Today, rather than studying for a test, I spent a lot of time on Stephen Christian's blog. Stephen Christian is the lead singer of a band that I love known as Anberlin. Quite well known.
So I picked random posts from the list that seems to continue on forever. One post title caught my attention: Calcutta, India. From quite far back in the list. It caught my attention because the author of The Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne also went there. (That's a good book by the way).
Stephen Christian uses a lot of quotes throughout his many writings, and I think I'll quote him a couple times. The second sentence of the post I just mentioned, somehow, maybe through its phrasing, meant something to me. "The events that took place are etched into my mind and will transcend ideas, thoughts, and actions for the rest of my life."
He was clearly speaking of his trip to India, but the idea that doing or seeing something can shape who we are so much that it is evident in our lives for the rest of our days on Earth (ironic I should say "days" considering my last post), it blows my mind a little. The word "transcend" gave me the mental image of a 3D square spiral representing our lives. And the combination of the words "ideas, thoughts, and actions" grabbed me because I am a person of thoughts and ideas and, hopefully action too. That is a quote of interest for me.
Here's another by the same guy:
"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."
No deep thoughts about this one, I just like it.
What I've learned through this experience: Blogs are a great way to get inside a mind and get to know a person completely differently. Different than through music, or biographies, autobiographies, even from spending time with a person.
Also, I learned that Stephen Christian is a very thought-filled man. He blogs about several many diverse topic, most thought provoking. In one, he made mention to a painting by Marcel Duchamp, that I had never seen before, that I really love. It's called Nude Descending a Staircase, but I don't know why:
And I never knew that he wrote a book. The Orphaned Anything's by Stephen Christian.
Well this has all been a very fascinating topic, I'm sure. But if I were a friend of mine talking to me, I might say something that my grandad sometimes uses to joke. And I'd say "Hey! What a wonderful..." (from the kid's show Arthur). No, I meant to say that I'd say "Can't you go, must you stay?"
If his blog interests you at all, you can go visit http://www.modesty.blogspot.com/.
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