#“Whatever is unsure is possible and life is bigger than flesh. Beyond reach of thought let imagination figure.” – Wendell Berry For the las

[stoicbreviary]

"Testament"

Wendell Berry 

And now to the Abyss I pass Of that Unfathomable Grass . . . 1. Dear relatives and friends, when my last breath Grows large and free in air, don't call it death— A word to enrich the undertaker and inspire His surly art of imitating life; conspire Against him. Say that my body cannot now Be improved upon; it has no fault to show To the sly cosmetician. Say that my flesh Has a perfect compliance with the grass Truer than any it could have striven for. You will recognize the earth in me, as before I wished to know it in myself: my earth That has been my care and faithful charge from birth, And toward which all my sorrows were surely bound, And all my hopes. Say that I have found A good solution, and am on my way To the roots. And say I have left my native clay At last, to be a traveler; that too will be so. Traveler to where? Say you don't know. 2. But do not let your ignorance Of my spirit's whereabouts dismay You, or overwhelm your thoughts. Be careful not to say Anything too final. Whatever Is unsure is possible, and life is bigger Than flesh. Beyond reach of thought Let imagination figure Your hope. That will be generous To me and to yourselves. Why settle For some know-it-all's despair When the dead may dance to the fiddle Hereafter, for all anybody knows? And remember that the Heavenly soil Need not be too rich to please One who was happy in Port Royal. I may be already heading back, A new and better man, toward That town. The thought's unreasonable, But so is life, thank the Lord! 3. So treat me, even dead, As a man who has a place To go, and something to do. Don't muck up my face With wax and powder and rouge As one would prettify An unalterable fact To give bitterness the lie. Admit the native earth My body is and will be, Admit its freedom and Its changeability. Dress me in the clothes I wore in the day's round. Lay me in a wooden box. Put the box in the ground. 4. Beneath this stone a Berry is planted In his home land, as he wanted. He has come to the gathering of his kin, Among whom some were worthy men, Farmers mostly, who lived by hand, But one was a cobbler from Ireland, Another played the eternal fool By riding on a circus mule To be remembered in grateful laughter Longer than the rest. After Doing that they had to do They are at ease here. Let all of you Who yet for pain find force and voice Look on their peace, and rejoice. 

IMAGE: Dave Gordon, Old Gravestones II (2013)

[savannahvdimarco]

What I Learned In My First Term in Div School: Life in the Musterion

“Whatever is unsure is possible, and life is bigger than flesh. Beyond reach of thought, let imagination figure.” – Wendell Berry 

For the last couple months, I’ve been absolutely taken with the Greek word μυστήριον. The word has been a great help to me during my first term at YDS, and after facing months of epistemological anxiety, I’ve come to fall in love with the musterion itself. This blog post is wee attempt to share the word’s scriptural background and point to its tremendous bearing on our theological questions today. Here we go!

So, what is the ‘musterion?’

Between the gospels, the epistles, and the book of Revelation, canonical New Testament writers mention ‘mystery’ 27 times. Included among these is Mark, who writes about the musterion in his Parable of the Sower account. In this passage, after giving a cryptic teaching about sowing, weeds, and thorns to a large group, Jesus meets inside a home with His followers, who ask about the parables’ meaning. Rather than answering the question outright, Jesus responds: “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything come in parables.” Though many translations write “secret,” Mark uses the Greek word musterion, which implies both secret and mystery. In the following verses’ fuller answer, it is as if Jesus says, ‘Seeds grow fully on good soil. The word spoken to you contains greater mysteries than you could ever imagine about the Kingdom of God. You can’t see everything with your eyes now, because it’s a secret seed buried deep within you—but you can see the love and justice that sprouts up from a life filled with the word and mystery of my Kingdom. You won’t understand it all, but it will grow in you and around you, like seed on good soil, for all who receive my teaching.’ For Jesus’ followers, the mystery of God’s Kingdom is a gift that grows within them and in the world around them.

Jesus’ disciples sensed elements of God’s Kingdom rising around them—like seeds slowly beginning to grow. Jesus healed those with long-term illnesses, liberated those tormented by demons, and honored one of the community’s poorest members. Jesus came to liberate the oppressed, free the captives, and show those around Him how to love. Perhaps the disciples could feel their own hearts changing; slowly but surely becoming more forgiving, less resentful, more grateful, and more aware of the world’s systematic injustices. In these ways, the Kingdom of God seemed present, but it is still mysterious. It was (and is) still growing. There is so much more to come. For now, the world’s spiritual changes remain a mystery. Who can say how seeds grow? It is not until the ‘next chapter’—when heaven comes to earth—that we will find out what the mystery is. On that day, we will see the seeds’ full growth.  

Luke writes that a child is born to us, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord,” and Mark writes that a mystery is given to us. The gifts are more intimately related than we have ever known. 

If we hold Jesus, we hold these mysteries, too.

What does this mean for us today?

For many of us, the story of Jesus is so familiar that we never think about the bright, wondrous mysteries woven within it. As such, we scramble to clarify every theological grey-area (and there are many.) I propose that Christ calls us to allow our thoughts, instead, to be animated by the awe-struck joy and humility which comes from not fully knowing, yet holding, the mystery of the Kingdom of God. The sacraments are an example. We hold the communion bread without ever knowing its total significance. Simone Weil writes of the Eucharist, “He must be more completely present in a morsel of consecrated bread. His presence is more complete in asmuch as it is more secret.” Who can fully comprehend the wondrous, mysterious secret of communion? How can you or I understand the mystery of God’s great Kingdom planted deep within us? 

We don’t need to have all the answers. In fact, a cosmological cipher is “a vain fiction and chimera.” (A. Conway) Jesus invites us to move beyond understanding; to open our eyes to the divine secrets unfolding around us, and to live a life of love within God’s great mystery. Spring is near, and the Kingdom of God is the seed planted within you.

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Bibliography  1. Boring, Eugene M. Mark: A Commentary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.; 2. Bowker, John W. "Mystery and Parable: Mark Iv. 1—20." The Journal of Theological Studies, New Series, 25, no. 2 (1974): 300-17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23958404.; 3. Brown, R.E. The Semitic background of the term "mystery" in the New Testament. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1968.; 4. Collins, Adela Yarbro. Mark. Edited by Harold W. Attridge. Hermeneia Commentaries. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2007.; 5. Collins, Adela Yarbro. "Messianic Secret and the Gospel of Mark: Secrecy in Jewish Apocalypticism, the Hellenistic Mystery Religions, and Magic." In Rending the Veil: Concealment and Secrecy in the History of Religions, by Elliot R. Wolfson, 11-30. New York, NY: Seven Bridges Press, 1999.; 6. Evans, Craig A. "A note on the function of Isaiah, VI, 9-10 in Mark, IV." Revue Biblique (1946-) 88, no. 2 (1981): 234-35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44088534.; 7. Lane, William L. The Gospel according to Mark; the English text with introduction, exposition, and notes. New International Commentaries on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974.; 8. Marcus, Joel. "Mark 4:10-12 and Marcan Epistemology." Journal of Biblical Literature,103, no. 4 (1984): 557-74. doi:10.2307/3260467.; 9. Marcus, Joel. Mark 1-8. Vol. 1 of Mark. AB 27. Anchor Bible Series. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1964.; 10. Marcus, Joel. The Mystery of the Kingdom of God. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1986.; 11. Moule, C.F.D. “Mystery.” Pages 479–481 in vol. 3 of The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Edited by George A. Buttrick. 4 vols. New York, NY: Abingdon Press, 1962.; 12. Mowry, L. “Parable.” Pages 649–654 in vol. 3 of The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Edited by George A. Buttrick. 4 vols. New York, NY: Abingdon Press, 1962.; 13. Williams, James G. Gospel against Parable: Mark’s Language of Mystery. Decatur, GA: Almond, 1985.; 14. Schiffman, Lawrence H. "Mysteries." In Qumran Cave 4, vol. 15: Sapiential Texts, Part 1 (DJD 20), by Torleif Elgvin, et. al. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1997.; 15. Schiffman, Lawrence H. Reclaiming the Dead Sea scrolls: the history of Judaism, the background of Christianity, the lost library of Qumran. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1994; 16. Eusebius. Eusebius: The Church History. Translated by Paul L. Maier. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1999.; 17. Irenaeus, and Aeterna Press. Irenaeus Against Heresies. London, UK: Aeterna Press, 2016.

[mynameisdreartblog]

Vacation Resorts 3

Libra: Beresheet Hotel. “And like a smoggy monster breaking its dormancy from civilization by emergence from the olden well, there sprang forth an unnegotiable howl. It called upon all the night-walking villagers of the nearby town to seek where such a call beckoned them. One by one — as if it were a plague that swept all known — were these men (now turned nightwalkers) dragging their tools along the ground loosely from their holsters, implying a lack of human care. All were approaching towards that which mysteriously spoke all the tongues of the native land, and with such hypnotic trance and a strange, audible dreg. As the nightcrawlers walked further from their schedules, the beaten dirt paths began to glow iridescent with scratch marks, heavy footprints, and mysterious mounds. <The sound of shifting pages becomes audible> Thereafter, the fluorescent scratch marks had become replaced with new scars: Signs of desperation to escape a chaser or several. The heavy footprints dig even farther into the earth as iron-toed greaves crush the ground… <The sound of shifting through pages becomes more urgent> The mysterious mounds now tear their shrouds as bones, trickling with leftover flesh, arise from the dirt with uncovered magics conjuring a halfway resurrection.” [,] So, what did you think of it? «Wow, that’s… pretty wordy: Why were you writing like that?»  Firstly, that’s better than immediate compliment. Secondly, this was from a writing exercise back when I was in high school to be very descriptive in your language. My teacher never had the guts to tell me I was being too descriptive, so they slapped a good grade on it. «High school? God, that must’ve been ages ago back in… 1950-something.» October 1953, and I was the first of my high-school class because I enrolled just six years after they founded the school, making me a dinosaur retrospectively. «Heh! What was your inspiration for this?» My rational sense would tell me that it was when I decided to think really hard about Mediterranean terrors from days old, but the truth tells me that I never had an interest in that until I graduated. «It sounds way too much like northern Europe to be Mediterranean.» Well, I didn’t wanna play into Greek tropes.

Cancer: Portal Del Lago Hotel. Ah, “racoon with yams.” I wonder what else you have in this fridge. «It’s all yours; I haven’t checked up on it in a while.» You know what that tells me? It tells me whatever’s in here isn’t passable for any human consumption. «Yet, you’re still digging through it. Keep this up, and you’ll end up the next racoon to be in those canned yams.�� Pfft, you and your office jokes. <Springe digs several inches further into the employee fridge, looking at the treacherous back to see what vile horrors lie there.> Ah, it’s nothing too bad: Just some leftover feijoada and a bag filled with miniature coxinhas. I’d reheat some of it if I knew they didn’t have my name on them. «Who brought the “racoon with yams” then?» I don’t keep tabs on every person here. Hell, I don’t even keep tabs on all the patients who see me. «Only the ones that open their hearts to you, right?» Ugh, don’t make it a mushy thing: Sometimes you don’t like the bile you find inside… or in this fridge, Jesus. <Springe pulls out a strangely warm bag of chips, and the contents within it contain a strange, black bile that falls out. It appears to be alive in some way, which doesn’t terrify Springe as they’ve dealt with rogue intestines before.> Oh, it’s wriggling! «Did someone put biological material in the wrong fridge again? I thought I issued an announcement about that!» <Springe tosses the creature in the nearby trashcan and continues digging through the seemingly endless employee fridge. Meanwhile, the biomass crawls its way out of the trashcan and slithers up through Springe’s pants, leaving a slimy but unnoticeable trail behind it.> «Uh, did you see that?» <Springe acts confused.> Huh? No. [,] «My lunch break is almost up, so I’m afraid I won’t be here ’til the point where you’re existential in your fridge spelunking.» <Springe, completely oblivious to the world outside of the fridge, is experiencing temperatures so cold that their eyelashes have frost on them. Also, they can’t hear pleas from outside: This is normal, you see.> Will there be eternal comfort at the end of this? I don’t know: Is there eternal adventure? Is there another quest at the end of it? People don’t tend to think beyond the end. People hold onto things all the time despite this, and I’ll be getting somewhere with this soon. <The clouds of breath coming from their mouth form unforgettable skylines.>

Virgo: Caspian Riviera Grand Palace Hotel. <There’s nobody else in this scene except for Bluma and her solitary thoughts. To conjure a scene, it’s a cold night somewhere in intercontinental Central Asia: Snow aligns the corners of a window seemingly located here to perfectly accent a contemplative thinker needing to subconsciously observe it. That contemplative thinker today is our subject Bluma: What could she possibly be pondering within her mind? Is she trying to figure out the supposed ’hard problem’ of consciousness; aligning the stars to see what multitudes her purposes contain; maybe she’s just taking the moment as it is? One can only wonder.> [,] The folder of topless anime women has been sitting in my files for years. How did it even accumulate? Oh yeah, there’s a whole story behind it, and there’s nobody here to tell it to, which is fantastic. So, I really liked this old dating simulator where you’d date cute girls (and boys) that were based off classic monsters in Western mythology. It wasn’t a cutesy anime style though; it looked like it was drawn by someone who makes action-shows about barbarians, but I didn’t care since the game was mostly text anyways, so the positive chemical rush that gets into your head was worth it the whole way through. I did eventually find one with the same concept but with an anime art-style only fifteen years later… I’m getting sidetracked; what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the folder. Well, at the end of certain routes in the game, you’d receive a timelessly risqué picture as your reward, and I decided to uh… make a collection out of them as a way to preserve the reward I had received. Wait, am I talking about the same game? There are multiple games that had topless women at the end of them as a reward, and I’m confused which was which again… One had a protagonist named Alyosha, and the others were some American names: Nothing potentially related to anything else. [,] <She places her fingers on her temple and creates an iconic pose to represent the methodical nature of humanity. She knows she’s artwork in living form, and it aches her at every moment to be seen as just another person among her flock. This is the tragedy of the image we place upon ourselves when we observe reflections: Distortions are all that we live by, and the true gasp of the self comes through in this pose.> [,] I’ll search for that folder again, and if they’re not where I think I last placed them, they’ve likely manifested into specters that guilt me every time I look at porn.

Sagittarius: Peermont, the Grand Palm. When you’re finished with all your internships, make a pile of all your previous work and burn it. «…Wait, that’s it: That’s all the advice you have for me?» Um, yes? «No, no, no, there must be a catch to all of this. I came searching for you ever since you did a presentation for our class in the town square!» You would’ve been better off eavesdropping if you were gonna end up disappointing by seeking me. «I don’t get it, and I feel like I’m being played with by not getting it.» I feel like I’m being played by only knowing who you are from less than an hour prior. I wanna start by asking you an oppressive amount of questions, and then maybe that advice will become more helpful. [,]  <A sequence of intense interrogation goes underway in a discrete ally: Not worth disclosing the specifics of, really. A bunch of questions pass until the juicy one finally arrives.> «So, this is it, huh?» There’s many it(s) you’ve been assessing to, so I’m unsure. «Just tell me what this tech is!» Well, the truth is I have a magical object with me that resembles something you’re familiar with: A note of proven merit that allows me access to any profession. I’m not a hustler — I’ve transcended that lifestyle a long time ago — I’m rather a cosmic agent sent here to experience every occupation created by humanity. «I think I believe you.» Ah, I know you want it, but you may not like my methods: I suck all I can out of a single experience, and then I float around in a state of purposelessness until the next fixation comes along. It’s a painful life few are willing to embody. «I’m ready for whatever it takes, including that. Finding you and asking for the elaboration I need has been on my mind since that day when I was young and you were younger. Angels came down upon me and guided me to this moment: I’m sure of it.» I was sure of a lot of other things too, but a lot of that assuredness just felt like it was filling a bigger longing. «I didn’t come here for doubts! I came here for the opposite of that… whatever that is, and you’re that.» Yeah, yeah, I’m not planning on adding “guru” to the list of occupations. «You’re dragging me out to reach a conclusion: That’s what I feel inside of me, right?» Ah-hah, you’re starting to realize now! «I turned myself into my own means!»