Word and Journey

In memory of the events of 9/11, we read and reviewed a book inspired by that time.

"Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close," is the story of a boy who's father dies in the Twin Towers Attack, and the story of that same boy's grandfather who never knew his son who died. The story follows the boy's grief process as he adventures through the streets of New York City, searching for answers, searching for hope. The story also follows the grandfather who is searching for a lost family and seeking a way to make things right again.

Your friendly hosts discuss the prose, the story structure, the characters, and the implications of the story. We talk trauma, neurodiversity, despair, hope, healing, and resurrection.

Word and Journey is made possible by partnerships with its listeners! Please visit patreon.com/mosesbernabe to join our community!

Part III of the Ransom Trilogy may be one of the finest pieces of speculative(dare I say - predictive) literature ever written.

Building on the prior two books, THS takes place on Earth, in England, beginning with Bragdon Wood and the legendary burial site of Merlin.

There are those humans who have aligned with the heavenly forces bent on Humanity's destruction, and the worst part is...they don't even know it! They think they're just being innovative in creating technology to sterilize the world. In developing The Head(literally a decapitated, now resuscitated and animated head), they have given evil a mouthpiece into our world.

But there are also those who see what is happening and fight to preserve the good. They must overcome their fears, their lusts, their pride, their materialism, their physical weakness, and their own idiosyncratic bumblings. But if they hold fast, then all might be saved.

*With special appearance by Mr. Bultitude the Friendly Bear. (Yes, actually a bear).

Word and Journey is a community dedicated to encountering the great stories and letting them shape our lives. This channel is made possible by generous financial and media-visibility support from its listeners, patrons, and fellow readers. Please subscribe, share, review, and donate on behalf of the show so we can continue reading together with you!

Moses can be reached at [email protected]

Rousseaux can be reached at [email protected]. Also, his books can be found on Amazon, and anywhere else good books are sold.

In part II of the Ransom Trilogy, Ransom again makes a voyage through Deep Heaven, this time to Perelandra, or as we know it, Venus. This time he goes on purpose, being sent for a task. He encounters a paradise unfallen, beautiful, pristine, and innocent., its only inhabitants its queen and king, long separated, searching for each other. As Ransom befriends the queen, he quickly discovers that all is not well, for a tempter lurks amidst the waters - it is Ransom's very own rival from earth - Professor Weston! Now Ransom draws on every bit of wisdom and determination he can find to persuade the Queen to disregard the words of the Tempter, for if he fails, then ANOTHER world will be lost!

Word and Journey is a community dedicated to encountering the great stories and letting them shape our lives. This channel is made possible by generous financial and media-visibility support from its listeners, patrons, and fellow readers. Please subscribe, share, review, and donate on behalf of the show so we can continue reading together with you!

Moses can be reached at [email protected]

Rousseaux can be reached at [email protected]. Also, his books can be found on Amazon, and anywhere else good books are sold.

Welcome to Part I of the Ransom Trilogy by C. S. Lewis!

And we say the "Ransom" Trilogy rather than its other common name, "The Space Trilogy," because, as we find as we read, outer space is not really empty space at all, but, being the "heavens," is full of the weight substance of the Creator!

Moses and Rousseau team up again to follow the adventures of Dr. Ransom, an English philologist, as he is captured by the devious and opportunistic Weston and Devine and finds himself in explicably on a voyage from Thulcandra to Malacandra(what we would call, from Earth to Mars). There on Malacandra, Ransom encounters its three great races, and the mighty and eternal beings, the oyarsas, that caretake them all. But more than merely exploring a strange new world, Ransom finds himself entering into a cosmic struggle between spiritual forces that engulfs all the worlds of our sun and has been raging since the beginning of time. Could it be that a lowly Human has a pivotal role to play?

Follow our discussion - and better yet, read the book! - and find out!

Word and Journey is a community dedicated to encountering the great stories and letting them shape our lives. This channel is made possible by generous financial and media-visibility support from its listeners, patrons, and fellow readers. Please subscribe, share, review, and donate on behalf of the show so we can continue reading together with you!

Moses can be reached at [email protected]

Rousseaux can be reached at [email protected]. Also, his books can be found on Amazon, and anywhere else good books are sold.

"The story [of Frankenstein] is nothing like the costume; it's much better."

Here we come to the conclusion of the classic novel Frankenstein, where we learn the fates of Dr. Frankenstein, the Fiend, and friends. We talk about betrayal and vengeance, misery and morality, the nature of humanity, redemption, the devastation of loneliness, and the pitfalls of hubris

We ponder what is the moral cliff that over which our characters tumble head over heels. Can the monster be redeemed? Could Dr. Frankenstein find redemption? Or are they like the classic "Addict" who becomes obsessed, acts in secret, and whose behaviors escalate beyond their control?

We learn that keeping secrets is bad. Loneliness is untenable. Messing around with trying to improve upon humanity tends to have results we don't want. Redemption only comes to those who seek it.

Listen along and let us know what you think!

The Word and Journey podcast is made possible by financial support from our listeners, collaborators, and friends. Please like, rate, review, and share this show with a friend who will love it!

For more information, and to join our community, visit patreon.com/wordandjourney

Moses can be reached on instagram at @mosesbernabe and at [email protected]

Joel can be found on instagram at @joelhere

Caleb can be found at https://www.calebkellercounselingpllc.net

We'd love to hear from you!

Moses, Joel, and Caleb are back with Dr. Frankenstein and the Fiend!

We continue discussing Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein. Here we deep dive into the story of the Fiend. We discuss class consciousness, empathy, nature versus nurture, and how a being is formed by community, or deformed by the lack thereof! "The Monster had potential!" But then we see what happens when he encounters exclusion, rejection, betrayal, and biased hatred.

We ponder the question of what it means to be human. Turns out the Fiend more closely resembles Lt. Commander Data then a raging, hungry zombie.

We note the horror experienced by the Fiend as he encounters the purposelessness and isolation of his own experience. We also contemplate the deep transgression of Dr. Frankenstein to have brought a being to life, then abandoned him, and how this affects our concept of God.

Do we need more science and reason? Or do we need more human connection?

We definitely need the support group "Mad Scientists Anonymous."

Listen along and let us know what you think!

The Word and Journey podcast is made possible by financial support from our listeners, collaborators, and friends. Please like, rate, review, and share this show with a friend who will love it!

For more information, and to join our community, visit patreon.com/wordandjourney

Moses can be reached on instagram at @mosesbernabe and at [email protected]

Joel can be found on instagram at @joelhere

Caleb can be found at https://www.calebkellercounselingpllc.net

We'd love to hear from you!

The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is routinely included among the top 10 most important works of literature in the last thousand years.

Now Moses has read it for the first time, and invited Joel and Caleb to join him!

Here we discuss monsters. What is a monster? Who is a monster? What makes a monster a monster and why is that monstrous? What about Dr. Victor Frankenstein was so very monstrous?

Here is where we will find out about all of that. We will also discuss the worldview of the story, in which one man presumes to make the world better through science. His approach is to build "The ideal man," through science, assembling human parts together. But what is a human really? Just a collection of parts? Or must he or she have a soul?

Word and Journey is made possible through the support, shares, likes, and reviews of its listeners, fellow readers, and friends. Please lend your support and join our community!

Moses can be reached at [email protected]

Joel can be reached at www.joelhere.com and @joelhere on instagram

Caleb can be reached at www.calebkellercounselingpllc.net

We'd love to hear from you!

To commemorate Labor Day, here’s an episode about a slave uprising gone glorious!

Mike Savara is a good friend and extraordinary social worker, government worker, addiction counselor, and the one who introduced me to the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.

Today we talk about Lightbringer, book 5 of the Red Rising series. This is book 5 of 6, and there’s tons of spoilers, but we highly recommend you read the whole series because we really love it.

We start off owning that we are mental health professionals and not literary experts…but feel ok with that because we believe that reading good books and thinking carefully about them is a discipline that is good for everyone, and certainly a good way to connect with good friends.

Lightbringer itself is a majestically grand fantasy epic set 700 years in the future where humanity has colonized every sphere of the solar system, and stratified all of human society into a strict caste system based on colors. The higher colors are genetically bred to be super strong, super smart, beautiful, and rife with corruption. The lower colors are genetically bred to perform all the basic functions that society needs done to function.

Our protagonist, Daro of Lycos, is a Red, a miner from underground Mars, and of the lowest caste. Over the last 5 books, he has risen from the mines to infiltrate Gold society(the highest caste) to influence, to govern, to conquer, and to break a tyrannical empire. 

But empires don’t die easily. His chief rival is Lysander au Lun, a true Gold, a descendent of the most powerful Sovereign to ever live. Through Lysander’s story, we’ve seen him grow from a somewhat innocent boy into an eager and idealistic young man. We’ve seen him come to a junction where he can hold to his ideals and become a hero, or give in to the corruption that so dominates his color. Whichever he chooses, though, Daro and everyone he loves are in the crosshairs of the Gold.

What will happen? Who will these characters become? Are heroes made through might or through mercy? Is strength in guns and armaments, or rather in love and kinship?

We tackle these questions and more in this discussion of Red Rising. 

This episode of literary analysis and cultural commentary is made possible by generous support from our listeners. If you find this helpful, or at least entertaining, please like, share, and review, as well as supporting us through patreon.com/mosesbernabe!

Moses can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe      

Mike Savara can be found at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

#books #novels #epic #fantasy #sciencefiction #sciencefantasy #space #redrising #piercebrown #empire #castesystem #heroes #villains #war #relationships 

Moses and Matt are back with the last half of Wheel of Time, the show, Season 2. Here we discuss more of the themes.

The Wheel of Time show follows a pattern of developing morally ambiguous characters who have great powers, great ambitions, and blatant fatal flaws. We discuss implications of a story world lacking both a clear good and a clear evil, and the challenges this poses for story writers. 

We discuss character arcs, and whether these characters are becoming the best or worst versions of themselves. As our heroes go about their adventures using much the same methods as their enemies, we conclude that the end does NOT justify the means because who we are as people also really matters.

We draw on our experience as counselors, and our spiritual practice to examine the role of fantasy and imagination in the show, particularly through the vehicle of the Three Arches of Tar Valon. We note that when we get caught up in fantasy, we get stuck and lose our lives. By the same token, when we focus our imagination, we can develop insight into the world. Fantasy and imagination are only useful insofar as they find and speak of something true.

We consider the characters through the lens of IFS parts and look for who is driven by fear, by lust of power, or by genuine desire to protect others.

We do all this and more. You, the listener, are invited into a more mindful and contemplative viewing of the show along with us. 

This episode of literary analysis and cultural commentary is made possible by generous support from our listeners. If you find this helpful, or at least entertaining, please like, share, and review, as well as supporting us through patreon.com/mosesbernabe!

Moses can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe      

Matt Rensi can be found at his profession profile here - 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/matthew-t-rensi-morgan-hill-ca/870502 or email him at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

#wheeloftime #wot #robertjordan #fantasy #epicfantasy #reading #writing #books #novels #tv #tvshow #film #filmadaptation #plot #characterization #character #fantasy #imagination #internalfamilysystems #ifs #spirituality #christianity

Moses Bernabe and Matt Rensi return to discuss Amazon Prime’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series Wheel of Time as the show plods through its second season. As counselors who study people and readers who are long time lovers of sci-fi and fantasy, we had a great time being drawn into the story world, then pulling it apart for themes, lessons, and great moments.

From a storytelling standpoint, we discuss the challenges of adapting a long book series(and a series of long books) into the tv show format. We note the hazards of getting caught up in the “Flash bang,” of spectacle at the expense of a good plot. We talk about characterization, what makes for interesting characters, and the impact of a fractured storyline. We talk about showing versus telling and why motivation is key.

At a deeper level, we examine themes evident in the show. In the fight against evil, does the end justify the means? Are people really people, or are they just pawns? What is the value of the inner struggle? How should men and women interact together? 

All along, we compare the show back to the book and talk about which we liked better and why.

This episode of literary analysis and cultural commentary is made possible by generous support from our listeners. If you find this helpful, or at least entertaining, please like, share, and review, as well as supporting us through patreon.com/mosesbernabe!

Moses can be found on instagram @mosesbernabe      

Matt Rensi can be found at his profession profile here - 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/matthew-t-rensi-morgan-hill-ca/870502 or email him at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

#wheeloftime #wot #robertjordan #fantasy #epicfantasy #reading #writing #books #novels #tv #tvshow #film #filmadaptation #plot #characterization #character