I was flying home from Notre Dame Law School.  Of course, leaving Chicago it was a dreary, cloudy, sunless day.  Once we cleared the thick clouds, the sun was shining strong, uninterrupted.  I was sitting beside the window; the entire scene outside the aircraft was hard to “take in.”  For thousands of years, man could only imagine what it might feel like to fly high above the clouds.  Standing on a mountaintop is probably the closest experience historic man could have had in relation, and even this experience is at times overwhelmingly majestic.

But, there I was flying at 40,000 feet.  The fellow sitting next to me was trying to sleep and that pesky sunlight began streaming in on his face the instant we broke through the clouds.  Eventually he was so fed up, he asked me to lower the shade so he would no longer be forced to deal with the sunlight.  Instantly, I thought about a passage in Brave New World:

“On their way back across the Channel, Bernard insisted on stopping his propeller and hovering on his helicopter screws within a hundred feet of the waves. The weather had taken a change for the worse; a south-westerly wind had sprung up, the sky was cloudy.

“Look,” he commanded.

“But it’s horrible,” said Lenina, shrinking back from the window. She was appalled by the rushing emptiness of the night, by the black foam-flecked water heaving beneath them, by the pale face of the moon, so haggard and distracted among the hastening clouds.

“Let’s turn on the radio. Quick!” She reached for the dialing knob on the dash-board and turned it at random.”

… skies are blue inside of you,” sang sixteen trembling falsettos, “the weather’s always …”

Then a hiccough and silence. Bernard had switched off the current.

“I want to look at the sea in peace,” he said. “One can’t even look with that beastly noise going on.”

“But it’s lovely. And I don’t want to look.”

“But I do,” he insisted. “It makes me feel as though …” he hesitated, searching for words with which to express himself, “as though I were more me, if you see what I mean.”

But, Huxley did not provide his readers with a satisfactory answer to why?  Why should we look out over the waves and absorb their awesome power if it is our natural reaction to recoil, to turn on the radio and drown out our shrinking significance in comparison to the grandeur of nature?  For the answer, we must turn to C.S. Lewis.

In the Screwtape Letters, Lewis provided the reader with a glimpse of a conversation between an old devil who was training a younger devil in the ways of tempting human beings.  Here is the relevant part of the conversation:

“Music and Silence – how I detest them both!  We want Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile – Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires.  We will make the whole universe a noise in the end…The  melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end.” (p 102-103)

Music, real music, and silence both tend to inspire impossible desires.  These desires mature in a life of serious contemplation.  Impossible desires may seem unattractive, why would the devil be seeking to use noise to “defend” against those impossible desires?  Why did Lenina seek to turn on the radio when Bernard commanded her to “look” over the ocean?  Music, silence, and the grandeur of creation inspire “impossible desires.”  Lewis explains why this is proper:

Christians are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.  A baby feels hunger:  well, there is such a thing as food.  A duckling wants to swim:  well there is such a thing as water.  Men feel sexual desire:  well, there is such a thing as sex.  If I find in myself a desire, which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.  Mere Christianity

These “impossible desires” that mature with enjoying music, contemplation, and “looking” out over the created order, are in place to remind us of home, our true home.  We must not mistake these maturing agents as the “real deal;” for they are merely dirty mirrors, reflecting half-heartedly.  But we must also not shy away from their powerful pull if they inspire impossible desires that we fear may not be met.  Instead, we must absorb the influences of music, contemplation and creation’s majesty; they are signatures of the divine, certifying that these impossible desires do, in deed, have a home.

So, if you are looking for sleep on an airplane and you are seated beside me, please do not take offense if I respectfully refuse to block the sun.

Some time has passed since my last post, but I do not believe the time was wasted.  I have plenty of stories and life has changed.  So, what’s new?

I graduated from Furman University

and next year I will attend Notre Dame Law School!!

I went on a Disney Cruise with my family

and traveled to Texas for a big wedding

I also photographed a wedding here at home:

Now, I am at home, enjoying the beautiful summer days.  I forgot just how quaint the field behind my house could be each evening(picture below).  I hope to spend the next two months enjoying time on my back porch and preparing my mind for law school.  Also, look for plenty of posts;  we will dig deeper together to learn and unearth the roots that make the places we photograph so special.

Jonathan Andersen, a friend of mine here at Furman, came up with a great idea that we will be launching today.  Both of us have been photographing our beautiful college campus throughout the last two years.  We wanted to do something with these pictures, so we combined our favorites and are releasing them for purchase.  

I have placed a few of my favorite pictures below.  Furman has been a great place to become a photographer.  I hope you enjoy these snapshots of our beautiful campus!

Please spread the word and check out our gallery:

Remember Furman

It is very difficult to have a sense of place in the world today.  My home is in Bristol, TN.  Throuhgout the last two years I have visited or lived in South Carolina, England, Ireland, North Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, the Netherlands, Washington DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

I consider myself very fortunate to have travelled to all of these places.  I would not be the same person without these travels.  But, we must dig deeper.  Are there any hidden weights, burdens that accompany our modern ability to travel the globe and be “home” for dinner?

People today speak of the “global community.”  Indeed, we have a seemingly global market; we purchase items produced in every corner of the world.  But, pursuing a “global community” is quite the contradiction.  In today’s global community we KNOW nobody.  It is a shallow excuse for an ever pervasive individualism.  Liberals promoting “global community” and conservatives encouraging a global marketplace (the final result of true free trade) are both giving the same, bland gift wrapped in a slightly different package. 

I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up in northeast TN.  We have a sense of real community.  We know our neighbors, all of our family lives near our home, and I am related to 1/4 of the people who attend our church.  It seems a few local businesses would fit nicely in Bristol, but most conservatives in our area embrace the Limbaugh brand invidualism.  Rush Limbaugh certainly does not understand east TN and few parents would promote him as their child’s role model, so why do we promote his policies?   Instead of worrying about Wall St. and corporate bailouts, perhaps we can concern our thoughts with something that truly matters and something we can impact tomorrow.  Go meet your neighbor.

Below are some pictures of my home, my roots:

During spring break, we took a short family trip to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area.  These towns serve as shelters for travelers seeking to explore the Great Smoky Mountains.  Cades Cove is the favorite stop for most tourists visiting the mountains.  It is a hidden gem, deep in the ancient hills.

We travelled for about 45 minutes from Pigeon Forge to reach this woodland oasis.  Up a steep winding road, we carefully followed signs to this popular spot.  It is a breathtaking sight when you finally reach Cade’s Cove;  after travelling up through mountains for many miles, one suddenly comes upon this flat, cleared landscape surrounded by steep mountains.

One explores this area by travelling the 11 mile loop road.  There are two roads, Sparks Lane and Hyatt Lane, that still cut the loop to give motorists extra options of trip duration.  During the entire 11 mile tour, one will not see a single sign of modernity; everything appears as it did during the 1800s.  There are baptist and methodist churches, cabins, barns, blacksmith shops, and mills.  But, the most popular sights in Cade’s Cove is the wildlife.  Deer, turkeys, bears, and horses thrive in this paradise.  Be prepared for the 11 mile journey to take more than two hours because you will not be able to resist stopping to enjoy the special scenery.  In fact, I would suggest devoting at least 1 full day to Cade’s Cove.  The hiking and exploration options are limitless.

Cade’s Cove was settled in the early 1820’s by the Oliver family.  Their cabin still survives to this day.  For more information on Cade’s Cove, visit this helpful website: http://www.cadescove.net/auto_tour.html

It was a photographer’s dream, so here are some pictures.  The weather wasn’t great but it definitely added mood.

I am sorry I have not posted in quite some time.  I am currently on Spring Break and will work hard to get back into my normal routine soon.

Classes were cancelled on Monday and the students were happy.  It started snowing on Sunday afternoon and didn’t stop until late that night.  It was a strange period.  I spent several hours outside doing photography and enjoying the storm.  During the snow there were sounds of excited students, strange thunder (odd for a snowstorm!), death of 50 year-old trees and wind.  It was quite the time to be a photographer.

I took several pictures that night and then awoke for sunrise the next morning.  I have a few of my favorites below, but if interested, you can click any picture and you can see the entire gallery.

Located in Cumbria, Carlisle was originally a Roman settlement.  Carlisle has been known as a border town, which may seem odd considering its central location in the island of Great Britain.  But, one must remember that British citizens do not always find their primary identity in “Britishness.”  Carlisle is a border town between England proper and Scotland.  This is a very important divide if one desires to understand, with any amount of depth, British history.  Through the process of devolution, Scotland and even Wales are slowly gaining more and more independence from Parliament in London.

Carlisle itself has many interesting sites.  I would suggest stopping by the visitor’s center that is located in the towncenter to pick up brochures and maps.  Also, near the visitor’s center, was a VERY good, reasonably priced Italian restaurant.  Two other “must sees”:  Carlisle Cathedral and Carlisle castle.  There are some beautiful fields around Carlisle castle, which a friend and I enjoyed with a jog.  Carlisle Cathedral has a beautiful ceiling with sparkling, golden stars set on a deep blue background.  The towncenter is full of shops, restaurants, and a mixture of architecture.  Some of the old walls, echoing days when being a border town meant violence, still remain and add more charm to this city.

The pictures below feature the streets of Carlisle and the awe-inspiring ceiling of the cathedral.

Windermere is the perfect starting point to launch adventures into the Lake District’s natural beauty.  The quaint hotels, local restaurants, and tempting shops made our two hour tour seem unsatisfying.  I hope the pictures below make you desire to travel to this area as badly as I hope to return.  Very Soon!

William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge were two of the Lake District’s most famous inhabitants.  I visited both of their homes and enjoyed seeing the sights that inspired their poetry.  An excerpt from Wordsworth’s “Ode to the Daffodils” is below: 

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The pictures display Wordsworth’s home, some fields surrounding his home, and the garden and home of Coleridge (in that order).