The following weblog posting is a first for me. I received it from my brother and trust it is accurate. To verify it, I went to the CBS Sunday Morning website but could not find this particular commentary from Ben Stein, but neither could I find a link to their archives. Since I am not very computer savvy this is not surprising. Nevertheless, I forward it to you as I received it. I think Mr. Stein, or whoever wrote it, hit the nail on the head.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees... I don't feel threatened.. I don't feel discriminated against.. That's what they are, Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu .. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.. And we said okay..
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit.
If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben S
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
On Virtue
It is very important to me that I ‘be on record’ about some things. I, for example, echo the words of the ancient apostle Paul to the Romans: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…for therein is the righteousness of God revealed…” (Romans 1:16-17).
In like manner I am not ashamed of and want to be on record about the notion of ‘virtue.’ I am not speaking of virtue simply as ‘chastity,’ although chastity is an important virtue, but the larger concept of virtue that goes beyond the narrow focus on such matters as illegitimacy, abortion, and homosexuality. In my Church we are enjoined to “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” We agree with the apostle Paul that “if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
Consequently, I subscribe to what some call Victorian values, even though they are now denigrated as being terribly old-fashioned, or, as author Gertrude Himmelfarb described, as “time-bound and place-bound, gender-bound, race-bound, class-bound, culture-bound and whatever other flaws are now commonly assigned to the past in general and to the Victorian period in particular.” The fact is, Victorian virtues, which which actually pre-dated the Victorian era, are cross-cultural, cross-generational and foundational to the political philosophy and documents that support the strength and longevity of our nation.
Therefore, I propose for discussion on the national agenda the notion of a moral reformation movement, a retrenchment and rededication to the classical Christian virtues of family, faith, hope, and charity, as well as the Aristotelian virtues of wisdom, justice, temperance and courage, and the inalienable eternal virtues of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to provide foundational support for the political stirrings germinating in our society today.
In making this proposal I hope the individuals and families and social institutions that open this dialogue do not allow it to degenerate and get derailed or subverted into a focus on modern ‘values’ as a degraded substitute for the more substantial and foundational principles. Values, properly thought of, are a superstructure that are built upon a foundation of virtue.
To be clear, I am not proposing a revisitation of the 1960’s and ‘70’s. The transition of ‘virtues’ into ‘values’ in those decades with the consequent transmutation of morals into relative sin-supporting behaviors was nothing less than a rebellion and social revolution. ‘Values,’ in modern, or at least of the ‘New Left’ mentality of the 60’s and 70’s , brought with it the assumptions that all moral ideas and ideals are subjective and relative, that they are mere customs and conventions—that any belief, opinion, attitude, feeling, habit, convention or preference of any individual or group, at any time, for any reason is as good or has as much value as anything else. ‘Tolerance,’ being nonjudgmental, being ‘politically correct,’ being ‘value-free,’ was enthroned as the highest value. And that is where we find ourselves; and that is the crux of the problem—that ‘tolerance’ validates every deviance, therefore deviance no longer exists. I have a big problem with ‘tolerance’ of the intolerable.
In conjunction with our attempting to fix the economy, the middle-east, the border and drug problem with Mexico, our disintegrating families or any of the other multitudinous issues of our time should we not examine our own mind and heart relative to the virtues we subscribe to and live by, or live without, and how they line up with the wisdom of the ages? Shall we not then start to undo the distortions?
Let’s get back on track.
In like manner I am not ashamed of and want to be on record about the notion of ‘virtue.’ I am not speaking of virtue simply as ‘chastity,’ although chastity is an important virtue, but the larger concept of virtue that goes beyond the narrow focus on such matters as illegitimacy, abortion, and homosexuality. In my Church we are enjoined to “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” We agree with the apostle Paul that “if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
Consequently, I subscribe to what some call Victorian values, even though they are now denigrated as being terribly old-fashioned, or, as author Gertrude Himmelfarb described, as “time-bound and place-bound, gender-bound, race-bound, class-bound, culture-bound and whatever other flaws are now commonly assigned to the past in general and to the Victorian period in particular.” The fact is, Victorian virtues, which which actually pre-dated the Victorian era, are cross-cultural, cross-generational and foundational to the political philosophy and documents that support the strength and longevity of our nation.
Therefore, I propose for discussion on the national agenda the notion of a moral reformation movement, a retrenchment and rededication to the classical Christian virtues of family, faith, hope, and charity, as well as the Aristotelian virtues of wisdom, justice, temperance and courage, and the inalienable eternal virtues of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to provide foundational support for the political stirrings germinating in our society today.
In making this proposal I hope the individuals and families and social institutions that open this dialogue do not allow it to degenerate and get derailed or subverted into a focus on modern ‘values’ as a degraded substitute for the more substantial and foundational principles. Values, properly thought of, are a superstructure that are built upon a foundation of virtue.
To be clear, I am not proposing a revisitation of the 1960’s and ‘70’s. The transition of ‘virtues’ into ‘values’ in those decades with the consequent transmutation of morals into relative sin-supporting behaviors was nothing less than a rebellion and social revolution. ‘Values,’ in modern, or at least of the ‘New Left’ mentality of the 60’s and 70’s , brought with it the assumptions that all moral ideas and ideals are subjective and relative, that they are mere customs and conventions—that any belief, opinion, attitude, feeling, habit, convention or preference of any individual or group, at any time, for any reason is as good or has as much value as anything else. ‘Tolerance,’ being nonjudgmental, being ‘politically correct,’ being ‘value-free,’ was enthroned as the highest value. And that is where we find ourselves; and that is the crux of the problem—that ‘tolerance’ validates every deviance, therefore deviance no longer exists. I have a big problem with ‘tolerance’ of the intolerable.
In conjunction with our attempting to fix the economy, the middle-east, the border and drug problem with Mexico, our disintegrating families or any of the other multitudinous issues of our time should we not examine our own mind and heart relative to the virtues we subscribe to and live by, or live without, and how they line up with the wisdom of the ages? Shall we not then start to undo the distortions?
Let’s get back on track.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Christmas Presents and Christmas Presence
The Christmas season, for me, always seems to accentuate a deeper sensitivity and awareness to things spiritual. This is as it should be. Something should come of the music, the decorations, the prayers, and the contemplation of the sacred occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ. For me, however, it is a rather quiet and private experience; if I do not find that time or space and allow for a response to it, I am disappointed. The externals of the season should not eclipse the internals that should be and can be stimulated by it.
Yesterday my wife and I attended a funeral for a friend. It added to the sacredness of the season. All components of the funeral were designed to remember the life of a good woman and how her life fit into the moment we have been given to experience mortality in life’s ongoing drama. We were reminded of things we should learn and never forget. Every life has a purpose and has value and it doesn’t end with the funeral—either for the one who passes on to the next stage or for those who are temporarily left behind. I love attending funerals. I’m sure I will attend my own.
Last evening we attended a Christmas concert of vocal music. It, too, reminded us of things sacred and accentuated the spirituality of the occasion celebrated. The virtuosity of the performers , the setting in the nave of a chapel, the deportment of the attendees, the selection and composition of the music rendered all contributed to our experience and the richness of the season.
Strangely enough, I used to not like Christmas because of the pressure of people and ‘presents’—buying them and observing how they were often received. Now I look forward to Christmas because of ‘presence,’ the presence of great things spiritual, just below the surface, that can be enjoyed by all who have “eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts that know and understand.”
Have a Merry Christmas. Have a Sacred Christmas. Both are good, but I’ll take the latter.
Yesterday my wife and I attended a funeral for a friend. It added to the sacredness of the season. All components of the funeral were designed to remember the life of a good woman and how her life fit into the moment we have been given to experience mortality in life’s ongoing drama. We were reminded of things we should learn and never forget. Every life has a purpose and has value and it doesn’t end with the funeral—either for the one who passes on to the next stage or for those who are temporarily left behind. I love attending funerals. I’m sure I will attend my own.
Last evening we attended a Christmas concert of vocal music. It, too, reminded us of things sacred and accentuated the spirituality of the occasion celebrated. The virtuosity of the performers , the setting in the nave of a chapel, the deportment of the attendees, the selection and composition of the music rendered all contributed to our experience and the richness of the season.
Strangely enough, I used to not like Christmas because of the pressure of people and ‘presents’—buying them and observing how they were often received. Now I look forward to Christmas because of ‘presence,’ the presence of great things spiritual, just below the surface, that can be enjoyed by all who have “eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts that know and understand.”
Have a Merry Christmas. Have a Sacred Christmas. Both are good, but I’ll take the latter.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Christmas
In America we may call this season of the year from Thanksgiving Day through New Years’ Day the ‘holidays,’ but for me the preeminent ‘Holiday’ (holy day) is Christmas—the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ. It happened this way:
A little over two thousand years ago the archangel Gabriel appeared from the Heavenly realms and made a startling announcement to some faithful shepherds who were attending to their task in the dark of the night. The message was that the long-awaited Messiah had been born and was now among them. Additional heralds, a multitude of what we suppose were singing angels, joined Gabriel praising God. They, too, left their message with the astonished shepherds. The shepherds responded with haste to this glorious outpouring to find this child, this long-prophesied Messiah—to gain a personal testimony of the things they were told. After they had seen for themselves, they unhesitatingly told all they encountered of what they had heard and experienced.
What can we learn from this? The scriptural record here shows that God, on His timetable, will make known even to the lowliest of His children messages of transcendent importance. There is no indication in the record that the shepherds were aged or highly-educated sages; nothing is said about them holding position or priesthood. Nothing is said of their gender. The likelihood, instead, was that these were probably poor and uneducated young men and/or young women who knew how to care for God’s creatures, who were in the line of their duty, and who were not asleep.
What else might have qualified the shepherds to be given this message? Perhaps the fact that they had earlier listened to the prophecies about a promised Messiah and found them credible. Perhaps because they were worthy to receive a spiritual message and that their spirit resonated with the message they heard. Perhaps because they believed in angels. Perhaps because God knew they would not hesitate to proclaim the message and witness they received to any person they subsequently encountered.
Can you see the pattern? Though the wise men came later bearing gifts, the response desired by God of those who were in a position to immediately respond to this Holy day, this Birthday of birthdays, was for them to listen to His messengers, to gain a personal testimony themselves, to worship God’s Son, and to proclaim to others what they knew to be true. Could this not be the proper response for us to emulate during this Christmas season?
We will glorify God this Christmas season and give our best gift by proclaiming with joy the Good News message of His Son’s ministry and mission into a darkened world and into the hearts of His children.
A little over two thousand years ago the archangel Gabriel appeared from the Heavenly realms and made a startling announcement to some faithful shepherds who were attending to their task in the dark of the night. The message was that the long-awaited Messiah had been born and was now among them. Additional heralds, a multitude of what we suppose were singing angels, joined Gabriel praising God. They, too, left their message with the astonished shepherds. The shepherds responded with haste to this glorious outpouring to find this child, this long-prophesied Messiah—to gain a personal testimony of the things they were told. After they had seen for themselves, they unhesitatingly told all they encountered of what they had heard and experienced.
What can we learn from this? The scriptural record here shows that God, on His timetable, will make known even to the lowliest of His children messages of transcendent importance. There is no indication in the record that the shepherds were aged or highly-educated sages; nothing is said about them holding position or priesthood. Nothing is said of their gender. The likelihood, instead, was that these were probably poor and uneducated young men and/or young women who knew how to care for God’s creatures, who were in the line of their duty, and who were not asleep.
What else might have qualified the shepherds to be given this message? Perhaps the fact that they had earlier listened to the prophecies about a promised Messiah and found them credible. Perhaps because they were worthy to receive a spiritual message and that their spirit resonated with the message they heard. Perhaps because they believed in angels. Perhaps because God knew they would not hesitate to proclaim the message and witness they received to any person they subsequently encountered.
Can you see the pattern? Though the wise men came later bearing gifts, the response desired by God of those who were in a position to immediately respond to this Holy day, this Birthday of birthdays, was for them to listen to His messengers, to gain a personal testimony themselves, to worship God’s Son, and to proclaim to others what they knew to be true. Could this not be the proper response for us to emulate during this Christmas season?
We will glorify God this Christmas season and give our best gift by proclaiming with joy the Good News message of His Son’s ministry and mission into a darkened world and into the hearts of His children.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Wisdom of Theodore Roosevelt
Within the past two years I have read a history of Theodore Roosevelt and most recently an interesting old book titled Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters To His Children.
Consistent with my appreciation for the ‘giants’ in my life, my weblog for today credits a man, certainly more liberal than me, but nevertheless a wise man and a great president of this country.
On September 14, 1901 at age 42, Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States, the youngest man ever to become President (John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to that office at the age of 43). Mr. Roosevelt was the father of six children.
Following are some quotations from his service to country and family:
"I put myself in the way of things happening; and they happened."..."During the three years' service in the Legislature [he was elected to the New York state Legislature at age 23] I worked on a very simple philosophy of government. It was that personal character and initiative are the prime requisites in political and social life."
"A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals in so far as he can. My power for good, whatever it may be, would be gone if I didn't try to live up to the doctrines I have to preach."
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (From his speech, "Man in the Arena")
" The kind of 'neutrality' which seeks to preserve 'peace' by timidly refusing to live up to our plighted word and to denounce and take action against such wrong as that committed in the case of Belgium, is unworthy of an honorable and powerful people. Dante reserved a special place of infamy in the Inferno for those base angels who dared side neither with evil or with good. Peace is ardently to be desired, but only as the handmaiden of righteousness. There can be no such peace until well-behaved, highly civilized small nations are protected from oppression and subjugation."
"It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself."
"For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison."
"The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name." "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
“Any nation [or person] which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life."
("Arbor Day" - A Message to the School-Children of the United States" April 15, 1907)
“The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations.”
"No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it." "Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor."
(Third Annual Message to Congress, December 7, 1903)
"There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility."
Consistent with my appreciation for the ‘giants’ in my life, my weblog for today credits a man, certainly more liberal than me, but nevertheless a wise man and a great president of this country.
On September 14, 1901 at age 42, Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States, the youngest man ever to become President (John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to that office at the age of 43). Mr. Roosevelt was the father of six children.
Following are some quotations from his service to country and family:
"I put myself in the way of things happening; and they happened."..."During the three years' service in the Legislature [he was elected to the New York state Legislature at age 23] I worked on a very simple philosophy of government. It was that personal character and initiative are the prime requisites in political and social life."
"A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals in so far as he can. My power for good, whatever it may be, would be gone if I didn't try to live up to the doctrines I have to preach."
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (From his speech, "Man in the Arena")
" The kind of 'neutrality' which seeks to preserve 'peace' by timidly refusing to live up to our plighted word and to denounce and take action against such wrong as that committed in the case of Belgium, is unworthy of an honorable and powerful people. Dante reserved a special place of infamy in the Inferno for those base angels who dared side neither with evil or with good. Peace is ardently to be desired, but only as the handmaiden of righteousness. There can be no such peace until well-behaved, highly civilized small nations are protected from oppression and subjugation."
"It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself."
"For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison."
"The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name." "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
“Any nation [or person] which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life."
("Arbor Day" - A Message to the School-Children of the United States" April 15, 1907)
“The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations.”
"No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it." "Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor."
(Third Annual Message to Congress, December 7, 1903)
"There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility."
Saturday, December 11, 2010
The Terrible Peril of Pornography
It is a cardinal rule of my life to try to help make life easier for those within the circle of my influence. To this end I have felt it part of my mission to raise the voice of warning to any who might be persuaded to heed it when I see something seriously amiss in the lives of those I love and care about.
Today I add my voice to those prophets and physicians, philosophers and historians, broken-hearted wives and bewildered children, as I decry the terrible blight that pornography has brought upon our generation.
What is happening may be the ‘overflowing scourge’ that prophets in holy scripture say will bring down a people, a nation, even a civilization.
Years ago, historians Will and Ariel Durant, in their book The Lessons of History, concluded that civilizations have fallen because of unbridled or pervasive sexuality: “[A young person] will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restrains if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group” (pp. 35-36).
In my recent experience as a Church leader I have found that many, perhaps most, of the young men (age 18-30) under my stewardship had been negatively affected by the scourge of pornography. And these were good Christian boys. Some were also young women. Sadly, some of my charges were strongly addicted.
Recent surveys indicate that 90% of college age young men are regularly exposed to pornography and 30% of young women view, or more often, participate in pornography through chat rooms or similar media (Jason S. Carroll, et. al., “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use Among Emerging Adults,” Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 23 (1) 2008, p. 6-30). They are being badly damaged by it, and it will get worse with them.
In addition to being an isolative, anti-social, and depressive influence for the participant, it produces extremely harmful effects on marriages, families, and normal, healthy and developing heterosexual relationships between people. Plainly put, the behavior of the pornography participant changes for the worse.
Playing with pornography is a relationship with fantasy of the worst kind. It produces a fracturing of trust with spouses and with spouses-to-be when it is found out—and it is always eventually found out. Guilt and shame are concomitants of the practice of viewing pornographic material as is a progressive desensitization as the practice quickly moves toward addiction.
Pornography is highly addicting. An addiction is a phenomenon that actually changes brain physiology and structure. As medical doctor Jeffery Satinover, M.D., reported to a Senate committee in 2004, it is a drug “injected directly into the brain through the eyes.”
Addiction is pathological learning that damages nerve cells and affects neurotransmitter production. It causes changes in brain circuitry and a shrinkage in the control and pleasure centers of the brain. When viewing pornography the brain produces a large amount of adrenaline (epinephrine) and the excitatory neurotransmitters dopamine and oxytocin. Because oxytocin causes a bonding to the stimulus that liberates it, it is believed that a transference to a preference for pornography over real people and real and natural sexuality occurs. And with the repeated over-stimulation of dopamine production that participation with pornography generates, these nerve centers become damaged and soon put out less dopamine in the normal state causing the person to be depressed and less functional except when on a short-lived porn ‘high’ when dopamine kicks in.
The addicted person is no longer living in a real world, but a false, an artificial ‘virtual world’ that sooner than later lets the hooked person down hard but with no natural relief. With the addicted person a craving supplants normal sexual rhythms and the person becomes totally focused on his unrequited appetite. He is now dysfunctional with all the negatives that accrue to it—as are all addicts.
Recovery, as with all addictions, is very difficult but possible. Without help, however, I would say that it cannot be done by one so entrapped.
A valuable book for helpers, professionals, or one so ‘hooked’ is: “He Restoreth My Soul,” by Donald L. Hilton Jr., M.D. (Forward Press Publishing, LLC, P.O. Box 593499, San Antonio, TX 78259; or www.ForwardPress.org).
As with involvement with any vice, the victim pays a huge price. The only winner is the one profiting financially from the destruction of its victims.
‘Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy the kind of misery you prefer.’ (author unknown)
Today I add my voice to those prophets and physicians, philosophers and historians, broken-hearted wives and bewildered children, as I decry the terrible blight that pornography has brought upon our generation.
What is happening may be the ‘overflowing scourge’ that prophets in holy scripture say will bring down a people, a nation, even a civilization.
Years ago, historians Will and Ariel Durant, in their book The Lessons of History, concluded that civilizations have fallen because of unbridled or pervasive sexuality: “[A young person] will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restrains if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group” (pp. 35-36).
In my recent experience as a Church leader I have found that many, perhaps most, of the young men (age 18-30) under my stewardship had been negatively affected by the scourge of pornography. And these were good Christian boys. Some were also young women. Sadly, some of my charges were strongly addicted.
Recent surveys indicate that 90% of college age young men are regularly exposed to pornography and 30% of young women view, or more often, participate in pornography through chat rooms or similar media (Jason S. Carroll, et. al., “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use Among Emerging Adults,” Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 23 (1) 2008, p. 6-30). They are being badly damaged by it, and it will get worse with them.
In addition to being an isolative, anti-social, and depressive influence for the participant, it produces extremely harmful effects on marriages, families, and normal, healthy and developing heterosexual relationships between people. Plainly put, the behavior of the pornography participant changes for the worse.
Playing with pornography is a relationship with fantasy of the worst kind. It produces a fracturing of trust with spouses and with spouses-to-be when it is found out—and it is always eventually found out. Guilt and shame are concomitants of the practice of viewing pornographic material as is a progressive desensitization as the practice quickly moves toward addiction.
Pornography is highly addicting. An addiction is a phenomenon that actually changes brain physiology and structure. As medical doctor Jeffery Satinover, M.D., reported to a Senate committee in 2004, it is a drug “injected directly into the brain through the eyes.”
Addiction is pathological learning that damages nerve cells and affects neurotransmitter production. It causes changes in brain circuitry and a shrinkage in the control and pleasure centers of the brain. When viewing pornography the brain produces a large amount of adrenaline (epinephrine) and the excitatory neurotransmitters dopamine and oxytocin. Because oxytocin causes a bonding to the stimulus that liberates it, it is believed that a transference to a preference for pornography over real people and real and natural sexuality occurs. And with the repeated over-stimulation of dopamine production that participation with pornography generates, these nerve centers become damaged and soon put out less dopamine in the normal state causing the person to be depressed and less functional except when on a short-lived porn ‘high’ when dopamine kicks in.
The addicted person is no longer living in a real world, but a false, an artificial ‘virtual world’ that sooner than later lets the hooked person down hard but with no natural relief. With the addicted person a craving supplants normal sexual rhythms and the person becomes totally focused on his unrequited appetite. He is now dysfunctional with all the negatives that accrue to it—as are all addicts.
Recovery, as with all addictions, is very difficult but possible. Without help, however, I would say that it cannot be done by one so entrapped.
A valuable book for helpers, professionals, or one so ‘hooked’ is: “He Restoreth My Soul,” by Donald L. Hilton Jr., M.D. (Forward Press Publishing, LLC, P.O. Box 593499, San Antonio, TX 78259; or www.ForwardPress.org).
As with involvement with any vice, the victim pays a huge price. The only winner is the one profiting financially from the destruction of its victims.
‘Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy the kind of misery you prefer.’ (author unknown)
Monday, December 6, 2010
Yogi Berraisms
I have a hard time with what many people find to be humorous. Humor often seems to be cruel or hurtful or at someone else’s expense, and that is not good.
However, if an intelligent person seems to cultivate some aspect of his own personality that others find humorous or this person laughs at it himself, and what is said truly is not malicious, then I can enjoy a few chuckles too.
Some of the recorded, or reputed, sayings of Yogi Berra fall into this category. This former all-star Major League baseball player and manager has become a cultural icon, and some of his sayings have found their way into all levels of public discourse. Many of his observations contain more wisdom than one may realize. To wit:
• If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• Money often costs too much. (also attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• You can observe a lot by watching.
• You’ve got to communicate all the time. I also did a lot of talking.
• We make too many wrong mistakes. The best way to avoid mistakes is by not making them.
• A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
• It’s not over ‘til it’s over.
• If you can’t imitate ‘em, don’t copy ‘em.
• Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.
• It gets late early out here.
• The future ain’t what it used to be.
• If nothing works when you’re in a slump and you’ve tried everything, then my advice is to try something new.
• In spring training someone asked what size cap I wore. I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m not in shape yet.’
• Most people know me by my face.
• We have a good time together, even when we are not together.
• I really didn’t say everything I said.
• Always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise they won’t go to yours.
Something to think about. Have a nice life.
However, if an intelligent person seems to cultivate some aspect of his own personality that others find humorous or this person laughs at it himself, and what is said truly is not malicious, then I can enjoy a few chuckles too.
Some of the recorded, or reputed, sayings of Yogi Berra fall into this category. This former all-star Major League baseball player and manager has become a cultural icon, and some of his sayings have found their way into all levels of public discourse. Many of his observations contain more wisdom than one may realize. To wit:
• If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• Money often costs too much. (also attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• You can observe a lot by watching.
• You’ve got to communicate all the time. I also did a lot of talking.
• We make too many wrong mistakes. The best way to avoid mistakes is by not making them.
• A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
• It’s not over ‘til it’s over.
• If you can’t imitate ‘em, don’t copy ‘em.
• Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.
• It gets late early out here.
• The future ain’t what it used to be.
• If nothing works when you’re in a slump and you’ve tried everything, then my advice is to try something new.
• In spring training someone asked what size cap I wore. I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m not in shape yet.’
• Most people know me by my face.
• We have a good time together, even when we are not together.
• I really didn’t say everything I said.
• Always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise they won’t go to yours.
Something to think about. Have a nice life.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Of Teachers and Learning
Having been a secondary school teacher all my professional life I share with you a secret that all upper-grade teachers (and good students) know. More often than not, a teacher is simply a shortcut or a resource that exists to help the lazy, or busy, or less motivated person gain some knowledge or skill that this person wouldn’t pay the price to find out himself.
That, of course, isn’t all bad. It is not necessary, and certainly not efficient, for every person to reinvent the wheel, or light bulb, or musical score, or golf swing, or to read every book or go to original sources in the basements of libraries to use these things to our advantage ourselves. We can turn to a specialist—to one who knows and get what we need and move on from there.
But there is a danger. If all one does is tap into the shortcut, the condensed version, the CliffsNotes, the teacher’s mind; if he or she always uses spell-check instead of the dictionary, the telephone instead of the handwritten letter, Wikipedia instead of real research, something is going to atrophy. If you want to really learn something, you’ve got to get involved with it yourself. Immersion is the key. Pay the price.
That, of course, isn’t all bad. It is not necessary, and certainly not efficient, for every person to reinvent the wheel, or light bulb, or musical score, or golf swing, or to read every book or go to original sources in the basements of libraries to use these things to our advantage ourselves. We can turn to a specialist—to one who knows and get what we need and move on from there.
But there is a danger. If all one does is tap into the shortcut, the condensed version, the CliffsNotes, the teacher’s mind; if he or she always uses spell-check instead of the dictionary, the telephone instead of the handwritten letter, Wikipedia instead of real research, something is going to atrophy. If you want to really learn something, you’ve got to get involved with it yourself. Immersion is the key. Pay the price.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Your Place On The Likert Scale
You’ve probably heard it posed to you this way: ‘On a scale of 1-5 how is your pain?’ Or, maybe this way: ‘How would you rate the new Corvette on a scale of 1-10?’ Today we often use the highest number as the most exquisite representation in our evaluations, but previously it was the lowest number that denoted the best (i.e., a grade 1 or grade A potato)
I have a favorite story that uses the earlier version of the Likert Scale I heard related by a man whom I admire named George Durrant. When George was a soldier in the Korean War the American troops were served their meals by South Korean waiters. At mealtime, because of his lowly military rank, Private Durrant had to take his place at the end of the food line and get his own food while those of higher rank were served by the Korean waiters. Because of the kindly way he greeted and treated the South Koreans with whom he came in daily contact it became known to the Koreans that Private Durrant was a Christian. Inasmuch as his behavior contrasted to the behaviors of a number of his military comrades, who also came from an ostensibly Christian nation, and therefore were assumed to be Christians, the waiters one day presented George with a wonderful plate of food and said to him, ‘You a number one Christian.’
People are always evaluating, judging, imputing or assigning a value to each other. As previously stated in an Omnium-Gatherum essay, ‘Where ere thou art, act well thy part.’
How do you measure up in all the important ways in your life? How do you want to be known? Are you a ‘number one’? “Let a man examine himself,” (1 Cor. 11:28), the Apostle Paul writes, for surely others are doing it for you.
I have a favorite story that uses the earlier version of the Likert Scale I heard related by a man whom I admire named George Durrant. When George was a soldier in the Korean War the American troops were served their meals by South Korean waiters. At mealtime, because of his lowly military rank, Private Durrant had to take his place at the end of the food line and get his own food while those of higher rank were served by the Korean waiters. Because of the kindly way he greeted and treated the South Koreans with whom he came in daily contact it became known to the Koreans that Private Durrant was a Christian. Inasmuch as his behavior contrasted to the behaviors of a number of his military comrades, who also came from an ostensibly Christian nation, and therefore were assumed to be Christians, the waiters one day presented George with a wonderful plate of food and said to him, ‘You a number one Christian.’
People are always evaluating, judging, imputing or assigning a value to each other. As previously stated in an Omnium-Gatherum essay, ‘Where ere thou art, act well thy part.’
How do you measure up in all the important ways in your life? How do you want to be known? Are you a ‘number one’? “Let a man examine himself,” (1 Cor. 11:28), the Apostle Paul writes, for surely others are doing it for you.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Facing the Storm Head-On
Let me use a couple of seemingly unrelated clichés that you’ve probably heard to set up a lesson or incident I once heard that made an impact upon my life. This lesson was reinforced not long ago by a wonderful movie I saw about penguins.
The clichés: ‘Into every life some rain must fall or a storm must blow.’ ‘The best way to slay a dragon is to turn and face it and then rush right up to it and plunge a sword down its throat.’
The lesson learned in my youth: A rugged old cowboy who worked one of the cattle ranches of the Northern Rockies explained how the winter storms took some terrible tolls on the range cattle of the region. Freezing winter rains and howling winds and then blizzards would come blowing down from the Arctic and pile up huge snowdrifts. The temperature would sometimes plummet to many degrees below zero. The unfortunate cattle who found themselves caught out in these conditions would often turn their backs to the icy blasts and slowly drift as far as they could downwind, until they inevitably came to a fence that would bar their way. Then they would pile up against the fence and die by the hundreds. However, the cowboy observed that those cattle of the Hereford breed often reacted differently. They would head into the wind and slowly work their way forward against it until they came to the fence at the windward end of their range. There they would stand, shoulder to shoulder, facing the storm. The cowboy said, “We found that the cattle that faced the wind and stayed together usually stayed alive and well. Few of these cattle were ever found frozen in a drift.”
The lesson reinforced by the penguin movie: In the Antarctic the penguins would do essentially the same thing. They would gather in a tight group and face the wind and would periodically change positions so that the penguins who were on the inside, and thus protected and warmer, would take their turn with the outside barrier penguins who stayed for their stint against the elements.
Every experience in life carries its lesson. You may learn it yourself, sometimes the hard way, or you may learn it through the experiences and behaviors of others—people or animals. One way or the other, learn it.
The clichés: ‘Into every life some rain must fall or a storm must blow.’ ‘The best way to slay a dragon is to turn and face it and then rush right up to it and plunge a sword down its throat.’
The lesson learned in my youth: A rugged old cowboy who worked one of the cattle ranches of the Northern Rockies explained how the winter storms took some terrible tolls on the range cattle of the region. Freezing winter rains and howling winds and then blizzards would come blowing down from the Arctic and pile up huge snowdrifts. The temperature would sometimes plummet to many degrees below zero. The unfortunate cattle who found themselves caught out in these conditions would often turn their backs to the icy blasts and slowly drift as far as they could downwind, until they inevitably came to a fence that would bar their way. Then they would pile up against the fence and die by the hundreds. However, the cowboy observed that those cattle of the Hereford breed often reacted differently. They would head into the wind and slowly work their way forward against it until they came to the fence at the windward end of their range. There they would stand, shoulder to shoulder, facing the storm. The cowboy said, “We found that the cattle that faced the wind and stayed together usually stayed alive and well. Few of these cattle were ever found frozen in a drift.”
The lesson reinforced by the penguin movie: In the Antarctic the penguins would do essentially the same thing. They would gather in a tight group and face the wind and would periodically change positions so that the penguins who were on the inside, and thus protected and warmer, would take their turn with the outside barrier penguins who stayed for their stint against the elements.
Every experience in life carries its lesson. You may learn it yourself, sometimes the hard way, or you may learn it through the experiences and behaviors of others—people or animals. One way or the other, learn it.
Monday, November 22, 2010
National Greatness Agenda
A day or two ago I read in the New York Times a commentary by David Brooks with the above title. I was intrigued. The article was precipitated by current economic and political issues, but his larger concern was to avert our accelerating plunge as a nation into a ‘national disaster.’ A few of his phrases that stood out in bold relief for me were:
• While our political system is a mess, the economic and social values of the country remain sound.
• Over the past few years, we have seen millions of people mobilize…the country is restive and looking for alternatives.
• You can’t organize a movement like this around pain—around tax increases and spending cuts—but you can organize one around a broad revitalization agenda, and above all, love of country.
• It will take a revived patriotism to motivate Americans to do what needs to be done. This movement will ask Americans to live up to their best selves.
• It will have to restore the social norms that prevailed through much of American history: when narcissism and hyperpartisanship was mitigated by loyalties larger than tribe and self.
• Its goal will be un-apologetic: preserving American pre-eminence. It will preserve America’s standing in the world on the grounds that this supremacy is a gift to our children and a blessing for the earth.
So, if you buy into his solution, what can you and I do about this?
A few things that immediately came to my mind were these:
* As I counseled my children when they were growing up: ‘Don’t be part of the problem; be part of the solution.’ Clean up your own personal ‘act.’ Obey the laws of the land. Educate your conscience and live a moral life. Every American could do this.
* If you are unemployed by misfortune or even by choice (e.g., independently ‘well set’ financially) or by circumstance (e.g. retirement, etc.), or even if you have some ‘spare’ time then volunteer your time and talents to making a better America. Service can be a wonderful boost to the server as well as those served. In Googling-up the words ‘volunteer opportunities’ on my computer I learned of some wonderful-sounding organizations, with titles such as: ‘Create the Good’; ‘Participate’; ‘Service Nation’; ‘Mission Serve’; ‘Repair the World’. And there are many others.
* Get God back on our side (or get on God’s side). Join and participate in a Church that believes in a restoration of the values that made America great. An ancient scriptural citation regarding what is now known as America reads: “Whatsoever nation shall possess this land…which is choice above all other lands… shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fullness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.” If we are ‘into’ pornography or drugs or revel in violence or entertainment violence we are into iniquity.
* Remember: We can’t be great unless we are good.
• While our political system is a mess, the economic and social values of the country remain sound.
• Over the past few years, we have seen millions of people mobilize…the country is restive and looking for alternatives.
• You can’t organize a movement like this around pain—around tax increases and spending cuts—but you can organize one around a broad revitalization agenda, and above all, love of country.
• It will take a revived patriotism to motivate Americans to do what needs to be done. This movement will ask Americans to live up to their best selves.
• It will have to restore the social norms that prevailed through much of American history: when narcissism and hyperpartisanship was mitigated by loyalties larger than tribe and self.
• Its goal will be un-apologetic: preserving American pre-eminence. It will preserve America’s standing in the world on the grounds that this supremacy is a gift to our children and a blessing for the earth.
So, if you buy into his solution, what can you and I do about this?
A few things that immediately came to my mind were these:
* As I counseled my children when they were growing up: ‘Don’t be part of the problem; be part of the solution.’ Clean up your own personal ‘act.’ Obey the laws of the land. Educate your conscience and live a moral life. Every American could do this.
* If you are unemployed by misfortune or even by choice (e.g., independently ‘well set’ financially) or by circumstance (e.g. retirement, etc.), or even if you have some ‘spare’ time then volunteer your time and talents to making a better America. Service can be a wonderful boost to the server as well as those served. In Googling-up the words ‘volunteer opportunities’ on my computer I learned of some wonderful-sounding organizations, with titles such as: ‘Create the Good’; ‘Participate’; ‘Service Nation’; ‘Mission Serve’; ‘Repair the World’. And there are many others.
* Get God back on our side (or get on God’s side). Join and participate in a Church that believes in a restoration of the values that made America great. An ancient scriptural citation regarding what is now known as America reads: “Whatsoever nation shall possess this land…which is choice above all other lands… shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fullness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.” If we are ‘into’ pornography or drugs or revel in violence or entertainment violence we are into iniquity.
* Remember: We can’t be great unless we are good.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Who/What is Right?
I listen often to National Public Radio (NPR). I did a couple of days ago and heard a discussion on the prospects of the United States getting our troops out of Afghanistan. As always, the viewpoints expressed by different panelists of ‘experts’ came to widely different conclusions based on varying perspectives, biases, command of factual information and other considerations. We see this every day with interactions between Democrats and Republicans in our Congress—good people, generally, but who see things quite differently.
How do we, or they, come to any ‘certain conclusion’ as to who or what is right and who or what is wrong?
Well, one way we can reach a decision is to listen to the ‘pitch men’ and decide which side makes a more persuasive argument. Another way is to try to ‘study it out in our own mind,’ with our own limited information or myopic viewpoint and then try to decide. Or we could flip a coin, or just let things ride and see ‘what shakes out,’ or…or….
Maybe none of those approaches is the best way to arrive at truth.
But what if we had a source we could turn to with confidence as a guide to right action? What if we knew the Immutable Principles, adherence to which would preserve our planet, our families, our freedoms, our security, our chance for happiness, our peace? What if there were a true prophet on earth who spoke with divine authority on issues concerning us or if we could access a divine source of guidance ourselves?
What, then, if everybody availed himself or herself of that input? Would we not consult that source with regularity? But then, if we got an answer would we heed it? Ah, there’s the rub.
I, for one, as a Christian believe there is such a source and that I, and you, can access it. Answers are out there. If we qualify ourselves for a revelation of truth we can receive it. And then we will know what is right and we won’t go wrong. I bet my life on it.
How do we, or they, come to any ‘certain conclusion’ as to who or what is right and who or what is wrong?
Well, one way we can reach a decision is to listen to the ‘pitch men’ and decide which side makes a more persuasive argument. Another way is to try to ‘study it out in our own mind,’ with our own limited information or myopic viewpoint and then try to decide. Or we could flip a coin, or just let things ride and see ‘what shakes out,’ or…or….
Maybe none of those approaches is the best way to arrive at truth.
But what if we had a source we could turn to with confidence as a guide to right action? What if we knew the Immutable Principles, adherence to which would preserve our planet, our families, our freedoms, our security, our chance for happiness, our peace? What if there were a true prophet on earth who spoke with divine authority on issues concerning us or if we could access a divine source of guidance ourselves?
What, then, if everybody availed himself or herself of that input? Would we not consult that source with regularity? But then, if we got an answer would we heed it? Ah, there’s the rub.
I, for one, as a Christian believe there is such a source and that I, and you, can access it. Answers are out there. If we qualify ourselves for a revelation of truth we can receive it. And then we will know what is right and we won’t go wrong. I bet my life on it.
Monday, November 15, 2010
November 22, 1963
Nearly every American and Englishman over the age of 50 remembers the 22nd of November 1963. It was the day C. S. Lewis died. John F. Kennedy also died that day.
For every Christian who is weak in the faith and for every non-Christian who wonders what Christianity really is all about, I highly recommend the insights of this great Christian apologist. A good starting place, and a book that should be on every Christian’s bookshelf is Lewis’ Mere Christianity. This slender volume can easily be read in just a few hours. I’m sure the book will be often reread, though, as the reader delights in the unforgettable metaphors and analogies that suddenly make Christian principles seem so clear and luminous. Not all of his illustrations or conclusions line up with revealed religion, but the volume is an excellent starting point. All truth is not arrived at all at once, neither by Lewis nor by any of us; but Mr. Lewis is clearly pointed in the right direction and points us there.
The reading of Mere Christianity may lead the still un-converted to his Surprised By Joy, which chronicles the journey Lewis took as an atheist who came suddenly into the light. Most literate people have heard of his Screwtape Letters (which he says was his least favorite book to write) and generations of youngsters are familiar with his fantasy, The Chronicles of Narnia. I finally got into Lewis’ writings (the aforementioned and others) in the mid-‘70’s when I was reading J. R. R. Tolkein’s Fellowship of the Ring to my children. Lewis and Tolkein were academic colleagues and friends at Oxford and Cambridge.
So, for me, the anniversary of November 22, 1963 is a day that annually brings me back to the reading of one of his books or anthologies of his writings, and the heady days of my own solid conversion to Christianity. Thanks, Jack (as Lewis’ friends call him).
For every Christian who is weak in the faith and for every non-Christian who wonders what Christianity really is all about, I highly recommend the insights of this great Christian apologist. A good starting place, and a book that should be on every Christian’s bookshelf is Lewis’ Mere Christianity. This slender volume can easily be read in just a few hours. I’m sure the book will be often reread, though, as the reader delights in the unforgettable metaphors and analogies that suddenly make Christian principles seem so clear and luminous. Not all of his illustrations or conclusions line up with revealed religion, but the volume is an excellent starting point. All truth is not arrived at all at once, neither by Lewis nor by any of us; but Mr. Lewis is clearly pointed in the right direction and points us there.
The reading of Mere Christianity may lead the still un-converted to his Surprised By Joy, which chronicles the journey Lewis took as an atheist who came suddenly into the light. Most literate people have heard of his Screwtape Letters (which he says was his least favorite book to write) and generations of youngsters are familiar with his fantasy, The Chronicles of Narnia. I finally got into Lewis’ writings (the aforementioned and others) in the mid-‘70’s when I was reading J. R. R. Tolkein’s Fellowship of the Ring to my children. Lewis and Tolkein were academic colleagues and friends at Oxford and Cambridge.
So, for me, the anniversary of November 22, 1963 is a day that annually brings me back to the reading of one of his books or anthologies of his writings, and the heady days of my own solid conversion to Christianity. Thanks, Jack (as Lewis’ friends call him).
Friday, November 12, 2010
Requiem for a Crow
Just as we can learn something from just about every life experience, I was reminded of an important lesson today from something I observed on the golf course.
A crow was apparently hit by a golf ball and killed by a player in a group playing behind mine. It couldn’t have been more than a minute or so before it was surrounded by a dozen or so other crows who walked around it ‘talking’ to their fallen comrade. Within another minute the word got out via the crow-grapevine and dozens more arrived to pay their condolences. Then there were hundreds of crows arriving and lending their voices in apparent lamentation. Suddenly they all took perch in nearby trees, facing the direction of the fallen one and became silent for a minute or two and then they departed in silence. For the next 8-10 minutes crows kept arriving from apparently far distant points; we could see them at least a half-mile off coming from all directions.
So, what did I learn or of what was I reminded?
I was reminded once again that all life has value and is noted and valued by many more friends or acquaintances than the departed one probably has any idea. When those (people and pets) I have known and loved have died, the song from our Church Hymnbook “Each Life That Touches Ours for Good” plays in my mind for days afterward: “When such a friend from us departs, We hold forever in our hearts a sweet and hallowed memory, Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.”
To keep the life and contributions and qualities of the person alive in our minds and hearts I would suggest not only collecting what photographs we may have of them, but writing about them as soon as possible after their departure and sharing your recollections. Talking about them with others who knew and loved them, you will find, will always be greatly appreciated by those who have a hole in their hearts left by the memory of the departed. A funeral or ‘moment of silence’ is not enough.
I have read and know by personal experience that it is so even with animals—certainly with my own pet dogs and neighbor dogs who have known each other.
Honor and respect the living and the dead.
A crow was apparently hit by a golf ball and killed by a player in a group playing behind mine. It couldn’t have been more than a minute or so before it was surrounded by a dozen or so other crows who walked around it ‘talking’ to their fallen comrade. Within another minute the word got out via the crow-grapevine and dozens more arrived to pay their condolences. Then there were hundreds of crows arriving and lending their voices in apparent lamentation. Suddenly they all took perch in nearby trees, facing the direction of the fallen one and became silent for a minute or two and then they departed in silence. For the next 8-10 minutes crows kept arriving from apparently far distant points; we could see them at least a half-mile off coming from all directions.
So, what did I learn or of what was I reminded?
I was reminded once again that all life has value and is noted and valued by many more friends or acquaintances than the departed one probably has any idea. When those (people and pets) I have known and loved have died, the song from our Church Hymnbook “Each Life That Touches Ours for Good” plays in my mind for days afterward: “When such a friend from us departs, We hold forever in our hearts a sweet and hallowed memory, Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.”
To keep the life and contributions and qualities of the person alive in our minds and hearts I would suggest not only collecting what photographs we may have of them, but writing about them as soon as possible after their departure and sharing your recollections. Talking about them with others who knew and loved them, you will find, will always be greatly appreciated by those who have a hole in their hearts left by the memory of the departed. A funeral or ‘moment of silence’ is not enough.
I have read and know by personal experience that it is so even with animals—certainly with my own pet dogs and neighbor dogs who have known each other.
Honor and respect the living and the dead.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Hell (part one)
When was the last time anyone came up to you and said, “Lets talk about hell?” Instead, if the subject was brought up at all, it was probably dismissed with a kind of nervous laugh or joke that relegated it to the same scrap pile of juvenile unsophistication as the related topic of “the devil.” Of course both subjects still have their adherents: to wit, the popularity of the movies “Ghosts,” and “Ghostbusters” and the 1960’s book and movie “Damn Yankees,” and Halloween will probably retain its annual popularity.
But seriously, what about hell? What about the devil?
I will only take up the subject of hell today, and have no intention of going into it very deeply; the devil will have to wait. But, of course, that is what he has always been doing—waiting for something he will never achieve—that is, heaven. And yes, I believe in both—but certainly not in the popular conceptions. Of course, one has to believe in life after death to believe in either. I, for one, believe. In fact, I know there is life after this life. And I know that my life does not need to experience a stay in hell--there are better things in store.
First, what hell is not. Hell is not a burning cauldron stirred by devils with horns and a barbed tail established for the sole purpose of tormenting the wicked. The devil would have you believe such an absurdity so as to have you dismiss it as an absurdity—and thus dismiss the reality of a place where one has a second chance, as it were, of reforming.
That is what I believe it is—a place of reforming, a reform school, if you will, of unlearning the bad or counter-productive that we didn't unlearn and set straight here in mortality. In short,it is a place and time of repenting and getting set on the right path. There may be (and should be) some painful self-recriminations, even buffetings, until one has been cleansed, and this is what I believe holy scripture means by ‘the pains of hell’ and other related figurative language.
I believe hell is a structure, a place, a correctional institution, a construct. And God, not the devil, has established it and is in charge of the curriculum. As soon as one of the patients has made the requisite changes he is discharged. As soon as hell has fulfilled its function for all of its institutional candidates in need of reform it will be dismantled.
Since long essays are usually unread essays I will leave it at that for today.
But seriously, what about hell? What about the devil?
I will only take up the subject of hell today, and have no intention of going into it very deeply; the devil will have to wait. But, of course, that is what he has always been doing—waiting for something he will never achieve—that is, heaven. And yes, I believe in both—but certainly not in the popular conceptions. Of course, one has to believe in life after death to believe in either. I, for one, believe. In fact, I know there is life after this life. And I know that my life does not need to experience a stay in hell--there are better things in store.
First, what hell is not. Hell is not a burning cauldron stirred by devils with horns and a barbed tail established for the sole purpose of tormenting the wicked. The devil would have you believe such an absurdity so as to have you dismiss it as an absurdity—and thus dismiss the reality of a place where one has a second chance, as it were, of reforming.
That is what I believe it is—a place of reforming, a reform school, if you will, of unlearning the bad or counter-productive that we didn't unlearn and set straight here in mortality. In short,it is a place and time of repenting and getting set on the right path. There may be (and should be) some painful self-recriminations, even buffetings, until one has been cleansed, and this is what I believe holy scripture means by ‘the pains of hell’ and other related figurative language.
I believe hell is a structure, a place, a correctional institution, a construct. And God, not the devil, has established it and is in charge of the curriculum. As soon as one of the patients has made the requisite changes he is discharged. As soon as hell has fulfilled its function for all of its institutional candidates in need of reform it will be dismantled.
Since long essays are usually unread essays I will leave it at that for today.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday! Although the chances are small that today actually is YOUR birthday, I can assure you that sometime within the next year you will hear that very thing said to you.
I think we will some day hear yet another phrase that may go something like, Happy Great Decision Day! Birthdays or Great Decision Days or the “day” you were Born Again will then conjure up memories of years gone by and the person you used to be as an infant or child or youth or before you made your Great Decision or Great Conversion. It may also remind you of an era gone by—the activities, the places, other people who were involved in your earlier, less developed life. And we will be grateful we moved beyond some of these things--that we've grown up.
It is part of my Faith that I believe that God can see backward as well as forward as well as now, and that we can become like God, if we do the right things. I believe that this kind of 'evolution' is a true principle.
That is to say, we can be blessed with capabilities far beyond that which we now possess. Then theoretically we can recapture those earlier days and review them much as we can now review a film or an audiotape. We will be able to “see” what were competing options or, perhaps, “oppositions” that may have kept us back for a time, or retarded our progress, or persuaded us to go one way or the other. We will be able then to see the temptations overcome, the growth accomplished, the help we were receiving, unaware probably, from angels or those on the “other side.” I think, in addition, we will be more aware of the help offered which we accepted or rejected from the living who deeply cared about us on this side and the pivotal decisions we made. The contrast may then astonish us as we see how far we have come. Yes, these are the kinds of things I think about when I think of birthdays.
And so we see that the gift of life can be and should be celebrated every day as you will on your birthday. God wants our lives to be good. Our parents wanted(s) it to be good for us; our friends should want it for us. For in the end, God greatly desires that we have, or eventually come to, a state of “joy.” That, too, is my wish for you. I hope your Birthday or day of Great Decision is one of celebration.
I think we will some day hear yet another phrase that may go something like, Happy Great Decision Day! Birthdays or Great Decision Days or the “day” you were Born Again will then conjure up memories of years gone by and the person you used to be as an infant or child or youth or before you made your Great Decision or Great Conversion. It may also remind you of an era gone by—the activities, the places, other people who were involved in your earlier, less developed life. And we will be grateful we moved beyond some of these things--that we've grown up.
It is part of my Faith that I believe that God can see backward as well as forward as well as now, and that we can become like God, if we do the right things. I believe that this kind of 'evolution' is a true principle.
That is to say, we can be blessed with capabilities far beyond that which we now possess. Then theoretically we can recapture those earlier days and review them much as we can now review a film or an audiotape. We will be able to “see” what were competing options or, perhaps, “oppositions” that may have kept us back for a time, or retarded our progress, or persuaded us to go one way or the other. We will be able then to see the temptations overcome, the growth accomplished, the help we were receiving, unaware probably, from angels or those on the “other side.” I think, in addition, we will be more aware of the help offered which we accepted or rejected from the living who deeply cared about us on this side and the pivotal decisions we made. The contrast may then astonish us as we see how far we have come. Yes, these are the kinds of things I think about when I think of birthdays.
And so we see that the gift of life can be and should be celebrated every day as you will on your birthday. God wants our lives to be good. Our parents wanted(s) it to be good for us; our friends should want it for us. For in the end, God greatly desires that we have, or eventually come to, a state of “joy.” That, too, is my wish for you. I hope your Birthday or day of Great Decision is one of celebration.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Alexis de Tocqueville and Democracy in America
When I was an undergraduate college student I took a class titled Social and Intellectual History of the United States. It was in this class I became acquainted with the Frenchman A. de Tocqueville and his famous travel and critique of our young nation. He came, ostensibly, for a tour of our country’s prison system, but really came as an observer and reporter of our National Character.
I have been interested in our National Character and in the development of personal character—in fact, my doctoral dissertation dealt with character education in the university I attended. I have wondered if others of my acquaintances have given much thought to who we as an American people are or of their own character development? Others, such as John Steinbeck (Travels With Charlie) and Alistair Cook and James Michener have undertaken such journeys and have published accounts on them, and I think we could all profitably engage ourselves with such contemplations and journeys where possible. My wife and I just returned from a trip to Europe and I will, in some later posting, report on some of my observations in this vein.
Here are just a few of de Tocqueville’s observations of 1831; I wonder how valid they are today:
• ‘The greatest blot on the [American national character] is the avidity to get rich and to do it by any means whatever.’
• ‘[Contrasted to the above] was the talk, always, of improvement and reform—what to do about slavery, about education, about God and the churches, about the rich, about women, about alcohol, about prisons.’
• ‘No novelty in the United States struck me more vividly during my stay here than the equality of conditions.’
• This is ‘a country where the military spirit is absolutely unknown.’
• ‘Every American feels a sort of personal interest in obeying the laws.’
• ‘The inhabitant of the United States learns from birth that he must rely on himself to combat the ills and trials of life; he is restless and defiant in his outlook toward the authority of society and appeals to its power only when he cannot do without it….’
• ‘Every American has the sense to sacrifice some of his private interests to save the rest.’
• ‘It is all-important for them to be educated…and I see a time approaching in which freedom, public peace, and social stability will not be able to last without education.’
• ‘As [inhabitants] mingle, Americans become assimilated; the differences which climate, origin, and institutions had created among them become less great. They all get closer to one type.’
• ‘The quarrels which are carried on in the newspapers or in society concern persons rather than things, and not a single person I met talked about leaving the United States. Indeed, it was the rare man or woman who even suggested that Americans might learn anything from the experience and ideas of other societies. They have an immensely high opinion of themselves and are not far from believing that they form a species apart from the rest of the human race.’
What would be his critique of America now? What would be our critique of ourselves? Do we ever subject ourselves of such an evaluation in our own personal lives? Maybe we should.
I have been interested in our National Character and in the development of personal character—in fact, my doctoral dissertation dealt with character education in the university I attended. I have wondered if others of my acquaintances have given much thought to who we as an American people are or of their own character development? Others, such as John Steinbeck (Travels With Charlie) and Alistair Cook and James Michener have undertaken such journeys and have published accounts on them, and I think we could all profitably engage ourselves with such contemplations and journeys where possible. My wife and I just returned from a trip to Europe and I will, in some later posting, report on some of my observations in this vein.
Here are just a few of de Tocqueville’s observations of 1831; I wonder how valid they are today:
• ‘The greatest blot on the [American national character] is the avidity to get rich and to do it by any means whatever.’
• ‘[Contrasted to the above] was the talk, always, of improvement and reform—what to do about slavery, about education, about God and the churches, about the rich, about women, about alcohol, about prisons.’
• ‘No novelty in the United States struck me more vividly during my stay here than the equality of conditions.’
• This is ‘a country where the military spirit is absolutely unknown.’
• ‘Every American feels a sort of personal interest in obeying the laws.’
• ‘The inhabitant of the United States learns from birth that he must rely on himself to combat the ills and trials of life; he is restless and defiant in his outlook toward the authority of society and appeals to its power only when he cannot do without it….’
• ‘Every American has the sense to sacrifice some of his private interests to save the rest.’
• ‘It is all-important for them to be educated…and I see a time approaching in which freedom, public peace, and social stability will not be able to last without education.’
• ‘As [inhabitants] mingle, Americans become assimilated; the differences which climate, origin, and institutions had created among them become less great. They all get closer to one type.’
• ‘The quarrels which are carried on in the newspapers or in society concern persons rather than things, and not a single person I met talked about leaving the United States. Indeed, it was the rare man or woman who even suggested that Americans might learn anything from the experience and ideas of other societies. They have an immensely high opinion of themselves and are not far from believing that they form a species apart from the rest of the human race.’
What would be his critique of America now? What would be our critique of ourselves? Do we ever subject ourselves of such an evaluation in our own personal lives? Maybe we should.
Friday, October 29, 2010
On Contention
So that we don’t contend over definitions let us settle on this for a definition: Contention is not discussion, but the opposite; contention puts an end to all discussion, as does war. In reality a declaration of war is an announcement that the discussion is over. Whether the war is declared as a war, or as a ‘conflict’ as the Viet Nam ‘conflict,’ or whether it occurs in such a small ‘killing field’ as in a home between a husband and a wife, the polarization that occurs can be deadly. When two or more people are shouting and nobody is listening they are not having a discussion.
As a variation on the old schoolyard saying, "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me," it has been more truly said that ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can break my heart.’ So true.
Of course, people can and should have ‘discussions,’ but when one of the parties starts laying traps for the other or starts manipulating or preparing his or her strategy without honestly listening to the other person with a willingness to change if the other person has the higher ground, the discussion is ended. Ulterior motives of power and gain become the object, distortions, accusations and lies become the method, and a desire for mutual improvement flies out the window. The ‘discussion’ degenerates into contention, becomes a disagreement then sometimes totally loses focus and becomes a cold or hot war. People begin playing what they call ‘hardball,’ to maintain their position or gain advantage.
When more people become involved it degenerates into a dispute where people take sides and form ‘factions,’ antecedents to political parties, a dreadful outcome that our Founding Fathers feared and hoped, unsuccessfully, to prevent. In our day statesmanship has lost the discussion or civil debate to incivility, and politics has too often become an abomination.
I would go so far as to say that in our time our very culture, our institutions, our legal system of litigation, our television ‘talk’ shows, even much of our entertainment in form, content and intent has become contentious. When this is not checked or goes on too long, amity, brotherhood, goodwill, and love of mankind goes up in smoke. Indeed, the love of many ‘waxes cold’ and, alas, we become strangers to each other in a common land.
As a variation on the old schoolyard saying, "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me," it has been more truly said that ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can break my heart.’ So true.
Of course, people can and should have ‘discussions,’ but when one of the parties starts laying traps for the other or starts manipulating or preparing his or her strategy without honestly listening to the other person with a willingness to change if the other person has the higher ground, the discussion is ended. Ulterior motives of power and gain become the object, distortions, accusations and lies become the method, and a desire for mutual improvement flies out the window. The ‘discussion’ degenerates into contention, becomes a disagreement then sometimes totally loses focus and becomes a cold or hot war. People begin playing what they call ‘hardball,’ to maintain their position or gain advantage.
When more people become involved it degenerates into a dispute where people take sides and form ‘factions,’ antecedents to political parties, a dreadful outcome that our Founding Fathers feared and hoped, unsuccessfully, to prevent. In our day statesmanship has lost the discussion or civil debate to incivility, and politics has too often become an abomination.
I would go so far as to say that in our time our very culture, our institutions, our legal system of litigation, our television ‘talk’ shows, even much of our entertainment in form, content and intent has become contentious. When this is not checked or goes on too long, amity, brotherhood, goodwill, and love of mankind goes up in smoke. Indeed, the love of many ‘waxes cold’ and, alas, we become strangers to each other in a common land.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Matt's second guest post
Hidden within the folklore and myths of Western Europe are a wealth of plots, irony and wisdom that have helped shape western thought as we know it. Many of these tales are pure fancy while others have traceable origins.
Take for example the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Although the notion of a siren-like musician may indeed be pure fable, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that in circa 1200 Hamelin, Germany, did lose its children. Whether the loss was due to the plague, or migration, or a crusade is debatable, however, the real gem lies in this timeless lesson – everything has a price and nothing is for free. Our day of reckoning may be delayed or put off but eventually the Piper must be paid. It is a hard principal, with little room for mercy but if we are to manage our affairs with any kind of success, it is a lesson that must be learned.
Another great tale and one with far older origins, is the Arthurian Romance of the Holy Grail. From Sir Thomas Malory to T.S. Eliot and John Steinbeck, much has been written about the Knights of the Round Table yet the principle that always seems to get missed is the admonition of Sir Gawain.
On the eve of Pentecost, when the knights were gathered in Camelot, the grail appears. When the vision ends, all the knights swear an oath to search for the Grail.
Yet in his wisdom, Sir Gawain counsels that all who undertake this task must find their path and not follow another. As each knight left the castle, Sir Tomas Malory writes, ‘every knight took the way that him liked best.’
As a result; ‘the dark forest,’ first penned by Chretien De Troyes, became more than just a place where adventures happens; it became a metaphor for the deepest parts of our psyche, leaving the reader to ponder; what is my path? Am I remaining true to myself or am I merely following others? Is there enough Sir Galahad in me or do I need self improvement?
Attempting to wrap a unifying theme around this entry would be a stretch. I could tug very hard at the corners and say something about goals and sacrifice. All of which would sound a little preachy. Therefore, I will end with this offering from Shakespeare’s Henry V, that came to mind after watching one too many political adds; ‘The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.’
Take for example the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Although the notion of a siren-like musician may indeed be pure fable, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that in circa 1200 Hamelin, Germany, did lose its children. Whether the loss was due to the plague, or migration, or a crusade is debatable, however, the real gem lies in this timeless lesson – everything has a price and nothing is for free. Our day of reckoning may be delayed or put off but eventually the Piper must be paid. It is a hard principal, with little room for mercy but if we are to manage our affairs with any kind of success, it is a lesson that must be learned.
Another great tale and one with far older origins, is the Arthurian Romance of the Holy Grail. From Sir Thomas Malory to T.S. Eliot and John Steinbeck, much has been written about the Knights of the Round Table yet the principle that always seems to get missed is the admonition of Sir Gawain.
On the eve of Pentecost, when the knights were gathered in Camelot, the grail appears. When the vision ends, all the knights swear an oath to search for the Grail.
Yet in his wisdom, Sir Gawain counsels that all who undertake this task must find their path and not follow another. As each knight left the castle, Sir Tomas Malory writes, ‘every knight took the way that him liked best.’
As a result; ‘the dark forest,’ first penned by Chretien De Troyes, became more than just a place where adventures happens; it became a metaphor for the deepest parts of our psyche, leaving the reader to ponder; what is my path? Am I remaining true to myself or am I merely following others? Is there enough Sir Galahad in me or do I need self improvement?
Attempting to wrap a unifying theme around this entry would be a stretch. I could tug very hard at the corners and say something about goals and sacrifice. All of which would sound a little preachy. Therefore, I will end with this offering from Shakespeare’s Henry V, that came to mind after watching one too many political adds; ‘The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.’
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
If
While on vacation, Ron has asked that I (his son, Matt) manage his blog. As a tribute to my father's willingness to both give advice and to follow his path, I offer this poem by Rudyard Kipling.
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son
This poem was written in 1895 as a tribute to British Forces during the Boer War. The tone brings to mind that famous Victorian stoicism so popularized by the phrase ‘a stiff upper lip.’
Incidentally, the line; ‘If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same,’ is written on the player’s entrance at Wimbledon.
For myself, I have always loved the opening verses and equated the trait of keeping one’s head when all others are losing theirs, with my father – a most unflappable man.
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son
This poem was written in 1895 as a tribute to British Forces during the Boer War. The tone brings to mind that famous Victorian stoicism so popularized by the phrase ‘a stiff upper lip.’
Incidentally, the line; ‘If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same,’ is written on the player’s entrance at Wimbledon.
For myself, I have always loved the opening verses and equated the trait of keeping one’s head when all others are losing theirs, with my father – a most unflappable man.
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Number 13 and the dollar bill
It is said that the number 13 is an unlucky number. You will usually never see a hotel or motel room numbered 13 or hotels with a 13th floor. This is a very uncommon sports jersey number as well. And it probably goes on.
But consider this: There were 13 original colonies, 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 13 stripes on our flag.
On our dollar bill there are 13 steps on the Pyramid, 13 letters in the Latin above, 13 letters in “E Pluribus Unum,” 13 stars above the eagle, 13 plumes of feathers on each span of the Eagle’s wing, 13 bars on the shield, 13 leaves on the olive branch, 13 fruits, and 13 arrows. And a blessing for all Americans in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The symbolism goes on as you look more closely at the dollar bill. “In God We Trust” is on this currency. The Latin above the pyramid, Annuit Coeptis, means “God has favored our undertaking.” The Latin below the pyramid, Novus Ordo Seclorum, means “A new order has begun.” At the base of the pyramid is the Roman Numeral for 1776. Inside the capstone of the pyramid is the all-seeing eye, the ancient symbol for divinity.
Benjamin Franklin said that one man couldn’t do the great undertaking of creating a new nation alone, but a group of men, with the help of God, could do anything.
But consider this: There were 13 original colonies, 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 13 stripes on our flag.
On our dollar bill there are 13 steps on the Pyramid, 13 letters in the Latin above, 13 letters in “E Pluribus Unum,” 13 stars above the eagle, 13 plumes of feathers on each span of the Eagle’s wing, 13 bars on the shield, 13 leaves on the olive branch, 13 fruits, and 13 arrows. And a blessing for all Americans in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The symbolism goes on as you look more closely at the dollar bill. “In God We Trust” is on this currency. The Latin above the pyramid, Annuit Coeptis, means “God has favored our undertaking.” The Latin below the pyramid, Novus Ordo Seclorum, means “A new order has begun.” At the base of the pyramid is the Roman Numeral for 1776. Inside the capstone of the pyramid is the all-seeing eye, the ancient symbol for divinity.
Benjamin Franklin said that one man couldn’t do the great undertaking of creating a new nation alone, but a group of men, with the help of God, could do anything.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Ideas found in a Catholic Church bulletin
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when something goes wrong through no fault of yours and those you love take it out on you,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
If you can say deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics,
Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when something goes wrong through no fault of yours and those you love take it out on you,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
If you can say deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics,
Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.
Monday, September 27, 2010
More Poems
Here is part of a poem titled ‘Adversity’ (author unknown) that is meaningful to me:
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
----------
Good timber does not grow with ease.
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further sky, the greater length.
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
--------------------------------
Though unsophisticated, these two little poems written, I think, by children
resonate with me:
I am a child of God and this one thing I know:
You, too, are a child of God
Not on earth for merely show.
For you and I came here to grow.
----------------------------------
I am the best at what I do
And I do all I can.
I am the best in at least one thing
When so I think, then so I am.
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
----------
Good timber does not grow with ease.
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further sky, the greater length.
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
--------------------------------
Though unsophisticated, these two little poems written, I think, by children
resonate with me:
I am a child of God and this one thing I know:
You, too, are a child of God
Not on earth for merely show.
For you and I came here to grow.
----------------------------------
I am the best at what I do
And I do all I can.
I am the best in at least one thing
When so I think, then so I am.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Your Great Days
I don’t know what your great days were, but my great days as a boy included:
Catching my first trout
Hitting my first Little League and Babe Ruth League home runs
Meeting my wife-to-be at age 14
Winning a couple of junior golf tournaments
My high school years
As I grew older, my great days included:
Finding and reading some of the world’s great literature
Marriage and living with the women I loved
Seeing students I taught catch the vision
Teaching and enjoying my children as they grew up
Finding my religion and knowing the purpose for my life and the direction it should take, and serving in my Church
Enjoying the great out-of-doors—camping, fishing in the Rocky Mountains, gardening and cutting trees
Taking an inventory of where you have been, where you are now, where you want to go, and what you are doing to get where you want to go can and should be a valuable on-going exercise.
Catching my first trout
Hitting my first Little League and Babe Ruth League home runs
Meeting my wife-to-be at age 14
Winning a couple of junior golf tournaments
My high school years
As I grew older, my great days included:
Finding and reading some of the world’s great literature
Marriage and living with the women I loved
Seeing students I taught catch the vision
Teaching and enjoying my children as they grew up
Finding my religion and knowing the purpose for my life and the direction it should take, and serving in my Church
Enjoying the great out-of-doors—camping, fishing in the Rocky Mountains, gardening and cutting trees
Taking an inventory of where you have been, where you are now, where you want to go, and what you are doing to get where you want to go can and should be a valuable on-going exercise.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Poetry - What?
In an earlier essay I alluded to the fact that poetry is dead in mainstream America. I do not think that it is entirely dead, though, for my generation and my parents’ generation. So, in an effort to regenerate it and present it to any reader younger than me, I submit the following thoughtful piece from Edgar A. Guest. It encourages us to make up our minds on the important issues that confront us:
You are the fellow who has to decide
Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside.
You are the fellow who makes up your mind
Whether you’ll lead or will linger behind.
Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar
Or just be contented to stay where you are.
Take it or leave it. Here’s something to do!
Just think it over. It’s all up to you!
Nobody here will compel you to rise;
No one will force you to open your eyes.
No one will answer for you, yes or no,
Whether to stay there or whether to go;
Life is a game, but it’s you who must say
Whether as cheat or as sportsman you’ll play.
Fate may betray you, but you settle first
Whether to live to your best or your worst.
So whatever it is you are wanting to be,
Remember, to fashion the choice you are free.
Kindly or selfish, or gentle or strong,
Keeping the right way or taking the wrong.
Careless of honor or guarding your pride,
All these are questions which you must decide,
Yours the selection, whichever you do;
The thing men call character’s all up to you.
You are the fellow who has to decide
Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside.
You are the fellow who makes up your mind
Whether you’ll lead or will linger behind.
Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar
Or just be contented to stay where you are.
Take it or leave it. Here’s something to do!
Just think it over. It’s all up to you!
Nobody here will compel you to rise;
No one will force you to open your eyes.
No one will answer for you, yes or no,
Whether to stay there or whether to go;
Life is a game, but it’s you who must say
Whether as cheat or as sportsman you’ll play.
Fate may betray you, but you settle first
Whether to live to your best or your worst.
So whatever it is you are wanting to be,
Remember, to fashion the choice you are free.
Kindly or selfish, or gentle or strong,
Keeping the right way or taking the wrong.
Careless of honor or guarding your pride,
All these are questions which you must decide,
Yours the selection, whichever you do;
The thing men call character’s all up to you.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The American Dream
Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I have a dream’ speech has become iconic in American culture—so much so that for some American’s it has even become sacrosanct. Glen Beck was roundly thrashed recently because he presumed to publicly declare his dream for America—as if Mr. King was the only public figure allowed to have a dream, a vision for America. I think both of their dreams had much merit. I think every private person, each of us, must also have a Dream. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)
Preceding either of these thinkers’ dreams, though, was the ‘American Dream’ identified in the history books of many generations of America’s school children. Americans for two centuries have equated freedom with opportunity and, until the last half-century, with responsibility. Opportunity came with citizenship—opportunity, no matter who you were or where you came from, to pursue happiness, to make money or have power, or both. And the dream included the idea that our children could have it better than we had it—if they would work for it, as we did.
Historically, the tyranny of English ties was long broken and the only tyranny ‘we the people’ came to worry about was the tyranny of a minority, the elitists. Those who became the elite, the medical profession, the media controllers, the educational establishment, the political establishment, the relatively small number of people who try to determine the thoughts and ideas and direction that all people ‘should’, in their minds, possess—these have become the tyranny of our time.
Recently, the emergence of the ‘Tea Party’ is attempting to give voice to the strength of the larger great American ‘silent majority’ who still have The Dream, unorchestrated by the self-identified elitist controllers of our destiny.
But I have a concern. Look at who compose this emergent counter-point. From what generation do they come? Will they have the power and determination to sustain their opposition and present and follow up on viable alternatives to what they have identified as the source of our current national malaise.
But more to the point of this essay, I wonder if the American Dream has not collapsed for many. Especially I am concerned about the current generation. Do many of our ‘generation x’ really believe they can drive their own destiny, own their own home, even get a job? For those who have given up, do they think that the well of ‘entitlements’ will never dry up? Has the economic downturn brought about a meltdown of the Dream that had given motivation for us of the Boomer generation and of the Greatest Generation that preceded it? How long will those who are out of work or who no longer can have aspirations for a college education or who have never really bought into the ‘Dream’ maintain the self-respect which is fundamental to self-improvement? I see the emergence of many more who are defeated even before they have started, or at least started as we, of my generation, did.
Somehow the Dream must be kept bright. To do so I think that the light must be kept on—and kept focused on the ideas and ideals that got us through the previous Great Challenges that made strong men and strong women of our noble ancestors. I see the challenges of our time neither different in kind or in degree.
Let’s dust off the old solutions, maybe not the specifics but certainly the principles, and see how they can be adapted to today’s challenges. I think we may be surprised at how many of them will work.
The only way to make a dream come true is to have it in the first place.
Preceding either of these thinkers’ dreams, though, was the ‘American Dream’ identified in the history books of many generations of America’s school children. Americans for two centuries have equated freedom with opportunity and, until the last half-century, with responsibility. Opportunity came with citizenship—opportunity, no matter who you were or where you came from, to pursue happiness, to make money or have power, or both. And the dream included the idea that our children could have it better than we had it—if they would work for it, as we did.
Historically, the tyranny of English ties was long broken and the only tyranny ‘we the people’ came to worry about was the tyranny of a minority, the elitists. Those who became the elite, the medical profession, the media controllers, the educational establishment, the political establishment, the relatively small number of people who try to determine the thoughts and ideas and direction that all people ‘should’, in their minds, possess—these have become the tyranny of our time.
Recently, the emergence of the ‘Tea Party’ is attempting to give voice to the strength of the larger great American ‘silent majority’ who still have The Dream, unorchestrated by the self-identified elitist controllers of our destiny.
But I have a concern. Look at who compose this emergent counter-point. From what generation do they come? Will they have the power and determination to sustain their opposition and present and follow up on viable alternatives to what they have identified as the source of our current national malaise.
But more to the point of this essay, I wonder if the American Dream has not collapsed for many. Especially I am concerned about the current generation. Do many of our ‘generation x’ really believe they can drive their own destiny, own their own home, even get a job? For those who have given up, do they think that the well of ‘entitlements’ will never dry up? Has the economic downturn brought about a meltdown of the Dream that had given motivation for us of the Boomer generation and of the Greatest Generation that preceded it? How long will those who are out of work or who no longer can have aspirations for a college education or who have never really bought into the ‘Dream’ maintain the self-respect which is fundamental to self-improvement? I see the emergence of many more who are defeated even before they have started, or at least started as we, of my generation, did.
Somehow the Dream must be kept bright. To do so I think that the light must be kept on—and kept focused on the ideas and ideals that got us through the previous Great Challenges that made strong men and strong women of our noble ancestors. I see the challenges of our time neither different in kind or in degree.
Let’s dust off the old solutions, maybe not the specifics but certainly the principles, and see how they can be adapted to today’s challenges. I think we may be surprised at how many of them will work.
The only way to make a dream come true is to have it in the first place.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Cliches
In learning to write I was told to avoid clichés. It was implied that one should also avoid thinking in clichés. This was akin to avoid thinking in generalities. Well, I wonder about these things. If our clichés are simply trite aphorisms that have been given no thought—so called throw-away phrases—then I might agree. But isn’t it likely that there is some or a lot of truth behind some of the things that become cliché? And if so, could not some of them be quite valuable in our mental repertoire?
I would suppose that the library has books on clichés, catalogues of them perhaps or a history of their derivations. I have thought of looking up such a book but every time I get into a library now I get distracted by the many interesting titles that catch my eye and consequently go off on another tangent.
But the point is, what is on the default screen of our mind? Could our non-critical mind be driven by what has over the years become cliché to it? Could these random but now entrenched thoughts not be the daily fare or fuel or nutritional ingredients of our semi-active thought processes? If so, it would seem that we should intentionally, daily, feed our minds with thoughts that are inspirational, growth stimulating and promoting, and healthy. Conversely, we should avoid anything negative or degrading or that could become habitual and thus play on our mind’s screensaver.
So, what are the thoughts and intents of our minds and hearts? If they are positive, shouldn’t they become even cliché?
I would suppose that the library has books on clichés, catalogues of them perhaps or a history of their derivations. I have thought of looking up such a book but every time I get into a library now I get distracted by the many interesting titles that catch my eye and consequently go off on another tangent.
But the point is, what is on the default screen of our mind? Could our non-critical mind be driven by what has over the years become cliché to it? Could these random but now entrenched thoughts not be the daily fare or fuel or nutritional ingredients of our semi-active thought processes? If so, it would seem that we should intentionally, daily, feed our minds with thoughts that are inspirational, growth stimulating and promoting, and healthy. Conversely, we should avoid anything negative or degrading or that could become habitual and thus play on our mind’s screensaver.
So, what are the thoughts and intents of our minds and hearts? If they are positive, shouldn’t they become even cliché?
Friday, September 10, 2010
My Notes
In my office I have thirteen large spiral notebooks totally filled with handwritten notes. These were taken during summer sessions (mostly) at the university while I was doing graduate studies. Not all the notes were classroom notes; many of them were taken from books or articles I had read, discussions engaged in, out-of class lectures or addresses attended, musings or collected thoughts or quotations, or other things that particularly inspired me.
One of the people in my early academic life who inspired me was a man who in his own life did essentially the same thing and who said that over the course of his life his notes became his most valued possession. He said that thought of his reading as a combine harvester that one would find on a farm. This machine cuts everything it passes through but throws out the weeds and straw and chaff and puts only the wheat into the hopper.
Standing on the shoulders of this giant I have done that to great advantage with my own reading and writing. I have taken notes from books I did not own, and from books that I do own have underlined, crossed out, and annotated, every book I think I have read in the past 40 years. My annotated Bible is my most valued single book. I cannot envision me ever wanting a new one.
I have done this editing even with my own notes, lectures, sermons, essays and letters. I reread them with delight and get a ‘new’ education with each reading.
Finally, what a blessing the computer has been to me in this regard for the past 26 years. Like I do with my notebooks and bound volumes, I often look at my computer files and now the photographs my wife and I have taken from our many travels. Even if none of my children or stepchildren has any interest in these personal treasures when I close this chapter of my life, it has given me great pleasure and been time well spent. I am convinced that these things have been impressed on the engrams of my soul and so I will be a Celestial traveler with a full ‘backpack’ or ‘mindpack’ on the great journey that beckons.
One of the people in my early academic life who inspired me was a man who in his own life did essentially the same thing and who said that over the course of his life his notes became his most valued possession. He said that thought of his reading as a combine harvester that one would find on a farm. This machine cuts everything it passes through but throws out the weeds and straw and chaff and puts only the wheat into the hopper.
Standing on the shoulders of this giant I have done that to great advantage with my own reading and writing. I have taken notes from books I did not own, and from books that I do own have underlined, crossed out, and annotated, every book I think I have read in the past 40 years. My annotated Bible is my most valued single book. I cannot envision me ever wanting a new one.
I have done this editing even with my own notes, lectures, sermons, essays and letters. I reread them with delight and get a ‘new’ education with each reading.
Finally, what a blessing the computer has been to me in this regard for the past 26 years. Like I do with my notebooks and bound volumes, I often look at my computer files and now the photographs my wife and I have taken from our many travels. Even if none of my children or stepchildren has any interest in these personal treasures when I close this chapter of my life, it has given me great pleasure and been time well spent. I am convinced that these things have been impressed on the engrams of my soul and so I will be a Celestial traveler with a full ‘backpack’ or ‘mindpack’ on the great journey that beckons.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Enter Hugh Nibley
Since I quoted Hugh Nibley in my last posting I thought I’d let you become a little more familiar with him today.
As I turn to my office bookshelf at eye level on my right are twelve volumes by this eminent scholar and Christian disciple. I can reach out and touch them and hold on to them as an anchor of cultural stability when I need to. Nibley placed my faith in the context of world history and science and unflinchingly took on whatever the pundits and skeptics had to offer. I knew Dr. Nibley—slightly—and had several conversations with him (actually he did almost all of the talking after my opening remark or question to him). I gained at every encounter. I would encourage any reader of mine to seek out and if you are fortunate enough to find the wise among us really listen to their take on life. As I indicated in my posting, “Grist,” a good starting point would be to take one of these luminaries, read what they had to say, look at their bibliographies and go from there.
Taking a volume of Nibley’s, at random, and flipping through it to where the page happens to fall open I find this (Here is your typical Nibley):
“If one makes a sketch of a mountain, what is it? A few lines on a piece of paper. But there is a solid reality behind this poor composition. Even if the tattered scrap is picked up later in a street in Tokyo or a gutter in Madrid, it still attests to the artist’s experience of the mountain as a reality. If the sketch should be copied by others who have never seen the original mountain, it still bears witness to its reality.
“So it is with the apocryphal writings. Most of them are pretty poor stuff and all of them are copies of copies. But when we compare them we cannot escape the impression that they have a real model behind them, more faithfully represented in some than in others. All we ever get on this earth, Paul reminds us, is a distorted reflection, but it is a reflection of things that really are. Since we are dealing with derivative evidence only, we are not only justified but required to listen to all the witnesses, no matter how shoddy some of them may be.” (from The Expanding Gospel, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, 12:203-4)
Fact: With hurricanes and tsunamis (as well as volcanic eruptions, tornados, and earthquakes) seemingly increasingly part of our international experience, the speed of these elements may be of some interest to you: Water speeds—Mississippi River 2 mph; Gulf Stream 4.6-5.8 mph; Lava Falls, Colorado River 30 mph; common sea waves 15-56 mph; tsunamis up to 490 mph. Air speeds—light breeze 4-7 mph; moderate breeze 13-18 mph; strong gale 47-54 mph; storm 64-75 mph; hurricane >75 mph.
As I turn to my office bookshelf at eye level on my right are twelve volumes by this eminent scholar and Christian disciple. I can reach out and touch them and hold on to them as an anchor of cultural stability when I need to. Nibley placed my faith in the context of world history and science and unflinchingly took on whatever the pundits and skeptics had to offer. I knew Dr. Nibley—slightly—and had several conversations with him (actually he did almost all of the talking after my opening remark or question to him). I gained at every encounter. I would encourage any reader of mine to seek out and if you are fortunate enough to find the wise among us really listen to their take on life. As I indicated in my posting, “Grist,” a good starting point would be to take one of these luminaries, read what they had to say, look at their bibliographies and go from there.
Taking a volume of Nibley’s, at random, and flipping through it to where the page happens to fall open I find this (Here is your typical Nibley):
“If one makes a sketch of a mountain, what is it? A few lines on a piece of paper. But there is a solid reality behind this poor composition. Even if the tattered scrap is picked up later in a street in Tokyo or a gutter in Madrid, it still attests to the artist’s experience of the mountain as a reality. If the sketch should be copied by others who have never seen the original mountain, it still bears witness to its reality.
“So it is with the apocryphal writings. Most of them are pretty poor stuff and all of them are copies of copies. But when we compare them we cannot escape the impression that they have a real model behind them, more faithfully represented in some than in others. All we ever get on this earth, Paul reminds us, is a distorted reflection, but it is a reflection of things that really are. Since we are dealing with derivative evidence only, we are not only justified but required to listen to all the witnesses, no matter how shoddy some of them may be.” (from The Expanding Gospel, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, 12:203-4)
Fact: With hurricanes and tsunamis (as well as volcanic eruptions, tornados, and earthquakes) seemingly increasingly part of our international experience, the speed of these elements may be of some interest to you: Water speeds—Mississippi River 2 mph; Gulf Stream 4.6-5.8 mph; Lava Falls, Colorado River 30 mph; common sea waves 15-56 mph; tsunamis up to 490 mph. Air speeds—light breeze 4-7 mph; moderate breeze 13-18 mph; strong gale 47-54 mph; storm 64-75 mph; hurricane >75 mph.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Enough is Enough
I recently played golf with my brother Ken at Pebble Beach (a perquisite from my employment there). As we were ending our round it was becoming dark and we noticed that almost none of the mansions along the course had the lights on. That was because no one was home.
This is the way it often is unless there is a prestigious event being held in the gated Pebble Beach community. These multi-million dollar homes were second or third homes held, I have been told, for show-pieces for the very wealthy.
I saw this played out some months ago as I was spectating at a golf tournament held at Pebble at one of the most ostentatious of the houses along the fourteenth fairway. A man sat, alone with his drink, his ascot and blue blazer and loafers and jeans, surrounded by his stable of five or six very expensive collector’s automobiles (Ferraris, Bentleys, Buggatis, Lamborginis, etc.) watching the people on the golf course look at him. And he looked pathetic. It seemed very clear to me that this was an unhappy man whose money could not buy him what he so desired—validation and love.
One of my favorite thinkers, Hugh Nibley, has hit the nail on the head regarding this topic in his essay, “Breakthroughs I would like to see,” from his book Approaching Zion. He says, ‘More than enough is more than enough[!].’
And how much is ‘enough?’ I would say, when ‘I have sufficient for my needs.’ I think we become unbalanced when we go much beyond this. My religion teaches me that the Lord says, “I give not unto you that ye shall live after the manner of the world.” And what is the manner of the world? I think that in our society it is using our every energy and resource to obtain wealth or the things we think we can buy with it. From the scriptures comes this: “Ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them.” Says Nibley: ‘Like medicine, the stuff of this earth is to preserve life; too much of it is unnecessary and dangerous and so is not enough.’ We may find that, as Nibley also says, ‘Wealth is an almost insuperable barrier to entering the kingdom [of God].’
Well, this should be an unpopular essay.
This is the way it often is unless there is a prestigious event being held in the gated Pebble Beach community. These multi-million dollar homes were second or third homes held, I have been told, for show-pieces for the very wealthy.
I saw this played out some months ago as I was spectating at a golf tournament held at Pebble at one of the most ostentatious of the houses along the fourteenth fairway. A man sat, alone with his drink, his ascot and blue blazer and loafers and jeans, surrounded by his stable of five or six very expensive collector’s automobiles (Ferraris, Bentleys, Buggatis, Lamborginis, etc.) watching the people on the golf course look at him. And he looked pathetic. It seemed very clear to me that this was an unhappy man whose money could not buy him what he so desired—validation and love.
One of my favorite thinkers, Hugh Nibley, has hit the nail on the head regarding this topic in his essay, “Breakthroughs I would like to see,” from his book Approaching Zion. He says, ‘More than enough is more than enough[!].’
And how much is ‘enough?’ I would say, when ‘I have sufficient for my needs.’ I think we become unbalanced when we go much beyond this. My religion teaches me that the Lord says, “I give not unto you that ye shall live after the manner of the world.” And what is the manner of the world? I think that in our society it is using our every energy and resource to obtain wealth or the things we think we can buy with it. From the scriptures comes this: “Ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them.” Says Nibley: ‘Like medicine, the stuff of this earth is to preserve life; too much of it is unnecessary and dangerous and so is not enough.’ We may find that, as Nibley also says, ‘Wealth is an almost insuperable barrier to entering the kingdom [of God].’
Well, this should be an unpopular essay.
Monday, August 30, 2010
On Love Songs and Love
I have a penchant for romantic song lyrics (not the rock music variety), the 20th and so-far 21st Century replacement for poetry, and a favorite poet-song-writer of mine was John Denver (1943-1997). Not that John Denver was an expert on love, but rather he had a poet’s sensitivity to put into lyric verse some of the observations and questions and feelings that anyone has who does not take this quintessential human need for granted—or for simply a whimsical notion. Just as his song, ‘Wild Montana Skies’ has the lyric, “[I]…give voice to the forest, give voice to the dawn, give voice to the wilderness and the land that he lived on,” so too does his corpus of lyrics, as do others,’ give voice to the thoughts, feelings, and hopes of one who loves, has loved, or desires love. His song, ‘Some Say Love’ is representative of just such a poetic inquiry.
A deeper, and much more insightful, treatment of the nature, risks and rewards of love in its several forms—beyond the typical two-three minute popular love song—is explored, in C.S. Lewis’s “The Four Loves.” His “Surprised by Joy,” is a further treatment as he experienced love firsthand. I highly recommend these books. I have also gained from a Lewis-inspired book, A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken.
Eric Fromm’s “The Art of Loving” provides a framework for thoughtful analysis although I reject most of his conclusions stemming from his flawed psychoanalytic premises. One good line of his, however, is this: “To love somebody is not just a strong feeling—it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise.” (p. 56)
Leo Buscaglia does a good job of tackling this most human of emotions in several of his books.
Foundational, though, to any serious inquiry of what love is, and its proper expression, for Christian or non-Christian, is found in the New Testament of the Bible. The words of Jesus, and apostles John and Paul are invaluable.
And William Shakespeare had it right with his Sonnet 116. Find it and read it.
My understanding of love, though helped by the writing of others, has come about by what I have experienced from my relationship with God and with my own loved ones. Here, in a nutshell, is what I believe: love is an attitude, an orientation of character that has as its focus the pleasing and well-being of another. It is a giving for another, a giving of yourself, not a ‘trying to get’ from another, but in the living process one does, in fact, get as well. It is achieving a ‘oneness’ with another person and a losing of the separateness of and focus on yourself. It is a ‘standing for’ someone, not a ‘falling for’ them; you stand in love, you don’t fall in love. Love is a synergy. It involves care, responsibility and commitment, respect and appreciation. Lovers are “each in love with the other for the sake of perfecting their mutual work.” (Rumi)
I end with an expression of the attitude of love I was fortunate to learn as a young man as I became acquainted, in an English class, with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s wonderful poem, ‘How Do I Love Thee?’
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall love thee better after death.
Fact for musing: In her life a green turtle lays an average of 1800 eggs. Of these, some 1395 don't hatch, 374 hatchlings quickly die, and only 3 live long enough to breed. The highest reported number of children born to one mother is 69, to a Russian peasant woman in the 18th century. They comprised four sets of quadruplets, seven sets of triplets, and 16 pairs of twins. Pretty hard to believe.
A deeper, and much more insightful, treatment of the nature, risks and rewards of love in its several forms—beyond the typical two-three minute popular love song—is explored, in C.S. Lewis’s “The Four Loves.” His “Surprised by Joy,” is a further treatment as he experienced love firsthand. I highly recommend these books. I have also gained from a Lewis-inspired book, A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken.
Eric Fromm’s “The Art of Loving” provides a framework for thoughtful analysis although I reject most of his conclusions stemming from his flawed psychoanalytic premises. One good line of his, however, is this: “To love somebody is not just a strong feeling—it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise.” (p. 56)
Leo Buscaglia does a good job of tackling this most human of emotions in several of his books.
Foundational, though, to any serious inquiry of what love is, and its proper expression, for Christian or non-Christian, is found in the New Testament of the Bible. The words of Jesus, and apostles John and Paul are invaluable.
And William Shakespeare had it right with his Sonnet 116. Find it and read it.
My understanding of love, though helped by the writing of others, has come about by what I have experienced from my relationship with God and with my own loved ones. Here, in a nutshell, is what I believe: love is an attitude, an orientation of character that has as its focus the pleasing and well-being of another. It is a giving for another, a giving of yourself, not a ‘trying to get’ from another, but in the living process one does, in fact, get as well. It is achieving a ‘oneness’ with another person and a losing of the separateness of and focus on yourself. It is a ‘standing for’ someone, not a ‘falling for’ them; you stand in love, you don’t fall in love. Love is a synergy. It involves care, responsibility and commitment, respect and appreciation. Lovers are “each in love with the other for the sake of perfecting their mutual work.” (Rumi)
I end with an expression of the attitude of love I was fortunate to learn as a young man as I became acquainted, in an English class, with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s wonderful poem, ‘How Do I Love Thee?’
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall love thee better after death.
Fact for musing: In her life a green turtle lays an average of 1800 eggs. Of these, some 1395 don't hatch, 374 hatchlings quickly die, and only 3 live long enough to breed. The highest reported number of children born to one mother is 69, to a Russian peasant woman in the 18th century. They comprised four sets of quadruplets, seven sets of triplets, and 16 pairs of twins. Pretty hard to believe.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Live With It
Sometimes we say things without giving them much thought. I remember doing that a few years ago while my wife and I were on our mission to Samoa when I wrote a note to my family saying that Cheryl and I were fine after our cyclone experience and then I ended it with “Life is good.” As soon as I hit the “send” button I immediately but temporarily regretted saying that because for many, and for all of us at one time or another, life seems anything but “good.” It seems to be hard, frustrating, painful, hopeless, unfair, stacked against us, uncertain, unjust, bleak, boring, tedious, frightening, certainly challenging.
But it has a purpose. In a flash of insight I once heard a wise woman say, “Life is not a playground; it is a laboratory and a workshop.” She was right. In a laboratory we learn something, and in a workshop we produce something.
Life is also a test track, a proving ground, perhaps even a crucible. But I say, live with it and be glad for it. If we do it right, we can come out a winner, justified, and refined—and as happy as if it were a playground. The time will come when each of us will say, “I can see clearly now—the rain is gone….”
Yes, life is good.
Trivia to ponder: At a steady jogger’s pace of 6 mph it would take 173 days to go around the equatorial circumference of the earth, and more than 5 years to go around the circumference of the largest planet, Jupiter. And after all that, we only arrive at where we started. But I'm sure we would be changed.
But it has a purpose. In a flash of insight I once heard a wise woman say, “Life is not a playground; it is a laboratory and a workshop.” She was right. In a laboratory we learn something, and in a workshop we produce something.
Life is also a test track, a proving ground, perhaps even a crucible. But I say, live with it and be glad for it. If we do it right, we can come out a winner, justified, and refined—and as happy as if it were a playground. The time will come when each of us will say, “I can see clearly now—the rain is gone….”
Yes, life is good.
Trivia to ponder: At a steady jogger’s pace of 6 mph it would take 173 days to go around the equatorial circumference of the earth, and more than 5 years to go around the circumference of the largest planet, Jupiter. And after all that, we only arrive at where we started. But I'm sure we would be changed.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
One's Best Intentions
Well, I already did it. Twice. I had intended to do a posting twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. I still intend to do it, but I didn’t do it last Friday. Neither did I put in the abstruse ‘fact for musing’ last Monday.
Somebody apparently said, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ I don’t know that I’d go that far (either to say that or to travel that road to its destination), but I do know that many people get into their biggest trouble by breaking commitments or promises they made and that others’ counted on—in marriage, diet, financial obligations, work commitments, etc. I doubt if anybody lost any sleep by finding they could not read a new posting from me last Friday, but I do know that my credibility took a hit—if not from a reader, at least from me, the non-poster. So what does one do? He tries again.
Here is my combined last-Friday and today, Monday posting: It is taken from some provocative thoughts by Robert Fulghum,. All I Really Need to Know I learned In Kindergarten. Ivy Books, New York, 1988.
-"Place your bet somewhere between haste-makes-waste and he-who-hesitates-is-lost." (75)
-[re. liberated women or people] "Liberation, I guess, is everybody getting what they think they want, without knowing the whole truth. Or in other words, liberation finally amounts to being free from things we don't like in order to be enslaved by things we approve of." (104)
-[His cure for depression: put on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.] "The music comes on like the first day of Creation." "I find an irresistible affirmation. In deep spiritual winter, I find inside myself the sun of summer. . . " (110)
-Fulghum's Exchange Principle: "Every person passing through this life will unknowingly leave something and take something away." (117)
-"Imagination is more important than information." (Einstein)
-"All things live only if something else is cleared out of the path to make way. No death; no life. No exceptions. Things must come and go. People. Years. Ideas. Everything. The wheel turns, and the old is cleared away as fodder for the new." (146)
-"In a sense we make up all our relatives. . . fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and the rest. Especially if they are dead or distant. We take what we know, which isn't ever the whole story, and we add it to what we wish and need, and stitch it together into some kind of family quilt to wrap up in on our mental couch. We even make ourselves up, fusing what we are with what we wish into what we must become. Thinking about the grandfather I wish I had prepares me for the grandfather I wish to be, a way of using what I am to shape the best that is to come. It is a preparation."
Fact for musing: In 1903, Flyer 1, the Wright brothers’ biplane, traveled for 120’ through the air. If it had taken off inside a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet at the tail end, it would have touched down 111 feet from the nose—still inside the plane.
Somebody apparently said, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ I don’t know that I’d go that far (either to say that or to travel that road to its destination), but I do know that many people get into their biggest trouble by breaking commitments or promises they made and that others’ counted on—in marriage, diet, financial obligations, work commitments, etc. I doubt if anybody lost any sleep by finding they could not read a new posting from me last Friday, but I do know that my credibility took a hit—if not from a reader, at least from me, the non-poster. So what does one do? He tries again.
Here is my combined last-Friday and today, Monday posting: It is taken from some provocative thoughts by Robert Fulghum,. All I Really Need to Know I learned In Kindergarten. Ivy Books, New York, 1988.
-"Place your bet somewhere between haste-makes-waste and he-who-hesitates-is-lost." (75)
-[re. liberated women or people] "Liberation, I guess, is everybody getting what they think they want, without knowing the whole truth. Or in other words, liberation finally amounts to being free from things we don't like in order to be enslaved by things we approve of." (104)
-[His cure for depression: put on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.] "The music comes on like the first day of Creation." "I find an irresistible affirmation. In deep spiritual winter, I find inside myself the sun of summer. . . " (110)
-Fulghum's Exchange Principle: "Every person passing through this life will unknowingly leave something and take something away." (117)
-"Imagination is more important than information." (Einstein)
-"All things live only if something else is cleared out of the path to make way. No death; no life. No exceptions. Things must come and go. People. Years. Ideas. Everything. The wheel turns, and the old is cleared away as fodder for the new." (146)
-"In a sense we make up all our relatives. . . fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and the rest. Especially if they are dead or distant. We take what we know, which isn't ever the whole story, and we add it to what we wish and need, and stitch it together into some kind of family quilt to wrap up in on our mental couch. We even make ourselves up, fusing what we are with what we wish into what we must become. Thinking about the grandfather I wish I had prepares me for the grandfather I wish to be, a way of using what I am to shape the best that is to come. It is a preparation."
Fact for musing: In 1903, Flyer 1, the Wright brothers’ biplane, traveled for 120’ through the air. If it had taken off inside a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet at the tail end, it would have touched down 111 feet from the nose—still inside the plane.
Friday, August 13, 2010
A Tribute To Those Who Are Ill
I have been sick for the past week. I will one day acknowledge—I won’t yet—that I have become old. When one is sick or old it goes without saying that one cannot do many things that at an earlier age came so easily. But, in one of life’s ironies, the ill or the aged can do some things better and see things more clearly than they could previously. Every time I get sick I think I see more clearly. I will cite two better examples of this of dear people who mean much to me.
The first is my late wife Merrilee Kim (Hafen) Miller (1958-1995). Everything of that which I note about Kim could also be said of my late wife Karen Lynn (Underwood) Miller (1944-1992), the wife of my youth. They were cut out of the same cloth.
Surely Kim was an intelligent and lively and cheerful and kind and faithful girl and woman before I met her. I have read the journals she faithfully kept and the comments in her high school and college yearbooks and I have listened carefully to people who knew her and members of her family who spoke of their sister and daughter and neice and friend. Yet during the short time of our courtship and marriage I saw those wonderful qualities amplified and even intensified as her candle burned down. Toward the end the veil between this life and the next became very thin indeed. She came to see and know things that she could not have seen and known had her physical health been better. I was supremely blessed by her communicating many of these things to me. The irony was that, as fine as it was in her wellness, her spiritual health intensified and it brought her greater joy. For some it would bring despair, but not for her, for she was grounded, as the apostle Paul said, “according to the riches of [God’s] glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man…that [she]…being rooted and grounded in love [was] able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge….” (Ephesians 3:16-19)
The second example is my friend Harold Bartlett. Bud, as he is known by his friends, is the most stalwart man I have ever known. He is an inspiration, since his illness, to every person who has ever had the privilege of meeting and being with him. Bud was brought down in the prime of his physical manhood by a neurological disease that has robbed him his mobility and coordination. He has been in this condition for over 20 years. Though he continues to physically deteriorate, his spiritual aura increasingly illuminates as he does what he can with his diminishing resources. I don’t know that I have ever seen a more joyful Christian. He knows—as cited by inspiration given to Benjamin Franklin, given in an earlier posting on this weblog—that his body ‘will appear once more in a new and more elegant edition revised and corrected by the author.’ His spirit is already in that ‘more elegant and revised edition…corrected by the author.’ What a man!
The first is my late wife Merrilee Kim (Hafen) Miller (1958-1995). Everything of that which I note about Kim could also be said of my late wife Karen Lynn (Underwood) Miller (1944-1992), the wife of my youth. They were cut out of the same cloth.
Surely Kim was an intelligent and lively and cheerful and kind and faithful girl and woman before I met her. I have read the journals she faithfully kept and the comments in her high school and college yearbooks and I have listened carefully to people who knew her and members of her family who spoke of their sister and daughter and neice and friend. Yet during the short time of our courtship and marriage I saw those wonderful qualities amplified and even intensified as her candle burned down. Toward the end the veil between this life and the next became very thin indeed. She came to see and know things that she could not have seen and known had her physical health been better. I was supremely blessed by her communicating many of these things to me. The irony was that, as fine as it was in her wellness, her spiritual health intensified and it brought her greater joy. For some it would bring despair, but not for her, for she was grounded, as the apostle Paul said, “according to the riches of [God’s] glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man…that [she]…being rooted and grounded in love [was] able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge….” (Ephesians 3:16-19)
The second example is my friend Harold Bartlett. Bud, as he is known by his friends, is the most stalwart man I have ever known. He is an inspiration, since his illness, to every person who has ever had the privilege of meeting and being with him. Bud was brought down in the prime of his physical manhood by a neurological disease that has robbed him his mobility and coordination. He has been in this condition for over 20 years. Though he continues to physically deteriorate, his spiritual aura increasingly illuminates as he does what he can with his diminishing resources. I don’t know that I have ever seen a more joyful Christian. He knows—as cited by inspiration given to Benjamin Franklin, given in an earlier posting on this weblog—that his body ‘will appear once more in a new and more elegant edition revised and corrected by the author.’ His spirit is already in that ‘more elegant and revised edition…corrected by the author.’ What a man!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Facts, Frameworks, and World Views
Since Omnium-Gatherum is, by definition, a miscellaneous gathering, I have decided to add to each posting—at least for a while--some interesting (to me) fact that you, too, might enjoy pondering. By itself the fact might be just trivia; you could get these kinds of things by consulting the Guinness Book of Records. But you probably wouldn’t get the comparisons that I will try to include to help with a point of reference for the fact.
Although I will not generally comment on the ‘fact of the day,’ I hope it may fascinate and inform you and stimulate you to make further comparisons of your own.
Now that brings me to the more important point of this posting. Having a point of reference, based on facts or their equivalent, placing your point of reference in a context, and then using it in a frame of reference in your development of a consistent and accurate world view are parts of what it means to be an educated person. An accurate world view helps you to make sense of the world and keeps you focused on what really matters. It helps you develop your values consistent with the virtues you have identified as themselves being consistent with life’s governing principles. Having this developed view means the difference between the unfocused life and one that has purpose and a plan for getting where you want to go.
We all must make constant evaluations and judgments based on inferences, deductions, facts, probabilities, and possibilities in nearly everything we do. If we don’t, and we just go with the flow, we might well end up in some destination or with something we really don’t want. If we don’t know where we are going, we will surely get there.
Fact: Anciently, the linear measurement ‘foot’ came from the measurement of that of an adult male. However to establish greater accuracy, it was reported that in 1598 the average ‘foot’ measurement of the first sixteen men who came out of some church, I think in Germany, became the standard. (According to Jacob Kobel, Geometrey von kunstlichen Feldtmessen, the Science Museum of London.)
Examples: A bowling lane is 60’ long, whereas the distance from the pitcher’s mound rubber is 60’6” to the home plate; the Acapulco, Mexico divers dive from 118' (as high as an 11 story building); Mt. Everest is 29,002’; and a mile is made up of 5,280 feet, 1,760 yards or 1.609 kilometers.
Although I will not generally comment on the ‘fact of the day,’ I hope it may fascinate and inform you and stimulate you to make further comparisons of your own.
Now that brings me to the more important point of this posting. Having a point of reference, based on facts or their equivalent, placing your point of reference in a context, and then using it in a frame of reference in your development of a consistent and accurate world view are parts of what it means to be an educated person. An accurate world view helps you to make sense of the world and keeps you focused on what really matters. It helps you develop your values consistent with the virtues you have identified as themselves being consistent with life’s governing principles. Having this developed view means the difference between the unfocused life and one that has purpose and a plan for getting where you want to go.
We all must make constant evaluations and judgments based on inferences, deductions, facts, probabilities, and possibilities in nearly everything we do. If we don’t, and we just go with the flow, we might well end up in some destination or with something we really don’t want. If we don’t know where we are going, we will surely get there.
Fact: Anciently, the linear measurement ‘foot’ came from the measurement of that of an adult male. However to establish greater accuracy, it was reported that in 1598 the average ‘foot’ measurement of the first sixteen men who came out of some church, I think in Germany, became the standard. (According to Jacob Kobel, Geometrey von kunstlichen Feldtmessen, the Science Museum of London.)
Examples: A bowling lane is 60’ long, whereas the distance from the pitcher’s mound rubber is 60’6” to the home plate; the Acapulco, Mexico divers dive from 118' (as high as an 11 story building); Mt. Everest is 29,002’; and a mile is made up of 5,280 feet, 1,760 yards or 1.609 kilometers.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Pascal's Wager
Another of my 'giants' is Blase Pascal.
Alan Bloom in "The Closing of the American Mind" said: 'Every Frenchman is born, or at least early on becomes, Cartesian or Pascalian. Descartes and Pascal are national authors, and they tell the French people what their alternatives are, and afford a peculiar and powerful perspective on life's perennial problems. They weave the fabric of souls.[They] represent a choice between reason and revelation, science and piety, the choice from which everything else follows.' (p.52) It is not that I take my marching orders from Pascal, but he does present life's alternatives in their black and white forms, from which we can start to develop or identify our own world view or frame of reference.
Blasé Pascal (1623-1662), a French philosopher and mathematician posed an argument for believing in God – as opposed to disbelief. It is summarized as follows (from his Pensees):
“You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed….”
The argument: Either there is a God or there is not.
1.If there is not a God but you choose to believe there is a God, you have lost very little, if anything, because your belief will motivate you to act according to what you think God has prescribed. This will give you a moral framework for ordering your life and your life will have focus and society will be benefited by your right (unharmful) actions.
2.If there is not a God and you believe there is not a God your life may or may not be focused but those who ignore the promptings of their consciences, which initially are undeniable, are likely to act in ways that are harmful to themselves and to society.
3.If there is a God and you believe there is a God you will act on your belief consistent with what God has revealed as to the proper way of living. The consequences of your belief/actions will benefit you eternally (for He has said so) and will benefit mankind because your actions will be good and just.
4.If there is a God and you choose to not believe and act according to the guidelines God has given, you will sooner or later bring misery and damnation [a stopping of progress] to yourself (for God has so indicated), and perhaps to others, as a consequence of your disbelief.
Pascal’s wager, therefore, is to bet on God. You really can’t lose.
*The caveat, from my strong conviction of course, is to bet on and align yourself with the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent to save us.
Alan Bloom in "The Closing of the American Mind" said: 'Every Frenchman is born, or at least early on becomes, Cartesian or Pascalian. Descartes and Pascal are national authors, and they tell the French people what their alternatives are, and afford a peculiar and powerful perspective on life's perennial problems. They weave the fabric of souls.[They] represent a choice between reason and revelation, science and piety, the choice from which everything else follows.' (p.52) It is not that I take my marching orders from Pascal, but he does present life's alternatives in their black and white forms, from which we can start to develop or identify our own world view or frame of reference.
Blasé Pascal (1623-1662), a French philosopher and mathematician posed an argument for believing in God – as opposed to disbelief. It is summarized as follows (from his Pensees):
“You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed….”
The argument: Either there is a God or there is not.
1.If there is not a God but you choose to believe there is a God, you have lost very little, if anything, because your belief will motivate you to act according to what you think God has prescribed. This will give you a moral framework for ordering your life and your life will have focus and society will be benefited by your right (unharmful) actions.
2.If there is not a God and you believe there is not a God your life may or may not be focused but those who ignore the promptings of their consciences, which initially are undeniable, are likely to act in ways that are harmful to themselves and to society.
3.If there is a God and you believe there is a God you will act on your belief consistent with what God has revealed as to the proper way of living. The consequences of your belief/actions will benefit you eternally (for He has said so) and will benefit mankind because your actions will be good and just.
4.If there is a God and you choose to not believe and act according to the guidelines God has given, you will sooner or later bring misery and damnation [a stopping of progress] to yourself (for God has so indicated), and perhaps to others, as a consequence of your disbelief.
Pascal’s wager, therefore, is to bet on God. You really can’t lose.
*The caveat, from my strong conviction of course, is to bet on and align yourself with the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent to save us.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Things we can learn from our dogs
With the deluge of information that comes into our lives we may have had the tendency to just block it all out at times (I know I have). But I have found that some information is of much more value than others in helping us with our problems or needs. I do not submit for your consideration the suggestions which follow as information of necessarily the highest value, but they did make me smile. There is much good advice here and some of the suggestions may have value which could possibly help you, too!
Things we can learn from our dogs:
1. When family members come home drop what you’re doing and run to greet them.
2. Let others know when they have invaded your territory.
3. Take naps; stretch before rising.
4. Run, romp and play daily.
5. Eat with concentration then clean your plate.
6. Be loyal.
7. Never pretend to be something you’re not.
8. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
9. When someone is having a bad day be silent, sit close, and nuzzle him or her gently.
10. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
11. Better yet, do a thousand wags to every growl.
12. No matter how often you’re scolded, never pout. Run right back and make friends.
13. Delight in the simple joys of a long walk.
Have a nice day.
Things we can learn from our dogs:
1. When family members come home drop what you’re doing and run to greet them.
2. Let others know when they have invaded your territory.
3. Take naps; stretch before rising.
4. Run, romp and play daily.
5. Eat with concentration then clean your plate.
6. Be loyal.
7. Never pretend to be something you’re not.
8. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
9. When someone is having a bad day be silent, sit close, and nuzzle him or her gently.
10. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
11. Better yet, do a thousand wags to every growl.
12. No matter how often you’re scolded, never pout. Run right back and make friends.
13. Delight in the simple joys of a long walk.
Have a nice day.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Golf in the Kingdom (Philosophy in the Kingdom?)
I recently read Golf in the Kingdom, by Michael Murphy. One does not need to be a golfer to find it of interest. Here are some un-golf-related quotes from this very unique and mystical book that caused me to stop and think and that you, too, might want to ponder:
All of our experience is full of anticipations.
The left and right sides of the brain at times need to readjust their marriage.
One of the beauties of sport is the inspirational heart-stopping move that reminds us of possibilities yet unguessed.
Learn how to strike a fine balance between the disciplined and the inspired.
Postponement can get to be a disease.
Moral entropy is often taken for nirvana.
There’s no better way to slay a dragon than to charge right up to it and shove a spear down its throat.
[How often we are]poised at last on insight’s very edge.
We need to be alive to the other edge of possibility.
You bring your entire past into every transaction.
Some people have an enormous ratio of talk to skill.
[Our challenge is] to fulfill the Boswellian task destiny has given [us].
Everything in life is potentially something more.
Everything is full of messages.
The world is a passage back to God; that is the only reason it is here.
Life is taking us on a mighty journey, if we will only go.
[We should] guide our [motives, etc.] in the Godward direction.
Behind every invention stands a withered human faculty.
Benjamin Franklin [noted] that his body ‘will appear once more in a new and more elegant edition revised and corrected by the author.
The great gate of charity is wide open with no obstacles before it.
All of our experience is full of anticipations.
The left and right sides of the brain at times need to readjust their marriage.
One of the beauties of sport is the inspirational heart-stopping move that reminds us of possibilities yet unguessed.
Learn how to strike a fine balance between the disciplined and the inspired.
Postponement can get to be a disease.
Moral entropy is often taken for nirvana.
There’s no better way to slay a dragon than to charge right up to it and shove a spear down its throat.
[How often we are]poised at last on insight’s very edge.
We need to be alive to the other edge of possibility.
You bring your entire past into every transaction.
Some people have an enormous ratio of talk to skill.
[Our challenge is] to fulfill the Boswellian task destiny has given [us].
Everything in life is potentially something more.
Everything is full of messages.
The world is a passage back to God; that is the only reason it is here.
Life is taking us on a mighty journey, if we will only go.
[We should] guide our [motives, etc.] in the Godward direction.
Behind every invention stands a withered human faculty.
Benjamin Franklin [noted] that his body ‘will appear once more in a new and more elegant edition revised and corrected by the author.
The great gate of charity is wide open with no obstacles before it.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Enemies List
I read in last weeks’ newspaper of the death of Daniel Schorr, a C.B.S. newspaper correspondent on former president Richard M. Nixon’s notorious ‘Enemies List.’
I have thought that it would not be a bad idea for me or others to have an ‘enemies list’ of people or things that we should be very wary of. A handy cliché to this end would be, ‘To be forewarned is to be forearmed.’ In the Bible, the apostle Paul encourages the Christian disciple to “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” In my own Christian denomination we are told that God said, “In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you….” So I say, in all seriousness, make no mistake, there are devils of various kinds out there—carnal, spiritual, chemical, temporal, social, intellectual—that can bring us down. Are they not our enemies?
In the interest of ‘transparency’ I will share two of my ‘intellectual’ lists with personalities or concepts of various genres (I could, of course, have other lists); for lack of better titles I tentatively call them my Foes List and my Friends List. These are based on my own reading and education and in a few cases on the recommendation of those whose judgment I trust (as in, ‘In God We Trust’). I concede that their personalities or ‘contributions’ may not be all black, or all sterling and glorious, on the one hand or the other, but I think you will get the drift.
Foes: much of Greek and Roman philosophy; Thomas Aquinas, Maimonides, Descartes; secular humanists from various disciplines, notably: Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Watson, B.F. Skinner, J.S. Mill, John Dewey, Margaret Meade, Carl Becker, Charles Beard; the ‘New Left’ of the ‘60’s; the ‘British Invasion’ of rock music in 1964, especially those groups whose lyrics promote the 'drug culture' or lewd language or behavior (e.g., The Rolling Stones, etc.).
Friends: Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Hegel, Friedrich Froebel, the Founding Fathers of our country, The Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln, Utopianism, Shakespeare, Goethe, Heine, Bach, de Tocqueville, Walter Lippmann, C.S. Lewis.
The reader might have on their lists (and I encourage them to make such lists) other people, organizations, foods, hobbies, habits, etc., that they know, by sad experience, have or could lead them to grief or derail them from their noble or worthy goals. But also make a positive or ‘friends’ list of those who can lift and point you in the right direction.
Since experience is not the only teacher, I would hope that some of my readers would consider my list as more or less valid, or at least use it as a starting point, and thereby be forewarned about the perils of our time and start to be forearmed.
I have thought that it would not be a bad idea for me or others to have an ‘enemies list’ of people or things that we should be very wary of. A handy cliché to this end would be, ‘To be forewarned is to be forearmed.’ In the Bible, the apostle Paul encourages the Christian disciple to “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” In my own Christian denomination we are told that God said, “In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you….” So I say, in all seriousness, make no mistake, there are devils of various kinds out there—carnal, spiritual, chemical, temporal, social, intellectual—that can bring us down. Are they not our enemies?
In the interest of ‘transparency’ I will share two of my ‘intellectual’ lists with personalities or concepts of various genres (I could, of course, have other lists); for lack of better titles I tentatively call them my Foes List and my Friends List. These are based on my own reading and education and in a few cases on the recommendation of those whose judgment I trust (as in, ‘In God We Trust’). I concede that their personalities or ‘contributions’ may not be all black, or all sterling and glorious, on the one hand or the other, but I think you will get the drift.
Foes: much of Greek and Roman philosophy; Thomas Aquinas, Maimonides, Descartes; secular humanists from various disciplines, notably: Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Watson, B.F. Skinner, J.S. Mill, John Dewey, Margaret Meade, Carl Becker, Charles Beard; the ‘New Left’ of the ‘60’s; the ‘British Invasion’ of rock music in 1964, especially those groups whose lyrics promote the 'drug culture' or lewd language or behavior (e.g., The Rolling Stones, etc.).
Friends: Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Hegel, Friedrich Froebel, the Founding Fathers of our country, The Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln, Utopianism, Shakespeare, Goethe, Heine, Bach, de Tocqueville, Walter Lippmann, C.S. Lewis.
The reader might have on their lists (and I encourage them to make such lists) other people, organizations, foods, hobbies, habits, etc., that they know, by sad experience, have or could lead them to grief or derail them from their noble or worthy goals. But also make a positive or ‘friends’ list of those who can lift and point you in the right direction.
Since experience is not the only teacher, I would hope that some of my readers would consider my list as more or less valid, or at least use it as a starting point, and thereby be forewarned about the perils of our time and start to be forearmed.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Grist
Every time I start to write one of these musings I have a prayer that my thoughts may be guided and my words may be helpful to someone who may take the time to read them. I thought today that if I were a reader of Omnium-Gatherum I would want to know who some of these ‘giants’ were who at one point in my life were catalytic in my education or who continue to inspire me. Some, obviously, were ‘taller’ than others, but each contributed in some very significant way to who I am and what I believe. If I could read no other sources for the remainder of my days I would find among most of these gifted people grist for innumerable feasts. Here are a little more than a dozen (alphabetically arranged):
Jesus Christ
Stephen R. Covey
Jeffrey R. Holland
Spencer W. Kimball
C.S. Lewis
George MacDonald
Bruce R. McConkie
James Michener
Hugh Nibley
Paul (the apostle)
Ayn Rand
Joseph Smith, Jr.
John Steinbeck
Rodney Turner
Orson Whitney
Brigham Young
I make it a practice to ask others about books and/or authors which/who were highly influential in a positive way in their lives. I’ve still got a fairly substantial list that I have yet to look into, but I would always welcome more. What do you recommend?
Jesus Christ
Stephen R. Covey
Jeffrey R. Holland
Spencer W. Kimball
C.S. Lewis
George MacDonald
Bruce R. McConkie
James Michener
Hugh Nibley
Paul (the apostle)
Ayn Rand
Joseph Smith, Jr.
John Steinbeck
Rodney Turner
Orson Whitney
Brigham Young
I make it a practice to ask others about books and/or authors which/who were highly influential in a positive way in their lives. I’ve still got a fairly substantial list that I have yet to look into, but I would always welcome more. What do you recommend?
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