The Divine Comedy: Inferno Canto 4

Canto 4: Limb- The First Circle of Hell

  In this Canto, We enter the first circle of Hell. The earlier Canto took place in the Vestibule, the lobby area if you will, of Hell. This canto takes place in Hell itself. The first circle is Limbo, where the "virtuous non-Christians"(page 97) dwell.
   The Shades in this circle "have not sinned. but their great worth alone was not enough, for they did not know Baptism, which is the gateway to the faith you follow/ and if they came before the birth of Christ, they did not worship God the way one should"(lines 34-48).  The shades, like the ones we encountered in the previous Canto, do not qualify for Heaven. However. there is a difference. these shades lived virtuous lives, they were good souls, they did not sin. Yet they were not baptized so they cannot qualify for Heaven.
   I think it safe to say that the author, Dante, believed that only Baptized souls could go to Heaven. This is a issue/question which I think is still being debated in church cirles: will you only get into Heaven if you are baptized?
    At PMA, the Original Sin and it effects on us was explained to us by a theology teacher. she said it was like a pan that was branded with a design, and so after that, any pancake you put on it will have that same design, handed down over and over. To Catholics, Baptism occurs at birth or when you are a child because it takes away that stain of original sin. while I'm not saying this is right or wrong, using this analogy means that these shades, while they did not add any other sins(designs)to their pancake, they still have that original design on them and therefore do not qualify for Heaven.
    It's not the best analogy in the world, and I'm sure there are a million theologians out there that would disprove my analogy, but I think it's a good way to describe The first circle of Hell. I find this circle interesting, especially when considering how close the shades of the first circle are to ones in the Vestibule. neither group sinned, but while the shades in the Vestibule did not live a bad life, neither did they live a good one. the shades in the first circle, however, were Virtuous, they did live a good life. The two groups are so similar, at least to me, that it's hard to really explain how they are different. Maybe that's the point.
  Some lines that I love in this canto help explain this first circle. Being the first circle, it is the best of the  worst, if you will. None of these shades are experiencing the kind of torture that we will see in the circles to come.  one of these lines that I like is "the sounds of sighs of untormented grief."(line 28).  I love this imagine that this line paints, of grief without torment. usually, when I think of grief, I think of not just being sad but being tormented, being haunted. the idea of grief without this haunting it is...a bit hard for me to wrap  my head around. It paints this picture of a grief that does not hurt yet you can still feel it.

"cut off from hope, we live on in desire"(line 42). this line is my idea of torture. of hell. longing and longing and desiring and desiring something, without any bit of hope for it. not even delusional or false hope. what can be worse than that?
  I feel that in this circle, the first circle of hell, there is a question posed: which is worse: to feel desire without hope but no physical pain, or to be in the other circles where they are punished physically? I think that the first circle is, in many ways, a worse fate than the other circles. But I suppose that is only my opinion. if you are reading this, let me know what you think.

The Divine Comedy: Nowhere Versus Dammed

In Dante's Divine Comedy, the very first soul that we meet are outside Hell; in the vestibule that leads to Hell itself. These souls are not dammed. at least not dammed in the way in which we traditionally think of souls in Hell.These souls are not wanted by Hell, but neither do they qualify for Heaven. See, these are the souls of those who did not choose a side, they did not stand for anything. They neither believed in or stood against God; they neither sinned or not sinned. they simply did not stand for anything. therefore, they are not evil enough for Hell, but neither are they good enough for Heaven. Their punishment is to eternally chase a fast-moving banner that never stops. in life, they refused to take a stand. now they must chase a stand that they can never catch for all eternity.
    To me, I find this interesting. these souls have no place, they are not wanted by Heaven or Hell; they are neither rewarded nor punished.It leads me to wonder what would worse: to be dammed in Hell for eternity...or to know that you are between Hell and Heaven; nowhere. the first instinctive answer is: nowhere. i would rather be nowhere than be dammed in Hell. but let's think about it a little more shall we?
  I think, though I have no real research or anything to back me up, that it is part of our nature as humans to want to belong somewhere. We are always seeking out a place to call our own, whether it be friends, family, a job that suits us, the right city or house to live in, etc. so to have to spend eternity belong nowhere, having to chase a stand, a banner that you know you will never catch yet you cannot stop chasing it...to have to look up and see the closed gates of Heaven and then look down and see the closed gates of Hell...knowing that you do not belong in either place...your soul forever caught in between. They say that not all who wander are lost, but this is a wandering of souls who have no place to go.
   Yet would it be better to be in Hell? to be in a place with no light, only darkness where pain and suffering make their home and know yourself to belong there?
   I have no real answer, I do not know where I would prefer to be, or what would be worse. It's a little like that quote: better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. it is a nice and beautiful quote yet sometimes I would rather not have loved at all than feeling the pain of losing love. maybe it would be better to be between Heaven and Hell than feel the fires of Hell. yet the idea of belonging nowhere...for all eternity....
    

The Divine Comedy: Inferno Cantos 1-3

Author: Dante

  

  The Divine Comedy is a three part book series about a man, named Dante or  the Pilgrim , who is being traveling through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.;he is being guided by the poet Virgil. 

   I first was introduced to these books in one of my English classes while during my Bachelors at ACU. We only read selected Cantos(chapters) from the first volume, Inferno, but now I'm going to read the entire series.  I mentioned "Cantos" and those are like chapters, but not really. See, this entire series is a poem, so Cantos are the various parts of the poem. As a writer, I could not do this type of writing. I'm more of a fantasy/magical writer, so this is up my alley in a sense, but I have a hard enough time taking grammar into account, let alone writing it in poetry style. That alone makes this an interesting series. The whole premise of a journey through Hell, then Purgatory, then Paradise is super interesting to me. 

Canto 1: 

   Pilgrim wakes up in a  dark wood, finds a mountain bathed in light but is blocked by three beasts. Poet virgil comes to him and says he must go through another path, and he(Virgil)will guide him. 

"Midway along the journey of our life/ I woke to find myself in a dark wood,/for I had wandered off from the straight path."(lines 1-3). This is the opening lines to the Divine Comedy, and it's one of my favorites. It's one of my favorite lines because it's something that, I think, most people can relate to at some point in their lives: getting lost, wandering off from your path. and it doesn't have to be a "went off the rails, started doing drugs, sleeping around" kinda wandering off the path. it can be as simple as not knowing what to do with your life or what job to get or what major to pick. He goes on to write: "How I entered there I cannot truly say,/I had become so sleepy at the moment/ when I first started, leaving the path of truth;(Lines 10-12). These two lines paint to me an image of a man who wakes up and suddenly is in a scary place, and he doesn't even really know how he get there. ofttimes, we cannot pin point the moment that things go wrong. usually, we just wake up in the dark wood, and there we are and no clue as to how we ended up there. I know that's the case with me and the situation I'm currently in. I wish I knew the moment when my life just…de-railed a bit, where I was no longer happy and content but just sad and it feels like it is all wrong. one of the things that I like though, is that the pilgrim doesn't spend a lot of time, or really any time, figuring out how he ended up where he is. I like that because while it is important to  understand the choices you made that led you to this point, I think it is more worthwhile to concentrate your energy on dealing with where you are, with what is in front of and ahead of you, instead of where you have been, how you got there, etc. Don't get me wrong. It's important to understand that you have gone from the straight path, that you are not where you once were and if you can figure out the choices that led you there, then that's good. but sometimes, that is impossible and a wasted effort. Sometimes, you spend so much time looking back and trying so hard to figure out where things went wrong...that you end up not fixing or solving anything.

Canto 2: Pilgrim begins to waver in his courage; Virgil informs of the chain of great Heaven ladies by which he, Virgil, ended up being sent to help the Pilgrim. 

 This canto is important I think, because it adds some background information to the reader as to how, and why, Virgil is guiding the pilgrim. It also, to me, adds a sense of realism to the story and it helps us to relate to the pilgrim a little bit more. after all, most of us would be terrified if we were about to take a tour of Hell. sure, it might be exciting, fascinating, etc. but it would also be very scary to see a place of darkness, without hope and joy. I love to travel, though I don't have money for it anymore, but before each trip, there is a sense of nervousness, of wondering if you should go after all. sure it is nowhere near as bad as the nerves in this Canto, but I can still relate to that "what if I'm making a mistake" feeling. actually, I can relate to it right now, as I'm sure most of us do, even if it's not about a trip.
 At one point the pilgrim says   that he is "not Paul,/ neither I nor any man would think me worthy;"(lines 32-33). It reminds me of the story of Moses, at the burning bush. He too was facing a difficult and scary journey, and he too said that he was not worthy, that who was he to lead such a mission for God. and I'm sure that Paul too must have had doubts, given his background as a murderer.  I find it...reassuring to know that some of the greatest leaders in the world have not thought themselves worthy.

  One another point, my favorite verse in this canto, and thus far in the story, is "Because your question searches for deep meaning,/I shall explain in simple words,"(Lines 85-86). I LOVE this verse. I love it because so often, we assume that a serious and deep question or concern, needs  an answer just as deep. My friend, whose name shall be B for the purposes of this post, always does that to me. I ask a question about God or the bible, and he feels that it is such a deep question that he cannot answer because the answer would be too long. Sometimes, a simple "I don't know" or  the basic version of the answer will do. It doesn't always have to be a 10 page research paper answer. sometimes it does not even have to do with a question per say, but just people's reaction to an emotion I'm feeling or something. I cannot tell you how many times I have told a friend that I hate being single, I want a relationship...and I get a 20 minute lecture on "God's timing" or "be patient" or how the fact that I want a relationship is what is keeping me from getting it...it gets so annoying! I don't always need a lecture on the virtues of single hood; I just need...a listener you know? and I feel sometimes that as Christians, we are so bad at that! sometimes, people want a simple answer or no answer. they just want you to listen, to comfort them, to be there. they don't always need or want or require a Christian lecture.

Canto 3: The indecisive and Charon 


In this canto, we are at the Gates of Hell; in the Vestibule that leads to Hell. The first group of soul which we meet are the indecisive; these are souls which are nowhere, in-between good and evil, neither black or white but gray:

  "This wretched state of being 

is the fate of those sad souls  who lived a life 

but lived it with no blame and with no praise.

They are mixed with that repulsive choir of angels

neither faithful nor unfaithful to their God, 

who undecided stood but for themselves. 

Heaven, to keep its beauty, cast them out, 

but even Hell itself would not receive them, 

for fear the dammed might glory over them."(Lines 34-42).

I find it so fitting that this is the first group of souls which we encounter: those who were not faithful and so are not in Heaven, but they never really sinned so they are not bound for Hell. instead, their punishment is to constantly follow this rapidly moving banner that moves and moves fast and without stopping...a banner, a stand, which they can never catch. In life, they refused to take a stand, to take a side. and now when they are so desperate to do so...they can never catch it; it is eternally out of their reach.
  I actually find the contrast between the Indecisive and the next canto, in which we encounter Limbo, to be very interesting, and I actually am gonna write a separate post on that next.


Charon ferries the souls newly arrived to Hell across the river to judgment, so when he sees the living poet he gets angry. but Virgil says to the Pilgrim: "a good soul never comes to make this crossing,/ so, if Charon grumbles at the sight of you,/you see now what his words are really saying."(Lines 127-129). I like these lines because it's a good reminder that sometimes, anger is a good sign. it's hard to get mad at someone that you don't have any feelings, good or bad towards. so if someone is angry at you, you can at least know that it is better than being indifferent. which leads me back to my interest between the Indecisive souls and those in Limbo as well as the Dammed souls...which is worse: being nowhere, or being in Hell? My next post will be a "special" post about that.

Shakespeare Dallas: Macbeth

Shakespeare Dallas’ production of Macbeth was, in my opinion, a good one. While there were not many aspects of the play which were taken out, a good many details were added or changed to the play which contributed to the overall vibe of the play. One such aspect was their portrayal of Lady Macbeth. 

                When reading the play, Lady Macbeth struck me as very forceful, strong, and perhaps even evil during the first part. However, by the second part it became obvious to me that she had gone crazy. I could not understand why what they had done had affected her so badly since she was the one who had to convenience Macbeth to go through with it. However watching the play being performed, watching how she was depicted seemed to suggest an answer.  The play seemed to be giving the impression that Lady Macbeth was strong and purposeful because she wanted to kill Duncan, so her husband could become king, and she could become queen. She believed that it was meant to be, but they needed to act to make it happen. However, she meant for it to stop there. She never meant to turn her husband into a tyrant, into a paranoid king who kills anyone in his way, no matter how close they are to him. Watching this happen, I got the impression from the play that it was shocking to her to see that even after they had killed Duncan, gotten what they wanted, he is still thinking about killing, about all the ways he is not a “real king”, such as the fact that the witches had said banquo’s children would reign, which Macbeth assumes to mean his own children will not rule, if he and lady Macbeth even has one. Lady Macbeth seems to realize during the second part of the play that she has created a monster. Perhaps the better phrase is that she unleashed a monster, and she was not able to control it, to reign it back in. this could be seen in the tone in her voice when she talks to Macbeth the first time after the murder, when they are king and queen. She seems surprised to learn he is still moody and thinking about people who are in his way, like Duncan was in his way. Later on, when he is talking to her about banquo, she realizes she cannot control what she has unleashed. Her expressions, her tone of voice, one of almost fear, all point towards a realization that her husband is no longer the man she had to almost drag into killing Duncan.

These two scenes in the play were examples of this to me. The first scene after they are king and queen, we observe Lady Macbeth speaking to him with a tone of exasperation, with frustration, that he is still dwelling on this and not being content with getting what he was promised: being king. This signifies to me her trying to reign in the monster she unleashed, to tame him back to what he was before. The scene where he is talking to her of banquo, we can observe her being scared, surprised in a way, of him. It struck me that it was almost as if she were seeing him for the first time. This is when she realizes she cannot control what she has unleashed.

      Another aspect of the play that enhanced it for me was the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. I found that their adding the passionate kissing and embracing in the scene where we first meet Lady Macbeth demonstrated to me that they did care about each, or at the very least were attracted to one another. This contributes mightily to the end of the play when Macbeth learns of his wife’s death. Remembering this first scene between them, it allowed such a stark contrast that helped me to observe how much Macbeth had changed since the beginning of the play. He has gone from passionately loving his wife to cold indifference at her death. Indeed, it seems as if we can track his evolution, or de-evolution, by way of observing how he treats Lady Macbeth.

Jane Eyre VS Heathcliff

 

This semester as part of my leveling courses I am taking 19th Century British Literature, and one of the books we are reading is Wuthering  Heights by Emily Bronte. I was at Books-A-Million a few days ago and I bought Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I did not consciously buy it because we were reading Emily Bronte, but maybe subconsciously(?). anyway,  when I did make the connection, consciously, I like reading both at the same time. I thought that it would be a nice way to compare the two sister's novels and their writing styles. I have never read Wuthering Heights, but I have read Jane Eyre. so in suppose I know what is coming in Jane Eyre, so my "insights" into that book are probably deeper since I have read it before, I know the plot, the storyline, etc. In Wuthering Heights, I do not know the plot so I do have to spend some time on that, keeping track of what is going on, what is coming, etc.  

  Today, I made a connection between the two novels. maybe connection is the wrong word. I should say...I have made an observation between the two novels of my own perspective.  I noticed similarities between Heathcliff and Jane Eyre. I am only up to chapter 10 of Wuthering Heights, so perhaps my similarities will prove to be untrue later own. however, at this point, I am going with what I have observed thus far. 

  Even though one is a man and the other a woman, both characters have quite a bit in common, from what I can tell. 

          Both Jane and Heahtcliff are orphans. Heathcliff is from Liverpool, where he appears to be a beggar gypsy orphan,and is brought to Wuthering Heights by Mr.Earnshaw. Jane Eyre's parents died when she was little, bringing her to the home of her mother's uncle, Mr.Reed. not only are they both orphans, but they were brought "to" the family by the father of the household, and in both stories we are given the impression that they became the favorite of the father, earning the jealousy of the other members of the household.

          We are also told that both of them are hit often by the son of the family. in both cases, it seems as if neither one of them really hits back. Jane Eyre seems to just accept it, and takes it, and we are given the impression that Heathcliff(more or less)does the same thing, which makes Mr.Earnshaw not like his own son for hitting Heathcliff. 

  My last observation is that both of these characters appear to be...different. despite not fighting back when they are hit, they are both obviously strong and do speak their mind, as I have seen demonstrated often in the parts I have read thus far. in other words, they appear to not be liked by the other members of the family not only for being the favorite of the father but for being different than themselves. independent. strong. not spoiled or shallow. they are also not liked because neither one is deemed to be pretty. Heathcliff is a gypsy, dark skin, whilst Jane Eyre is "plain." 

   I can't say whether my observations will hold up as I continue to re-read Jane Eyre and read Wuthering Heights for the first time, but for now, my findings seem to be that both the sisters seem to have created main characters who, while certainty different, have a lot in common in their background and how they are perceived and treated by others in the family they grew up with.

Soul Print: Discovering Your Divine Destiny-Scene 1

Scene 1: Holy Confidence
"If you learn the lesson God is trying to teach you, no matter how
things turn out, you have not failed. In fact, you cannot fail" (page
22). When I first read this, one of my first thoughts was how do you
know what lesson God is trying to teach you? This is one thing I
always think about and ask myself. I hear people saying "follow God's
will", "do what God asks you to do", etc. and I agree with that, we
should listen and obey God. But how do you know what He is telling
you? How do you know? I guess it's why I do not really like to say for
sure that this is "God's will" for me or that "God wants me to do
this…" because I just do not know. And also, it seems a
little…egotistic for lack of a better word to say I know what God is
thinking or what His plans are. But setting all that side, how am I
supposed to know what lesson God is trying to teach me? I wish someone
could tell me that. It's not like God speaks in a audible voice right?
How do you know the difference between what God is telling you and
what you think He is telling you? Another thing that just came to my
mind is this says learning God's lesson for you is the top thing. If
you learn that, if you achieve that, then you have not failed. Even if
you did not accomplish your goal, you still have not failed. Our
society is so driven by winning and achievieving this or accomplishing
that, that we often feel if we don't accomplish our goal, then we have
failed. For example, I have always been hesitant about asking people
for help. Coming here to China, I've had to get over that to a certain
extent. I ask my friends Lina, Gina or Raibo for help all the time.
Actually, a lot of the time. Maybe Gods lesson, or one of them, is
for me to lean that. To learn to ask people for help, and not just
until I have no other choice and am desperate. If that is God's lesson
for my time in China, then by learning it, have not failed. Sure, I
have not baptized anyone or given lots of bible studies or anything.
Doesn't mean I have failed.
"One key to fulfilling your destiny is recognizing what season you are
in" (page 24). The author in this chapter talks about seasons in our
lives, and how in order to fulfill your divine destiny, you have to
recognize what season you are in. if you don't, the author says, you
will experience frustration and maybe even anger and despair. I have
heard something similar to this all the time at ACU. Usually, about
singleness. The season of singleness. I have come to believe that for
me, it's not a season but a lifetime, but I do agree with the author
and I think he makes a good point here. Understanding what season you
are in is important. Maybe you are in a season where you are supposed
to wait. Maybe you are in a season where you are learning to be
confident in yourself and to ask people for help. If you recognize
that, then you won't experience as much frustration. "One of the
biggest mistakes we make is focusing all our energy on the next season
of life instead of enjoying the season we're in" (page 24). This is SO
true! We spend so much time focusing on the future, on what is coming,
that we tend to ignore the present. That is something that I always
struggle with. I am a planner; I like to have a plan. My plan can
change, I am flexible like that, but I have to have my plan. As a
planner, I think about things that are coming, that I have to do, and
I make a plan as to how to do them, what I have to do, etc. Of
course, this leads to the problem of I am always focusing on what is
to come, what is next, on future. Right now, I am in China, and I am
going home next month, and I have to do a lot of planning for that and
I have to save money for furniture and books and my trip to Chicago.
So I am trying to balance being here and planning for going home. I am
saving as much money as I can, but at the same time I am trying to not
give up traveling or eating at a restaurant that is price-y, simply to
save money. And I think that is what the author is saying. When we
are single, we long to be married. When we are married, we long to
have children…when we are high school students we long to go to
college, when we get to college we long for grad school, when we are
in grad school, we long for a doctorate, etc. we always look to the
season that is ahead. I want to change that. I want to start enjoying
and living in the season I am in, yet always think about the season
that is coming.
"Your current frustration will be cause for future celebration if you
hang in there long enough" (page 25). This caught my eye because it is
something that I think to myself every once in a while, especially
since I've been in China. Sometimes, it is worth it for things to go
wrong because when they are finally fixed, you appreciate it so much
more. I did not have hot water in my apartment for the first month or
so that I was in China. It was miserable and frustrating and
worrisome. Yet when they finally fixed it-around October- it was so
great! I was so excited and so relieved and even now, every time I
take a nice hot shower, and I feel lucky and so glad to have hot
water. So it almost makes it worth it because I appreciate it so much
more.
"We so quickly forget the central fact of our faith: without a
crucifixion there is no resurrection"(page 26). In this section, the
author talks about divine delays. Sometimes what seems to us to be a
disadvantage, a disappointment, is really a divine delay. God has
something planned for us, but not yet, or maybe He has to stop a plan
or a dream of ours in order to give is His plan, His dream. What I
liked about this quote is that it is saying that in order for the
resurrection to have happened, Jesus needed to have died by
crucifixion. Before dawn, there is darkness. Sometimes, in order for
something good and beautiful to happen, something sad and painful has
to happen first.
What I got out of this book so far is how our disadvantages can be
advantages. I am doing an exercise based on this idea. I made a
chapter and I wrote on one column all my disadvantages, weaknesses,
etc. and on the other column I wrote the good that came out of it. I
also have made a second chart, with the same idea but instead of
disadvantages I listed decisions I made on a whim. It's not really
hard, but it does take some thought, and there are still a few
disadvantages that I cannot think of what good has come out of them.
still, I like this exercise and it makes me feel…good. Sort of like a
few puzzle pieces of the puzzle that is me have come together you
know?

Soul Print: Discovering your Divine Destiny-Opening

Soul Print: Discovering your Divine Destiny

             by Mark Batterson

 

              "You are unlike anyone who has ever lived. But that uniqueness isn't a virtue. It's a responsibility" (page 9). This jumped out at me in the first part of this book. We have all heard a thousand times that we are unique, that we are special in our own way, etc. it's such a common thing for us to hear it is almost a cliché. Yet I feel as if this is a unique point being made here. Ok, we know we are unique, we are special. No one else on earth is like us. But what we have not heard is that it's a responsibility. Like when you get your license. It's great and exciting, yet it is also a responsibility, a responsibility to take care of the car we are driving, of the people in the car, and to be careful drivers in general.  As Christians, we believe God created us. So if God created us, then our uniqueness, who we are, etc, as this book says, it's a responsibility on us to live up to that, to be the unique person we were meant to be.  We hear that "you are beautiful your own way; everyone is beautiful in their own way." We hear this said all the time. again, it is almost a cliché. Yet maybe it is not true. After all, I am sure that if you look long enough, you can find someone that looks similar to me. you can find someone that is beautiful in the same way, because of the same features, etc. as me. maybe though, that does not matter. Maybe our uniqueness, that uniqueness which no one else has or will ever have or has ever had, is our soul. Not our personality. After all, there are people who have a personality similar to yours, just like there are people who have the same kind of beauty as you. Maybe our true uniqueness is from our soul. Our soul print. And that is what this book is talking about.  But back to the responsibility. God created you, He created me, etc. and that means our soul, is a unique custom made one of a kind soul. Not your looks, not your personality, but your soul. The soul God created, and whom He set about specific mission(s) to accomplish on Earth. And because of that, it would be a shame and a letting down of God and disrespect, for us to ignore our custom made souls, and instead be a carbon copy of society, of someone else. Would you rather be a custom made soul by God, or would you rather be a carbon copy of someone else?

"You were created to worship God in a way that no one else can. How? By living a life no one else can-your life" (page 9).  I did not grow up going to church. At all. Not even on Christmas or Easter. So even though I've been going to church since sophomore year of college and have been  a Christian since  Sophomore year of college, in a lot of ways this church going thing is still new to me. and when I think of worship, I think of church. So this line really got my attention. The idea it suggests: that worship to God is your life, the way you live. Not the singing, the sermons, the Sunday church ritual, etc. maybe that is what we think of worship to be. Maybe it's a small part of worship, and we have turned it into the whole thing. What if your life is the worship? The theme of this book is finding your soul print, the person God created you to be, from the beginning when He created you.  If we find our soul print, then we can become the unique, custom made soul which God created, and it follows that are live will be as unique the too, since no one else has our soul print and never will and never did. So if we think of worship as being the life we live, then we each have our own unique way to worship God, according to our soul print and the life our soul print leads us to live. Think of that! that makes me kind of excited. the idea that I can workship God in a way no one else has ever has before and never will, and I can do this by being the person He created me to be, by finding and living my soul print.

"It's never too late to be who you might have been"(page 10). I really like this sentence. In our society, a lot of things are easily missed due to the pace of our modern lifestyle. And due to this same past faced lifestyle, we often feel it is too late for a lot of things. it is too late to go to grad school, you already have a successful career. It is too late to get married. It is too late to tell the girl you liked that you liked her. you get the idea. Yet, this sentence reminds me that being who I was meant to me, changing into that person, into that girl, changing my life to be the life it was meant to be…it is never too late for that.

"If you haven't discovered your unique gifts and passions, how can you find fulfillment in what you do? You might make a living, but you won't make a life" (page 10).  I do not have much to say about why I like this. It's pretty self-explanatory what it is saying and why I like it. I like it because it talks about making a living and making a life as two different things. We often think of them as the same thing.

"we are, most of us, much of the time, in disguise. We present ourselves as we think we are meant to be"(page 11).  " and the primary reason we live as strangers to ourselves is because we're afraid of what we'll find if we start digging. We don't really want to see ourselves for who we are. But if we can dig deeper than our fallen natures, we'll find the truth that lies buried beneath our sin: the image of God. we'll find our true identities  and our true destinies as well"(page 11).   These are two separate quotes as you can tell. I really liked what he is saying here. When we think of not being true ourselves, our culture oftentimes blames…itself. I say that because we blame society, our culture, the media, celebrities, etc. but what if we are to blame for not being ourselves? What if the main reason we are afraid to find out and/or be who we really are is us. Me. you.  We stop ourselves from it because we are afraid to discover that who we really are could be someone we don't want to be. For example, I would be so…no happy if part of who God created me to be, my soul print, was to live among poor people in the slums of India. So it's easier to go with who we think we are supposed to be, or who people think we are. It takes courage and dedication to find our true identities, our soul print. But maybe the first step is stopping ourselves from stopping us from being who we are. The idea that I am in disguise is not a happy one for one. In January, I found out something about one of my friends, concerning…his lifestyle, for lack of a better phrase. Something about him. And even now, in May, I still find myself feeling like….like I was lied to in a way. Like this whole time he was…wearing a mask. A mask similar to who he really is, but with a critical piece left out. I find myself wondering if I ever really knew him, or what else he could be hiding. I know that it's not true, that he is who ive known him to be, but still, the feelings remain, and to be honest, a little bit of the trust is gone. i feel as if I will always wonder what else he could be hiding. I don't want to feel that way about mysef. Not being able to trust myself to be who I really am, to feel as if I am wearing a disguise, as mask. Masks are fun to wear on Halloween, as are disguises. But they are hard to wear every single day, all day.

The following are quotes  I really liked. Nothing much to say about them, so I'll just list them:

1.       "time may be measured in minutes, but life is measured in moments"(page 11).

2.       "you never know which moment might become a defining moment"(page 11).