What career would you have undertaken if you got to choose again, knowing what you do now? It's a hard question. Mostly because of the law of unintended consequences. Or the butterfly effect. Or maybe something else. We might only be choosing between the devil we know and the one we don't know.
But the pondering is a good exercise. I'll bet I could have been rich. I know I would have known a lot more people than I do. I have to reign in my imagination here, because this could be a very public diary.
How much I can learn by listening. I owe this thought to a friend.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Yup. It's been a while.
But continue to search I do. I'm 71 now and time seems to be running short.
I am less concerned about that fact than I used to be. Maybe I'm just coming to terms with what I know to be fact: I am constrained by a slice of time that, in the course of same, becomes relatively smaller and smaller, both in absolute and relative terms.
Whatever is, is, and I might as well get used to the idea.
But I find that I am continually drawn back to the ideas and the narrative of Jesus. Maybe that's what faith is: that pull, that drawing back.
Today I'll try to empty my mind and see if the Spirit out there puts anything in it for me to think about.
But continue to search I do. I'm 71 now and time seems to be running short.
I am less concerned about that fact than I used to be. Maybe I'm just coming to terms with what I know to be fact: I am constrained by a slice of time that, in the course of same, becomes relatively smaller and smaller, both in absolute and relative terms.
Whatever is, is, and I might as well get used to the idea.
But I find that I am continually drawn back to the ideas and the narrative of Jesus. Maybe that's what faith is: that pull, that drawing back.
Today I'll try to empty my mind and see if the Spirit out there puts anything in it for me to think about.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Greatness revisited
A friend asked me today if I had ever put in the "10,000 hours" needed to achieve mastery in any of the skills I have tried to develop. For the unfamiliar, I was lamenting about the "sea of mediocrity" in which I seem to have spent my life: Jack of all trades, master of none.
He also implied that to arrive at greatness, one has to be in the right place at the right time.
I homed in on two words: mastery and greatness.
It may well be that huge amounts of practice time are required to reach mastery. Ten thousand hours is the equivalent of five years of 40-hour a week effort. Not many of us are willing or able to devote that much time to an avocation. An hour a day comes to 365 hours a year. So to reach the 10,000 hour threshold would require 27 years.
This isn't an unreachable limit, but certainly requires persistence and dedication. I also imagine that somewhere along the way I would require "progress payments:" that is, indications of progress to motivate me and justify my investment of time.
It is at this point that I seem to have failed. Golfers, runners, and other skill-builders tell me that they periodically "hit a wall" where it seems like they will never progress further, but they ultimately "break through." I can only conclude that my walls have been to high or thick for me to have the patience.
On the other hand, perhaps I really did lack that one magic ingredient: talent.
In spiritual matters, we all have the span of our lives to practice until we either give up or progress toward "mastery." Here, I think, is where the "right place at the right time" enters my spiritual journey. I have heard how some soar to the pinnacle of spiritual enlightenment in a moment of epiphany. For me, God has said (s)he doesn't work that way.
But at least this is one quest I have not given up on. Do I have 10,000 hours in? If I count 24 hours a day as being practice in my spiritual journey, I should have reached mastery between my fourteenth and fifteenth month of life. Obviously I didn't. At twenty minutes a day I am unlikely to make it before my life is over. But, by the same logic, if I live spiritually every waking moment from now on, the possibility exists that I will reach that moment at the correct time when I'm at the right place, too.
On the other hand, God just might change his/her mind and provide me with an epiphany.
The peace of God be with you.
He also implied that to arrive at greatness, one has to be in the right place at the right time.
I homed in on two words: mastery and greatness.
It may well be that huge amounts of practice time are required to reach mastery. Ten thousand hours is the equivalent of five years of 40-hour a week effort. Not many of us are willing or able to devote that much time to an avocation. An hour a day comes to 365 hours a year. So to reach the 10,000 hour threshold would require 27 years.
This isn't an unreachable limit, but certainly requires persistence and dedication. I also imagine that somewhere along the way I would require "progress payments:" that is, indications of progress to motivate me and justify my investment of time.
It is at this point that I seem to have failed. Golfers, runners, and other skill-builders tell me that they periodically "hit a wall" where it seems like they will never progress further, but they ultimately "break through." I can only conclude that my walls have been to high or thick for me to have the patience.
On the other hand, perhaps I really did lack that one magic ingredient: talent.
In spiritual matters, we all have the span of our lives to practice until we either give up or progress toward "mastery." Here, I think, is where the "right place at the right time" enters my spiritual journey. I have heard how some soar to the pinnacle of spiritual enlightenment in a moment of epiphany. For me, God has said (s)he doesn't work that way.
But at least this is one quest I have not given up on. Do I have 10,000 hours in? If I count 24 hours a day as being practice in my spiritual journey, I should have reached mastery between my fourteenth and fifteenth month of life. Obviously I didn't. At twenty minutes a day I am unlikely to make it before my life is over. But, by the same logic, if I live spiritually every waking moment from now on, the possibility exists that I will reach that moment at the correct time when I'm at the right place, too.
On the other hand, God just might change his/her mind and provide me with an epiphany.
The peace of God be with you.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Mind control
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=182441
This article details how, in some Universities across our nation, authorities are demanding that deeply-held Christian beliefs be abandoned in favor of acceptable policies of other institutions. I fear that if these cases are not clearly and promptly found to be violations of our fundamental constitutional rights that religion in this nation will be in jeopardy.
This is not about the issue of homosexuality but about the misuse of power. Today it's homosexuality and abortion. Tomorrow it could be anything.
This article details how, in some Universities across our nation, authorities are demanding that deeply-held Christian beliefs be abandoned in favor of acceptable policies of other institutions. I fear that if these cases are not clearly and promptly found to be violations of our fundamental constitutional rights that religion in this nation will be in jeopardy.
This is not about the issue of homosexuality but about the misuse of power. Today it's homosexuality and abortion. Tomorrow it could be anything.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Failure?
All my life I've searched for something I could do really well. Not just sort of well, but really, really well. After 68 years I feel awash in mediocrity.
I've tried education, electronics, mechanics, avionics, aviation, foreign languages, singing, guitar, autoharp, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, golf, shooting, aero/thermodyamics, dog training, computer programming, and woodworking. In all those enterprises, I reached the point where I had to stop and admit to myself that I could become "pretty good," but in order to really achieve, I had to have something else: talent.
Don't let this talk of "Renaissance (wo)men" get to you. It's just another label for somebody who seems to know less and less about more and more until (s)he knows nothing about everything (the generalist). The other side of the pancake is, of course, as the joke goes to completion, one who knows more and more about less and less until (s)he knows everything about nothing (the specialist).
Shouldn't there be one thing... just one... that each person could do really well?
One of my retirement endeavors has been woodworking. I wanted to do a project for the church that would complement my spiritual journey, so I selected one to construct a wooden replica of the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral that could be used as a meditation guide, held on one's lap while tracing the path with the finger. So far, I have created four prototypes, each one of which has been a failure.
In each, I found myself doing what I considered to be "really good work;" then, in each prototype, I committed a catastrophic error that spoiled the work completely.
What message can I take from this? So far, it has been discouragement. Maybe the failures are experiences for me to overcome through persistence and faith in myself.
So far, I'm still wandering. I can't take this project up again until I have the faith I need to go on for a while. So I'll try to be patient with myself.
I've tried education, electronics, mechanics, avionics, aviation, foreign languages, singing, guitar, autoharp, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, golf, shooting, aero/thermodyamics, dog training, computer programming, and woodworking. In all those enterprises, I reached the point where I had to stop and admit to myself that I could become "pretty good," but in order to really achieve, I had to have something else: talent.
Don't let this talk of "Renaissance (wo)men" get to you. It's just another label for somebody who seems to know less and less about more and more until (s)he knows nothing about everything (the generalist). The other side of the pancake is, of course, as the joke goes to completion, one who knows more and more about less and less until (s)he knows everything about nothing (the specialist).
Shouldn't there be one thing... just one... that each person could do really well?
One of my retirement endeavors has been woodworking. I wanted to do a project for the church that would complement my spiritual journey, so I selected one to construct a wooden replica of the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral that could be used as a meditation guide, held on one's lap while tracing the path with the finger. So far, I have created four prototypes, each one of which has been a failure.
In each, I found myself doing what I considered to be "really good work;" then, in each prototype, I committed a catastrophic error that spoiled the work completely.
What message can I take from this? So far, it has been discouragement. Maybe the failures are experiences for me to overcome through persistence and faith in myself.
So far, I'm still wandering. I can't take this project up again until I have the faith I need to go on for a while. So I'll try to be patient with myself.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Discussing differences
The 2010 General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) had a couple of very controversial items on their agenda this year. To provide some groundwork for discussion of the homosexual marriage agendum, the GA formed a Special Committee to Study Issues of Civil Union and Christian Marriage.
This committee issued their final report to the GA this month. It can be found at http://www.pc-biz.org/Explorer.aspx?id=3333&promoID=168.
The most interesting thing about this report, to me, is the words used to describe the process used to discuss the differences and the recommendations made in the conclusions to the Church.
It takes a little while to read, but I found it very helpful.
This committee issued their final report to the GA this month. It can be found at http://www.pc-biz.org/Explorer.aspx?id=3333&promoID=168.
The most interesting thing about this report, to me, is the words used to describe the process used to discuss the differences and the recommendations made in the conclusions to the Church.
It takes a little while to read, but I found it very helpful.
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