Happy Anniversary

Catherine and Michael! J.D. and I hope you are both having a lovely day, give Olivia a hug for us.

What I thought about today

Purple butterflies in Jacob's Room

Perpetual fading of all but love

Octavio Paz and the Chingada

Lady Caroline Lamb writing Glenarvon

Gotta love The Onion

~
"I feel like ctrl, alt, deleting myself."
(I just love the way the kid says it.)

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/breaking_news_all_online_data

There are some new stories too. The Africa one is quite humorous. So is the the new NASCAR report with expert advice on dealing with other cars: "I tell my drivers look out the windshield, if you see a car over there... don't drive into that place."

My favorite line from the story on the world's least influential people is: "She has a Labrador Retriever that occasionally will listen to her."

07.07.07

I just finished Middlemarch for the 3rd time today. I remember Professor Glajzer from my undergrad college, who said it was one of the greatest novels ever written, in his opinion for its plot intricacies. We didn't read it in his class, but I read it for the first time after he recommended it because surely, I couldn't miss out on "one of the greatest novels ever written." (Such is the guilt of all lit. students).

Indeed, I am amazed by Eliot's ability to weave in and out of several layers of narrative. She was an immense genius, and I don't use that word lightly. Of course, not everyone enjoys Middlemarch; many don't have the patience for 19th century prose in general, and even less for George Eliot in particular. But I love her. I don't just love her for her immense brain... and I do mean that in the slightly monstrous image it implies... I love her vision of humanity and her heart. "What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?" (712). What indeed? That's my credo; that's what's ultimately important to me. Life is the collection of people that we've given hope, friendship, and love. There is an immense morality there as well. It's our job to make the world less difficult "to" each other. It's the Buddhist dictate to "do no harm" along with the Christian invitation to "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15) and a connection to the thought of Martin Buber, the Jewish theologian, who wrote that ultimately "everything is gathered up in relation" to both the divine and the human (The Eternal Thou, 246). It's an incredibly impossible morality to achieve constantly, but it's the most ethical that I know.

For Eliot saw another truth about religion, the narrow, harmful effect it can have if it does not constantly check itself against the plight of fellow human beings: "There is no general doctrine which is not capable of eating out our morality if unchecked by the deep-seated habit of direct fellow-feeling with individual fellow-men" (601). Extremism in any form is focused on thinking of the "self" in relationship to "god," never thinking about the relationship to fellow suffering mortals (unless it's formulated in a vision of converting, commanding, or controlling them). It's easy to abstract "god," to whatever reflection of oneself is most desired. But it's much less easy to believe something absolutely when we must consult the suffering of others outside our narrow perspectives. If we really thought about our constant impact on others, the world would be a far less painful place.

Lilies

"...by desiring what is perfectly good, even when we don't quite know what it is and cannot do what we would, we are part of the divine power against evil -- widening the skirts of light and making the struggle with darkness narrower" (381). George Eliot, Middlemarch

These are the only lilies that survived long enough to bloom this year in my tiny 1 x 1 ft. square garden. People cut down or stepped on the others. It's difficult growing flowers here. But I keep trying.

Did I mention I love G.E.

"The troublesome ones in a family are usually either the wits or the idiots" (Middlemarch, 298).


And later "Will" acts against his better judgement "Having silenced objection by force of unreason...." (Middlemarch, 456).