The darkened hearts of hollow men and kingdoms

Job 24:13-17  "There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.  (14)  The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.  (15)  The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye will see me'; and he veils his face.  (16)  In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.  (17)  For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

The goodness of light is a reminder of hope.  We need it as a reminder.  Hope is not always so insistent.  A good creation has defied its creator and worshipped itself.  But the glory of the creation is not from the creation, it is from the creator.  The heart of man and the world he inhabits must be changed. Separated from the creator, our glory is hollow and our visions of hope spastic.  All is not well.

Is it like this

In death's other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

Between the idea

And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow

Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

an excerpt from

t.s. elliot

The Hollow Men