Well, the Christian ecclesia or assembly hasn’t changed since Paul wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians, he begins by saying of the Corinthian assembly “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way - in all speaking and in all your knowledge - because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift . . . . “ This was all true and other stuff was also true about that assembly and the usual mashup of the good, the bad, the ugly, the true and the false and the beautiful we see living in us and around us was obviously present as we read on in Corinthians. Like when a child matures and can steadily recognize the good and the bad, the weak and the strong in their parents and know that the one doesn’t negate the other, they are both simply true and they love anyway.
“We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness is at home” 2 Peter 3:13 In the meantime let us go about doing good as Jesus did. Acts 10:38
"...coming to terms with how this world... is so utterly in a state of perpetual decay and hope deferred if not destroyed."
If, as some people have opined, European Christianity has degenerated into a series of clumsy museums and the EU is a tourist trap for goofy ideas then it, unfortunately, falls to the United States and Russia to rekindle the light. Yet the two champions of faith are carried along by on the one hand the austere visions of Seraphim Rose and the other a nearly exhausted Protestantism, one is hesitant by talk about hope.
Wrapping myself in the warm cloak of our mythical past is a comforting but ephemeral occupation. Yet cherry-picking the ideas contained therein seems to be our only guideposts otherwise we are held hostage to the dubious likes of Mr Musk and his dreams of a glorious Martian civilization amidst the chloride sands and poisonous air. Fitting perhaps for the future of materialism. Or perchance the messianic Jews who call themselves Christians spending their time dribbling over the Old Testament searching for a refutation of the New Covenant.
You are correct to be in a state of melancholy for that is the natural refuge of sanity. Any other stepping stone across the raging river is far more slippery.
You may be interested to know that today there is an Oxford-educated Druid living in Wales, Laurence Main, who claims to have past-life memories and intimate knowledge of the Battle of Camlan, in which Arthur II was fatally wounded, because he was at the time one of the commanders of the army opposing Arthur. Fascinating videos:
The first one defiently Lancelot, Why do you concentrate on Arthurs death? There is so much else to write about. They gave Arthur the power and killed him for it. But is that really all to it? Taking priveledge as many have to weave a tale can do an alternate ending, because why not. I have followed the tales of King Arthur fior years now. And I will be weaving my own legend of King Arthur. I got the basics of the story and got some new characters and a character not paid much attention to. Old english prose is hard to read and decipher. But you would have to do it in english so people could understand it... I might do a second book ... we will see how motivated I get.
Yes, Arthur was definitely not a romantic. After all his sons died, leaving him without an heir, Arthur took a second wife who unfortunately was unfaithful. She was in a relationship with Arthur's traitorous nephew, Mewdrad (Mordred)- in fact, they may have been in a relationship before she married Arthur. Arthur discovered that he was a cuckold and chased the couple all the way up to Meigle, near Perth in Scotland, where he set his hunting dogs on her and ripped her to shreds.
This is commemorated on Guinevere's Stone, which can be seen at the Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum.
Is that material for a romantic poem? I'm not sure; but an interesting parallel with Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, perhaps? Another parallel is that Arthur may have had six wives.
I do think you have regenerated something beautiful and true in these poems, especially the first. Thank you for so assiduously pressing the case for not letting the past go but rather letting all things pass and be made new again.
Regarding Pageau, I think he offers a very useful hermeneutic paradigm for people who don't have any idea how to read symbols. But then it's sort of like a crystal, where once you understand how he applies his method to a few things, you can infer a lot of the rest; it becomes highly predictable. And yes, there is a real danger that some will take his paradigm as an ideology in itself, which of course would undermine the entire point.
Two epsiodes of his that have stuck with me, though: 1) how the father whom Jesus saves is Adam, not the Heavenly Father; and 2) how St. Peter, and thus also the Church of Rome, are defined by the ambivalence of oscillating between serving as the Rock and as the Adversary.
I do wonder some days if the vote upon the refutation of reincarnation in Christian doctrine in 553 AD at the second council of Constantinople had gone the other way whether the Apocalyptic interpretations and materialism of our Age would be presently pervasive as an absolutist perception of human death. Could it not be we are all too obsessed with love of our bodies, consequently developing a narrow narcissistic form of soulwork and therein minimising the ego free syncretism of shared Spirit ? Still, love Beardsley’s illustrations and, as ever, all you write is often beautiful and always thought provoking, so many thanks.
Well, the Christian ecclesia or assembly hasn’t changed since Paul wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians, he begins by saying of the Corinthian assembly “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way - in all speaking and in all your knowledge - because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift . . . . “ This was all true and other stuff was also true about that assembly and the usual mashup of the good, the bad, the ugly, the true and the false and the beautiful we see living in us and around us was obviously present as we read on in Corinthians. Like when a child matures and can steadily recognize the good and the bad, the weak and the strong in their parents and know that the one doesn’t negate the other, they are both simply true and they love anyway.
“We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness is at home” 2 Peter 3:13 In the meantime let us go about doing good as Jesus did. Acts 10:38
"...coming to terms with how this world... is so utterly in a state of perpetual decay and hope deferred if not destroyed."
If, as some people have opined, European Christianity has degenerated into a series of clumsy museums and the EU is a tourist trap for goofy ideas then it, unfortunately, falls to the United States and Russia to rekindle the light. Yet the two champions of faith are carried along by on the one hand the austere visions of Seraphim Rose and the other a nearly exhausted Protestantism, one is hesitant by talk about hope.
Wrapping myself in the warm cloak of our mythical past is a comforting but ephemeral occupation. Yet cherry-picking the ideas contained therein seems to be our only guideposts otherwise we are held hostage to the dubious likes of Mr Musk and his dreams of a glorious Martian civilization amidst the chloride sands and poisonous air. Fitting perhaps for the future of materialism. Or perchance the messianic Jews who call themselves Christians spending their time dribbling over the Old Testament searching for a refutation of the New Covenant.
You are correct to be in a state of melancholy for that is the natural refuge of sanity. Any other stepping stone across the raging river is far more slippery.
Thanks for this
You may be interested to know that today there is an Oxford-educated Druid living in Wales, Laurence Main, who claims to have past-life memories and intimate knowledge of the Battle of Camlan, in which Arthur II was fatally wounded, because he was at the time one of the commanders of the army opposing Arthur. Fascinating videos:
https://www.youtube.com/@BritainsHiddenHistoryRoss/search?query=druid%20laurence
The first one defiently Lancelot, Why do you concentrate on Arthurs death? There is so much else to write about. They gave Arthur the power and killed him for it. But is that really all to it? Taking priveledge as many have to weave a tale can do an alternate ending, because why not. I have followed the tales of King Arthur fior years now. And I will be weaving my own legend of King Arthur. I got the basics of the story and got some new characters and a character not paid much attention to. Old english prose is hard to read and decipher. But you would have to do it in english so people could understand it... I might do a second book ... we will see how motivated I get.
Lancelot is a romantic, Arthur was his own man. Any man who write poetry is a romantic ...
Yes, Arthur was definitely not a romantic. After all his sons died, leaving him without an heir, Arthur took a second wife who unfortunately was unfaithful. She was in a relationship with Arthur's traitorous nephew, Mewdrad (Mordred)- in fact, they may have been in a relationship before she married Arthur. Arthur discovered that he was a cuckold and chased the couple all the way up to Meigle, near Perth in Scotland, where he set his hunting dogs on her and ripped her to shreds.
This is commemorated on Guinevere's Stone, which can be seen at the Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum.
Is that material for a romantic poem? I'm not sure; but an interesting parallel with Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, perhaps? Another parallel is that Arthur may have had six wives.
https://www.cymroglyphics.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=112
it might be written on guineveres head stone but that so didnt happen. and dont even get me started on guinevere. she was no saint.
I do think you have regenerated something beautiful and true in these poems, especially the first. Thank you for so assiduously pressing the case for not letting the past go but rather letting all things pass and be made new again.
Regarding Pageau, I think he offers a very useful hermeneutic paradigm for people who don't have any idea how to read symbols. But then it's sort of like a crystal, where once you understand how he applies his method to a few things, you can infer a lot of the rest; it becomes highly predictable. And yes, there is a real danger that some will take his paradigm as an ideology in itself, which of course would undermine the entire point.
Two epsiodes of his that have stuck with me, though: 1) how the father whom Jesus saves is Adam, not the Heavenly Father; and 2) how St. Peter, and thus also the Church of Rome, are defined by the ambivalence of oscillating between serving as the Rock and as the Adversary.
I do wonder some days if the vote upon the refutation of reincarnation in Christian doctrine in 553 AD at the second council of Constantinople had gone the other way whether the Apocalyptic interpretations and materialism of our Age would be presently pervasive as an absolutist perception of human death. Could it not be we are all too obsessed with love of our bodies, consequently developing a narrow narcissistic form of soulwork and therein minimising the ego free syncretism of shared Spirit ? Still, love Beardsley’s illustrations and, as ever, all you write is often beautiful and always thought provoking, so many thanks.