Coffee Culture Kingdom

Morning is Wiser

nobody@vox.com(Phil) — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:36:12 -0700

I love folklore. Lewis's conversion is spurred, I'm told, by a conversation with Tolkien in which the old mythmaker challenged Lewis's atheism/agnosticism with this idea: "Christianity is the One True Myth."

This proverb makes all other myths borrowers from the Real Story. So, I read folklore like a gold miner.

I read a Russian folk tale recently that I had heard before, but never read in this form, called the Frog Princess. You can read it here. I loved this line: "Morning is wiser than evening." I find that to be true as well, though as a recovering night-owl, my findings are coming at a great personal cost.

Getting up early (and the corresponding commitment to get to bed before too late) has seemed to open up options. And yes, morning seems to give wisdom that the evening doesn't give. But, is morning wiser than evening as a rule? I must admit that even as I write this, I am still convinced that night counsels deep wisdom that the morning never knows. David knew this, and writes in his famous 119th Psalm, "At midnight, I rise and give you thanks."

Aaahh...vindication!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Arguing with Grandma

nobody@vox.com(Phil) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:06:26 -0700

a clean front door...

It's hard to argue with Grandma.

Of the many "wise sayings," she often told me, one came to mind the other day as I was helping a neighbor clean: "if everyone swept in front of his own front door, the whole world would be clean."

Problem is, though, sometimes others can't sweep in front of their own front door.

So as true as my grandmother's old proverb is, its radical emphasis on the individual ignores the power of, and central significance of, the community.

In the end, neither the individual, nor the community, can exist without the other.

Philosophers have long struggled to answer, or solve, this problem of individual vs community, also known by the technical term, "the problem of the one and the many."

Some theologians have argued that this "problem" can only be solved with the historic orthodox concept of God as "three-and-one."

Sweeping, as it turns out, is a project for the Trinity.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Houses of Mourning

nobody@vox.com(Phil) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:57:14 -0700

Crash Test Dummies - At My Funeral

Solomon has wisely observed that, "It is better to go into a house of mourning than into a house of feasting." The rationale has something to do with appreciating life more: "...the living will take it to heart." (See Ecclesiastes 7)

In this fascinating video, we see a culture's habits on death, and the video itself is a proof of the opening quote from Ben Franklin, which suggests that studying cemeteries will reveal what kind of people we are.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend