Thursday: nobody will read this - - -
... and I don't fault or blame them. And that's not meant as a challenge or dare.
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a new type of object called a "black hole star" (named MoM-BH*-1). Located in the early universe about 660 million years after the Big Bang, it looks like a massive red star, but it is powered by a central black hole wrapped in a dense gas cocoon instead of nuclear fusion.
Yesterday's breakfast was a second mug of hot & black with a jumbo slice of the cherry pie that I ordered along with the rhubarb pie that is long gone. Once every two or three years I buy a cherry pie like Mama used to make: whole montmorency cherries, a tart, red, sweet pie that just hits the spot when needed.
Today, Thursday's breakfast, which I've been thinking toward while I leveled my weight off for my annual doctor appointment weigh-in, was a magic mug of the newly opened club coffee that arrived for August, along with two slices of cinnamon roll bread from the TAFB commissary, bathed in a scrambled mix of two eggs, a pour of half and half, a pour of maple syrup, a spoon of raw brown sugar, and cooked in a pan stovetop. It was good but nowhere near up to the French toast my mother used to make for our breakfast from Time to Time. What I made this morning was bread consistency, needed to be floppy soggy: if I do it again I'll use whipping cream, more than just a pour of it, and a lot more maple syrup.
There's still one serving of that cherry pie left, but I'm not trying to gain all that weight back in a week, so I'll let it ripen another day or so. Maybe have it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, eh?
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Pinched online, that top photo is a sunset view of our Milky Way Galaxy, from our edge-on perspective showing it split by the Dark Rift, a cloudy, gaseous region where stars are formed.
It's all theological to me, as astronomy, deep space exploration reveals more and more of Creation that we call the Universe (baruch ata, Adonai Elohim, Melek ha-Olam, blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe), highlights more and more of our ignorance, and stirs more and more questions and doubts, many beyond our understanding, many more doubtless unanswerable until, like Job, you come face to face with Pantokrator and demand answers.
What happens then is richly poetically attested at Job 38:1 through Job 42:6
THE LORD ANSWERS JOB
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb;
9 when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21 You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
25 “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt,
26 to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man;
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass?
28 “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?
30 The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 “Can you bind the chains of the Plei′ades, or loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the Maz′zaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the clouds, or given understanding to the mists?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38 when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cleave fast together?
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?
41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
39 “Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth? Do you observe the calving of the hinds?
2 Can you number the months that they fulfil, and do you know the time when they bring forth,
3 when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
4 Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them.
5 “Who has let the wild ass go free Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
6 to whom I have given the steppe for his home, and the salt land for his dwelling place?
7 He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
8 He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
9 “Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your crib?
10 Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
12 Do you have faith in him that he will return, and bring your grain to your threshing floor?
13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them, and that the wild beast may trample them.
16 She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear;
17 because God has made her forget wisdom, and given her no share in understanding.
18 When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
19 “Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with strength?
20 Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible.
21 He paws in the valley, and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
22 He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
23 Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear and the javelin.
24 With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25 When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads his wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?
28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home in the fastness of the rocky crag.
29 Thence he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it afar off.
30 His young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he.”
40 And the Lord said to Job:
2 “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
JOB'S RESPONSE TO GOD
3 Then Job answered the Lord:
4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee? I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”
GOD'S CHALLENGE TO JOB
6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
7 “Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you declare to me.
8 Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?
9 Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 “Deck yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
11 Pour forth the overflowings of your anger, and look on every one that is proud, and abase him.
12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked where they stand.
13 Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below.
14 Then will I also acknowledge to you, that your own right hand can give you victory.
15 “Behold, Be′hemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.
16 Behold, his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly.
17 He makes his tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
18 His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.
19 “He is the first of the works of God; let him who made him bring near his sword!
20 For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play.
21 Under the lotus plants he lies, in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.
22 For his shade the lotus trees cover him; the willows of the brook surround him.
23 Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened; he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.
24 Can one take him with hooks, or pierce his nose with a snare?
41 “Can you draw out Levi′athan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope in his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak to you soft words?
4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant for ever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on leash for your maidens?
6 Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears?
8 Lay hands on him; think of the battle; you will not do it again!
9 Behold, the hope of a man is disappointed; he is laid low even at the sight of him.
10 No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he that can stand before me?
11 Who has given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
12 “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer garment? Who can penetrate his double coat of mail?
14 Who can open the doors of his face? Round about his teeth is terror.
15 His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.
16 One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18 His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth.
20 Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
22 In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.
23 The folds of his flesh cleave together, firmly cast upon him and immovable.
24 His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the nether millstone.
25 When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26 Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail; nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee; for him slingstones are turned to stubble.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30 His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33 Upon earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.
34 He beholds everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride.”
JOB ANSWERS THE LORD
42 Then Job answered the Lord:
2 “I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’
5 I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee;
6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
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It is rich, of course, poetic lines back and forth like Shakespeare; in fact, a story-telling bishop once characterized the Book of Job as not a historic event but a stage play, which seems right. In agony and his friends urging him to curse God, die and be done with his suffering - - to which Job only defends God, who, needing no defender or apologist, should be old and big enough to defend God's self.
As the critics like to point out, Job's complaints are warranted yet God bullies Job into submission. Carl Jung takes it further, casting the crucifixion of Jesus as God's repentance and penance for God's damnable abuse of his faithful servant Job, whom Jung says represents all of humankind. It all rings, or, better, wrings, in the Question of Theodicy, which is not an unanswerable question at all, but a lead in to the evidence that the faith-based, supposedly unchallengeably true fact Major Premise is false. In creation and the nature of things, God is not as we image, and therefore let settle in concrete certainty - - as we image God to BE.
