i'm printing my final drafts for one of my classes and i thought i'd present my favorite quotes of the term.

"worship becomes the communal solipsism led by vestal virgins." - alan roxburgh

"with anal play, the infant child is already becoming a philosopher of the human condition." - ernest becker, THE DENIAL OF DEATH

i am impressed by the level of transparency that one of my friends has shown recently. he just moved back to his parents' place since he was short on cash. and i asked him to come out to group on sunday. he said no but then went on to tell me that he didn't quite feel comfortable to be there as of yet.

i think it's very cool that he can be self-aware and allow me into his thinking. it seems pretty effortless on his part too. if someone had asked me to go out and i felt the same sort of anxiety about being back home, i simply would have said no without qualification. i'm wishing for that self-consciousness and transparency where i can say things without the effort of introspection. i wish it came naturally...

i'm writing some papers right now since the semester is drawing to a close...

i'm finding myself frustrated with the format of paper writing. there is no room for engaging with own's writing, unless there is a heavy use of footnotes which make the paper incredibly cumbersome. i don't think linearly (hardly anyone does, right?) and it's troubling that i cannot express that sort of a flow in an academic paper. there's no room to de/re-construct one's own thoughts and experiences. and my brain can't seem to stop doing that with this paper.

it's a paper on my experiences at 2 different post-modern churches...

most post-modern churches do not deserve that title. for those groups, post-modernism is a marketing tool, a category to be more attractive to a culture, but they do not embrace the complexities of post-modernity. as my prof says, "they're hogs with lipstick."

i'm done messing around with this for the day. i'm sure i'll have more randoms as the day goes on and i write my papers on the po-mo church...

my first blog...
when i set this blog up, they asked which template i wanted to use. i chose currency. so that's the style within which my thoughts are presented.

a note on currency...
this past sunday, i was talking to some folks about the inherent goodness within creation, that the celts believed in a radical redistribution of goods since all are god's gift to us. when we eat or clothe ourselves, we are gathering from the goodness of creation. thus, god's fertility sustains us and if all these are sourced in god, how can one withhold the goodness, the fertility, the creation? when i give a slice of my mandarin orange to my neighbor in class, i am giving goodness. matter is goodness.

which led me to think about money. when i give (presuming that i do give) to a less-fortunate individual, i am not giving goodness. i am not giving anything of creatiion. cash doesn't exist. i'm giving away an idea, a concept. it's not even backed by gold thanks to nixon. i'm not offering anything of the fertility of god to this person that s/he can embrace, consume, find sustenance. i'm really giving away nothing.