Santa Claus by Howard Nemerov

[A little out of season, but I heard this and enjoyed what Nemerov had to say.]

Somewhere on his travels the strange child
Picked up with this overstuffed confidence man,
Affection's inverted thief, who climbs at night
Down chimneys into dreams, with this world's goods,
Bringing all the benevolence of money,
He teaches the innocent to want, thus keeps
Our fat world rolling. His prescribed costume,
White flannel beard, red belly of cotton waste,
Conceals the thinness of essential hunger,
An appetite that feeds on satisfaction;
Or, pregnant with possessions, he brings forth
Vanity and the void. His name itself
is corrupted, and even Saint Nicholas, in his turn,
Gives off a faint and reminiscent stench,
The merest soupcon1, of brimstone and the pit.

Now, at the season when the Child is born
To suffer for the world, suffer the world,
His bloated Other, jovial satellite
And Sycophant, makes his appearance also
In a glitter of goodies, in a rock candy glare.
Played at the better stores by bums, for money,
This annual savior of the economy
Speakes in the parables of the dollar sign:
Suffer the little children to come to Him.

At Easter, he's anonymous again,
Just one of the crowd lunching on Calvary.

Two complementary thoughts

"In 1861 Imre Madach published “The Tragedy of Man”, a “Paradise Lost” for the industrial age. The verse drama, still a cornerstone of Hungarian literature, describes how Adam is cast out of the Garden with Eve, renounces God and determines to recreate Eden through his own efforts. “My God is me,” he boasts, “whatever I regain is mine by right. This is the source of all my strength and pride.”

Adam gets the chance to see how much of Eden he will “regain”. He starts in Ancient Egypt and travels in time through 11 tableaux, ending in the icebound twilight of humanity. It is a cautionary tale. Adam glories in the Egyptian pyramids, but he discovers that they are built on the misery of slaves. So he rejects slavery and instead advances to Greek democracy. But when the Athenians condemn a hero, much as they condemned Socrates, Adam forsakes democracy and moves on to harmless, worldly pleasure. Sated and miserable in hedonistic Rome, he looks to the chivalry of the knights crusader. Yet each new reforming principle crumbles before him. Adam replaces 17th-century Prague’s courtly hypocrisy with the rights of man. When equality curdles into Terror under Robespierre, he embraces individual liberty—which is in turn corrupted on the money-grabbing streets of Georgian London. In the future a scientific Utopia has Michelangelo making chair-legs and Plato herding cows, because art and philosophy have no utility. At the end of time, having encountered the savage man who has no guiding principle except violence, Adam is downcast—and understandably so. Suicidal, he pleads with Lucifer: “Let me see no more of my harsh fate: this useless struggle.”...At the end of Madach’s poem, Adam is about to throw himself off a cliff in despair, when he glimpses redemption. First Eve draws near to tell him that she is to have a child. Then God comes and gently tells Adam that he is wrong to try to reckon his accomplishments on a cosmic scale. “For if you saw your transient, earthly life set in dimensions of eternity, there wouldn’t be any virtue in endurance. Or if you saw your spirit drench the dust, where could you find incentive for your efforts?” All God asks of man is to strive for progress, nothing more. “It is human virtues I want,” He says, “human greatness.”

Ms Neiman asks people to reject the false choice between Utopia and degeneracy. Moral progress, she writes, is neither guaranteed nor is it hopeless. Instead, it is up to us." -The Economist, 'Onwards and Upwards,' (12/17/09)

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"The Way of the Samurai is found in death. When it comes to either/or, there is only the quick choice of death. It is not particularly difficult. Be determined and advance. To say that dying without reaching one's aim is to die a dog's death is the frivolous way of sophisticates. When pressed with the choice of life or death, it is not necessary to gain one's aim.

We all want to live. And in large part we make our logic according to what we like. But not having attained our aim and continuing to live is cowardice. This is a thin dangerous line. To die without gaming one's aim is a dog's death and fanaticism. But there is no shame in this. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai. If by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he pains freedom in the Way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling." -Hagakure, chapter 1

Another Quote

[Discussing Jer. 22:16] Remembering the cause of the needy is not something that good, respectable, paternalistically inclined, philanthropically oriented people do after they already know God. No, the remembering the cause of the needy is the way to know God. —Dr. Mark Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary

Wandering

As I was reading the Bible today, I came across the story of Cain and Abel. As I read the famous story, I found a part of the curse placed upon Cain by God quite interesting. God says, "You [Cain] will be a restless wanderer on the earth" (Gen. 4:12). I found it interesting that restlessness and wandering is given as a curse. American culture has always valued the lone wanderer, whether it be a Clint Eastwood cowboy or a Jack Kerouac novel. But is this a virtue or a curse? Do we all long for belonging, for community more than fierce independence? Or perhaps independence detached from fellowship. Can a wanderer truly survive without community? Or are we are at least searching like Kerouac for a brotherhood of wanderers? Do we search for roots, belonging, to be known and to know, because that is hardwired to our identity? Perhaps I should return to Bonhoeffer's 'Life Together'...

A funny convo from freshman yr of college

Austin: "Kenny, who is better: Jesus or Tupac?"

Kenny: "hmm...I think they're even."

Austin: "Really? Why?"

Kenny: "Well for three reasons: First, both Jesus and Tupac's respective deaths brought reconciliation. When Tupac died it ended the East coast, West coast rivalry. Second, both leaders were killed by their enemies and their followers still believe they're alive and teaching. Finally, I'm pretty sure Tupac's 'To Live and Die In LA' saved my soul."

Austin: "So what does Heaven look like then?"

Kenny: "That's easy. Heaven is like Jesus, Tupac, the Buddha, John Lennon, and Mohammad sitting around a table drinking beer and eating fried chicken."

Austin: "That sounds like a Heaven I want to be a part of."

Kenny: "Me too, Austin. Me too."

Freestyle

I'm at a coffee shop just chillin. Coffee shops are for members of the "I'm a free spirit but like to conform to free spirit motifs". Everyone comes here looking the same, or at least attempting to capture that 'I belong in a 60s counter-culture movement'. Odd, if you look like other nonconformists you are cool, if you look like no one else you're crazy. Perhaps I'm just not cool enough to understand how counter-cultures or simply being counter-cultural works. But I assumed it meant you had to be different from everyone else. However, not so. Thick black glasses, v neck shirts, tight pants, coffee, and ironic t shirts are all part of the new youth counter culture. Yet I feel we are all trapped in the same cycle. Whether you wear and tie and go home everyday to a nice suburban home or live in the artsy inner city...we're all searching for meaning. I mean, what is an indie kid dancing in the rain like they read in a book or going to a local restaurant actually attempting to do? I suppose find meaning. Belonging. St. Augustine would say that they are searching to love and be loved. And isn't this the same as the person in the suburbs? The same search just with different clothes and language. We're all just fools, blind people searching for light. Our only hope is that somewhere along the way we find someone who understands. Who seeks to soothe our souls in this journey we call life. For me, I am learning to transcend the endless game of role creation. To understand that we are all the same, there is no difference. Whether you dance in the rain or watch a movie, all of us are simply searching for meaning. Our paths are diverse, but our search is the same. To love and to be loved.

Second thought

Is beauty in itself an attribute which emanates from God or is it when his energies are perfectly embodied? Does beauty exist on its own or is it found in the incarnation of God? Does beauty occur when heaven and earth harmonize? Do we recognize beauty when harmony is achieved among the energies of God or does it exist separately? In short, do truth and beauty radiate from God in the same way? Or are all attributes of God simply participatory on our side of heaven so that incarnation is the only medium by which we can experience them? In which case Christ is the highest expression of himself God can possibly make to humanity.