tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9739005.post8657150277170829444..comments2023-07-19T05:10:59.402-07:00Comments on Graduate Grumblings: Normal StuffBrianGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883278789876067947noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9739005.post-91919218627443785022007-07-18T15:06:00.000-07:002007-07-18T15:06:00.000-07:00Hey Brian!!!I don't know if this counts as "Normal...Hey Brian!!!<BR/><BR/>I don't know if this counts as "Normal" but it looked like soemthing you'd be interested in!<BR/><BR/>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gregg-easterbrook/greatest-living-american-_b_56665.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9739005.post-30576773452987938672007-07-17T04:38:00.000-07:002007-07-17T04:38:00.000-07:00Doug,It is good to hear from you. The difference ...Doug,<BR/><BR/>It is good to hear from you. <BR/><BR/><BR/>The difference between Dante's tortured souls and Zombies is that Zombies are soulless, mindless bodies. The only thing left to them is hunger. Dante's tortured souls still have their minds, they are just tortured beings. Orcs are different to in a way because they were never alive as "good" beings.BrianGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11883278789876067947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9739005.post-5213013976417583632007-07-16T22:11:00.000-07:002007-07-16T22:11:00.000-07:00Hi Brian. I personally consider myself a fan of b...Hi Brian. I personally consider myself a fan of both the "normal" as well as the "non-normal" posts. Your take on zombies was interesting. It reminded me of something I read ages ago in one of Christopher Tolkien's books. Apparently, Christopher's father--the famous J.R.R.--came under fire at one point from conservative Catholics who questioned the whole idea of Orcs. They objected to them on the grounds that a Catholic conception of moral ontology does not allow for any created thing to be purely evil. In Catholic theology, the idea that purely evil things exist is Manichean; the contrary idea, the idea that all being is intrinsically good, and that to turn away from goodness is the same thing as turning away from being, is in my experience ascribed to Boethius. (Hence nihilism, the belief in nothing, can be construed as an essentially evil doctrine, because it denies being). Zombies, like orcs, seem to be purely evil constructs. On this, I tend to agree with your view. An alternative interpretation, however, is suggested by Dante; in one of the later cantos of INFERNO, I recall stanzas describing gigantic, fiery tombs in which the souls of damned men and women (including at least one pope) are burning. The lids of the tombs are removed, and the flames blaze brightly in hell's caverns. When Dante and Virgil approach them, the unfortunate souls explain that things, as bad as they are, will still get worse. Following the Final Judgment, the damned souls will be reunited with their glorified bodies in the general resurrection. In this reunified state, the condemned will burn eternally in a state of divinely perfected pain. At that point, the lids on the tombs will close forever. I mention this because, in certain ways, it seems to mirror the idea of a "reverse resurrection" that you described in your post. I don't know whether Dante's vision has any theological validity at all, but it certainly works as poetry. If only all zombie movies were as good as INFERNO!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com