Despite writing eight years ago that Lent and I were through, I once again found myself abstaining from chocolate and coffee in the six weeks leading up to Easter. To be honest, I whinged my way through this Lenten season. It wasn’t because I found this form of pseudo-fasting particularly difficult but because I kept asking myself why I was even bothering. In declining offers … Continue reading Whingeing my way through Lent
My manager’s kindergarten-aged daughter is a brave little one: she willingly holds her arm out for the needle at the doctor’s. While I don’t exactly freak out about injections and have donated blood a number of times, I am a bit squeamish when it comes to blood and the cutting up of my body. I don’t think I’ll ever get laser-eye surgery because the mere … Continue reading The art and the agony of anticipation
What does string theory have to do with the Resurrection? What’s the difference between wanderlust and “wonderlust” (is that even a thing?)? Why do adverb particles matter?
This Easter I really went down the rabbit hole …
String theory and the Resurrection
I was listening to a podcast the other day, an interview with a physicist who was explaining the holographic principle. Based on string theory, one of the concepts is that our lived reality is two-dimensional data expressed in three dimensions. In other words, reality is a hologram.
It made me think about dimensions in general. If two dimensions can express three, and it’s generally accepted that we inhabit four dimensions (the fourth being time), what would 5D* projection mean? Because I’m convinced the material world isn’t all there is to existence.
As a person of faith, I believe we exist in more than four dimensions. But for most people – Christians, followers of other faiths and those of no faith alike – our active engagement in the fifth is limited.
This Easter I was reminded that the Resurrection invites us to walk beyond the four dimensions and live a bigger, richer reality. Continue reading Made to wonder: string theory and the resurrection
Happy Valentine’s Day! Happy Ash Wednesday! Not since 1945 have both occasions fallen on the same day. And not since ever have I cared much for either. Guess I’m just a little jaded. Today, couples make very visible shows of their affection for each other. And florists and restaurants make a killing. Today, the faithful step out of Mass with a dusty cross brushed onto their … Continue reading Love and ashes
Unconditional, eternal, lavish I was reading about how God loves us unconditionally, eternally and lavishly. Unconditional, I get – I’ve had grace explained to me more times than I can count. Eternal, I get – God loved us before time, loves us now and will love us always. But lavish? The thing about growing up privileged but being hyper aware of disadvantage and poverty is … Continue reading Lavish Friday
I’ve never been one for fireworks. So when she went ballistic I shrunk and tried to zen myself back to a place of balance. I should have seen it coming from her tone, low and ominous, foreshadowing a storm. Yet the thunder and lightning that followed still came as a shock to me. I put my hands up and used sorry like an umbrella, like a … Continue reading Easter Peace-ster
As we emerge sleepy-eyed from our mosquito net tents, Lauren murmurs to me, “Happy Easter …” For a few split seconds, I’m a little befuddled, head lost in a haze of drizzling rain and a chorus of birds and insects. Today is … Sunday. Easter Sunday. Oh, right. It was probably one of the least Eastery Easters I’ve had so far. We were a good couple of hours up … Continue reading Easter in the Amazon
After a short history of (almost) three Easters, I’m done with Lent. I observed Lent for the first time in 2012, giving up chocolate and alcohol. Last year I went one step further by staying clear of chocolate and coffee. It really was only one step further – though for many friends of mine, no coffee for a day or a week (let alone the 40 days … Continue reading Why Lent and I are through
Today is domingo de resurrección (Resurrection Sunday). I assumed that’s when the cuaresma (Lent) ends, but apparently the Second Vatican Council changed dates so that Good Friday and the Saturday form part of an Easter triplet, so Lent actually ends on the Friday when we eat fanesca (a thick soup of mixed grains, with fish – a whole lot better than any description can ever … Continue reading Lent
⎯suansita⎯ 