Today I went to my ward's Family Home Evening, a Monday night thing where people do stuff. The stuff the people did this evening was to go to the Church History Museum near Temple Square, and then go to someone's house for icecream. I participated in both activities.
The museum was nice and there was some great artwork on display. For the most part I don't get Art. Art and I don't mix. My natural defense against this is that I write off all things artsy as "stupid" and don't concern myself with them any longer. I do have two favorite paintings on display at the museum, though. These I had a much harder time writing off as stupid than the others. One depicts Joseph Smith giving a sermon in a clearing with the sun in his eyes. He's squinting in this picture because of the sunlight. I guess I like it because it shows to me the potential of a man, if only indirectly. It's easy to think of Joseph as a great prophet and historical figure, a larger than life character removed from the realm of real people. That picture reminds me that when you get right down to it, he wasn't more than a man. What is different about him is he is a man who realized much more of his potential than most.
The other painting was of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery when they were baptized in the Susquehannah River. The shot was painted with a wide viewing angle. Joseph and Oliver took up just a small part of the canvas. They looked very alone in that painting. I like it because it emphasized to me that on that historic ocassion the world had no clue whatsoever what important things were happening, and that the only people who did know were two men and the hosts of heaven. What good has come from that event that had no earthly witnesses, though!
So the museum was nice. Afterwards I went to a little ice cream party at a friend's house. The party was in part a celebration of National Ice Cream Month, which is July, which is now over. We had to get in our ice cream consumption while it was still legal. I guess. Anyway, at this party I discovered that in social situations where I don't feel I have any clear purpose I tend to act more awkward than I really am. Does that make sense? If I have someone to talk to I can chat up a storm and be clever and witty (if not dry and subtle, often to the point of nobody laughing but me, on the inside), but if I'm left to just socially flail about, hoping someone will toss me a life preserver, I do what you usually see stereotypically awkward charicatures from movies do-- I lean against things with a lack of grace and balance. I don't know why I do this, but I'm pretty sure it's conscious. Maybe I do it thinking it will get me some sort of attention so someone will end my involuntary silence for me. Whatever the reasons, I don't feel like I'm really being me when I'm awkwardly leaning against furniture and door jambs.
To get back on track, other than the Church museum, I've had another profound spiritual experience lately. Perhaps you've heard of it-- "The Lord of the Rings" (movies, as I aspire to illiteracy). I bought the non-extended-version box set the other week and just finished them tonight. Wow. I've seen them before, when they were first in the theaters, but I didn't really follow what was going on then and didn't get as much out of them as I could. Since then, though, I've delved into the archives of the wikipedia and scrapped together some info to help me better make north and south of the plot and characters and creatures. I find most fascinating the origins of the different races and the ancient history of Middle Earth, as well as things like the nature of wizards and where they came from. Good stuff. I now actually understand what the One Ring does (other than make people invisible) and why it's so dangerous. I could tell you many other things I've learned, but I'm pretty sure my sister is the only person who will ever read this, and she's read the books (she's a book-reading type, you know) so she knows about all them things & such. Next up I'm planning on aquiring the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD and having a completely different "spiritual" experience from that.
This is finals week, wish me luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment