breath of life -or- a literary exegesis of genesis
At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground--God han't yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by undergound springs)--God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The man came alive--a living soul!
I began my summer reading early this year. Every year I compile a list of books that I want to read over the summer, when I have time to do some leirsure reading. Fortunately, being a senior, graduating in two weeks, and feeling a bit of senioritess, I started on the fiction books early. I couple of posts will come out of the first two books I have read. For now, I want to allow George Saunders to shed some light on the creation of human beings.
In the short (when I say short, I mean short; i read this thing in 1.5 hours, and I am not a fast reader) novel The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, Saunders creates a small world called Horner. The book is a fun story about the struggle between inner and outer Horner. I highly recommend the book, after all, it only takes 1.5 hours to read. Also, it has pictures! Who doesn't like pictures?
At one point in the book, the Creator (Saunders capitalizes it also) comes and fixes a few things. READING FURTHER WILL SPOIL THE BOOK, SORRY. He recreates Hornerites. Saunders provides some short prose that I think sheds some light on the "breath of light" breathed into us:
"Then the massive hands lifted the new people up to a pair of giant indescribable lips and whispered, in a fundamentally untranslatable Creator-language, something that meant, approximately: THIS TIME, BE KIND TO ONE ANTOHER. REMEMBER: EACH OF YOU WANTS TO BE HAPPY. AND I WANT YOU TO. EACH OF YOU WANTS TO LIVE FREE FROM FEAR. AND I WANT YOU TO. EACH OF YOU ARE SECRETLY AFRAID YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. BUT YOU ARE, TRUST ME, YOU ARE."
Not sure, but I think Saunders makes some good insight into what exactly was breathed into us all. Unfortunately, this breath of life got messed up, and consequently we find ourselves messed up. Thank God, I mean that literally, the Human came along and rescued us. Thank God. peace
I began my summer reading early this year. Every year I compile a list of books that I want to read over the summer, when I have time to do some leirsure reading. Fortunately, being a senior, graduating in two weeks, and feeling a bit of senioritess, I started on the fiction books early. I couple of posts will come out of the first two books I have read. For now, I want to allow George Saunders to shed some light on the creation of human beings.
In the short (when I say short, I mean short; i read this thing in 1.5 hours, and I am not a fast reader) novel The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, Saunders creates a small world called Horner. The book is a fun story about the struggle between inner and outer Horner. I highly recommend the book, after all, it only takes 1.5 hours to read. Also, it has pictures! Who doesn't like pictures?
At one point in the book, the Creator (Saunders capitalizes it also) comes and fixes a few things. READING FURTHER WILL SPOIL THE BOOK, SORRY. He recreates Hornerites. Saunders provides some short prose that I think sheds some light on the "breath of light" breathed into us:
"Then the massive hands lifted the new people up to a pair of giant indescribable lips and whispered, in a fundamentally untranslatable Creator-language, something that meant, approximately: THIS TIME, BE KIND TO ONE ANTOHER. REMEMBER: EACH OF YOU WANTS TO BE HAPPY. AND I WANT YOU TO. EACH OF YOU WANTS TO LIVE FREE FROM FEAR. AND I WANT YOU TO. EACH OF YOU ARE SECRETLY AFRAID YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. BUT YOU ARE, TRUST ME, YOU ARE."
Not sure, but I think Saunders makes some good insight into what exactly was breathed into us all. Unfortunately, this breath of life got messed up, and consequently we find ourselves messed up. Thank God, I mean that literally, the Human came along and rescued us. Thank God. peace
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