I MIGHT BE AN INTELLECTUAL

Blog number 319 **** 21 July 2009

I was sitting in the dentist's office waiting for mi espousa and I noticed a magazine entitled "Biblical Archaeology." At first I just kind of ignored it because I thought it was one of those children's magazines they pass out in Bible school. As I kept glancing at it, I began to think it wasn't. So I picked it up and found that it was a very erudite rendition of a host of Biblical Archaeology topics - seemingly mostly fights between archaeologists and Jewish museum authorities concerning what was and what wasn't fake.

Within the pages was a discussion of whether or not ancient mosaics of Orpheus were the forerunners of mosaics of Jesus. Orpheus was the hero of an ancient Greek myth who supposedly could play the lyre so well that he could charm the animals. His wife Eurydice, whom he loved desperately, died, and Orpheus went into Hades to try and charm the Keeper of Hades into letting Eurydice come back. Orpheus got permission with the caveat that Eurydice follow him and he would not look back at her until they were back in the upper world.

Orpheus looked back.

My point in telling this story? I am reading a novel called, "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" by Yukio Mishima and I read, "... I felt that if I were suddenly to turn round and look again, its form would vanish exactly like that of Eurydice."

I felt like one of those intellectuals at a cocktail party that could understand the discussions of the Cambridge educated. I was so happy to be able to understand that phrase without resorting to Google.

Doesn't take all that much to make me happy.

Mimi's bread pudding would do it too.