the blog of Jerry Bolton
Posts tagged Colossians
…breakdown in three quarters
0Current Tunage: Frodus – Out-Circuit The Ending
In the dust of the least design I will take to the sky
Pictured is Durn. Weilding “Jin’Rokh, The Great Apocalypse”. Now at rest.
3 / 4
One to go.
Commentary: It feels so good to be done. Third year was difficult – not necessarily in terms of the content studied. Difficult in every way but scholastically, and so academics were thus rendered difficult as well. I feel like I’ve been stretched every way possible, and yet I know this is just the tiny, visible peak of a monstrous iceberg.
This year is significant for many reasons, but few of them relate to school. This year marked the beginning of my first real relationship in ~4 years. Real, in this case, meaning “she is actually, in fact, interested and reciprocal; capable of making her mind up and being clear about it”. I apologize if the previous sentence comes off as bitter, as I’m not much bitter anymore, just glad to not be tired in the same way I was when that sort of thing bothered me (ie. right before meeting Steph). To add encouragement to healing, I found myself engaged shortly thereafter to someone I oft refer to as “Miss MyUniverse”, among many other things. I freely admit my human propensity towards bias and preference and subjectivity, but I honestly and holistically would submit my Fiancee as the best woman in all chronology, geography, and my unchanging opinion. Bar none. If you disagree, I will fight you and your ignorance (gently).
Consequential to these remarkable and unexpected developments, focusing on academics has often been the last thing on my mind this year – and my marks will likely show the proof. I do expect to pass everything (some by the skins of their teeth), for which I am thankful and admittedly quite surprised in a couple of cases. Papers and topics for them filled my head throughout the year, and I feel some of my best writing ever was done – and some of the most mediocre as well. I discovered I rather dislike open-ended English essays, and rather love open-ended Philosophy essays. I nurtured a growing passion for poetry (which hasn’t really manifested itself in much writing for my poetry blog as of yet, but I’m sure it will come. Finally, I took to calling myself a “Philosophy and English joint major” where before I had called myself an “English and Philosophy joint major”. The reasoning is simple: I get excited about Philosophy. Almost always. English Literature, (especially the historical, remembering names and junk stuff) not so much.
Without further ado:
Annual Thirty “Best” Things of 0708 school year:
[IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER]
01. Going with Al & Shane & Gord to Barrie to commit random high-jinks.
02. Doing 2v2 Arenas with my friend “Serida” in the Fall (August-November ’07).
03. Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii – a more ‘epic win’ could not be conceived.
04. Getting myself into a real, honest-to-goodness relationship with someone-awesome.
05. Getting engaged to that same someone-awesome.
06. Thursday nights studying Colossians here at the house with my TCF small group.
07. Playing Dustin Kensrue’s “Blanket of Ghosts” with Todd at TCF Coffee House in honour of Robert Jordan. RIP.
08. Five months of unemployment (which was, simultaneously among the worst things).
09. No classes on Thursdays.
10. Getting both of my characters in WoW to level 70.
11. Quitting World of Warcraft in December. Again. For good this time. (It’s even uninstalled.)
12. Regular weekends in Toronto visiting Steph and so many other friends.
13. Trips way up North (South Porcupine) for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Premarital Counselling Round 1.
14. Mondays hanging out with Todd, talkin’ life.
15. Early Modern Philosophy with M. Neumann, and, more importantly, T. Anderson.
16. Acquiring a second family. /wave
17. TCF Retreats Fall & Winter.
18. Our new boarder – my friend Shane!
19. Finding my old green toque. Wearing it.
20. Walking the pooch (Nuka) late at night during warmer months.
21. Dangerous prayers.
22. Installing Covenant Eyes. Reaping the benefits.
23. Opening a PC Financial account. So. Good.
24. Studying Metaphysics, Epistemology, and 20th Century Continental Philosophy.
25. Joining up as a staff writer for The Phantom Tollbooth.
26. Not getting Windows Vista, a Mac, an iPod, a metal water bottle, a blackberry, etc. XP really is better…
27. Playing Team Fortress 2 and DotA with my brothers, friends, and enemies.
28. Having a sweet, sweet beard. Getting rid of a sweet, sweet beard.
29. Renos on my room being finished after a decade in limbo.
30. Stephanie.
Sleep soundly in silence
Knowing that we will never return
To what we once were
What was now is a distant memory
I guess that I should thank you
For freeing me from my naivety
-Project 86 “Breakdown in 3/4″
Annual Ten Most Important “New-To-Me” Records of 0708 school year:
[IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER]
01. Sev & Dust – “Back To Dust”
02. Thrice – “The Alchemy Index”
03. Project 86 – “Rival Factions”
04. As Cities Burn – “Come Now Sleep”
05. Matthew Good – “Hospital Music”
06. He Is Legend – “Suck Out The Poison”
07. Dashboard Confessional – “The Shade Of Poison Trees”
08. Lovedrug – “Everything Starts Where It Ends”
09. August Burns Red – “Messengers”
10. Oh, Sleeper – “When I Am God”
This is the sound that drives you to deny
These are the words that remind you we’re alive
This is the voice that haunts you in your sleep
Outdated, forgotten, we’re yesterday’s obsolete
-Project 86 “Breakdown in 3/4″
And my general plan now… is to rest. And work my (posterior) off. And contribute more than my share of the wedding planning. And have phun with friends. And read books I want to. And write lots of music reviews. And blog posts. And and and… get married.
Yes.
…without a doubt, without wavering
0Current Tunage: Matthew Good – We’re So Heavy
“There’s too many of us that don’t want to fight it.
Hey, I’ve lost too many years to this.
I walk behind the crowd…
And pick up the garbage that was our future without memory.”
With classes starting back up on Monday, I’ve been thinking about how to make this term about a hundred million times better than last. For starters, I really need to take this to heart:
Colossians 2:6-9 ESV
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
As a Philosophy Major (and an English Major), I have to deal a lot with the “deep thinking” most people avoid. Not just because Plato and Aristotle and Socrates (and Descartes and Kant and Nietzsche) did some and I read about it and process it, but because part and parcel of being a Philosophy geek is that you are the sort of person that is constantly thinking about existentialism, morality, deity, world-view, and at the most basic level: the meaning and shape of life as we know it. I do it by reflex, by habit, and by nature. It’s just a little bit of who I am. It doesn’t help much that my other major is English… because studying language – and by extension the intricacies of COMMUNICATION itself – just means that I actually obtain the verbal and written tools and teeth to actually plow my way through all the philosophic mayhem going on in my mind. Even as I say that, I realize I hardly make use of those tools and teeth, but they’re there and I definitely need to put them to use more. I also, very definitely, need to approach this new term with caution and arm myself with rationale and reasoning behind the “deeper things” of a world-view centered around Christ, for which I must also advocate. I honestly believe that all world-views fall flat and do not provide sufficient answers except those which are rooted in Christ himself, as the human embodiment of deity. I have seen the devastation of lives which have no basis; students of culture and science and the arts whose philosophy and world-view (as shown in their actions) is dominated by self-serving, self-importance, and an overarching self-centeredness. I am ashamed that often I have been among their number. I won’t even try to blame my participation in this tragedy on being “misled” by “philosophy and empty deceit”, I know where the true culprit lies – my sinful nature and my predisposition to off the God who made me, just because I feel like it.
I’m struck as I spend time in my seminars, even English ones, by how few people REALLY step back and take stock of what they REALLY believe (as shown by their behaviour). Not only are most people not honest with themselves about what they really believe, but I’m often not either.
This is my chance to say to all of you: I’m going to try something a little different and try to change some of my beliefs – meaning, my behaviour is going to be changing, for the better, because I’m actually going to start acting on some of the things I’ve always “believed” but never really BELIEVED. I understand that this won’t be easy, I also realize it may ruffle some feathers, but it’s the right thing to do:
Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Rather than being a part of the self-everything crowd, I want to challenge you to step out of the commonplace and be just a bit more radical than you already are by putting Christ at the actual center of your true beliefs (shown in your actions), and others as second to him. It’s not natural, normal, or particularly sociable, but it’s the walk we’re called to. What’s your world-view look like in practice? What does your practice say about your world-view? What do you REALLY believe, and does it show, really? I’m asking myself these questions right now, join me.