Saturday Night Musings
[link—standalone]Saturday nights should be times of reflection and prayer. I usually fall victim to overeating or distracting myself instead, but thankfully I started a blog! I feel more motivated to reflect now that I’ve gotten this up and going.
Today I woke up late and conversed with some friends. We spent a lot of time watching Serial Experiments Lain. It’s an incredible show, and like all incredible works of art, it’s incredible because it’s accurately giving visual flesh to a specific moment in time, the current moment. When something is prophetic, it’s not just that it sees into the future as if time is something purely sequential. It’s more like seeing deeper into an image, the imprint of which is already there. You can recognize patterns by their mere implication. The artist, with the help of a muse, is able to do this in a mysterious way. The current moment of the budding and blossoming goddess is upon us, and it seems the whole world is turning upside down, but I’m not afraid. There is nothing inherently evil in femininity. Anything that is ridden by Christ becomes sanctified. There are giants of this age already taming spirits recently emerged. Look forward to an eventual fleshed out analysis of the show!
I chanted at church today as well. I’m not sure if I should feel bad about this, but I like when a church building is empty or at least sparse. I also like few chanters. The second mode vesperal hymns are beautiful. Today, the following festal hymn really moved me:
“O saints, when your limbs had all been crushed, ye were cast into the bosom of the sea; but a higher and more powerful command guided you to moor in the calm haven of delight, because ye sank the wickedness of the serpent in the deep abyss. O wise Martyrs, intercede with God that He grant peace and great mercy to our souls.”
What depth of meaning, what beauty! In the midst of the chaos of murder, the crashing waves of mighty affliction, they are whisked away to a peaceful port. By this double inversion, the abyss is turned on its head, and is itself mutilated. The saints image Christ in this way, who as in Psalm 73,
“didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.”
and,
“brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.”
Nautical imagery appeals to me lately. I wonder if it has anything to do with my recent interest in fishkeeping. I am the proud caretaker of a Betta fish named “Eduardo.” Named by my wife. He is a joy to watch.
I was just watching Fruits Basket. I’ve never seen it, event though it’s a classic of the era of anime I grew up with; well, a bit earlier. It was hilarious to see all of the animation tropes, and the utterly schizophrenic editing style. It made it 1:1 into every Newgrounds animation and middle school girl personality of the early 2000s. What an innocent time to be alive. Although the tragedy of 9/11 had already happened, the effects hadn’t fully manifested. It was a ghostly time where the peaceful past lingered on, echoing off the walls, becoming increasingly faint as the years passed by. Watching it, I can only think that this is something that is made and enjoyed during peacetime. It’s so absurd. The eyes of the main character are humongous, saying to the world “give me all your light.”
Whenever any character expresses emotion, they morph into a tiny homonculus of that emotion. I know it’s a cartoon, but something about it seems even more kooky than the contortions of Loony Toons characters from the 50s and 60s. Maybe it’s the juxtaposition with the mild and more grounded setting of early 2000s Japanese school drama. As many cringeworthy personas that style of media brought forth, I think it’s good to remember peaceful times. Times where melodrama and happy go-lucky cutesy feelings don’t seem so unrelatable. By holding within us the simple spirit of a child, we can always seek out innocence. Maybe I’ll write more about that soon, but now seems as good a time as any to end my night.