I’m volunteering at a camp all next week, so I figured I’d put in another post before I left. =)

I remember I read a super condensed and abridged version of this when I was a kid and absolutely loved it – enough so that I made a little skit based off this story for me and two of my friends. Adventure stories have always been my favorite – give me dinosaurs and perilous caverns over a drama any day.

Anyways, I found this unabridged version at a second hand bookstore for a dollar; I picked it up and started reading immediately. The first thing that struck me was Jules Verne’s sense of humor. Harry’s deadpan statements of the obvious are priceless!

“I looked rather anxiously around. If the animals were as exaggerated as the plants, the matter would certainly be serious.”
-pg 159

The basic story follows like this: An old piece of parchment with Icelandic writing on it falls out of one of Professor Hardwigg’s old books. The professor calls his nephew Harry to help him interpret the message. The message turns out to be written by a certain Arne Saknussemm a few hundred years earlier, which states that he had made it to the center of the earth through the volcano Mount Sneffels in Iceland. The professor, overwhelmed with enthusiasm, undertakes the same journey, dragging Harry along with him. Before descending into the crater of Mount Sneffels they hire a man named Hans to be their guide. And thus they descend into the earth’s crust…

I learned a whole bunch of vocabulary words this year, but never bothered remembering half of them because, really, when are you ever going to come across the word abnegation?

When you’re reading Jules Verne, that’s when. This dude has a seriously amazing vocabulary, I was blown away every time I turned the page. But don’t let that be intimidating– the esoteric words don’t hinder you from following the story at all.

Anyways, since this book deals a whole lot with geology I had to note a few things. Verne definitely promotes the geological column in this book, but also mentions the Divine Architect and the Creator. I gather he might have believed in the Gap theory, where the days of creation weren’t 24 hour days, but millions of years. Or maybe he’s one of those people who believed that God used evolution to create things? He never says anything specific about evolution though…he talks about the geological column and different “periods of creation”…so gather what you will.

Anyways, this is a quote from Professor Hardwigg talking about a massive cave he and his companions have found themselves in:
“…the mighty Architect of the Universe has constructed it of solid materials. Man, even in his highest flights of vivid and poetic imagination never thought of such things! What are the fine arches of our bridges, what vaulted roofs of our cathedrals, to that mighty dome above us, and beneath which floats an ocean with its shores and calms and tides.”
-pg 166

Also, Chapter 30 has the best title in the history of chapter titles: Great Saurian Combat.

Dude.

I actually can’t wait to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D solely for 3D dinosaurs. The rest of it is going to suck, I know, but watching a dinosaur come RIGHT AT YOU might be worth it.

Anyways, Jules Verne is totally my hero now and I can’t wait to read another one of his books soon!

Okay let’s see…I read Book 5 awhile ago, so basing off my notes let’s see if I can give an accurate rundown.

Oh, here we are. Satan is in Eden and whispering thoughts into Eve’s ear as she sleeps. Thus, her sleep is not as restful as it usually is. Adam awakes…

11. …He on his side,
Leaning, half-raised, with looks of candid love
Hung over her enamored, and beheld
Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep
Shot forth peculiar graces. Then with voice
Mild, so when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
Her hand soft touching, whispered thus, ‘Awake,
My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,
Heaven’s last, best gift, my ever-new delight.

Eve awakes and tells Adam of her dream; a dream where she ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree, where Satan persuaded:

69. Forbidden here, it seems, as only fit
For gods, yet able to make gods of men.

Adam is concerned, but reasons that

150. Evil into the mind of God or Man
May come and go, so unapproved, and leave
No spot or blame behind…

God has seen what has happened, and sends angels Raphael and Tobias to warn Adam of the enemy in the garden. Raphael approaches Adam’s dwelling.

350. Meanwhile our primitive great sire[Adam], to meet
His godlike guest, walks forth, without more train
Accompanied than with his own complete
Perfections…

445. …O innocence,
Deserving paradise!

Raphael explains Adam’s situation:

525. God made thee perfect, not immutable

528. By nature free, not over-ruled by fate
Inextricable, or strict necessity
Our voluntary service he requires,
Not our necessitated. Such with Him
Finds no acceptance, nor can find…

Raphael then relates the story of Satan’s rebellion and fall in Heaven. This is part of Satan’s persuasive speech to his followers in Heaven:

856. …Who saw
When this creation was? Rememberest thou
Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?
We know no time when we were not as now,
Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised,
By our own quickening power…

The only angel who dissents is Abdiel, who defends the Creator and abandons Satan’s cause.

So, I finished Meditations last night – I had to. I had to just get it done. I mean, I loved it to bits and it’s totally on my top favs now…but sometimes he said the same thing over again in different words. Which was good sometimes because it stated a point more clearly than before, but other times it seemed redundant.

But the main thing I came away with (among other things, of course) was indifference and having no opinion. That seems to be his solution for a lot of human ills. Of course that’s a bit of a miss-statement…let’s see, it was more like “indifference to that which deserved no opinion.” Right and wrong should be observed and justice should be carried out, but at the same time “it is in thy power” to not get offended at trifling things. “It is not the thing that offends thee, but thy opinion of it.”

“Thou hast not the leisure [or ability] to read. But thou hast leisure [or ability] to check arrogance; thou hast leisure to be superior to pleasure and pain. Thou hast the leisure to be superior to love of fame and to not be vexed at stupid and ungrateful people, nay, even to care for them.”

Sometimes he was a bit confusing…he kept on saying, “It is in thy power” to do this, to do that, which to a degree is true – but not always. He says, “Who is he that shall hinder thee from being good and simple?” and “It is in thy power to let no badness be in thy soul.”

Then Book 10 (of 12) opens with Marcus asking himself “Wilt thou then my soul, never be good and simple and one and naked, more manifest than the body which surrounds thee?” Obviously something was hindering him at some points.

I don’t know about Marcus, but my own self hinders me from being good and simple, lol. Perhaps it is in my power…only my power is weak and fails me.

And Marcus’ answer is to “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up if thou wilt ever dig.”

Oh dear. Been there, done that…the fountain is muddy. Maybe that’s just me.

Marcus Aurelius was a very wise man, but I’d have to disagree with what I understand to be his view of human nature. I mean, I do believe that one can make integrity a part of their soul and personality – but only to a point. We’re so fallible that even after living upright for 60 years our morals, rationality and integrity can still be undone. It is beyond our power sometimes, and we have to rely on something more.

But like I said, he was still quite wise and has super awesome things to say. I’ll leave you with a few of my favorites:

“There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.”

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all other men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”

“A cucumber is bitter – throw it away. There are briars in the road – turn away from them. This is enough. Do not add, “And why were such things made in the world?”

“Receive wealth and prosperity without arrogance and be willing to let it go.”

“How soon will time cover all things, and how many it has covered already.”

I’m sorry, I can’t not post this! I kill myself laughing every time.

I’ll write a random post about this movie later, but right now I’m super tired. Needless to say…it was terrible.