I am currently attempting to drag myself across the finish line at Austin College. The work has piled up as it usually does at the end of the semester and the thrill of paper writing and test taking is in the air. In that spirit, I spent Tuesday being very organized, and Wednesday having deep and meaningful conversations. I stayed up talking with an incredibly diverse, interesting group of people last night till about 4 am. We mainly talked philosophy, but more than anything we talked about the concept of universal truth. We concluded and mainly agreed that 1+1=2.....but what does that mean? Does it mean that there are other universal truths? We ended up with some kind of consensus that yes, all things exist and we cannot escape our existence. I believe that it is this transcendent 1+1 truth and the fact that nothing can be separated from existence that affirms God's character. God entered into human suffering. God created a human Son who was imperfect, flawed, doubtful at times. God created a passionate Son who led a group of people within his own religious framework as well as outside of it. 


I think last night, talking with those men I realized that I can only stay true to my personal narrative by working within it. Keep in mind that the shortness of my words, and the utter incapability I have with language limits my ability to communicate. As Slavoj Zizek said, "Words are never 'only words'; they matter because they define the contours of what we can do." I'm not sure if "normal people" think about the confines of language as much as Austin College students. Maybe just college students in general, but i know that being thrown into the deep end of philosophy was a good way to build some motivation to write a paper on International Human Rights. It was also a good way to get me to think about India, a culture outside of my own that I will soon be finding many things in common with as well as differences. I am fully ready ( partially from my 3 hour nap today) to take on the tiny portion of the world that I inhabit today! I am ready to live inside the tragedy of existence because that simply means that I am human, just like Christ. 


Grace and Peace,
Rachel