Tired Road Warrior

My existential Trial began last Friday.  Rumor had it that the plumber who was going to accompany us this week to Navajo Mountain was in jail, not scheduled to be released until the next Tuesday.  This was a problem because this specific plumber had helped us on similar projects and could hit the ground running.  Additionally, he is a knowledgable, hardworking guy.  Damn.  I checked county records and sure enough he was in jail.  I wondered about getting him released early? 

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Forty years ago in Madrid’s Prado Art Museum, I discovered the early 19th-century Black Paintings of Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (Goya).  They were deeply disturbing, but also incredibly intriguing.  I wondered about their message and their meaning.  Why had he painted them?  I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that the Spanish artist had gone mad in his old age, or at least flirted with serious depression and/or insanity.

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There is great philosophy, writing, and word play in the Bible.  I’m personally fond of the Old Testiment Book of Ecclesiastes, thought to have been written around 200 BC.  It is a wonderful read because of the author’s exceptional command of language and beautiful King James translation.  The author is one of the most original thinkers in the Bible. 

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The King Follett Discourse, delivered by Joseph Smith in the latter part of his life, has always been a favorite doctrinal exposition of mine.  But recently the Mormon Church has backed away from some the doctrine elucidated in Smith’s funeral address.  I think this is to accommodate the Christian Right, many of whom feel Mormons are not Christian because of their belief that man may become like God, a doctrine commonly referred to in Mormon circles as “eternal progression” or more recently as the “plan of salvation.”

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