On Bible Readings

I have to say this is the only time I will comment on Bible literature.

There is something so beautiful about them, on how just plainly reading them out of context of the history of the people that lived that day, the culture from which the people lived their lives, the importance and precedence they put on every event, detail, and even meanings they put on simple everyday things, and most especially, the language with which they wrote these passages, can utterly lead someone to either the wrong meaning or a superficial understanding of the idea, the event, the importance, and the beauty of the passage.

Yesterday, as I was listening to the priest explaining in his homily each detail, each meaning of each element in the story, I felt my heart move. Move not only with the message that the passage relayed --"a woman unloved, unwanted, meets Christ on the place where lovers usually met, and he tells her, I love you, even if you are a sinner, even if you are from a race that people considered dirty. I will give you life, for you have searched for it in various places and never found it." -- but also with how all these elements come together to form such a simple tale and yet be so rich.

I guess it is because the people who have written these passages have a vast knowledge and understanding of their culture, other than being inspired by the holy spirit. This is their life, their history, and though it sounds too emotional, it is the emotional attachment that we put in everyday life that makes writing it interesting and that makes these scribbles more than scribbles, but a story, a poem, a part of literature.

So I have come to realize that probably one of the reasons I cannot take my pen to write, is because I have lost that, the emotional connection with everyday, the understanding of my own culture, the meaning put in every object to make a metaphor, a metonymy. And so is born a new fire for literary enrichment.

The Long Awaited

Recently I found myself regretting a whole lot of things that I had not done. I was watching How I Met Your Mother, I think... that for the 4 years I spent in college, I had done nothing to expand my understanding of writing, of music, of whatever art form which might just about be the single most relevant reason as to why I feel so detached from myself. The opportunities to enjoy a good read or two, I have to admit, is not so scarce but I had not made any attempts to maximize them at the time.

Indeed during those 4 years I had joined the local writer's guild in our university. During the first few years, I was lucky enough to have sat in a workshop delivered by F. Sionil Jose and some of the best young writers produced by our university.  But time was not kind to me; my schedules wouldn't meet with workshop dates and during the few times I could come, I felt too alienated and detached from the people, the activity, and the art to even take something profound away.

So feeling too stagnant with regards to any artistic endeavor, I took up the violin. Still not moving forward with it. Trying to but since I don't have anything simple to play and I don't have a lot of people to play it with, I'm feeling a bit lost.

And then there was my friend, now she was immersed in her art. It was lots of fun hearing her talk about Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Monet, Manet and more. I envied her. I envied the fact that she explored how her art developed to where it is now. It got me to thinking, why don't I go and do some research on the art forms that I like? So here it is. 

The plan is to read the books I have stocked in our house and comment on them as well as research things about the author and get people talking about it... get suggestions for the same art forms and probably, hopefully write something. Same goes for music and visual art. This is really amateur work so don't expect too grand of wordings or too deep critics... I am just here to enjoy, learn, and hopefully find people who will help me grow and who I can help grow in this sense. 

So, enjoy... as I try to explore and expand my artistic knowledge one short entry at a time.