Ah, I am really thankful for my Alaskan friends.

I also dearly miss Alaska.

Perhaps in a few years, I will also miss Princeton the way I miss Alaska?

But the memories here have been too recent to be compressed under its own weight.

I'll have to wait until I reminisce about Princeton, though I do not know in what light my memories will be cast.

I think beauty is found in wonder; What you can grasp completely can never be beautiful, simply because there is nothing more to it. Yesterday night, I was walking home late alone and was struck at the deep deep blue of the sky and the full moon, and I praised God. But then I thought, the blue is scientific, the moon a round rock, and the stars luminescent stars eons away.

Perhaps the experience of "conversion" at the immediate is an emotional response, but the long-term response is a shift in biblical hermeneutics?

Also, I think there is more evidence that religion is a primarily a language, not simply a verbal one, used to communicate ineffable things. Unfortunately, one cannot communicate the immediate, individual experience of God, so we must make do with meaningless words and attribute meaning only by consensus.

(I was also thinking, what is meaning? what is the meaning of meaning? Does the existence of something means that it has to have a purpose? I think that that's an obvious NO. Also, when Christians say that God gives purpose to our lives, what are they really saying? Is purpose given? If so, then why can I not reject it?) I do not think that God gives meaning to our lives. I think he gives us the freedom to create it. *does meaning exist in an metaphysical plane? or can it simply be a career that one has? or perhaps, as a father? but if it exist in our plane, then it cannot be from God, because it is transitory. but if it exists in a metaphysical plane, then it is eternal. Simply telling me to worshiping God is my purpose in life does not mean that I will agree.)