The new banner here at Letters from the Perilous Realm is the work of Aaron J. Smith, aka Cultural Savage. Those buttons for my two books on the sidebar below the pictures of Rochester are also his work.

If you’re looking for logos or banners, this is the guy you want to work with!

Last night, I watched, for the first time, the film 28 Days Later. An incurable infection spreads causing a rabid, inhuman rage within 10-20 seconds of exposure. One small pocket of the uninfected exists, consisting of a few military men and the story’s three main characters.

The military commander gives an interesting speech at one point, in which he explains that this current situation – infected humans killing everyone who remains – is as “normal” as the world has ever been. All he ever saw 28 days before, and 28 days before that, and 28 days before that, was “people killing people.”

And this military commander, who spoke such wise words, was about to give the two female protagonists over to his men to rape.

It’s a stark and ugly picture of humanity. The “uninfected” are just as awful as the infected, ready and willing to commit evil on the very few human survivors that exist. We don’t like these pictures, but I’m of the opinion that it’s better to face reality than ignore it (hence my love for fantasy, fairy tales, and the Gothic, where reality is explored better than in much “realistic” fiction).

While I have some theological disagreement with an All Saints vs. All Souls day (look – if the Corinthians were saints, we all are), there is something theologically powerful about the Hallowe’en —> All Saints and Souls Days progression. Hallowe’en gives us the Gothic picture of the Fallen world as it is – the imagination’s grappling with a world that we all know is a big mess. And after facing our fears on All Hallows’ Eve, we recall the departed and the life to come on Novembers 1 and 2.

I’ll post pictures later of Sophia in her Clifford costume, Tricia in her Marge Simpson costume, and me in my vampire costume. In the meantime, I need to link the James Jordan piece on Halloween that I link almost every year. It’s a favorite.

PubCast #71: “A Hog’s Head Halloween,” or “John Granger’s Tell-Tale Dead Dog” will be posted at The Hog’s Head later tonight.

I’ve recently cut a few things from my life that will allow more time for writing, and I’ve begun the preliminary brainstorming work on a three-book series on The Christian Imagination. I’m in talks with a publishing company about them at present. Letters from the Perilous Realm will be my “home base” for scratching out the initial thoughts, so, once again, I’m working to revive this blog. I’ve also got an artist – new BHT fellow and brilliant log0-maker and photographer Aaron J. Smith – doing great work for me now, so new banner and connections to a new hub for my work will be coming in the near future.

Hope your Halloween is a great one!

This health care debate is as painful as it gets when it comes to politics in America. I am exhausted by watching people willingly abandon critical thinking about their own beliefs in order to join a team and tear apart the other team.

Listen: Both sides are lying a little bit. Both sides have folks who are telling the truth and genuinely want to see a resolution in this debate, and both sides have morons. So please, spare us the headlines and blog posts and Facebook updates like, “Facts Don’t Matter to the Anti-Obama Camp!” and the like.

Sheesh.

I am, as usual, with the libertarians on this one, and I think the official LP response (I’ve recently joined the LP) to President Obama’s speech is right on target.

/ rant off.

I cannot wait for this.

Hog’s Head Conversations: Essays on Harry Potter
Edited by Travis Prinzi
with contributions from Colin Manlove, John Granger. Amy H. Sturgis, and more!
Zossima Press, 2009

“Aberforth! Two more fire whiskeys for these friends!” Welcome, HARRY POTTER readers, to the Hog’s Head,the gathering place for members of Dumbledore’s Army and the historic rallying point before the Battle of Hogwarts. We scholars of the Hogwarts Saga (Harry Potter’s triumph over the Dark Lord) have come together here to share our researches on the meaning of Harry’s seven adventures. Listen attentively to discover hidden secrets of the series and learn why the books are worthy to be studied more closely! Sip that fire whiskey slowly. Sit back and enjoy the ten best Hog’s Head conversations of the past year, edited into this handy collection. And don’t forget to throw your peanut shells to the goat in the corner.

Read the introduction! (pdf)

Purchase at Amazon.com!

Eat, Pray, Love begins with Elizabeth Gilbert in her early 30s, crying on the bathroom floor. She is catapulted into a severe emotional and spiritual crisis because of the realization that she does not want to have a child. The dramatic meltdown ensues; she divorces her husband, cashes the advance check for her next novel and makes a plan to travel around the world. She orchestrates her recovery in three parts: first, she will eat big plates of pasta in Italy, second she will find God in an ashram in India, and third she will learn to balance pleasure and devotion in Indonesia, thereby triumphing over her severe depression.

I sound sarcastic, but the truth is that I also feel empathic. We all experience seasons of grief, a lack of satisfaction, an ache for more meaning. It was easy to see her appeal as I watched Oprah Winfrey endorse Gilbert and her pilgrimage. I saw women like myself soaking up the wisdom of her story, wanting to break their shackles, drop their burdens, and be free. We love living vicarious emotional journeys. And in Gilbert we find a charming, insightful and self-depreciating voice to capture the adventure.

But the adventure, no matter how cleverly written, seemed circular. Gilbert sets out for reaching the turiya state, or a state of constant bliss, not affected by mood swings, fear or loss. Spoiler: she doesn’t get there. Gilbert says that in the end she was not rescued by a prince, but was the administrator of her own rescue. And although the notion that we can heal and save ourselves is appealing, I don’t buy it. When I noticed that half of my Facebook friends have this novel listed as a favorite I decided to put my thoughts to paper.

Before we get to the point, which is the second part of the book on finding God, I must say this: Eating plates of pasta in Italy is something I have personally experienced. It is awesome and I highly recommend it. After gaining fifteen pounds and enjoying much decadence in Italy, Gilbert travels to India to study in an ashram under the teachings of a famous Indian guru. Here we are taught through our narrator that God dwells within us, as us. That we need to renounce our division from God, to refuse the idea that God is separate from us. My initial response to this was, “Is it a good thing for the God of the Universe to be like me? Is it good that God would love like me? Or have patience like me?” There is more peace in knowing that God transcends the limitations of frail humanness. Although we are created in the likeness of God, thankfully, we are not God.

Zen masters say that “you cannot see your reflection in running water, only still water.” It makes sense for our spiritual health that we slow down and be contemplative. Silence and solitude are universally recognized spiritual practices. But is the point, as the quote says to see your own reflection? Are spiritual journeys really about looking only inward to our own hearts? Gilbert says on her website that “God resides in pockets of silence” that you find when you are brave enough to look within yourself. While in India, she makes a decision to stay at the ashram to look deeper into her own soul, rather than travel into the villages. She believes it took extraordinary bravery to come to this decision.

Sitting perfectly still in meditation for hours, quieting your mind, and seeking self mastery are not easy. But brave? Isn’t being by ourselves the most safe and familiar thing we know? Is meditation good practice for an individual? Maybe. Was Gilbert’s choice good for the Indian people living in hunger and poverty in the town where the ashram was located? Was it brave of her to stay isolated in thought about herself or would it have been more brave to feed to the poor? For me, this is the question that matters.

Is a spiritual journey about looking inside you to find God or looking into the pain of the world and, with the strength God provides, seeking to relieve it? Mother Theresa exemplified one brave enough to engage with others, to be responsible for them, to try to help fix brokenness, and give to those who are in need. However transformative and healing Gilbert’s time contemplating her navel seems to be to her, she missed the point. There were people in that Indian village hungry for healing, and, quite simply, food. My sense is that the rich American could have left a more lasting mark on the world had she looked outside of herself. She could have told a story to inspire people to act beyond themselves, in the interest of others, in the spirit of the love of God.

I am happy to announce that I will no longer be blogging alone. You’ll get Perilous Realm letters from yet another writer from here on out: My wife, Tricia Prinzi!

Her first post, a book review of Eat, Pray, Love, will post right away.

I’ve definitely found new energy for this blog, and I’m happy about that. But I need to take a week off, because over the next week I have a talk at Brighton Memorial Library, a major Harry Potter conference (over 1,000 attendees) in San Francisco where I’m a Featured Speaker and  member of the press, a book release, and I have to pick up my dry cleaning.

See you next week.