A Duncan Sandwich.

"God is unlimited. Thought and language are limited. 
God is the fathomless but beautiful Mystery Who creates the universe and you and me, and sustains it and us every instant, and always shall. The instant we define this fathomless Mystery, It is no longer fathomless. To define is to limit. The greater a person's confidence in their definition of God, the more sure I feel that their worship of "Him" has become the worship of their own definition." -David James Duncan


Holy cow. I love David James Duncan. I hug his book. I am putting aside imminent responsibilities right now to read God Laughs and Plays. Thanks, Molly. I blame it on you. 


But really, as I read, I find myself thinking, "Hey, you are stealing my thoughts!" And I am not narcissistic to think my own thoughts are original, but it is definitely refreshing to see my own wanderings and questions put into so many words. He's such a good writer.


"Like grace, wonder defies rational analysis. Discursive thought can bring nothing to an object of wonder. Thought at best just circumambulates the object, the way a devout pilgrim circles Golgotha, the Bo Tree, Wounded Knee, the Kaabah. Wonder is not an obligatory element in the search for truth. We can seek truth without wonder’s assistance–but seek is all we can do: there will be no finding. Until wonder descends, unlocks us, turns us slack-jawed as a plastic shepherd, truth is unable to enter. Wonder may be the aura of truth, the halo of it. Or something even closer. Wonder may be the caress of truth, touching our very skin." -David James Duncan


Sigh.

the paraphrase

"In brief, Joe thought that if I thought well of it, he thought well of it. But, he was particular in stipulating that if I were not received with cordiality, or if I were not encouraged to repeat my visit as a visit which had no ulterior object but was simply one of gratitude for a favour received, then this experimental trip should have no successor. By these conditions I promised to abide."

-a passage from chapter 15 of Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

my 21st century paraphrase of this passage:

"Joe thought it would be okay if it sounded okay to me. Yet if my visit was not welcomed or she told me to go away because there was no reason to visit, I should obviously not make a second trip. He made me promise to follow his advice."

How dumb we sound these days! Such short words, such non avant-garde thinking we do. I wonder what it would have been like to think like Charles Dickens thought; to write like he wrote. He certainly didn't fake it because his writing style remains similar through his several books. It is astounding how much a language and culture can, and will, change in a mere one hundred (or so) years.

How I wish I could live at least one day in the life of Charles Dickens.