Hans Urs von Balthasar on Beauty and Rapture

Explaining the transcendent experience one undergoes when one is conquered by beauty - whether it be a a child, a woman, a man, a flower, a sunset, Dante's Divina Commedia, a Mozart symphony, Michelangelo's Pieta, or a rainbow...

Hans Urs von Balthasar on Beauty and Rapture

Balthasar argues that the encounter with beauty in the world is analogous to the encounter with the Triune God. What happens in the "aesthetic encounter"? He sees that beauty is an indissolvable union of two things: species and lumen. Beauty consists of a specific, tangible form (species) accessible to human senses with a splendor emanating from the form (lumen). Beauty has a particular form, is concretely situated in the coordinates of time and space, and thus has proportion so that it can be perceived. The splendor is the attractive charm of the Beautiful, the gravitational pull, the tractor beam pulling the beholder into it. When confronted with the Beautiful, one encounters "the real presence of the depths, of the whole reality, and . . . a real pointing beyond itself to those depths".

In the perception of beauty, two moments occur: first vision and then rapture, the result of which is the impression of the form on the beholder. The splendor moves out from within the form, enraptures the person and transports him into its depths. Thus the visible form 'not only 'points' to an invisible, unfathomable mystery; form is the apparition of this mystery, and reveals it while, naturally, at the same time "protecting and veiling it". In beauty, the beholder is drawn out of himself and pulled into the form by the attractive force of the beautiful thing, thereby encountering the beautiful thing in itself.

A simple example to illustrate the aesthetical encounter can be found in looking up into a clear night sky at the stars. One is struck by the immensity and order of the universe, by the arrangement of the constellations. On an especially clear night, one seems engulfed by the sheer number of stars. Presented with this beautiful form, a sensitive viewer is drawn in by light breaking forth from the form. This light is not simply the light emanating from each star, the result of burning gases. It is the light of Being. Transported into the depths of the form, the viewer ponders foundational questions such as: How did this happen? Where did these things come from? Why is this form so beautiful? Why am I so moved by it?

The result of the aesthetical encounter is an encounter with the mystery of Being-in-itself. One has been shown the form and through the form been brought into an encounter with the depth of Being. Wondering at the mystery of a particular being, one is drawn into that beautiful form, and touches the mystery of absolute Being. The form and the depths of its being are indissoluble. In beauty one doesn't "get behind" the form. Rather one touches the depths of Being in the form itself.

For Balthasar, things that exist don't just lay there in existence; they glow from their participation in absolute Being. In Beauty, one is taken in and grasped by Being. In order to perceive a particular being as it is, one must surrender, be receptive, and be willing to be taken in by the form. Control or manipulation on the part of the beholder derails the aesthetical encounter. To share in the beauty, the viewer must renounce himself. The result of the encounter with beauty is the impressing of the form on the person leaving him breathless, exhilarated, full of awe and infused with joy. He is "seduced" by the beautiful form whether it is a stunning landscape or one's beloved.

The excerpt is from "Love Alone is Believable: Hans Urs von Balthasar's Apologetics by Fr. John R. Cihak.

Have a good day...

To all of you:

I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.

Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St.Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking someone along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face...disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

II no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

Thank you too for all the endless advice Andy Rooney has given us. I can live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up the $5.00 dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

Oh, and don't forget this one either! I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician...

Have a wonderful day...

Against The Wind

Against the Wind (Lyrics by Bob Seger)

It seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely she was the queen of my nights
There in the darkness with the radio playing low
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
'Til there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

Against the wind
We were runnin' against the wind
We were young and strong, we were runnin'
Against the wind

The years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home
And I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run and running to live
Never worryied about paying or even how much I owed
Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searching
Searching for shelter again and again

Against the wind
A little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter sgainst the wind

Well those drifter's days are past me now
I've got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out

Against the wind
I'm still runnin' against the wind
I'm older now but still runnin' against the wind
Well I'm older now and still runnin'
Against the wind
Against the wind
Against the wind

Still runnin'
I'm still runnin' against the wind
I'm still runnin'
I'm still runnin' against the wind
Still runnin'
Runnin' against the wind
Runnin' against the wind
See the young man run
Watch the young man run
Watch the young man runnin'
He'll be runnin' against the wind
Let the cowboys ride
Let the cowboys ride
They'll be ridin' against the wind
Against the wind ...

Railway Gauges and Horse's behinds

Railway Gauges and Horse's behinds

Wednesday, 26 March 2003

Presenter: Peter Gooch

Researcher: Noel Whittaker

Where did that come from?

If you've ever wondered where we got our peculiar railway gauge and other transportation measurements, you're not alone. As revealed by financial expert Noel Whittaker, in America and England the following material has been provided to settle the curiosity pangs of those with measurment angst.

Does the statement, "We've always done it that way" ring any bells?
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. Now that's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US Railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first longdistance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad specifications are the same as for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

And bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a spec and told we have always done it that way and wonder which horse's arse came up with that, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.

Now the twist to the story...
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. These SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through atunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world'smost advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's arse.

And you thought being a horse's arse wasn't important?? ...

Je me souviens...

Quebec City Honours Its Women Religious Educators

Je me souviens!The face, the colour and the language of Quebec City have changed considerably over the years since Marymount College closed its doors in 1969. It remains a beautiful city in a Province that is officially unilingual French in an officially bilingual Canada. Today, it is hard to imagine that there once was a very visible and vibrant English language population in Quebec City, be they Roman Catholic, Protestant or Jewish. The late sixties and seventies saw the English leave Quebec in droves. Quebec City was particularly hard hit as its high school graduates left the City to attend English universities in Montreal, Lennoxville (Bishop’s) or in any of the other Provinces of Canada. Very few returned and soon entire families were gone.

If one doesn’t read French, one won’t know who, what the monument or plate honours (that applies to all Provincially owned attraction) as there is no English translation. English and French descriptions appear together only in Federal office buildings or offices, in federally funded or federally owned sites such as the “Plains of Abraham”. Our politics are no longer “red” or “blue”, but either a pro-Canada or pro-independent French-only Quebec. It is hard to imagine that tourism is the main industry of this city, along with the city being a government town, the capital of the Province of Quebec.

In June of 2000 I was showing a friend around the City . We stopped to read the inscription and plates of a monument near the Ursuline Monastery in Old Quebec. The monument was commissioned by the City of Quebec to commemorate the 325th anniversary of the death of Marie de l’Incarnation, known as the Mother of the Canadian Church and founder, in 1639, of the first girls’ school in North America. The monument honours not just the Ursulines, but also all those women religious who dedicated their lives to educating Quebec’s youth. Two plates list the names of 56 religious orders of women, the year of establishment and in what city or town in the Province. It is hard to imagine that the Province of Quebec, by looking at the monument and those 56 names, had, has an English speaking population. As I read through the names with my friend, I noticed the Anglican Order of the Sisters of Saint John the Divine, first established in Quebec City, 1927. I had never heard of them and my research would later confirm that they indeed were in the City but were not, are not a teaching religious order. With that exception, no other English religious order was to be found listed. Neither the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, Quebec City, 1935, nor the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Quebec City, 1943, was listed.

The “English Face of Quebec” was simply not there.

I started school in Kindergarten the year Marymount’s Junior School opened in 1953. I made it through to my Junior Year of High School, which I failed. I was sent to boarding school at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, in Halifax., Nova Scotia. The SCH taught in the English public Roman Catholic Schools in Quebec. There are still four of them left and for how much longer? It remains a mystery to this day how history-minded people did not notice that the English were missing… One might say that I took it personally – my beloved teachers weren’t there! I then set out to see if I could do something to have “my nuns” listed. I started my research and when I had what I needed I wrote to the Mayor. I wrote my letter in English. The Country was mourning the death of our former Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and writing in English was my way of honouring the man who had a shared with us his bilingual vision of Canada and his Federal Government legislated that Canada be bilingual. Thanks to Mr Trudeau, if you are annoyed to see English on your box of "Corn Flakes", turn it around for the French...

I did attend a Quebec City council meeting after contacting an opposition councillor that I know, knowing he would bring the subject up thereby opening the door for my two cents worth. I pointed out that within the next 25 years that monument would be more of a tombstone and wouldn’t they want their tombstones properly inscribed? Ironically, the City council meeting that I attended was a historical one in that it was the last of the City of Quebec as we had known it. January 1, 2002, by Government imposed legislation, Quebec City incorporated all the suburbs into one "mega" city. The City of Quebec City Hall is now home to this central municipal government and the new Quebec City.

The budget was approved to have new plates cast, both plates as a couple of French Religious orders had also been overlooked including the Augustinian nuns (AMJ) who arrived with Marie de l’Incarnation and founded the first hospital in North America. They had one of the first nursing schools! The Mayor gave me his word that “my English speaking nuns” would be remembered!

The new engraved plate was affixed to the monument in August 2002. In talking with one of the City’s councilmen I discovered that it isn’t clear if this monument is meant to honour the women religious who actually taught in Quebec City only or Province-wide. In either case, it is not accurate. The Augustinians who taught nursing are still not there and they arrived in 1639 with the Ursulines, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus never came to Quebec City...

Sheelagh Grenon
Marymount College, Quebec City/Ste-Foy, 1953-1964
Mount Saint Vincent Academy, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1966
Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, BEd 1981

© Sheelagh Grenon 2002

Godspeed

Godspeed
Bill Roskopt writes:
I understand "Godspeed" to mean good luck, but what is its origin?

The word Godspeed is used to wish a person good fortune or success, as on starting a journey, a new business, etc.

It is usually found in expressions of the sort "to bid (a person) Godspeed."

A few examples:

"Evangelist, after he had kissed him, gave him one smile, and bid him God-speed. So he went on with haste..." (John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress); "'I'm wishing you God-speed, Hattersley,' cried Arthur, 'and aiding you with my prayers'" (Anne Brontë Tenant of Wildfell Hall); "Rowland at the garden gate was giving his hostess Godspeed on her way to church" (Henry James, Roderick Hudson); "Eight years before he had seen his friend off at the North Wall and wished him God-speed" (James Joyce, Dubliners).

Godspeed is a nominalization of the phrase God speed (you), understanding which depends on two things: speed in this sense means 'to prosper; succeed', which is now archaic, but which is the original sense of the word; and the verb is subjunctive, expressing a wish, with the entire phrase meaning "may God cause you to succeed."

(Semantic parallels are such common expressions as God bless you or God forbid!; another nominalization is goddamn (as in "I don't give a good goddamn what you think"), shortened from God damn you. )

The word Godspeed (which can also be written God-speed) is from Middle English, first found in personal names in the thirteenth century.