tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87473092024-03-13T16:55:01.614-04:00Out of the Depthsreligion, psychology, scienceSteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.comBlogger408125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-40798003353271425012023-05-12T16:34:00.000-04:002023-05-12T16:34:21.190-04:00Review of Beyond the Gates of Time: The Emerald Scepter of Prester John<p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/69311260-beyond-the-gates-of-time" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Beyond the Gates of Time: The Emerald Scepter of Prester John" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1671293057l/69311260._SX98_.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/69311260-beyond-the-gates-of-time">Beyond the Gates of Time: The Emerald Scepter of Prester John</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8091388.Robert_F_Thompson">Robert F. Thompson</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5546486081">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
To quote the back cover "This book is a re-imagining of the New Age of the Holy Spirit, making use of the Medieval legend of Prester John. As such, the book is also about us and about the kind of world we want to live in." </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As with all of Robert's books, it is a work of depth with numerous references, citations, and quotations which evoke in the reader many thought-trails to pursue. Due to space I can only provide two of many passages especially meaningful to me. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">(1) "One needs to understand that religions – each and all of them – are created in time. They each have their gift to bring. Spirituality, on the other hand, is primordial. It is global and it has always existed. Discern that and connect with that. The Christian faith is best understood as an expression of the primordial spirituality." page 41 and </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">(2) "As I write these words, on a mid-August day in the American Mid-South bio-region, I can hear the cicadas in the trees, praising God in their own language. The constant roar of the cicadas can be regarded as the continuous rattle of a cosmic shaman taking us on a collective journey." page 80<br />
<br />----------------------</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Other passages that made me think which are not in the review but for which I have space here:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">(3) "<span>In thinking about what is called Christianity, we don’t want to
essentialize Christianity (by providing a definition), but rather to imagine
its further evolution – what it will become in the future.</span><span> </span><span>This is, however, a conventional way of
speaking, whereas the reality we are striving to discern is the timeless,
changeless, life-giving radiance of the Holy One beyond all knowing."</span><span> </span><span>Page 15</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>(4) "</span><span>Here is a vignette, a tiny story, that seems to me to encapsulate all
the wonder and mystery of the Kingdom.</span><span>
</span><span>This morning, from our kitchen window, I saw a tiny fluttering moth
caught in a spider’s web.</span><span> </span><span>I walked outside
and, with my finger, released the moth and it flew away.</span><span> </span><span>Of course the spider needs to eat.</span><span> </span><span>Of course the moth loves its life and wants
to fly away.</span><span> </span><span>Of course, a human being
desired to release the moth.</span><span> </span><span>There is
wonder and mystery enough in this tiny story that leaves me speechless when I
think of it.</span><span> </span><span>Behold a great mystery! So
it is!"</span><span> </span><span>Page 23-24</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>(5) </span><span>Our
individual well-being is bound up with the well-being of all other beings.</span><span> </span><span>With this understanding, a simplified notion
of practice can be characterized as awareness and attention in the moment to
what is, because that’s where God is, where peace is.</span><span> </span><span>Page 61</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">(6) The “good”
(or “true”) emperors, such as Michael II and Prester John, rule by their
inherent (moral) power – not by the exercise of force. The distinction drawn here between “power”
and “force” is that the exercise of force creates reaction, whereas moral power
elicits cooperation because of its evident goodness or rightness. Page 78-79</span></span></p>SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-67241531665700893732022-09-11T21:59:00.002-04:002022-09-11T22:03:50.290-04:00Highlights from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson<p>Finished Gilead at the first of the year. Had been intending to read it for a long time. After reading it, I recognize why it is so very popular and meaningful to a great many people. It touched me in a number of ways. This afternoon, I decided to review the highlights of books in my Kindle that I've read in the past year or so. Had forgotten how many highlights I made. Below are most of them, some with comment. Will be reading more books by her. She is marvelous.</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 7 </p><p><b>There’s a lot under the surface of life, everyone knows that. A lot of malice and dread and guilt, and so much loneliness, where you wouldn’t really expect to find it, either.</b></p><p>My comment </p><p></p><blockquote> People would confide in my Dad who was a minister into his eighties. He kept many secrets to himself. I know just the barest outline of a few things that slipped out. </blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 7 </p><p><b>My father was a man who acted from principle, as he said himself. He acted from faithfulness to the truth as he saw it.</b></p><p>My Comment:</p><p> So did my Dad.</p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 27</p><p><b>It seems to me some people just go around looking to get their faith unsettled. That has been the fashion for the last hundred years or so.</b></p><p>My Comment:</p><p></p><blockquote> I understand why the old fellow felt that way. I'm one of those who had his faith unsettled. I did not consciously question my faith because of fashion, though, in retrospect, that had to be part of it. I am a man of my time. We all are and we cannot escape that. </blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 32 </p><p><b>This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 49 </p><p><b>It is hard to understand another time</b>.</p><p>My comment:</p><p></p><blockquote> I know that is true. I've now lived long enough to perceive the gulf between now and the 1950's when I first came to consciousness. And how the 1960's were different. And then how the succeeding decades built on or terminated what went before.</blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 51 </p><p><b>A good sermon is one side of a passionate conversation. It has to be heard in that way. There are three parties to it, of course, but so are there even to the most private thought—the self that yields the thought, the self that acknowledges and in some way responds to the thought, and the Lord. That is a remarkable thing to consider.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 53 </p><p><b>But he was a fine preacher in the style of his generation, so my father said.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 55 </p><p><b>He never encouraged any talk about visions or miracles, except the ones in the Bible.</b></p><p>My comment:</p><p></p><blockquote> Same as my Dad who preached for about sixty five years. The most he would proffer was the hope of Divine Providence. And so it grates on me when evangelicals are so glib about the Lord helping them do this or that. </blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 56 | Location 689-689 | Added on Sunday, December 26, 2021 6:11:22 PM</p><p><b>To be useful was the best thing the old men ever hoped for themselves, and to be aimless was their worst fear.</b></p><p>My Comment:</p><p></p><blockquote> That describes me. Expressed it to my friends in my early twenties. And to be useful and seen as competent has been my ardent desire.</blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 64 </p><p><b>I feel sometimes as if I were a child who opens its eyes on the world once and sees amazing things it will never know any names for and then has to close its eyes again.</b></p><p>My comment:</p><p> That is me too.</p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 75</p><p><b>Any human face is a claim on you, because you can’t help but understand the singularity of it, the courage and loneliness of it. But this is truest of the face of an infant. I consider that to be one kind of vision, as mystical as any.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 131 </p><p><b>I think of playing catch in a hot street and that wonderful weariness of the arms. I think of leaping after a high throw and that wonderful collaboration of the whole body with itself and that wonderful certainty and amazement when you know the glove is just where it should be. Oh, I will miss the world!</b></p><p>My comment</p><p></p><blockquote> Oh what a wonderful description. I played baseball for ten summers of my life. Am thankful she reminded me of the great physical pleasure of playing catch.</blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 141 </p><p><b>When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you. So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation?</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 146 </p><p><b>My point was that Abraham is in effect called upon to sacrifice both his sons, and that the Lord in both instances sends angels to intervene at the critical moment to save the child.</b></p><p>My comment:</p><p></p><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>I never had considered or heard that before. But it has to have been intended by the author/editor(s). Great insight.</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 162 </p><p><b>How do you tell a scribe from a prophet, which is what he clearly takes himself to be? The prophets love the people they chastise, a thing this writer does not appear to me to do.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 164 </p><p><b>There have always been things I felt I must tell them, even if no one listened or understood. And one of them is that many of the attacks on belief that have had such prestige for the last century or two are in fact meaningless.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 201 </p><p><b>I have thought about that very often—how the times change, and the same words that carry a good many people into the howling wilderness in one generation are irksome or meaningless in the next.</b></p><p>My Comment: </p><p></p><blockquote> I am hoping some of today's political catch phrases and slogans become like that.</blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 202 </p><p><b>And they want me to defend religion, and they want me to give them “proofs.” I just won’t do it. It only confirms them in their skepticism. Because nothing true can be said about God from a posture of defense.</b></p><p>My Comment:</p><p></p><blockquote>Now that is a different take than I have encountered. Insights like that which she makes I find compelling. </blockquote><p></p><p>===</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 203 </p><p><b>I think the attempt to defend belief can unsettle it, in fact, because there is always an inadequacy in argument about ultimate things.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 215 </p><p><b>I fell to thinking about the passage in the Institutes where it says the image of the Lord in anyone is much more than reason enough to love him, and that the Lord stands waiting to take our enemies’ sins upon Himself.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 224 </p><p><b>Every single one of us is a little civilization built on the ruins of any number of preceding civilizations, but with our own variant notions of what is beautiful and what is acceptable—which, I hasten to add, we generally do not satisfy and by which we struggle to live.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 228</p><p><b>But your mother said, “I was in St. Louis once. Some of us went there looking for work.” She laughed. “No luck.” He said, “It’s a miserable place to be broke.”</b></p><p>My Comment:</p><p></p><blockquote> I recall visiting Dad's relatives in St Louis, the summer of 1956 I believe. Watched chimps riding bikes at the Zoo. i thought it was great. All of life was enchanting as i was five years old.</blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 237 </p><p><b>Two or three of the ladies had pronounced views on points of doctrine, particularly sin and damnation, which they never learned from me. I blame the radio for sowing a good deal of confusion where theology is concerned. And television is worse. You can spend forty years teaching people to be awake to the fact of mystery and then some fellow with no more theological sense than a jackrabbit gets himself a radio ministry and all your work is forgotten. I do wonder where it will end.</b></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 268 </p><p><b>When I mentioned the history we had here, he laughed and said, “Old, unhappy far-off things and battles long ago.”</b></p><p>==========</p><p>My Comment:</p><p></p><blockquote>I needed this.</blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 268 </p><p><b>He was expounding the wonders of the larger world, and I was resolving in my heart never to risk the experience of them. He said, “I have become aware that we here lived within the limits of notions that were very old and even very local. I want you to understand that you do not have to be loyal to them.”</b></p><p>My Comment:</p><p></p><blockquote> Wished I'd had an older brother who gave this advice. But it turned out I would being him.</blockquote><p></p><p>==========</p><p>- Your Highlight on page 273 </p><p><b>I thought he should be aware that grace is not so poor a thing that it cannot present itself in any number of ways.</b></p>SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-9803469580376369342021-12-20T21:58:00.001-05:002021-12-20T21:58:36.244-05:00What If? <p><u><i>What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical
Questions</i></u> by Randall Munroe</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This book was a lot of fun to read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Randall is a cartoonist with a popular web
page, google XKCD, where people often ask all kinds of questions involving science, engineering
and technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many are wild and
fanciful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, the question was
asked whether if everyone on earth had a laser pointer and directed it at the
moon, could the reflection be seen from earth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The way he sets up the answers are always instructive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lays out assumptions and starting
scenarios.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this one, he makes the
reasonable assumption that the world’s population would have to congregate in a
suitable location on the same side of the earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at night of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He suggests placing everyone in the the
Arabian peninsula, and at a time when the moon is three quarters dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There would have to be enough moonshine to
know where to point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Laser pointers are usually
about 5 milliwatts each.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, several
billion such eye safe laser pointers striking the moon would be too faint to
see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he ratches up to a more powerful
laser, by 200 times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is possible to
buy a 1 watt handheld laser.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not
recommended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is enough power to
ruin an eye and can catch things on fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even if each person directed a 1 watt laser accurately to the lunar
surface, the reflection would not be visible on earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if every person had an IMAX projector
with a pair of 30,000 Watt lamps?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well
yes, finally, it would be visible.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He answers fifty such questions in a similar way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often throwing in all kinds of wonderful
factoids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is a great way to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-46584059078944929622021-01-31T22:27:00.001-05:002021-01-31T22:27:16.652-05:001961 - The first modern year<p>When did we become modern?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are many answers. Good answers and explanations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they change depending on what we mean by that
term and the context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for me it was
the year 1961.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> That was the thinking of</span> my ten-year-old
self as our family walked across a parking lot at Bull Shoals Dam in Arkansas
that summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> "</span>This is the first
modern year" I said in my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It</span> was my own
idiosyncratic take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would I have
thought that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did my young mind mean by
that?</p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1) There were several technological advancements that
occurred in 1961.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the year that humans travelled to space for the first time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And that made an impression</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was not the only reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every year brought significant technological
achievements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already, by that mature age I expected technology to continually advance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
explosion of TV ownership occurred in the early 1950’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t remember not having a television. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As far back as I can remember, science
and science fiction shows of TV fascinated me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Upon reflection it is clear that </span>I was programmed to believe in a future of fantastic gadgetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I clearly remember</span> a toy robot advertised when I was only
four and desiring to have it. A robot is both an object of the here and now and a symbol of ever advancing performance and automation</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">2) Even the many and varied cowboy shows taught me that life in
the recent past had been different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
number of my great-grandparents were still alive in the fifties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were born in the 1870’s and 80’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew life had been and still was less technologically advanced for them than it was for me and my family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember their outhouses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Some never learned to drive. </span>I remember getting water from a manual hand water pump
outside one of their houses rather than from an indoor faucet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> There were many and varied cowboy shows on television in the fifties and sixties and they conveyed a different world. </span>My
impression was that my great grandparents were born during the cowboy days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Reflecting on that fact, I knew they experienced great technological changes in their lives, perhaps more than any previous generation. For example, telephones, automobile, and airplanes arrived, effectively, in their adulthoods. We could easily draw up a much longer list. Because of this, I expected the march of technology to continue in my life as well. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">3) There was another reason for thinking and feeling these things. We had moved less than a year earlier. The house was new, the first one for our young family. Our previous home dated to the 19th century. The octogenarian next door neighbor had been born in an earlier version of it. That old house was enchanting when we first moved there, with its push button light switches and other odd features. In earlier days its water came from a cistern which by our time was filled in and covered. It provided a contrast to the new one. After just a few weeks in the new home came the Christmas break. As usual, we trekked to Michigan to spend a couple of weeks with grandparents. Breaks in space and time can be occasions of transition and new beginnings. It was this time. Coming back to that new house with its new look and smell to begin a new year filled me with the expectation that the future would be exciting and promising.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">4) <i>What You Are Is Where You Were When</i> is a video series by <a href="Morris Massey" target="_blank">Morris Massey</a> I viewed in the 1980's. In it he explained that a person's gut level values are programmed into them at about age 10. The way life was when you were ten years old is how life is supposed to be. He then explained how that explains differences in outlook and behavior between the generation that arrived at that age during the Great Depression and the Baby Boomers. In my case, my view of 1961 defined how life was going to be. </span></p>
</div>SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-38529572252720720542020-08-22T22:29:00.000-04:002020-08-22T22:30:18.240-04:00Some highlights from Metamodernity: Meaning and Hope in a Complex World by Lene Anderson<p>Someone in my Twitter feed about a month ago mentioned the term <i>Metamodernity</i>. That spurred some comments, comments which showed that others were aware of it and it is a thing. That stoked my curiosity. So after a quick google search to learn more, I downloaded the book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53007494-metamodernity" target="_blank">Metamodernity: Meaning and Hope in a Complex World</a> by Lene Anderson. Here are some highlights.</p><p>Will not try to summarize the book, define the term, or otherwise review. Will just present a few things I highlighted. There's no pattern to what strikes my fancy and leads me to highlight a given passage other than momentary whim. Am sure to have missed some interesting ones. </p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 14px;"><i></i></span></p><blockquote><i>Humans are a pattern seeking and pattern recognizing species in need for love and search for meaning.</i></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Yes, I think so. We see patterns where there are none. We are stubborn about it sometimes. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 14px;"><i></i></span></p><blockquote><i>A common denominator for all the Axial Age religions that have survived until our time is that they have provided us with symbolic worlds expressing the core moral and existential struggles of humans in big societies, and none of the stories can be taken at face value. The theologians and storytellers of the pre-modern era were not simpletons, their stories have lasted exactly because they contain several layers and we need to dig into them, and keep digging if we want to understand the stories—and ourselves.</i></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">This idea of an age of similar and parallel developments which occurred simultaneously across a broad stretch of the ancient world from Greece, to the Mideast, to India and to China is fascinating to me. It is called the Axial Age. It was first proposed and described by Karl Jaspers for the period, roughly, of 3rd to 8th century BCE. It fits in with my view that our religions have evolved through the centuries as our societies have developed. How can it be otherwise?New situations, new problems call for different doctrines and new theologies. (Have referred to the Axial Age in two previous posts). <a href="https://outofthedepths.blogspot.com/2018/02/jeremiah-and-blockchain.html" target="_blank">Jeremiah and the Block Chain</a> and The <a href="https://outofthedepths.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-2nd-axial-period_12.html" target="_blank">Second Axial Period</a>. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 14px;"><i></i></span></p><blockquote><i>What is new in metamodernity compared to postmodernism is that meaning can be judged according to its depth, and this depth is defined by the richness of its connectedness in the meaning making fabric, the epistemology.</i></blockquote><p></p><p>This may be the author's own desire and goal for metamodernity. But why not? At the beginning one can hope to influence a movement in what one believes is a positive direction. If metamodernity addresses the issue of meaning, that would be an advantage over postmodernism which is often perceived by many as subtractive of meaning.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 14px;"><i></i></span></p><blockquote><i>We are also creatures of habit, and we have a natural resistance towards knowledge that goes against what we already know. It is not so much that we are allergic to new knowledge; it is the dismissal of old knowledge that is painful. It is letting go that hurts. Accepting that our defining cultural code does not hold all the answers is terrifying. It is particularly hard if that code and the knowledge that it holds came from people we love and trust, or from authorities that we love to trust.</i></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 14px;">This squares with my seventy years of life experience. It was easy for me as a teenager in the 1960's to see how lots of older folks were allergic to the new thinking about civil rights and women's rights and many other things like music and hair styles which most of us now take for granted. Those things were not as disorienting for my older loved ones as changes occurring in our religious heritage. Our church had a firm set of answers and questioning those answers was terrifying and had to be resisted. As an young adult I lost confidence that our distinctive religious heritage had the answers. Have been searching ever since for something that could provide a similar comfort and assurance I felt growing up. Would like to think I've learned and made reasonable changes. Now I'm the old guy. What views/feelings am I holding onto which are now outdated? I'm still looking. Will continue to explore <i>Metamodernity</i>.</span></p>SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-79149788905479792212020-05-17T14:21:00.001-04:002020-05-17T14:21:50.438-04:00Recent Favorite Tweets <br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Here are some uplifting, to me, tweets I've come across in the past few months that I thought I'd share here:</span></b><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Every epoch should carry echoes of earlier epochs and eons. But new contexts demand new language; new settings demand new speech; new worlds call out for new words. What new word will you learn (or invent) today for this new world? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AncientFuture?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AncientFuture</a></div>
— lensweet (@lensweet) <a href="https://twitter.com/lensweet/status/1261317618654343169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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- Glenda Burgess <a href="https://t.co/1rdYnepGwT">pic.twitter.com/1rdYnepGwT</a></div>
— Bob McElrath (@BobMcElrath) <a href="https://twitter.com/BobMcElrath/status/1245509510963367938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Be gentle with your past self. The old you didn’t know then what you know now. That former you did the best you could with what you had.<br />
<br />
You were still in progress. And you still are.<a href="https://t.co/NTmuXOFPjG">https://t.co/NTmuXOFPjG</a></div>
— Nathan Hamm (@NathanHamm) <a href="https://twitter.com/NathanHamm/status/1231218345887895554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
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And this our life, exempt from public haunt,<br />
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,<br />
Sermons in stones, and good in everything<br />
<br />
—Wm Shakespeare, As You Like It</div>
— Paul Wallace (@paulmwall) <a href="https://twitter.com/paulmwall/status/1227039819668369409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>And we will close out with another tweet from Len Sweet which falls in line with the one above:</b></span><br />
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Jesus did not give us a list of rules and regs to check off, or principles to placard, but a matrix of relationships to make, keep, and cherish–with God, with each other, with ourselves, with creation.</div>
— lensweet (@lensweet) <a href="https://twitter.com/lensweet/status/1225902967338999810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-26719599781889101462020-04-19T23:05:00.001-04:002020-04-19T23:14:19.866-04:00Book Reviews: Artificial Intelligence by Melanie Mitchell and Beyond the Known by Andrew Rader<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I would like to recommend two excellent books. They were Christmas gifts which I thoroughly enjoyed and savored. <i>Artificial Intelligence</i> by Melanie
Mitchell takes the historical approach for introducing us to the field. Substantial
activity begins in the 1950’s, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>within
the first decade of digital computers. This period saw the introduction of many
of the basic approaches that are still being pursued today. I was happy to learn
about neural networks and how that avenue of investigation has evolved through
the decades. I had heard the term for many years but never took the time to
investigate. Also critical to the story was the intense activity in teaching a
computer system to play games, including checkers, chess, Go, and Atari games.
Incredible progress has been achieved the past decade in language translation,
pattern recognition, and self-driving. Though Mitchell acknowledges <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>grand achievements to date, the field has
often been over hyped and is careful not to do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
has spent her career in this field and made contributions, so her perspective is
important. I plan to read some of her other books. In finishing she notes that considerable hurdles remain before a computer will be able to pass
the well-known Turing Test. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is how
she closes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The impacts
of AI will continue to grow for all of us. I hope that this book has helped
you, as a thinking human, to get a sense of the current state of this
burgeoning discipline including its many unsolved problems, the potential risks
and benefits of its technologies, and the scientific and philosophical
questions it raises for understanding our own human intelligence. And if any
computers are reading this, tell me what it refers to in the previous sentence
and your’re welcome to join in the discussion.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The second
book, <i>Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will
Take Us to the Stars</i> by Andrew Rader. It was very much like a condensed
version of one of my favorite books, <i>The Discoverers </i>by Daniel Boorstin,
which I read almost forty years ago. The theme of Beyond the Known is the role
of exploration in the story of human advancement. It starts with the migration
of out of Africa many millenia ago and then proceeds to cover human history
since. Both books contained riveting descriptions of the era from Marco Polo followed by the voyages of discovery </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">around the southern tip of Africa and shortly thereafter to the Americas. Beginning in the
20</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> century, air and space flight receives the emphasis. Rader
works at SpaceX and is well suited to describe the most recent forty years that
postdate Boorstin’s book. He discusses how we might make Mars and other places
in the solar system suitable for human environment and even discusses interstellar
travel. It closes with</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
challenges we face today are no more daunting than they’ve been in the past,
and the rewards no less meaningful. Pushing our boundaries is the best way to
expand them, and to unite humanity in common purpose. Will we turn from this
calling and abandon exploration? I don’t think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will always be wanderers among us.”</span></blockquote>
<br />SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-73587572181567945132020-01-30T10:19:00.000-05:002020-01-30T10:19:07.802-05:00Photos of the Sagrada FamiliaWas in Spain recently for the <a href="https://eventos.uam.es/34645/detail/three-wise-men-winter-school-on-luminescent-nanothermometry-for-biomedical-applications.html" target="_blank">Three Wisemen Winter School of Luminescent Nanothermometry </a>where I gave the opening talk on the History of Phosphor Thermometry just outside of Madrid. Later travelled Barcelona where we visited Gaudi's cathedral. It is called the Sagrada Familia. It was astounding.<br />
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<br />SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-57722018419551102992019-09-15T22:36:00.002-04:002019-09-15T22:36:19.647-04:00And Now I Know, Doubt is Who I AmJoined Twitter in 2009 but did not do much with it until a couple of years ago. Now, I spend at least an hour a day, often more. I've met a great many perspectives, read some awful and wonderful things, and often drop my jaw at the cleverness, insight, pathos, and mirth of all varieties. I learn many new things every day. Was scrolling through the tweets this evening to review and savor what I'd seen in the recent past when I came upon this one from JohnsHopkinsMedicine.
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"Doubt is not based on insufficient knowledge to make decisions; it’s a behavioral trait," says Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Gerard Neustadt, about the first investigation of the clinical significance of doubt. <a href="https://t.co/tqB2ifdilQ">https://t.co/tqB2ifdilQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/UbQKfyVLfT">pic.twitter.com/UbQKfyVLfT</a></div>
— JohnsHopkinsMedicine (@HopkinsMedicine) <a href="https://twitter.com/HopkinsMedicine/status/1064851625452412928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
Since retiring I've been able to review my life and recognize some aspects of myself that I did not perceive earlier. Have made some positive changes resulting from that introspection. Looking back I acknowledge often having the problem of being a person who doubts themself obsessively. Fear and uncertainty also accompanied this. It has often been difficult to make decisions because I feared I did not have enough knowledge and information. In the article from which the above tweet originates, the psychiatrist notes that doubt can often be something that characterizes a person's obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD. He gives examples of patients who continually check that the door is locked. They repeatedly check it and physically re-lock it. <br />
<br />
About 3% of the population has OCD. Some fraction of these include this problem with doubt. Often it limits a person's functioning in life. Cognitive behaviour therapy can work and failing that, antidepressants can be effective. <br />
<br />
It would seem the doubt issue would also relate to other personality traits like the ability to take initiative. <br />
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I am a very religious person. Every day I read something of a religious nature and ponder it. I do this even though I'm unsure and have many doubts.<br />
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SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-90309539555711483992019-08-24T10:43:00.002-04:002019-09-03T06:48:06.514-04:00Eden as Past, Future, and Present<br />
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A friend recommended <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37774691-tapestry" target="_blank">Tapestry by Bishop SeraphimSigrist</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I liked it very much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s reads like stream-of-consciousness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It provides many interesting vignettes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is a meaningful snippet lifted from Chapter 18. Not that I think there was a literal Adam, still, nonetheless I like this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ch. 18 Eden as
Past, Future, and Present<o:p></o:p></div>
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Poem by Charles Reznikoff<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I was wandering with my happy thoughts,<br />
I looked and saw<br />
that I had come into a sunny place, familiar<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and yet
strange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /> </span>“Where am I?” I asked a stranger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Paradise.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span>“Can this be Paradise?” I ask, surprised,<br />
For there were motor cars and factories.<br />
“It is” he answered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is the sun that<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shone on Adam
once;<br />
The very wind that blew on him, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></blockquote>
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<br />SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-63756635054115984772019-08-18T17:45:00.000-04:002019-08-18T17:45:05.511-04:00New Forms of Spiritual Understanding<br />
I've been thinking a lot about how Christianity is by its very nature not a static thing but adaptable and always changing. It seems to me that is the way it should be. The tradition I come from wanted to go back to the first century and RESTORE Christianity to how it was at its founding. The assumption was that there was one, immutable way for it to be and we must practice only that version of Christianity. But long ago I lost confidence in that approach. I came across a quotation this morning while reading Edward Hirsch's book "How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry." It supports my view. Edward, on page 193 of my Kindle version, cites this as from Hart Crane and his "General Aims and Theories" which I have not read. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">New conditions of life germinate new forms of spiritual understanding</span></blockquote>
Hirsch is discussing art and says of the above that "This key modernist idea, that fresh or changing conditions ferment fresh forms, has had particular resonance" in the New World . . . .<br />
<br />
Even though he is discussing art, I think the principle holds for religion. Art and religion are intertwined, despite how the Reformation heritage has attempted to squelch the connection. <br />
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SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-33434095703958648312019-05-18T21:50:00.000-04:002019-05-18T21:50:44.593-04:00From Chapter II of A Many Splendored Thing<br />
<br />
How often do we read a book that surprises us in with topics and content we didn't expect? That was the case with this book, <i>A Many Splendored Thing</i> by Han Suyin. I did not anticipate it would contain some insights related to religion. My twenty year old self was in mood to read something and this book was available. On picking it up in my hand, I thought it was a romance novel based on the hit song and movie it inspired, and it was. But the book is autobiographical and the romance cannot be understood with its highs, lows, and tensions without Suyin's history as a person living in multiple worlds, Traditional Chinese, Western, and the newly emerging modern East with the rising communist tide on the mainland and burgeoning commercial world of Hong Kong. In some sense all of these worlds are native to her. She is specially positioned to perceive people from all angles, intimate with them all. The following is from the second chapter titled "The Kingdom of God" The timeline is important and so each chapter is dated by year and month. The content of this chapter explains her experiences in Hong Kong shortly after moving there from med school in London. She lives in a half-way house for missionaries families who have had to leave China in that disruptive time. <br />
<br />
*Chapter II The
Kingdom of God March 1949<br />
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<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;">I had always thought of missionaries as “superior persons”
in the Confucian sense; that their fund of goodness, benevolence and knowledge
must be greater than the average person’s.
It was with relief that I found they were just ordinary people. Well-meaning, earnest, hard working, not
endowed with more wisdom, knowledge or virtue than anyone else. Not gifted with more vision and not always
more tolerant. Teaching the Bible was
their <i>métier</i>, just as medicine was
mine, although I suppose both professions deluded themselves into calling it a vocation. They were concerned, as all normal, healthily
self-centered people are, with family, children, home, security, life
insurance, salaries, pension and furlough, all the mechanics of existence.</span></blockquote>
When I was growing up, occasionally a missionary would visit our church and give a presentation/sermon. Usually it was a Sunday or Wednesday night so the lights could be turned off to enable a slide presentation. It was exciting to my young self. I would for a short time have a romantic desire to go to where ever it was they were living and working. Of course, with never a thought of the mechanics of existence and all that would be entailed. I heard few critiques of this. A great Uncle was a missionary in New Zealand then. Not long after, a cousin just older than me would move to Kenya where he lives as a missionary to this day. <br />
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<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;">In those early months of 1949, they seemed bewildered,
confused and indignant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was
happening in China? </span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;">Some averred that it was only a passing phase of violence,
similar to those previous eruptions of xenophobia which flare up from time to
time in China.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some were inclined to
think that the Kuomintang government would make a stand and win in the end “if
only it would carry out reforms instead of just proclaiming them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that the Chiang Kai-sheks were
Christians seemed to them a guarantee that the Kuomintang government might still
turn over a new leaf and that all would be well again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>Perhaps those who understood the irreversible change which
was taking place remained in China until they could do so no longer, but those
I met in Church Guest House showed much bewilderment and hurt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>It was a little like unrequited love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“After all we’ve done for them,” they
implied, “look at what they are doing to us.” </span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;">How difficult it must be to be a missionary! In order to
convince others, one must be so completely indoctrinated with the superiority
of one’s own brand of belief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
understand, to tolerate, to condone, is incompatible with the very idea of
being in possession of a higher truth, a better explanation of the spiritual
life.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;"> </span></span></blockquote>
I don't remember having an immediate reaction when reading this last paragraph all those years ago but that question of the superiority of "our" brand of belief would soon haunt me. This book planted the seed which would grow into my consciousness and cause me to critique my inherited beliefs. <br />
<blockquote style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;">There were two types of missionaries in Hong Kong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first, those that had not been long in
China, were still under the spell of their narrow denominational
fanaticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They carried with them a
sulphurous aroma of hell-fire and damnation to the heathen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were spiritually intolerant and
physically bigoted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were inclined
to gloat over the possibilities of martyrdom and to emphasize the persecutional
element in the pressure against them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
they were very few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The larger group was
eminently likable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had been
converted and mellowed to humanity, tolerance and a sense of humor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had quietly jettisoned the belief in the
infallibility of their own theme of salvation, together with the more wrathful
aspects of the Deity they professed to love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were far more interested in the social and practical aspects of
Christianity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were humanists,
sociologists, and for them religion became the building of hospitals and
schools, the creation of Christian Associations, and picking up abandoned
waifs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they were the ones most hurt,
because they had loved their work, and they had been selfless in their devotion
to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What is going to happen to our
Christian communities?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of our
Christians seem to have gone over to the new regime, some have not. Will these
be persecuted?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is going to happen
to our churches, our schools, our hospitals?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They wanted to help China.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
they found that their motives were suspected, and their efforts towards
conciliation and understanding misunderstood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were no longer wanted. China was throwing them out.</span></blockquote>
* A Many Splendored Thing by Han Suyin An Atlantic Monthly Press Book, Little, Brown and Company, Boston. 1952 <br />
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<br /></div>
SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-47055400602213046212019-05-11T22:07:00.000-04:002019-05-11T22:07:01.980-04:00I read "A Many Splendored Thing" years ago<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are often encouraged to reflect on important books in our
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And reading is recommended for
help in coping with life and mental health generally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve enjoyed reading Deborah Cox’s blog and
one recent post discussed this aspect of books:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://deborahlcox.com/religious-trauma-into-soul-healing-part-vi-reading-good-fiction/">http://deborahlcox.com/religious-trauma-into-soul-healing-part-vi-reading-good-fiction/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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While considering what new books I might read, it came to my
mind to consider which books have been most important to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I traveled back in my mind and eventually
came upon one that changed my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though, it is only on reflection of my life subsequent to reading it
that I now realize that fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had not
thought about this book in many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is not about science or religion or philosophy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not recognized as a classic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book is “A Many Splendored Thing” by Han
Suyin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one of only two or three
Romance novels I’ve ever read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
came at a critical time with some messages especially pertinent to my young
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I re-read it a few months ago to help
bring back my memories of how and why it has the effect it did. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was late summer of 1971 just before the fall term of my senior year
of college and my 21<sup>st</sup> birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, a time with critical choices on which path my life would take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I loved science and technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also desired to be as good a Christian as I
could be and had always considered Christian ministry in some way as a possible
life path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The previous summer I’d been
to Europe on an Evangelistic campaign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This summer I had been involved in Christian ministry in Europe. It was late in the summer when I read the book, shortly before coming home.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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It is important here to discuss the nature of the devout
Christian fellowship which had nurtured me, the Churches of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Dad was a minister and a model of love for
his family and devotion to his calling. The county where we lived from second
grade through the tenth had a population of about 12,000 people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the 1960’s there were 16 Churches of
Christ in the county if I recall correctly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In early and mid 20<sup>th</sup> century, we were amazingly independent
of the rest of Protestant Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had distinctive ideas about worship, baptism, and church
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking back, the
accusation that we felt we were the only “true” Christians did have a valid
basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, that exclusivism and
isolation has significantly waned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
distinctive practices are not perceived as the only valid way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was the milieu in which I was
raised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our lives were built around the
Church, attending 3 times a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most
of the people who were my close friends were within this fellowship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went to a Church of Christ college where
immersion in this insular world continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I have many wonderful memories from those days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While growing up I never questioned the
teachings seriously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a strong
family history in this fellowship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
knew the stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was my identity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was the young man who began reading the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I did not know that religion would be an important component
of this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that it would
profoundly influence me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> To be continued....</span></div>
SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-56917520268744018172019-01-20T21:48:00.000-05:002019-01-20T21:48:44.776-05:00The Spiritual Meaning of Trees - Maya Becomes a TreeFinished reading <u>A Many-Splendored Thing</u> by Han Suyin this evening. It is a semi-autobiographical novel about a romance between a Chinese Eurasian woman and a British correspondent. The action is centered in Hong Kong with some action in China and Korea in 1949-1950. Read it for the first time in 1971 and it made a big impression on me as I was about to start my senior year of college and turn 21. Upon this re-reading I underlined and made checks in various places for later contemplation. <br />
<br />
Here is one extended passage that happens to connect with my interest in the spiritual meaning of trees is from Part 3 Chapter 4.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">One
day I found her sitting at my desk in the office, having fled her bed again and
as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she began to tell me about
the tree.</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Suyin, the main character, is at her job transcribing handwritten medical records using a typewriter when her sick friend, Maya, comes to visit. She has terminal tuberculosis. Maya describes an experience.</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“As
I walked here” said she, “something which had not happened before occurred to
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Halfway up the road I sat under a
tree to rest, under a candlenut tree. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Facing it, looking at the straight gray silver
trunk, ringed and speckled with a frolic of young days, at the dappled
white-flecked leaves, plumaged-mottled birds poised for the gust of light,
under the cool green shadows spread over me, and the slanting sunlight falling
upon my hand, I became a tree.</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can search and find pictures of candlenut trees of Hong Kong as well as other places. This is startling beautiful language presaging and amazing passage. Maya describe existence as a tree.</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Insidious
and bone-deep the transubstantiation; an enchanted dupe I sat, my heart the
tree heart, coursing sweet green sap, sweet fire within my veins, I knew its
secret name, its drift of years; I felt my thick mindless roots clutch the live
earth, digging through earth and stone groping for water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I heard each leaf grow out, an unfurling
pennant in strong search of that other rain, the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I strained my branches, insinuating into
emptiness the flourish of my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
knew the self-absorption of the tree, the peace acquired at last, its
contemplation of the day. I sat on without motion, tree basking in the sun, and
all previous awareness a half-remembered dream. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This captivates me. I don't know what it means. It does not seem like something the author could have completely made up. She must be conveying to us something she remembers. I wonder if this identification with trees or other entities is something that happens with some people?</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Suddenly
there was a wrench, I coughed, and the division fell between the substance of
the tree and myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was I and the
candlenut tree stood above, green and dappled with flakes of sun, remote,
unknown. I came here.”</span></span></blockquote>
Now that this is posted, I plan to come back to it and ponder it from time to time. It must mean something.<br />
<br />
Should also mention that a movie was made of this book called "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" in 1955. I was a little tyke but remember the Oscar winning song by the same name, a lush romantic memorable piece that attracted me to the book in the first place years later. <br />
<br />SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-31013295936875019282018-09-25T15:18:00.000-04:002018-09-25T15:20:12.397-04:00A Goethe Quote on the Stages of Life<span style="text-indent: 0in;">Maxim #390 from "Maxims and Reflections" by Goethe </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<i>“Every age of man
has its own appropriate philosophy. <b>The child appears as a realist</b>; for he
finds himself as much convinced of the existence of pears and apples as of his
own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>The youth</b>, overwhelmed by inner
passions, must observe himself, feel his way forward; he <b>is transformed into an
idealist</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, <b>the man has
every reason for becoming a skeptic</b>; he does well to doubt whether the means he
has chosen for the purpose is indeed the right one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before acting, in acting, he has every reason
for keeping his intelligence mobile, so that he need not subsequently be sorry for
having made the wrong choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>The old
man, however, will always espouse mysticism.</b> He sees that so much seems to
depend on chance:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the irrational is successful,
the rational fails, fortune and misfortune unexpectedly coincide; so it is, so
it was, and old age finds comfort in Him who is, who was, and also who will be.“</i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
I originally read this in the summer of 1971 in “First German Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book” ed. by H. Steinhauer.
Published 1964. Library of Congress Number 64-7673. page 89-90.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Today, I learned that t</span>he quote derives from <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>maxim #390 from “The Maxims and Reflections” by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe which he published in 1794.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-131620237546164642018-08-31T08:00:00.001-04:002018-08-31T08:00:33.148-04:00Back from the UK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRa_sgVf4odEMnVpsjOY_Sv7ni09ZZqCpO_rxJidHK4Hgre7lPZ5CcE2oJ17Zv-DjKQ0_LCf2zneFQwOeVVpeiCzWyU9l9B0kpeln0r5xS_okvU6mhd2wfaK2mHgaw7zvMgCliOQ/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRa_sgVf4odEMnVpsjOY_Sv7ni09ZZqCpO_rxJidHK4Hgre7lPZ5CcE2oJ17Zv-DjKQ0_LCf2zneFQwOeVVpeiCzWyU9l9B0kpeln0r5xS_okvU6mhd2wfaK2mHgaw7zvMgCliOQ/s320/image.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
We arrived back from the UK in early August. Had a conference in Glasgow: The Inaugural Conference on Phosphor Thermometry. Then we took a few days of vacation following. Never planned more than one day ahead. Did Edinburgh a couple of days. Yes, we did the loop around Loch Ness. Next day, we spent an afternoon and evening in York. Was blown away by the York Minster Cathedral. No pictures could capture and convey how stunning it was. Lastly we spent three nights in London. Walked everywhere and loved it. The last day we did St. Pauls Cathedral seen here.. I had been there before and knew what to expect. So much of my genetic and cultural heritage comes from that island. It is hard to convey what I learned deep inside. It was very meaningful.SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-53126793751912385122018-05-15T12:46:00.001-04:002018-05-15T12:46:54.811-04:00The Lord Bless You And Keep You - Lutkin - performed live by Octarium<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QB2FVlaPM-o" width="480"></iframe><br /><br />
<br /><br />
A excellent rendition of a wonderful piece of a cappella choral music. It is not as widely known as it deserves to be.SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-56751830781234044712018-04-27T09:30:00.001-04:002018-04-28T10:59:22.085-04:00Kinobe - Slip Into Something More Comfortable in the sea [Sgrima YDedal]<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cysy7AqRPjo" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
Watch and listen to this on a big screen TV. The music reminds me of early sixties movie soundtracks. Like what Henry Mancini and his orchestra might do for beach scenes in a South Pacific resort. RELAXINGSteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-9050056797618663482018-02-17T23:07:00.001-05:002018-02-21T22:58:04.619-05:00Jeremiah and the Blockchain<div class="graf graf--p" name="67aa">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I don’t know why these two disparate things entered into my mind all of a sudden six months ago. On the one hand, I have had a fascination and affection for the person <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah" target="_blank">Jeremiah</a> the Weeping Prophet, for many years. But interest in cryptocurrency and the blockchain is recent. Once these two dissimilar things arrived within my consciousness I decided to explore. So how do we tie together Jeremiah and the Blockchain? My thoughts developed as follows. To begin, Jeremiah is one of the most important links in the chain of people and events that created the Jewish people and enabled them to survive. And without them the history of the past two thousand years would have been completely different. No Christianity or Islam, for sure. Would there have been a Renaissance? Enlightenment? Science and Industrialization?</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_-_Jeremia_treurend_over_de_verwoesting_van_Jeruzalem_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;" title="Rembrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons"><img alt="Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Jeremia treurend over de verwoesting van Jeruzalem - Google Art Project" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_-_Jeremia_treurend_over_de_verwoesting_van_Jeruzalem_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/256px-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_-_Jeremia_treurend_over_de_verwoesting_van_Jeruzalem_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_van_Rijn" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; text-align: start;" title="Rembrandt van Rijn">Rembrandt van Rijn</a>,<br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; text-align: start;">Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of <br />Jerusalem</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;">, c. 1630</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Jeremiah and his Time</b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p" name="833c">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The First Axial Age</span></div>
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<div class="graf graf--p" name="0278">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeremiah belongs to the Axial Age, a time that saw similar and near simultaneous changes to the major civilizations from Europe to China. Confucius, Lao-Tzu, Siddhartha (Buddha), the Hebrew prophets, the Greek philosophers were essentially contemporaries. All of these people have had a permanent effect and a role in creating the cultures and religions that have lasted down to the present. In this period, religion transitions from the communal to the personal. Karl Jaspers originated the axial age concept and some recent explicators are Karen Armstrong, Robert Bellah, and Ilia Delio. The last author combines and summarizes several sources in her book <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christ-in-evolution-ilia-delio/1009075488?ean=9781570757778&st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Shopping+Books_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP78860" href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christ-in-evolution-ilia-delio/1009075488?ean=9781570757778&st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Shopping+Books_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP78860" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Christ in Evolution</a> when she says:</span></div>
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p" name="0278">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="7359">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“In the preaxial period, the human person was cosmic, collective, tribal, mythic, and ritualistic. Myth was a way in which the human person gave meaning to his/her world through the context of stories that contained essential truths. The idea of primal consciousness as mimetic consciousness, that is a consciousness of imitation, meant that humans identified with their surroundings…..</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Axial consciousness generated a new self awareness that included awareness of autonomy and a new sense of individuality. The human person as subject emerged. Jaspers states that, with axial consciousness, personality was revealed for the first time in history. With the emergence of the rational individual came a new sense of freedom by which the human person could make conscious and deliberate decisions.(1) Although the world religions that emerged in the first axial period are widely divergent in their doctrines and rituals, they share a common existential thread: self reflection and self transcendance of the human person.” </span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p" name="0c31">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
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<div class="graf graf--p" name="1335">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A Problem with Trust</span></div>
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<div class="graf graf--p" name="1335">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="graf graf--p" name="5c70">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeremiah exemplified the new self-aware person of that era. He appears as one of the first people in history who reflects upon and describes his feelings. He is expressive. He attempts to help his fellow citizens in Jerusalem and exiles in Babylon make the transition from over emphasis on ritual to instead elevate their personal conduct and interact with their neighbors with integrity. Trust and individual responsibility are important to him. He described their problems in this area when he says:</span></div>
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<div class="graf graf--p" name="5c70">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="1727">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text Jer-9-4" id="en-NASB-19180" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; left: -4.4em; line-height: 22px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">4 </span>“Let everyone <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-19180A" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-19180A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>be on guard against his neighbor,</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Jer-9-4" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">And <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-19180B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-19180B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>do not trust any brother;</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Jer-9-4" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">Because every <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-19180C" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-19180C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>brother deals craftily*,</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Jer-9-4" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">And every neighbor <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-19180D" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-19180D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>goes about as a slanderer.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Jer-9-5" id="en-NASB-19181" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; left: -4.4em; line-height: 22px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">5 </span>“Everyone <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-19181E" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-19181E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>deceives his neighbor</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Jer-9-5" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">And does not speak the truth,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeremiah 9:4-5 New America Standard Bible (NASB)</span><br />
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* some translations use the word "deceiver"<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeremiah taught individual ethical responsibility. And also his younger contemporary with whom he corresponded, Ezekiel, communicates the same. Ezekiel 18 states that no longer will the proverb hold that says the fathers have eaten and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But rather, the soul that sins, it shall die.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Our Present Time</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2nd Axial Age</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But how does Jeremiah and the axial period relate to us now? He helped us to get us to where we are now. And, perhaps, where we are is a new, second axial age. This might be illustrated by making analogies with his time and ours. The first thing to note is the question of what brought about the first axial age. Part of the answer must be that it was spurred by technological developments related to travel, communication and money. New technology creates new ways for humans to relate to and organize each other. The technology that we use for communication determines our consciousness, how we think, and how we perceive the world. Marshal McLuhan, who may have been the first to fully describe this, is convincing to me. And the developments since his death, involving the personal computer and the internet, validate what he said, in my opinion. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our external memory is enhanced much more than what was possible for Jeremiah and other Axial people. A necessary first step was the invention of the printing press. It allowed books and mass literacy to proliferate. And, more recently, digital memory allows thousands of books even in a small thumb drive. And, due to the internet, we have near instantaneous access to the thoughts of others anywhere in the world which may bring instant validation, challenge, critique or other engagement of our views. And likewise, we have continued to develop ethics and morality and self-discipline. One may decry current ethics and morality but progress has been made in many areas. The world now frowns on wife beating, slavery, torture, punishment for religious beliefs, and many other things that were acceptable even to the deeply religiously devout of earlier societies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It may be noted that coinage, that is, technology related to money, was invented in the 1st axial age. In parallel with that in our time, the new digital currency and what is entailed by it, just might be helping to usher in a 2nd axial age. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Trust and the Blockchain</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1n_W9LcduS_7EIrwubtcwa_QVsSvpif_b-7OW9DUFAQ74-n1rMcCgNZMYlht9-wwG6oG5x3JIK5-X4twySbSonHMOSCCoq_HuhOJX5m_i99yadHMl8EhWq6b2m7YR2BQvoA5GCQ/s1600/pexels-photo-844124.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1600" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1n_W9LcduS_7EIrwubtcwa_QVsSvpif_b-7OW9DUFAQ74-n1rMcCgNZMYlht9-wwG6oG5x3JIK5-X4twySbSonHMOSCCoq_HuhOJX5m_i99yadHMl8EhWq6b2m7YR2BQvoA5GCQ/s320/pexels-photo-844124.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Jeremiah, we still have problems related to trust. The invention of the Blockchain addresses this problem. It makes possible a universal and unchangeable record of transactions. Incentives reward the keepers of the record. This permanent record may be viewed by anyone. Once something makes it to the blockchain, whether a financial transaction or medical record, after requisite confirmations, it is there permanently. It may not be changed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In our new era, there is a distrust of central authority. Authority is being decentralized. Authority has become relational and social.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">How to manage social relationships? For Jeremiah: Know God. Be honest. Know Thyself. Be personally responsible. What Jeremiah said still has validity for us. We are individuals who should act responsibly. In addition, in this 2nd axial age, we are developing newer tools. Yes, the blockchain is new technology for currency and payment, a breakthrough in money just as the invention of metal coins was in the first axial age. But, the development of the blockchain is making possible a web of trust, a decentralized means for validating and measuring trustworthiness. And making possible new and creative means for attending to other of our social problems that Jeremiah and those Hebrew prophets addressed, like feeding the poor, eliminating poverty, providing clean water, improving health, and other things an easy search will uncover (4). I’m kind of excited about the prospect of a basic universal income too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We live in fast changing and exciting times, in many ways. What the near future will bring to us in terms of breakthroughs and problems related to technological and cultural changes, I don't know in detail. But I'm with Jeremiah, I take it that we have a hope and a future. (Jer 29:11).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(1) Ilia Delio, Christ in Evolution, Orbis Books, 2011.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(2) <span style="font-family: inherit;">Delio cites here Karl Jaspers, Origin and Goal of History, trans. Michael Bullock</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> ( New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953), 1, 23, 27.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(3) The photo is from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/ripple-etehereum-and-bitcoin-and-micro-sdhc-card-844124/">https://www.pexels.com/photo/ripple-etehereum-and-bitcoin-and-micro-sdhc-card-844124/</a></span></div>
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(4) <a href="https://medium.com/@kbennett2000_46495/how-blockchain-can-address-pressing-social-problems-9a4bfe6c57a4" target="_blank">How Blockchain Can Address Pressing Social Problems</a>. Kris Bennett</div>
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SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-38229155290882341112018-02-04T10:40:00.001-05:002018-02-04T10:42:09.937-05:00Picture Consciousness and Rudolf Steiner and YouTubeA number of people who are significant to me find value in the life and writings of Rudolf Steiner. I had attempted to read one of his books a few years ago but just have not been able to get through it. A friend recommended to me a book by Gary Lachman about him and so far it looks to be helpful and full of insight. Here is a quote lifted from my Kindle of interest to me.<br />
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Steiner was captivated by a kind of picture book whose figures could be moved by pulling a string. He tells us that he and his sister spent many hours with these, and that through them he took his first steps toward reading. In later life, Steiner would argue that a kind of “picture consciousness” formed the type of consciousness of human beings during their “Old Moon” incarnation in the distant past, and that in the future, this would return and be integrated with our current rational consciousness to form a new state, what he called our Jupiter incarnation. One area his childhood toys certainly did influence was Steiner’s system of education, which employs similar picture books in its kindergartens.*</blockquote>
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Seems to me that "a kind of 'picture consciousness'" that he projects to arrive in the future has now come to us, first with Television, then the internet, YouTube, and how we make use of the easy capture of photos and videos with our cell phones. I should review what Marshall McLuhan said about this. I think it squares with his thought. Who we are, how we think, what we are even capable of perceiving all depend on the communication technology that we use. The communication technology we use forms us.<br />
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Does this relate to why I have so much trouble reading and understanding poetry?<br />
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*<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20424197-rudolf-steiner" target="_blank">Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Work (Lachman, Gary)</a><br />
- Your Highlight on Location 281-287 | Added on Saturday, February 3, 2018 5:24:00 AM<br />
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<br />SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-34339207748916487882018-01-19T21:52:00.003-05:002018-02-13T20:31:09.891-05:00Mother's Day Reading Assignment: Read Books by Women<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A couple of years ago, I think it was on Mother's Day, the minister at the church we were attending suggested that we should make a point to read some women authors for spiritual assistance. I have forgotten the context. The memory of that popped into my mind recently that I have been reading some women authors. Had never set out to make it a point to read or not read women authors but it just happened. A couple of nights I fell asleep trying to list them in my mind. Before the mid-nineties and Amazon, the list is probably incomplete. Will add to this as more come to mind. This illuminates my interests.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Religion, Philosophy, Biography, Novels and Spiritual Writing </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gnostic-Gospels-Modern-Library-Nonfiction-ebook/dp/B000RH0DSU/ref=pd_sim_351_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8AAV3MW4S8PEQRMZ1YK8" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gnostic-Gospels-Modern-Library-Nonfiction-ebook/dp/B000RH0DSU/ref=pd_sim_351_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8AAV3MW4S8PEQRMZ1YK8" target="_blank">The Gnostic Gospels</a> by Elaine Pagels - early eighties</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Adam-Eve-Serpent-Politics-Christianity-ebook/dp/B005MHHRUC/ref=pd_sim_351_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=P11YSSHKCGQECS5V356M" target="_blank">Adam, Eve and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">(1988),</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Satan-Christians-Demonized-Heretics-ebook/dp/B005O1BLU8/ref=pd_sim_351_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9300WPJGKY8H350HT67N" target="_blank">The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">(1995),</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Israelite-Religion-Susan-Niditch/dp/0195091280" target="_blank">Ancient Israelite Religion</a> - Susan Niditch 1997</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Belief-Secret-Gospel-Thomas-ebook/dp/B000FC1MEQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413983&sr=1-3&keywords=Beyond+Belief%3A+The+Secret+Gospel+of+Thomas" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Belief-Secret-Gospel-Thomas-ebook/dp/B000FC1MEQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413983&sr=1-3&keywords=Beyond+Belief%3A+The+Secret+Gospel+of+Thomas" target="_blank">Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">(2003)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/History-God-000-Year-Judaism-Christianity-ebook/dp/B005DB6LSG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413610&sr=1-1&keywords=A+History+of+God" target="_blank">A History of God</a> - Karen Armstrong - late nineties</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beloved-Toni-Morrison-ebook/dp/B000TWUTYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516413434&sr=8-1&keywords=beloved+toni+morrison" target="_blank">Beloved</a> - Toni Morrison 2004</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Grace-Kathleen-Norris-ebook/dp/B0023ZLLEO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413804&sr=1-1&keywords=Amazing+Grace%3A++A+vocabulary+of+faith" target="_blank">Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith</a> - Kathleen Norris ~ 2005 give or take</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451191153/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">The Fountainhead</a> - Ayn Rand 2005</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813328691/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Ethics</a> Murphy, Nancey 2005</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline: 0px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563381761/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda (Rockwell Lecture Series)</a> - </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Murphy, Nancey 2006</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Mercies-Some-Thoughts-Faith-ebook/dp/B000QCSASQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413490&sr=1-1&keywords=travelling+mercies" target="_blank">Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith</a> - Anne Lamott 2006</span></div>
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<a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802840795/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Everyman Revived: The Common Sense of Michael Polanyi</span></a></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;">Scott, Mrs. Drusilla 2006</span><br />
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<a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521676762/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; outline: 0px;">Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies? (Current Issues in Theology)</a></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;">Nancey Murphy 2007</span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0800632664/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance</a></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;">Dorothee Solle 2007</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801013135/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Great Emergence, The: How Christianity Is Changing and Why (emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)</a> - </span>Phyllis Tickle 2008</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-large" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-large" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/Reading%20Judas:%20The%20Gospel%20of%20Judas%20and%20the%20Shaping%20of%20Christianity" target="_blank">Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity</a> - Elaine Pagels and Karen King - 2008</span></span></span></span></div>
<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Altar-World-Geography-Faith-ebook/dp/B001NLKXU2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413885&sr=1-1&keywords=An+Altar+in+the+World%3A+A+Geography+of+Faith" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></span></span></div>
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<h1 class="a-size-large a-spacing-none" id="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.5;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Altar-World-Geography-Faith-ebook/dp/B001NLKXU2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413885&sr=1-1&keywords=An+Altar+in+the+World%3A+A+Geography+of+Faith" target="_blank">
</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Altar-World-Geography-Faith-ebook/dp/B001NLKXU2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413885&sr=1-1&keywords=An+Altar+in+the+World%3A+A+Geography+of+Faith" target="_blank">An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith</a></span> - Barbara Brown Taylor - 2009</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Betraying-Spinoza-Renegade-Modernity-Encounters-ebook/dp/B002JKVXG4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516414885&sr=1-1&keywords=Betraying+Spinoza" target="_blank">Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity</a> - Rebecca Goldstein - 2009</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Case-God-Karen-Armstrong-ebook/dp/B002OTKEOW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413928&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Case+for+God" target="_blank">The Case for God</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> - Karen Armstrong - 2009</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830827587/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">How Postmodernism Serves (My) Faith: Questioning Truth in Language, Philosophy And Art</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;">Crystal L. Downing 2009</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156101169X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Luminous Web: Essays on Science and Religion</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;">Barbara Brown Taylor 2010</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline: 0px;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MVZP0Y/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o07_?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions</a> - </span>Rachel Held Evans 2010</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5 !important;"></span></span></span><br /></span>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038LB4H6/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o07_?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (The Terry Lectures Series)</a> - Marilynne Robinson - 2010</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mysticism-Nature-Development-Spiritual-Consciousness-ebook/dp/B00A62YEAE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516413737&sr=1-1&keywords=Mysticism+by+E.+Underhill" target="_blank">Mysticism: A Study of the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness</a></span><span style="color: #222222;"> (1911) Evelynn Underhill - 2011</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L7826S/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o05_?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History</a> - Diana Wells - 2011</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="a-size-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.5;"><a class="a-link-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1409421414/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px;">Cyborg Selves: A Theological Anthropology of the Posthuman </a> -Jeanine Thweatt-Bates 2012</span></span></div>
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<h2 class="a-size-medium s-inline s-access-title a-text-normal" data-attribute="The Empathy Exams: Essays" data-max-rows="0" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.255 !important; margin: 0px; outline-offset: -2px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
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<a class="a-link-normal s-access-detail-page s-color-twister-title-link a-text-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/Empathy-Exams-Essays-Leslie-Jamison-ebook/dp/B00FCQW7NK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516413098&sr=8-1&keywords=empathy+exams+essays" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #c45500; outline: 0px;" title="The Empathy Exams: Essays">The Empathy Exams: Essays</a><span style="color: #555555;"> - </span>Leslie Jamison - 2017</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h2>
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SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-72738743708985861962018-01-16T09:39:00.002-05:002018-01-16T09:39:44.091-05:00Christ in Evolution and the Emergence of TechnosapiensIlia Delio, in the closing words of her book, <u>Christ in Evolution</u>, says, of Teilhard du Chardin,<br />
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His "mysticism of action" includes the creative development of technology and realizes that human creativity and the emergence of technosapiens give new expression to Christ in evolution. Christ is the unifying mystery of what we are about with God if we are to have any hope in God. Because we humans are in evolution we must see Christ in evolution as well -- Christ's humanity is our humanity, Christ's life is our life. ....<br />Christ is the power of God among us and within us, the fullness of the earth and of life in the universe. We humans have the potential to make Christ alive; it is what we are created for. </blockquote>
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This is beautiful and I want this to be true. I think we are making this to be true whether we realize it or not. Despite, on the one hand, the secularization of recent centuries. And on the other hand, despite large segments of the Christian World holding to what it views as Tradition and rejecting knowledge that continues to unfold as technosapiens evolves. SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-88697423828713550552017-12-19T09:32:00.000-05:002017-12-19T09:32:01.037-05:00A Single Word Can Brighten the FaceFrom a collection of poems <a href="https://sufism.org/product/the-drop-that-became-the-sea" target="_blank"><b>The Drop that Became the Sea</b> by Yunus Emre</a>. First person to express poems in Turkish, he died ~1320. I'm enjoying this volume. There is much to think about and meditate here. The poem below slugged me in the heart.<br />
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A single word can brighten the face<br />
of one who knows the value of words.<br />
Ripened in silence, a single word<br />
acquires a great energy for work.<br />
<br />
War is cut short by a word,<br />
and a word heals the wounds,<br />
and there's a word that changes<br />
poison into butter and honey<br />
<br />
Let a word mature inside yourself.<br />
Withhold the unripened thought<br />
Come and understand the word<br />
that reduces the money and riches to dust<br />
<br />
Know when to speak a word<br />
and when not to speak at all<br />
A single word turns a universe of hell<br />
in eight paradises.<br />
<br />
Follow the Way. Don't be fooled<br />
by what you already know. Be watchful<br />
Reflect before you speak.<br />
A foolish mouth can brand your soul.<br />
<br />
Yunus, say one last thing<br />
about the power of words-<br />
Only the word "I"<br />
divides me from God.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-65436917065549379192017-11-19T19:28:00.001-05:002017-11-19T19:28:46.089-05:00Creation: Not Static but Dynamic<div class="MsoPlainText">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a pithy thought lifted from my Kindle clippings. Kindle makes it easy to go back to books I've read earlier and see what has jumped out at me that I've highlighted. Without leaving my chair I can thumb through the hundred or so books that are on the device. I keep coming back to Ilia Delio's books as they are easy to jump into at any location to pick up an interesting thought. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christ in
Evolution (Ilia Delio)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Your Highlight
on Location 482-483 | Added on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 5:10:18 AM</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Creation is not
about a static world but a relationship between the dynamic being of God and a
world in process of coming to be.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8747309.post-84851292626024111342017-10-18T22:37:00.002-04:002017-10-18T22:37:51.837-04:00Quote regarding walking on the moon from Myths to Live By - Joseph CampbellWhile browsing through a West Town Mall bookstore Thanksgiving weekend 1986, I made one of the most important discoveries of my thought-life. My in-laws were in town visiting for the purpose of cheering us up. A few days earlier our second attempt of the year to adopt a child had failed. So it was fitting for our family to make a trip to the main shopping area in Knoxville of that time. I don't recall what attracted and impelled me to reach for "Myths to Live By" by Joseph Campbell. It was just what I needed. From then up to the mid-nineties, I purchased and read several thousand pages of his works. This includes his 4 volume "The Masks of God", "The Hero of a Thousand Faces" and other writings. I recorded and listened to all his interviews with Bill Moyers. I'll leave it to the reader to do their own internet search to learn more about him. Where he connected with me was the way he constructed a grand story of how religion developed and evolved in human history. He is both a modern person who accepts and affirms science and one who finds value not only in our Western Christian heritage but the views from the East also of which he was intimately, experientially knowledgeable. He was a Jungian. <br />
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He was able to explain to me the evolution of human religious expression. In Primative Mythology he starts his account so deep in our history that homo habilis and homo erectus are included. When I came to his work, I was very frustrated with my internal and external religious life. He greatly relieved my internal pressures by showing me how things came to be the way they were. He gave me a direction for further research and hope. <br />
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The quote below is from the the eleventh chapter of "Myths to Live By" titled Moon Walk: the Outward Journey. The chapter gives his thoughts in response soon after the first two trips to the Moon in 1969 and 1970. He was very excited about it and what it would mean. He would live to 1987. By then the Space Shuttle program had long ago supplanted the Apollo program. The quote accents both aspects of his program, he is open both to modern technology and innovation of the outer world and exploration and explication of the inner world. <br />
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>It is my whole present thesis, consequently, that we are at this moment participating in one of the very greatest leaps of the human spirit to a knowledge not only of outside nature but also of our own deep inward mystery that has ever been taken, or that ever will or ever can be taken.</b></span>SteveAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00394492083234379612noreply@blogger.com3