05: @katiegiesbrecht Not yet. Rocket Fizz is working on it. This was a present from a friend.
- Пт, 14:06: @katiegiesbrecht http://t.co/RE4Fep8h The manager swears he's gonna get it here somehow.
- Wed, 13:53: RT @ShakespeareGeek: If you put Shakespeare in a room with enough typewriters, eventually he will produce the complete works of The Monkees.
- Wed, 13:55: @ProfEngelhardt I like your research paper strategy. I should try that sometime.
- Wed, 13:56: Am catching up on tweets. Taking bets for the point at which I give up.
- Wed, 15:48: @jaepingsu Aw, c'mon. I'm still tickled you can get ebooks on a library website.
- Wed, 16:10: It's easier to handle a low of 82 deg Fahrenheit when you know it'll hit 54 at night.
- Wed, 16:11: @nevesytrof And people think we're underachievers!
- Wed, 16:14: @nevesytrof #selfdeprecationfail
- Wed, 16:17: @nevesytrof Omaha? What stories are these? I thought they liked places in, I dunno, Kansas or Ohio #honestlysurprised
- Thu, 10:19: Why do women wear things that hurt?
- Thu, 10:40: @nevesytrof Exactly. Here is my favorite new necklace, but man is it heavy! Why?? http://t.co/G0ne42Hl
- Tue, 12:51: @jaepingsu I would exercise in the office basement before work, partly because it meant I'd miss rush hour.
- Tue, 12:52: @katiegiesbrecht I love #Castle but I'm so far behind!
- Tue, 12:56: Just ate two strawberries from my balcony. Tiny but sweet!
- Tue, 14:06: RT @steven_moffat: 1st ep of series 2 of Sherlock - A Scandal In Belgravia - will now be shown at the BFI on 6th Dec (not 30th Nov. ) BF ...
- Tue, 14:07: RT @badbanana: Just completed a wildly successful first test of my new robot intern at work. At least three dead.
- Tue, 17:50: You know you're in choir when you've got Christmas music stuck in your head in September.