Friday, April 1, 2011

Dante, Spectroscopy, and Ethnology

More and more, everything seems to come full circle. Stories classically follow certain cycles. Anyone who studies Shakespeare should recognize the tragic and comedic cycles. The comedic cycle begins with a celebration, gets chaotic, then declines to the point of characters trying to kill each other, then traditionally ends in marriage. The tragic cycle starts with an assassination or a other crime against another character, the system seems to stabilize except in the case of a few characters, then everything starts unraveling until blood starts flowing.

You know when you're watching a movie and in the last moment, there's a twist and you're like, "I barely remembered when that character said that insignificant line that should've reveled the entire plot"? I keep seeing this occurrence in culture, science, history, theology, literature, day-to-day life, everywhere. I spent the day with my cousin and every conversation seemed to pull up a few topics over and over.

This verse is from toward the end of the book of Revelation, written in the first century AD: (ESV) Revelation 19:13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. While this passage is from the book of Genesis while Jacob is addressing his sons: (ESV) Genesis 49:11 Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. Here, Jacob is talking about a promised leader that would rule over the tribes of his brothers. These visions seem to book end the Bible.

So is the big story a comedic or tragic cycle? Well, I'd say the creation of the universe was something to celebrate, then a quick decline into murder and chaos, redemption, more chaos, more chaos, then the biggest wedding ever.


-Caston