Ben Boyett - Personal Blog 1

Recently I was leading a Bible study and we had a first time visitor come who was a good friend of one of the members. I got to talk to him afterward and found out that he is atheistic. During the conversation he mentioned that he would never accept a religion unless he had a logical proof stating that it was in fact a true experience of the supernatural. The problem with this lies in the definition of supernatural. Anything that is supernatural is above and outside of nature and therefore will not act according to our scientific laws. What then is left to communicate the experience of the holy? Personal experience is all we really have of proof that anything supernatural exists, but personal experience is inherently flawed in that we can't allow someone else to experience just what we ourselves have experienced. All that remains is simply faith.

Ben Boyett - The Jacket

Enjoyable, thought-provoking film. Does he die in the jacket or does he actually manage to escape and live in the future? Is it just the drug that causes him to experience what he does or is there a deeper mystery surrounding being wrapped in the jacket and placed in the morgue? The morgue drawer symbolizes death very overtly as he is placed in a position that normally only dead people are in. Pretty terrifying prospect. One of the things that I don't understand is why people are so reluctant to give information about his death. If he really died there why would they lie about it and try to avoid the issue? This film makes me think that if I knew how I was going to die would I try to avoid it? Surely most people would, but can one cheat death? To quote the film, "How much time do we have?"

Ben Boyett - Bunny

Funny little film. The old bunny is trying to bake a cake but keeps getting distracted by the moth. We get early implications that the moth is in some way tied to her deceased husband. This idea is confirmed again at the very end when it focuses on a picture of the two of them with two moths flittering around in the reflection. One question I have about it is when does the bunny die? Does she die while she is dreaming and life gradually drifts away from her, or does she actually die when she crawls in the oven? What really happens there? In my opinion she dies in her sleep and while dreaming she drifts away. I really liked the transition from the oven to the sky and the bunny flying away with the rest of the moths. Also it is interesting that while she is trying to creat something, she gets so frustrated that her new goal is to destroy rather than to create. In her fervor we see the most passion.

Ben Boyett - Romans 1

After writing a blog on The Butlerian Jihad I was reminded of a section from Romans 1 that I have read recently where Paul calls himself a slave. Romans is a letter from the apostle Paul to the church in Rome introducing himself to them and explaining why he is coming to visit them. The introductory section in verses 1-7 talk about who Paul is. In the first verse Paul calls himself a slave, an apostle, and says that he has been singled out for the mission. In an introductory letter I have never described myself as a slave. In Rome slaves were consided lowly so why would he call himself a slave? In the Old Testament once Israel receives a king the people are called to be slaves to their king, and the king a slave to God. I think that in this section Paul has removed the middle man and directly become a slave to God. Not a slave in the sense that we usually think of it but rather as a voluntary servant, who is bound out of obligation. Paul also writes that he has been freed. Freed to be a slave? What is freedom? Can we be totally free under self-rule?

Ben Boyett - The Butlerian Jihad

The Butlerian Jihad is a novel written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. It is a prequel to the original Dune but is still set in the distant future. As the book opens there is a conflict between two warring factions, the humans and the cymeks. The cymeks are former humans brains that have been put into robots bodies. This book addresses several issues such as what it means to be human, human slavery, and the moral implications of scientific advances. The most interesting thing to me was humantys struggle for freedom from their robotic oppressors. The robotic army controlled by an artificial intelligence named Omnius capture and subjugate most of humanity and are closing in on the few remaining strongholds. A woman named Serena Butler becomes the catalyst for revolution when Omnius finds out she is pregnant and kills her baby. Why didnt it spark a revolution when he massacred whole planets? Was her baby that important? I think that we are willing to tolerate a whole lot more than we are willing to put our children through.

Ben Boyett - Dune

I have always been a fan of Frank Herbert's Dune books, and recently I picked up a copy to reread it. I am fascinated with the way he ties Messianic prophecy into the story. Through a specialized breeding program a group called the Bene Gesserit hope to cross breed all good human traits into a single bloodline and in so doing create a superhuman capable of reaching outside of our time to see reveal the past and the future. Should that be the ultimate goal of humanity? To be able to circumvent time would be an incredibly powerful tool, one not to be wielded lightly. Herbert explores this idea through the experiences of the protagonist named Paul Atreides. After realizing his potential as this superhuman he shortly goes mad and in the ensuing book he leaves his position as Emperor of the Universe to wander off into the desert, a blind, penniless prophet. This reminds me of Oedipus, who only realizes what it is to see after he has lost his vision. Very deep book and I intend on finishing the series in the next few weeks.

Ben Boyett - Koyaanisqatsi

Interesting film. In Hopi it means "Life out of Balance" or "a state of life that calls for another way of living". Through the series of time lapse videos the director implies that the lives that we live need to be changed due to our harmful impact on ourselves, those around us, and our environment. For a film that doesnt use spoken language it speaks volumes about our race. I don't enjoy watching films like this because all it feels like is a guilt trip. The director doesn't suggest any alternative way to live, but seems to suggest that the world is more important than human life. It can ispire people to action sure, but only to the extent that they will buy a hybrid instead of a large SUV. I do agree that we need to slow down and take a look around us more often, but the ending to this film seems to be prophetic of an apocalyptic end.