Abortion & Ethics in "Breaking Dawn" (SPOILERS)

Editor's Note: A big thank you to my wife for providing much-needed background knowledge from the Twilight books, and for co-writing this article with me. 

Morality is discovered, like stars, not invented, like games. It is not man-made, arbitrary, and changeable...Morality gives human beings dignity.

- Peter Kreeft

Many will scoff at the suggestion that the film adaptation of Breaking Dawn can be unpacked in any serious way. We are talking about the latest Twilight film, correct? The movie about vampires punctuated by Kristen Stewart gasping? The one where Taylor Lautner rips off his shirt to show off his abs to millions of giddy girls across the country in the first minute of the movie?

Yes - and to a certain extent, they're right. Twilight is, for the most part, just a straight-forward fantasy-romance stories for teens, despite innumerable attempts to read some grand metaphor into them. They're just stories - and yes, a big part of the attraction for most teens is the love triangle between a teenage girl, a mysterious vampire, and a moody werewolf.

Yet, the film Breaking Dawn does graze some serious ethical questions - questions about the nature of the person and the consideration of consequences when making moral choices.

The Historical Significance of Christmas

As a Christmas gift to you, readers, we'll spare you our rambling about philosophy and art, and let a better writer and a better artist do the talking. Without further ado, here is GK Chesterton with a meditation on the historical significance of Christmas, followed by rocker Chris Cornell's rendition of a classic. Merry Christmas! 

Do You Believe in Miracles?

When a thing professes from the very outset to be a unique invasion of nature by something from the outside, increasing knowledge of nature can never make it either more or less credible than it was at the beginning. In this sense it is mere confusion of thought to suppose that advancing science has made it harder for us to accept miracles. We always knew they were contrary to the natural course of events; we know still that if there is something beyond nature, they are possible.

- CS Lewis

Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish brothers and sisters!

To celebrate the miracle of the oil, we've uploaded a shorter version of Matisyahu's video for his song "Miracle" on our YouTube channel for your enjoyment. You can find the original video here, and a wonderful acoustic version of the same song here.

(Last week, Matisyahu shaved his beard and spoke about undergoing a spiritual "transformation." While we'll definitely miss the beard, the good news is that Matisyahu will be releasing two new albums soon - one titled Akedah: Teaching to Love, which is based on the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac.)

How about you, reader? Do you believe in miracles?

A Song For Christopher Hitchens (1949 - 2011)

Take the risk of thinking for yourself - much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way.

- Christopher Hitchens

British-born author and atheist Christopher Hitchens passed away yesterday at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He was 62 years old.

In June 2010, Hitchens was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. He battled the cancer for over a year, all the while retaining his staunch atheism and insisting that the cancer would in no way prompt a conversion. He wrote: "As a terrified, half-aware imbecile, I might even scream for a priest at the close of business, though I hereby state while I am still lucid that the entity thus humiliating itself would not in fact be 'me.'"

Hitchens' diligent and impassioned opposition to all things religious hardly needs emphasis - in fact, the title of his most famous book, God Is Not Great, emphasizes his central claim that religion "poisons everything." He was often seen as public enemy number one of organized religion, due in large part to his radiant wit and charming demeanor (qualities which, quite honestly, fellow atheists Dawkins, Dennett, and Harris lack). 

So it may seem a strange and even insulting thing to honor the life of this notorious atheist with a song by J.S. Bach, whose baroque compositions (St Matthew's Passion, Magnificat, Mass in B minor) all reek of incense and candles. But what many may not know about this brilliant and hilarious man of letters is that Bach (along with Bob Dylan) was his favorite musician. 

Rather than take a conventional approach to Hitchens' life and work, I want to honor the man's originality by focusing in on this strange biographical tidbit, in such a way that will probably make atheists and theists both uncomfortable.

True Comedy: The Elf, The Tramp, The Dude, & The Bambino

The essence of comedy is the coming together of opposites, the juxtaposition of incongruous things. So we laugh when an adult speaks like a child or when a simple man finds himself lost amid the complexities of sophisticated society.

- Robert Barron

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we'll inevitability see some classic Christmas movies invade the networks - among them, Jon Favreau's Elf starring Will Ferrell.

I distinctly remember seeing Elf in the theater eight years ago with my brothers. We chuckled and giggled throughout the film's opening twenty minutes, a bit unsure - but during the above scene, starting with the infamous taxi cab hit, chuckles turn to soundless, gasping, ecstatic laughter. I believe we came close to dying we laughed so hard.

Many will disagree, I'm sure - but for me, this scene with Will Ferrell is on par with some classic comedic scenes, because it taps into the essence of comedy: incongruity.

The Harlem River Dispatch: "2011: The Tree of Life Odyssey"?

Every true artist does feel, consciously or unconsciously, that he is touching transcendental truths; that his images are shadows of things seen through the veil. In other words, the natural mystic does know that there is something there, something behind the clouds or within the trees...that the pursuit of beauty is the way to find it; that imagination is a sort of incantation that can call it up. 

- G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

Ever since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life has consistently been compared to Stanley Kubrick’s mind-bending sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey - and understandably so, for the similarities between both films are numerous and striking.

Most notably, both films feature extended space sequences grandly set to classical music that are lacking in dialogue, action, and narrative relevance to their central dramas. (It's not surprising that behind each sequence is special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, who is credited on both films as the "special photographic effects supervisor.")

Additionally, both films were simultaneously lauded and panned by critics and audiences alike upon their initial release. Scattered boos and several dozen walk outs were reported during the premiere of The Tree of Life at Cannes - yet, it ended up winning The Palme d’Or at the end of the festival. Similarly, at the L.A. premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey, 241 people reportedly walked out, including movie star Rock Hudson, who famously grumbled upon his exit: "Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?"

Similarities can also be found in the artistic styles, habits, public personas, and even the very names of the films' directors. Both were notoriously reclusive figures that forcibly distanced themselves from Hollywood and the media throughout the majority of their careers. They were also both annoyingly tortoise-paced in their creative processes, each having completed far fewer films than their admirers would have hoped for.

Despite the many similarities they share, however, there lies in the thematic marrow of each film a philosophy of existence which is entirely contradictory to the other. This major difference between them is so present and broad that one has to wonder whether The Tree of Life might have been conceived as an artistic response to the world view of its colossal predecessor.

Nujabes Leaves Us in a "Spiritual State"

Nothing exists without music, for the universe itself is said to have been framed by a kind of harmony of sounds.

- Isidore of Seville 

In a post earlier this month on Sufjan Stevens, we noted that Christmas and music tend to always go together. But we didn't have time to ask a common refrain of this blog: "Why?"

Much of the association between Christmas and music, it could be argued, is grounded in the interplay throughout history between religious thought and music. Professor of neuroscience Michael Graziano has admitted that music is "united" to religion by its "spiritual quality," and the "reverential reaction" it evokes in him - even though he remains a staunch intellectual atheist.

This interplay stretches back to a medieval principle called musica universalis (or "universal music"), which literally linked the movement of the universe and planets to musical harmony. It was long thought, by this principle, that astronomy, mathematics, and music were all tightly linked somehow - a view strengthened by the prevalent metaphysics of the time, which sourced all intelligibility and beauty in the first cause of all reality, i.e. God. (This idea of the "musicality" of the movement of the physical universe has been explored by some of the greatest filmmakers, including Kubrick and Malick - who we'll be comparing in another post later this week.)

While that concept has waned in the modern world, sometimes artists sniff out and explore the connection - and Japanese jazz and hip-hop producer Jun Seba (or "Nujabes") was just such an artist.

Tragically, Nujabes died last year in a fatal car accident - but his final album Spiritual State, which was just released posthumously, is an incredible testament to the ways in which music can reflect and affirm a spiritual striving toward faith, hope, and love.

Sick of the Same Old Christmas Music?

Let's face it - Christmas and music go together like hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Every other major holiday boasts some other distinct partner - Thanksgiving is all about good food, St. Patrick's is "amateur night" for booze-hounding,  and Halloween is never without scary movies. But the pride and joy of Christmas is its beautiful carols and hymns. (In fact, my brothers are all convinced that it's something like sacrilege to not pair Christmas with the instrumental classic Winterlude.)

That's why it never ceases to amaze me how we settle for the same old insufferable dross masquerading as Christmas music on the radio throughout the month of December. Sure, some classics elbow their way in - but for the most part, Mariah Carey, Brenda Lee, and "Feliz Navidad" are on replay ad nauseam. And we all hate it - just google "annoying Christmas songs" and watch the hits roll in.

So, as a respite from your torment, we'd like to showcase the Christmas music of Sufjan Stevens - an artist whose mellow folk style restores some much-needed mindfulness and leisure to the holiday season.