Murakami's epiphany

Two Harukists discuss revelations...

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Matthew: What’s that word when you have a sudden insight into what you should do?

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Mark: An epiphany?

I'll start writing!

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Matthew: That’s it. Murakami had an epiphany; he was at a baseball match and decided he would become a writer. Like St Paul on the road to Damascus.

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Mark: There was a difference.

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Matthew: Being?

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Mark: That Jesus appeared, struck Paul blind, instructed him to seek a healer in Damascus. He did, regained his sight, and was converted.

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Matthew: See what you mean. Murakami just saw a baseball fly by and decided he could write a book.

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Voice-over

So an epiphany has its origins in a religious revealing, a turning point in a journey shimmering to life as a story. More than a sudden insight leading to a decision about what to do tomorrow.

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Symbolism of bread and wine

Post Christmas...

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Cathy: Did you attend a church service?

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Angela: We did, at a small church on a hill, established in the 1850s. Elegant small wooden structure, not so many people, but a service led by a vicar who tries to make the comments contemporary, and provides meals for the needy.

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Cathy: Do you go to church often?

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Angela: At Christmas I try to reconnect with the attempts my mother made to instill piety in us. Father thought that was a worthy way for Sunday to be spent, but he wasn't as committed to the endeavor as my mother.

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Cathy: Do you take communion?

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Take, eat this wafer
as a symbol of my body

Angela: Where the priest gives out bread saying “Take, eat, this is my body.”

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Cathy: Followed by “Drink, this is my blood.” Catholics believe the bread and wine become his body and blood. Do you?

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Angela: Nominally, I suppose I am Anglican but unlike many, I regard it only as a metaphor, as a symbol.

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Cathy: Pragmatism?

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Angela: Linguistics in a scientific age.

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Voice-over

“Take, eat, this is My body” (Matthew 26:26). Then He passed the cup to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood” (Matthew 26:27-28). Now, a wafer symbolizes the bread, and grape juice symbolizes the wine.

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Avocado: Not blooming where it was planted

Visiting the plant center…

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What ails thee?

Haas: The avocado shriveled. I have a photo.

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Nurseryman (drawing a finger over the print): Maybe a fungus. Possibly caused by overwatering?

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Haas: Might have.

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Nurseryman: They like a well-drained soil.

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Haas: I planted it three years ago. It did well, but suddenly, this month, all the leaves went black.

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Nurseryman: Don’t like to say this, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to make it. 😞

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Voice-over

The tree tried. To bloom where it was planted. But not everyone makes it. A time might come when all the help and intervention you can give it cannot rescue an endangered individual. Endurance is shadowed by acceptance. 🌳
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