Substack Notes Roundup #9
Time, death, creation, and more...
This is the 9th collection of my most recent Substack notes. Enjoy.
Does a flawed creation imply a flawed Creator?
If yes then is God Himself flawed?
If no then did He intentionally create us flawed? Why weren’t we able to make the right choice in the garden and what does this say about God as a Creator?
Has flawlessness now become impossible because of our sinful nature?
How should we, as flawed creations, view our Creator?
Is Theosis the answer?
“For He was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality”
— Athanasius of Alexandria
“That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
— H. P. Lovecraft, The Nameless City
Blind Milton dictating ‘Paradise Lost’ to his daughters, by Mihály Munkácsy (1877)
“Time has lost its first aspect or layer; its unity. It has a different rhythm in every different place and passes here differently from there. The things of this world interweave dances made to different rhythms. If the world is upheld by the dancing Shiva, there must be ten thousand such dancing Shivas, like the dancing figures painted by Matisse.”
— Carlo Rovelli, The Order of Time
One day you’ll look back on your struggle and smile.
“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying:
‘We played the flute for you,
And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
And you did not lament.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”
— Matthew 11:16-19
How much more terrifying a life of comfort is as opposed to a life of suffering. Worldly pleasures hide the nature of death, who will spare no one; they foster our pride as we scoff at the need for God; they downplay our spiritual needs and make us drunk on lust. How to adequately convey this preposterous message to modern ears?
Others have done it, long ago:
“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.”
— Psalm 119:67
“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abound through Christ.”
— 2 Corinthians 1:5
“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
— 2 Corinthians 12:9
“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
— C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
True friendship cannot be reduced to mere pastime. A friend brings out the best in us, sometimes aspects of ourselves we never knew existed, and with them we can be saved.
To be precise, nothing should be reduced to mere pastime. Every activity or situation, every face or landscape, music or silence, movie or play; each has the capacity to shape not just our character but our relationship with what is meaningful.
This is why mindless consumption and half-hearted participation leaves the world hollow; it reveals nothing, it connects us with nothing; it mocks the eternal spirit and exalts the ephemeral flesh.
“The end is here, now, and all will be gone sooner or later no matter what we do. The trees bloom in the spring and wither in the autumn; the ocean's fragrant scent rejuvenates in the summer, embracing and full of life, and a dark grayish horizon, repulsive and lifeless, dominates as winter advances.
Everything that is of this world is temporary, and so are we.”
“I've had countless of walks during that hour; I've visited dim lit churches, cobblestone streets with low-hanging lamps, open squares when the lamplight contrasts the dark hues of the evening sky. It requires certain humility to gaze upward and truly comprehend that we are but a tiny life form blessed with the gift of consciousness. Man's nature is revealed in gratitude and worship. In silence he can exercise both.”
