Word and Journey: Recent Episodes
Moses Bernabe
To commemorate Labor Day, here’s an episode about a slave uprising gone glorious!
Mike Savara is a good friend and extraordinary social worker, government worker, addiction counselor, and the one who introduced me to the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.
Today we talk about Lightbringer, book 5 of the Red Rising series. This is book 5 of 6, and there’s tons of spoilers, but we highly recommend you read the whole series because we really love it.
We start off owning that we are mental health professionals and not literary experts…but feel ok with that because we believe that reading good books and thinking carefully about them is a discipline that is good for everyone, and certainly a good way to connect with good friends.
Lightbringer itself is a majestically grand fantasy epic set 700 years in the future where humanity has colonized every sphere of the solar system, and stratified all of human society into a strict caste system based on colors. The higher colors are genetically bred to be super strong, super smart, beautiful, and rife with corruption. The lower colors are genetically bred to perform all the basic functions that society needs done to function.
Our protagonist, Daro of Lycos, is a Red, a miner from underground Mars, and of the lowest caste. Over the last 5 books, he has risen from the mines to infiltrate Gold society(the highest caste) to influence, to govern, to conquer, and to break a tyrannical empire.
But empires don’t die easily. His chief rival is Lysander au Lun, a true Gold, a descendent of the most powerful Sovereign to ever live. Through Lysander’s story, we’ve seen him grow from a somewhat innocent boy into an eager and idealistic young man. We’ve seen him come to a junction where he can hold to his ideals and become a hero, or give in to the corruption that so dominates his color. Whichever he chooses, though, Daro and everyone he loves are in the crosshairs of the Gold.
What will happen? Who will these characters become? Are heroes made through might or through mercy? Is strength in guns and armaments, or rather in love and kinship?
We tackle these questions and more in this discussion of Red Rising.
This episode of literary analysis and cultural commentary is made possible by generous support from our listeners. If you find this helpful, or at least entertaining, please like, share, and review, as well as supporting us through patreon.com/mosesbernabe!
Moses can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe
Mike Savara can be found at mike.savara@gmail.com
Thanks for listening!
books #novels #epic #fantasy #sciencefiction #sciencefantasy #space #redrising #piercebrown #empire #castesystem #heroes #villains #war #relationships
Moses and Matt are back with the last half of Wheel of Time, the show, Season 2. Here we discuss more of the themes.
The Wheel of Time show follows a pattern of developing morally ambiguous characters who have great powers, great ambitions, and blatant fatal flaws. We discuss implications of a story world lacking both a clear good and a clear evil, and the challenges this poses for story writers.
We discuss character arcs, and whether these characters are becoming the best or worst versions of themselves. As our heroes go about their adventures using much the same methods as their enemies, we conclude that the end does NOT justify the means because who we are as people also really matters.
We draw on our experience as counselors, and our spiritual practice to examine the role of fantasy and imagination in the show, particularly through the vehicle of the Three Arches of Tar Valon. We note that when we get caught up in fantasy, we get stuck and lose our lives. By the same token, when we focus our imagination, we can develop insight into the world. Fantasy and imagination are only useful insofar as they find and speak of something true.
We consider the characters through the lens of IFS parts and look for who is driven by fear, by lust of power, or by genuine desire to protect others.
We do all this and more. You, the listener, are invited into a more mindful and contemplative viewing of the show along with us.
This episode of literary analysis and cultural commentary is made possible by generous support from our listeners. If you find this helpful, or at least entertaining, please like, share, and review, as well as supporting us through patreon.com/mosesbernabe!
Moses can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe
Matt Rensi can be found at his profession profile here -
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/matthew-t-rensi-morgan-hill-ca/870502 or email him at mtrensi@gmail.com
Thanks for listening!
wheeloftime #wot #robertjordan #fantasy #epicfantasy #reading #writing #books #novels #tv #tvshow #film #filmadaptation #plot #characterization #character #fantasy #imagination #internalfamilysystems #ifs #spirituality #christianity
Moses Bernabe and Matt Rensi return to discuss Amazon Prime’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series Wheel of Time as the show plods through its second season. As counselors who study people and readers who are long time lovers of sci-fi and fantasy, we had a great time being drawn into the story world, then pulling it apart for themes, lessons, and great moments.
From a storytelling standpoint, we discuss the challenges of adapting a long book series(and a series of long books) into the tv show format. We note the hazards of getting caught up in the “Flash bang,” of spectacle at the expense of a good plot. We talk about characterization, what makes for interesting characters, and the impact of a fractured storyline. We talk about showing versus telling and why motivation is key.
At a deeper level, we examine themes evident in the show. In the fight against evil, does the end justify the means? Are people really people, or are they just pawns? What is the value of the inner struggle? How should men and women interact together?
All along, we compare the show back to the book and talk about which we liked better and why.
This episode of literary analysis and cultural commentary is made possible by generous support from our listeners. If you find this helpful, or at least entertaining, please like, share, and review, as well as supporting us through patreon.com/mosesbernabe!
Moses can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe
Matt Rensi can be found at his profession profile here -
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/matthew-t-rensi-morgan-hill-ca/870502 or email him at mtrensi@gmail.com
Thanks for listening!
wheeloftime #wot #robertjordan #fantasy #epicfantasy #reading #writing #books #novels #tv #tvshow #film #filmadaptation #plot #characterization #character
The Wheel weaves as the wheel will! Welcome back to our discussion of the Wheel of Time!
Originally, when the Wheel of Time show came to Amazon Prime, I started a series of discussion in which I had watched the show, Matt Rensi had watched the show and read the books, and Aaron Esparza had watched the show, read the books, and play the game. We started out to compare our experiences of the show. Along the way, a whole variety of life circumstances came up along the way, and one whole episode was lost, and this one was much delayed.
Never fear, though - I have brought you the lost final episode of our discussion series on Wheel of Time season 1, just in time for us to launch into our commentary on season two!
Here, me and Matt talk about the aesthetics of the finale of Season 1(just in time for Season 3! We talk in depth on the character of Rand Al-Thor, and what his story says about heroism.
What is the most heroic thing that Rand does? He is young and in love, well infatuated really, with Egwaine, one of the powerful five. But he also suspects there is mutual love between her and Perrin, another of the five. Rand is given to jealousy, to hot-headed impetuosity, and rash judgment. He's quicker to draw his sword than use his words, and when he speaks, it's with bedrock conviction.
The way he is depicted in the show, he is a boring character for most of the season. He loves a girl, does what he's told, has nightmares about dark figures haunting him, and broods all day long. All his companions begin manifesting their magic abilities long before him, and he remains loyally ordinary...until the end when it is revealed that he's been channeling all along...he just hasn't realized it.
At least he's cute.
He's not particularly remarkable as a swordsman or a tracker or a healer or a wisdom. So what makes him a hero?
Rand is an ordinary hero in the way he steadfastly journeys with his friends. He is a quiet and reliable friend, and persistently able to struggle through with those he loves. He comes to his final showdown being tired and haggard, having gone through loss and fear, and still found a reason to persist.
His final confrontation with the Dark One is an internal one. The Dark One gets in his head and challenges his character. Is he the type of man who will take power for himself, to serve his own ends? Or is he the type of man who will resist power, struggle against desire, and consider the needs of others over his own?
In a way, he is both. He does end up declining the Dark One's offer, and resisting temptation, and he is able to do this because he loves and knows Egwaine. He wins by being grounded enough in reality, and open enough to her reality, that he can differentiate between the two, even in the depths of his mind. In that realm, he is able to recognize the vast difference between his fantasy of Egwaine, and the reality of the actual Egwaine, and his victory stroke is to prefer the real over the imagined.
In a sense, we could say his motives are still self-serving; he hopes to be with her...but we should moreso say his motives are driven by compassion. He wants her to be her, and to be with her as she is, not as he would shape her to be.
Rand's heroism is one of presence, made up of compassion, of knowing and loving others as they are, and being willing to give entirely of one's self in order that they might live.
wheeloftime #randalthor #robertjordan #story #fantasy #hero #heroism
Moses and Jake meet up for the finishing touches of The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. Here we consider the desire for a long and comfortable life and how that may be very dangerous to our spiritual health. We talk about courage, cowardice, and virtues that the demons cannot replicate. We recognize that the spiritual journey is just long and tiring and that we are vulnerable when fatigued. Finally, we come to the end of “The Patient’s” journey and consider the ideal end to the Christian journey.
THEN we get political…because Screwtape gets political. The epilogue puts Uncle Screwtape at a demon banquet, giving a toast, and roasting democracy while he’s at it. We acknowledge that no government is perfect, but some political structures may offer more tools to the dark spiritual forces than others.
In all things, we conclude that the spiritual world is real, is vibrant, and has a direct impact on every aspect of our lives. If we are wise, we will keep this in mind.
Let us know your thoughts, and things you have learned about your own spiritual life! We’d love to hear from you, even if you disagree with us.
Word and Journey is a listener supported venture by Moses Bernabe. To support the podcast, please visit patreon.com/mosesbernabe. You can follow Moses on instagram at @mosesbernabe, and on Youtube by searching “Word and Journey.”
Jacob Schwartz can be found at www.jacobrayschwartz.com and @jacobrayschwartz on instagram.
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
cslewis #christian #christianity #orthodox #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #screwtapeletters #books #book #spirituality #spiritualwisdom #spiritualpractice #church #religion #faithpractice #othering #love #compassion #demons #howthedemonswork #temptations #relationships #perspectives #politics #culture #democracy #history #community #salvation #eschatology #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
Here we almost finish The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Screwtape and Wormwood continue to hound the Christian on his spiritual journey. They try to get him to feel entitled to own things. They try to get him to lust after a new girlfriend, then to get bored with her. They poke at his craving for a tribe to call his own, then try to distract him with visions of “the historical Jesus.” They try to send him church shopping. They try to get him bored with “The same old thing,” and try to get him to make his religion political.
Meanwhile, Jake, Steph, and Moses reflect on how these tactics show up in our own lives and in the church cultures around us. Hopefully we come away a little wiser, but let the listener by the judge!
Let us know your thoughts, and things you have learned about your own spiritual life! We’d love to hear from you, even if you disagree with us.
Word and Journey is a listener supported venture by Moses Bernabe. To support the podcast, please visit patreon.com/mosesbernabe. You can follow Moses on instagram at @mosesbernabe, and on Youtube by searching “Word and Journey.”
Jacob Schwartz can be found at www.jacobrayschwartz.com and @jacobrayschwartz on instagram.
Stephanie Bennet and her professional editing services can be found at bennettsedits.com and @bennetts.edits on instagram.
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
cslewis #christian #christianity #orthodox #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #screwtapeletters #books #book #spirituality #spiritualwisdom #spiritualpractice #church #religion #faithpractice #othering #love #compassion #demons #howthedemonswork #temptations #relationships #perspectives #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
We’re back with more thoughts on The Screwtape Letters by C.S Lewis.
Moses and Stephanie pull out their writer and editor lenses to talk about the writing - and proper reading - of the text. We consider genre, subculture, the narrator’s voice, and share thoughts to consider when writing about the spiritual world in general. Above all, we remember that this book is speculative; we don’t actually know what it’s like to be a purely spiritual being.
Then we cover a few more letters. Screwtape advises Wormwood on how to take Humor, Love, Church Shopping, Gluttony, Sexuality, and False Humility and use them to corrupt our attention and take up our time, all to set us on the slow and gradual trajectory to spiritual destruction. Turns out the Road to Hell is not only lined with twisted virtues, but it is a subtle road upon which one can walk for quite a length before realizing it is too late to turn back!
Let us know your thoughts, and things you have learned about your own spiritual life! We’d love to hear from you, even if you disagree with us.
Word and Journey is a listener supported venture by Moses Bernabe. To support the podcast, please visit patreon.com/mosesbernabe. You can follow Moses on instagram at @mosesbernabe, and on Youtube by searching “Word and Journey.”
Stephanie Bennet and her professional editing services can be found at bennettsedits.com and @bennetts.edits on instagram.
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
cslewis #christian #christianity #orthodox #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #screwtapeletters #books #book #spirituality #spiritualwisdom #spiritualpractice #church #religion #faithpractice #othering #love #compassion #demons #howthedemonswork #temptations #relationships #perspectives #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel and excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
Moses, Jake, and Stephanie are back and reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Screwtape Letters is the correspondence by the demon Wormwood and his affectionate mentor, the demon Screwtape, and the letters are all about how to destroy a human from the soul outwards, and utterly prevent the soul of “The Patient” from being saved by God.
In volume 1, we read the first 10 letters, and comment on 6. We learn that words matter, but we need to be careful not to get preoccupied with wordiness. We learn that compassion matters, especially when we compare our actions with the intents of others. We learn that a spirituality based on moods is much more fragile than a faith built on consistent spiritual practices. We learn that an intellectual and abstract faith that scorns “The Other,” and never takes action is a sight that makes the demons rejoice.
Let us know your thoughts, and things you have learned about your own spiritual life! We’d love to hear from you, even if you disagree with us.
Word and Journey is a listener supported venture by Moses Bernabe. To support the podcast, please visit patreon.com/mosesbernabe. You can follow Moses on instagram at @mosesbernabe, and on Youtube by searching “Word and Journey.”
Jacob Schwartz can be found at www.jacobrayschwartz.com and @jacobrayschwartz on instagram.
Stephanie Bennet and her professional editing services can be found at bennettsedits.com and @bennetts.edits on instagram.
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
cslewis #christian #christianity #orthodox #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #screwtapeletters #books #book #spirituality #spiritualwisdom #spiritualpractice #church #religion #faithpractice #othering #love #compassion #demons #howthedemonswork #temptations #relationships #perspectives #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
And the saga of the Nazi hunters finally draws to its end!
What makes a hero? Can a person be considered heroic, even if they do the same horrendous things as the villain?
We wonder if people can really change, or if they never out grow their past wrongs. And if ultimately we can define our enemies by their worst parts, what does that mean about how we see ourselves?
Our heroes will stop at nothing to see Hitler dead. Is this focused passion, or insane obsession? Does this end justify any means to get there? Does the elimination of one super villain heal anyone left standing?
The show ends with the fictitious trial of Adolph Hitler. In one sense, the whole episode could be seen as an attempt at trauma healing. It’s a reauthoring - the trial we never had, but badly needed.
As the trial plays out, the question is posed - what really should we do with Hitler? Do we accord him the same human rights we claim for ourselves? Or deny him what he denied others? We quickly discover that our own souls are on trial as much as his and we will be judged by our capacity for mercy and forgiveness..
“We tell the stories of our past to change our futures.”
This channel relies on the support of its listeners. Please join our community with a few dollars a month at patreon.com/mosesbernabe, and by liking, rating, and reviewing the show!
Moses can be found at patreon.com/mosesbernabe, and @mosesbernabe on Instagram, and on Facebook as Moses-Rhys.
Jake can be found at www.jacobrayschwartz.com and @jacobrayschwartz
We’d love to hear from you!
wordandjourney #stories #shows #media #bingewatching #historicaldrama #hunters #nazi #politics #justice #holocaust #jew #jewish #jewishculture #intrigue #action #drama
Moses and Jake offer more commentary on the Amazon Prime show Hunters, Season II. This season comes with thick layers of intrigue, drama, lies, betrayals, and dark histories revealed. And as the global adventure continues, the personal lives of the characters just get more and more chaotic.
The show raises questions about identity, integrity, and explores what it means to be family. Much more difficult, we get to wonder - why should we forgive those who wrong us?
This channel relies on the support of its listeners. Please join our community with a few dollars a month at patreon.com/mosesbernabe, and by liking, rating, and reviewing the show!
Moses can be found at patreon.com/mosesbernabe, and @mosesbernabe on Instagram, and on Facebook as Moses-Rhys.
Jake can be found at www.jacobrayschwartz.com and @jacobrayschwartz
We’d love to hear from you!
wordandjourney #stories #shows #media #bingewatching #historicaldrama #hunters #nazi #politics #justice #holocaust #jew #jewish #jewishculture #intrigue #action #drama
More Nazis, more intrigue, more explorations of human-nature-under-duress, more drama - yes, dear listener, it’s Word and Journey’s commentary on the hit Amazon Prime show Hunters, Season II!
Here we see our favorite heroes, anti-heroes, and outright villains continuing the quest to rid the world of Nazis, one gouged out eye at a time. The action rises when they figure out Hitler is alive and they know where to find him. Will they kill him? Only the full season will tell!
Moses and Jake offer commentary on the story and deeper meanings of the first 3 episodes. They tackle questions on the nature of justice, who owns truth, and whether or not revenge actually accomplishes anything, and why characters living double lives give us anxiety. We wonder if a victim has an added measure of authority simply for having survived something terrible. It’s a grisly view of humanity, but then again, so was the holocaust.
This channel relies on the support of its listeners. Please join our community with a few dollars a month at patreon.com/mosesbernabe, and by liking, rating, and reviewing the show!
Moses can be found at patreon.com/mosesbernabe, and @mosesbernabe on Instagram, and on Facebook as Moses-Rhys.
Jake can be found at www.jacobrayschwartz.com and @jacobrayschwartz
We’d love to hear from you!
wordandjourney #stories #shows #media #bingewatching #historicaldrama #hunters #nazi #politics #justice #holocaust #jew #jewish #jewishculture #intrigue #action #drama
Who are we really? Are we an ethnicity? Are we the horrorsenacted upon us? Or could we be the manner in which we respond to darkness....withlight? Or with more darkness?
What is justice? What is vengeance? How much"Wrong" is ok in order to do right? And what is the right in asituation like the Holocaust?
Where is God in the evils of the world? Could it be He ismade real in the ones who are kind?
How does community help us to survive trauma?
The Amazon Prime show Hunters continues unpackingthemes of historical trauma, vengeance and justice, finding community andtribes throuh shared struggles, and initiation into a new threshold ofadulthood. We talk faith, trauma, ritual, social justice, and how we find partsof ourselves depicted in a fantastic cast of characters.
This podcast is all about building a community of readers,viewers, thinkers, and creatives! If you would like to join us, consider supportingthe podcast at patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
Moses Bernabe can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
Thanks for listening!!
hunters #tv #show #entertainment #media #jew #jews #holocaust#nazi #nazihunter #history #historicalfiction #trauma #intergenerationaltrauma#legacy #suffering #redemption #vengeance #justice #family #community #ritual#remembrance #remember #memory #memorial #mercy #inheritance
Moses and Jake continue their review of the hit Amazon Primeshow Hunters, which follows the adventures of a group of Nazi Hunters inNew York in the 1970's. We bring many questions.
Why do weneed to remember the painful things?
We need toknow where we came from so we don't repeat it.
We need toknow where we came from so we know what's driving us, and what we're carrying.
We need toknow what we are carrying so we can lay it down.
Why did Godcommand the Children of Israel to build memorial stones? To remember how Heshowed up with them. Why does the church partake of the Eucharist? To call toremembrance what Christ did - to ritually recreate and participate in theevents of our salvation.
Remembrancecan be life giving, connective, healing even. I don't see that coming out inHunters. When they talk about remembrance, there is a sense ofremembering heritage, and that seems to be a binding agent. Very much an Us vsThem dynamic. Also a high vengeance component.
We couldsay that technically the Hunters are holding a grudge on behalf of the Jewishpeople. But we wouldn't really talk about it that way usually, because wegenerally think of holding a grudge as bad. Why do we find a way to forgivethese folks for what they do? Is it just because of the badness they've gonethrough? Is one exempted from forgiveness when the atrocities committed againstthem have reached a certain point?
Compare andcontrast The Hunters with Corrie Ten Boom, author of The Hiding Place. Sheengaged the same enemy differently, and achieved forgiveness.
What is the difference between vengeance and justice.
Vengeance,revenge, is an expression of an anger part. It's a reaction to injustice and boundaryviolation. I think it's meant to be protective against a feeling ofhelplessness, and against the gnawing horror of irreplaceable loss andirreparable damage. What was broken cannot be repaired, therefore the onlyagency I have left is to destroy in return.
Justice isto put all things in their proper place. This could include consequences, butcould also allow for healing. I would say true justice can be done from a placeof compassion, or at least calm. It's not out to punish or destroy, but tosimply allot what is meet and right.
We also seethe binding power of ritual, the way self-sacrifice makes God real, and a wholelot of trauma.
This podcast is all about building a community of readers,viewers, thinkers, and creatives! If you would like to join us, consider supportingthe podcast at patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
Moses Bernabe can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
Thanks for listening!!
hunters #tv #show #entertainment #media #jew #jews #holocaust#nazi #nazihunter #history #historicalfiction #trauma #intergenerationaltrauma#legacy #suffering #redemption #vengeance #justice #family #community #ritual#remembrance #remember #memory #memorial
"The only difference between heroes and villains is whosells more costumes at Halloween." - Jonah Heidelbaum, Hunters, Season1.
Hunters isa series on Amazon Prime created by David Weil. The story follows a group ofNazi Hunters based in New York in the 1970's. Moses found it first, thendrafted Jake into watching and commenting on it with him.
Is the showany good?
Check outour full commentary and judge for yourself. The show is certainly complex, asit tackles issues of justice and vengeance and explores whether or not heroesand villains are really that different, especially when they resort to similartactics.
Being astory about the struggles of the Jewish people, we are necessarily brought torevisit the horrors of the Holocaust. Horrors which should never be forgot.
One charactersays of his experience, - "The only thing you know about the holocaust iswhat you read in history books. But we lived it. We survived it." In this,we are led to reflect on the difference between what we know in our heads andwhat we have lived in our bodies. We could say that the embodied truths are themore real, but we could also wonder if having an embodied experience of torturethen gives the victim complete liberty to enact vengeance as they see fit. TheHunters certainly seem to think so, and your fantastic show hosts render their opinionson the matter.
This podcast is all about building a community of readers,viewers, thinkers, and creatives! If you would like to join us, consider supportingthe podcast at patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
Moses Bernabe can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
Thanks for listening!!
hunters #tv #show #entertainment #media #jew #jews #holocaust#nazi #nazihunter #history #historicalfiction #trauma #intergenerationaltrauma#legacy #suffering #redemption #vengeance #justice #family #community
Moses and Joel are back, with dad jokes in tow! We read the book Picture of Dorian Gray…and then we watched the 2009 Film Adaptation with Colin Firth and Ben Barnes. Now we compare and contrast.
We comment on the aesthetic of the movie and how, seeing the characters brought to life is cool, but the movie defaults to relying on spectacle, rather than allowing the profound concepts of the story to stand on their own. We discuss how the character of Dorian is altered by making him a victim of childhood abuse, and discuss how the character of Lord Henry is altered by giving him a daughter. We discuss at length the way the movie changed the ending…but you’ll have to hear the whole episode to find out what that change is!
Most especially we discuss the painting - oh, that fateful, grotesque painting! - that saves the body and corrupts the soul. The movie did some creatively creepy things here, and we reflect on how this changed the impact of the the image.
We definitively decide that this is not a kids movie.
And if someone comes up to you and offers to paint your portrait….run away! Really fast!!
This podcast and all our wonderful conversations are made possible through your financial support, and through your rating, reviewing, and sharing of the show. Please do help us continue in this work!
To connect with Moses, find him at patreon.com/mosesbernabe or on instgram at @mosesbernabe.
To connect with Joel, and enjoy fine poetry, find him at www.joelhere.com at on instagram @joelhere
Thanks for listening!
book #books #novel #classic #classics #literature #movies #moviereview #film #movieadaptation #filmadaptation #doriangray #oscarwilde #portrait #trauma #hedonism #identity ##aging #portrait #spirituality #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristian #existentialism #nihilism #pleasure #novelty #addiction #icon #iconography #identity #persona #mosesbernabe #ifs #internalfamilysystems #exiles #secrets #isolation #downwardspiral #redemption #opium #regret #remorse #shame #confession
Do you ever feel like, when you finish a book, it’s like a break-up?
Sometimes we feel this way. Sometimes it’s a good break-up…and sometimes not. Thus, Moses and Joel reflect on the worst books we’ve read, and allow ourselves permission to NOT finish a badly written book.
Meanwhile, we conclude the saga of Dorian Gray.
In this section, we follow Dorian on his downward spiral to the lowest levels of society, which, for Oscar Wilde, was the Opium Dens.
“There were the opium dens, where one could buy oblivion. Dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new.” Opium, like any other addictive obsession, becomes a stand-in for healing, for intimacy, and for redemption. Dorian seeks his elicit fix, “To clear the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul.” Rather than becoming an integrated person, his soul and body are pitted against each other, and he is hurtled toward destruction.
It hurts to live like this. It hurts to not face the deeper pain, either of how one has been wounded, or how one has harmed others. The only way to proceed is to deaden the soul.
Dorian’s other world is the party scene in high society. He’s removed from himself, caught up in the vapidities of his friends, and in this way distracted from his reality, until James Vane, the brother of the late Sibyl Vane shows up with a vendetta against Dorian. He symbolizes the way that the things we wish we could ignore and keep hidden always tend to emerge, and often at the worst times.
Dorian is haunted by his past. He has corrupted women, killed men, lied, betrayed, and abused many others. He has put his own body and soul through reckless, dangerous, defiling experience after pleasure after thrill. He tries to hide in more pleasure and more sensation and more sensuality, but his past keeps creeping up on him. His life throttles toward unmanageability the more he tries to keep his past hidden, and pretend the decaying portrait upstairs is not as real as it is. He depicts for us the toxicity of secrets, the venom of unconfessed sins, and the severe handicap of lacking true friends, or any source of true intimacy.
Can we be better than this?
Word and Journey is a community of readers in search of good stories that help us grow into excellent people. We save you time by saving you from bad literature. If you enjoy this kind of conversation, please join our community at patreon.com/mosesbernabe. Follow for more updates on instagram @mosesbernabe and on facebook in the Word and Journey Discussion Group
Joel shares his poetry on instagram @joelhere. You can follow him there and be greatly enriched!
novels #books #stories #writing #reading #classics #doriangray #oscarwilde #hedonism #aging #portrait #spirituality #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristian #existentialism #nihilism #pleasure #novelty #addiction #icon #iconography #identity #persona #mosesbernabe #ifs #internalfamilysystems #exiles #secrets #downwardspiral #redemption #opium #regret #remorse #shame #confession
It's late at night and the Dad-Jokes are out in force!
Moses and Joel establish that “Picture of Dorian Gray” is a story about deplorable characters, some(Like Lord Henry) probably could not and should not be written in our current age. And yet, in the marvel of how stories work, even a story about bad people can teach us something true and important.
Dorian has been watching how his portrait takes on the burdens of his life. When the original painter, Basil Howard wants to reclaim the painting, in order to display it in a very public venue, Dorian fliiiiips out!
In this section, we reflect on trajectory. Nothing is neutral. Dorian’s story is the inverse of Glory to greater Glory, born out of pursuing one’s own pleasures instead of holiness.
Dorian’s life is marked by “consumption of the world.” In a way, his life resembles the Biblical King Solomon, who, likewise, did not withhold any pleasure from himself…and to him, it was a snare.
But Dorian is not an isolated character. He lives in a world that glorifies pleasure and spectacle. Everyone is superficial. No one knows each other. Everyone thinks Dorian is just great, and one can imagine him clinging desperately to the experience of being seen in this way. Dorian ends up doing what anyone would do who is addicted to intense experiences; he uses entertainment and sensory overload as a substitute for atonement and intimacy.
Joel introduces the question about how the souls of Dorian and Basil intertwine. We reflect on how Dorian uses people, which destroys his soul. As a counter part, we reflect on Basil, who obsesses over and even worships Dorian…which also ends up destroying him. Moses suggests that their souls are intertwined by patterns of obsession; one of the other, the other of himself, and both of fleeting things like beauty and youth.
Moses can’t resist a chance to talk about coming of age rituals, and then addiction.
Inevitably, Moses also gets back on the Internal Family Systems soapbox, and read modern psychology back into classic literature. He talks about Dorian as someone who, deep down, really just wants connection and redemption…but that would mean being seen. And there’s this other part of him that is violently defensive against his inner life being seen…especially the way it is depicted on the portrait.
Joel mentions how in order for Dorian’s life to function, he needs to continually up the ante of his “emotional addiction,” until finally he resorts to murder.
In the end, we reflect on how secrets are deadly to the soul. Perhaps Dorian could have been saved, had he only exposed his darkness and inner ugliness. We see this in recovery work, and all over our spiritual traditions; confession, and being known, are essential to being truly loved, and truly healed.
Word and Journey is a community of readers in search of good stories that help us grow into excellent people. We save you time by saving you from bad literature. If you enjoy this kind of conversation, please join our community at patreon.com/mosesbernabe. Follow for more updates on instagram @mosesbernabe and on facebook in the Word and Journey Discussion Group
Joel shares his poetry on instagram @joelhere. You can follow him there and be greatly enriched!
novels #books #stories #writing #reading #classics #doriangray #oscarwilde #hedonism #aging #portrait #spirituality #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristian #existentialism #nihilism #pleasure #novelty #addiction #icon #iconography #identity #persona #mosesbernabe #ifs #internalfamilysystems #exiles #secrets #downwardspiral
Rousseaux and I are spiritual grand-children of the Jesus Movement, from which came theCalvary Chapel churches, whose origins in the turbulence of the 1960's was depictedin the 2023 film Jesus Revolution. We grew up under the spiritual tutelageof a pastor who was a direct mentee of the Jesus Movement's founder, ChuckSmith.
For today's episode, we watched the Jesus Revolution film, and got togetherto share impressions and memories, to reflect on our spiritual heritage andspiritual formation. Both of us have since left the particular churchesassociated with the Calvary Chapel movement, and so find cause to celebratesome spiritual heirlooms, as well as critique some blindspots.
As we talk about the film, we discuss the plot and story telling, and the mainthemes. We look at what the Jesus Revolution film seems to say about theChristian Gospel, the church, the Christian Life, and the sacraments. We talkabout whether or not we would recommend the movie as a historical piece, or asan evangelism tool.
We reflect on cultural nostalgia, on finding home and belonging, on flimsytheology, and on why many these days are turning from the highly emotive andindividualized, relatively young church groups in search of something morerooted, more ancient, with more well developed practices, and having the securityof a long-standing tradition.
Word and Journey strives to present you with stories that shape us and make usthink, and in our conversations we aim to help you practice thinking deeplyabout the stories you consume. If this practice is important to you, pleasesupport the podcast through rating, reviewing, and sharing it, as well asthrough dollars at patreon.com/mosesbernabe
Moses Bernabe (yours truly) can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe.
Rousseaux Brasseur can be found at ousseaux@gmail.com and rousseauxbrasseur.com
Thanks for listening!
movie #film #jesusrevolution#jesusrevolutionmovie #jesusmovement #calvarychapel #chucksmith #greglaurie#story #stories #christian #christianity #theology #sacraments #church#tradition #orthodox #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #gospel #faith #home #belonging
This is a story about people being together and not seeing each other.
Here we follow the life and death of Sibyl Vane, an actress, and the object of Dorian’s obsession. In their short relationship, we see a depiction of utter obsession, which initially thrills, then ultimately leads to crushing disappointment.
Lord Henry displays a particularly potent version of toxic masculinity in how he regards the heartbreak and death of a young lady as just an inconvenient novelty. Once he says, “The only way a woman can reform a man is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life.” Also, “Women appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else…They love being dominated.” He really seems to see women as inferior, and to be trod upon. Meanwhile he idolizes Dorian for his beauty, the very surface of him, while scorning virtue. He objectifies everyone around him.
Dorian tries to be idealistic, but learns how easily and how powerfully he can harm someone. Dorian wants to redeem himself and do right by Sibyl, but she’s dead and he can’t. There’s no way for him to be good again; only a way to defer and hide his badness. This then becomes the foundation for what will be come an intensely rigidly, obsessively hedonistic and nihilistic lifestyle
Finally, young Dorian begins to notice his portrait changing. The painting is not only aging while he retains his youth, but is taking on the burdens of his sins. Here we can ponder, what is the fullness of a person? Is it their youth beauty? Their accomplishments? The pleasures they imbibe? Is a person his or her virtues? Or sins?
The Dorian’s Portrait, and Sibyl’s Life invite us to ponder identity. Sibyl creates a stage persona that becomes more her than her, and ultimately when that persona fails, she loses herself irrevocably. Similarly, Dorian’s portrait is so lifelike, and so perfect, that it causes him to wonder if it is he or the portrait who is the real him. As the portrait begins to “Sneer” and absorb his evils, we see Dorian’s sense of identity becoming very confused.
Speaking of portraits, in Orthodox Christianity, we practice the veneration of icons. An icon is a holy image depicting a saint in their glorified form - in their fullness. We behold the wood and paint and are pointed to see the Saint his or herself, and through the Saint, we are pointed to see the Lord Jesus.
But with Dorian Gray, his portrait begins to depict his sins, his darkness, his corruption, and his frailty. In a way, it begins to function as a reverse icon, which begs the question - short of redemption, just who is the real Dorian Gray?
What is the most real version of any of us?
But lest we drown in the profound, along the way we reflect on 90’s sitcoms, particularly The Nanny.
Word and Journey is a community of readers in search of good stories that help us grow into excellent people. We save you time by saving you from bad literature. If you enjoy this kind of conversation, please join our community at patreon.com/mosesbernabe. Follow for more updates on instagram @mosesbernabe and on facebook in the Word and Journey Discussion Group
Joel shares his poetry on instagram @joelhere. You can follow him there and be greatly enriched!
novels #books #stories #writing #reading #classics #doriangray #oscarwilde #hedonism #aging #portrait #spirituality #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristian #existentialism #nihilism #pleasure #novelty #addiction #icon #iconography #identity #persona #mosesbernabe
"What happens in Oscar Wilde's bedroom stays in OscarWilde's Bedroom."
"...unless it happens on the stage, and then we call ittheater!"
"To reveal art, and to conceal the artist, is theartist's aim." - Oscar Wilde
Who isDorian Gray? He's young. He's rich. He's beautiful. Lord Henry says those arethe best and most important things.
Dorian Grayalso has a portrait of himself - a portrait that absorbs the impact of all hissins. As Dorian takes his first steps into a life of exploitation and hedonism,his portrait ages and decays, while Dorian's beautiful face remains the same.
What kindof life does this create?
Meanwhile,in real life, Joel Sommer, is a Portland poet, writer, tennis and tai chienthusiast. A gentle and wise soul, and my co-host for this series. Together weplunge into Oscar Wilde's classic, to see what we can learn about our ownlives.
We're atonce confronted with themes of
Art
Beauty
Hedonism
Youth andage
Wealth
Obsessionand Infatuation
Dorianlongs to be accepted as more than just the object of someone else's obsession.He is led to believe that his only value is his youth and beauty, and thusbegins to despair when he considers how quickly it will pass away.
And themoral of the story? No selfies!
We canwonder, what is our relationship to our own visage? What is ourrelationship to our age? To our aging process? How does it affect our lives toavoid and deny death, rather to embrace and calmly prepare for it?
We ask,what is the arbiter of truth? Is it my own perspective, or is there anythinghigher?
What is aworld like where virtue is scorned, and pleasure is exalted?
The eldersin the story are vapid gossipers. They give Dorian nothing really worthwhile toaspire after. No wonder he doesn't want to grow old.
Dorianbecomes a novelty seeker...which is essentially falling into addiction,probably to escape the ravages of despair.
And asDorian discovers the power of his portrait(will it be a gift or a curse?) wetalk about authenticity. Moses reflects on "path of least resistance"personas, and Joel reflects on social media avatars. We suggest the listener gofind something ugly to contemplate, then get off social media.
Word andJourney is a community of readers in search of good stories that help us growinto excellent people. We save you time by saving you from bad literature. Ifyou enjoy this kind of conversation, please join our community atpatreon.com/mosesbernabe. Follow for more updates on instagram @mosesbernabeand on facebook in the Word and Journey Discussion Group
Joel shares his poetry on instagram @joelhere. You canfollow him there and be greatly enriched!
novels #books #stories #writing #reading #classics#doriangray #oscarwilde #hedonism #aging #portrait #spirituality #orthodoxy#orthodoxchristian #existentialism #nihilism #pleasure #novelty #addiction
What makes a book good? And how does a story grow from being a good book to a great one, or earn the rank of classic literature?
Is it by being a good plot, like The Passage Trilogy?
Is it by building a fantastic world, like in Lord of the Rings?
Is it by developing compelling and relatable characters as in The Book Thief?
Is a book "Great" because the author does beautiful things with words, making each page beautiful just to look at, like Corman McCarthy's road?
Or is a book great for the way its author teaches the reader to read a new language as they turn each page, as in Paul Kingsnorth's "The Wake"?
Is a book good because it is wildly popular like the Game of Thrones?
Or because it forces us to face our own ironies in edgy and offensive ways like Fight Club?
Is a book great because it is laden with metaphor like the Picture of Dorian Gray?
Or because it is old like The Odyssey?
Or because is explores deeply spiritual and philosophical themes like the Brothers Karamazov?
Do books require great heroes? Clever villains? Never before seen world elements? Are the classics classic because they have not yet finished saying all the need to say?
Or are the great books great simply because people still enjoy them?
Or could it be that a truly good story inverts the material world to reveal a deeper spiritual one, and pulls the reader out of their own head and facilitates and encounter with The Other, whoever that might be? Could be be that truly great literature leaves the active reader changed in some way?
At the peak of his career, Dn. Nicholas Kotar says he may have gotten it wrong, and he isn’t writing fantasy after all. He’s discovered that he’s writing Mythic Fiction. By this, he affirms the way an artist is continually discovering new dimensions of his or her art form, which is an extension of learning more and more about one’s self.
In this episode, Nicholas Kotar and I discuss what is or is not “Good” literature. We talk about the necessity of having forms to follow(story structure, familiar plot points, recognizable character arcs) and the difference between inverting the forms and throwing them out altogether. We talk about how to write using forms and how this helps our stories speak to universal truths. We explore the balance or rigidity and chaos in how we read and how we write. Good literature balances the tension between total formalism and total freedom. Stories can be the form, that tells us who we are, and bridges the gap between form and freedom, between rigidity and chaos.
Finally, as we consider how, as Orthodox Christians, to guide our children to stories that shape their character, we talk about the way the stories we take in begin to tell us who we are.
This podcast and all our wonderful conversations are made possible through your financial support, and through your rating, reviewing, and sharing of the show. Please do help us continue in this work!
To connect with Moses, find him at patreon.com/mosesbernabe or on instgram at @mosesbernabe.
To connect with Nicholas Kotar, visit his website at www.nicholaskotar.com, where you can sign up for his newsletter, find his patreon, his podcasts, and all his most recent writings.
If you could make 10 people immortal, who would you pick?
If you could make some people immortal and not others…should you?
Who gets to choose?
As we conclude the Passage, we delve deep into the ethical conundrums of transhumanism, and it’s fun. We reflect on stories such as Jurassic Park, the classic movie Deep Impact, Battlestar Galactica, and LOST, all to further expound on the problem raised here in The Passage of, “Who gets to choose who is worthy to survive?”
We consider some different rubrics, but ultimately come back to reflecting on how the Lord Jesus tended to choose the undesirables of society to make into Saints.
On another note, Moses thinks that resurrections in books cheapen the struggle. When we know people are just gonna come back, we don’t really savor the life, or feel the pangs or the weight of the suffering. We need stakes for a conflict to mean anything.
Moses reflects on the way Cronin handles the deaths and resurrections of the characters, and comes away feeling “messed with,” and says, “I don’t trust the danger.”
Moses and Nics compare and contrast the deaths of characters in The Passage and in the classic series LOST. We reflect on how the increased reality and presence of death heightens the connections we have with the characters. In this way, we can see how close relationships always involve risk, whether of harm or of loss. In a story, when we know we can lose a character at any time, we can tend to value our time with them moire.
Nics explores his love of mystery, provided there are sufficient “bread crumbs” to entice the reader along.
Nics also reflects on watching the characters work through conflicts and grow into a greater closeness. He talks about then taking their example and exploring how to deepen his own relationships.
In this way we see that the stories we consume have shaping power in our inner and outer lives.
Therefore, we both ought to read stories, and to be careful that those stories are good.
For more discussion, that we hope will be profitable to you, please keep listening! And please share the podcast, rate and review it, and consider joining our patreon community!
To connect with Moses, find him at patreon.com/mosesbernabe or on instagram at @mosesbernabe.
To connect with Justin, find him on instagram and facebook as Justin Nichols, and on his youtube channel, and at www.gracechapelonline.org/soul-care
books #reading #novels #thepassage #justincronin #vampire #adventure #fiction #adventure #ensemble #community #relationships #character #trauma #endoftheworld #death #resurrection #family #apocalypse #postapocalyptic #impact #legacy #family #colony #remnant #aging #loss #history #ritual #story #tradition #legacy #abuse #neglect #trauma #conflict #reconciliation #brothers #ethics #humanity #survival #team
Moses and Nics are back at it again - we’re almost done with The Passage, and the action is getting intense!
More interesting, though, then car chases, and viral hunts, and intrigue among remnant tribes of militia are the concepts played out among the characters.
What would it be like to erase, edit, or misunderstand most or all of which came before us? How does our understanding of history and the decades and centuries leading up to our present moment inform how we approach our day-to-day living? Our relationships? Our civil engagement? Our education? Our child-raising?
In our discussion today, we talk about how hearing other people’s stories helps us to humanize them. We also talk about how when we have history, story, tradition, we know who we are. Moses riffs on the ancientness of the Orthodox church.
We both agree we need our parents and grandparents to tell us stories about themselves. And we need to tell our kids stories about ourselves.
For more discussion, that we hope will be profitable to you, please keep listening! And please share the podcast, rate and review it, and consider joining our patreon community!
To connect with Moses, find him at patreon.com/mosesbernabe or on instagram at @mosesbernabe.
To connect with Justin, find him on instagram and facebook as Justin Nichols, and on his youtube channel, and at www.gracechapelonline.org/soul-care
books #reading #novels #thepassage #justincronin #thriller #horror #vampire #adventure #fiction #adventure #ensemble #community #relationships #character #trauma #endoftheworld #death #family #apocalypse #postapocalyptic #impact #legacy #family #colony #remnant #aging #loss #history #ritual #story #tradition #legacy #abuse #neglect #trauma
How do you make a monster? No, it’s not through viral injections, nor radiation, nor supernatural curses - Monsters are made by hate, anger, resentment, and wounds that never get healed.
Moses and Nics are back, talking monsters and heroes, love and hate, abuse and attachment, trauma and legacy. We talk about what it means to be a parent, and to hold the power to shape multiple future generations with just our words.
We talk about what makes a family, with an emphasis on shared struggles, and shared rituals.
In the story itself, we come to showdown scene in the long story of the Passage, in which the monstrous vampire The Babcock enters the arena with the mysterious, and small-looking Girl From Nowhere Amy. It’s a super fun scene, with a lot of build up and context.
As we follow the characters, we get into the mind and backstory of the chiefest of viral vampires, and we see(multiple times) his childhood trauma played out over and over. Moses reflects on the character of Giles Babcock, once a man on death row, now the First of Twelve great Virals, and his backstory of growing up with an abusive mother. Of all memories to survive the boy’s childhood, genetic transformation, and a century of being a vampire, it’s this story of being hurt and burdened, and it’s this story that now contaminates The Many.
In this, we see depicted, a very dark legacy. Let the reader consider the ripples they spread through centuries into the future with their harsh words.
Babcock is contrasted with Amy, who was loved, who was valued, and who experienced secure attachment.
We have no idea how far-reaching are our actions, and our words. Perhaps we should be disturbed by how much power we have, but certainly we should not ignore it.
Trauma never stays contained to one relationship, and abuse never stays contained to one household. But likewise…neither can love and respect, and having gratitude for life, and compassion for others be contained by any force imaginable.
For more discussion, that we hope will be profitable to you, please keep listening! And please share the podcast, rate and review it, and consider joining our patreon community!
To connect with Moses, find him at patreon.com/mosesbernabe or on insagram at @mosesbernabe.
To connect with Justin, find him on instagram and facebook as Justin Nichols, and on his youtube channel, and at www.gracechapelonline.org/soul-care
books #reading #novels #thepassage #justincronin #thriller #horror #vampire #adventure #fiction #adventure #ensemble #community #relationships #character #trauma #endoftheworld #death #family #apocalypse #postapocalyptic #impact #legacy #family #colony #remnant #aging #loss #history #ritual #story #tradition #legacy #abuse #neglect #trauma
We're getting on the IFS Soapbox and blowing the Orthodox Trumpet and Woking Ourselves and unpacking Trauma and pondering the essence of being Human...and SPOILING the movie Avatar: The Way of Water!
Long-time friend and colleague Aaron Kelsay makes his first appearance on the show, after having taken me to see the new James Cameron film. We discuss and review it at length, and conclude with our estimation of the overall goodness-to-greatness of the story.
Brief spoiler - as counselors always on the watch for good metaphors for the healing journey - we got REALLY excited about the imagery and story arcs in the film, even the familiar archetypes were extremely familiar.
If you like this kind of conversation, please join our community at patreon.com/mosesbernabe. Offer your dollar support, and help me afford to bring you more conversations like this one.
If you can't do that please at least rate, review, and share this episode around.
Follow me through patreon, or on instagrat @mosesbernabe.
Reach out to Aaron through www.progresscounselingll.com. He'd be happy to hear from you!
movie #story #film #avatar #wayofwater #jamescameron #moviereview #trauma #outcast #exile #community #family #relationship #action #adventure #spirituality #ifs #internalfamilysystems #orthodox #orthodoxy #orthodoxychristianity #woke
How do you write an epic?
Moses and Nics(aka Rhys and Justin) analyze the writing style of Justin Cronin and reflect on how he brings the world and characters of The Passage to life. We look at world building, characters, plot, and word-smything. We discuss writing in multiple eras, writing with ensemble casts, and how to write info dumps and make them pretty.
In the content of the story, we utter many spoilers as we jump ahead 92 years to The Colony and a whole new group of characters! This is a lingering band of humans whose oldest members carry only the dimmest memory of a world that used to be, and that disappeared beneath the ravages of viral-induced chaos. Now, believing they are on their own, Peter, Theo, Sara, Alicia, Michael, Caleb, and others strive to find food, to find love, to spot the virals before they come, to keep their loved one’s safe, to come out on top in the village politics, and above all, to keep the lights running!
We reflect on major situations like the end of the world. How does one face the end of the world well? What kind of person do you hope to be?
We discuss what is important to be preserved, with many literary references. We also talk about what ends up preserving us, with reference to ritual and tradition.
We talk at length about what it means to have an impact, comparing figures such as Caesar Augustus, St. Anthony the Great, and an ancestor of Moses, Lolo June.
This leads us to discuss why we need history, both global and personal history. Our stories connect us to our ancestors. Nics says, “We need to borrow from those who have gone before us and paved the way for us to be where we are right now.”
This leads Moses to reflect on why we need shared belief, and shared ritual with which to participate in those beliefs with one’s culture and community.
We also talk about trauma, inter-generational trauma, and how it affects a society when they don't play.
For more discussion, that we hope will be profitable to you, please keep listening! And please share the podcast, rate and review it, and consider joining our patreon community!
To connect with Moses, find him at patreon.com/mosesbernabe or on insatgram at @mosesbernabe.
To connect with Justin, find him on instagram and facebook as Justin Nichols, and on his youtube channel, and at www.gracechapelonline.org/soul-care
books #reading #novels #thepassage #justincronin #thriller #horror #vampire #adventure #fiction #adventure #ensemble #community #relationships #character #characterdriven #trauma #endoftheworld #death #family #apocalypse #postapocalyptic #impact #legacy #family #colony #remnant #aging #loss #history #ritual #story #sharedpractice #tradition
This is the episode where everyone is dead.
In the book The Passage, by Justin Cronin, it took thirty-two minutes for the world we know to end. The “Jumps,” or the Virals - the vampire characters, have broken containment, defied any attempt to contain them, and have spread their chaos across the continent. All the characters we have known and loved or hated so far have been slain, except for Brad and Amy. Now we pause with them for a year while they take refuge in the woods. Yet even their idyllic interval must come to an explosive end.
Moses and Nics reflect on life, death, family, and the end of the world. We reflect on the type of heroism where an adventure falls upon a reluctant person and demands that he or she transcend their instinctive natures to become noble. The story presents in vivid detail the conundrum of, when all the world is dying horribly, how do you rise above the downward spiral, to still be a good human?
Moses calls upon his counselor life to talk about attachment science, as depicted in the story. Amy has a very long and turbulent life, but still has this one year where she is consistently loved and found worthy. Coming up, we’ll get to see how this sets her apart from all the other virals, just as in the real world, secure relationships tend to set us apart from a very real chaos around us. “The most important learning we do is about how to relate to people, and thus how to relate to ourselves.”
Nics and Moses reflect on family, and how, no matter how challenging it is to raise a family, we find the rewards to be entirely worth the struggle. We talk about parenting struggles, and how they interact with looking ahead to our deaths. There is a beneficial shaping aspect to considering your death and preparing for it, even from a young age.
Here we meet Ida, who, a century later, will be known as “Auntie.” Her traumatic origins beg the question, what is the most extreme thing you would do to save your child?
Some of our favorite quotable moments:
“The world could be blowing itself apart, yet here was the gift of spring, spring in the mountains.”
“The ash was full of people, he knew. A raining ash of souls.”
“To di. This is why we live, to die.”
“A new feeling moved through him then, cold and final, like a draft from an open door onto the deepest hour of winter, only the stilled space between stars. When daybreak found him, he would be no more.”
In any case, as the story progresses, it deepens. There are layers of metaphor and insight to be found by those inclined to search them out. For more discussion, that we hope will be profitable to you, please keep listening! And please share the podcast, rate and review it, and consider joining our patreon community!
To connect with Moses, find him at patreon.com/mosesbernabe or on instgram at @mosesbernabe.
To connect with Justin, find him on instagram and facebook as Justin Nichols, and on his youtube channel, and at www.gracechapelonline.org/soul-care
books #reading #novels #thepassage #justincronin #thriller #scary #horror #vampire #adventure #fiction #adventure #ensemble #community #relationships #character #characterdriven #trauma #endoftheworld #death #family #apocalypse #postapocalyptic
“Growing up, what was your favorite bookstore?”
For Nics, as a kid, it was the school library, and public library. For Moses, as a kid, it was Bookman’s, in Flagstaff, AZ. As an older kid, it was Barnes and Noble in Medford, OR. As adults, both Moses and Nics have a fond respect for Powell’s in downtown Portland.
Welcome to a new series with the Word and Journey! We are reading “The Passage,” by Justin Cronin. It’s our first ever sorta-scary story, packed with action, intrigue, mystery, murder, mutated humans, monsters, muddled morality, and mere mortals becoming heroes. It’s a story about sad and lonely people getting caught up in a dark adventure, all centering on a special experimentation program in Colorado…like the Stargate…and the centuries long aftermath of events that happen there.
In the first section we meet a young girl Amy who, on the surface, seems like one of those humans that slips between the cracks of society…but we’re promised that she becomes very special someday. We also meet special agent Wolgast who throws himself into his work to escape his grief. We meet a man on death row, a nun having visions, a janitor having nightmares, a security officer who kills a little too easily, a cowboy side-kick, and a vampire. As their stories develop and the characters come together, we get the sense we might be looking at the fast approaching end of the world.
Also, Amy can talk to polar bears.
Along the way, Moses and Nics get nostalgic about old cds and old bookstores.
We talk about what draws us to dark stories?
We wonder…can one have a good story about bad people?
We tackle the question of, What makes a story good? What makes a person good? These two questions seem like they would interact together.
Also, What happens to people when they are hyper-isolated with no particular purpose to their lives?
And because we both love LOST, we discuss how this story is similar/dissimilar to LOST (because, for the initiated….aren’t all things in reference to the Island?)
What draws us to the stories we love? Is it the things that makes us happy and feel good? Or is it the struggle? The Passage is an ensemble story, made up of “Very sad people,” each with a complicated and broken background. Nics finds this endearing and compelling.
The Passage has a fun plot, but Moses is most drawn to the characters. He reflects on how what draws him to(or pushes him away from) a story are the characters, their depth and complexity, the dynamism of their growth arc, and how he connects with their emotional state.
As we read about the humans and humanish creatures, we reflect on how isolation is exacerbated by our digital lives. Making friends as an adult is hard…and that’s even for us who have resources!
This podcast and all our wonderful conversations are made possible through your financial support, and through your rating, reviewing, and sharing of the show. Please do help us continue in this work!
To connect with Moses, find him at patreon.com/mosesbernabe or on instgram at @mosesbernabe.
To connect with Justin, find him on instagram and facebook as Justin Nichols, and on his youtube channel, and at www.gracechapelonline.org/soul-care
books #reading #novels #thepassage #justincronin #thriller #scary #horror #vampire #adventure #fiction #adventure #ensemble #community #relationships #character #characterdriven #trauma
Happy Holidays!
My holiday of choice is the Nativity of our Lord, otherwise known as Christmas. This year, I commemorated the season by reflecting on some favorite stories associated with Christmas, Nativity, winter, etc. For the full line-up, check out the last episode, "Holiday Stories we Loved and Lived."
Of particular interest, is Charles Dickens' classic novel, "A Christmas Carol," in which the old miser Ebenzer Scrooge is visited by three spirits, and challenged to reflect on the way he keeps(or doesn't keep) Christmas, and how that impacts all of his relationships, and his very soul.
In this episode, I briefly reflect on Scrooge's visit to Christmas past, and his trauma narrative. I talk about how everyone, even the most miserable people, have a context that has shaped them.
I also reflect at length on the difference between a miser and a monastic. Prior to his adventures, there are aspects of Scrooge's life that almost seem to resemble the life of a monastic...but not quite. Is there a healthy way to live simply and forego pleasures? Turns out there is, and is closely tied to generosity, compassion, and community. By the end of Scrooge's story, he's not a monk, but he has gained some essential components of a profitable life, namely his relationships.
This leads into a brief discussion about why we need both Fasting and Feasting in order to have a balanced life.
To support this kind of discussion, and to be part of my community of readers and writers, please visit patreon.com/mosesbernabe and learn how to support this podcast.
You can also follow me on instagram at @mosesbernabe.
Thanks for listening!
wordandjourney #books #novels #reading #charlesdickens #christmascarol #scrooge #ebenezerscrooge #christmas #nativity #holiday #monasticism #fasting #feasting
For this episode, I gathered together friends and family to reflect on stories we have loved, that have become part of our holiday traditions, that have created experiences for us, which in turn created more tradition. Our accounts range from the very silly, to the very personal, to the deeply thoughtful.
We need tradition to know who we are and how to be. Holidays, particularly the Nativity, provide a wealth of tradition and shared lived experience. In holding to traditions, holding to each other, and keeping in mind the Author of all Tradition, we can face the cold of winter, the drear of life, and whatever dark nights of the soul await us.
Jake shares, "The Toy that Saved Christmas," from Veggie Tales
Joel shares "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer," with a mention of "Peanuts."
Moses shares, "White Christmas," and "Gift of the Magi," and the account of St. Nicholas and the Gold Coins.
Justin shares, "The Family Stone," and "Klaus."
Stephanie shares "Jotham’s Journey."
Matt shares "Father Christmas," from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He says, "All true myth that connects with deeper human meaning is a shadow of the Christian narrative." Also, "There's hope...but it's more winter. But there's gifts along the way to help you battle the evil, and at some point I'm looking for Aslan's return."
Jeremy shares "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," as a story closely related to the holidays in his life.
Jeremy also shares about his dinners for his friends, his chosen family. We riff on the role of holidays and traditions in deepening long relationships. He says, "Holiday's give the excuse to want to connect with people."
Matt shares again about how hard his parents worked to create memories and special experiences for him and his siblings.
Moses and Rousseaux reflect on the generosity of older church members, and particularly the rigorous love and generosity of mothers.
Rousseaux shares the "The Good News of Christmas," which is the poetic retelling of the Gospel accounts of the Nativity of Christ, which he wrote this year.
To buy Rousseaux's book, find it here... https://www.amazon.com/Good-News-Christmas-Celebrating-Christs/dp/073698609X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1NZBKN1DTLDXV&keywords=good+news+of+christmas&qid=1670533148&sprefix=good+news+of+christm%2Caps%2C413&sr=8-1
To learn more about the podcast, to join our community, and to support this work, please visit patreon.com/mosesbernabe, or follow on instagram @mosesbernabe.
“There’s these stories, they live in us, they gotta come out!”
More on how to write a book, AND how to market a book, even while also reading good books.
You’d think writing a book is about inspiration, or even skill…but functionally, it ends up being more about discipline and persistence.
We talk about our concerns about representing our characters well and doing them justice…as peripheral to how the characters represent ourselves.
“You’ll be judged by your first book until you have a more famous book that’s different.” Writer hazards.
You, the listener, get to binge listen to our commentary on Boy’s Life, but in real time, it took us almost a year to work through the story together. In this, we reflect on the experience of taking in stories in binge quantities, versus slowly over time. As a story, it’s more like a mosaic. There is a plot, but the story is moreso driven by the characters, their perspectives, and their inner lives, moment to moment.
Eric says, “It doesn’t feel like he’s trying to tie off all the loose ends; he’s just finishing the story of this season of the boy’s life. These are the things that happened during this season, but it’s more about the boy than it is the actual stuff going on.”
“Less about Cory’s accomplishments, or even his skills, and more about his character and essence,” says Moses.
Cory wins by being the most gentle, and loving, and that’s his superpower.
Moses recalls stumbling across a Robert McCammon quote in real life, during an IFS training.
“We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it preached out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act out age. Told to grow up. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.”
Robert McCammon.
“We’re getting inducted into this young boy’s [inner] life, and getting to be free with him,” Moses, on Cory’s life. “Let’s just have some meandering fun, and enjoy it for 500 pages.”
Meanwhile, there’s a parrot cursing in German, a vindictive, jealous piano teacher, the death of Davy Ray, really interesting conversations about faith, doubt, grief, pain, trauma. There’s bullying and fighting, late night train rides through nightmare montages, dream sharing between Cory’s dad and The Lady, and the final showdown between Cory and his dad, and the killer, on the shores of Saxon Lake where everything started.
It’s a very satisfying ending, with a wonderful journey to get there.
At the end of it all, there’s a vitality to our young inner children that typically gets lost as we get older. The wise among us retain access to these young kids, without also being ruled by them.
There is a healing power in connecting to a young child’s energy, being released from obligations to produce or perform, and simply be allowed to be”
Word and Journey relies on the support and participation of followers, patrons, friends, listeners, and readers. If you like what happens here, please subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or offer support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe. You can also follow me on instagram at @mosesbernabe, and you can look up the Word and Journey on Youtube.
Eric Love can be found at https://www.ericshanelove.com/ and that is where you can subscribe to his most engaging newsletter as well as purchase his books!
Crucial to every work of fiction is a good editor.
Moses and Eric are back, and talking about writing! We discuss why we have editors, how to make good use of an editor, and what are some features of a good editor. As writers, we get deep in our heads and profoundly affected by our work, and we need the occasional grammatical gut punch to set us on a right course. Eric shares tips on how to best use the feedback from Alpha and Beta Readers, as well as developmental and line editors.
Then we get into “Boy’s Life,” Robert McCammon’s masterpiece. We reflect on the experience of reading a long story structured as a series of short stories, some of them in very different genres from each other. There’s comedy, thriller, western-style-shooter-show-down, gut-punching trauma narrative, supernatural mysticism, action and car-chase, and mystery. There’s a wandering, episodic feel to this book, and at times it feels like a bunch of disconnected story threads all living together in the same universe for a reason that is not clear. But it works, because the author very deftly connects us to the characters and builds trust with the reader very early on in the story. We know the feel to expect from the story, even if we don’t always know what genre this particular is emulating. In this, we learn that, in order to build trust with a reader, the writer must know what she is doing!
“And then they go to a carnival where they somehow have a triceratops, and it’s being abused but then later escapes, and so now, potentiallyOld Moses(the river monster), and the triceratops, might hook up, at some point,” narrates Moses.
It’s just that kind of story.
Along the way, Cory learns about friendship, death and loss, grief, trauma, danger, running for his life, racism, the supernatural, and learning he can’t always trust what he sees, but inside there is still an ever greater well of confidence.
Word and Journey relies on the support and participation of followers, patrons, friends, listeners, and readers. If you like what happens here, please subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or offer support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe. You can also follow me on instagram at @mosesbernabe, and you can look up the Word and Journey on Youtube.
Eric Love can be found at https://www.ericshanelove.com/ and that is where you can subscribe to his most engaging newsletter as well as purchase his books!
book #bookclub #novel #story #shortstory #poetry #authorialintent #boyslife #robermccammon #boys #nostalgia #fantasy #smalltown #adventure #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #writer #editor #trauma #mystery #friendship #relationship
Eric published a book!
He shares bits of his journey of self-publishing and marketing, which, he says, was harder than actually writing the book.
Word to the wise - getting a book published on Amazon is easy. Getting a book on Amazon correctly and effectively, is hard and complicated and a multi-layered process. Eric states that there does not yet exist a concise instruction manual for how to accomplish this feat…so he’s writing one. Stay tuned!
“The one thing I’ve learned is you really need to know what you’re doing before you self-publish,” says Eric.
Other word to the wise - once the book is up, it cannot be taken down. So be sure everything is spelled correctly. Because they’re like tattoos.
Scarecrow Hunters, and A Greedy Shadow, are two dark fantasy novels by Eric Shane Love, and they are available for purchase and reading now!
We briefly muse on the value of horror, dark fantasy, and reading stories marked by fear. These stories can be gruesome, but they tend to involve a high degree of facing and overcoming fears, and in this finding redemption.
Comparing and contrasting Eric’s book “Scarecrow Hunters,” to McCammon’s book “Boy’s Life,” gets us into talking about growing up as a boy, what it means to become a man, and then we talk about initiation…which leads us to talking about the first Tom Holland Spiderman film and writings on initiation by Richard Rohr.
As we talk about Boy’s Life, we encounter a chapter where the boys fly on bikes…and it’s not clear if that’s metaphorical or not. We muse on the episodic, short-story nature of how Boy’s Life is structured, and how that reminds us of poetry.
We talk about how the “Story product is a particular sort of feeling,” that is aptly captured by the fantastical elements of the story, such as river monsters and flying bicycles.
The story of Lucifer the Monkey, the reverend, and the Beach Boys gives us opportunity to reflect on a rigid religious tradition versus a lively spirituality.
The stories of Nemo Curliss remind us of outsiders being brought into the group
Cory’s observations of his father and The Lady, and the local bullies, teach him what it means to have enemies.
Cory faces outer adversaries, such as bullies picking on the new kid, as well as inner adversaries, like his own shyness when it comes time for him to read a short story he wrote in public. As he stands up to bullies, to insecurities, and sometimes to his very own family members, he discovers his full strength.
Mean while, Cory’s dad is quietly experiencing post-traumatic stress in teh back ground. It’s a gentle sort of trauma, and Cory must grapple with the loss, not of his father bodily, but of his father the confident hero.
McCammon’s writing defies linear logic, and fuels our imagination. We have to read it in the right frame of mind. Moses and Eric both love to be given hints of a story, and made to fill in the gaps with their own intuition. Moses says, “I love to be ushered into a story…to experience the full impact of the world the writer has created, in the way it was meant to be experienced.”
“As a writer you have to decide - are you going to write for mass appeal, or are you going to write for a very niche kind of readership? I made the decision to write for myself. If I can write something and it passes my scrutiny, there is at least one kind of reader that will enjoy that book.” - Eric
As writers we aspire to do a little more than entertain; we try to make the reader feel, and think.
book #bookclub #novel #story #boyslife #robermccammon #boys #nostalgia #fantasy #smalltown #adventure #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #writer #scarecrowhunters #trauma #comingofage #initiation #poetry #darkfantasy #fantastical
How do you get inspirited to write a novel? Do you dream a dream? Work a challenging job? Live through major world events? How about all of the above?
In this episode, Moses returns to the podcasting rhythm, this time with new friend and fellow writer Eric Love. This marks the first series of episodes done with a fellow writer.
Per Eric’s recommendation, we started reading the 1991 novel “Boy’s Life,” by Robert McCammon. Fans of Dave Eggars and Don Miller may find something to appreciate in this memoir style, light fantasy, highly character driven, nostalgic adventure story. ‘Boy’s Life’ follows 12 year old Cory Mackenson, living in the idyllic small town of Zephyr, Alabama, in the age before the internet. It’s kids on their bikes, no phones and no screens, mystery, murder, and mythical creatures lurking in the river. One must read it with suspended belief. It is both fantastical and relentlessly ordinary.
When we first meet Cory, he and his father are witnessing a murder victim being plunged to the depths of a bottomless lake. From there he embarks on a quest to solve the mystery while also navigating the drama of school and parents and baseball and avoiding the attention of old ladies and hoping for a new red bicycle. Paralleling Cory’s rising sense of self and adventure, we not his father in the background, beginning to show signs of post-traumatic stress.
In a massive rain storm, the river floods the town, and Cory saves a boy from a Old Moses, the giant serpent fish in the river. And other cool and whimsical adventures.
We encounter themes of de-mystifying the Other, whoever that other is, whether it be another religion, race, age, gender, or SES. We also encounter death as Cory learns to encounter and process death for his own self.
As we read, we look for what the book teaches us. Eric notes,
"Look and see what we see instead of think and see what we seek."
"Our idea and perception defines how we interact with a person, concept, or other thing. Perceived reality isn't necessarily the truth."
"People are rarely who we think they are if we haven't given them a chance to show us who they are."
And I note, Unchallenged perception is probably not true, and, "There's always a hidden story."
Eric also pitches his first novel, “Scarecrow Hunters,” and muses on his process of writing(and now self-publishing) a novel from start to finish. His book is based on his dream of, "This is the way you become a man."
Word and Journey relies on the support and participation of followers, patrons, friends, listeners, and readers. If you like what happens here, please subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or offer support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe. You can also follow me on instagram at @mosesbernabe, and you can look up the Word and Journey on Youtube.
Eric Love can be found at https://www.ericshanelove.com/ and that is where you can subscribe to his most engaging newsletter as well as purchase his books!
book #bookclub #novel #story #boyslife #robermccammon #boys #nostalgia #fantasy #smalltown #adventure #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #writer #scarecrowhunters
All the twists are revealed as we conclude this epic and chaotic tale.
Here at the end, we wonder - just what is Chuck Palahniuk teaching us?
We reflect on the camaraderie and community that has grown up around the Fight Clubs and Project Mayhem. There’s an instant and sometimes unspoken bond between people who have been through a shared struggle.
The two brothers reflect on the quickly understood shared experiences they have with other former home schoolers.
Moses reflects on the necessity of unfiltered relationship experiences in which all of the raw parts can come out.
Moses concludes that ultimately this is not a book about addiction, though there is conspicuous depiction of chaos, escalation, and unmanageable life patterns. More accurately, we could say this is a book about attachment failures, about deficits in community, and about how we navigate reality. There are extreme reactions in which the goodness of us, the humanity, and Image of God within, is completely pushed out. In a nearly de-humanized state, there is no end to what chaos we can create.
In one paragraph, Tyler Durden delivers a soliloquy about how the upper classes are entirely dependent on the working class for their way of life. From here, we talk about classism, the frustrations of the lower class, and the romanticized ideal of “The Uprising.” Could it work? Could a redistribution of wealth really have a curative effect on the world? We tend to think not, no matter how appealing the idea may seem.
What would a Christian response to classism be? Could it be that somehow this inequity could be working for the salvation of our souls? Maybe so, but we should still actively attend to the needs of the poor and the concerns of the world. Why? Moses says, “What happens in the body matters because that’s part of the salvation of the soul. What happens in the world matters because that’s part of the salvation of everything.”
Moses suggests that an Orthodox response should be, “There’s so many problems in the world! I need to repent!”
We talk about toxic masculinity, about intimacy, about revolution, healing, death, dying, illness, and the mysterious art of growing old without getting grumpy.
You can tell when inner peace is really growing when you can stay practically engaged in the burdens of the world without being consumed by anger.
In the end, although we are tempted by the idea of societal revolution, we find the primary and most powerful struggle to be in inner life of one's own mind.
Also in the end, community was available for the protagonist all the while...if he would only have been honest and vulnerable and able to receive love. In this we see that it is the weak and foolish, the sick and the dying, that hold the greatest treasure.
As a bonus, we share favorite memories of Lola Jesse.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jeremy Pasimio, look him up on Facebook!
book #books #writing #novel #literature #fightclub #fightclubnovel #chuckpalahniuk #martialarts #fighting #violence #chaos #struggle #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #consumerism #materialism #spirituality #violence #freedom #community #fellowshipofsuffering #socialjustice #classism #aging #death #dying #classstruggle #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity
Jeremy raises the really good question of, should we be concerned about a group that doesn’t allow itself to be questioned? And we conclude…YES!
This raises the question - what is the appeal of Project Mayhem? (Just as, what was the draw to the original fight clubs?) We raise the question, what mind of mental, emotional, spiritual state must a person be in for them to find an abusive relationship(whether with an individual of a movement) to be the best possible option? Moses compares Project Mayhem to an abusive relationship that meets just enough of a Space Monkey’s attachment needs to evoke unwavering loyalty.
“We have a need to bond to something. In the absence of something healthy, we will bond with whatever is available. Including abusive relationships.”
The Space Monkeys display blind trust and unquestioning obedience to Tyler Durden and the result is devastation and chaos. Moses reflects on how in Orthodox monasticism, we sometimes also see radical, seemingly unquestioning obedience, but this relationship also exists within a very specif context, a very specific tradition, sheathed in a very specific set of mindsets, for a very specific purpose, that being spiritual gain. And the result is holiness, peace, and growing in the Image of God.
We talk again, at length, about the need for purposeful work and meaningful tasks. We talk on the same lines of the need for struggle in order to achieve a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
This leads to a conversation about coming of age, struggle and initiation, and the transition from boy to man. Moses reflects on his journey through starting a private practice and how the unsupported struggle served to crystalize his sense of finally being a grown-up.
Jeremy recalls a sermon that referenced the Fight Club quote, “You have to consider that God might not like you,” which leads us into a conversation about theology and Calvinism.
Moses makes reference to sobriety as being full acceptance of one’s reality as it is - and then calls out the Fight Club characters as being very much not sober.
We talk about finding strength and agency through fighting and violence when difficult lives leave us no other option.
We talk about negative attention being better than no attention. Moses speculates that the struggle for many is that, “We want God’s attention, we want our Father’s attention, but we’re pretty sure he’s angry and bad, or just not there, so we’re gonna say, Fine, hate us, punish us, but at least we’ll have Your attention. It’s a way of trying to get control.”
As we consider these characters contemplating the meaning of their lives in extreme and violent ways, we question their methods, but still conclude, “We are better people when we grapple with our own death.”
“Having a meaningful life is ultimately an internal process.”
book #books #writing #novel #literature #fightclub #fightclubnovel #chuckpalahniuk #martialarts #fighting #violence #chaos #struggle #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #consumerism #materialism #spirituality #violence #freedom #selfdestruction #redemption #fighing #humans #personhood #worthofaperson #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristian #attachment #fatherwound #projectmayhem #initiation #comingofage #struggle
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jeremy Pasimio, look him up on Facebook!
We also highly recommend the writing and music of our friend Ian Abdo, which you can find here - https://ianabdo.wordpress.com/
fight club part 3
Is Fight Club literature? Can we fairly call it a classic? Just how does a story transition from being a story that is written down to a story that is a classics?
Are classics just stories that endure? Are they popular? Do they address a particular kind of content at a particular kind of level?
Jeremy compares stories to whiskey and says the best whiskey is the whiskey you like to drink,the way you like to drink it. “Flavor and what it does to you are 100% subjective.”
Moses reflects on what they have said on Writing Excuses, that every genre “hijacks your brain in a different way,” and you read according to how you want to feel.
The Pasimio brothers discuss what is objectively good and bad in media, and what is subjectively good to the degree you enjoy it. We raise the question of whether enjoyment of a story is the highest measure of critiquing it.
Moses holds out the idea that good stories are formative, in that they form, shape, enrich, or challenge your worldview. In the best cases, the reader is presented with a choice - to be like or unlike the character as the character chooses to be the best or worst version of him or herself.
We conclude that the reader of Fight Club should be cautious what they emulate from the book…even while the book does well at making us think, and aggressively encourages us to not take ourselves so seriously.
In terms of the Fight Club story itself, we have entered the “Fun and Games” phase of the story. Tyler and Jack are up to a series of shenanigans.
One such shenanigan involves the use of human fat to make soap to then be sold back to the humans. We make references to the arguably forgettable “Cloud Atlas” and the more iconic classic “Soylent Green,” and the wonderful classic “The Lion King” as stories that collectively present the extreme of exploiting and recycling humans, as opposed to participating in a sacred circle of life. This raises for us the question of, What is a human? What is the value of a person? In particularly, what is the value of the physical body of a person? Are we just our parts, or is there something sacred to us?
Where Fight Club takes a reductionistic and exploitive view of the human person, and their bodies, we advocate for a more sacred and reverent approach to a person.
Further in, we talk about human relationships, as we watch the protagonist in the story go from faking terminal illnesses just to be part of a support group, to then getting repeatedly beat up…in order to be part of another group. If Fight Club shows us anything, it is the absolute need for community. Moses and Jeremy discuss the basic essential components of human conversation, and why we need to be vulnerable with each other. We discuss having a goal, not necessarily of having lots of friends, but of being friendly and engaging in the relationships you do have.
This episode marks the birth of the first Word and Journey baby! Jeremy becomes a father and Moses gets to be an uncle! Let the Dad-Jokes freely roll…
In reflecting on pop-culture references, Moses offers the quiz - name the source of the quote, “There is no spoon.”
We pick up with chapters 6-10 of Fight Club, in which we witness the actual birth of the Fight Club. Here we talk about violence, spirituality, asceticism, masculinity, fatherhood, sex, mental illness, coming of age, and internal autonomy.
These passages explore salvation through self-destruction, perhaps an extreme and imbalance form of renunciation. But unlike Orthodox Christian monasticism which seeks to purify the soul through rightly ordering the passions through ascetic labors, the Fight Club characters appear to embrace of asceticism as an expression of disillusionment with the world, consumerism, materialism, and the capitalist story of “the good life.”
Tyler and Jack begin to interact more with the Marla Singer character, which gets us into the realm of talking about men and women, and how we experience gender with each other. Palahniuk’s rendering of the genders is classically blunt and abrasive and pulls no punches in drawing out what we find offensive about each other. In all of this, Moses and Jeremy wonder how the characters might have been different if they had had fathers and mothers who were more present. As we talk about fatherhood and marriage, we also congratulate our parents for being married 40 years.
Marla’s character introduces interesting reflections on mental illness, psychological burdens, vicious inner critics, and chronic emotional isolation.
As we see the Fight Clubs develop, and men seeking catharsis through beating each other up, Jeremy reflects on the benefits of fighting, and martial arts training…and how these practices can be done well. We talk about how struggle and violence and even getting hurt can remind us both of our own mortality…but also that we’re not made of glass.
We introduce the question - what is the value of getting punched in the face? While at once we do not advocate for violence as a solution…we do explore how getting punched in the face can actually be a (fairly dramatic) way of discovering one’s own strength and resiliency. Jeremy further explores how getting punched, and learning that one can punch, can become a vehicle for learning one’s own power and the absolute need for self-control. Moses then explores how to talk about healthy aggression and strategic use of force without delving into toxic masculinity’s “using violence just for the sake of violence.”
Ultimately we reject Tyler Durden’s ideals of growth and redemption through self-destruction.
As he usually does, Moses defaults to reading the story through the lens of Internal Family Systems, and looking for the big and dramatic protector parts of each character. In reflecting on the blended and enmeshed relationship between Tyler and Jack the narrator, he talks about the dangers and limits of forfeiting one’s own internal autonomy, and becoming blended with one’s most extreme protector parts.
book #books #writing #novel #fightclub #fightclubnovel #chuckpalahniuk #martialarts #fighting #violence #chaos #struggle #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #consumerism #materialism #spirituality #asceticism #masculinity #toxicmasculinity #fathers #fatherhood #relationships #sex #sexuality #autonomy #mentalillness #mentalhealth #internalfamilysystems
“Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyl;er’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die.”
Welcome to the iconic story of Fight Club!
Moses welcomes very special guest, his very first family member to guest on the show, and master martial artist, Jeremy Pasimio into the studio to read the novel by Chuck Palahniuk written in 1996, later made into the hit movie bu David Finchner, with Brad Pitt and Edward Nortan in 1999.
Lots of us have heard of this story - even though the first rule of Fight Club is not to talk about it - but what is the story actually about?
Fighting being central to the book, we talk about Martial Arts. What is the value of martial arts, and training the body for combat? In mainstream activities-for-kids-culture, it’sfor self-defense and self-improvement, but in history, it was about, “Somebody’s attacking you, here’s how to kill them first.” Jeremy brings his wealth of experience after a lifetime of training in the martial arts to reflect on the benefits of struggle, a healthy context for violence, and the necessity of self-discipline.
As the story progresses, we follow our protagonist, The Insomniac, and reflect on the struggles brought about by a meaningless life and the essential component in a healthy life of meaningful struggle.
Moses and Jeremy reflect on self-discipline, spirituality, purpose and meaning in life, chaos and violence, vulnerability and community, and assorted nostalgic memories of summer camps, family, and how this particular story gets into our subconscious.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
book #books #writing #novel #fightclub #fightclubnovel #chuckpalahniuk #martialarts #fighting #violence #chaos #struggle #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #consumerism #materialism #spirituality
I could say "I finished a book of poems."
But does one ever finish such things?
Does one not rather linger long
on word and page
taking in favored moments again and again
until the words find themselves embedded in memory
where they may shape the soul?
Welcome to Bower Lodge, the first book of poems by poet, writer, editor, and connoisseur of ordinary miracles, Paul Pastor.
Paul is a genuine Native Oregonian, having lived about an hour's drive from the hill he was born on for most of his life.
He has worked in publishing for almost a decade, and specifically as an editor, helping writers construct perfect manuscripts. Books are important to him. and stories have always been important to him
He identifies as a writer and deeper than that, a a poet.
We talk about the difference between poetry and prose, along with what a poem can say that a story cannot. Paul calls poetry the "Whiskey of literature," referring to its aged and distilled, very focused experience. He also calls poetry, "The closest thing to music that literature has."
Poetry is also embodied, and we get the privilege in this episode of having the poems read aloud by the Poet that wrote them.
Paul shares the story of Bower Lodge, a collection spanning about ten years. It's a collection of reflections on turmoil and renewal, during a time when he reflects on being taken apart and put back together in a gentle and all encompassing way. These poems and the images within, invite you on a journey with a "beloved wanderer," being led by an "Embalmer," to the "Bower Lodge," which is a tomb beneath the river. "The Bower Lodge is where you go to die."
But death is never the final end. Through the pains of death come the beauties of new life.
This is the journey. The Poet is the guide. The first step is yours to take, with the turning of a page...
Word and Journey is a listener supported production of Moses Bernabe.
To learn how to support this podcast, please visit patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Paul, you can reach him at @pauljpastor on twitter or www.pauljpastor.com
Bower Lodge is available wherever books are sold.
writing #poetry #poems #poet #bowerlodge #paulpastor #lifeanddeath #resurrection #redemption #nature #wanderer #coffin #nest #transformation #journey #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #spirituality #christianity
It’s here! After much delay and interruptions, that one terribly dystopic and scrutinized year is coming to an end - we are finally finishing 1984!
So what happened to Winston and Julia? Did they hold fast to their convictions? Did they betray each other as they predicted they would? In the end, what won out? Principles, or pleasures?
We compare and contrast Fear of Pain versus Fear of Loss of Liberty
We discuss what makes some people able to tolerate high amounts of pain, and others not? Our perspective is that it has to do with the purpose and overarching narrative. If this present life and material body are all that exist, then pain is absolutely unacceptable. As soon as we embrace the reality of more than the body and more than current life, then pain(and really any sort of struggle) become temporary, and a vehicle to something greater.
This invokes the question of whether or not we should more fear that which kills the body, or that which kills the soul.
As is his wont, Moses references IFS and how the Orwellian practice of Crimestop is a fast track to creating exile parts!
Jake reflects on the impact of the breaking off of all connections.
Stephanie muses on the power of holding onto even the tiniest bit of hope…and the utter devastation when after losing every other comfort, support, and security, even hope is also killed.
The fate worse than death is not actually to die in pain but to be all alone, living a long and comfortably use-less half life.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz on Instagram.
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
1984book #georgeorwell #dystopia #dystopian #community #books #bookclub #reading #technology #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #ifs #exiles
Happy June!
Here’s a list of what I’m reading this month. Check out the full episode to hear brief commentary on each, as well as a few choice excerpts!
Artemis, by Andy Weir. A fun, fluffy heist novel set on the moon.
Altogether You, by Jenna Riemersma. A Protestant rendering of the Internal Family Systems model of counseling
Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. Dorian is young, rich, beautiful, and a hedonist. Thankfully, he has a gorgeous portrait of himself to absorb the weight of his sins, and do his aging for him.
The Passage, by Justin Cronin. The world falls prey to vampires, but one girl from nowhere may be the key to humanity’s survival.
Letters from the Desert, by Saints Barsanuphius and John. Practical wisdom on Christian living from an ancient monastic perspective.
The Boy, The Books, and The Sword, by Moses Bernabe. Hey, wait - that’s me! Yes, I shared a brief snippet of a long short story(or short novella) that is nearing completion.
Watch for more in-depth discussions on Dorian Gray and The Passage on the Word and Journey podcast. Thanks for listening!
books #booklist #reading #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney #artemisbook #altogetheryou #ifs #internalfamilysystems #thepassage #doriangray #oscarwilde #lettersfromthedesert #desertfathers #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #monks #monastics #stbarsanuphius #stjohn
Here it is, friends, that time when we talk about slavery, racism, and how we as fellow humans have responsibility to each other!
In today's special episode, I interview Cree Gordan about a book we both love - Kindred, by Octavia Butler. Here's a brief synopsis for those who haven't read it:
Dana, a black woman living in Los Angeles in 1976, is repeatedly pulled back in time to the early 1800's to save the life of one of her ancestors - a white plantation and slave owner named Rufus. Throughout the story, Rufus the white man, must be saved by Dana the black woman. On the other hand, she must save him to save herself.
Cree describes the story as both a "Grim fantasy, but also as, "A light at the end of the tunnel." It's much more than mere science-fiction, it's a story about "living in the in-between," and discovering kinship amidst the whole human race.
We discover that a story about slavery is not just a story about and for Blacks, nor is it just a story about "those evil white people." It's a story about all people, and for all people, because all sorts of people were involved.
Embedded in the story is the idea that what I do, even in secret, affects my whole system, be it family, neighborhood, parish, or society...and ultimately legacy.
This book was written, among other things, to invite an examination of slavery. It is, "A journey to self-discovery." This is a difficult thing to do, because it was an ugly chapter in American history. In this, Moses points out that, "There is no neutral response to evil." But in facing up to the evils of our time, and our legacy, we have a responsibility to take action, at the very least being a fully present witness to the pain of it carried by our neighbors.
As a side-note, we get to talk about gender, particularly the rigid molds of masculinity that have afflicted far too many men. This is the mold of needing to be powerful and in control and invulnerable, and most devastating, unable to be wrong. When a man is stuck here, is is highly likely to harm others, to perpetuate evil, and not be safe to be wrong, which means he cannot repent, learn, change, heal, or heal others.
As readers, we muse on how do we know a story is great? We conclude that we know a story is great when we can go back to it every few years, in multiple life stages, and each time coming away having learned something.
The Lessons from Kindred are not race specific, but for all peoples.
Cree says, "[Kindred] teaches us to look inward."Also, "We all play our role...a part in the world. What part are we playing? What part do we want to play?" It is vital to ask of one's self, in one's place in the world, "Who am I in all of this?" And, "How am I approaching the work to best serve everyone?"
Moses says, "We need to do the work to get to know each other. Only in this way can we fulfill the commandment to Love your neighbor as yourself."
Cree keeps their contact info simple - on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all the internet, look up @creesmiles (butCree Gordon on Tik Tok) and Creesmiles@yahoo.com
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
kindred #octaviabutler #kindrednovel #kindredbook #books #novels #sciencefiction #grimfantasy #slavery #whiteprivilege #africanamerican #genderroles #toxicmasculinity #historicalfiction
Does the show stand up to its own hype? So far, we think….yes?
Matt continues nerding out over all the foreshadowing, Moses scrounges up a scarcity narrative around language, and Aaron almost cries. We meet a False Dragon, a Feral Channeler, and a farm boy who almost becomes a werewolf. Aaron can hold a map of the world in his head, while Moses is distracted by the medium of the television show. We decide we love Perrin and are intrigued by Mat and mostly think Rand is a one-dimensional hero…at least for now.
Along the way, we discuss themes of connection and bonding, redemption, and the inner struggle when one’s primary enemy is the Taint in one’s own soul.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Matt Rensi, visit his profession profile here -
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/matthew-t-rensi-morgan-hill-ca/870502 or email him at mtrensi@gmail.com
For more information about Aaron Esparza, find him on Instagram at @aaronthemanajah.
wheeloftime #thewheeloftime #wot #robertjordan #eyeoftheworld #tworivers #whitetower #fantasy #books #reading #bookclub #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
So is the new Wheel of Time show any good? Well, we’re about to find out. Welcome to the Two Rivers, and a world of Trollocks, Aes Sedai, and Dragons Reborn!
Moses has only ever seen the show.
Matt has seen the show and read all the books.
Aaron has seen the show, read most of the books, and played the game! (By the way…there’s a Wheel of Time GAME!!)
We discuss first impressions of the show, comparing and contrasting the world of the show and the world of the books. We conclude that the show is visually stunning and, for someone already familiar with the world, it evokes a sense of wonder! For someone not already familiar with the world, the pretty scenery might have a tendency to fade into the background and be overshadowed by the character drama. (Spoiler alert - there’s lots of brooding!)
Matt is excited to finally see the story world depicted in a marvelous way. Moses feels cheated by having not read the books. Aaron compares three perspectives and the shows an appreciates the details.
Note - a “Weave” is not the same as a “Spell.”
We reflect on the world pace of world building in a show versus in the book, and how the show, on its own, has a shallow feel…at least at first…but the show builders have some skill and we all get drawn in pretty fast.
We also decide that we would not recommend this show for kids.
In spite of potentially poorly written tv characters, we are already headlong into interesting themes about gender, community, and destiny. Moses, Matt, and Aaron go on and on about all they loved, all that was disappointing, and all they are hoping to see in the episodes to come. This journey has some promise…we’ll just have to get to the next episode!
wheeloftime #thewheeloftimee #wot #eyeoftheworld #robertjordan #tworivers #novel #book #fantasy #bookclub #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Matt Rensi, visit his profession profile here -
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/matthew-t-rensi-morgan-hill-ca/870502 or email him at mtrensi@gmail.com
For more information about Aaron Esparza, find him on Instagram at @aaronthemanajah.
wheeloftime #thewheeloftimee #wot #eyeoftheworld #robertjordan #tworivers #novel #book #fantasy #bookclub #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
Trigger warning - this chapter is DEPRESSING!! But the giggles are also out in force.
Moses, Jake, and Stephanie read the book within the book, the Book of the Brotherhood, which is the manifesto of the hoped for revolution! Turns out…it’s not really well written.
Surprisingly, not surprisingly, war is fought for economic purposes…not actually ideology. We learn that when private life is eradicated, and an individual has no significant inner life, they are highly susceptible to being manipulated.
There’s at least two types of people. Those who are not educated at all and thus are vulnerable to exploitation…and those who are so highly educated that they can make themselves believe even an ideology that has no basis in reality.
Also, good writers need to use lots of little paragraphs.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz on Instagram.
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
1984book #georgeorwell #dystopia #books #bookclub #reading #manifesto #war #economics #revolution #writers #paragraphs #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
More hook-ups, more musings, dreams of murdering mother over chocolate, and first contact with the rebellion! It’s everything you love from the dystopian classic 1984 and more!
Our uncertain hero Winston is pursuing the revolution because he needs something to believe in. His younger partner and co-conspirator Julia seems to be in the revolution just for fun.
His job is to erase the past. Her job is to create the present and future, through creation of consumable stories. He is driven by principles and has more life experience from age. She is driven by pleasure and has more life experience from taking risks. Despite the differences, they still forge a connection.
When you don’t have a sense of history, how do you ground yourself to know what is going on today? If you don’t know where you’ve come from, how do you make sense of what is happening now?
“You don’t realize how important the past is until it’s gone.” - Steph.
Jake reflects on the observations of the Evangelical Church and how it interacts with history. He also briefly summarizes findings from the book “Jesus and John Wayne.”
As always, we come back to our ever present need for community and purpose. The 1984 world portrays characters deprived of both. Moses, Jake and Steph muse on how to preserve these things in the real world.
Moses raises the question of, what makes behavioral change sustainably possible.
Further, we reflect on the privilege of turning off our screens. We thought technology would help us, but turns out, we might have more freedom by stepping away from it.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz on Instagram.
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
1984book #georgeorwell #dystopia #dystopian #community #books #bookclub #reading #technology #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
“Dystopia is all about hook-ups.”
…or is it?
Here we compare and contrast a dystopian hook-up and a current day real life attempt at dating via online platforms.
We get into Winston’s backstory, and deeper into the not-so-deep character of Julia. Our two protagonists present competing ideologies of escape and hedonism versus idealism, rebellion, and activism. Talking about hedonism, of course, means also talking about food as a world-building detail.
Steph shares about her journey from Iowa to Oregon and back.
Moses talks about ritual participation in stories as far deeper than merely intellectually grasping the content.
Jake reflects on the endorphin rush of “being right,” and how that tendency can get carried away in social media, raising the question of, what do we feel like we lose if we no longer identify an enemy.
We invoke the metaphor of the cave-dweller encountering Light for the first time, and the value of exposing young people to new ideas.
We also wonder if the machine that spits out stock stories actually represents repressed sexual desire.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz on Instagram.
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
1984book #georgeorwell #dystopia #books #bookclub #reading #sexuality #gender #mosesbernabe #wordandjourney
Here, we finally get to hear what superpowers Jake, Steph, and Moses wish they had.
Also, our protagonist Winston writes in his journal, meets a girl, and sneaks off into the woods with her.
We get to talk through sex, gender, gender stereotypes in literature, and the impact of repressing sexuality. What happens when love becomes entirely sexual?
Moses takes the time to talk about narrative burdens assigned to our sexual experiences.
Steph shares some tips for male writers writing female characters.
Jake offers to someday have us over for breakfast of cake and coffee.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz on Instagram.
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”
Does revolution make the world better? Is there a way to do hierarchy well, or is it always oppressive? Are we more enlightened than our ancestors?
Moses, Steph, and Jake toss around ideas around how to share stories, why we need to write our stories down, and how relationships are an indispensable resource. We talk about why we need our elders, body memories, and how there is more to know that just what our intellect can tell us.
Also, in 1984 land, Winston and Julia find a secret room for doing…secret things. Winston also reflects on Big Brother and concludes that, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two and two makes four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
After a brief interlude....we're back! Moses, Jake, and Steph return with another lively discussion about a dystopian classic.
What happens when we lose precision of language, or language altogether? Do we really see the eventual collapse of society?
We talk about about lack of language, lack of story, and lack of history leads to lack of purpose and interior vacuum, which leaves one vulnerable to manipulation. And just how powerful are words? We conclude that the one with the clearest, loudest voice, holds the power.
Along the way we discuss the maxim "Perception is reality," and wonder if reality just perception, or is it more objective? If a group agrees to adopt a false perception...does that make it true anyway?
Further, how do you check your reality? We propose that getting out of your head and out of your community - just for a visit - is an effective way of reminding yourself that your perspective is not the only one out there.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
It's another episode! Moses, Jake, and Steph are back to talk about heroism, censorship, and the dangers of isolation!
Is Winston a hero? What makes a hero anyway?
Here we discuss active versus passive protagonists and what kinds of character arcs they can have. Turns out that not all heroic feats require swords and guns. Some heroism happens with in the inner world of one's own mind.
Here is also where 1984 gets really political, and potentially politically relevant! We talk censorship and cancel culture! Just what does that look like? It's not just book burnings and government. Sometimes it's how we filter our news feeds...which could also be an expression of good boundaries.
Perhaps the best defense against censorship is to cultivate an active, intentional and curious approach to the narratives you want to hear...and occasionally be curious about the other side too.
But here's a question - When faced with a perspective that counters our own, why do we tend to respond with defensiveness? What would it look like if we could be more curious? We share some thoughts about this.
We talk repression of emotions. We talk isolation. We talk sexual ethics! We raise the question...is our current government doing "Orwellian" things? Going deeper, we reflect on whether or not our past church experiences have had Orwellian elements to them.
Mostly, we notice how when people become isolated, they become extremely vulnerable to diabolical suggestions from powerful entities. What we have learned from our own lives, and what we see depicted in this novel, is that community and relationship take active intentional effort, especially when "The Party" works full time to prevent connection.
Moses goes on a sub-tangent about how online dating and pornography have impacted young people's arousal templates.
Finally, we raise the question - why is it important to tell our story? What is the value of revisiting the past? And on a global scale, why on earth do we need to study history? Even both sides of a historical event? What happens when we don't know who got us here or why?
Moreover, what happens when we lose capacity for privacy, loyalty, and emotion, including "Deep and complex sorrows"? Why are we better off, like Captain Kirk, to shout, "I need my pain!"?
Moses leaves us with the thought, "Telling your story is a way of preserving your humanity. Studying history is a way of preserving culture."
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
The clocks are striking thirteen, Big Brother is watching, and the gin is freely flowing! This can only mean that the Word and Journey podcast is back for another novel!
Moses Bernabe and Jake Schwartz return and delighted to welcome editor and long time friend Stephanie Bennett to the show. With that, we plunge into what might have become one of the most oft referenced dystopian novels in our recent memory.
We are struck right away by the visionary(some might say prophetic) world building at play. George Orwell's signature of a dystopian society is a television on in every room, to watch the inhabitants. We remark on how that is no loner really fiction.
Moses, Jake, and Steph go on to talk about gaslighting and manipulation, we talk about the Two Minute Hate, rage rooms, and ritual...
Moses explores the symbolism of the Diary and the power of language, and more particularly, the power of story.
This key tip for writers comes up - "If you're not writing something, you're not gonna get anything down." - Stephanie Bennett.
Jake brings up the question, How old is Oceania? This leads us to talk about what happens when you take away people's sense of time? Their points of security? Their capacity to experience and display emotion? Their freedom to turn off their media feeds? How much freedom can we lose before we lose our humanity?
Altogether, what happens when we no longer have the freedom to ask questions about what we perceive?
We further comment on the sacred cow of Parenting and speculate about what happens when parents begin relinquishing their duties to the state.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
Moses teams up with long time friend Rousseaux Brasseur for a deep dive into one of the greatest classics in the Protestant tradition - The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Written by 17th century preacher John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress is the allegorical tale of Christian and his journey from the City of Destruction, through many perils, temptations, adventures, and victories, on the way to the City of Zion.
Rousseaux first encountered the story as a young adult. Reading it once turned to reading it dozens of times for more than a decade. In our conversation, he shares how the Pilgrim’s Progress has been for him far more than entertainment; the story has been a major pillar of his spiritual formation.
Moses and Rousseaux discuss the literary form of allegory, the question of when the pilgrim is saved, Orthodox concepts of theosis and iconography, and they hold up the story as a must-read catechetical experience for every Protestant child. Most of all, they talk about Christian’s journey, and what every Christian can learn from him about their own spiritual growth.
Finally, and most exciting of all, we talk about Rousseaux’s own written work - a poetic retelling of the Pilgrim’s Progress for young people, now available as a dramatized audiobook.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Rousseaux, visit his website at https://rousseauxbrasseur.com/ or email him at ousseaux@gmail.com. (Yes, his email has no R).
Best of all, check out Rousseaux’s published work here - https://www.amazon.com/Pilgrims-Progress-Retelling-Bunyans-Classic/dp/0736979484/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11H2HG8QV8UV1&keywords=rousseaux+brasseur&qid=1643161373&sprefix=rousseaux+brasseur%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1
Moses finally pitches his story! Details within.
At the same time, Moses and Jake begin the conclusion of the Great Divorce! Our protagonist continues to journey with George MacDonald and learn all sorts of thing about spiritual fame, spiritual formation, and, in the eternal sense, who really are the Great Ones? We talk about relationships that are based holding tight to one’s rights, versus relationships based on forgiveness and humility, and how these are the beautiful connections. Also, what is left in a relationship if I have nothing to provide to you?
We talk again about how real love has nothing to do with feelings, and everything to do with true and honest presence.
“Everything becomes more and more itself.” - Sarah, the Great One
All of life is a trajectory that changes us from the moment we choose it. The further we go, the more we become what we already are.
“Only the greatest of all can make himself small enough to enter hell. For the higher a thing is, the lower it can descend. For a man can sympathize with a horse, but a horse cannot sympathize with a rat. Only One has descended into hell.” - George MacDonald, as characterized by C.S. Lewis.
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
After a brief delay, we're back! Here we learn that Jake has a secret passion for Chinese cooking shows.
Here we also meet more ghosts and hear more stories! We learn about the difference between parental love and controlling obsession. We also learn, "We can't approach God as a means to something else."
Diving deeper, we wonder what it means for God to be a "God of Love" when the world is so full of pain and difficulty. And while we're on the topic of the Problem of Evil, we wonder about death of infants, sexual ethics, and humbly focusing on our own repentance.
We ponder the idea that, "You cannot fully love another creature until you love God."
Later we talk about how the Orthodox Church sees the Human Person as created with infinite desire, and only able to be satisfied by an infinite God, and only then can we love any other Human in any meaningful way.
Then we meet the Ghost with the Lizard and compare the deliverance from the Lizard as a brilliant depiction of breaking free of addiction. Moses takes any opportunity he can to talk about Blended Parts. We sit with the C.S. Lewis quote, "No natural feelings are high or low, holy or unholy in themselves; they are all holy when God's hand is on the reigns. They all go bad when they set up on their own and make themselves into false gods."
Moses makes the statement, "The houseless person with addiction represents everything wrong with society all at once."
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
Here we are again, getting off the bus from hell.
This is the chapter where we see a division among the characters and rising stakes! Why do some people stay in the bright place and some go back to Grey Town?
Here we meet George MacDonald, and learn that heaven and hell are no mere states of mind, but an increasingly solid reality. If one reaches it, then everything will have been heaven leaving up to it. If one misses it, then even the best things of this temporal life will have been no more than hell.
We discuss the idea that, "Community is intrinsic to salvation." What does it mean to be in community with others? Related, what does it mean to forgive others?
We discuss the idea that when we are not able to forgive, we keep ourselves in our own cycle of hell.
And while we're talking about forgiveness and community we also talk about what does and does not constitute the true self!
Most intriguing of all, we mull over Lewis' George MacDonald character and his gut-punching observation that, "There have been men before now who got so interested in proving the existence of God, that they came to care nothing for God Himself."
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
Moses and Jake are back with more ghost stories! And Bright People stories. And metaphors and social commentary inspired by imagery provided by C.S. Lewis.
Here we meet the Hard-Bitten Ghost. He is jaded, and somewhat resembles a conspiracy theorist, but with a strong materialist bent. He seems to reject the ideas that anything is sacred, or that anything can be progressive. Neither heaven nor hell matter to him; he sees both as mere propaganda. The Hard-Bitten Ghost is opposed, most of all, to being controlled. He's not strictly an intellectual, just very guarded and mistrusting. We could say, disillusioned.
We also meet the Ghostly Lady who is so afraid to be seen. She is burdened by shame, and her plight is familiar to what I encounter in my office. People afraid to know themselves, know others, or in turn be known.
Sound like people these days?
If so, how do we struggle well? How do we suffer in a way that enriches our character, rather than dooms us to our own personal hell?
Your slightly caffeine deprived hosts tackle these and many other questions on this latest episode. Thanks for listening!
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
Blessed Nativity!
We are continuing our trek out of Grey Town into the land of the Bright Ones! Today we discuss our honest opinions! Did we really come by them honestly? What does that even mean? Can we be saved just by sincerely believing a thing? C.S. Lewis offers an intriguing dialogue between a Ghost and a Bright One and Moses Bernabe and Jake Schwartz take it upon themselves to interpret it unto the world.
Along the way, we talk about, “The fallacy of the true neutral,” and the value of being free to ask questions of what we believe. One time, Moses makes the argument that, while in pursuit of the Holy Grail of “True Neutral,” we ought to always remember that evidence always bows to bias.
As we are wont, we start talking about relationships. What if I could introduce ourselves with complete freedom from having to impress the other person?
We also ponder what forms our identity?
Then we talk about how boasting of our accomplishments and throwing them in your face is a sure way to create a little bit of hell in our hearts.
As we consider the weight of our accomplishments, we consider if they are more of an asset or more of a shackle. We mull over whether it is better to be wanted or needed in a relationship.
Also we go on a rabbit trail about how strong and profane language isn’t want you think.
Here’s a link to the song by the first composer that Jake mentioned- https://open.spotify.com/track/2OWzoQiL6VDTczQwBxmWVx?si=36b8a6c9a42147fe
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
Thanks, and see you next time!
We're back and on the road from hell to heaven! Just what is real here? Just what does it mean to be real? To be realer than real?
Moses and Jake take a brief tour through personal stories, how we are shaped by our faiths and impacted by our work and just what we bring to the reading of a story.
C.S. Lewis kicks off our metaphorical journey by introducing us to the contentious passenger manifest in this most mysterious flying bus. We talk about things are "more solid than solid," and what it means to be real in this country. We talk about "Space" as Lewis paints a country that is ever expanding, and as Moses shares what he is learning about Internal Space, which is the place of resilience, and also where God dwells.
We venture deep into philosophy and theology as we talk about what is salvation, does free will exist, what is death, and who does or doesn't go to hell. Turns out Death is a Being, and the only ones who end up "in hell" are the ones who want to be there and salvation is a very active process!
And of course, talking about reality leads to talking about sobriety and recovery work and how true sobriety is an embrace of being fully present in one's current reality.
Notes - The word Moses was trying to remember was Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
It's our first episode ever! We are delving into C.S. Lewis's famous allegorical tale, The Great Divorce. Moses and Jake share their initial thoughts on tackling one of the most intelligent(and very British) writers of the last century.
What's the story?
So a man gets on a bus in Hell, better known here a Grey Town. Said bus embarks on a voyage toward Heaven. The bus makes a few stops along the way, and every time, our narrator and the other passengers get out of the bus to interact with the ever more solidifying environment, and the residents of the land, The Bright Ones. One would think more people would be eager to be heaven bound, yet the passengers - the Ghosts - seem to find every possible reason to get back on the bus and head back to Grey Town. Will anyone make it to the end? What will they have to overcome to get there? What can we learn along the way?
Wouldn't you know it, in reading through a story about Heaven and Hell, we dive into "deep heady theological conversations around Theories of Atonement."
This leads into a conversation around Faith Deconstruction. A process of deconstruction always involves asking the hard and scary questions. It's a necessary process, but unnerving, especially for the well-meaning onlookers.
We cover the genre of the story, and how that affects how the reader enters the world. We discuss a synopsis of the world, the plot, the characterization, and work to acclimate to the fantastical and surreal world that Lewis has created or us.
Public transportation experiences have a way of challenging out isolationist mentalities, and bringing out the self-righteous parts of us. The more we criticize others, the more awkward a bus ride is.
The characters we meet in the first chapter are quarrelsome, isolationist, and insist upon lots of space in which to have their rights. Most eerily of all, we meet Napoleon, eternally pacing in his far away lonesomeness, obsessing over how everyone else failed him. Moses and Jake have a long thread about blame, fault, ownership and responsibility. There's a way that taking responsibility is scary because it requires more of us, but we feel stronger for having done it.
And speaking of the Great Divorce, we remark on how this story is very uncomfortable to read, because of the way Lewis draws us to closely examine us, in all our raw flaws.
Special shout-outs to Garry Friesen(Dr. G) and his house, Aslan's How, a modern day shrine to the Chronicles of Narnia, that once upon a time inhabited a house across the street from Multnomah Bible College.
Hi! My name is Moses Bernabe, counselor and healer by day, writer by early morning light, lover of stories all the time. And this is the Word and Journey podcast!
Word and Journey is a book club in podcast form. We're all about good stories about important ideas. Stories that shape us and make us think. Over time, we'll be reading books, both classics and cultural icons, and talking about what we bring to the story, and how the story shapes us. Read along with us and join in the conversation! Or feel free to just take in our conversations. We hope you'll step away with something worthwhile to ponder.
Check out this sneak preview of coming episodes!
My first cohost is Jake Schwartz, a dear friend with a shared faith background.
Our first book we will read is C.S. Lewis's classic allegory, The Great Divorce.
Check back here for full episodes in late November 2021! Thanks for listening, and joining the conversation!