I will continue to adhere to a policy of not getting overly political or religious in my blog posts. But those are pretty big topic areas that we will inevitably brush up against from time to time. That being said, I'll tell you right up front that the word God appears eleven times in this edition. The number is big because I choose not to substitute the word God with gender pronouns. Anyway, if you still care to, let's continue...
*****************************************************
I've been told that as a collective, the various things I believe in are incongruous. "How can you seriously believe in X when you claim to believe Y ? Creation and evolution serve as a fine example of one such unthinkable dichotomy of belief.
My understanding of God is that God can do anything anywhere and on a scale that would simply blow our minds. Kindly, we're spared such a messy epiphany. I guess I kinda like the fact that I don't put limitations on the possible scope and nature of what God created and is still creating in the vast universe(s). Furthermore, whether God approaches creation like a methodical architect or a preschool finger painter, I'm quite sure of one thing...my level of comprehension is not a consideration. God does not need me to check off on any stage of the process. I am a molecule of fingerpaint. Green, if it's not too much to ask...
And could we please stop with "It's not in the Bible"? Look, I believe that the Bible contains what we need to know to understand much of Jewish and or Christian history and belief, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the Christian understanding of salvation. But it's probably just as well that God didn't inspire Paul to write about the thriving civilization of Zogworts on a planet 1,056 light years away who have been evolving for so long now that they can travel the cosmos via wormhole surfboards. It just didn't need to be there somewhere between Acts and Revelation.
I don't hope there is life elsewhere in the universe, I firmly believe it. Same goes for ghosts, ESP, and sasquatch. I get to do that, with or without empirical proof - just as I can believe in God every bit as much with just as little proof.
You know that delicious moment when a small child is completely awed and excited at the same time? Like when they first walk through the gates of Disney World, or while watching a skilled magician? Isn't it fun being the adult taking it in? It's hard not to chuckle through a broad smile while witnessing the wonder in their eyes. That's what I think God does when we get to know in heaven what we couldn't begin to know here. A chuckle through a broad smile, and a big hug . . . despite the fingerpaint.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Yesterday's news
I only subscribe to one magazine, and even that is a gift subscription to Runner's World from my thoughtful children. I don't generally come home from the grocery store or the gas station with a magazine under my arm either. But I sure get a kick out of cracking open ( sometimes literally ) an old issue of a magazine when I find them.
I don't mean a two year old Vanity Fair, I'm talking a 30 year old Newsweek or TIME issue. Maybe an even older LIFE magazine. It almost seems there is more to take in when a magazine is decades old, because there is the backdrop of all the time that's come along since to hold it against. And the question is, which is more intriguing, the ads or the news and society stories of the day? Which hot new products from three or four decades ago are long forgotten and which lucky few have survived to become standbys today? And what news was rocking the world then that we may or may not even have memory of now? Or even better yet, what seemingly minor entertainer, politician, or news item of forty years ago grew to become a very big deal? Little did they know!
And when all those areas are duly compared to our current enlightened age, there's always the laughable hair and clothing styles to review, or should I say ridicule? We wore that? Oh yeah, we wore it out!
The last time I had the opportunity to flip through a crinkly, fading full-color time capsule, I think it was an old TV Guide I'd kept from the last M*A*S*H episode. I dusted off the cover on my jeans, and as I looked through it, was struck by the idea that looking back at an old publication is a lot like looking back over a life. The big deals that turned out in retrospect to be pretty trivial. The new aquaintence in 1979 that today is a close friend. Or the best friend in that same year that I can't even find today on Facebook.
How about that silk shirt with the big collar and the bold graphics that in 1975, when paired carefully with some platform shoes, made me cool as Cornelius. (sorry youngsters, a Soul Train reference...Google it )
But there's one issue from September 1981 that I really should just rip the cover off and frame it for as often as I reflect on it. That seemingly insignificant moment on the cold, muddy marching band practice field when the pics and tubas passed each other in the drill. I bent down to yank on the tongue of my Chucks and looking up, there she was looking down. Just a seemingly minor moment on a page buried in that months edition.
Thirty years later we made the cover story, celebrating twenty five years of marriage, joined in the picture by our three great kids who renew dad's Runners World every year.
I don't mean a two year old Vanity Fair, I'm talking a 30 year old Newsweek or TIME issue. Maybe an even older LIFE magazine. It almost seems there is more to take in when a magazine is decades old, because there is the backdrop of all the time that's come along since to hold it against. And the question is, which is more intriguing, the ads or the news and society stories of the day? Which hot new products from three or four decades ago are long forgotten and which lucky few have survived to become standbys today? And what news was rocking the world then that we may or may not even have memory of now? Or even better yet, what seemingly minor entertainer, politician, or news item of forty years ago grew to become a very big deal? Little did they know!
And when all those areas are duly compared to our current enlightened age, there's always the laughable hair and clothing styles to review, or should I say ridicule? We wore that? Oh yeah, we wore it out!
The last time I had the opportunity to flip through a crinkly, fading full-color time capsule, I think it was an old TV Guide I'd kept from the last M*A*S*H episode. I dusted off the cover on my jeans, and as I looked through it, was struck by the idea that looking back at an old publication is a lot like looking back over a life. The big deals that turned out in retrospect to be pretty trivial. The new aquaintence in 1979 that today is a close friend. Or the best friend in that same year that I can't even find today on Facebook.
How about that silk shirt with the big collar and the bold graphics that in 1975, when paired carefully with some platform shoes, made me cool as Cornelius. (sorry youngsters, a Soul Train reference...Google it )
But there's one issue from September 1981 that I really should just rip the cover off and frame it for as often as I reflect on it. That seemingly insignificant moment on the cold, muddy marching band practice field when the pics and tubas passed each other in the drill. I bent down to yank on the tongue of my Chucks and looking up, there she was looking down. Just a seemingly minor moment on a page buried in that months edition.
Thirty years later we made the cover story, celebrating twenty five years of marriage, joined in the picture by our three great kids who renew dad's Runners World every year.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Actions speak louder than words. Except when they don't.
"Show me don't tell me." "Talk is cheap." Common expressions that convey a similar message pretty clearly. But make no mistake, words have power too. I guess it comes as no surprise that a person writing a blog would emphatically make that point. Consider too that words are indeed mystical and can take on multiple forms. As much as I enjoy reading and writing the written form of words, I have to admit that perhaps the most powerful incarnation are words in their spoken form. I have never been more aware of this than I was recently in an unexpected moment halfway through a normal work day.
I am privileged to work with incredibly talented and inspiring men and women, so it's not with surprise but with gratitude that I share this moment. After doing some small thing or another to be of assistance to my coworker Sarah, she looked at me and simply said "I appreciate you". My world tangibly shifted. I was stopped in my tracks by those three words. No plate of cookies, gift card, or movie pass could have made me feel more appreciated than I did in that moment.
But on reflection I realize those three words aren't the easiest to say to another person. I'm not accustomed to expressing my appreciation in such a bold, honest manner. I've always been more inclined to make a mental note to find a way to show my appreciation...and then maybe remembering to do so...
I think I prefer Sarah's approach. As with any new behavior, it'll take practice, and yes, a little courage, but here I think I've found a moment worth paying forward. To think not only of showing appreciation but to in fact speak it.
However once spoken, who doesn't love a plate of cookies?
Monday, February 24, 2014
Oh, so you're a p.k. ...
Yes, my father is an Episcopal priest. That is the vocation he faithfully worked for over 40 years. So, my sister and I grew up as preacher's kids, or from my perspective, kids. I've always found it funny and sometimes perplexing that so many people expect and assume certain things about this apparently highly unique and predictable subset of society.
As a teen p.k. I was expected to be a reckless, rule breaking rebel. I missed the mark on that count, having never been arrested or expelled from school. In the years preceeding that, there were the far more irritating folks who felt any dirty jokes or racy conversational references needed to be uttered outside my earshot. And when I might have heard such salacious utterances, there came the worlds most cringe-worthy apologies. Apologies that always felt more like an insult.
The truth of my childhood existence included a father who worked full time at his chosen profession. An attentive, loving stay at home mom, a red Schwinn Stingry, new P.F. Flyers every summer and a gang of neighborhood friends. A little later on I dabbled in sports, played tuba in the band, and this one time, cut class to watch a ski meet. Pretty rebellious stuff.
Obviously there are far worse things than dealing with bogus assumptions which are based on the profession of a parent. But I think my experiences in this regard helped me to find an early understanding of the lies we call labels. I can remember being no more than six years old and hating having a label that just couldn't be ripped free of the fabric.
This is not a pity party. It's just a wordy description of one of the ingredients of the stuff that delivered me to this day as the person I am. And I never forget that if not for being a p.k. I would never have known the bishop's card playing skills, or discovered how far a balsa wood airplane will glide when launched from the top of the bell tower. Well, actually I have no idea. Turns out it's really....really far.
As a teen p.k. I was expected to be a reckless, rule breaking rebel. I missed the mark on that count, having never been arrested or expelled from school. In the years preceeding that, there were the far more irritating folks who felt any dirty jokes or racy conversational references needed to be uttered outside my earshot. And when I might have heard such salacious utterances, there came the worlds most cringe-worthy apologies. Apologies that always felt more like an insult.
The truth of my childhood existence included a father who worked full time at his chosen profession. An attentive, loving stay at home mom, a red Schwinn Stingry, new P.F. Flyers every summer and a gang of neighborhood friends. A little later on I dabbled in sports, played tuba in the band, and this one time, cut class to watch a ski meet. Pretty rebellious stuff.
Obviously there are far worse things than dealing with bogus assumptions which are based on the profession of a parent. But I think my experiences in this regard helped me to find an early understanding of the lies we call labels. I can remember being no more than six years old and hating having a label that just couldn't be ripped free of the fabric.
This is not a pity party. It's just a wordy description of one of the ingredients of the stuff that delivered me to this day as the person I am. And I never forget that if not for being a p.k. I would never have known the bishop's card playing skills, or discovered how far a balsa wood airplane will glide when launched from the top of the bell tower. Well, actually I have no idea. Turns out it's really....really far.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Schrodinger's cat is dead.
What could possibly lend legitimacy to a new blog more than a discussion of quantum mechanics, complete with contributions from not two but three Nobel Prize winning physicists and of course, my own two cents worth, which by the end of this blog post, you may decide deserves a penny in change back.
*******************************************************
I'm ok with not knowing stuff. There are way more things I don't know and never will know than those that have managed to stick with me. And, as I said, that's just fine with me. But all that stuff I don't know or have never seen still exists. Or does it? Well, of course it does, for there are others who have themselves seen, felt, or learned it. But is that the only reason those things exist? Well, it turns out there are some really smart people who think so. They are physicists who have won Nobel Prizes and have institutes named after them...and I don't agree with them.
Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr, among others, advanced what is known as the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics. They were interested mostly at the time with particle research. With regard to particles that had not been or could not be observed, said particles exist in all possible states until observed. My summary is this - A thing doesn't exist until a human sees and ideally measures it.
Along came another physicist, Erwin Schrodinger, who, like me, felt that a thing does not have to be directly observed to in fact exist. He proposed a thought experiment intended to point out the limits of the Copenhagen Interpretation. Again, it is a thought experiment - which came to be known as Schrodinger's Cat. No actual cats were harmed. Why he picked a cat, I don't know. Maybe he was a dog person. Simply stated, and simplified from the many details of his actual experiment, a cat is placed in a sealed box with a kind of time release poison which is sure to disperse at a given point. All the bases were covered, as in enough poison to be lethal, an indicator that the poison was dispersed, etc. At a certain point, there could be no argument, Schrodinger said, that the cat was indeed dead even though it was in a sealed box and could not be directly observed as being either alive or dead. Keep in mind that Heisenberg and Bohr et al would have sat right there saying that the cat was both alive and dead until someone cracked out a box cutter.
What got me thinking about this again recently was a beautiful image of deep space sent back to earth by that wonder of telescopic photography, the Hubble Telescope. I think you know where I'm going here. Checkmate, Heisenberg! Would you actually argue that our universe and all that's in it is being created in a sense by the Hubble Telescope? Are galaxies being born of our ability to observe them for the first time? Really? I'm sorry, but the idea that only in human observation does a thing exist just feels like another example of human arrogance. We are so very tiny compared to all that there is. And only a tiny part of all that there is will ever be seen or even imagined by humankind - and they're doing quite well without us.
******************************************************
Anyone who knows me from my school days is either laughing out loud or rolling their eyes, as I probably begged and cheated my way to any passing grade ever received in higher mathematics and never even took physics.
So you can pretty much blame my friend Vance for all this...
Some thirty years ago Vance tried explaining to me some concepts of quantum mechanics and a smattering of other physics related stuff that apparently made complete sense to him, which is both cool and not at all surprising. The only sliver of it that I remember was the bit about Schrodinger's Cat. It's bugged me ever since. Well, that, and the dropping something out of the window of a moving car thing, but I am not even going there...
*******************************************************
I'm ok with not knowing stuff. There are way more things I don't know and never will know than those that have managed to stick with me. And, as I said, that's just fine with me. But all that stuff I don't know or have never seen still exists. Or does it? Well, of course it does, for there are others who have themselves seen, felt, or learned it. But is that the only reason those things exist? Well, it turns out there are some really smart people who think so. They are physicists who have won Nobel Prizes and have institutes named after them...and I don't agree with them.
Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr, among others, advanced what is known as the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics. They were interested mostly at the time with particle research. With regard to particles that had not been or could not be observed, said particles exist in all possible states until observed. My summary is this - A thing doesn't exist until a human sees and ideally measures it.
Along came another physicist, Erwin Schrodinger, who, like me, felt that a thing does not have to be directly observed to in fact exist. He proposed a thought experiment intended to point out the limits of the Copenhagen Interpretation. Again, it is a thought experiment - which came to be known as Schrodinger's Cat. No actual cats were harmed. Why he picked a cat, I don't know. Maybe he was a dog person. Simply stated, and simplified from the many details of his actual experiment, a cat is placed in a sealed box with a kind of time release poison which is sure to disperse at a given point. All the bases were covered, as in enough poison to be lethal, an indicator that the poison was dispersed, etc. At a certain point, there could be no argument, Schrodinger said, that the cat was indeed dead even though it was in a sealed box and could not be directly observed as being either alive or dead. Keep in mind that Heisenberg and Bohr et al would have sat right there saying that the cat was both alive and dead until someone cracked out a box cutter.
What got me thinking about this again recently was a beautiful image of deep space sent back to earth by that wonder of telescopic photography, the Hubble Telescope. I think you know where I'm going here. Checkmate, Heisenberg! Would you actually argue that our universe and all that's in it is being created in a sense by the Hubble Telescope? Are galaxies being born of our ability to observe them for the first time? Really? I'm sorry, but the idea that only in human observation does a thing exist just feels like another example of human arrogance. We are so very tiny compared to all that there is. And only a tiny part of all that there is will ever be seen or even imagined by humankind - and they're doing quite well without us.
******************************************************
Anyone who knows me from my school days is either laughing out loud or rolling their eyes, as I probably begged and cheated my way to any passing grade ever received in higher mathematics and never even took physics.
So you can pretty much blame my friend Vance for all this...
Some thirty years ago Vance tried explaining to me some concepts of quantum mechanics and a smattering of other physics related stuff that apparently made complete sense to him, which is both cool and not at all surprising. The only sliver of it that I remember was the bit about Schrodinger's Cat. It's bugged me ever since. Well, that, and the dropping something out of the window of a moving car thing, but I am not even going there...
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Fear as the enemy of civility
I realize that the thoughts below are not unique. I do wish they were shared by more people...so therefore in that spirit I share them here. I dream of a friendlier tomorrow with you, whoever you are, free from labels, generalizations, hypocricy, and the fear that spawns it.
************************************************************
Why the intense need to be right, for you to agree with me, to align with my view, (my skew?) on an issue, a person, a belief? Why the venom, the outright hate toward those on a different path? Is it fear and insecurity? Fear, I believe is at the root of most varieties of human ugliness. But fear of what? Of being wrong, being left out, of being part of a minority opinion?
I'm reminded of a lyrical gem by Neil Peart from the RUSH song Witch Hunt: "Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand...ignorance, prejudice and fear walk hand in hand." Why must so many people be perpetually in a quivering crouch, ready to pounce on any misstep, any perfectly human flub-up, by one of "them"? And here's where the hypocrisy would be almost funny if it weren't so heart wrenching...If the same thing were done or uttered by someone I like, support, voted for etc. then well, it was misinterpreted or is otherwise understandable and dismissed. Can't we just give everyone some room to be an occasionally misspoken, goofy, flawed human being?
Can you like me without trying to change me? The perceptions that we attach to labels are based largely on generalizations which could only approximate at best and totally miss the mark in most cases, in describing an individual. Here's a thought - Celebrate diversity. Stop demonizing different! The alternative to diversity sounds pretty boring to me anyway. Why in the world would I want everyone to be just like me? As I see it, the conflicts in our society come not from diversity itself but from those who for whatever reason (fear) feel compelled to impose their way, to change minds, and to close their own in the meantime. How about revisiting an old saying - "Live and let live".
So maybe you don't want to go to church with me, and no, I really don't care to eat vegan this thanksgiving, and look at that, we voted differently two years ago, and we don't agree on the likelihood of intelligent life in other worlds, hey I even think same-sex couples should be able to experience the joys (and struggles) of marriage...but even so, how about we catch a movie tonight and then discuss it over coffee? And fear not...hopefully, for the sake of lively conversation, we'll have some differing perspectives on it. Not better, not "right", just different. And that's where growth happens. That's where we evolve.
************************************************************
Why the intense need to be right, for you to agree with me, to align with my view, (my skew?) on an issue, a person, a belief? Why the venom, the outright hate toward those on a different path? Is it fear and insecurity? Fear, I believe is at the root of most varieties of human ugliness. But fear of what? Of being wrong, being left out, of being part of a minority opinion?
I'm reminded of a lyrical gem by Neil Peart from the RUSH song Witch Hunt: "Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand...ignorance, prejudice and fear walk hand in hand." Why must so many people be perpetually in a quivering crouch, ready to pounce on any misstep, any perfectly human flub-up, by one of "them"? And here's where the hypocrisy would be almost funny if it weren't so heart wrenching...If the same thing were done or uttered by someone I like, support, voted for etc. then well, it was misinterpreted or is otherwise understandable and dismissed. Can't we just give everyone some room to be an occasionally misspoken, goofy, flawed human being?
Can you like me without trying to change me? The perceptions that we attach to labels are based largely on generalizations which could only approximate at best and totally miss the mark in most cases, in describing an individual. Here's a thought - Celebrate diversity. Stop demonizing different! The alternative to diversity sounds pretty boring to me anyway. Why in the world would I want everyone to be just like me? As I see it, the conflicts in our society come not from diversity itself but from those who for whatever reason (fear) feel compelled to impose their way, to change minds, and to close their own in the meantime. How about revisiting an old saying - "Live and let live".
So maybe you don't want to go to church with me, and no, I really don't care to eat vegan this thanksgiving, and look at that, we voted differently two years ago, and we don't agree on the likelihood of intelligent life in other worlds, hey I even think same-sex couples should be able to experience the joys (and struggles) of marriage...but even so, how about we catch a movie tonight and then discuss it over coffee? And fear not...hopefully, for the sake of lively conversation, we'll have some differing perspectives on it. Not better, not "right", just different. And that's where growth happens. That's where we evolve.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Intro to blog and a thought on unattained goals.
So here it is, my first ever blog, my first ever blog post. By way of a brief introduction to what I'm doing here, I'll say this : Just because you may enjoy a given entry or direction I take one day, don't assume the next day will resemble it in any discernible way. I'm doing this as much, and probably more, for me than for you. A way to organize my thoughts, or at least the ones that I think may merit another visit at some point. But if in doing so, you find a kernel of a concept or different way of looking at something that then gets you going in a creative or constructive direction, all the better.
*************************************************************
Today while running I was pondering what goals I may pursue in the coming months with regard to training volume, racing, etc. I enter a new age group this year, so as all runners know, I'm the "young one" in my five year group. (50 yrs. old as of about a month ago) There was a gentleman at least 15 years my senior running on the same indoor track at a somewhat slower pace, but clearly a very fit individual. I wondered if he still raced at all and what goals he may be training toward.
It was at this point, about two miles into the effort, that a thought dropped out of the ether and into my mind for consideration. It arrived as a fully formed thought, just served up ready to examine. And that thought is one I have never consciously considered before. Contrary to what I may have previously thought, it is not a good thing for a person to die having accomplished all their goals. A person who is truly wringing all the life out of each day they have, should by definition die with unattained goals. If not, then at some point they stopped reaching, stopped challenging themselves, kind of put ambition and adventure on the shelf. Called it a day before the day was over. Of course, since I was running at the time, I came back around to running for a quick check of this idea. Sure, as I get older, I also get slower. My fastest times at any race distance have been duly recorded and won't be bested by me. However, that doesn't mean that I can't keep setting new and challenging goals for myself. Placing top three in my new age group in every race I enter this year. Now there's a start. It's a challenging goal, one I will have to work hard to achieve, even though the goal of running my fastest ever 5k is really not a realistic one to consider. So what!
Every season of life, complete with some new limitations, provides opportunity for new goals. And in my experience, working toward a goal keeps me sharp, motivated, and engaged in all areas of my life, including physical, mental, spiritual, social, nutritional, etc. So I guess one of my new goals is to die falling short of achieving one or two goals I have set for myself at that point in time, whenever that may be.
*************************************************************
Today while running I was pondering what goals I may pursue in the coming months with regard to training volume, racing, etc. I enter a new age group this year, so as all runners know, I'm the "young one" in my five year group. (50 yrs. old as of about a month ago) There was a gentleman at least 15 years my senior running on the same indoor track at a somewhat slower pace, but clearly a very fit individual. I wondered if he still raced at all and what goals he may be training toward.
It was at this point, about two miles into the effort, that a thought dropped out of the ether and into my mind for consideration. It arrived as a fully formed thought, just served up ready to examine. And that thought is one I have never consciously considered before. Contrary to what I may have previously thought, it is not a good thing for a person to die having accomplished all their goals. A person who is truly wringing all the life out of each day they have, should by definition die with unattained goals. If not, then at some point they stopped reaching, stopped challenging themselves, kind of put ambition and adventure on the shelf. Called it a day before the day was over. Of course, since I was running at the time, I came back around to running for a quick check of this idea. Sure, as I get older, I also get slower. My fastest times at any race distance have been duly recorded and won't be bested by me. However, that doesn't mean that I can't keep setting new and challenging goals for myself. Placing top three in my new age group in every race I enter this year. Now there's a start. It's a challenging goal, one I will have to work hard to achieve, even though the goal of running my fastest ever 5k is really not a realistic one to consider. So what!
Every season of life, complete with some new limitations, provides opportunity for new goals. And in my experience, working toward a goal keeps me sharp, motivated, and engaged in all areas of my life, including physical, mental, spiritual, social, nutritional, etc. So I guess one of my new goals is to die falling short of achieving one or two goals I have set for myself at that point in time, whenever that may be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)