Busy day

Walking the precinct like Caine all day. Please talk amongst yourselves.

Possible topics:

1. Yesterday in church we sang a chorus called "Open the eyes of my heart." Is this a mixed metaphor or is there a more precise term for the cross-breeding of literary devices in that phrase?

2. To what extent has America's automobile culture damaged the idea of the parish in America?

3. As Slate's Fred Kaplan points out, the latest ad from the George W. Bush campaign (the ad with the cute puppies) is full of distortions and misrepresentations. Lying, of course, is a sin. Is it also a sin to reward such lying with one's vote?

Comments

[Peatey]

Fred, are you all verklempt?

[patter]

RE Topic #1 -- Fred, it's one of the better worship choruses, taken from ol' buddy Paul's missive to the Ephesians --

"I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power."

Awesome, huh?

[Patrick J. Mullins]

I see they're having no truck with the usual positioning of a 3rd Eye.

I had an auto accident in 1982, and there was a cut between the eyes just up the forehead where the 3rd Eye is supposed to be. It left a scar.

Then I went to a New Ager who pretended to do Reiki on me, but I didn't believe it.

He said something about 'getting your 3rd Eye put out' while laughing. Those New Agers will give in to Hegel's 'unhappy consciousness' any old day of the week, especially if the state comes in. They weren't averse to having me put Vitamin E on my 3rd eye either.

People in chat rooms always say "I haven't seen you for awhile." Then a French girl came in and said 'good to read you.' That got rid of the worst filth.

It could be a device along the lines of Dolly Parton's song to Hulk 'You've got a headlock on my heart...' I bet it's in A Flat, just like 'Open My Eyes That I May See,' that was sufficient. 'Eyes of my heart' is too graphic, suggesting auricles and ventricles, but 'eye of my heart' might have seemed too weird.

The best is 'I Heart Huckabees,' the best film in years. Shit! it was so damn good, especially the buttoned open circle around Lily Tomlin's cleavage and Mark Wahlberg.

[davit]

Cardio-optics?

[davit]

Patrick
I don't know about your third eye but did you know that Davy Crockett had a third ear?
A left ear, a right ear and a wild front ear.

[JRoth]

synaesthesia - best example I know of is in a Jethro Tull song - "I'm tasting the smell/ Of toast as the butter runs..." But I think it applies to any mixing of the senses, and is usually poetic/non-literal: Taste and see the Goodness of the Lord, which I suppose literalists would shallowly apply to parts of Creation that taste or look good - God help their limited experience/understanding of His work.

[Mabus]

Not really, JRoth, although perhaps there are ultra-literalists out there who take it that way. Most of us recognize figures of speech when we see them. We just don't expect them to be scattered everywhere without any indication of their presence. (Poetic form is a clue.)

I don't immediately recognize that particular song, though I can recall a few with similar phrases. It's possible we don't sing the one Fred's thinking of. Perhaps in a few years when you have moved on to something else....

[Adrian Turtle]

1. Most mixed metaphors are clumsy, less powerful than either image would be alone. Sometimes, a mixed metaphor works well enough ("like a bridge over troubled waters, I will lay me down" is an example I expect to be familiar, though I'm not saying it's brilliant), that the author is clearly mixing the metaphors on purpose, as poetry.

"Open the eyes of my heart," is probably a metaphor that was mixed with poetic intent. I think it's pretty good, but not great...knowing the line from _The Little Prince_ about "It is only with the heart that one can see truely, what is essential is invisible to the eye," makes it stronger.

2. I don't know what the "idea of the parish" is, in America or anywhere else. But it frightens me what automobile culture has done to communities. My insistence on living in a walkable community is far more of an alternative lifestyle, and separates me much further from American common culture, than who I sleep with or how I pray.

[Brandon]

I think to believe such lying would be stupid and as such bear the marks of sin. But, I've never been one to tell you how many Ave Maria's to say.

[Patrick Mullins]

Pointless about the lying, Bill Clinton did it too. We voted for him, so we sinned, what's the big deal?

Everybody lies somewhat, especially the ones who try to keep to the 'letter of the law' because they end up lying about the big things.

It's all a matter of degree.

Sure it's a sin to vote for George Bush, but who cares, nearly everything else is too, like buying anything made in a sweatshop even if you didn't know it. Mainly it's just uncouth, dumb, repulsive, disgusting, dangerous, poisonous, odious, malignant, malevolent and smelly.

Dick Cheney and George Bush should have to do their wholesale farting elsewhere.

[Karen]

One of the worst effects of the automobile culture on the community is oddly enough, on architecture. Our love affair with cars moved the location of the garage from the carriage house behind the house to the front, as a way of displaying our most precious possession. The more garage doors, the better. Garages often jut out in front of the house, so that one can no longer see one's neighbors.

Private cars bring residents home. They pull into the garage and enter the house without seeing their neighbors. People no longer walk home from the transit stop, waving at neighbors. Alleys have disappeared, and with them the best place for neighborhood kids to play together out of traffic.

People don't know their neighbors any more. We don't know what we have in common with each other.

[JRoth]

Karen-

Do you know about citycomforts.com? David Sucher, author & blogger, has written all about the deleterious effects of autos on architecture - or, rather, on urban planning, with parking lots in front of buildings, making places pedestrian-unfriendly. I highly recommend it.

[JRoth]

Oh, and apologies to literalists for being perhaps too snarky. But if people don't see Genesis 1 as metaphorical, I'm not sure I trust their metaphor sensors.

[carla]

Yeah, karen and adrian are right about the devastating effect of automobile culture on any reasonable notion of community. I live in the heart of the heart of the city--there's a major grocery store around the corner, and a Whole Paycheck down the street; the bustop for my morning community is literally outside the door of my apartment building; a zillion restaurants are within walking distance. Now, my rent is also high, but I've never owned a car, so I think it balances out quite nicely. (My SO, "acquired" after I moved into this building and long after I moved into this neighborhood, must drive to work in the burbs every day, at least until they finish adding a train track, and he hates it. Plus there's the expense of a place to park, etc. but he, too, loves the convenience of our neighborhood.) When we visit his relatives in the burbs, I'm struck by exactly what y'all were saying above, about the garage being front and center. And the cul de sacs, trying to give the illusion of a little community--feh! I like big cities, I can live in small towns (I grew up in one), but suburbs give me the jitters.

[David Barrett]

Fred, was it this one?

-----------------------------
Open the eyes of my heart Lord,
Open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see you,
I want to see you.

To see you high and lifted up,
Shining in the light of your glory;
Pour out your power and love,
As we sing Holy, Holy, Holy.
-----------------------------

[JRoth]

Correction:

http://citycomfortsblog.typepad.com/

[Beth]

I don't think 'eyes of the heart' is so much a mixed metaphor as simply a clumsy phrase. We can listen with our hearts, see with our hearts, even speak from the heart, but the image of a heart complete with eyes, ears and mouth is absurd. 'Heart' is both physical and metaphorical. It's an organ of the body that pumps blood, but also the seat of love and compassion. The problem with the phrase 'eyes of the heart' is that not that it mixes metaphors, but that it encourages confusion between the physical and the metaphorical. Eyes can also be metaphorical, of course. (If someone says 'Open my eyes, oh Lord,' they're not asking God to raise their eyelids for them.) The problem is that when you attach metaphorical eyes to a metophorical heart, it can produce an unintentionally hilarious image in the minds of the listener.

[Beth]

My favorite mixed metaphor is one uttered by a senator many years ago. Talking about about the renewed sense of purpose Reagen had brought, he said, "We've taken the bit in our teeth and we're back in the saddle."

[Steve]

Funny....I'm just working on a worship song that goes: "Open the taste of my ears, Lord...."

[--susan]

'Eyes of the heart' and the resulting mental image reminds me of a dialogue from Buffy that neatly utilized and then skewered typical romantic sentiment:

Angel: ...and I loved you...'cause I could see your heart. You held it before you for everyone to see. And I worried that it would be bruised or torn. And more than anything in my life I wanted to keep it safe...to warm it with my own.

Buffy: That's beautiful. Or taken literally, incredibly gross.

Angel: I was just thinking that, too.

[Beth]

Steve, Well I've been to some services where I wished the choirmaster's ears had better taste. ;-)

Susan, Perfect.

[TomR]

The Greek word underlying 'heart' in the given translation is one which varies in different manuscripts: either 'dianoias' which means heart only in an abstract, not a biological, sense, or 'kardias', which is easily recognized as biological. The online dictionary at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ glosses dianoias as "a thought, intention, purpose". In other translations of Ephesians 1:18 (based on the dianoias reading) the passage is rendered "eyes of your understanding".

I do not have access to a critical edition at the moment, so do not express an opinion as to which reading is to be preferred.