Quality and Quantity of Life

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/12478982.htm

It was only a matter of time...

Education: Dissociative Conditioning?

What does the public American education system teach developing adolescents in most cases? Math, Science, English, Music? Basically, to categorize everything -- to dissociate some things from other things. After high school, is up to faculty at universities to introduce the possibility of category lines being much more flexible or even non-existant? To think in categories is to think disjointedly -- to think without grasping the whole picture. It is up to the individual to decide whether he or she will live the life of categories (of shadows), or a whole life as a whole person.

When I graduated high school, I fell into the trap of categorization -- I was living multiple lives in multiple realities as multiple people. [It is easy to see how a postmodern perspective might appeal to many Americans given current enculturation.]

Tormented by my inability to live one whole life, dark depression took hold, I was involved in an unhealthy relationship and I attended a liberal arts college which only contributed to my break-down. I'm not sure how I snapped out of it. Perhaps it was because the unhealthy relationship came to an end and I found myself free to choose my own path or perhaps it was because of the many people I have met and befriended since my sophomore year in college.

Metaphor: life is a gigantic classroom: Life 101. No matter how many sub-subjects we create there is still only one overarching subject. Why not learn from splitting into small groups and discussing our findings and thought patterns with the whole group. Staying locked into one sub-subject without talking to those others in the classroom, there is obviously a language barrier and a dividing line that splits rather than joins.

Truth: static or dynamic

What's your vote?

Personally I find Truth, much like the natural world to be very dynamic. God is very dynamic. The static God that I grew up worshipping in church is becoming much richer and much more interesting than I ever thought She could be. That's right, She. Reading Scripture from the point of view of 'I am' as a she is quite enlightening.

...

A dynamic Truth yields more questions:
Does anyone have a grasp of what the complete Truth is? (Most people would appeal to their affiliated religious beliefs and respond with a profound 'Yes')
What religion is not in search of truth? (Easy -- none)
What religion has nothing to offer humanity in terms of Truth? (This is one to really research...it is crucial to interreligious dialogue)
Why is interreligious dialogue important? No dialogue tends to lead to violence, tension...
What is Truth? (I'd love to get results from a world wide survey)
Why is Truth indefinable? (Perhaps because of its dynamic nature)
Is Truth the abstraction created by man to attach meaning to individual lives?
Is Truth a more postmodern idea -- relative and pluralistic? (I wouldn't go that far, but it's a pertinent question)
What do my experiences tell me about Truth?
What do my relationships tell me about Truth?
What do my religious beliefs tell me about Truth?

A real problem with Truth is that, as humans, we have to categorize it, reduce it into its seemingly different parts. We miss the whole Truth in favor of our own personal and partial truths. As Christians we become part-time Christians (bi-weekly Christians) when our beliefs center around a ticket to heaven. That is not the whole Truth, not something to be used as weapon to those of another faith.

Last weekend a few of my co-workers (who were Christian) talked about a youth conference organized for the purpose of convincing youth that Islam was evil...I took real offense to their discussion and spent most of the day distracted from doing anything else. Belief at the expense of other human beings does not sound like a Christian event I would attend, nor a Christian even period. And quite frankly it scared me.

It's no wonder the term 'evangelical' gets a bad wrap.

Personally, I have found real Truth in all religions. It's too bad that my coworkers will probably never have the experience of meditating at a Buddhist Monastery, never experience the dance and rhythm of Hare Krishna, nor the real commitment of devout Muslims. Even the mysterious religion of the Tao touches upon something truthful. Who is right?

They all are...and they all are not...

Why do I choose to be Christian? There are many days when I question my choice...there are many days when I question this question...choosing to commit to Christianity, to cut a covenant with God and man is very difficult. Doubt will ever haunt my thoughts. But the firm foundation of my beliefs rests upon my holistic understanding of Truth. And this understanding is very much Christian.

What then is Truth? Is it cultural, situational, absolute? My answer is Yes and No. And believe me this isn't the easiest answer...Truth is paradoxical...

Way of Life

Niger, a country in Africa accustomed to food-shortages, is suffering from a drought only producing a tenth of what it should have to supply the population for the upcoming year. The people do not have time to mourn one child that dies, because others shortly follow.

Mortality is a reality.

It surrounds the culture in a very personal way with close family dying each and every day. And the numbers of casualties are expected to rise. As a response, a Nigerian woman says, "Some live. Some die. It's all God's will. Even hunger is God's will." (It's sad that most of the world stands by and watches...funds and food are caught up in the political arena never reaching the clutches of those who need them)

On a personal note, I agree that it is important to teach other nations how to use resources to better grow crops, or other survival skills. But I am also a firm supporter on giving direct aid (though the directness is currently obscure)...a fix now, even if it is only temporary...Chances are it could lead to a reliance of those in need on wealthier nations for support...but valuing life means doing what one can to save as many as he or she can. Not doing anything now and allowing more to die for the possibility of a better future LATER is shocking to me.

The only thing bigger than village cemeteries in Niger are the millet fields -- something that may flip flop in the coming year. Niger as the second poorest nation on the planet, receiving very little assistance (less than 7% of what it needs) is doomed to suffer through the days when the death toll of children exponentially outnumbers that of the adults.

Starvation is something we can scarce imagine here in America. When we're at our hungriest, it's far worse other places. We're wimps who think we understand what it means to really suffer. My sufferings in life are miniscule in comparison, yet I've been known to walk about posturing the poor-me-give-me-attention attitude (which my wife has pointed out on countless occassions).

From my journal entry for today, which I'll share --

...When the rains come, there will be joy in the coming of the storm...

...God paints life...


[Pictures from www.asnom.org and bbc.com]

...

Vocab Limitations

A Break

I'm in the process of translating Irène Némirovsky's Suite française.

The book is thus far very intriguing to me. To give a little back story, Irène Némirovsky was a fairly well-known french female writer before WWII and then later was held captive in a German concentration camp. She kept a journal/notes of her experiences up until her death...Her daughter kept the journal of her mother close until just recently when she revealed her secret to a friend. So far it is only available overseas in the UK. But I do believe the English translation is in the works.

Translating it is a booger. Many of the sentences contain vocabulary unknown to me -- I think some of it might be of the author's own creation. I don't know. The french dictionaries I've used haven't been helpful, though I can make reasonable connotative inferences according to context. It's actually really rewarding not having to rely on an English translation that someone else translated. Perhaps I'm making mistakes in my translation, but I'm working with a few people more qualified to translate from french to english than I who are also in the process of reading the book. The group effort is rewarding. Hopefully when I get to Princeton I'll meet others who might like to work on this translation with me. Actually I'll probably be too busy with Greek and Hebrew studies. This translation may have to wait.

If you would like to check out the book I think it's around £ 21 on Amazon.com ($45 roughly).

Anyway, back to work...

Why debate over doctrinal issues?

Again, in talking to people I have found Roman Catholics the topic of disdainful intrigue. Why is it that Christians bicker and argue about who is 'right'? Granted, this is a loaded word, perhaps a precursor to a normative clause, though the arguments are real. Is it so that some can convince others of the truth? Is it so that some can find meaning in life...? Is it so that some might find simplicity in a seemingly complicated world worthy of defense? Is it all of these mentioned? Is it because there is something inexplicable tugging at their hearts that moves them to publicly proclaim their 'rightness' rather than keeping it secret from the rest of the world? What is this revelation to humanity? When is it revelation? When is it false revelation? Can their be different interpretations of biblical passages, both being right? In such cases, who is right? Does it matter who is right? Does what is right constitute a universal to all?

My point is that the arguments are endless among varying Christian sects, condemnation is apparent (in my experience), and segregation is implied (in some circumstances). Everyone wants to be right...everyone is seeking truth in different ways...even other religions...

Who is right...we all are...and we all are not -- it's the core truth that matters, not the variations. Though the variations of truth are what complicate life. However, the variations present truth in a different light, which may inadvertantly illumine more as to what the core truth is, thus contributing to human *Christian) understanding of truth. Or perhaps the core truth is in much of what humanity does. It is the varying presentations of that truth that illumines us and reveals much to us. ?