Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Nakedness

ok so for theology i have ot keep a bit of a journal of my theological thoughts so i decided to post them here to keep track of them, heres the first one:

Theological anthropology

In class the idea was presented that one can not know themselves fully with out another. I both fully agree and fully despise that statement. In terms of people I am the first to say that people need people, at times in my life I have had some hermit like characteristics and I know that individual isolation does no good for the individual. My problem with that statement comes with the type of relationship it was referring to. The lecture was on the importance of nudity; about how nudity is an absolute openness, and that men and women were made for each other; that together we are one and therefore one is incomplete on their own. I think one can know themselves fully without a lover. Theres a hole in the logic of believing that a man must be with a woman in order to know himself fully. According to this logic we must diregard the writings of every monk who has ever sworn celibacy, the apostle Paul and even Jesus… I mean all of them were single and therefore didn’t fully know themselves, and how can one that doesn’t fully understand what it means to be human write anything of value in regards to the meaning of being human?
So I don’t believe that one needs a spouse to know themselves but I think we do need people. So much of what we know about ourselves comes from being in contact with other people. The Bible is full of communities and in the new testament the idea of being united in a body of Christ is presented. I think we can create close relationships that aren’t of a romantic nature that will help us better understand ourselves. Being part of a community helps complete us.
Physical nakedness may be symbolically powerful as to our openness to one another but I believe one can be just as exposed emotionally. James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to each other. I believe that by sharing our shortcomings with one another we essentially are exposing one of the deepest parts of our existence to each other. I think the view point that there needs to be a physical nakedness to accompany an emotional openness is very egocentric of those who do have that act of physical symbolism available to them and that this view point could be potentially harmful to older single people in a church community.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Ottawa

So I'm in Ottawa for the week visiting my sister. I went to this cool carnival called winterlude (spelling?). Anyways it was just over the ontario Quebec line so I figured I had to buy a poutine (I mean it was the French Canadians who first thought to combine cheese and gravy on french fries). It was good, made with actual cheese curds but a tad overpriced ($5 for a pretty small regular), buy hey what ya gunna do, it was a carnival, and everything else was free. There were some cool snow sculptures and these giant snow slides (which soaked right through my snow pants), and then there were some really amazing ice scuptures, but we only saw them from a distance as we got there too late, But yes Ottawa is great, me and my sister Jasmine just chilled today and ya, I'm going to enjoy my week. peace

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Ethnocentrism is blah!

So i'm sitting in philosophy and basically the philosopher we're studying, who the teacher seems to agree with, suggests that western art is better then eastern. His idea's are much more complex then that but I am sick and tired of the massive amounts of ethnocentrism in our society. Its lame, go look at some foreign stuff its beautiful... mind you I'm at risk of becoming a Xenocentrist (like all cultures but my own) so I am a bit biased, but still people need to open their eyes and change their perceptions

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Almost like the Borg

One thing that frustrates me about university is the similarities between everyone. Here I am living in one of the most diverse places I've ever lived where everyone is seeking new knowledge questioning what they know looking at new ideas, and yet.... its all the same. We all write exams at the same time. we all get stressed at the same time. We are all aspiring to bigger and better things. We all value education. I mean we all have very different ideas and are studying very very different subjects but we are essentially all the same; we are all students. No one here is just wanting to work a simple job that will just get them what they need. So even though Everyone is very different here we are all very much the same, we have been assimilated... at least until we get our degrees

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Midterms and stuff

so its been a while since i posted last... i need to get regular again, anyways its midterms now, i'm taking a study break, this week 3 midterms and an essay, going to a sushi buffet later today so thats good, hmmm what else is ther to say, well i've started gaming again, i decided that i miss being a geek and i think i can game healthily again, i'm also making an effort to start making art again, i mean i spent 8 months in a fine arts program no sense putting those skills to waste. and thats alll for now, peace