Harry Potter, Gandalf, the Wizard of Oz, Mickey Mouse, Luke Skywalker, Ebenezer Scrooge—all iconic names that any lover of fiction recognizes, each name bringing up a thousand memories of joy and tears for these characters. Yet just how, and maybe more importantly, why are they so iconic to us? Yes, of course, it’s because of their stories that we have journeyed along with them, but why have their names become such a huge part of our culture today? And how did their creators

Can we love like skeletons do? Intertwined within the grave, No nerves, no flesh, no skin, Just us at our very cores? Can we love like ghosts do? Waltzing in mid-November, Quiet as the dead leaves falling free, Gentle as grass and dew? Can we love like zombies do? Roaming in the vast wilderness, Nowhere particular planned ahead, Yet walking together on the stony path? Can we love like the dead do? Soft passion bound in softer darkness, Silence birthing new life, Bound i

Ghosts are not creatures in white sheets. They are horrors. Rotting bodies, festering flesh, bug-eaten bone. Things that stalk and wail no matter light or night. Things that scream and entrap and whisper and growl into unsuspecting ears. Freaks, I tell you. And now you wonder why I know them so well. Quite honestly, I wish I didn’t. But I had the misfortune of being nearly forced into one. Metaphysical. Neither spirit nor flesh, yet both at once. They’ve no need

They make you say you visited. A statue from Mirabell Gardens in Salzburh, Austria. But did you really?… You do it for status. You become better and more human and more qualified than the rest of the world when you visit a country, twice if two, immense if more, and a god if a dozen. But all you did was glance at it like something interesting, before snapping your selfie. Did you learn anything? Did you culture yourself? Did you feel the life around you? Did you pause an

Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. The sunset, one of the many examples of true beauty. It is the reflection of the objective and purest Truth. A Truth that echoes continuously in the hidden corner of our souls that perhaps we will never understand, in all of history. It is the reflection of the Creator, who made Truth, and made Beauty is ornate mirror. That is what we recognize to be beautiful, and what draws humanity in. When we see something that speaks out, calls