I have created a Novel Research Pinterest page for the science fiction novel I’m writing. This is a simple compilation of my thought process, research and scientific data consulted over the past several months.
It’s nothing fancy, I’m simply including links to articles or videos so that if anyone is interested in the direction and themes I’m exploring in this book, they can find them here.
I’ll be updating when I have the time, and dropping some excerpts over the next several weeks also. Hope everyone is enjoying the Summer weather. I feel I’m melting here on the eastern side of the u.s:)
It’s fascinating the things I find myself peering into when writing this Science Fiction Ghost Story. I am relaxing into the process now that I am seeing the fruit of my labors. Writing a novel which entails deep space exploration has been a challenging and enlightening endeavor. Writing a novel is the process of turning chaos into prose – nearly impossible really. But I’ve decided to relax and enjoy the things I love while I write. One of which is space.
This planet scientists call ‘Poltergeist’. It’s a super creepy Pulsar planet documented PSR B1257+12 c, and is an extrasolar planet approximately 2,300 light-years away”….
Other wonderful mysteries of deep space are lurking within the coffers of the web. If I’m going to traverse the galaxy, I figure I better understand our own Local Group first. Vast and various are the Lord’s magnificent displays…
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn’s rings backlit by the sun and our planet Earth and its moon in the same frame. We look like another star from 898 million miles away.
Take a look at our vast Milky Way and beyond to our closest neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. Let’s take a weekend trip, what do ya say? Pack a light picnic; the particle accelerating spacecraft is outback…
I have nearly completed the second draft which fleshed out the story and characters bringing the theme into greater form. My third writing will be adding the voice and writing the novel. I’m excited!
Hope everyone is enjoying Spring. When my mind and pen are not among the stars, I am enjoying the green grass and bird songs of the season…
Have a beautiful week lovely people, and don’t forget to look up and admire the great expanse above our heads~
The unpardonable sin is impossible for a believer to commit. Here’s why; the Pharisees knew and admitted that no other but God could be performing all the miracles that Jesus was performing. We know this because Nicodemus, a devout Pharisee official said so, “Rabbi,we all know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” (John 3:1-2) He was like a spy that ratted out the enemy’s war room talks.
Further more, the Pharisees hated Jesus because they were losing ‘followers’ to Him which meant less money for them and less power over the people. (There are a ton of these like-spirited people around, the first found in Cain.) Envy, hatred and jealousy drove their motives.
So, in the hearing of the people (hoping to turn some back to themselves) they proclaimed: “It is only by Beelzebul,the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons…” Matthew 12.24.
The unpardonable sin was this: they knew it was the Holy Spirit who was doing the work through Christ and spoke directly against God. Forthrightly calling the Holy Spirit to His clearly discernible face that He was the devil.
As believers (and unbelievers, because they are ignorant, so even if they did this they would not understand Who they were doing it to – “forgive them Father for they know not what they do”) this sin is impossible to commit.
Only knowingly, deeply malevolent individuals are capable of committing the unpardonable sin.
This site has been a blogging diary more than anything. After much thought, I’ve decided that in order to get anywhere, I need to focus on one thing. Writing the book. I’ve got just over a year to do it.
I’ve missed blogging these past several months. Due to art and writing submissions to publishers and galleries, I changed my blog to resemble a website for less clutter and easier navigation.
Reorganizing the Blog
I have organized this blog by categories at the bottom of the Home/About page. There is no longer a Home page with the most current blog post. Some I have removed and made private to keep things cohesive and not just a barrage of random thoughts. I have also included a Search field in the top right corner if there is a particular subject or post you want to read.
Bringing It All Together: Narrowing the Focus
I enjoy exploring topics that are conventionally at odds with each other: Christianity, Science and Art. This combination is hard for most people to assimilate. I understand that.
I am extremely difficult to sell as a whole package. The world is shifting to extremes and I am a creative, open-minded moderate politically. Who also believes in Christ.
I have made a few other decisions which I’ll share at a later time if they work out. One is starting another private blog to delve into these themes and narratives for the book and organize them. I won’t be making this public until I’ve finished writing the book anyway.
I have written the first draft. Now I have to begin the hard work: finding the voice of the thing and rewriting it a second time. This is not going to be easy.
We must stay curious and adventurous, learning all we can in this journey of life. Be well beautiful people~
Super tree structures, in Singapore’s Tree Grove garden
“We may think of nature as being unconnected to our urban spaces. But trees have always been an essential part of successful cities.”
Why Cities Need Trees, TEDEd shortdoc
God’s Ideas Work
The idea of letting things function as intended – how God created them to function – has become a point of political contention. It should instead be celebrated for the pure wisdom that it is. As the population of the earth grows, we need to put more thought in how we develop our environment around us. Culture always leans more to profit than to sustainability. I think there’s room for both.
History has many lessons to teach us – we just aren’t listening. We aren’t paying attention.
Below is a great little video about how important it is for communities to work in harmony with nature to create the best possible outcome for us and for our environment. And coming from me, I can assure you, that is no political statement.
I believe God, who created everything, knows exactly how to balance the earth and all her complex inner-workings, even after all the destruction humans have caused. So why don’t we let nature do her thing so we can all live happier lives while we are here? Is it greed? Is it lack of foresight? We have plenty of history to guide us in more fruitful directions. Perhaps it is the need for gain that leads us to destroy nature for profit.
Money is not the nature of evil. So much good can be done with money. It is the LOVE of money that is the nature of evil. This mentality is one that will destroy all just for financial gain or power.
Singapore’s Tree Grove
I pray we don’t become like Easter Island, or Uruk as mentioned below, or any people who thought nature was only for personal profit and not respect it as the brilliant idea God intended it to be.
To have nature work for us, and thereby profit us without destroying it, just seems like the best idea to me.
Instead we pave over everything, build over everything and we don’t do it in sustainable ways. For instance, Singapore has constructed manmade tree terraces, if you will, but they serve a ‘green’ purpose by acting as solar power energy and also allowing nature to grow up the structures, thus providing a cooler shade than brick and concrete buildings. Not to mention they take it further as a practice in sustainability.
I wish that the topic of nature hadn’t become so politicized. (Everything it seems has become politicized.) How admirable to see when thoughtful people actually do something for the greater good of everyone; using nature to give back to the people in a community instead of hijacking an opportunity to line one’s own pockets. Generosity – it’s rare nowadays.
Most of the time we only see huge companies taking advantage of what should be something communal and beneficial, and instead turning it for a profit – pitching the idea like it was for the people to begin with: here’s this great thing for you, ladies and gentleman, and it will only cost you $$$ out of pocket whenever you want to enjoy it. What a deal!
Let’s be honest, most of the time only those with money can enjoy it.
But those few who do it for all, including the less fortunate; the ideas that are all inclusive for the benefit of the community and the environment…well…it doesn’t get more admirable than that.
Nature is a gift that will keep giving back in positive, beneficial ways.
National and Public Community Parks
One of the few places anyone could go and find solace in the year 2020 were parks. Albeit, even they were closed for a couple of months. Not being able to get out into nature was hard on the soul. Everything is connected and we are much healthier as individuals when we have access to nature. There’s something to be said for experiencing wide open spaces, starry skies and the sounds and smells of nature. Not to mention the therapeutic qualities of water in any form: rivers, streams, oceans…
Manmade is just a subpar trinket compared to God-made brilliance.
That’s why developing in these protected areas makes me nervous and of course, sad. Look what happened with Pigeon Forge in Tennessee. Now the same is being developed in the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. The jobs it provides will be good income for struggling families, yes. But these people could move to another part of the state. Couldn’t they? Where do we draw the line on destroying nature to provide profit?
I think that being conscious of our impact on nature is simply good stewardship of all that God has given us to enjoy.
Anytime we can correct our mistakes as a society; turn our overdeveloped, manmade, unsustainable ideas back to nature, back to trees and gardens and open skies, we can only expect that nature will return a gift back to us in the form of increased health, happiness and greater connectedness overall.
During my unplugged week I read Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It was a fascination – like experiencing a bizarre traveling circus that only appears after midnight.
The whole book filled me with sadness. I’m reading it with 170 additional years of history and knowledge and I think; the suffering we inflicted on entire species of whales in the name of profit and indulgence. And then I think, in what ways are we doing the same thing now in 2021? How about plastics and oil for starters…
I never formally studied this book so I have no preconceived scholarly analysis. The endless exposition that was a mix of fact and speculation was just boring. I have to attribute my attitude to that 170 year chasm. I wouldn’t have been any wiser at the time.
I’m too sensitive when it comes to animals to ever be able to admire Moby Dick and appreciate the story. All I could think about was how wrong humankind was about the nature of whales and God…how wrong we still are in some cases.
A Leviathan?
Leviathan was not a whale. The peaceful, curious nature of whales was all I could think about when reading how Melville described the beast Captain Ahab hunted – and I couldn’t separate the author from the ruthless nature of the Captain.
Below is the Sperm whale (wholly misnamed out of ignorance); and the demon, the monster, the man-killing beast from hell, the Leviathan that Melville described…and this was all I could think about while reading Moby Dick:
The Light Bulb – the Bright Idea seekers
The whale population was being decimated. In 1835 the first constant electric light was demonstrated. It took 44 more years of scientists tinkering with the bulb device before a usable one was created in 1879. Thank God someone was striving for a better way. Reminds me of electric cars and Elon Musk. Reminds me of anyone launching out against the flow in pursuit of a better world.
But humankind continued hunting whales for profit, some countries even now continue. (Sometime in the year 2100, But humankind continued using gasoline and oil for cars….)
I really can’t enjoy this book. I know it was about revenge; I know it was about deeper symbolic references of man and their madness to dominate. It didn’t move me. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to. Maybe Herman just wanted to incite me, end of story.
Some Decent Prose When Not Choked by the Exposition
There were only one or two portions that gripped me and really pulled me onto the deck of the ship, in all her fiery madness. Here is one of them:
“…darkness was licked up by the fierce flames, which at
intervals forked forth from the sooty flues, and illuminated
every lofty rope in the rigging, as with the famed Greek fire.
The burning ship drove on, as if remorselessly commissioned
to some vengeful deed. So the pitch and sulphur-freighted brigs
of the bold Hydriote, Canaris, issuing from their midnight harbors,
with broad sheets of flame for sails, bore down upon
the Turkish frigates, and folded them in conflagrations.
“…as their uncivilized laughter
forked upwards out of them, like the flames from the furnace;
as to and fro, in their front, the harpooneers wildly gesticulated
with their huge pronged forks and dippers; as the wind howled on,
and the sea leaped, and the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly
shot her red hell further and further into the blackness of the sea
and the night, and scornfully champed the white bone in her mouth,
and viciously spat round her on all sides; then the rushing Pequod,
freighted with savages, and laden with fire, and burning a corpse,
and plunging into that blackness of darkness, seemed the material
counterpart of her monomaniac commander’s soul. So seemed it to me, as I stood at her helm, and for long
hours silently guided the way of this fire-ship on the sea.”
-Excerpt, pg 398 Moby Dick
In Conclusion
This book could be 200 pages; better yet, a short story. The overindulgent exposition and the fact that it was a true horror story of the slaughter of such a beautiful, peaceful animal, killed my soul and any hint of enjoyment for me.
One more extraordinary clip of the beautiful cachalot, it’s accurate name…enjoy
Stay safe beautiful people, stay extraordinary – even if the world would rather you not be~
From noon last Wednesday until noon this Wednesday I spent an entire week not utilizing the internet. It was an eye-opening foray into the dark murky waters of-
>Eminent boredom and time stretching into an infinite blackhole<
My trepidation was a bit melodramatic but the anxiety was real.
In the wee hours of the first morning I sat down with my coffee on the couch and instead of reaching for my laptop I just sat there staring at the table. I had put my laptop in a drawer out of sight. I opened my notebook/scheduler and my bible and started reading, praying and meditating on a few verses God had impressed on my heart for this year.
I seriously had an anxious outlook on this whole unplugged thing. It’s hard to express it in words – perhaps you should try it yourself to see what I mean – it’s a habit or addiction almost. Something about the internet and the year 2020 has ingrained in us this idea of being cutoff with only social media to keep everyone together. Quarantine and lockdowns exacerbated this feeling.
Whatever it was, I knew I had to break that habit if for no other reason than because it is a false belief.
I went about my day as usual; workout, walking, swimming, cleaning and working: just a normal day. But every time I’d sit down or relax I’d catch myself wanting my laptop. Pretty sure it was the feeling of withdrawal I was experiencing, haha!
So, I got into a huge book. None other than Moby Dick. I mean, seriously. Of all things that could curb my internet withdrawals. But sure enough, it was the perfect book. Off on a great seafaring journey I went. Read the whole thing. (No, no, that’s a lie. I skipped the pretentious, ever-rambling expositions). And I now know more about the insides of a whale and the whaling industry of the 1850’s than I ever wanted to know.
I might write a blog post of what I think about this book in the future.
Anyway, on the third day something interesting started happening. The desire to get on the internet faded into the background and I settled into my immediate surroundings. I started going through some boxes in the closets and realized I had two aquariums purchased back in 2018 that I had yet to setup. A small 5 gallon and a larger 40 gallon.
All the equipment and most of the accessories were there. It was a treat really. Since I’ve been working from home and endeavoring to change my career, I haven’t had the luxury of shopping. I enjoy shopping. But I’m on a mission this year, so thrifty is the name of the game at present. Opening up everything which I had put away almost 3 years ago was fun and therapeutic in a way.
Not to mention I now had another project to add to my unplugged week: what type of aquariums do I want to setup! I love planted aquariums, biotopes, little interesting and extraordinary fishes 🙂 Fish-keeping isn’t guppies and mollies and goldfish. That’s kid’s play. Fish-keeping is dwarf pea puffers and shell dwellers and honey gourami. Fish with personalities and adorable quirks. It’s cichlid tanks, blackwater biotopes and lush jungle tanks.
#GOALS…
So now all things were good! I had projects – I always need projects. Something to think about and challenge myself with. The internet was floating somewhere under the dark waters Captain Ahab was sailing through, keeping company with the Great White Whale lost in the darkness.
I can read and study forever. And the internet is full of any and everything a curious mind could get into. It’s the easy fix. And I’ve found it can be a big distraction from other interesting projects.
Let me not make light of my time in the word of God and the peace I experienced giving Him more of my time, at the very beginning of the day as opposed to just sinking into the billion dots on the screen.
I’ve decided on some rearranging in the house that I’ve been mulling over for months. A little unplugged clarity and I arrived at the solution – where to house the aquariums, what furniture needed to be moved, moved out or donated – and after my week unplugged I feel I’ve been through a cleansing and refreshing. The internet has been an excuse to delay things.
I highly recommend going unplugged for a week. I kept email going of course; I have to work and get back with people. I don’t want to miss opportunities but I think anyone can do without all the social media sites for a week.
I’m thinking of going unplugged for a week every month. Maybe not the entire internet – I will need it for my work. But Twitter, FB, etc can take a backburner far more often. Think about how many times we check our phones….
I have a ton of blog post ideas too – so much to talk about – diets, swimming, health, food….
Several of which will have to be about aquariums 🙂
“No, you may not do evil so that good may come from it.” ~Fulton J Sheen
If a decision you made was good, moral and ethical, then you made the right decision. If anyone ever asks you to do something that is contrary to integrity and uprightness (no matter who they are) and you refuse to back down because you know it would be the wrong thing to do, then at the risk of losing them, you have done the right thing.
People’s expectations are not your responsibility. It’s not your fault you may not ‘live up to’ someone else’s expectations of you. When your life belongs to God, you live it for Him to the best of your ability. Doing the good and just thing is admirable. Seeking fairness and justice are esteemed qualities which balances out those that would seek only to benefit themselves in this world.
There are already too many suffering at the hand of greed and selfishness.
If anyone expects you to do something contrary to your convictions and what you know to be right and honorable, then you must hold fast to your conventions. At the end of the day, people must deal with their own losses and ill-intentioned ambitions when they fall through.
Righteousness and Holiness are not the same thing, but it’s easy to get them confused. They sound like the same thing, right? But they are actually quite different. Here is the difference between each. let’s take righteousness first.
Righteousness: Being right with God the father.
If you are a believer, you are right with God. This reality is true because of one Man, Jesus Christ. Make no mistake, you and I have nothing to do with how right we are with God. Our righteousness is as filthy rags the bible says. That means we can live our lives following every rule and always doing good in the world – which is impossible, even rush hour traffic takes care of most of our own righteousness – and we still would not be right with God. Only one Man could have ever paid the price of our right standing with God and remain standing in the gap today as High Priest and Intercessor, and that is the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Since God Himself wrought this work, it is perfect. He alone has made us right with God. No mortal man could do it. The righteousness of God IN CHRIST JESUS. Without Jesus, there is no beginning your walk with God.
Which brings up the next reality: Holiness.
As Christians we want to walk with God…well most of us do. Relationship is the whole reason why Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice and God accepted him, so that God might be reunited with His people. Sin separated God from His chosen people, it’s a long story but His chosen people started with Israel and then God graciously allowed us Gentiles to also be grafted into the olive tree. Before Christ, God could only get as near as the appointed earthly mortal priest, the Levite who would be appointed to carry out certain tasks in the tabernacle. Only the priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the very innermost part fashioned on this earth where God’s presence resided.
Jesus made it possible for the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
Oh but praise God for Jesus! No more of that, God lives in our hearts, Paul said WE are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. John Chapter 15 explains it. Wow, just take a moment and wrap your mind around the awesome power of God and the blessings which come through Jesus Christ…thank you Lord.
So now we have God so close to us, we become one in Him. the root, the branches the fruit, we are one with God as Jesus said He was one with the Father, I in You and they in me. This is where holiness is so very important to understand.
Holiness: Right living before God.
Those who are not Christians don’t have to worry about this – they have much bigger things to worry about…like understanding who Christ is and accepting Him as Savior. One cannot begin to understand the need for holy living until they understand the reality of the need for a Savior.
God is not present in unholiness. He has mercy and grace in the face of it, but He isn’t going to hang around for long without holiness. Be holy for I am holy He said. One cannot do this without the Holy Spirit and some good old fashion discipline. Let’s take a look at what hospitality means.
Our Hospitality toward the Holy Spirit
You have a friend you’ve invited over for lunch. You know he doesn’t like smoke and is allergic to it, but you like to smoke. When you know your friend is coming, you do your best to clean the house and to not smoke while your friend is with you. Now, what kind of friend would invite you over, knowing you hate smoke and are allergic to it, and fill the house with it right before you show up – maybe blow it in your face while you’re eating, and continue smoking while you are trying to talk, share and visit with each other? Not a very respectful gesture right? Not a hospitable environment for your friend. That friend isn’t going to hang around for long! Not because they don’t love you, but because they are allergic to smoke, eyes burning and watering, unable to beathe and terribly uncomfortable.
Let’s work to welcome the Holy Spirit into our daily lives! And make an environment He would be pleased to dwell in and remain. This is where holiness is so important. Holiness is what we can do for Him, just like we would for a friend.
Don’t Be Nonchalant About Sin: It still has consequences
Paul warned us of having a nonchalant attitude towards sin and God’s mercy saying “God forbid we go on sining just because grace would abound.” There is still death residing in sin, dear people, and it will kill. And believe me, there are a lot of ways death can happen without it being mortal death. Remember King David sinning with Bathsheba and killing her husband? What did God say, “The sword will never leave your family…” That’s what the prophet Nathan said to King David and David had trouble with his family for the rest of his life. Please take heed of this – there are inescapable consequences to sin.
So in wrapping up, we must rightfully divide between these two realities.
1.Holiness is not being right with God. Holiness is right livingbeforeGod and it is the only way to grow our relationship with God.
2. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is what qualifies youto walk with God in the first place. We as human beings can never be righteous enough – Jesus took all of our unrighteousness, He was the only One who could because He was perfect and blameless before God. We have the righteousness of Christ, what a gift from God!
I pray we all gain understanding of the difference between righteousness and holiness, and that your passion for God far out shines the need to walk according to the flesh. Walk in the Spirit and be led by Him and you won’t fulfill the desires of the flesh. It takes practice, patience and persistence. Praise God He is faithful and long-suffering and will never give up on us!
Don’t wander in the Desert, move through it to get to your Promise Land.
Want to wander around out there and die of exhaustion? Of course you don’t. The key to not fainting in the desert is to remain faithful to God in seasons of discomfort.
Sometimes life just isn’t fair. I mean, don’t we all think that sometimes? And isn’t ‘fair’ relative? Right, well before getting too upset that you could be doing so much more if only, I’d advise anyone feeling the pressures of life to not complain to God about it.
Israel did that and lived to regret it. After being delivered out of the hands of their Egyptian oppressors, they grew tired of following God in the desert and started complaining. They wanted meat to eat, not the same old manna day after day – you know, that got boring!
I can relate partially. It’s hard when you have to walk through the desert or wilderness in order to make it to your Promised Land. Whatever your goals or dreams may be, you’re going to hit rough patches, character building seasons (that go on and on forever!!) and believe me, I understand.
It’s like ‘let me shed another tear to put in the bottle He keeps with my name on it’ (you do know scripture tells us He collects all our tears in a bottle…I’ll write about that sometime). Be encouraged, this season in the wilderness won’t last forever. And it will make you stronger and build more character than one could imagine.
Another awesome truth to know is this:
The quicker you submit to God’s will and be faithful in the season He’s taking you through, the more expedient your journey will be to your Promised Land.
I can complain, not going to lie. But refocusing that energy into something more positive gets me moving forward and keeps me from reaping the consequences of whatever I’m tempted to complain about. It makes me stronger and builds my endurance in difficult times. Let me get back to the illustration..
So God was feeding Israel with manna from heaven which was sort of like bread they would pound into cakes and boil or cook over a fire and eat. Day after day after day, the same stuff – it’s just like life sometimes, whatever it is we’re doing that makes us weary — diaper after diaper, dirty socks-wash-pickup from floor-fold-wash again, baby puke, (lol, the struggle is real though I wouldn’t personally know. I deal in feline coughed-up fur balls which are pretty gross) pushing papers, fixing computers, answering phones day after day after…
Ooo, don’t complain. Because sure enough, God will hear it. And He heard Israel and called Moses into a meeting. He told Moses, I’ve heard the complaining of the people that they want meat, so they will get it. They will eat meat until it’s coming out of their eyes, ears noses…. (whew, don’t make God angry). So God brought the people quail, and they journeyed out and caught it, loads of it! But there was also another consequence…
Numbers 11, specifically 31-35 but the chapter gives you a good idea of the problem at hand.
But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.
While the meat was still between their teeth…for sure, if we skirt the edge of God’s plan for our lives, when we get what we think we want , then even before we can satiate our appetite with it, there will be consequences to bear. If we shortcut the path God has laid before us, we will not be ready for what we want. We won’t be ready for our dreams and our visions.
Let’s understand a couple of things here:
God still feels the same way about sin, He just deals with us differently now than in the Old Testament due to the work of our Savior Jesus Christ. His mercies endure forever~
God will always give us reprieve in the desert that does not bring sorrow with it.
The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
And here’s is how you get the blessings of God – remain faithful through the difficult times, knowing with surety that God will deliver you from distress.
One of the most powerful verses in scripture on deliverance is also one of my favorites and one that I have used to build my faith and receive the promises of God for my life. So I’m here to tell you, this works and is powerful if you only believe!
“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. Job 36:16
So beautiful, so lovely and filled with power to deliver. God’s word never returns to Him void. Because it’s truth. But we must remain faithful. No shortcuts — or what was supposed to be our victory will end up a pile of ashes and we might even find we get burned in the process.
Stay true and fixed on God’s word. You’ll get there, one faithful decision at a time~ Until God delivers us and sets us free from our distress~
