Attention To

What you pay attention to is what you become.

It Is Not The Answer

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.

-- Eugene Ionesco

Worst Enemy

The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt.

-- Sylvia Plath

Note to self....

Can't vs Won't

I'm wondering...what is the essential difference between can't and won't?

The most obvious aspect, on the surface, might be volition.  

But, pick either one and then move towards the other.  In the end, how much volition is really involved?

Why does it feel easier for some to claim that someone won’t do something than it is to say they just can’t?  For others, it seems easier to conclude someone just can’t, rather than that they just won’t.

We can't ponder this for too long without running into the question of capacity.  What are we capable of?  How much can we do?  

We often love stories about people who pushed the boundaries of their capacity.  Perhaps, we vicariously imagine that we could do the same, whenever we would want, too.

The truth is, though, that there are some things I literally cannot do...even while others actually can do them.  Is that because of my genetic limitations (physical or otherwise)?  In some cases, yes.  In other cases, no.

I remember the first time I took a hike up Pike's Peak -— it was awful and I couldn't enjoy it at all.  I was out of shape and unfamiliar with my surroundings.  I decided at the point, that I wanted to enjoy things like this and that that meant I would have to do some things differently in my life to make it happen.  In other words, I had some choices to make.

Tami and I now enjoy hiking in all kinds of places — at least in part, because of some of the choices we make that physically enable us to do so.

If I think you can, but you think you can't, where are we (even if I think it is because you won't)?

What about when it comes towards me, instead of from me?

If you think I can, but I think I can't, what then (even if you think it is because I won't)?

So, how far does choice push us either direction on the can't / won't continuum?  Does it really matter?  

What degree of agency is there on such matters — 10%, 100%?  

And, what about other kinds of agency (below the surface) that at times is hard not to notice; the kind that is beyond the confines of my own choices?

Scripture or Love

Instagram: nakedpastor

Randoms...

If you can capture the attention of a dog before it gets distracted, you can more easily influence its subsequent behavior (makes me wonder for what other species that might also be the case).

Often, there is quite a bit of sub-text below what we generally let on to...some of which, we even are aware of.

Heavy-handedness does produce results...for a while.

When do you tend to wonder about the meaning of things? 

Prior Randoms...

The Unmasking of Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism has lost credibility. It can only blame itself. We are watching its unmasking.

Evangelicalism is a disorganized, ecumenical alliance of Christians with traditional beliefs, the necessity of a personal experience with God in Christ (new birth), and as a movement it (previously) had a strong commitment to evangelism.

But, evangelicalism has become a noisy cymbal with a pestering “look at me” call for attention. What it wants others to see is not what they see, and what it doesn’t see the rest observe. It’s ugly.

Theology is never meant to be a set of beliefs disconnected from a serious life, but evangelicalism’s claims to possess final truth about the Lord Jesus Christ is systemically denied by the immoralities and inconsistencies of its confessors. It is deconstructing.

There was a time when evangelicalism was carried along by a deserved, general social and even some political respect: Americans were “Christian” and respected the various Christian denominations. Priests got hat tips, pastors were asked to pray at high school gatherings, and churches had social honor. Evangelicals were part of that social world.

Not today.  Continue here....

-- Scot McKnight

I, Lover

'Poem for the week' -- "I, Lover":

I shall never have any fear of love, 

Not of its depth nor its uttermost height,

Its exquisite pain and its terrible delight.

I shall never have any fear of love.

I shall never hesitate to go down

Into the vastness of its abyss

Nor shrink from the cruelty of its awful kiss.

I shall never have any fear of love.

Never shall I dread love’s strength

Nor any pain it might give.

Through all the years I may live

I shall never have any fear of love.

I shall never draw back from love

Through fear of its vast pain

But build joy of it and count it again.

I shall never have any fear of love.

I shall never tremble nor flinch

From love’s moulding touch:

I have loved too terribly and too much

Ever to have any fear of love.

-- Elsa Gidlow

The Same

I have to change to stay the same.

-- Willem de Kooning

Rarely Independent

We don't get extra credit by trying to maintain the position that our thoughts are not highly self-referential.

In other words, not many (any?) of our "I'm an independent thinker..." thoughts (often viewed as more virtuous) are really independent.  Context is always involved; and, often, way more then we realize.

The implications are nearly never-ending....

Denialism is not skepticism

Resolutely refusing to accept a conventional understanding is a statement of certainty.

That’s different from honest skepticism. The skeptic offers an open mind and is clear about what would be necessary to earn enthusiastic support.

The denialist, on the other hand, is sure. Now and forever. This certainty probably doesn’t come from the matter being discussed. Instead, it’s based on external factors, a story, a cultural connection, something that is fueled by the feeling that comes from refusing to examine the issue, not by honest inquiry.

Skepticism is gutsy, denialism is based on fear.

-- Seth Godin, Denialism is not skepticism

Holding Tensions

I've noticed...one of harder things for me to sustain is holding the tensions of others.

Actually, I do it quite well, at least on the surface.  

What I often don't do so well is care for the toll it takes on me by the way I acknowledge (or, more likely, don't) these tensions.

Altar of Social Change

We must proclaim the truth that all life is one and that we are all of us tied together. Therefore it is mandatory that we work for a society in which the least person can find refuge and refreshment. . . . You must lay your lives on the altar of social change so that wherever you are, there the Kingdom of God is at hand!

-- Howard Thurman, Commencement address, Garrett Biblical Institute, 1943

All The Ways

Randoms...

Chiding (oneself, or others) is rarely an effective long-term strategy for change.

Friends are, among other things, those who show up.

When you give of yourself, it tends to cost you something.

Aren't we mostly curators of our own ideas?

Prior Randoms...

Visual: From Afar

Visual - "From Afar”:

St Mary’s, CO

More pics here....

In Search of a Story

We are all wired by what we’ve experienced to be in search of a story with an ending...that feels like it has a completion. And the stories that we gravitate to are the ones that make sense to us, stories that fit, stories that feel like they have continuity, connection to the past, where we’ve been.... Those stories that we will follow are the ones that feel true, feel like they have continuity to our past and that resonate with the trajectory of our lives. So, we’re looking for the story that doesn’t necessarily change our minds; we’re actually looking for the story that confirms what’s in our minds.

-- Jacqui Lewis

What I Want To Do

I live with a question — why can't I leverage what I want to do?

Underneath this question might be this one — why I do feel the need to do so?

And, underneath that question might be yet another one — what am I assuming, about leverage, that I haven't already done so?

Unplug It

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.

-- Anne Lamott

NOT 'Just Another Wedding'....

It seems to me that marriage is a kind of a calling, at the very least, to a commitment.

Given our times, I'm still struck by the desire people have to do it — to make this kind of commitment, to be in union with another person.  When I think about the significance of this day, I think about it in at least 3 ways:

As a friend or family member, I'm struck by the significance such gatherings represent about the lives we live.  So many have made a contribution to Makenzie and Caleb, either by their experience of you in their lives or by your very presence at the wedding.  Many came from far away, just to be there for these few hours.  Many gave generously to them in one way or another to make the day special.  So many were generous to us, as their parents.  Tami and are deeply grateful for these things, for each of you who have been involved.

As a parent, I really feel grateful for Makenzie's desire for marriage.  I can still remember how we would dance together, when she was a little girl.  I am grateful for how Makenzie has come to know that she is loved — that she can both receive love and give love.  

Thirdly, as a person, I am excited about this marriage, for her sake.  I can also remember when we found Makenzie, still very young, walking on a 4-foot tall ledge on the side of our house...by herself!  She was both careful and fearless.  Where we felt the possibility of danger; she felt the possibility of something exciting.  And then there was the time when she came up to us from the backyard holding a little wild bunny in her hands; she felt connection and tenderness.  And, from there, Makenzie has continued — to desire life, to experience life, and to grow in life.

And so, here we are, today at her marriage.

Surely, the path of marriage, if like our own, will be harder than can really be anticipated, but it will also be...better.  I can attest to both of these realities.  In our view, those who make and sustain this kind of desire for and commitment to another person are traveling on a road — a road to a kind of betterment — the kind that changes you, those around you, and probably in some mysterious way, the world.

Makenzie, may you become all that you can become, may your marriage be a vehicle for traveling into the embrace of all of who you are, and may the life you create (figuratively or literally) be a reflection of the greatness and beauty of God.  And, when this feels impossible to see anymore, just keep going.  Because, this is in fact a path, one that many have travelled, and it can lead to goodness.

Caleb, I really can't think of anyone who seems more suited to walk this life with Makenzie.  There is a lot about you that I don't know.  But, through our correspondence and time together, I have gotten to know some things.  I am grateful for: 

• your humility 
• your desire to grow as a person
• the ways you are worthy of trust
• the way you desire to honor people...and, of course, Makenzie

Even when you don't manifest all of these things perfectly, they give me great confidence that you are a part of what it looks like to love Makenzie.  And, she, you.

So, I am excited for both of you — for what you will receive from each other, for what you will learn to give to each other from your increasingly full selves...from all that God has made you to be.

May God bless both you...AND others through your union of marriage!

Some pics here....

See and Accept

What I let God see and accept in me also becomes what I can then see and accept in myself, in my friends, and in everything else! This is “radical grace.”

-- Richard Rohr

Randoms...

Groups with power too often need an enemy.

Be aware of how much of the world (System) you take in — not necessarily 'beware', but 'be aware'...it is systemic.

Among other things, pain focuses our attention.

It’s not hard for me to see gray where others only see black and white…see what I mean?

Prior Randoms...

This Is Water

It's 'commencement' time again:

"It isn't really the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about."

"Blind certainty — a closed-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn't even knows he's locked up."

"The real value of education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over."

-- David Foster Wallace

You Can't Create Peace

You can’t create peace; you can only discover it.

-- Deepak Chopra

Is Capitalism Is Destroying America?

In some ways, capitalism is now destroying America. 

And, it doesn’t seem clear that democracy can save it either. 

The incessant channeling of natural resources for the primary purpose of pure consumption is literally changing our collective ecosystems. Just because we have air-conditioning, live indoors, and don't it, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Not to mention drought, carbon-emissions, etc. 

If we mow down the world, and pave it over, just so that we can have new living spaces…what on earth did we think is going to happen?

How many more signs does nature need to give us that what we are doing is unsustainable?

Maybe there is more unsustainability involved than we realize — it appears the factors involved aren't all just external either.

Will we continue to consume almost anything (and everything); just because we can, just because someone will sell it to us?

America Has a Drinking Problem

 

A little alcohol can boost creativity and strengthen social ties. But there’s nothing moderate, or convivial, about the way many Americans drink today.  Continue here...

-- Kate Julian

Courage Comes From

Our courage comes from the courage of others.

-- Simon Sinek

Selling Outrage

Ever noticed...that selling outrage is a problem?

At the very least, consider the money behind outrage in our society.

It Isn’t The Gospel

It isn’t the gospel, if it doesn’t include a social justice.

In other words, the gospel isn’t just  a private thing.  In fact, it may not even be primarily a private thing.

Randoms...

There’s the truth and then there’s the package in which it is delivered.

It’s not good to go too long thinking about people, without being with them.

Applying pressure is a tactic, but not a good strategy.

Why do we tend to believe that the present is not enough (that we need to know the future, too)?

Prior Randoms...

Can You Find - The Mouse Among The Mushrooms?

Morning Brew

The Optimist

'Poem for the week' -- "The Optimist":

Who would have the sky any color but blue,

     Or the grass any color but green?

Or the flowers that bloom the summer through

     Of other color or sheen?

How the sunshine gladdens the human heart—

     How the sound of the falling rain

Will cause the tender tears to start,

     And free the soul from pain.

Oh, this old world is a great old place!

     And I love each season’s change,

The river, the brook of purling grace,

     The valley, the mountain range.

And when I am called to quit this life,

     My feet will not spurn the sod,

Though I leave this world with its beauty rife,—

     There’s a glorious one with God!

-- J. W. Hammond

Is empathy always good?

Empathy, patience, and compassion — how they are inter-related....

Apparently, It Isn't

Last week's post on not wanting to be a Christian requires some intellectual honesty.

Truth be told, the way Christians treat people they disapprove of is likely more a function of being human than being Christian.  But, something is easier about targeting a group, than it is to reflect more honestly on what all of us are susceptible to.  The fact is that many human-beings treat each other poorly, if not in the worst of ways.  All kinds of groups are actually created because of the distinctions they are trying to make about themselves, relative to other people.  And, once that dynamic gets started, it is very hard to stop.  If our current political process isn't an example of such things, I'm not sure what is.  We do this not only in religious realms (a basic contradiction in and of itself), but really in most areas of life.  Even our leisure time has become defined by what team we are for (and, therefore, what team we are against) — all in the name of fun.

Our needs for belonging, acceptance, and fulfillment end up driving our belief systems, which end up translating to how we think, talk about, and treat those who are not 'one of us'.  For all our supposed sophistication, some aspects of basic tribalism are still operating alive and well.

Christians really aren't necessarily any better at many of these things after all.  The reality is, they are often more confused than others (or live in a lot more denial).  Other people choose different forms of denial.  So, at some level, Christian or not, people are often involved in things like denial and disapproval because it really is what people in general tend to do...especially when they are encouraged to do so by the personalities and power-structures that are involved in the human (and Christian) experience.  In other words, people who have nothing to do with Christianity do the very same things that Christians do.  And, vice-versa, most Christians are simply doing what most human-beings do.

But, shouldn't there be a higher standard...for Christians?  Yes, at the very least there can be, and I'll write more about that soon.

In the meantime, I am increasingly aware that Christianity and following Jesus are more often not the same thing.  So much of what happens under the banner of Christianity has little to do with what Jesus was about or taught.  

It's kind of gotten to the point where someone should be saying, 'Isn't that obvious?', because apparently it isn't.

Infinitely More Instructive

Failures are infinitely more instructive than successes.

-- George Clooney

Memorializing

I'm wondering...what do you memorialize?  Why?

It seems like the activity, as a discipline, is not a bad idea.  We do it on a national level (unless we just view it as another day off work — but, there's another holiday for that, isn't there?).  For whatever its merits may be, what are the implications for memorializing at a personal level?

We often seem to agree that the sacrifice of others (especially for my sake) is worth noting...if not more.  Perhaps, then, we should stop just racing off to the next thing, just because we can, and consider something — something that got us here, something of what is good about it, something that we are grateful for.  Memorializing seems to require some kind of pause....

What do I memorialize, then, in my life?  What am I doing or who am I that is worth memorializing?  If this exercise reveals not much more than what I consume with my money and time, then maybe it is worth it...to stop and reconsider some things.

Like taking a day to do sometime...like today.

Worship

My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.

-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

I feel increasingly aware that without a sense of community, we are not only impoverished, but we also lack a fundamental element of both our sense of being and our calling.

The act of worship is a communal act that nourishes and reinforces social solidarity without in any way diminishing the spiritual, inward, personal nature of the outpouring of the human heart in prayerful approach to God.

-- Nahum Sarna

How Humanity Gave Itself an Extra Life

Between 1920 and 2020, the average human life span doubled. How did we do it? Science mattered — but so did activism.  Continue here....

-- Steven Johnson

A longish (by today's standards), but fascinating read — an especially contrasting perspective to what is represented in this piece:

Continue here....

Randoms...

I have always been fascinated with good oration.

When it comes to worship, truth and God are not the same thing.

Existence is never simply for our own self, for our own sake.

We all think thoughts — but, how many of them should be shared?

Prior Randoms...

Happiest Man On Earth

The Mind & Wisdom

The greatest opportunity you have to change the world is to change your mind about the world.

-- Marianne Williamson

Some people will never learn anything because they grasp too soon. Wisdom is not a station that you arrive at, but a matter of traveling. 

-- Anthony de Mello

Not Want To Be A Christian

Another lingering reflection, from a recent Randoms...:

One thing that makes me not want to be a Christian is the way they treat the people they disapprove of — often simply because of what they think.


The strange thing is that many "Christians" seem to think they're never the ones that do this to other people.  

So why, then, do you hear them so often refer to other people or groups the way they do?  

"He's black, you know...".  "Hispanics are always...".  Not knowing any better (from what's being said...out loud even), you could easily assume all Chinese are bad, right along with Muslims.  

Of course, it's never a specific person...no one in particular — unless the person is gay or has had an abortion or has a drug problem.  

Having grown up a Christian, I'm afraid I might have thought some of the same things at times.  

Two things changed me — 1) meeting specific people in these groups and learning that they are actually people (not issues) and 2) feeling some of the same things from Christians myself, when I embraced these people.

Yes, Christians turned on me, too (trending anyone?).  For the first time, I actually experienced some of what 'those' people feel from Christians.  No longer friends; I got the silent treatment, the slant-eyed looks, the whispering, the "you've changed" comments, the withdrawal, no longer being invited, being described as the opposition, etc.  

And, my version of experience didn't even include things like lack of safety, threats, or physical harm, like many of these people feel — all under what amounts to be the sanctions of Christians...you know, the ones that are supposedly called to love others.  But, they will turn on you, too, if you don't join in or remain loyal to their ideals...about others.

And, nothing makes me NOT want to be a Christian more.

Not the Absence of Fear

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.

-- Mark Twain

Describe Things

I've noticed...that I can describe things, especially concepts.  

Some have even said that I do that pretty well.  

But, notice what I'm not saying; like, what is needed beyond simply being able to describe things?  What is the insight or action that is needed, related to what is being described?

Midwives of Divinity

Christian life is a commitment to love, to give birth to God in one’s own life and to become midwives of divinity in this evolving cosmos.

-- Ilia Delio

This is more than just a cute way to say something — it is profoundly worth contemplating.

Randoms...

Approval so often feeds something in us.

It’s harder for me to have one-way conversations…than it is to have two-way conversations (Arsenio would probably say, “Hmmm...”).

Change is often hard — otherwise more people would do it.

I live with a question — why can't I leverage what I want to do?

Prior Randoms...

Visual: Purple Butterfly

 Visual - "Purple Butterfly":

Do you see it (click to enlarge)?

A Disease

Hate is a disease, which may destroy your enemy, but will also destroy you in the process.

-- Eddie Jaku

Persistent Terror

Sometimes, I really don’t know what to do with a world where so many people are living in persistent terror. 

...especially, since my life is so relatively free of such things. 

I feel many things about this dilemma, including my ability to be indifferent, as well as an inability to embrace it all at times. While I can still pursue and find kinds of joy (in spite of the tension I feel), I can never fully expunge traces of sadness until we all are able to be free and prosper. 

Perhaps this is the essence of true shalom, where no individual is fully at peace without awareness that his neighbor is too.

The fact that the knowledge, not to mention the reality, is bigger than what we can handle or design should lead us to recognizing that we need some kind of help — from a kind of power that only something divine can bring.

The map is not the territory

The map is not the territory

And that’s a feature, the reason the map exists.

The phrase reminds us not confuse the diagram or model or overview of the situation with the situation itself. Because they’re not the same.

We make a map so we can leave things out.

By leaving things out, we can help people focus on the core concepts we’re trying to get across. And so, the map of the London subway is not actually the London subway. In fact, it’s not even geographically accurate. That’s okay. The job of the map isn’t to show us precisely where each station is, the job is to make it easier to get around London by showing us a theory of the subway.

And the words someone uses don’t accurately convey everything they’re feeling and thinking. They simply stake out some of that in a way that the speaker hopes will express the point they’re trying to make.

When we decide what to leave out, we’ve made a series of decisions about the story we’re trying to tell with the parts we leave in.

-- Seth Godin, The map is not the territory

Need Them

Ever noticed...that certain people need you to need them?

Love Is His Meaning

And so what I saw most clearly was that love is his meaning. God wants us to know that he loved us before he even made us, and this love has never diminished and never will. 

-- St. Julian of Norwich

Love has no why. 

-- Meister Eckhart

At End of Life: Top 5 Things People Wish

Randoms...

Among our greatest consistent tensions is the judgment required in determining what to hold onto and what to let go of.

If you are evaluating something, almost everything needs context because, in fact, everything has one.

One thing that makes me not want to be a Christian is the way they treat the people they disapprove of — often simply because of what they think.

Why is it that so many people don't seem to have much emotional intelligence?

Prior Randoms...

I Never Wanted to Die

'Poem for the week' -- "I Never Wanted to Die":

It’s the best part of the day, morning light sliding

down rooftops, treetops, the birds pulling themselves

up out of whatever stupor darkened their wings,

night still in their throats.

I never wanted to die. Even when those I loved

died around me, away from me, beyond me. 

My life was never in question, if for no other reason

than I wanted to wake up and see what happened next. 

And I continue to want to open like that, like the flowers

who lift their heavy heads as the hills outside the window

flare gold for a moment before they turn

on their sides and bare their creased backs.

Even the cut flowers in a jar of water lift

their soon to be dead heads and open

their eyes, even they want a few more sips,

to dwell here, in paradise, a few days longer.

-- Dorianne Laux

From the author:

“There have been times when my life became what seemed to me, in certain dark moments, an unbearable weight, another day to be slogged through, another night to endure. And when thoughts of stepping off the edge of the world slipped in, I found that what I really could not bear was missing out on the larger narrative unwinding around me. This surprising insight seemed worthy of a poem.”

Well-lived Lives

I am connected to the past and the future by the ligatures of well-lived lives, the mysteries of “beyondness,” and the memories and narratives that lovingly bind and support me. 

-- Barbara Holmes

...this observation connects me, somehow, to the question in another recent post.

Observations

I prefer to refer to quotes as observations.

It often seems like when a quote is used, someone is attempting to make an assertion — to validate something that they believe is true by referencing someone else who also knows about that truth.

Many times untrue things are asserted to be true.  Other times, truths are taken quite out of context (or, at least, quotes are).  Lots of reasons for this, some are even unintentional.  I prefer to work with whatever somebody else says as mostly just an observation about something that has an element of truth to it.  In other words, it could very well be true, but it could very well not be true. Just because something is stated — even stated as true — doesn’t necessarily mean that it is.  Certainly our times have exposed that.

For me, the term ‘observations’ allows for the opportunity to consider what might be true about something that is being asserted.  

One of the benefits of a quote (or, in my case, an observation), is that it appears to be something that I am referencing...that someone else has also observed.  I like that — it pokes at something, while still allowing for latitude in what understanding truth is all about.  It's more fluid. It breathes, allowing for something like imagination (as opposed to leveraging, co-opting, or coercing) to discover something meaningful, timeless, transcendent — whether that be at the center of an idea or on the edge of it

Probably, in the end, I just prefer the concept of observations.  I guess you can quote me on that, if you want to.

LT: Earn Loyalty

Strong leaders earn loyalty.

Weak leaders demand it.

-- Simon Sinek

Going About It Wrong

I'm wondering...if, perhaps, I’ve been going about things the the wrong way.  

What If...there’s a different question, that I need to be asking?

Like...what story needs to be told?  

Where do I fit in that story?  What story do ‘I’ need to tell?  What is my story?

Inherent Sacredness

Without a sense of the inherent sacredness of the world, we struggle to see God in our own reality, let alone to respect reality, protect it, or love it. 

-- Richard Rohr

Most of the time, I hesitate to add anything to such observations by Richard Rohr because what I would say would most likely only diminish the power of it.

But here, I can't avoid personalizing how the simplicity, range, and depth impacts me.  

I struggle with the imbalance of manipulated spirituality and the inherent nature of it.  I know the sacredness is true, in some deep way.  And, yet, sometimes I can hardly think about it clearly (let alone speak of it) without feeling I am participating in something I want nothing to be a part of.  Thus, the words, "we struggle to see God in our reality..." resonate easily and deeply.

And, this does seem to be a beginning, not a destination.  For the magnitude of what would be true about this surely leads to a kind of protective and loving respect for it.

Randoms...

At least 2 things are always happening — 1) our sense of just trying to survive and 2) what is incubating within us, underneath our survival efforts, waiting to be birthed.

Although I can trace it as far back as I can remember, as I have gotten older, I feel aware of my increasing interest in the collective experience of humanity, rather than just my own personal experience of it.

Over the course of our life, we move from ‘they’, to ‘I’, to ‘we’.

Ever noticed...how dis-integrated we sometimes feel?

Prior Randoms...

You're Probably Not As Open-Minded As You Think. Here's How To Practice

Do you consider yourself an open-minded person? Most people would likely say yes. I mean, who wants to be closed-minded? But the reality is that many of us are probably not as open to new ideas as we might like. It can be hard to reconsider long-held beliefs, and even harder to question things you didn't even know you believed in the first place.

Recognize that your biological hardware isn't exactly setting you up for success. I have bad news for you about your brain: you don't fully know what it's up to. That might sound ridiculous. But in fact, there are tons of things that your brain does without your conscious control....

Be curious. This sounds easy, but it's not....

Being around different people day to day changes those hidden connections in our brain. Which means that the more you can diversify the people in your life, the more likely you are to scrape away those implicit biases you might not want to hold onto....

Continue here....

-- Andee Tagle

Break The Shell

The shell must be cracked apart if what is in it is to come out, for if you want the kernel you must break the shell. 

-- Meister Eckhart

Evolution of Experience

In the writing of any book, I would want to preface it by noting that whatever I write or say is a function of my unique experience.   

It is also important to note that my unique experience is always in a context of one kind or another — that particular experience (of mine) is somehow related to the experience of those around me.  And, of course, the combination of what amounts to be a collective experience is related to the experience of that which came before it.   In other words, it too is the experience of another group of people proximate to the experience of any collective group of people around and before it...and further and further out and back it all goes.  

By implication then, it will also be related to the one which comes after it.  If it works backwards, then it works forwards.  Or, put differently, it always is moving forward — my experience, influenced by a collective one, is both from something and to something.

What does this then infer?  An unavoidable question to me is how this experience evolves with each changing version of it?  Does any part of it remain kind of constant, even as context changes?  If so, how so the two realities relate to each other?

Compulsive Behavior

Shame drives compulsive behavior.

-- Wm. Paul Young

My sense is that it does this by inhibiting awareness.

A Desire Involved

I've noticed...that when I am talking about something, there is usually a desire involved.

Not Without Hope

We are not without hope. Lies ring hollow at the end of the day. Hatred is a poor imitation of purpose, celebrity a poor replacement for wisdom, and political tribes a poor comparison to authentic Christian community. We are a people defined by the resurrection of the Son of God. We are called to be redeemers and reconcilers.

-- Timothy Dalrymple

Randoms...

So much of life is becoming familiar with how it works.

Truth has an amazing capacity to be co-opted for self-interest.

True knowledge of self and God go hand-in-hand.

Do you ever feel like your life is just a combination of endless routines?

Prior Randoms...

Visual: Hello

 Visual - "Hello":

Winona Lake, IN

You just can't stop the power of flowers. Why is that? 

I heard something recently, that is like an answer to me. Ask me sometime....

Shelter in Place

As we end Poetry Month for 2021, I am reminded that poetry not only serves our spirit, but also as a resource during times of crisis.  Over the last year, online searches for poetry have increased dramatically.

Whether it be the wonderful work — captured on Saturday Mornings — of people like Naomi Shihab Nye, Mary Oliver, or Madeleine L’Engle; the poetic beauty of our strange mixture of hope and hopelessness, joy and sorrow, or action and stillness is a kind of palpable power in our collective and personal sense of being.

Like this one, my 'Poem for the week' -- "Shelter in Place":

Long before the pandemic, the trees

knew how to guard one place with

roots and shade. Moss found

how to hug a stone for life.

Every stream works out how

to move in place, staying home

even as it flows generously

outward, sending bounty far.

Now is our time to practice–

singing from balconies, sending

words of comfort by any courier,

hoarding lonesome generosity

to shine in all directions like stars.

-- Kim Stafford

What a fitting reminder and call (two things poetry so often does) to both end and begin a new season of living.

Like Crack

Certainty is like crack.

-- Emily Joy

Once you think you are right, you stop taking in new information. 

-- Nadia Bolz-Weber's mom

Structure

We have to have enough experience with structures in our lives to accept the reality of the mysteries of anti-structure. 

This seems to be true in many domains. Take music, for example; in order to effectively deviate from expected musical patterns, it seems there has be an understanding of the basic elements of musical design…otherwise, all we seem to mostly end up with is discord, cacophony, disharmony.

How does our experience with structure apply in other areas—Politics?  Business?  Marriage?  Family?  Church?  Faith?  Meaning?

Yearning...Will not Produce It

A few years ago, I posted something by Neale Donald Walsch about what it takes to accept that simply desiring something new isn't enough.  

We have to make room for the new, in part, by letting go of the old.

The below strikes me as a helpful description of some ideas or ways to go about doing this:

SBCC - HOW TO LIVE IN A NEW WORLD (WK 2), Jason Miller

Self-Care

Ever noticed...that self-care doesn't seem like it is as short-term reinforcing as it is long-term reinforcing?  In other words, the rewards of self-care are more manifest over time than they are immediate.

It's not to say there are no quick benefits.  But, more often, the sustainable ones seem cumulative in some way.  An example?  Learning to love myself is a process.  I can do it one time; but, a pattern of doing so has some real long-term yields.

The same seems true of physical health—emotional health, relational health, financial health, etc.

Before I Know It

The assumption of spirituality is that God is always doing something before I know it.

-- Eugene Peterson

So, 'Have the courage...':

Randoms...

The more we experience each other, the more we experience ourselves.

What we have to give is really a result of death in our lives—death to the ways we build things exclusively for our own sake—because death to such things is what really allows for the ultimate expansion of ourselves.

Writing helps you realize the ways that you’re holding back.

Doesn’t it seem like there are a lot of things that aren’t exactly what they have been purported to be?

Prior Randoms...