Faith & Suffering

Today, my boss told me his sister is going to have to be taken off of life support for a heart attack. His mother is also in hospice in the final stages of her life. My sister has had three weeks of intensive pain, ruptured appendix, and an internal abscess which formed following the appendix rupture. She has had two solid meals in three weeks.

One of the key differences between Christianity and some other major world religions is how they view suffering. Other religions see suffering as something to escape. It holds no value. Christians should see suffering as the potential for growth. It is echoed in everything. Very little good ever happens without struggle to bring it forth.

I do not think life was ever meant to be easy. Often, as Christians, we assume that God will pave our road with ease. The reality is, that growth only occurs in difficulty. Hebrews even says that Christ was made perfect through His suffering. Are we, His people, not becoming like Him? All too often American Christianity tries to preach a gospel of convenience and prosperity.

But we see injustices, inequalities, and inhumanities all around us. And we even probably contribute some of our own. For this suffering, we are called to give aid and comfort. In this we serve God by serving others. By this we can extend the grace He has given us.

As for our own lives? Yes, God does love and bless us, this is very true, but in order for us to grow...we must also suffer. C.S. Lewis said that one of the key virtues of Christianity is courage. I agree...courage to stand up in the face of all that can happen in life. But our courage does not come from us, it is part and parcel, I think, with faith. And that comes from God. I pray that your paths are not overly troubled, but when trouble comes, and it will, I pray that God give you the faith to persevere. So that your suffering can be turned to growth, and you can help make meaningful the suffering you see in the lives of others.

30 years....

Okay, two weeks ago, I experienced my 30 year reunion. And it was, beyond my best expectations. It's amazing how much, despite time, despite LIFE, that people can come back together to celebrate a moment, to remember a community of friends and experience, as if no time had passed, and as if a lifetime had passed. Gone were old enmities and dissensions, gone were old cliques, gone were old judgments.

Only a true joy in sharing each others' company, and life stories, and shared history remained. And so, I can truly say, "Thank you" to my classmates of long ago, "Thank you for the memories, and here's very much looking forward to the next time we meet."

The Long Slide

Where have we gone?

1. Our government can now arrest and hold people without trial, indefinitely.
2. Key portions of our government are now no longer transparent, and can't be questioned.
3. No business or action can any longer infringe upon any minor group, in any manner.
4. The government now does, defacto, control matters of life or death related to health (and older Americans are now going to have to just get used to the problems that arise with aging according to one government mouth piece.)
5. States can no longer initiate law to move enforce law that is federal responsibility to uphold, but on which the federal government refuses to move.
6. The federal government can seize private companies and operate them without any legal standing to do so.
7. The federal government can seize computer records of any entity they desire, without any warrant, or judge's order. And then can do the same to any person connected in any way to that organization. And no one can talk about it having happened.
8. Social Justice, Ecological Justice and Collective Salvation have replaced Individual Right, Constitutional governance, and God inspired living.
9. Our president has close ties with people from the Weather Underground, Student Democratic Society, the Communist party of the US and other extreme radicals. How is it one person can have so much connection with such individuals (and have placed so many of them so highly in his administration) without he not having their views?
10. Have a president who has seized funds from a company, for a "disaster" that can no longer be found? Where is the oil from the spill? Even the press is now wondering where the oil is...
11. Have a government run more and more by appointed czars, many of which have not been "vetted" by the Congress.
12. Have judges "making" law.
13. Have states that abrogate the Constitutional structure of the Electoral College which will ultimately silence small states, and rural areas. Large states, and large metropolitan areas will determine presidential selection.
14. Have a "free press" which has shown itself, definitively, to be a mouthpiece for a party and a candidate.


When will we, as a people, say "enough" and stop this slide into madness??

Spirit and Soul

On a very interesting note this week, I was asked to explain the difference between "spirit" and "soul"...tough question.

I think I tend to line up on the triune structure of the human being (body/mind (soul)/spirit (animus) question because of my YMCA upbringing...but it wasn't up to the task.

I was caught in the Medieval-Renaissance definition of vegetable soul, sensible soul, and rational soul, but that didn't help either, really (maybe in defining different kinds of aliveness, but not really their properties).

So I turned back to the psyche/pneuma dichotemy (which is close to the anima/spiritus Latin one...kind of, and the Hebrew nephesh/ruah dichotomy. Problem is they don't quite all correlate.


Old Testament nephesh/ruah is fairly easy. Nephesh (soul) is just being alive, along with emotions and passions. Ruah (spirit) is that which possesses counsel, will, and purpose.

But see William Chomsky's article on the Hebrew language for a linguistic relation between the two from a Jewish perspective.

In the Greek (Platonic tradition), the psyche (soul) possesses reason (logos), emotion (thymos), and desire (eros). And the pneuma is the "alive part."

Both Ruah and Pneuma mean breathe or wind, but breath or wind that moves.

For an interesting and quite possible interpretation of soul, look at this article on the Immortality of the Soul

And for an interesting look at all four concepts see this article on Spiritual Souls: Nephesh and Psuche

Paul's use of the terms in juxtaposition shows the difference between the two in the New Testament:

I Corinthians 15:45 "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living "soul" ("psuche"); the last Adam was made a quickening 'spirit' (pneuma)."

Philippians 1:27 "...whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in on 'spirit' (pneuma) with one 'mind' (psuche) striving together for the faith of the gospel."

1 Thessalonians 5:23 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole 'spirit' (pneuma) and 'soul' (psuche) and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of 'soul' (psyche) and 'spirit' (pneuma), and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."


The two are as closely aligned as bones and the marrow in them and by construction of the last, the spirit is in the body (marrow in the bone), and the soul is how it "moves and connects." (joints).

If the human spirits died with Adam (became incapable of relationship with God as Spirit, except by God's efforts), then Christ's Spirit, enlivened (or potentially enlivened) the spirits of humans.

It is this spirit (the numenous part of the human?) that will be able to live (and pull the purified soul with it) after death, and will be given a "spiritual" body. I tend to think that Paul's use of psyche, is the Greek one, and so not only "bios" (life) is involved, but that which makes us who we are (our individualism). Our spirit (our transcendent portion, angel-like stuff), is made alive and ultimately will "will" and "purpose" what God will's and purposes.

So ultimately, those who do not know God have spirits that will not live...and their souls will inhabit in the same lake of fire that the spirits-creature fallen angels inhabit. Although there is debate on this.

See this article: The Use of "Hell" in the New Testament and also Christian beliefs on Hell and for a different take (also held by many Christians) see Heaven and Hell, What does the Bible Really Teach

It could be said that the lack of spirit is what separates from God, and the knowledge of this by a human soul, is the context of a Hell, but this flies in the face of creatures of spiritual composition (fallen angels/demons) inhabiting the same "place" even though they have or are spirit.

With regard to those who go to heaven see What does the Bible say about Death, Eternal Life, and Heaven

I don't feel too bad about not having a ready made answer on spirit and soul...and I think there is a lot of room for discussion about this. But, it certainly is interesting stuff.

Governance

The Founding Fathers of the US were pretty bright cookies. They determined we needed a government with checks and balances, thus the three branches...they determined that people should be directly represented (the House), and that the states should be represented (the Senate). (The second is really important because it keeps the Senators beholden to the states they represent, rather than other lobby, or party interests, alas the 17th Amendment did away is that.) The three branches were to keep check on each other, thus limiting the power and reach of any of the three branches.

They also initially recognized that, although everyone should be protected (Bill of Rights), NOT everyone should vote. I know this flies against our modern concept that everyone's voice should be equally heard, but the reality is, we don't believe that. No one would allow their two year old an equal "vote" in family decisions. The founders recognized that people that had no vested interest in the properties of the country would either 1) become parasites, and take, take take, or that 2) they would fail to understand and take care of the common good. While it is arguable that property ownership might not be the only valid indication of "responsibility," it is likely that some governance of this is wise.

We can see this in the result of this in Welfare dependency, or the horrid state of many of the old public housing units. People had no vested interest in taking care of what was given to them. It didn't impact their finances, they weren't responsible, so they showed no responsibility.

Unfortunately, our government is now working against the very people for whom it exists. They have come to the point where the people exist for the government, not vice versa. It behooves the government to have people serve it, beholden to it, and dependent on it. It is not in the government interest to have to serve the people.

We the people, from the government's point of view, are to follow it's dictates. So now it's "We the government, in order to keep order among the unwashed masses, will dictate what the people will do, and when, and how, and we will tax so that all of this order will be spread equally whether the people like it or not.

We live in a land where people wanting to have English be the official language are being called hate-mongers, but people calling for the killing of whites and their children are allowed carte blanche speech. A place where people flooding in illegally, are being held up as people whom need to be supported and paid for and legalized, but those who come in legally are spending years and thousands of dollars to realize their dream of citizenship.

We live in a land where US citizens are abducted in US cities by foreign drug cartels, and where it is becoming dangerous for US citizens to travel on our borders, but, while states attempt to rectify this, the federal government watches. We live in a land where the government has determined it is in our best interest to pay them more for programs they can not sustain. We live in a land where our representatives belittle their electors, and where elitism of public servants at the highest level is the norm.

Our government is broken. We the people need to make sure we fix it.

Birthdays

Today was my wife's birthday, and yesterday the birthday of our country. This is a big time of year for our family! Birthdays are landmarks of life. They let us see how far we've come, and take stock of what we've done.

They also are a time of celebration, a time for being thankful, a time for looking ahead.

They are a time for remembering who we are. And a time for thinking about who we want to become.

Happy Birthday, America, and Happy Birthday, princess. May both of you live long and wonderful lives. And may all both of you touch in your lives in the future, be as blessed as those whose lives you have touched in the past.

He is actually a Representative?

I was outraged, as I'm sure many were, by Pete Stark, Representative from California, and his ridiculous exchange with the Minutemen.

Congressman Stark needs to be reminded he is a public servant. He fails to understand that at several levels. Stark in that one exchange, shows his lack of understanding of many things it takes to lead, and that, even though he has been in office for over 30 years.

1. He mocks the minutemen and their attempt to protect the borders, because of the governments failure to do so.
2. He lacks a basic grasp of the border and its problems, or if he understands, he is even more dangerous because he doesn't care.
3. He lacks a basic understanding of the proper relation between elected public servant and his constituents.
4. He has a dire need for humility.

In short, he demonstrated his lack of capacity to serve.

If Stark were a lone example, it would be bad enough, however, we seem to be infested with public servants who have no clue that they are servants of any sort. Instead, there are many that are arrogant, power hungry, elitist of the worst possible sort. And often their own desires, idiosyncrasies and appetites are what drive their decisions, not the public that they serve.

IF I were a Californian, I would work with all my might to recall Stark, regardless of his party or politics. He is not fit to hold office.

Milestones

Often we reach milestones in our lives, set by things like birthdays or anniversaries, graduations or other significant days and times. They help define us, help make us who we are, and in looking back at them, help us know where we are in our lives.

Some of these mark joyful times, like the birth of a child, or a wedding. And looking back on them is joyful as well. These are the bright colors in the fabric of our lives. We remember them with smiles and laughter, or deep joy. Others, like anniversaries the death of family members, or friends, the loss of a job, or the break up of a relationship, bring tears and sadness. These darker times may also be wrapped up with good memories, but the tenor of sadness or even stronger emotions color our experience of them.

Sometimes a single day can be both.

If we look at our lives like a tapestry, as one wise woman once suggested to me. We can see these threads forming the entirety of our lives. I wanted to argue that the darker times could be a tear, rather than just dark thread, or could cut the tapestry itself in two. But then I realized I was still alive, and so the whole tapestry had not been destroyed after all. And even if a place might be worn or torn, instead of just having darker thread, that too was part of the whole.

Or one might rather see it like throwing a rock into a pond. The rock might well disturb the surface, and, if big enough, even cause chaos in an otherwise tranquil body of water...But, eventually, the chaos settles, and the rock becomes part of the whole pond environment. Still there, but no longer out of place.

And so, as we go through our lives, we need to learn to celebrate the happy milestones...and remember them with fondness and joy, and we need to remember the harder milestones and learn what they have to teach, and also remember that they both form our tapestry, or become part of our ponds...and ultimately, our lives are richer for it.

University Towns and Lunch

I love living in a university town, in addition to teaching here. While I was heading to lunch I passed a group of people here for some conference, and a gentleman with a delightful English accent was talking, followed by a young lady speaking to a friend in Mandarin, I think. As I crossed the street, I was passed by a gentleman dressed for an adventure a la Indiana Jones (probably an anthropologist, a geologist, or a geographer), then I overheard a young lady (Swedish, Norwegian or Icelandic judging from her speech) talking on the phone in her native tongue, before I ducked into Pepe's for a wonderful Yucatan style Mexican lunch, where really fine Mexican music was playing.

As I ate, I heard the end of a conversation of a group of young men having a serious discussion about how come Superman was problematic as a hero, because of his vigilantism. In very few other types of communities in the world is that type of mix, in a three block walk possible. It makes for an interesting life.

Generals generally

Today's big news is that an American general is speaking out against the president. Some say that he should have retired first, and then spoken out. They say that a sitting general can't speak against a sitting president. Others say that he has done the right thing by criticizing him in Rolling Stones so that his message would go to the "uninitiated."

General's Faux Pas

This is an interesting situation. Officers swear to defend the Constitution against enemies "foreign and domestic," specifically, "I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;" What happens if an officer perceives that a commander is an enemy of the Constitution? I'm not sure that's what happened here...it seems maybe more like a general just dislikes the president's capacity to lead and be prepared...

It is a mark of distinction, though, I think, that the American military swears to ideals, not to an individual. We don't swear to kings, or dictators, we don't swear to politicians of any party, we swear to a set of ideals, codified, in a Constitution, a document that can be altered, with great difficulty (as it should be, we have to be SURE that the change is warranted). Members in the military are asked, in a sense, to think, contrary to popular belief. IF the Constitution is threatened (even if by a sitting president), it is clear where the military members

So, whether one agrees with McChrystal's actions or not, or whether one even agrees with his position or not, it is at the very least good to remind ourselves what it is he is sworn to serve, and spend his life, and others' lives, on.

I swore to defend and uphold the Constitution as well. It is a document that I think is worth defending.

In other news, it is telling that Petraeus was asked yesterday by a Congresswoman if the military bases in Afghanistan were concerned about utilizing "renewable energy" through things like solar panels, and I suppose reducing their carbon footprint. This shows how removed from reality some congress members really are. "Deaths? Winning? Yes, Yes, but let's move on to something more important like energy use." I wonder what Patton would have said? I will absolutely give kudos to Petraeus on his capacity to be forbearing and patient with idiocy.

It's amazing that ANYONE chooses to serve in the military today. Why would someone choose to serve under such incompetence?

Solar bases

Relationships

Last night, at a 40th Anniversary tour of America concert, I saw an old friend. It was a great thing talking and catching up...remembering a shared past, and catching up on life. For me, friendships don't go away, nor even really fade. I'm not sure if it's like that for others. Because I spent so much time seeing friends leave when I was younger, I think I became adept at putting friendships in a "stasis" of a sorts...when they came back, I picked up where I left off.

This has both some good points and bad...the good side of it is, once a friend, always a friend...and years can evaporate like mist if I meet a friend that I haven't seen, even if it's been years. The bad part is that I probably tend to neglect friends more than I should. Out of sight, out of contact (not out of mind, but I don't make a lot of effort to contact people until they are back "in sight" again.) This probably leads to the loss of what could be some very good times from afar (through writing or phoning or whatever). Another bad part to this is that I can distance friends from my life (particularly hardships), without much trouble.

The Internet has modified this somewhat, social websites, like Facebook allow us to keep in touch, but, my difficulty with this is that it is often surface contact; much ado about nothing at times. I generally tend to long for long talks, or just laughter and fun, but in either case, that can be hard to do on line (unless you write novelesque entries to each other, which, like tending blogs, could be very time consuming.)

But, that may be the point of good relationships. Spending time on each other, being involved in each others lives. I think the best of friends are the hardest to come by, and are few and far between. We see something of ourselves, and something different and are attracted to both things.

In even more central relationships, like marriage, I think friendship is often sacrificed at the alter of time, of expedience, of too much familiarity. We hope our spouse will be our "kindred spirit" but then, instead of nurturing the relationship, we tend to abandon it in our too full lives. How much do we lose here? My guess is, a lot. If our expectations of normal friends can be high, then our expectations of our spouses can be overwhelming, and, perhaps, impossible. I see many couples around my age having immense difficulty, and many losing their marriages because they've lost each other.

I have many friends, and even some very close friends. I also have friendships that I have allowed to languish, and I've not done a great job all the time of being the friend of my wife. The best friendships, the best relationships, need to be tended regularly, like gardens. Only then can they bloom.

I hope I can learn to value my relationships better, and to give them the attention they deserve.

2 Things

I was just getting ready to write about the potential economic collapse of Spain and Japan (and Greece, and Portugal). The obvious impact of this on the U.S. is obvious and on Europe (and Asia) even more so. If the EU falls (via economic collapse), the resulting chaos could be something similar to the post WWI Germany. Ugly indeed. The "socialist democratic" dream would be replaced by...what? Scary. As for Japan's economic collapse (as was warned of by Japan's new Prime Minister today), the chaos that would occur in Asia would be immense.

But, those huge problems were supplanted for me personally today when a student came in and asked me "You got any scissors?" It wasn't so much what he asked as how he asked it. Generally speaking, when I was in my late teens and twenties, when I asked an adult for something, I usually did it with some attempt at politeness. This young man not only was fairly impolite, but when I "reflected" his question, giving him a chance to ask more politely, he simply asked the same thing in the same way, again. I am not sure when it became okay for young people to be rude to adults. I have been teaching at this university for 20 years, I don't ask for much, but it would be nice, occasionally for some respect to be shown by students. His need for scissors overrode his understanding that he was in a position where he needed to ask another for help. He was "owed" the scissors (and, no, he was not a minority...this malaise of the young crosses ethnic, cultural and socio-economic lines). I do realize there are some fine and polite young men and women, but, I also realize this isn't the norm any longer.

I suppose both the economic collapses and the disrespect are signs of the time

Overton Window

I read the first 27 chapters of this last night. It was quite a read. The introduction is engaging, the pace is fast, the characters engaging and the plot...chilling, and chillingly possible.

The biggest surprise for me is the intertwining of documents, policies, and political thought both historical and present in such a way that presents a very possible "alternate" view of the present. I only say alternate because this is a work of fiction (or "faction" as Beck calls it). We see things happening today in the headlines that mirror the text, a shattered economy, inept government handling of very important matters (or, if not inept, so "goal" driven as to leave the human out of the equation), instances of the press being present before incidents occur to report on them as they happen. Very scary stuff.

It's very easy to brush this off, and to say all of these points have nothing to do with each other. I'm quite sure that's what the Germans said during Hitler's rise to power, or the Russians prior to the fall of the Tsar (or Czar...choose your spelling). The "this type of thing can't happen here" cry when it already almost has (during the tenure of Wilson especially).

The book reminds me, in some ways, of C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength, because, although in Lewis' text the events are driven by spiritual forces, instead of just insidious human ones, the governments and actions of people in power end up looking very similar. And both books are a resounding criticism of the natural (or unnatural) end of "progressive" thought. Humans controlled by government for their own good. (Although the ultimate "controllers" of that government may be seen to be different forces in the two works, or then again, maybe not.)

The sad thing is, every time this has happened in history, the governments devour their populations. People as individuals cease to exist for their own sake, and only exist to feed and propagate the machine, or the individuals who run the machine. It is no longer Deus ex machina but rather the machine IS god. And as a machine, there is no conscience, no soul, nothing human driving it. It exists for its own sake.

It is this type of thought that allows for "ethnic cleansing" or "removal of undesirables." It is this type of thought that kills teachers, thinkers, religious figures, and individual freedoms. It is this type of thought that steps on the downtrodden with jackbooted ruthlessness. It is this type of thought that demands conformity and brutally crushes anything that appears that might be the slightest bit different. Imagine the world as a vast concrete slab, where any flower appearing through a crack is cut off, lest it threaten the structure.

It is interesting that so many have perceived this in the past as demonstrated in Rudyard Kipling's poem used in Beck's book, or in C.S. Lewis' work, or in Orwell's 1984, or Thomas Payne's tracts, and hundreds of other places. And the cry to pay attention and to wake up occurs again, and again.

The sad thing is that these things are ignored. People sleep, or think it doesn't apply as they go to movies, or listen to their i-pods, or are concerned with the vapid "real housewives" of some community, or become consumed by a big gathering of 'futbol' teams. And they let their world slip away.

The good thing is voices keep reminding us to be vigilant. Let's just hope that we remember to wake up and listen.

Floods, Endings, and Life

Yesterday, OKC witnessed record flooding with 11+ inches of rain in some areas, today I finished 15 weeks of physical therapy on my shoulder. Any connections here? Not really. Except that life can be difficult. (This might sound similar to the chaos thing from yesterday, but ultimately it's not quite the same).

In physical therapy, the goal is to restrengthen muscle groups and joint rotation after surgery has removed the problem, or corrected a problem. In my case tendons in the rotator cuff had been torn because of bone spurs. Surgery both removed the offending spurs, and stitched the torn tendons. The exercises, albeit painfully, then rebuild movement and strength to as large a degree as possible.

Okay, I take it back, there is a connection. All loss, be it through physical hardship like bone spurs developing, or floods, can, if untreated, ruin life to some degree. Recovery processes can be slow and painful. Ultimately, if we persevere, life can be restored to a livable state. This does not mean it will be the same, but it means we can go on.

We have choices to wallow in the pain and difficulty we are in, or we can choose to find some sort of recovery and go on. Mind you, there are people, I understand, who aren't in the position yet to find recovery: they not be in the right "mental" state (such as people dealing with addictions), they may not have the resources (such as those in places like Kibera slum in Nairobi), or they may just be in too much pain (such as those who have lost loved ones whether through death or divorce). Ultimately, even in these places and states, recovery can be possible. Recovery is painful. But it is the only way we can go on living.

Random Thoughts

Well, it is raining cats and dogs today. So weather could be my focus, or the demise of the Big XII, or politics. But really, the common thread here is one of chaos. Or apparent chaos. Flooding rains, disgruntled and "underfunded" college sports programs, and ineffective government all reflect the seeming endless flow of chaos by which we are surrounded. As Yeats writes, "the center will not hold."

Congressmen "assault" college students by grabbing their arms, presidents blame instead of try to help fix problems, and CEO's try to wriggle out of responsibility. All the while, people along the Gulf Coast lose their livelihoods, and real people face real problems that seem insurmountable. Things fall apart, whether you live in Kenya, or the United States.

Fortunately, in OKC there are people out trying to help those stuck in flooded areas, college students still get to end up playing sports, and, occasionally, a politician does show signs of being both leader and public servant. People are trying to help clean up the oil spill, and others are taking medicine, mosquito netting and clean water drinking straws filters to Kenya and other places in dire need - even in the chaos. We can hope that these things happen more often than not, and we can also look for ways to help undo the chaos around us in little ways, or big.

Life is not "safe," chaos surrounds every moment of every day; the skill is to be able to navigate it, and make one's life meaningful in the middle of it, like a surfer on a wave, or sailor in the storm. This is to live life well, or at least, this is part of it. It is difficult to do, at best, but like pulling disparate topics like weather and politics and college sports together, it can be done. So today, I'm looking for my opportunity to surf skillfully through some chaos, I hope you are too.

In the Beginning...

Welcome to Meanderings! This is the place where I will wax philosophically on what I think about the world and everything in it. I hope to give you a taste of my thoughts, my writing and my poetry, and I look forward to your feedback!

I may not always be right, I may not always write well, but I promise I will always have something to say! Come meander with me, and we will see where we go!