Jesus Shaves

"I accepted the idea that an omniscient God had cast me in his own image and that he watched over me and guided me from one place to the next. The virgin birth, the resurrection, and the countless miracles -my
heart expanded to encompass all the wonders and possibilities of the universe.
A bell, though, that's fucked up." -From "Jesus Shaves" by David Sedaris

         We didn't read this short story for class, but I came across it while flipping through the pages to find a few assignments. Naturally, I chuckled at the title and began to read. I love any type of religious humor, especially when it is done in an appropriate manner, well as appropriate as it can be. Sedaris is hilarious in this piece commenting on the norms of other cultures. It is incredibly easy to look at other's religious traditions and poke fun at how odd they seem to be. I have been guilty of doing this on several occasions. Though, as I have grown older and studied religions quite a bit now I have learnt to both accept and appreciate many religions. Yet, it cannot be denied that Sedaris has a valid point in his claim. As a predominately Christian nation many of us have grown up with the traditional teachings of the church. Sedaris points these teachings out in the above quote. We may have tendencies to look at other religions, point a finger, and laugh, but we must not forget that ours sounds nearly just as bogus as any other religion, this is a valuable lesson to understand.

The World Is Too Much With Us, Indeed

The World Is Too Much With Us

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

          This is one of my favorite poems from the entire term. I tend to love nature writing and anything that points towards our modern obsessions with technology and everything, but the natural world. Being a Religious Studies major I have becoming jaded with my concept of who God is. I was raised Christian, yet I have never had a distinct church to attend. I kind of just bounced around denominations going to whichever one felt appropriate at the time. In doing this I began to see the hypocrisy that existed within these churches and soon I would realize that it existed in not just "my" religion, but every religion. 

              I became disheartened by this fact and pulled away from Christianity altogether and began to search for a more meaningful way to express my faith and what I found was nature. I had always found a solace when taking long walks through the woods near my childhood home and regardless of how terrible my circumstances at that moment, I knew I could count on nature to be there for me. So naturally today, I have in many respects withdrawn from the "world" to rest in nature. Wordsworth is absolutely correct in saying "the world is too much with us". People no longer see the natural world as sacred and something embodying the very being of God himself, and to me this is a great tragedy. We have lost touch with nature and therefore God, becoming too consumed with busy tasks and technology to reconnect with Him. It is a very sad state of affairs if you ask me. 

Is God in Our Brain?

"The Brain- is wider than the sky"

-Emily Dickinson 

          Among all of the poems that we have read in this class, I think this is the one that interests me the most on an intellectual level. Dickinson basically states that the brain is no different from God Himself, perhaps suggesting that God is in our brains. I am a Religious Studies major and for that reason I am constantly searching the spiritual realms for what is "true". Religion is often argued to be a human construct. I cannot argue that it is not, but I believe that in spite of this religion still has much to offer humanity. Dickinson's poem definitely adheres to the claims that religion and God even is a human construct, something made within our brains and then materialized in different ways. This idea is unique and in some respects gives the power of creation and the wold to the human. If God is something that is in our brains, something we conceive, then doesn't that make us the Divine? Perhaps it does if we choose to believe it so. Whether or not I accept this idea or not will be something I continue to research for many years. The below picture is Michelangelo's famous painting The Creation of Adam which seems to depict Dickinson's idea by placing God in what seems to be a brain... 

"Stop All the Clocks..."

"He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong."

- Excerpt from W.H. Auden's "Stop all the clocks, Turn off the telephones" 

          The first heartache is always the worst. I believe that Auden speaks of a torn relationship in this poem. He begins by going through a series of demands that seem quite odd, almost as if someone has died and in some senses this can be argued by the end of the poem. In the second stanza Auden paints a grim picture depicting scenes common of that during a funeral and in the following stanzas we realize the cause of such lamenting. The above excerpt is the third stanza of Auden's poem in which he admits his love for his lover. Auden loves this person so much that he becomes consumed with him and sees nothing else. Love, in its early stages, is much like this. We become consumed and wrapped up with that person and a life without him or her seems nearly inconceivable, it was no different for Auden. In the last stanza his pain is clear and he seems hopeless at the loss of his love. While I think that perhaps Auden was too intense in his relationship with this person, I can relate on some level. While reading his poem I reminded of the first boy I ever loved, who I ended up being with for six years. I absolutely loved this boy and I wouldn't have hesitated to basically sell my soul to please him; though, as it is in many "first love" situations we were broken apart by time and differences. I can easily sympathize with Auden when reading this poem and I believe others can as well, which is what makes this poem so accessible to audiences. 

Ahhh, Shakespeare, You Cease to Amaze Me

"My Mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" 

         In a society so saturated with flaky ideals of what "true" beauty is, it is quite refreshing to read William Shakespeare's sonnet "My Mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun". While I am not much a fan of Shakespeare I cannot help, but to appreciate this poem for all that it says. We are so inclined to romanticize the object of our love whether that be a person or even object; though, Shakespeare throws reality in our faces by pointing out that his mistress is nothing like the romanticized creature we so often create in our minds. Quite humorously he remarks, "I have seen roses damasked, red and white, / But no such roses see I in her cheeks; / And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.". We must admire his honesty here. What I love most about this sonnet is that in spite of all of his Mistress' "flaws" or really her human traits he still loves her, And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. This is more beautiful than any overly-romanticized poem that I have ever read about love. 

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you". -Whitman 

          The above lines begin Walt Whitman's piece "Song of Myself". Upon reading this work, which I first read in high school, it comes off as rather egotistical; however, after reading further into the text this was not the case. Whitman argues in his writing that he is connected to everyone, hence why he states that "every atom belonging to me as well belongs to you". In class we didn't have to read the entire piece, but if we had read it the undertones of Whitman's belief in the interconnectedness of the world would become apparent. He isn't literally singing a song in ode to himself but rather everyone because he cannot refer to himself without referring to everyone.

Don't be a Willy, Silly !

"I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and the time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and I thought, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be . . . when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am." -Biff from "Death of a Salesman"

          So I have gotten quite a few "looks" from people when I state what I am going for in school, which is Religious Studies/Sociology/& Creative Writing. I chuckle every time I see the look on someone's face when I tell them and the inevitable, "That's nice, but what will you do with that?" question. I laugh because I know who I am, that doesn't doesn't imply that I know where I will be in a year or what job I will have. And that, my friends, is ok. I love what I am studying and I have faith that I will get a job that will both make me happy and provide me with a comfortable life. The above story speaks of a man, Willy, obsessed with the idea of obtaining what he believes to be the American Dream. In the midst of trying to obtain this dream he loses touch with reality and happiness. He becomes so consumed with being "well-liked" and living the American Dream through fancy appliances that he very quickly digresses until he ultimately takes his own life. Willy represents all that is wrong within our society today. People now rely on material things to declare his or her status in society, rather than relying on things of substance such as development of character or virtue. We can't take fancy cars or money to the grave with us. Don't be a Willy, that's all I'm saying people. I've made it my life's goal to never become a Willy .