Tolkien, on the wide world and fences - an elf to a hobbit

 I'm re-reading The Lord of the Rings again (Yes, re-reading again, not the first re-read.) Anyways, this quote to the hobbits by an elf as the hobbits venture into a world that scares them and which they hate to avoid was striking.

The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.

~ Gildor Inglorion, as quoted by J. R. R. Tolkien

Cyprien Mubiala - Hope Springs from Unspeakable Grief

  Cyprien Mubiala is a name that many should know in the future, though it is not unlikely that it could disappear. Rightly speaking, it should be enshrined in medical history right next to Dr. Muyembe's. These two men, along with others, through persistence and hope have been key in making the terrifying disease of ebola treatable. 

  At the end of last month, the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled, "'Ebola is Now a Disease We Can Treat.' How a Cure Emerged from a War Zone." It is well worth reading. Many people have risked both suffering and death to fight against and seek to subdue the disease of ebola. Read how the disease ravages the body and the horrific suffering that those who contract the disease experience. Then, think of voluntarily risking your own life to care for those with this disease. Next, add the suspicions of those who need your help that you may actually be a danger to them. Finally, add the threat that comes from entering and operating in a war zone. In this context, Cyprien Mubiala and Dr. Muyembe step as two remarkable men.

PHOTO: CYPRIEN MUBIALA

 Unfortunately, though quite naturally given his status as a research patient, there is little public information about Mr. Mubiala. However, nearly 25 years ago, he lost 15 members of his family to ebola and contracted the disease himself. He survived as did his sister. He donated his blood to Dr. Muyembe for research, but then he turned around and spent months caring for other ebola victims, believing he was immune to the disease. Some years later, he again worked with researchers as they used his blood to try to develop a treatment. 

 Now he is married and has children, and he says he is happy to hear that a cure came from his blood. In many ways, his story is remarkable; in other ways, it is quite normal. Certainly, there is much to celebrate in this story, and an examination of the journey that Dr. Muyembe has taken would show another narrative or perseverance in the face of doubt and difficulty. 

 These stories are not remarkable only because they have led to a cure; they are remarkable in their own right. However, the cure highlights the fact that there can be temporal victories in the fight against death, disease, and despair. The fact that no one had defeated ebola previously did not mean that the battle was not still worth fighting: past failures do not necessitate future failure. 

The Puzzling or Repellent Aspects of Christianity

  Apparently I've never read C. S. Lewis's essay "The Weight of Glory" through from end to end before. I've read excerpts, but the complete argument that he makes in there doesn't seem to be in my memory anywhere.
  So today (and a bit of yesterday) I read it. It is really beautiful with many areas that I highlighted. One in particular that I wanted to mention has to do with an argument that has often bothered me: that I should expect to be able to understand mysteries before having faith in them. For sure, faith should be rational to some extent, but at some point, it will certainly be ultra-rational since we don't really need "faith" for what we can see and understand completely. Why would I expect to understand God, the Maker of the Universe, and all His works and wisdom fully? If I did wouldn't that mean my mind was equal to or superior to Him? Anyways, here is a bit of Lewis on a similar theme. The essay is worth exploring for yourself whether you believe in Christianity or not; Lewis is making a substantial argument for it, which one does not necessarily have to be Christian to appreciate.

 If Christianity could tell me no more of the far-off land than my own temperament led me to surmise already, then Christianity would be no higher than myself. If it has more to give me, I expect it to be less immediately attractive than "my own stuff." [...] If our religion is something objective, then we must never avert our eyes from those elements in it which seem puzzling or repellent; for it will be precisely the puzzling or the repellent which conceals what we do not know and need to know. 

~ "The Weight of Glory"

antiquities in Piraeus, the port of Athens

 The Pireaus Archaeological Museum was the final historical site of our summer travels. Pireaus is the port city of Athens. While we did not get to go into the center of Athens, we enjoyed seeing this museum and wandering around the surrounding area. Below are some of the key artifacts we saw. I have particularly uploaded those that were less common within the summer's explorations, which obviously included artifacts of much greater antiquity. However, the items below are quite worth noticing, including musical instruments, a replica shrine with real artifacts, and measuring standards of various sorts. Personally, I always find the various styles of altars fascinating since I don't have a modern standard to compare them to.

Pieces of musical instruments

  It's amazing how some things haven't really changed over the centuries... look at the surgical instruments and vases and fish hooks.

Bronze statue, look at the unique eyes.

Entryway to the 'shrine' style room

A room set up like a typical ancient shrine

an altar to Hellos Mithras

Measures for liquid weights

Price list for goods (regulated)

Engraved measures

 Notice the handspan, arm-span, foot, and elbow to fingertips.

Coins of interstate commerce

A sundial

Santorini, beautiful and deeply impressing

  Volcanoes are known to have frequently affected societies or civilizations. (A Mexican volcano made the news last month due to its affect 1,500 years ago on Mayan civilization.) Or you might think of Pompeii or Krakatoa and their known affects on nearby and/or distant societies. According to our tour guide on Crete, Santorini's explosion some 3,600 years ago may well have been the event that allowed the Mycenaeans to overthrow the Minoans as the area's powerful civilization (see previous post).

 Anyways, sailing into the crater of the volcano was impressing: everything you see in the first photo below was the ancient island; the crater of the volcano is the entire center section that looks like a bay. This gave an idea of the cataclysmic nature of a major volcanic event. (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Panoramic shot, entering Santorini's crater

  Besides all that, Santorini is gorgeous; my favorite shot was the nighttime one below, taken by Bethany.

one section inside the crater of Santorini

night view of Santorini

town on Santorini, looks like snow

Crete: The 'Minoans,' the first known advanced European civilization

  One of the interesting aspects of our tour of the ancient 'Minoan' city of Knossos (in modern Heraklion) was the guide's repeated comment, "We often do not know where history ends and myth begins here." Many aspects of this site are reminiscent of the Greek myths that one can still read, such as the story of the Minotaur or Daedalus & Icarus. In some areas, these myths seem to be correlated to historical events; while in other ways they are clearly fictional.

Rooms within the Palace of Knossos

  This island, which we call Crete, was called Caphtor (Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4; Amos 9:7) before gaining its modern name (Acts 2:11; chapter 27; Titus 1:5, 12). However, in this earliest of known advanced European civilizations, the people's own name for themselves is uncertain - thus my quotation marks around the name of 'Minoans.' Apparently the Minoans are called this because it was their king(s)' name/title.

View from the Palace to the mountain from where water was brought by aqueducts 

  The palace complex is huge, especially considering the time and the place, more than 3500 years ago. Apparently, some scholars think that the palace itself was 'the labyrinth' in the story of the minotaur.

The replicas of the paintings that are still displayed are impressive. (Originals are in a covered museum.)

Entry to "the Throne Room"

Inside the Throne Room; the throne is on the right with a bowl for washing in the center

Pictures within the throne room

Ancient sewer system that still works, although it's covered with a modern grating

Notes about the Hall of the Double Axes

Dolphin mural in the queen's room

Reconstructed wall with bull relief 

  Did you know that bull-leaping is a thing? Apparently one of the major sports of ancient Crete (and the succeeding Mycenaean culture) was leaping over a bull acrobatically, hands to the horns, back flip or hand spring off the back! Look it up online, the remaining figurines and drawings and such like are impressive.

Another side of the palace

180-degree view to give a sense of size (about a third of the Palace complex should be visible)

Rhodes: a library, a castle, a church, a mosque, and the view

  I am hoping to post pictures from each of the places we visited on our trip, but it ought to be clear that we saw about 5 different locations for a couple hours over the course of 3 days. So, these pictures are by no means systematic. Mostly I just think people may enjoy having a picture of sites that they could read about in the Bible. The island of Rhodes is mentioned in Acts 21:1 where it is a brief stop on Paul's return to Syria after which he went to Jerusalem.

Church of the Virgin of the Burgh (14th century) - It has a weird history including having a road run through it. 

I find this style of mosque fascinating, but I've never actually been inside one. This one didn't have a public entrance that I could find; it may be closed.  

a Library founded by an Ottoman official a couple hundred years ago. Below are more details.

On the left, is the founding document for the Hafiz Ahmed Ağa Library. Surrounding it are translations into various languages. On the right, is a bit more history of the man and his times. 

I wish I could read the Ottoman (Arabic) script... maybe someday! The language is just an older version of Turkish, so the major hinderance is the orthography, as well as the changes that have occurred in Turkish vocabulary.

Library books, old and new

The view from the Clock Tower: notice the modern city beyond the old city walls

180-degree view from the clock tower

View of the castle from the tower 

 Apparently this is technically known at "The Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes." Impressive, but I only saw the outside. 

Patmos - the island

  Shortly after we got married, Bethany told me that we needed to start saving so that we could "do something special" for our 10th anniversary.  Since we were barely making ends meet at the time, this seemed like an odd thing to save money for, to me.  However, she was certainly right, and we started it with a few dollars. Last week, a decade of saving came together, and we got to go on a cruise in the (nearby) Greek islands! We flew to Izmir and got on the ship, and a few hours later, we were at our first stop, the island of Patmos. 

The harbor at Patmos

  My recollection of how Patmos is described in biblical commentaries on the book of Revelation is "a small rocky island"... not that I could give a specific reference for that. That description is not particularly wrong, although the island is quite a bit bigger than I envisioned. It's small for an island, but it's not particularly small.

Harbor picture 2

  There was a tour that showed various historical (or supposedly historical?) sites on the island, but we preferred to just walk around the town and observe it from various perspectives. We also enjoyed some excellent ice cream there and bought some pistachio-chocolate sauce (imagine dark chocolate Nutella, made with pistachios!)

The town on Patmos

Sunset over Patmos harbor

the sun disappearing