tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77487839924363560162024-02-06T20:34:48.084-08:00In the Dust of His Stepsa place to walk with no shoes. to feel the sand between your toes. to wrestle with life and an ancient eastern text. to experience God. and to following Him so closely that the feet are never clean, but covered with the dust kicked up by His steps *Shema and Shalom.BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-81011001141974442642012-07-09T14:19:00.000-07:002012-07-09T16:09:27.742-07:00On Heaven as it is on Earth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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“On Heaven as it is on earth.”</div>
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I do recognize that this is a direct misquotation of the Lord’s
Prayer. Forgive me for that. I hope this is in no way sacrilegious or
dishonoring to the magnificence and glory that we will surely one day encounter
in heaven. But I think it is a pretty
powerful thought. Let me explain.<br />
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The other night—a sleepless one, where there was nothing in
particular restraining me from sleep, yet a continuous sequence of nothings rendering
the fading hope of a little kip as elusive as a vanishing cloud under the
burning summer sun—I found myself visiting a blog that I had read through just
over a year ago. Many, to be sure, may
have also been exposed to the incredible journey of <a href="http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Katie Davis</a>—a 21-year old
adoptive mother of 13 little Ugandan daughters, founder of <a href="http://amazima.org/" target="_blank">Amazmia Ministries</a>,
currently (and most permanently) living in Uganda. Along with thousands of others, I have at
times been quite drawn to her bold story of love, sacrifice, obedience, and
blessing. At 19 years of age, she left
home, her boyfriend, everything she knew, and took on the role of Mommy to 3
precious little girls. I don’t mean to
glamorize her life, or exonerate her sacrifice above any other. I certainly don’t think everyone needs to
move to Africa (not to mention, alone) and adopt 13 children, but I do think
her example is living proof that we can give EVERYTHING to God. Absolutely everything. Nothing could ever be too much. Katie’s life is so completely full. Every day is a mission field. Every day seems to hold incredible adventures,
blessings, and trials. Yet, in some ways,
her life is even normal. She loves her daughters
as they love her, they read stories together—laugh, play, get sick, get better,
and eat dinner together. I imagine Katie
even has days, just like I do—where we wake up (or lie awake) and think—“What in
the world am I doing here?” I am sure
there are, or have been, days where Katie wanted to quit. I am sure there have been times where her
heart felt like it was ripped out of her chest, where the hurt was so deep or loneliness
was so great that even breathing became a chore. And then, there may have been times where her
heart maybe even felt numb, or almost desensitized to the world moving around
her. I am sure there are days Katie
almost talked herself into packing up and moving home—that her sacrifices there
weren’t really needed, or that perhaps the easier road was really where God
wanted her. (I realize I am speaking for
her quite a bit here, but even the Savior of the world asked God to “take this
cup from [him].”) But then, looking at
the pictures of Katie, surrounded by her loving, precious, happy family—I thought
of how incredible it will be one day, when all of those souls are gathered around
her in heaven and are no longer her adopted children, saved by grace after
enduring trials we have never even imagined, but they will be whole creations,
at one with her in the Creator. I
thought of her whole family in a mansion grander than any on this earth. I thought of the love and fullness that Katie
and her family would experience in heaven because of their obedience, sacrifices,
and love here on this earth. And I
prayed for a second, “Lord, on earth as it is on heaven…” And that is when it clicked. </div>
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Bounce back.</div>
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Almost 3 years ago, I went on my first study-tour to the
Near East with <a href="http://underthefigtree.org/" target="_blank">George DeJong</a>. We
actually began our journey in Egypt, and worked our way over to the Sinai Peninsula,
through Jordan, and up to Israel. We followed
the journey of the Hebrews as they were taken out of captivity in Egypt and in
to the Promised Land. A year later, I
joined<a href="http://www.followtherabbi.com/" target="_blank"> Ray Vander Laan</a> on a trip through Israel and Turkey. There, on the rugged Turkish hills—land
forgotten and unnoticed by most “visitors” to the country, land that our feet
came to know so well, and land that taught me so much about the story of our
God and His people—I remember a small little faith lesson that I believe was a
bit unplanned (as so many of Mr. Ray’s are). I think we had passed a bit of trash on the
road, or—given the scorching desert heat—perhaps his stance on global warming
came in to question. But I remember he
was commenting on our role as Christians to be good stewards of the land, the
earth. He said that we had been given
dominion here to rule over the resources God placed here in a way that would
honor and glorify the Creator. Now—this particular
concept was not necessarily new news, as I had been working for a youth
mountain hiking ministry in Colorado for the previous 7 summers. There I developed an appreciation for the
land and learned about our relationship with the natural world—the Creator, and
His creation. Mr. Ray also told us how
diligently the Hebrews would work and tend to their land. They saw their land as God’s charge to them
and their purpose would be fulfilled in the honor with which they tended the
land. They would pass on their fields generation
to generation, always hoping to leave the land better, more fertile for the
future generations. </div>
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But what Mr. Ray said next was new. It did bring entirely new light to my idea of
Godly Purpose on this earth. He said
that part of the reason the Hebrews were so diligent in their tending of the
land was because of their dutiful commitment to their God-given dominion over
the earth, but another aspect was a result of their their understanding of the Covenant. Part of God’s promise to Abraham was
certainly referring to a Promised Land land flowing with milk and honey, where
they would not be enslaved. But the other
Hebraic understanding included the comprehension of a place to serve God, and then
extend His kingdom. Each square foot of
land that the ancient Jews would work, was a square foot of land that had been
reconciled to God. The Jews thought of
their service as literally bringing down the Kingdom of heaven, in accordance with
the ancient prayer, “on earth as it is in Heaven.” </div>
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And I have never been one to “get into” end times studies or
even postulate too extensively or concretely on the reality of heaven, but this
next discussion made a lot of sense to me.
Mr. Ray said that perhaps (just perhaps—always only a suggestion), there
wasn’t a new place that we would ascend to in order to enjoy eternity, but
maybe this earth was really it. Maybe
this earth was also part of the “all things reconciled to Him…” from II Corinthians
5, or from Acts 13, “Repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in
order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that
he may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until
the period of the restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth
of His holy prophets from ancient time.” </div>
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God’s ordained Words, the very Words of God—a period of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">restoration</i>, not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">recreation</i>. </div>
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We <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">will</i> dwell on
the new earth—yet, perhaps not an entirely new world or some floating pearly city
in the sky. </div>
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And this realization gave me a renewed sense of
purpose. The work I do here is actually
aiding in the restoration and reconciliation of “all things.” Under this interpretation, I can participate
in the ushering in of the new earth. I
can be a part of that force that Rv. 21 refers to as the new Jerusalem descends
like a bride on this earth. </div>
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“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rv. 21.2)</div>
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What we do really matters.
This understanding makes the purpose of God’s creation, salvation, and
reconciliation so much more relevant and immediate. I can be a part of this “on earth as it is on
heaven.”</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">***Disclaimer: I am not saying the above is necessarily “correct”
Biblical interpretation, but I am merely suggesting (per Mr. Ray) that this is
perhaps a layer of how we can understand Heaven, earth, and our place there
within.</i></div>
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Which is where I jump back to Miss Katie’s story. She is doing it. For her, it is happening. She is ushering in the grace of God and the
reconciliation intended for us all. She
is serving with the diligence, determination, and immediacy that the descent of
the new Jerusalem and the establishment of the new earth will require of
us. In going back to her blog to confirm a few details for this post, I noticed for the first time that the tab of her blogspot reads "on earth as it is in heaven." My heart is pricked with the ironic confirmation of her work. In her daily, constant, loving, tried, and true efforts, Katie is partnering in God's story to bring a piece/peace of heaven to this earth. And even now, the truth is evident--in so many ways, her world already
resembles what I envision to be the nature of heaven. How cool is that. For Katie, perhaps it
may be “in Heaven as it is on earth.”</div>
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And maybe, someday, for me as well.</div>
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Thanks for reading.
Stay Dusty.</div>
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*b.Nicole<br />
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<i>**Disclaimer: If I have misrepresented the views of either Katie Davis or Mr. Ray Vander Laan, please feel free to let me know (if you are either of these two--highly unlikely!!, if you were there, or if you can provide me with the correct details from a reliable source). Gracias.</i></div>
</div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-81366995158184313212012-01-17T22:06:00.000-08:002012-01-17T22:06:59.635-08:00The Me Who I am, Was, and Will Be<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other day I was watching old home videos with my mom and sister. If you have ever done this--be it after a holiday, for a momentous birthday, or even on any given Saturday afternoon--you may be able to relate to the strange nature of the paradoxical disconnect between who you once were and who you are as you watch the videos. There is a bizarre intrigue as you see yourself played out, being supposedly you, yet there are parts of you that you never knew you had carried all of these years. And then there are those moments that you can almost feel--where you and the younger you almost converge in the camaraderie of a singular shared experience. I watched myself opening gifts Christmas morning--and I shared the excitement and endearment of certain long-awaited treasures. I remember loving certain outfits, and playing my first CD on my new Sony Boom Box. Yet as much as I could relate to these experiences, I still felt as though I watching a stranger, or perhaps a daughter or younger cousin. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Except for those very revealing moments that disclosed my most innate nature, I knew the person before me must surely be me. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every birthday, I wanted to light the candles. I loved fire. I have always known that the beauty and mystery of a flame has long-intrigued me, but to see myself at six and seven staring at candles, helping start the fire, wanting to light the candles--I came to realize that this was really a part of me. An affection towards fire was not something that randomly developed and grew to my present fetish, but the intrigue started much younger than I had imagined, and was probably fostered through the encouragement of such terms of endearment as "my little pyro," or "Little Miss Brittney and her fires." This grew with me, matured, and remains today.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or there is my avoidance of the camera. I would strategically place myself behind a beam, wall, or the face of a friend to avoid the shutter. But then there were other times, when in a "better mood," or when I had decided, that I would ham it up for the film crews. I was willful and peculiarly shy. Even today, I have been know to get a little more than perturbed if Mom starts snapping more than five shots. I do better with photos and video now, but I do not by any stretch enjoy being on front of a lens. Yet, in my own world, and when I choose, I can film videos of myself, take creative photos, speak publicly. But just as when a little girl--right when my stubborn will decides.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then I watched a gymnastics recital from when I was about six years old. This was perhaps the most telling. The first shot, I am sitting exactly as the teacher was--arms crossed over my knees, my dangling legs again crossed at the ankles, my back straight and off my chair, and my chin held high in anticipation of the activities that would display my hard work over the course of our classes. I was first in line to perform every skill, and I had the face of a soldier headed in to battle. My every move was calculated, precise and with eagerness and attention to "doing it right." My mom, of course, thought this was absolutely adorable, but I saw what was really happening--I was a little girl so desperately eager to please my gymnastics coach, my parents, my peers, a little girl wound up so tight around being the "good little student" that everyone told me I was. I was so determined to perform with excellence that I could hardly enjoy the experience. There was very little of that glimpse into my recital where I allowed myself to just intrinsically enjoy being a six-year old in gymnastics--I was there for everyone else. I am 27 today, and have dealt largely with this trait, but there are still hints of this inclination that I am forced to face on a regular basis.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But the videos are evidence. I am me through and through. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also watched others on camera. Seeing the slight indications or glaring tips of everyone's personality was thoroughly enjoyable. Loved ones passed danced across the screen and their memories came alive in my heart as though we were together again. Images of youth rang strong, as my much-younger-then grandparents bounced around at birthday parties, Christmases, and family gatherings. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My sister was absolutely adorable. I watched our dynamics unfold and develop over the years and saw the traces of the friendship we now share that were rooted in our interactions in the early days. She was beautiful, precious, gentle, and endearingly bashful. Today, she is still beautiful, precious, surprisingly gentle, and--although perhaps undetected by outsiders--still a bit endearingly bashful. We were taught how to care for each other and I really do think we were something like best buddies. She is now my closest confidant and one of my most cherished counselors.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As if for the first time and after years gone-by, I saw the way my mom's caring, gentle hand would brush our hair across our faces or gently stroke our backs as we obliviously carried on with our lives--in that moment so naively unaware of the abundant love she poured on us--and this refreshed point of view made the love I have for her swell in my heart. She loved us so incredibly. Her care was almost oozing out of her from the screen. And I watched her watching herself, but her love was no surprise to her. Yet for me--I was amazed.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I watched my dad. His steady hand, patient conduct, and soothing presence stood out so strong. Something struck me about his manner behind the camera. Perhaps my deduction came in observation of the contrast to my behavior, but he was so utterly humble on camera. He never needed to steal the limelight, nor say too much. But he also never seemed to particularly avoid the lens or be intimidated by the idea of himself being filmed. He was just there--so easily, humbly and true. There was no pretension to his demeanor, and no lofty air in his conduct. He was so comfortable in his own skin, and it was so cool to observe.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seeing all of this gave me an overwhelming sense of gratefulness for the life I have lived and love I have experienced. I found pieces of me in the little girl I have always been, I saw aspects of the dynamics I missed being a child, and grew a stout appreciation for the role my family and friends have played in my life. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I thought about these videos a lot over the following days--mostly remembering funny snippets, or reminiscing on some of the blessings brought on by the footage. But I also began to steady on how much of me today was so much a part of me then. From the smallest little intrigues, to my mannerisms, reactions, and appearance, to the even deeper core of my personality. I began to wonder about change, and how far I have really come from that little girl. Certainly, I have made many strides in various areas as a result of my experiences, education, and natural growth. But those very deep layers of my personality that are so apparent to me in the video are even more complex facets of my being today. I have now learned to cope with them, hide them, project them, protect them and even embrace them at times. Yet I am still me, for better, for worse. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't even begin to think that change for the better is beyond any of us at any point, and I certainly wouldn't put anything past the Love of God, so although I see tremendous hope for real change, I think the substance of change may be different than I once considered. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I thought my pride, pretension and insecurity would be something that if I practiced hard enough and wanted to rid badly enough, would just vanish. I thought it had maybe been a phase, or a coping mechanism, that would pass, or I would mature beyond. But I see these presenting themselves at five and six years of age, and I am all of 27 years-old now (I know--not that old), and still have to deal with these issues. I am getting better at recognizing the sneaky areas where these vices will rear their ugly heads and I am more aware of the patterns that have, in the past, lead to indulging or justifying the ramifications of these behaviors. But I think these videos taught me something about the nature of change. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For, iron cannot become copper, and copper cannot become gold (baring an alchemist). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But an iron rod can become a useful hammer. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A copper plate can become a penny. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And a golden nugget can become a ring. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can really only be exactly who I am, but I can always work on how I am.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And in realizing this, I felt an incredible sense of freedom. It was as if the burden from the guilt of not quite having rid myself of all my vices after such effort was lifted. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then I remembered my dad. He didn't seem to feel the inclination to apologize for who he was. He had accepted that. I am sure if you were to ask him, he would recognize that he is no more perfect than anyone else that the videos may have caught. But he need not make excuses for where he was. I think he may realize that this life is a path and we are all working our way through it. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I want to be careful not to waiver too far to the other extreme of absolute ambivalence towards our shortcomings, but there is a peaceful beauty to the hopeful acceptance of them. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I think of the way I imagine Jesus to have been with people. There is a profound humility to his presence that runs consistent in all of the Gospels. Although he works with an incredibly assured inditement, his grace and humility level His purposed mission. I think of the way people responded to Jesus--sure, He has His enemies, those opposed to His claims--but the people that He met, those that had been cast out from society, broken, ostracized from the very roots of the faith He proclaimed that encountered Him and were changed. They felt the acceptance and freedom in His manner, which was the very mechanism of their revival. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think of myself, and the person I want to be in this world. The person I want to be for me, for God, and for His ultimate purpose. I want to be free like Jesus. Purposeful. Assured. Yet human. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have so much yet to learn. And so much more to grasp. Yet in allowing myself the freedom offered in the person of Jesus, I come to understand how my own shortcomings, and my personal journey with them, will lead me to be not only an iron rod, but a hammer. Not only a copper plate, but perhaps a penny. And not only a golden nugget, but maybe one day a golden ring. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stay Dusty.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">b.Nicole</span></div>
</div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-47058487582233815002011-09-30T13:49:00.000-07:002011-09-30T14:00:15.335-07:00Freedom is as Freedom does.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is Freedom? <br />
<br />
It was my third hour in the less-than glamorous La Guardia Airport just outside New York City. After exhausting all installed distractions and attractions in the single corridor of the LGA terminal, I found my departure gate and dipped in to my “Mary Poppins Bag” to find some distractions of my own. After MadLibs got old by my lonesome, I had wasted enough doodles on my 3-D notepad, and the malfunctioning fire alarm system siren had kept me from reading, I gave up my activity-driven occupiers, and settled in with some thumb-twiddling and people-watching. But with over an hour left before Elite and Assisted boarding began—which I was not--I used a lifeline and “phoned a friend.” <br />
<br />
The conversation turned rapidly from a brief recap of my trip to a consideration and appreciation for my ability to travel with such freedom. And there it was. The word. Freedom. <br />
<br />
I should be grateful for the freedom to travel? <br />
<br />
For some reason, the verbiage struck me as odd. <br />
<br />
Of course, by law I am granted <em>liberty</em> to travel—but pending my adherence to certain documents, fees and rules. There is an awful lot I have to comply with if I am going to have the "<em>freedom"</em> to take a trip to New York that I am not quite sure I feel comfotable toggling to my association of freedom. For example, I need a government ID to board a plane; I need a way to make money to pay for my airfare; I need to understand the rules of aviation travel and go through certain security measures in order to be allowed access through the airport</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. I also must hope that the pilot shows up, that the flight isn’t overbooked, and that there isn’t too much traffic on my way to the airport. So there are quite a few contingencies to this “freedom” that I arguably possess in order to travel--and some of them are completely beyond my control. <br />
<br />
And then I begin to wonder—is this really freedom at all?<br />
<br />
Sure—my questions may set us on a bit of a rabbit-hole race through Semantics Grove. And perhaps a pointless pursuit, but I do believe there is something profound beneath the conventions of our cultural freedoms which allude to our assumptions of the idea. And even more so, such usage and associations shed light on our conceptions of Freedom (capital “F” on this one, for those less-than-OCD readers--ME!).<br />
<br />
Words such as these: Love, Goodness, Truth—the words that are really ideas—are quite precarious in our modern culture. The versatility in the application of even the word "Love" ranges from the candied lips of a pre-adolescent mall rat expressing her enthusiasm for the Hello Kitty bracelet at Claire’s, to the tender, profound look between the seasoned wrinkled eyes of the golden-anniversary lovers. <br />
<br />
And me? Well--I love my phone. I love your shirt. I love that song. I love my friends. I love my mom. I love the Lord. <br />
<br />
Notice a problem?<br />
<br />
We do not have a linguistic distinction between how we feel about our cell phone and how we care for our parents. Admittedly, I think we all recognize the variant nature of the word love, and no one really asserts that one’s love for a technological device and the love for a mother are really even that similar. We are cognitively aware of the difference, but my question of distinction would point more to the reciprocal relationship—do we ever “love” our mothers like we “love” our cell phones? When our cell phone saves us, we love it! When our cell phone works normally, we often forget about it. And when our cell phone breaks, or isn’t working properly, or is the vessel of an unappreciated conversation or interaction, we despise it and sometimes mistreat it. <br />
<br />
So is this really “love”? And I do not intend to infer that if we had a different word for cell phone and mother-love that we would always treat our mothers with the Love that we should bestow upon them, but perhaps our idea of love would be a little less murky and a lot more meaningful.<br />
<br />
And I regress to the idea of freedom. Perhaps we have done similar damage in our cultural exploitation of the idea. Our country was established on the premise and promise of freedom. But is freedom really freedom if there are things we have to do—or even more devastatingly, things that must be done—in order to remain a beneficiary? <br />
<br />
I would venture to say that freedom and compliance are mutually exclusive. I could get myself in to some trouble here, so allow me to preface my thoughts—I believe with all of my heart that Freedom is absolute dominion, but within our will, we can choose freely to comply. Thus, freedom can often turn to bondage, masquerading as religion or righteousness, if we do not first understand the nature of freedom. And I may not at all understand Freedom today as it will one-day be revealed to me, but I see no circumstance that could entail any form of requirement. Otherwise, such prerequisites would contradict the very essence of Freedom—complete dominion. But I will explicate this idea at a later point.<br />
<br />
My primary concern is that the colloquial usage of the word freedom carries certain requisites or contingencies that should not be attached to the true idea of Freedom. Notably, the conceptual application of Freedom to freedom does not construct such compromise as the unintended consequences incurred by the application of freedom to Freedom. <br />
<br />
True Freedom does not have strings.<br />
<br />
And God repeatedly emphasizes this in His Word. But we still somehow miss it. And I think part of this is because there is nothing, apart from Freedom in Christ, that is really Freedom at all. Our ideas of freedom are limited and distorted by the experiences we associate with the idea of Freedom. Our perception is instructed by how we classify our experience. We have municipal freedoms, social freedoms, financial freedoms (which many of us understand more in relationship to its opposite) and religious freedoms. We even hold strong mental images of freedom with white doves, broken shackles, unbolted cages, and whimsical winds. <br />
<br />
But none of these are the Freedom God offers. <br />
<br />
There is nothing we could ever do, nothing we could ever find, and nothing that we could ever truly compare to what Absolute Freedom must look like. <br />
<br />
So how can we begin to understand freedom?<br />
<br />
Well, I read a book once about a woman’s experience in Rwanda, Africa during the civil war between two tribes—the Hutu and Tutsis. The woman was a Tutsi, and was hiding in a bathroom with seven other women for 91 days. The women—over the three-month period—had to sit on top of each other just to fit in the tiny space, rotating positions throughout the day and experiencing all of the issues of normal women throughout the months. Her situation seems to me, something like Hell. But in her book, Immaculee tells one story that floored me. After she was freed from hiding, she came in to contact with the person that killed her family and then left her to hide in a bathroom for three months—she looked him in the eyes and said, “I forgive you.” And I believe her. But more than my vote of confidence towards the woman’s display of grace, and incredible sense of lightness overcame me when I considered the beauty in her words and her heart. <br />
<br />
I remember thinking to myself—“This is Freedom.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yet such a picture of freedom would seem so contradictory to traditional interpretations. The woman was locked in a bathroom. She was being persecuted. She barely had room to sneeze, much less the ability to take a trip to visit her sister or buy a car. Even her sister had been taken from her. Nothing really was within her control. Not even her own life. She would either die in that bathroom, or be there until she was set free. And there is it—the word free again. Something she seemingly did not have. But when I reflect on this story, my heart fixates on her Freedom, and I would imagine her heart would sing a profound sense of Freedom, as well. <br />
<br />
Therefore, Freedom cannot be contingent upon anything. Our Freedom is a gift, to elect or reject. <br />
<br />
When we understand Freedom in this context, the implications can be profound.<br />
<br />
To begin at the beginning, God’s story records, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” And then, he assigns His Good Creation to rule “everything that has the breath of life in it” (Gen 1). If we have been given dominion over all that breathes, we are also given dominion over ourselves. We are, in a sense, our own principalities. So this should be enough for freedom, right?<br />
<br />
But then we somehow compromise our freedom when we take advantage of freedom in a way that God did not intend for His Creation. We again found ourselves in bondage. In order to re-discover Freedom, we needed salvation.<br />
<br />
And this is where the story of the Cross becomes incredible.<br />
<br />
People always question the difference between the story of God and our Messiah Christ and all of the other religions. I can be the first to admit that there are a lot (a LOT) of similarities. This prospect used to threaten me, but I know say, “Of course.” My heart finds such consolation when I recognize that we are all searching for the same thing. God even promises us that there is enough of Him in everything for every man to witness to the Creator. In our attempts to satisfy our insatiable inner magnetism towards God, we find ourselves at variant points along the continuum of understanding. I do not think any one of us have “arrived,” so I rest with the peace that God is moving each of us along within the unique circumstances of his evolutionary Creation. But I digress. The difference in our story is that our Freedom, our Salvation, is contingent upon nothing other than the sacrifice of Christ that has already been made—that God foresaw at the establishment of the Universe. The only true Freedom is in Christ. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5.1).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And when we really understand—I mean really, really try to grasp—that we could do absolutely nothing to earn this gift of Freedom, I think we finally merge the great divide to something like accessing it. <br />
<br />
We give up all self-righteousness when we find true freedom. We give up on pride when we find true freedom. We eliminate all sense of insecurity, self-hate and envy when we discover true freedom. And when we are no longer bound by the patterns of this world, we become a whole lot more like Christ. We adopt His mind and His will when we live within the freedom that has always been available to us. <br />
<br />
Freedom is as Freedom does.<br />
<br />
Thanks for stopping by. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stay Dusty.<br />
*b.Nicole</span><br />
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</div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-73578319630299174212011-08-18T17:24:00.000-07:002011-09-19T12:54:06.847-07:00Response: Suicide and Eternity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_i56f0x="159"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Anonymous said... </em></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>How do you feel about suicide and heaven? If you repent before you well do the deed do you still get into heaven????? </em></span><br />
<div closure_uid_i56f0x="287"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>August 18, 2011 2:50 PM </em></span></div><div closure_uid_i56f0x="287"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_i56f0x="287" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Response:</span></div><div closure_uid_i56f0x="287"><span closure_uid_i56f0x="179" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I will say, I appreciate your comment more than you could know. I also must note--I am just a human, with human knowledge, dealing with real human problems. I will begin more traditionally by sharing some of the specific places the Text deals with these issues… but then I will follow up with what the entire narrative--within the full context of how I understand the story of God and His creation-- tells my heart. <br />
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There are seven recorded instances of suicide in the Bible. Probably the two most well-known occurrences are the acts of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionaries/dict_meaning.php?source=3&wid=S9052">Judas Iscariot</a> (the one that betrayed Jesus, recorded in the synoptic gospels) and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+16&version=NIV">Samson</a> (the Jewish judge that was essentially the ancient-equivalent of the 9/11 bombers, recorded in the book of Judges). (If you are not familiar with these stories, I would encourage you to follow think link to both Judas and Sampson and familiarize yourself with this content. A brief reading could lay foundational context in approaching this subject.) Interestingly, Judas’s choice was committed in shame, remorse and guilt and the Bible does not seem to approve of his act. Yet in contrast, Sampson’s act was spurred by his request to God for great strength—strength enough to pull down the supporting pillars of a temple—on top of himself and many more Philistine “rulers and people.” It seems atrocious, but God is recorded as approving of Sampson’s sacrifice. <br />
<br />
So we have two forms of suicide within these stories, as well as two different divine reactions. The problem of suicide (from a biblical perspective) does not seem to revolve around the “act” itself as much as we may have originally considered. Perhaps there is something larger, or completely different at play. <br />
<br />
Without diving too deep into the nature of God, the problem of Good and Evil/Heaven and Hell, it seems that Anonymous is asking about suicide within the context of the eternal existence that the Bible refers to as “heaven.” Since biblical terminology has been introduced, I can only assume the regard for the Bible that I possess. <br />
<br />
I think the Bible is Absolute Truth. Now, my own human understanding of this Truth is an entirely different subject, but I can only continue allowing the Text and this life to influence and expand my understanding. Also, when I refer to Absolute Truth, I do not mean historical, nor scientific, accuracy. To explain--although there probably never existed two little German children named Hansel and Gretel that left a trail of crumbs on their way to play, the story may contain Truth—in the capital “T” sense. There may be a lesson within the story that deems the fable worth telling. Also, instead of dissecting the individual segments of the Bible (although this vein of study can be beneficial, as well), when I consider Universal or Ultimate Truth, I try to consider the entire story. From my understanding of the entire story, I believe God is Good. Perhaps I cannot understand His Goodness, but my hope informs my faith of this, even in my lack of understanding, and I trust in the Text that affirms my hope. I also believe in the full reconciliation of the Creator to His Creation. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [speaking of Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself [God] all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” God wants everything to be reconciled to Him. I believe this with all my heart. That said… here are a few considerations. <br />
<br />
<strong><em>What is wrong with suicide?</em></strong> I would venture to say that suicide is playing God. I would consider suicide in the same “category of transgression” as murder. Taking a life is taking a life, whether someone else’s or your own. There are many atrocities of terror that, as in Sampson’s case that appear as martyrdom—a single soldier with a sure fate running to the front line of a battle to save his platoon, or the lone astronaut that stayed behind on Apollo 13—but these have a diametrically distinct sentiment to the acts we most often refer to as suicide. The latter are normally characterized by shame, guilt, depression, hopelessness and loss. When someone takes their own life in this state, I feel as though they have lost faith in God--lost faith that His Goodness, although not synonymous with happiness, will see them through. Life seems to be some kind of training ground, full of lessons and obstacles to bring us closer to the image of Christ. Many Christians live for the Afterlife, and become focally fixated on heaven and hell to the extent that they ignore, what I see as, an intricate part of God’s intent of Creation. So, although this life may be “fleeting,” there must be some eternal aspect or significance to it that gives it any validity. <br />
<br />
I see Jesus’ ministry as much more immediate and with far more emphasis on the life we have here on earth, than the Christian perspective tends to embrace. I also see our purpose here as a partnership in ushering in the eternal—that somehow we are a part of “all things being reconciled to himself.” God has given us ways to be a part of this. He has shown us how to be a part of this in Jesus—whom is our Salvation. Our salvation seems to be in taking part of His plan and abiding within His will. (Salvation here is not in the eternal sense, but in the freedom offered in the life God offers.) Cutting out early is missing out on the opportunities to be a part of this incredible story. And this is where I think the tragedy lies. <br />
<br />
<strong><em>So is suicide sin?</em></strong> In 1 John 3.4, sin is considered a “transgression of the law” or anything “unrighteous” (1 John 5.17). Then Paul adds in Ephesians, that “what is not of faith is sin.” To me, I see sin as anything outside of God’s will. I would consider suicide a sin. Many people attach this particular sin, because it is a finality I would assume, as an act that would exclude the sinner/victim from the eternal existence outlined in the Bible. Yet, there is only sin the Bible lists as unforgivable--blasphemy against the Spirit. This unforgivable transgression is referenced in all three synoptic gospels. Therefore, suicide is forgivable. And then the question may arise, "But if repentance and acceptance of Christ as Savior is necessary for salvation, when would someone who had killed themself have the opportunity to repent?" But there must be many that have died with unrepented sin. And if the person were so deeply lost in the darkness without a sight of Hope, yet all their life, they saught out the Goodness in God and this world and they recognized and knew Christ as Saviour, will they face eternal condemnation? I struggle here, but my heart hopes for a God larger than death and time.</span><br />
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<span closure_uid_i56f0x="179" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Such logic, of an arbitrary judgement, disregards the eternal nature of God. We are bound by a directionally limited existence—we can only move forward in time, like one-direction ray. In eternity, this concept of time in progression would be unnecessary. Eternity is not bound by time as we are. Therefore, the ordinal chronology of repentance and sin may be irrelevant. <br />
<br />
In my understanding of God’s ultimate plan for reconciliation, my heart would hope that all would be brought into his eternal existence. I think He certainly wants this, as well. I do not know what would happen eternally to a person that takes their own life, but I know God must mourn the loss of hope in His creation as my own heart mourns the brokenness and destitution of suicide.<br />
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But most of all, to really “answer your question,” this is not my call. I know that brings us back to square one. But I am not Judge. All I can do is seek to understand the life He calls me to today—in this life—and hope that His life in me will bring others into this incredible plan, as well. And although I could never know for certain in this life whether or not there is an Eternal Heaven and Hell, I live my life considering that there may be. But without focusing on where I (or others) will end up, I focus on how I can live THIS LIFE as a part of His Creation. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I don’t know how much this would help, but this trajectory is where my heart brought me. If you have more questions, please continue the conversation. Your heart for people is very apparent, Anonymous. Thank you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Stay Dusty.<br />
b.Nicole</span><br />
<div closure_uid_i56f0x="295"> </div><div closure_uid_i56f0x="295"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=inthedustofhissteps&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0849990408&fc1=E9DB63&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=D38846&bc1=000000&bg1=423939&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-12362377394582499412011-08-07T08:52:00.000-07:002011-08-08T10:06:56.304-07:00Oh, Bonnie. Don't Hate Me.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sometimes it is just fun, and you just want to. SO not my style, but SO fun regardless. Enjoy. Laugh. Sing Along.</span><br />
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</div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-78087912761210285802011-08-01T15:40:00.001-07:002011-08-01T19:22:19.117-07:00RESPONSE: Has anyone ever stopped and asked...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Comment from <a href="http://inthedustofhissteps.blogspot.com/2011/04/has-anyone-ever-stopped-to-ask-did-it.html">Original Post</a>:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b9b9b9; line-height: 22px; white-space: normal;"> Anonymous said...</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b9b9b9; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b9b9b9; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><dd class="comment-body" id="Blog1_cmt-1171092012189949591" style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0.5em;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">YES!!! I've asked that question to the point where it's caused me great anxiety! Why would Jesus have to die and how does that save me? I mean, this is the very core of our faith, isn't it? This is the first time I've had it explained to me this way and it was quite encouraging and thought-provoking. So, thank you!<br />
<br />
I still have a lingering question or two. For example, who wrote the rule/law that there must be a sacrifice made or that the consequence of sin is death? Why did Abraham and his people have to be perfect to be blessed?<br />
<br />
Thanks again!</span></span></div></dd></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hello, there "Anonymous." :) Thank you for your words.. and your questions. I am going to attempt this, but please understand that I am in no way claiming to "have it figured out..." I ask a lot of questions, too--and when I start digging around and exploring the context of the Text, I sometimes end up with a few "ideas," but I normally find myself in a mountain of entirely new questions. So I completely relate. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As for your questions... I don't know that there is a "law," per se, that requires a death sacrifice (that is, before the covenant with Abraham), but the blood covenant I refer to in this post is a cultural tradition that still exists in Bedouin culture today. The blood covenant is most often associated with the marital customs, but there are also times when a business deal or land dispute would necessitate a blood covenant. The greater party would be the groom's father and the lesser would be the bride's father (or grandfather). If the bride did not keep her promises--she wasn't a virgin, she didn't stay faithful, etc.--you would more than likely find her father or grandfather dead in a wadi, with bloody footprints dancing over the ground of his blood. Same scenario with the groom--if he did not provide for his bride, treat her well, provide the promised dowry--you would be sure to find the groom's father's body slung out in the desert, again with the mark of bare feet in his blood. This was simply the nature of the covenant. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, in reading Genesis 15, God has promised Abram some very wonderful blessings. Abram is a righteous man of faith, and he tries to call God's bluff. Abram asks for some sign that he would know that God intended to keep his promise. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then, God commands Abram to go get a few very specific animals. (Later in the Hebrew Bible, these become the acceptable animals of an atonement sacrifice.) </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And next verse, Abram cuts the animals in half and lays them across from each other... This seems bizarre. There is no recording of God instructing Abram to do anything specific with the animals; God simply says, "Go get them." But God seems to be pleased, or at least not surprised, by Abram's actions, so it seems that God has approved of this ceremony or was expecting it. And to be fair-- perhaps God did instruct Abram to do this, and the Bible just has not recorded God's directions. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I believe there is another possibility. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To me, when God asks Abram to gather the animals, and Abram knows exactly what to do with them, suggest that there must have already existed a custom in Abram's day that involved these specific animals. I grab my dog's leash and she runs to the door, wagging her tail in frenzied expectation. She knows what is coming, and I believe that at this point in Genesis 15, Abram knows exactly what is coming, as well. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thus, in the Covenant, the terms were not, "Abram--I give you all the heirs, a land to serve me, and and the blessing of the Messiah. So I will die for you to keep my promise." The covenant was, "Abram, I bless you with all these things, and in exchange, you and your offspring must be blameless." The CONSEQUENCE for not following through with a covenant--by default of EITHER party--would call for the blood of the transgressor. The covenant would then be null and void, and neither party would have any obligation to the other. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And now, the incredible pictures in this story begin to unfold... God, the greater party, passes through the bloodpath first, sealing His promise to Abram. Next up would traditionally be Abram, being the lesser party. But if Abram steps one teeny-tiny toe into the blood, he essentially voids the transaction and will pay with his life. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this moment, I imagine Abram-- about to sentence himself to death--and God throws His strong, gentle arm in Abram's beating chest, and with the sage gravity of a martyr says, "No, my son. I've got this." </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And the terms all of a sudden change. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God still says, "Abram--I give you all the heirs, a land to serve me, and and the blessing of the Messiah," as well as, "Abram, I bless you with all these things, and in exchange, you and your offspring must be blameless." But the difference is that God walked through the bloodpath path twice. Therefore, God ultimately says," If you, Abram, and your offspring are not perfect, YOU may do this to ME." </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And this is actually what I view as the necessity for God/Christ's death. He had to fall at our hands. And with His death, a new covenant is made. Hebrews 7 refers to this, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second." Abram and his offspring failed, as we fail. We have sinned, and our sin sentenced Jesus to death on the cross. But this was God's gift to us. And in the completion of the Old Covenant, we can rejoice in the New Promise. '</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, this was long, but I was good for me to review all of this, as well. If you had these questions, I am sure others did, as well--even if they have not expressed or even fully formulated them. Thanks again... </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And as always, be encouraged. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stay dusty, </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*b.Nicole</span></span></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-81248085320238455702011-07-19T01:19:00.000-07:002011-07-19T01:19:51.413-07:00Life in 3-D: The God Eye See<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I don't own a TV. I rarely take notice of this missing household amenity, except when walking first-time visitors through my home. On "The Tour," I offer such insightful commentary as, "This is the kitchen;" "This is my living room;" This is the study/play room;" and "Here is my bedroom," and we end up at the back of my house in my laundry room, at which point we wander back to the living room the over little compulsory reactions and observations. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Normally, about the time we re-group on the sofas, a few moments will pass and inevitably, someone speaks up with courteous curiosity --"So... do you not have a TV...?" I explain that I actually "do not" have a TV, but I love movies, and have become quite the collectionista of Blockbuster finds. But my computer is quite a capable viewing source, so this negates all necessity of a TV for me. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yet, to be honest, my abeyant MovieWatcher card would not reflect my proclaimed admiration for the cinema. The movie experience has somewhat lost its luster for me amongst the rising prices, rambunctious company--and then I would have to resist the convenience of viewing a movie in my own home and on my own time-frame, as well. Effectively, I don't see many TV ads or trailors, so the anticipation of a premier doesn't lure me in to the big screen, either. But occasionally, I am willing to buck all pretension and inconvenience for a movie that just "should be" experienced with more punch than my computer monitor and speakers can provide. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just two nights ago, I went to the theater to see the new Harry Potter movie. I have never read the books or seen a previous film, but this one would be in 3-D, and apparently would be worth the experience. Without digressing into a review of the cinematic legitimacy of the film, I will say--I was impressed and entertained. For an IMAX film, the movie theaters always provide those ridiculous plastic "3-D glasses--" which results in my immediate time-port to my elementary years and the days of field trips to NASA, with "futuristic" IMAX special-venues of Space Exploration Films. I remember even, how throughout the duration of any-given IMAX picture, the glasses would inevitably agitate me to the point that I would have to take them off. And the same remains true today. Even today, within the hours of an IMAX picture, I will feel the nagging urge to remove my glasses, just to endure the blurred dual-image projected before me, until I can eventually don my glasses once more. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well, I reached this point in Harry Potter. Typically, I am frustrated with myself at the point that I begrudgingly remove my glasses for a reprieve. But this time (perhaps a slight gesture towards maturity), I actually tuned in to the multilayered images, even so much as to develop an endearing appreciation and intrigue for their intentional distortion. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">During my momentary retreat, I somewhat lost touch with the plot and began experimenting with the passing images in an attempt to create the desired image, sans glasses. I went through a serious of very scientific variable tests in my research--I tried crossing my eyes, squinting, closing one eye. I even called upon my previous experience with the Illusion picture books that contained hidden 3-D images in the page designs. The "squinting technique" would sometimes work then on difficult images, but I found my transferred skill to be far less successful at the cinema. I have since realized the folly in my methods, but at the time, I considered my means to be plausible. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yet in my own silly science lab at a Harry Potter picture show, I began to formulate an idea that would take shape over the following days, and profoundly resonate with me in my understanding of this world. With visions of grandeur, I even took the glasses home (with permission) to continue my exploration post-cinema through assessing the glasses visual impact upon the actual 3-D world. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the aftermath of this experience, I stumbled across some down-time and did a bit of research on the construction of a 3-D clip, specifically as compared a standard film. Today, a 3-D image is often created by polarizating the light of dual images, tripling the frames per second as compared to a standard film, and projecting these images simultaneously on the same screen. The immediate affect produces the blurred multiplicity I described earlier, but with a pair of eyes and a set of LCD shutter glasses, the images converge to add the illusion of depth, the lost dimension in standard 35mm films. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The film is shot with two different lenses--one angled to record the images as viewed by the left eye, and the other to singularly capture the vision of the right eye. The two sequences are layered during production and then projected at variant linear polarizations at the time of viewing. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Those "ridiculous 3-D glasses" are actually specifically designed with left and right polarized lenses that project only the image intended for that eye, while concurrently block the other eye's image. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Essentially, 3-D filmation reverses the cooperative efforts of our visual and central nervous system by separating the images in 2-D. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Think of your 5th-grade lesson on sight. Your teacher more-than-likely asked you to create a triangle with your two hands outstretched before you, and then instructed you to pick an object within the scope of the triangle. You were then advised to close one eye. All of a sudden the image would pop to a position outside of your triangle. When tested with the other eye, the image would be somewhere in the vicinity oppositely congruent to its previous location. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In case you got distracted making your best friend hop around your peripheral and missed the application that day, this exercise displays the functioning of our nervous system as it process the two images created on the retinae of our two eyes. Vision is a pretty incredible sense. Our eyes actually just record the data sequencing of the light reflected by all the objects in our scope of sight. The data is burned on to our retinae at the back of our eyes, and the brain works to process this information by conceptualizing mere representations of the scene. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thus, when the object of our vision is a projection of light on a flat-screen, the convergence of empirical perceptions has already taken place, and the third-dimension is lost. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In order to achieve depth perception (the third dimension) within a 2-D projection, the eyes must receive both simultaneous and singular input on each retinae, creating the illusion of an authentic perception. Then, the physiological manifestation of sight may processes the images as if these "3-D" objects and images were actually before them. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I have learned about the functioning of the visual system before, but I outlook was refreshed by my new understanding in light of a 3-D film experiene. And with this idea of sight, light, and dimension, my mind began its churning. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Our eyes perceive the light reflected by objects. Our eyes collect the data from this input and create two variant representations on our retinae. Our brain receives the two separate images from our visual system and processes the details in the form of a streaming image. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A singular image from just one eye would capture only two-diminsions, but our visual system maintains the reality of the 3rd dimension with the help of the central nervous system and the addition of a supplementary sequence of a simultaneous event. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Our world contains three perceivable dimensions, yet receptive optical systems are only able to capture two of these dimensions on their own. Consider a camera as an optical system similar to our own. The input data is in three dimensions, but the capturing space can only contain two of them. The brain detects depth perception in a picture by drawing on our visual experience with depth and proportion, but the film space itself only provides for two dimensions--length and width. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Theorists are eternally claiming that time is the fourth dimension--and I tend to subscribe to this hypothesis, with the understanding that our linear position within time is probably more of an illusions than a reality. So if time functions anything like light, our perception can only be achieved by assuming a duality in perception, as displayed by the visual system. Have you ever noticed how a minute can seem like a lifetime, but a year can seem like the passing of a second? Perhaps our placement and perception of time allows for this discrepant evaluation. And although the relationship between time, dimension and perception intrigue me, there remain uncharted issues that, for me, are more provocative when I consider sight. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Text tells me that God created Light in this world before anything else. And Jesus calls himself the light of the world. Our eyes, the primary contributor to processing our perceived world, depend on light to "accurately" perceive the physical world. The individual eye can only detect the images captured as a 2-D movie screen captures the light projection of a film. Our visual system, however, compensates for our own limitations in capturing images and the two recordings of our 2 receivers by allowing one image to enhance the other. Interestingly, a 3-D movie actually disables the work of the visual system by merging the right and left-eye images before the data is collected. However, in sight, each eye is only recording the images from its perspective. In an IMAX film, both eyes are processing both angles. Thus, to the naked eye the picture looks disjointed and distorted, and the eyes have no means of recognizing their individual projection.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There is so much in this world that I don't understand. There are so many truths that seems to disagree much like a 3-D IMAX Film. The inconsistencies in my understanding of my spiritual sight can sometimes leave my vision hazy. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But then I consider God's truth--Truth refers to the ultimate reality. We have been given the tools to perceive and process His reality--He has promised this. We depend on the light of the first day to distinguish the physical reality, so there must be a spiritual source which allows us to comprehend Truth. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And yet, Jesus is the Light. In our reality, the sun is our greatest source of light. Jesus is the Son. Light in this world allows us sight; perhaps the light of Jesus is the source of sight in the spiritual world. If Jesus, the light, is our salvation, perhaps salvation is in being able to perceive and project the Truth of God's nature. What if the redemptive nature of Jesus' ministry was to illuminate the nature of God. As our eyes process the physical world, our hearts may be the eyes of our souls, perceiving the Truth of God. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But even with the gift of this salvation, my spiritual vision sometimes feels a bit more like watching a movie than experiencing His nature first-hand. I often have the spiritual sense that what I am involved in is something more than the "two dimensions" I am perceiving on the movie screen. Just as our vision carries limitations--we can only capture and project a restricted reality of the images within the physical world--my hypothesis would be that these same barriers cripple our spiritual capacity to capture and project the reality of the ultimate world. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I must wonder if there was ever a time when His truth was accurately and fully perceivable. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Perhaps, at the creation of the world, at the birth of light. And if at the foundation of the Earth, all truth and fullness of God was both perceivable and projectable, when did our spiritual eyes adopt their limitations? </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There is a certain story of a certain man and woman in a certain garden, eating from a certain tree. I cannot resist the situational irony presented by the description immediately following the couples' dinner menu choice--"and their eyes were opened." I am struck that their eyes were not glued shut through their sin.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But then I remember what happened when I removed my special glasses at the theater. Maybe the screen of God's Glory was already being projected into this world--not as a standard film--but as an IMAX film, intended to reflect the height, breadth, and depth of His Truth. Maybe God has always chosen to reveal himself in "3-D." But in our sin, we lost the special glasses when our eyes "were opened." </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But then I remember the Messiah. Healer of the blind. Light of the world. The Way to the Father.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Maybe we do have the keys to the kingdom. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Perhaps Jesus is the light in the sense that the light of the burning sun causes need for sunglasses. Could His ministry have been to exude such blinding light as to give rise to adorning spiritual glasses, and ultimately offering us sight. After all, caking mud on a blind man's eye seems a curious method for offering sight. But after the man's commitment to Jesus' instruction to wash in the Pool of Salome, the man could see. Maybe our faith commitment is in the choice to wear our glasses. God's picture may have never changed. We just may need the right set of eyes to see the Light of the Truth. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=inthedustofhissteps&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1163007161&fc1=E9DB63&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=D38846&bc1=000000&bg1=423939&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-1681228954803954252011-07-08T22:01:00.000-07:002011-08-08T22:09:21.897-07:00jar of hearts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-79609951429551133772011-04-24T11:28:00.000-07:002011-04-24T18:22:50.993-07:00Has anyone ever stopped to ask, "Did it really have to be like that?" Jesus and the Cross<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">We are thankful. We all rejoice. </span><br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But has anyone ever stopped to ask, "Did it really have to be like that?"</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Religious holidays are always a time of growth for me. And not so much in the typical "spiritual high" sense. They are a struggle. I am always in a tug-of-war between remorse, rejoicing, and my own pride. In light of Easter/Resurrection Day, i find myself working through this conflict. Part of me wants to fall in to humility and embrace the day with simplicity and gratitude. People love to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is incredible. But another part of me knows that this emotional, and very real reaction is just not possible for me. Probably a portion is my pride, but certainly a greater part is the loss I know I would experience in the raw, majesty of the whole story. But I can't just talk about Jesus' blameless life, brutal death and miraculous resurrection without honestly addressing this one questions.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Really? I mean--I am grateful. If this is what needed to be done, I owe every breath and more to show my gratitude to Him. But I must ask--Did he have to be perfect? Did He have to die? Did He have to die like that? And what significance does the ascension really have? </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Basically, God--Your story is brutal. When I look to the cross, I remember a blameless, righteous man hang there. His life was so full of love and conviction, and You say love wins. But why didn't Your perfect Love win then? Couldn't He just have been perfect, and died <i>loved</i> by all? How is <i>this</i> Your plan?</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And this is where Easter brings me. My soul mourns. My thoughts break. And my heart bleeds. And I remain incredibly grateful--and grateful in a greater way than I could access when I thought I understood. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But here is my point--do other people ask these questions? Or is what I ask heresy? (Although, David and Abram--and even Jesus--all asked God tough questions.) But my greatest regret is, "How could we <i>not</i> ask this?"</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus hung on a cross--one of the most excrutiating and humiliating deaths--for <i><b>us</b></i>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His dying hours were horrific. If he was at-all/any-ration human, his last breaths must have been miserable.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His death began early, as the soldiers mocked and whipped him the night before. Then, he was made to carry the heavy timber that would serve as his tool of death through the winding streets, as he shamefully struggled under its weight. When they were crucifying him, they did not break his bones, as they often would to accelerate death. Jesus did not take wine to numb the pings that must have shot through His body as the nails were driven through his wrists. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Was he even aware of what was happening, or did it all become a blur? I don't honestly know if the body can really comprehend this level of pain.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And if he ever was aware, did he ever feel foolish as he hang on the cross--naked and bleeding. Helpless. And all who pledged their undying love, denied Him in the most profound sense. Even His father turned his back on Jesus in His darkest hour. Jesus dies with <a href="http://biblebrowser.com/psalms/22-15.htm">Psalm 22</a>, the death Psalm, on His lips. He was faithful. But did He ever question why this was His plight, or even--if He had been mislead? </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I do not paint this dramatic picture to draw salty tears from heavy hearts, but almost the contrary. Isn't this absurd! Jesus did not deserve this. Yet supposedly our sin convicted him. But if God made the rules, couldn't he have slanted the game a little in His favor here? </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If love wins, why didn't it?</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So there must be more. And I believe there is. Firstly--although we tend to believe that everything Jesus did was completely miraculous and unique, there had been a pattern in Judaism around the time of Jesus where a wise rabbi who led a Godly and righteous life would develop a following, heal the sick, spend time with the poor, and die a martyr to be raised after three days, then ascending to heaven promising to send another helper. I don't say this to diminish anything that Jesus did. He is the one True Messiah, but at least in the culture of Jesus' day. this pattern already existed--whether in truth or apparition. I think we put so much emphasis on a few qualities of the Jesus story, focusing on how unique his healings and ascension were, but it seems that the gospels and following books highlight other aspects of the story. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know most of us probably stay in the gospels today, but perhaps taking a look at <a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/genesis/15.htm">Genesis 15</a> could help us connect the stories. In a rather obscure moment between God and Abram, I find the entire purpose for Jesus' death, and I get a sense of God's incredible love for his people.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God has just promised Abram offspring numbering the stars, and a land which he can live his life under God's authority and a seed which would bless the nations. All if Abram could continue leading a life of righteousness. Abram, displaying quite the dosage of Hebraic hutspuh, asks God how he will know that these things will be. And then, God sends him to gather a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove, and a young pigeon. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And we miss this. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abram must have been shaking in his boots. He asked God, more or less, to <i>prove</i> or <i>promise</i> that God would honor his word. And God basically says, with words not recorded, "Okay, Abram. Then, let's make a covenant. Go get the animals, and you will know that I am serious." </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But we do not understand the ancient tradition of <a href="http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=3343">covenant</a>, so we read right past this is and miss the story that connects the entire Bible. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In some parts of the near east Bedouin world, this form of covenant is still practiced. It is called a blood covenant--between two parties, always a lesser and a greater. The greater establishes the term, and the lesser can either agree, or pass on the covenant. Then, the animals are gathered, cut i half, and placed across from each other creating a literal blood path where that blood runs in the middle. The greater party walks first. Barefoot though the blood, and without a word, he confirms that if he does not meet his end of the covenant, the other party may stomp through his blood like he walks through blood now. Then it is the turn of the lesser party. He does the same, without a word, committing the covenant and understanding that if he does not live up to his word, this will be his plight. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now we return to the Genesis story. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the context of where Abram and God stand. God says--being the greater party he gives the terms <a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/genesis/17.htm">(not in Gen. 15, but from other contextual references</a>), "I will give you, Abram, my righteouss servant, offspring numbering the stars, a land which to can live your life under my authority, and a seed which will bless the nations. All you have to do is be perfect." And this is the deal. Perfect. Abram must be perfect.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And as night falls, Abram falls into a deep slumber (thanks, Mom) and a smoking firepot passes through the blood path. The Genesis account tells us of two images that travel the path. Assumedly, God and Abram. The first image--the smoke--is obviously God. Many times before and after this story, God is symbolized as smoke (burning bush with Moses, coals in Galilee, etc.). Plus, He is the greater party, so this correlation is largely undisputed. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And in covenant tradition, next up is Abram. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But curiously, the image that passes second is a torch. There is no textual reference of a human ever being portrayed as a torch. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Only God is ever fire or a flame. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I have to think--in this moment, as Abram--in his altered state of consciousness--is preparing to assume his role as the lesser party and step in the warm blood. He considers the weight of his covenant with God--to be blameless so that he may receive receive God's promises. Abram must have realized that he would fail. And failure within this covenant is basically writing away any promise of offspring, and land to call his own, and most devastatingly, the messiah. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And in Abram's sure distress, God appears. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With the symbolism of a torch, God walks the path for Abram as to say, "Abram, if <b>you</b> and <b>your people</b> are not blameless, <b>you</b> may do this to <b>Me</b>." </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And in this moment, God convicts Jesus to die on the cross. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God even foreshadows His own sacrifice when he commands <a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/genesis/22.htm">Abraham to offer up Isaac</a>. But God provides, just as he promised in His covenant.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the later aftermath of this covenant, at Mount Sinai, as God gives an identity to the sons of Abraham, he calls them a royal priesthood and a holy nation. God commands His people to confirm this covenant with Him that they will again live under the authority of the Lord, as he has brought them out from Egypt. The children of Israel, are to make a sacrifice two times, every single day--once in the morning, and again at 3:00 pm before twilight "at the place where [His] name is" (<a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/exodus/30.htm">the Tabernacle</a>, <a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/2_chronicles/2.htm">then the Temple</a>) to remind the people of this promise. (Exodus 24-27)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although the daily sacrifices had become quite elaborate by Jesus' day, the people understood the sacrifice to be an offering, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=--nHj5gNkxgC&pg=PA11&dq=letters+And+Homilies+for+Hellenized+Christians:+A+Socio-Rhetorical+Commentary&hl=en&ei=o8y0TZCnDKLm0QGJ6qGOCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=letters%20And%20Homilies%20for%20Hellenized%20Christians%3A%20A%20Socio-Rhetorical%20Commentary&f=false">begging God to keep his promise</a>--to bring the messiah who would atone for their unrighteousness. This is slightly different than our understanding of the ritual sacrifices. We would tend to focus on sacrifice being atonement for our transgressions, which is certainly part of it. But to miss the desperation in these sacrifices--the cry of the children of Israel to their God--to please bring about the blessing to the Nations. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And for a thousand years, this practice was done twice a day, and the entire Jewish world would pause at 9:00 am and 3:00 pm, awaiting the sounding of the shofar which would signify the blood sacrifice. And in the hour of their remembrance, they could take comfort in the covenant between their forefather and their God. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Almost 2,000 years after the covenant between Abram and God. It is Passover, and the Judaic world crowds in to Jerusalem to be a part of the feasts. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a Friday at 3:00 in the afternoon, just like thousands of Fridays before, the shofar resounds from within the city walls. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But something is different. Just outside the city gates, at the Place of the Skulls, a man hangs on a cross, and perhaps cries out his last words from <a href="http://biblecommenter.com/psalms/22-19.htm">Psalm 22</a> ("He has performed it," in our English translation.) </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"IT IS FINISHED!"</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And it is. God did it. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God became the blameless sacrifice. God offered salvation to the world through the life of Jesus and the death he had promised. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus' death was absolutely necessary. Abram failed. We failed. This is our consequence. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The most loving, incredible, wise, Good man in the history of the world had to die at our hands. And his salvation is, in a sense rooted in his death, but the way to eternal, or everlasting life, if found also in His life. His life of love. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So let us be somberly, gravely thankful for the death atonement, but let us celebrate the story. Let us celebrate the breath of life within the narrative. Let us praise a God so huge, and so loving, as to not only give us a way of salvation, but to actually become it. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, today, I celebrate God. I love Jesus. I look to His life, and I rejoice in the one and only Messiah Christ. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blessings, friends. Stay dusty.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And if you are in a scandalous mood, another perspective on the <a href="http://www.dabase.org/bloodsac.htm">Blood Sacrifice of Jesus.</a></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">b.Nicole</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Lessons-Ministry-Messiah-Guides/dp/0310678668?ie=UTF8&tag=inthedustofhissteps&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Faith Lessons on the Life and Ministry of the Messiah (Home VHS Vol. 3) Home Pack/Bible Study Guides" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0310678668&tag=inthedustofhissteps" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">***much adapted from the teachings of Ray Vanderlaan. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.ttwmk.org/">www.ttwmk.org</a></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Lessons-Ministry-Messiah-Guides/dp/0310678668?ie=UTF8&tag=inthedustofhissteps&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Faith Lessons on the Life and Ministry of the Messiah (Home VHS Vol. 3) Home Pack/Bible Study Guides</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=inthedustofhissteps&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0310678668" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=inthedustofhissteps&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0310678668" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-2942568854116647822011-04-12T22:37:00.000-07:002011-04-12T22:55:48.211-07:00Questions from Humans: the Rob Bell/Heaven+Hell ControversyWe are the body. And we are imperfect. But we must never abandon Love. We must never forsake correctness for Unity. Unity can embody differences. The church can encourage disagreements. We can believe with a Holy passion in the truths which God has revealed to us, yet to divide the church, or summon condemnation seems a hateful perversion of our commission as followers of Christ. First and foremost we are children of God. Always, we are his and dearly loved. As His children, gripped by the evil in this world, we are offered salvation on Christ. We follow His son, and build His church. His banner over us is love.<br />
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There have been several high profile discussions over Rob Bell's recent book: Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. I would never want to stifle the discussion of such eternal principals; however the trajectory of these blog commentaries seems minimally hateful and malicious. My heart is heavy and my spirit is saddened. Satan will use ANYTHING. He is quite resourceful. <br />
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I have not yet read the book, so I hold no position to comment on the content. However, my current understanding is that there are far more questions posed than answers offered. If this is the case, what are we all so afraid of? If we seek the Truth, does not God tell us thT He will reveal Himself. For even the mountains and rocks cry out the name of the Lord! Anyhow, as stated, I have not read it, so I have nothing further to say regarding Bell's book.<br />
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What I can observe, however; is the response of the Christian community. We are breaking apart. This is a tragedy that burns me to my core, in far proportion to incorrect doctrine. Although, if I were in tue opposition, this travesty would pain me greatly, as well. <br />
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There are many blogs. But this particular blog is the one I have gotten involved in, for whatever reason. I have posted the link, not to point fingers, but because I do feel there is a lot of very valid content from both sides. I mourn the egos that emerge, but if you are seeking textual support and opposition for Bell's claims, there are some very knowledgeable sources from both sides. <br />
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<a href="http://www.dennyburk.com/rob-bell-outs-himself/">http://www.dennyburk.com/rob-bell-outs-himself/</a><br />
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Please aim not to just adapt anyone elses view, but understand that we have been given (each of us) the mind of Christ to discern truth. Let us listen to our teachers and consider what God has placed in our heart and be willing to engage on an exploration of the truth that only God can reveal to us. <br />
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As always, thanks for stopping by. And please, friends... Stay Dusty.<br />
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*b.Nicole <br />
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Please pray that the power of love does win, as promised.BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-2793640478006553362011-04-05T11:56:00.000-07:002011-04-05T11:56:13.944-07:00A prism, A God, and this world.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I used to serve a god. Now I think I serve God. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Bold statement for both my past and present associations, I know. But in a whirlwind of hurt, chaos, selfishness and pride, I somehow found vulnerability, peace, love, and humility. Needless to say, through this kenosis my perception of God has been completely transformed. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I grew up in the church, and I am eternally blessed for the heritage of faith that I formulated within that community. Yet, as most of us do in almost aspect of life, I took for granted the traditions and ideas that I received. I do not mean to insinuate that there is any innate fallacy in my inherited faith, but I adopted the doctrine and interpretations of pastors, teachers, and professors without investing the necessary effort to evaluate for myself what God would have me hear in His Word. I felt a strong connection to God, and I developed strong ideas within my faith about who God was, and who I am in Him. I held to these ideas with a bona fide conviction that informed what I saw in the Text and how I interpreted my purpose in this world. I sought Truth and I wanted righteoussness. But--and, I would guess we have all felt this--there was some indiscriminate or inexctable fiber within the makeup of my beliefs that was just unresolved. Not that there was doubt. Not that there was blatant disregard, or even discontentment, but if we are talking about the God of the Universe and the Creator who reigns eternally, is there any validation for having any fiber, and moment, any formulation of thought that is not completely sold to this Being? But all I knew was what I had been taught. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">And although I had questions, and sought answers whole-heartedly, my ideas guided my discoveries instead of the truth. A scientist would even say that removing biases from an experiment is nearly impossible. It is the ultimate goal of the Scientific Method to use empirical methods of observation, but we all know the results we are seeking when we care enough to structure an experiment, so creating an open environment where Truth emerges from the variables, is both necessary and arduous. So, I would not completely condemn my previous understandings because I am aware that they have brought me to the point at which I presently stand. Also, they were formulated from a genuine desire to know and understand God, which I thought was something I could achieve. I think this whole journey (a.k.a: Life) is about pushing forward towards new ideas and better "us"es, so I allow for this shift in thought and regard, rather than regret, the tread stones that led me to today. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Yet at a certain stone in my not-so-distant past, I experienced a world that had been somewhat hidden from my formative years. As I looked to the world around me, I saw hate and evil to the same proportion I witnessed good. I saw violence and favoritism from a god that claimed benevolence and a love for the whole world. He says he is the Alpha and Omega, as the Beginning and End, but I began to doubt that he cared much for the other 20 Greek letters, or the entire middle section, for that matter. And as the friction between my beliefs and my experience grew stronger, the discomfort in my spirit brought me to a moment of absolute humility. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">If God is the eternal Truth, and His Word is the primary source by which He reveals Himself to me, I should not be afraid to earnestly seek the Goodness within His Text. If I opened myself to Truth, I trusted that truth would be revealed. And So I decided to shed everything I ever thought I knew about God. Not reject, but shed. And I would allow Him, for the first time in my life, to tell me who He was, and to share with me the secrets in His Word. This was scary because I was not sure whom I would discover, and what that would mean. If God could harden Pharo's heart and drown Egyptian soldiers, and send His own creation into a burning furnace away from Him for eternity, I couldn't be certain I would want to server Him for the rest of my life. And as if this apprehension were not sufficient means to abort, I was incredibly aware of my daunting role in receiving His revelation. I was going to have to dedicate myself fully and thoroughly to this task. I had no clue what I would find, or where to begin.</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">So I started with Genesis. Seemed logical enough. And when I began to read the opening scenes of creation, for what I would consider "the first time," I found myself so engrossed and in awe that I read the first four chapters no less than twenty times before I even wanted to move on. Each time I reread our story, I found something so precious and new, that I wanted to read it again, in case I had missed something else. This Supreme Being within the narrative of the created world was so much more than I had ever dared to dream. The surreal realization of His greatness and majesty and mystery left me inspired by His awesomeness. And then I saw my downfall. I wanted to know God. To understand Him and confine him within the limitations of my mind. But I could never know or understand God. Who did I think I was? Not even Jesus knows the mind of God. So if I could not know, I had a decision to make. Would I reject the ideas of Goodness, Perfection, and Immutability that I had grown up with? Or was there another option? Because this God of Genesis is incredible. If God is all He says He is, then He is everything. Everything. The good. The Bad. The beautiful. The whole world--in both concept and matter. For, in the beginning there was God (only God). Therefore, He is the only substance of creation. Every single aspect of this world we experience must be a realization of Him. This may seem like blasphemy, but if His Word is True, and He is God, this is Him. So, how am I to reconcile that what I see in God and His creation does not appear to always be Good? Well, who are we to question the Potter and how He molds the clay? And who am I to assume I could ever exact any complete conception of Goodness. If I cannot know God, and God is Good, how then could I even know the nature of Eternal Goodness? Perhaps I cannot. And when I accepted this God, I saw the world in a completely new light. So I read one more time, our story of our God. And this is what I see. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">In the Garden of Eden, God's creation ate from a tree that granted them the "knowledge of Good and Evil," making them "like gods." </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Point No.1: The "knowledge" of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve did not create evil, or introduce evil into this world. They received a perception that allowed for the distinction between Good and Evil. Evil had always been there--creation simply could not separate it from the Good. To Adam and Ever, there was no Good or Evil. Only God.</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Point No.2: The tree was within God's garden. God had planted it there, and even given instructions as to not eat the fruit. Adam and Eve discovered a part of God that He had contained in the fruit. This knowledge was not outside of Him. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Point No.3: God had wanted to intentionally disclose this knowledge from His creation. God knew the effects of this knowledge. He had a plan for His creation--that it be a perfect extension of Him. He offered salvation in obedience, by not eating the fruit of the tree.</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Point No.4: God wanted His creation to choose. Just as God is dynamic and changing, He wanted us to evolve and make choices with the same freedom that He himself has as Creator. We are, after all, created "in His image." Therefore, He planted a tree that contained the wisdom of gods. Yet knowing the burden of such understanding, God instructed His creation not to eat of its fruit, as to protect them from this knowledge, while still offering them the dominion to choose either obedience and Shalom, or disobedience and Chaos. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I think we all know the rest. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">God must have realized that His light could always reign on this earth, if He preserved the recognition of the darkness. But He could not just eliminate this aspect of Himself, and still achieve a full expression of His image within His creation. He had to offer the sovereignty to toy with the proportions and hues of God's character. And did we ever. Let me explain. If we consider white light, and its passage through a prism, we can access a metaphor for this transition. White light could be compared (as it is in His Word) to the Love and Goodness of God. God dwelt among His creation, and had complete dominion, so long as His people followed His commands. Yet, when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit and the veil was removed, their eyes were opened and they saw the variations within the colors of God's light. It is as if in that moment, God saw that they no longer chose Him, and He coated this world with an atmosphere of separation, dividing the physical from the spiritual realm. God was no longer the ruler; therefore, He handed over the goodness of His creation to its own devices until a time when He could redeem it. Redemption is the Reconciliation of God's creation--an hour when Shalom rules and God can reclaim His creation. But until then, He allows His creation time to again chose Him, but must hide His fullness from the imperfections of our own misconceptions. And our misunderstandings are the results of the atmosphere. Remember the prism? If God's love is Light, and our disobedience required the installment of this atmospheric prim, the there is a change as His light enters our world. When God's eternal Purity and Goodness pass through the earth's prism and fall to the world below, the light separates, and we see the many colors within the spectrum of His Providence. Blue and Purple, Orange, Vermillion. Each color could be seen as a point on the spectrum of Good and Evil. We have gained perception of such a distinction through our disobedience, and now the character of God is difficult to conceive, as we would have to create a vortex that would combine every color in perfect proportion to again perceive the white light. Through obedience, God could again lift the prism from our atmosphere. Yet we failed. Time and time again, we failed. God is so patient. But He must have recognized our tendency towards evil, as we act foolishly in the knowledge that was never intended for us. So He decided that He would enter our world and be the instrument of convergence. He would lead a blameless life, and we could see the true form of God. Sound familiar? Well... we have established the effects of passing light through a prism. The light is refracted, and separates into different colors. But what could recombine these colors? Incredibly, if we pursue this analogy a step father, it turns out that God uses the very same material to display his white light that was used to disperse it. When light passes through one prism, it is separated. When light passes through a second prism, it is recomposed. Thus, if we are to at all access an understanding of God, we must first recognize His presence in every color. And secondly, look to Jesus for any image of His Goodness. And when I assumed this perception of the function of God's Goodness in our world, I grew hungry to imitate the life of Christ, as I fell in awe of the incredible mystery of God.</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">And in this new discovery, I encountered a God much greater and hardly recognizable to the god I knew before. When I looked to the god I had accepted, I understood why my heart did not burn for His Word and His will. I had created an idol, a counterfeit--he may as well have been Ashura or Baal. My own little god was who I needed, and wanted to follow. He loved me, and protected me, and justified many of decisions that were rooted in a heart of pride, conceit, and resentment. But when I honestly assessed the cubicle I built for my god to live in, he did not seem to be any kind of a Creator of the Universe. I had him figured out--more like an imaginary friend that fit in to my agenda. But this God. This God, I am incredibly aware that I can never fully know. Not until he lifts the prism and His Goodness descends on this earth, at least. And God wants to reign again. So desperately. Our only salvation is in the atonement of Jesus, who lived to be the example for a live of Shalom--everything exactly as God has willed it. Then the world will again belong to Him. Every color will be reconciled unto him as the most glorious light--with vivid hues that we know exist, but can only experience and not perceive. This is the day I live for. When all the colors combine. But for now, I live everyday in the light of the second prism. Seeking the Goodness, Humility, Sacrifice, Vulnerability, and Authenticity that is undeniable in the Christ. </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Thanks for stopping by.</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Be encouraged. Seek the Light. Walk in the dust.</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Stay dusty.</div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">b.Nicole </div><div style="font: 18.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=inthedustofhissteps&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0679743685&fc1=E9DB63&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=D38846&bc1=000000&bg1=423939&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=inthedustofhissteps&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0679781609&fc1=E9DB63&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=D38846&bc1=000000&bg1=423939&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-46390673591828167852011-03-31T03:26:00.000-07:002011-03-31T04:54:00.589-07:00Hello, America. I think you lied: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of... Whaaa?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are crated equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." </span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><blockquote>--As adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776</blockquote></i>Well, thank you, forefathers. I do appreciate all you have done for our country, but is the pursuit of happiness really an unalienable "right" that you can, or want, to promise me? For, even if this profession is legitimized and regarded, is not one man's pleasure another man's pain? When my pursuit of happiness infringes upon my fellow patriot's own pursuit of happiness, whose unalienable rights will my country defend? And perhaps more importantly, even if I am promised the liberty to pursue happiness, and my country tells me I deserve this pursuit, is happiness actually a worthwhile endeavor, among the ranks of Life and Liberty?<br />
<br />
And my beginning is really where I end. This rebellion against the most-quoted phrase of our country's most-cherished document is not a spawn of anarchy or separatism, but my skepticism stems from several recent experiences with this idea of the pursuit of happiness and it's validity.<br />
<br />
Just over a week ago, a friend from work was showing me some exercises her daughter and husband had completed together in a little bonding activity. Each was to answer a few questions about the other, and one of the questions asked for the thing his/her daughter/father wanted out of life. The daughter, 13 years old, answered that her dad probably "just wants to be happy." Noble enough. And at the time, I actually sighed with a gentle smile of tenderness because this seemed like a precious analysis on part of her daughter and a healthy desire for her husband.<br />
<br />
Later on in the week, I was in a discussion among peers, and we were contemplating life plans and unknown futures and possible adventures. As of late, I have also been exploring the intriguing power of vision (a clear, precise idea of a preferable future). So after sharing this idea, I asked--not where they saw themselves in 5/10 years--but who they wanted to be, and what they really wanted out of life. There are so many answers to this question. People want certain jobs, distinct lifestyles, set family structures, and sometimes checks on a bucket list. These are all wonderful things to want out of life. However, we all know that the most enlightened answer to the Life Goals Question is the simple, pure, respectable response... happiness. So I was curious to receive their responses. And the unanimous heartfelt-reply from among my circle of cohorts was, in fact: sustained happiness. I want to guard against belittling this reply. I see no fault in such a responses, and I am thankful even, for the thematic repetition--these occurrences led me to explore new frameworks of thought. Yet, with each recurrence of this expressed desire, I became increasingly uneasy with the ideal I had always regarded.<br />
<br />
And the culminating experience came as I was scrolling through my Podcasts on my way in to work. An episode entitled, "The Problems of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" caught my eye. Anti-climatically, the context was actually regarding the plagiarism within our country's founding documents. Yet, even so, the title struck me in a profound moment of clarity and/or realization. If there were ever a light-bulb moment in my life, this may take the cake.<br />
<br />
Follow me here. You see, when we identify our goals and expectations for our lives, we begin to see how many of our conscience and/or unconscious decisions have been aligned (or maligned) to these desires. Thus, working to identify our desires becomes valuable in beginning to understand our behaviors. In turn, learning to recognize our behaviors helps to analyze our attitudes and assessments in the context of our life goals and actions (harmful or helpful) in the pursuit of these goals. Therefore, knowing what we want from Life is very important. And if we all want/hope for/and deserve (through the promises of our country) happiness, why is this "simple" state so elusive?<br />
<br />
And then it hits me. There seems to be a fundamental misconception underlying the constitutional pursuit of happiness.<br />
<br />
Now, before I am branded a cynic, let me be the first to say--I am in no way harping on the fundamental state of happiness. To be happy is a beautiful, blissful gift--certainly to be desired, treasured, and cherished. I have no criticism of the enjoyment, or even aspiration, of happiness. My concerns lay in the promises of happiness which have penetrated and infiltrated our society and the expectation of happiness in our culture, which lead to the misguided emphasis of happiness in our lives and the dissatisfaction when our highest desire remains unrequited.<br />
<br />
But I digress... When our world, our government, and our society all seemed fixated on providing, protecting, and pursuing happiness, it is only natural that we individually take on this value as virtue. Happiness seems to be the most simple and most universal form of pleasure. At times, I would even classify the nature of happiness as frivolous because of its conceptually jolly and light associations. Our government finds Happiness important enough to recognize its necessity within humanity among the ranks of Life and Liberty. And our media bombards us with the promises of achievement--if we buy this product, or do that workout, or donate to this organization--then, we will find happiness.<br />
<br />
The media is no dummy. Such propaganda is not explicit, but the media recognizes our often futile efforts in pursuit of an answer to happiness. And then they exploit the expressions of our desires by using images of sunny days, smiles, bright gardens, beautiful faces, and perfect families to remind us that happiness is indeed something we really want. And their messages are aimed at telling us that what they have will help us find what we really want. Thus, the cycle of the Virtuoso Happy perpetuates. The more we are reminded of what we want, the more we actually want it. And the more we actually want it, the more we are willing to pursue it. For, the more intent on our pursuit we become, the more we will be willing to explore and sacrifice. And the more willing and desperate we become in our quest, the more their marketing becomes effective. Repeat cycle.<br />
<br />
So, this idea of happiness is all around us. Yet, so many of us seem plagued in our pursuits. And even in my own experience--and I have had an admittedly blessed, and comparatively easy, life--there are times when "happy" seems the farthest impossibility for my heart. If I subscribe to the broadcasts of my surroundings, and adopt a life set on happiness, in these moments, I am failing. Not only am I not happy, but I am now a failure, as well. I don't see how this continuation formulates positively...<br />
<br />
And I don't think happiness is meant to pervade every moment of our every day. Otherwise, how would we be sensitive the the hurting of others? Empathy would be impossible if we had no relative experience. And it would be a very cruel world if there were a lucky few that could sustain happiness, while the rest of us merely scrapped for it. Thus, on each plane of validation, I find happiness to be a misguided focus. Our life goals would be much more promising if we could somehow affect our progress by making intentional choices that would move us towards our goal. Even in Latin, "felix," the root of the word "happy," refers to luck, a good omen, favorable fortune, or fruitful blessings. All of the word associations of "felix" refer to external and circumstantial concepts. The concept of happiness does not offer individuals a lot of dominion, and the manifestation of our missed attempts in our limited capacity results in dissatisfaction and self-demoralization.<br />
<br />
If this had not been convincing enough, I then evaluated my entitlement to happiness through the lens of my faith. Unfortunately, or not, God does not promise us the same rights to happiness as our government does. He speaks far more to the state of suffering, and the blessings therein. Joy, however, is mentioned quite often throughout the Text, yet this seems to be a fundamentally distinct experience to happiness. Also, joyfulness is certainly given distinction and included in the fruits of a follower of Christ, yet God has given His followers some very explicit goals and directions regarding His desire for us, which do not omit, but also do not specifically state joy or happiness. (I have taken a few liberties with verb tenses and pronouns as I have woven together a selection of verses to connect this concept. Verse references below.)<br />
<br />
This is the first and greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second is like the first: Love your neighbor as yourself. Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Cling to what is good. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For, these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. For, those that have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. Do not seek your own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. The redemption that He brought represents both His own love and that of the Father for the whole world. You are the light of the world...Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. So live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. For His is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.<br />
<br />
[Tit 2.7 + 2.14 + 3.8] [Mth 5.16 + 6.13] [Jhn 13.35] [Hbr 10.34] [Col 3.14 + 3.2] [1Tim 2.4] [1Cor 10.33 + 13.13] [2Ptr 3.9] [Rms 12.9] [Mrk 12.30]<br />
<br />
So, it seems that God would have us seek a life of love and goodness. Well, this just makes so much sense. If I am fixated on a life of love and goodness, I have immediately placed my life goals outside of myself. Selfishness and entitlement are perhaps the two most toxic poisons in our culture. In directing my heart towards a state of love and goodness, I have immediately accepted sacrifice, service, patience, and humility. I think the world could handle at least a few more people with intentions as these. Secondly, God's plan for the redemption of the entire world is just that--redemption for the entire world! A life of Goodness is available to all, at all times, in any circumstance. Happiness is contingent upon so many external factors, it appeared that success would only be granted to the "lucky few." God's plan is to offer redemption and reconciliation to the entire world, and his mean of accomplishing His plan is to give us the same charge.<br />
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The third improvement underlying God's desire for our lives is that we instantly receive true liberty to pursue our goals. With the gift of free will, we become the master's of our own destiny. Our heart's desire is no longer tied to the caprice of our emotions and the circumstance of our environment, but we can make decision--directed by goodness and love--that will grant us immediate and multiple successes within our journey. Our goals can be assessed day-to-day, or within a moment's waiver. When we mess up, as we will, we can be all-the-more convicted to align our thoughts and actions with the truest desire of our hearts the next time. Our utmost desire should be to love God by loving our world in pursuing Goodness, that they may see and know the love He has shown us, which also remains in Him.<br />
<br />
To be fair, those in pursuit of happiness often act in Love and Goodness regualrly. More than likely, they recognize a connection between this practice and their evaluation in their own pursuit--and this may offer fulfillment for a brief period. But as evidenced in the number of prescriptions for anti-depressants, the effects ware over time and disappointment and discontentment settle back in. "Goodness, for goodness' sake," is a strikingly different hue than "goodness for happiness sake." For, when the end has been mistaken for the means, the maintenance of doing good in order to be happy becomes a cumbersome burden. Mathematically, the equation is false. [Good+Love≠Happy].<br />
<br />
By shifting our focus away from the state of self and towards the embodiment of Goodness and Love, we take on the easy yoke. For in the pursuit of love and goodness, our intentions are pure. Our hearts are free from circumstance, and we have been given all authority to testify with the faith and works of Goodness and Love. And when we sense the blessings of our intentions, I believe full-heartedly that happiness will find us. Happiness is no longer the sum of our desires, but it becomes the byproduct. Perhaps the more true mathematical statements are [Goodness=Love=Goodness], where also [Love=Happiness×F^(∞)=Goodness]. And assuming the yoke of love, we no longer have to grasp and claw at dust in the wind, but in following closely the footsteps of the Rabbi--the greatest image of the Father's Love--the dust of the His sandals will coat us so thickly that we could not scrub the happiness from between our toes if we tried.<br />
</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
as always, thanks for stopping by.<br />
and quite appropriately, stay dusty.<br />
<br />
brittney*</span></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-63934204941559898452011-03-14T15:41:00.000-07:002011-03-14T16:02:13.589-07:00Freedom is Love: A Mathematical Proof Using Biblical Axioms<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">In honor of Pi <b>π</b> Day 3.14 [repeating]<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here is a (surely faulted, yet inriguing) Logical Proof using analytic proof and natural deduction to prove the relationship between Freedom and Love. I will work this over more in Excel, where I have access to mathematical symbols and representations, but I <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">wanted to get this posted today, so here it is in all its rawness and fallacy.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Proof:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Freedom is Love.</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Axiom Analysis:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> The Biblical Text (Statements/Confession, not Opinion)</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Axiomatic Statement:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If there is Christ, there will be freedom.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If(Christ)^Freedom</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Text:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">[Galations 5.1] </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">submit again to a yoke of slavery.</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></i></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Logic Statement:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When there is freedom, there is necessarily Christ.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(Freedom=Christ)</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Axiomatic Statement:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Christ is Jesus.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Christ(true)=Jesus(true)</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Text:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">[Acts 18.28 b] </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">...showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Axiomatic Statements:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jesus is the Way. Jesus is the Truth. Jesus is Light.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jesus=the Way, Jesus=Truth, Jesus=Light</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Text:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">[John 14.6] </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Logic Statement:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jesus is conversely the Way is Truth is Light. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jesus=the Way=Truth=Light </span></i></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Axiomatic Statement:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Word is necessarily Light.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Word=Light, however (Light=Word, or Light[\=]Word)</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Text</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">[Psalm 119.105] </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thy Word is a Light unto my path.</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Axiomatic Statement:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Word is God.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Word=God</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Text:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">[John 1.1] </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Word was God.</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></i></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Axiomatic Statement:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">God is Love.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">God=Love AND Love=God</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Text:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">[1 John 4.8] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Conclusive Statement:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jesus is God.</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If [(Jesus=Christ) AND (Christ=the Way) AND (the Way=the Word) AND (the </span></i></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Word=God)]^Christ=God</span></i><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 18.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Conclusive Proof:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 18.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Freedom is Love. </span><span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Arithmetic Representation:</span></b><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If[(Freedom=Christ) AND (Christ=the Way) AND (the Way=the Word) AND (The </span></i></div><div style="font: 12.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Word=God) and (God=Love)]^ (Freedom=Love)</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">FOLLOW THE LOGIC BRICK ROAD (backwards)...</span></b></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Jesus=Freedom-->> Jesus=Christ</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>|</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Christ=Freedom</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Jesus=The Way & Jesus=Truth & Jesus=Light</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>|</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Freedom=the Way=Truth=Light</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>The Word=Light-----</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> |</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>God=The Word------</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> |----->>God=Freedom---|</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Jesus=The Way=Light=The Word=God</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>|</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>God=Love-----------------------------------------|</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> ||</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> |||------>>>Freedom=LOVE</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Challenge all you know. Have faith in all you can't. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Stay dusty.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-53531834831782580662011-03-09T02:25:00.000-08:002011-03-23T08:36:14.184-07:00Like a Kite: Flight of Identity + Environment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I promised more. Funny how things just develop when we allow them to. I think Freud called it Free Association, but I call it FreeThink. If you are not really a Freud enthusiast, my sentiment may somewhat align with yours--the guy seems largely over-venerated. But I must say, I am totally a fan of this practice. So hang with me because here we go.<br />
<br />
Identity is a funny thing. We are supposed to have a strong sense of it, yet it is not concrete. Within the framework of Identity, lies a dynamic cord of change and evolution. We are all products of our tendencies, environments, and choices--and two of the three factors, we have little-to-no control over. When we go to battle in this world each day, we choose the banner we will fight under--for that banner is our identity, and worth our lives. ("His banner over me is love," anyone?). But how are we to recognize our banner when the whipping winds beat against our flag in a raging war parade, hiding the emblem that gives us our name?<br />
<br />
Abandoning pretension--how are we to understand the evolving nature of our identity?<br />
<br />
Well, I imagine a kite. Yup. Childish, I know. And quite a shift of metaphor, at that. But I love kites, and this seems to work for me.<br />
<br />
To begin, a kite soars with brilliance and majesty in high winds. A kite in flight, seems to function as a working (used as "functioning appropriately") identity. The winds of our environment act as the force that keeps a kite in flight. Yet in a moment, this same force can also send a kite spiraling towards its demise.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Greek mythology dedicates an entire team of gods to the shifting nature and awesome power of the winds. The four Anemoi (wind gods) are given sovereignty over the seasonal weather conditions--each residing in the realm from where their respective winds originate. Boreas blows a cold northern chill through the winter. The gusty blows from Old Man Eurus travel west across the Atlantic bringing warm rain and often a stoke of ill-fortune. Notus' deep, stormy whippings from the south usher in autumn and build anticipation of the fall harvest. And then Zephyrus, the messenger of spring, sends promises of renewal with his soft, gentle breeze from the west. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The elaboration of these four winds may seem a bit frivolous, yet this variation speaks to me when I equate the mood of the winds with the situations or circumstances in life. The four seasons embody clearly distinct climates, yet within each season, the environment also varies from day-to-day. Similarly, in life, we may identify a certain "season" as a cold winter's</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> frost, yet during the grey winter, the sun may and peek out, as if mimicking the groundhog, just to check if it is time to break from its hibernation. For neither </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">does life persist in a torrential, stormy autumn eternity, nor will it result in an everlasting </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">string of balmy spring days. Life parallels this seasonal mix with days spanning the spectrum from devastating to jubilant, and every shade of melancholy in between. Yet in each season, carried in by the breath of the winds, kites can fly. And in this realization, I am boldly reminded that the circumstances of our life do not seem to affect our kites ability to fly. Circumstances do affect us, but the success of our identity is not contingent upon the season. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <br />
To ground this analogy (No pun intended. Just kidding. Of course, "Pun intended."), the kite (which I see functioning like our identity) may sail through any of four the winds. Sure, the unpleasant whipping winds of Boreas are cold and may seem unbearable; but even so, their angry motion holds our kite up in the sky. And then the gentile Zephyrus graces our flight with subtly, and offers a chance to comfortably soar. This is the quintessential vision of a father and son flying kites at a park--a reassuring image and a comfort to follow the storms.<br />
<br />
Yet I would propose that these soft summer winds offer perhaps the greatest threat to our sailing kites. More so even than the rage in an autumn storm. So beware--because a grounded kite is not mostly the result of gusty blows. The spring may be the most pleasurable interval, yet this season's comfort can be artfully deceiving. Even in the blue-skied felicity, we can find ourselves, for lack of wind, fighting to stay in flight. And under the most unremarkable of circumstances, we may find that the subtle winds that granted us rest have suddenly died, and there is no wind to hold us in the air.<br />
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Yet, this is where the analogy really works for me. I see points of maintaining the flight of a kite that transition into practices that will allow us to maintain a strong sense of identity. Firstly, we must learn to read and interpret our environment. So often, we become comfortable sailing in the spring winds. We enjoy the blue skies and and ride easy in the passivity that often accompanies pleasure. Let me be the first to say--take in the blue skies. Breath deep the fresh, easy winds. Appreciate the halcyon serenity that finds you. This confirmed--do not become a latent kite, ignoring the indications of egress. For when, and if, the vitalizing winds die, how will your kite continue to fly? Will you fall victim to the caprice of the changing winds? Will the sudden stagnancy send you spiraling towards the ground? Or were you embracing the good flight, yet also continuing your good practices of assessing your surroundings. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Contrastingly, a raging storm, although frightening, rarely grounds an unaware victim. We know of the coming threat, are alerted to the building danger, and are diligent in finding safety. We are looking for the darkening clouds and listening for the coming rain and thunder. Yet peace often lends itself to latency. Therefore, even in the balmy rhythm of springtime, we must practice the same diligence, observation, and assessment of threats and coming danger. When in doubt, we seek a safety zone that will keep us in flight. Even in the sunshine, always seek the place where the leaves still rustle in proof of the wind and the wild flower continues to sway in humble submission. Then, when the wind dies down, or the storm becomes too violent, let the breeze move you there, where the winds will still hold you up.<br />
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Also, consider the parts of a kite and it's construction. A kite is designed to fly--not to swim or skim dry land. We, too, should pay mind to our composition and find the habitat that will allow us to function at our optimum. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, a kite has someone on the ground at the other end of our tether, helping direct our flight. Who do we trust to help maintain our line? A tree would probably not keep a kite sailing for too long. Nor would a 3-year old. If we are acting as the kite, we may choose the person that stands below us holding the spool of our line. I see the kite-flier as a mentor figure--someone primarily to offer a different perspective. Also, a mentor should be person that has an interest to see us fly and will invest in our well-being. And perhaps most importantly, we must find a confidant whom will use his discernment to offer us more slack on the line, or be willing to give a hard yank on our spool to keep us in air. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <br />
Now, the circumstance of flying a kite has a few stipulations. We need wind. We need an aerodynamic crafty construction. And the kite must be connected to a line that can be maneuvered from the ground. For, we do not classify releasing a loose diamond-shaped construction into heavy winds, "flying a kite." No...that is more appropriately termed "littering." A kite must have a line tying us to the ground. Sure, a kite without a string may float across swirling winds for a short time, but the changing winds will carry the unanchored sail far away from it's launch pad. And most frighteningly, the severed flight of a kite unhitched, will terminate in certain injurious grounding. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Without any rope to help reign in the momentum of a crushing descent, the inertia of a careless flight will only decrease the odds of repair. Resilience's is a gift to humanity, and there is much we can overcome, but the crash of a loose kite may be the equivalent of a totaled car. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In our lives, we should not ever trust that capricious winds will sustain the flight of our kites. We must remain connected and grounded. The earth will always be below us, and will forever be the launch pad of basic foundations of our flight. Even when we find ourselves meeting the dusty floor time and time again, our base is always available to see us off for another round. The gravity that pulls us back to the earth is the very law that makes the flight of a kite magical. The opposing forces of inertia, gravity and motion all result in a task that although rewarding, requires work.<br />
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Becoming us isn't easy, but then again, do we really have another option? A kite in a closet deserves to fly. Perhaps its time I regard the task of being me as an equal entitlement.<br />
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Well, thanks for reading. Be encouraged. Seek Good and do Love.<br />
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Stay dusty.<br />
Britt*</span></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-70051571154903461072011-03-04T20:43:00.000-08:002011-03-07T23:24:14.449-08:00To Do in Your 20s: Developmental Goals, Teased-Out as of Now<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Well, someone recently alerted me that in our 20s, the primary developmental tasks are to find a career, decide if we want to be with a life partner (and sometimes, who that partner is), and build a solid identity structure for who we are. Well, I have my work cut-out for me as the 3-decade marker approaches with rapidly increasing momentum. I remember when 30 seemed so far away. I had always envisioned myself adopting around age 30, married or not. But now (half-way to 27), I realize that I would have to start the process... eh... immediately. Not quite there. So--adoption agencies, you can call off the national alert. Stand down--I'm nowhere near filling out the paperwork. </span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But for me, all these goals ultimately reduced to "security." We want to know "What up" with life and how we are going to "get ours." Well, I don't have a career, nor a solid direction on that. No husband or vow of celebacy from me. And the identity deal, well, who really knows. So, I should have titled this post, "Brittney fails at everything Twenty." But I don't really believe that. And in my defense, I really wish someone would have told me I was supposed to be doing these things when I was on the starting-side of the continuum! Not really. All in good time. But I decided that these things would be good to consider, so I got me thinking. </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The career goals make sense, more or less. And that is pretty straight forward. However, I learned that I actually don't have any career goals presently. Ha. Fail. But, I am taking the reigns on this one and building some exciting ideas. I do know that, in my career I want to feel purposeful, be able to serve, have flexibility, always have the opportunity for learning and growth, and be a part of a community, of sorts. So nothing specific, but goals for when I get the specific-part angled down. To prove my commitment to this goal--because I actually have to work to care about it--I am currently taking a few aptitude+interest tests to get some direction (I think most people took these in high school or college. Whoops.) I also spent some solid hours on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. It was pretty helpful, actually. For anyone else considering career paths, the site is organized by area of education or interest. It then outlines specific job descriptions, field-requirement information, personality types within the field, salary information and industry trends. It was fun looking and fantasizing, but it also offered a dose of reality. You can check out the percent of the market pursuing certain careers, growing or shrinking markets, the expectations and lifestyles of certain jobs, and even the requirements and ladder-of-ascent within career paths. I can still say I am not really driven by any career accomplishments, although I do I have ideas, and I have considered a work environment I would to want and want to serve. </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Then we have the whole marriage thing. Probably a pretty important one to address, but I can honestly say, I have no clue if marriage is something I want. I just want life. I know that may seem idealistic, but really--whatever it is, I want it. Marriage seems like a really fun thing, to be sure. But then, romantic love seems confusing. However, I remain convinced that the real kind is actually simple. I don't know if my decisions/my life will lend itself to a life-friend/love/partner/husband, but for the first time, I am at least actually open to the idea (WEIRD). I honestly think I wouldn't lay heavy on the brakes, or take a quick detour to avoid "something" (friendship, etc.) where roads cross (a Quintessential Brittney-Maneuver). However, I am also not taking a road trip searching for Mr. Right (But, hey--where is Mr. Left, anyhow? I think he's my guy.). Anyhow, by that, I just mean that I am not avoiding those situations and opportunities where the whole boy-meets-girl scenario could happen. I feel peace in this place, and I think it has allowed me to find a freedom with myself. I am practicing a new communion with my friends that I could never quite grasp before, and I think it is related to this shift in attitude. I think the word is "Connect." You know, really let them in. Though I continue to seek God's wisdom before that of men, God really has me working my longitudinal relationships these days, and I am so excited about it. I need people, and in needing them, I am thankful for them. And in my gratitude, I find love for them. I am pretty sure this would help me be a better mate, too. No single person can fulfill your every need. There is no one that can have every conversation with you. But this is why God gave us community, along with family. So, I guess this all brings me to the point that I admit that I would like marriage. It really does seem rad. But I still can't be sure if I am willing to mark it as a goal. There are too many other things I want before marriage. What if I had to give those up? Thus, marriage remains on the To Do list, but more like the "Change my air filter" task. Not gonna hustle to get it done, but when it's time, and I have the opportunity to buy the right filter, I'll put in the work to trade-out. Time for some fresh air. </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And on that note, I find the savory meat of this post. This is the real reason I wrote. </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">***WHICH, became an entirely different post after I got started. So, here is the brief Identity Discourse picked up after I was done writing the first time.****</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But the next component of the triad is the identity goal. Identity. Hmmmm. And I thought the marriage-thing was heavy. Okay, although two sentences ago I referred to this goal as a component of the triad, two minutes have now passed, and I now give myself leave to retract that description. Identity is really not a part of the triad at all, I don't think. It is above it. Or between the triad. Or maybe it is the triad. I mean--what the hay is Identity, anyhow? </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Is it what we do? Most would say, "No." </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Is it who we are? Well, what does that even mean! </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">How am I supposed to grasp MY identity, if I can't even nail down the idea of Identity?</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Well, this helps me. (Warning: Pardon my nerd-ness. But the analogy gives me a strong sense of the composition of Identity.)</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As I see it, identity is like DNA. Our genetic make-up differentiates us from every other living creature. It seems only natural that the physiological composition of our identity parallels the larger concept of our metaphysical Identity. If it has been since fifth grade when you used the Punnett square to determine eye color, a little refresher of the functions of genes may be beneficial, and we may be able to dismantle a few misconceptions, as well. DNA and genetic identity are really incredible. DNA refers to the the protein structure of the genes that responds to our environment, influences our actions, and produces the neurotransmitters between synapses of our cells. Genes do not actually directly affect any phenotype or functions of the body, but they emit proteins and interact with other genes, which in turn affects hair color, eye color, and psychological tendencies. DNA is in every cell of our body, from the finger nail to the brain stem, instructing genes to turn off or on, depending on the cell's function. Therefore, identity (as paralleled to DNA) is not the actual cells that compose the mass of our bodies, but a common cord within each cell. To make this relevant, our finances, career, education, marital status, food choices, gym membership, etc. all make up who we are. These are the cells. People try to argue sometimes that these things aren't connected to our identity, but that never made sense to me. If I wasn't going to grad school, or if I ate very differently, or made a bunch-ola of money, I would probably kind-of be a different person. My composition would be different--the mass of my body, the cells, would be functioning differently. Yet the same sequence would be instructing the cells' maturation. When people talk about identity, it seems they always try to discount external circumstances or life choices, but I could just never buy that these things didn't also become part of my identity. But with this analogy, I can grasp the difference between what I am (my cells) and who I am (my DNA). For, identity is the message between our actions and possessions, forming the pieces of our life, which become the embodiment of our DNA. Therefore, identity is the common strand that makes us, well... us. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Yet, important to note, genes do not only determine the actions of cells and other genes; the relationship is reciprocal. As mentioned earlier, genes react with their environment. The result of the genetic function is that the choices we make can also affect the way we begin to make choices. So, although the actual sequence will remain the same, genes can begin interacting with other genes and proteins differently, thus producing a different composition. But again, only the cell mass and the function of the genome changes--the code you have had since birth does not. Therefore, cells/external circumstance do not make us who we are, but what we are. Cells are the construction, but Identity is the code that instructs how these things are built. So our choices affect how the embodiment of our DNA appears, but the trueness of each of us, is a code--a piece of everything we do, and the facilitator of our choices. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Today, I am on a quest--sequencing my genome and building up my cells to form the actual matter of my life. Yet, I will embrace all that I find. My gene profile may show tendencies towards preferable, or perhaps less agreeable traits, but either way, it is the code within me and I still choose. Genes tell us of our tendencies, but they do not eradicate free will. We can be whomever we want. We can pursue the very life we want to live. Therefore, in a quest for my identity, I am using my "very unique and never-changing genetic proclivity" to just be... me. </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">More to come on this, but from a totally different direction. I let the wind carry me. Went somewhere cool. Catch up with you soon.</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In the meantime, thanks for following my stream of consciousness. </div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And stay dusty.</div></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-67325198860575261902011-02-25T13:23:00.000-08:002011-03-03T23:12:08.224-08:00Hope, Perception, and Expectation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Three words: Hope, Perception, Expectation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Such huge ideas. Can any of us really fully understand the cause and function of hope? Or the formation of Perception and to what extent it represents reality? Or if Expectations are fair and how we are to know how to evaluate them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These are the questions that keep me up at night. I know my introduction sounds rather metaphysical or existential, but really--everyone else has these same questions. I process these firings in my brain through words adn writing, but others paint, draw, sing, or tell stories of these three muses. I don't know that I have ever heard a song that did not touch on one of these three. Every painting or piece of art is the created perception of the artist. And why even get out of bed, or take the time to live, if we have no hope. Thus, these three are central to the human condition. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Honestly, I don't think I would have ever denied the incredible power hope, perception and expectation all play in our lives, but what I have recently begun to discover is the bguiling and mysterious connection between the three. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beginning with hope. I think hope is the most wonderful gift humans have at their disposal. We can remain in our present state--whether wonderful or devestated--but still see something beyond our circumstance. Sure, the loss of hope can bring grief of uncomprehensible measures, but this is not necessarily all bad, either. And the potential dissappointment of unrequited hope should never be a deterrent in maintaining the silver lining. Yet, if we are to maintain hope, what are we to hope for? Many people have hopes and desires that--unless by the divine stroke of God's intervention--are just never going to happen. I can say, I have fallen victim to the hopeful illusion before. But I just didn't understand what we were supposed to base hope on. I have hope for heaven. And for redemption. And for a day when Good will reign for eternity. I mean, if I allow myself to hope for these things, that should certainly give me leave to hope for mere acceptance to my choice Grad School. Or that I will one day make it to Uganda. And it doesn't even seem so crazy to hope that someday I may find a friend to share life with. (WARNING: This is the DANGEROUS one.) Because, if we can hope for heaven, what would ever stop us from placing hope in every desire? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, this is where perception comes in to play. When trying to understand why some hopes seemed healthier, or more valid than others, I began to see a patter. Hopes thrown to the wind, with no string to draw the kite in, are empty and not tied down. An example would be (DON'T LAUGH--I'm being vulnerable!) my desire to be walking down the streets of New York, bump into a dashing gentleman in his thirties, and him look deep into my eys and ask me to coffee, where he would tell me all about his life as a director, and make me the star of all his movies. Ha. I know, ridiculous. I recognize that, but I cannot tell you how many times this scenario has played through my daydreams! So, here is the breakdown on why this is so completely unrealistic. I do not live in New York. I am way too aware of people to mindlessly clothesline somone. And I can't act. So, although the vision is romantic and appealing, is is in absolute contradiction to reality. To invest in this hope would be foolish. I do not fly to New York weekly and circle the blocks, looking for handsome gents to "bump" into. However, many people (to a far lesser extent) make these kinds of sacrifices for a hope, equally detached from reality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, why is Heaven okay to hope for? Well. We must look at the facts. Observe the past. Assess our perception. For me, heaven is a wonderful hope. But I see the evidence from my experience and my experience in my faith that has allowed me to perceive the promises of God as Truth. As reality. God promises a new earth. A heaven. I hope for this with each breath. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I am trying to get at is that a hope for heaven, as grand as it is, in my honest perception--my reality--is validated. In perceiving past experience (not imagined futures), I develop an honest perception. And then I take that perception to those in my world that I love and trust, and they help me see where my perception may be flawed or distorted. I then continue with my hope in hand. A solid hope. A healthy hope based on the honest perceptions of my experience. Granted, this method is still not full-proof. There is a risk involved in hope. But if your perception measures up and outweighs the risk, at least it was a risk worth taking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We will experience grief when the door closes on hope. But as difficult as grief may be, and as dark and cold and long as the tunnel appears, we must realize that with time, the light of hope will eventually resurface. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When hope enters our dark world, it illuminates all that it can reach, but it also cast shadows on what is hidden from its rays. These shadows are the places affected by our hope, yet left unnoticed because of the shadow. In these lurking places of our soul, we should evaluate our expectations. I have never been sure what I can expect from another person or from life. Without appearing too pessimistic, I have been dissappointed. But we all have. Unmet expectations could probably explain 99% of the world's problems. So--if expectations cause so many problems, what is their benefit? We should certainly use our perception assessment to evaluate our expectations. If the reality of the past continually does not meet the expectations we hold, then we should evaluate our satisfaction with the past. If we are happy and contented, perhaps we should not hold ourselves arbitrarily to such rigid expectations. Yet, if our past does not reflect peacefulness and happiness, we should probably work towards upholding our expectations. We can not control the actions of other people or events, but we can decide what we will allow and what investment we will make in the pursuit of our hopes and fulfillment of our expectations. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Simply, we may need to redefine our boundaries and commit to enforcing them. By restricting our investment, we are creating a reality where our expectations have the opportunity to be met. Boundaries are an interesting aspect of the triad. They function within each angle of hope, perception, and expectation. They reinforce the bonds between the three, keep us tied into ourselves, and keep us rooted to the reality that hope may allow us to forget. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall, i cannot imagine my life without hope. I find such peace and contentment in a place of healthy hope. I can find solace in today. I can be present in the present hour. And I can allow my imperfections, knowing that each day is another step toward the goodness that I am seeking. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for stopping by. Be Encouraged. Have Hope. And stay dusty. </span></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-9311506498501496432011-02-25T00:10:00.000-08:002011-02-25T00:17:18.054-08:00Yanomamo Ethnography as Basis for the Occurrence of Violence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As much as I value Napoleon Chagnon's comprehensive ethnography of the Amazonian Yanomamo Tribe and appreciate his incredible dedication to its development, I find less value in attributing cultural influences, alone, to the violence evidenced within the indigenous society. Of note, I do not think Chagnon claims allegiance to this assumption as singularly as many would mark him, but he certainly approaches his research from a sociological perspective. Although Chagnon's work has most often been referred to as a sociobiological ethnography, Chagnon's data collection techniques and anecdotal evidence represent the findings far more of a sociologist than a biologist, indication of a discrepancy from the proposed fusion. Resulting from Chagnon’s lack of scientific or hard evidence, I found myself unable to fully accept the inconsistencies and discrepancies which Chagnon underplays in his conclusions. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aside from his conclusions, Chagnon’s ethnography persists as a plethora of rich sociological material with unequivocal comparison or revolution. In a reduced summation of Chagnon’s proposed theory, the ferocity and violence among the Yanomamo is a result of cultural influences--such as: setting and substance, belief, and organization and kinship. To be sure, each of these factors do contribute to the continued brutality among the Yanomamo, but I would suggest that culture is not the root-cause of violence. Culture is a response to both human nature and substance. Therefore, such an ethnography offers incredibly valuable insight for the analysis and assessment of violence, but I would not attribute the same valuation to its data as a means for discovering the origins of violence. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Firstly, Chagnon begins his volume by developing the setting and substance of his culture. His thorough depiction, based on extensive observation of the Yanomamo across time and subgroups, develops the schemata by which to build his theories. Certainly, the separation of the Yanomamo, set in the Amazon and detached from modern civilization, influence the rate of change and progression within their society. Societies seem to function like centrifugal force--inertia propels motion around the same center point until an outside force disrupts the motion and causes a change in direction. With this analogy, a society will continue movement around a fixed point of equilibrium until outside influences necessitate or instigate a change. In the Amazon, a habitat with little change in environment and minimal exposure to outside influences will more than likely experience comparatively little change over a long period of time. This stagnancy creates a unique and highly established order within the social organization, as observed among the Yanomamo. The proposed stagnancy also creates the opportunity for great depth of knowledge of their environment, as the secrets of the forest are passed down through the generations. Thus, the Yanomamo are quite clever in the application of their wisdom. Their ingenuity creates a society of horticulturists with intense understanding of, and efficiency within, their environment. This aspect should not be underestimated. With these conditions and the Yanomamo's mastery over them, a culture of expertise, simplicity, and "luxury" commands. Also, the abundance of vegetation and the consistent climate of the Amazon contribute largely to the allowances of labor and abundant leisure in the daily lives of the people. Leisure does not negate the experience of need, pain, loss and toil; yet, the average Yanomamo probably does not experience near the daily level of stress as the average American. For me, the cultural sociological argument ends at this observation--Chagnon’s cultural evaluation requires nuerosociology to further develop this conclusion. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Suggestively, if throughout the day the average Yanomamo experiences little stress, he presumably sustains more "normal" levels of serotonin, a major chemical involved in the Fight-or-Flight Response. Spikes in serotonin stimulate an acute evolutionary reaction. In comparison, research tells us that the Average American lives in this state of survival, with dangerously high levels of serotonin emissions. As a result of sustained, high levels of this chemical (often related to stress), Americans have adapted their reactions to the spike, and although the brain is calling for a life-or- death response to outside stimulus, the adapted American has learned that this is just not necessary when your emails aren't loading fast enough. The bombardment of stress and stimulus in our environment creates far too many of these spikes to produce the evolutionary response at each signal of stress. However, the Yanomamo have, more than likely, retained the potency of this evolutionary mechanism. By way of limited exposure, occasional increased serotonin levels produced by a survival threat, could produce the intended evolutionary response. A comparative assessment to an American experiencing the same level of serotonin production, may cause us to perceive the response as intensified or violent. Yet this would only be our perception of the response. For if the Yanomamo response is more representative of the genetic/ chemical/ knee-jerk response to threatening stimuli, then violence reduces to a coping mechanism created by evolution. For, human nature is human nature. Perhaps this suggestion offers a better indication for the prevalence of violence among the Yanomamo. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Further surmising in evolutionary methods may help me to understand why serotonin levels specifically increase aggression, or why these levels spike under threats of survival, but this does not seem to be a fruitful pursuit at this point. The focus should remain on the identification of these responses, and then the continued adaptation of these responses to create more positive results. So this is where my investigation of setting and substance takes me. And although Chagnon's distinct assessment certainly increases understanding of the opportunity and agency for violence among the Yanomamo, I do not feel he adequately discerns the root causation or occasion (the input which ultimately tips the cost-benefit ratio in favor of violence) of Yanomamo violence. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In consideration of the occasion for violence, Chagnon does however suggest that the Yanomamo belief system gives rise to, and validation for violence. Firstly, a distinction should be drawn between the cultural aspects of religion or a belief system and spirituality. Spirituality is an individual experience that connects one to the collective, cosmic whole. Yet Chagnon’s research and the cultural analysis of religion evaluate both the development and existing structure of belief within a society. To digress, I do agree with Chagnon at this point of cultural influence, yet I see the relationship as inter-dependent, rather than contingent. Notably, many would argue a third alternative--that belief systems and religion supersede the structure of a society because the truths are transcendent, permanent, and evident. Yet, I find this argument to be completely unconvincing and impossible. If one were to observe any "one" religion in two distinct locations/cultures--whether across the globe or across the street--he would certainly find similarities, more than likely a fair number of doctrinal and practice parallels. Yet, significant discrepancies in interpretation, evaluation, and practice would lace his research. If the argument were true--that religion should somehow supersede culture--than the same religion would have the same affect on every culture. We know this to be untrue. Therefore, even religion is subject to the same influences that society incurs. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To pursue Chagnon’s observation even farther, religion (or a belief system) not only creates and validates violence, but religion also fits into the argument for evolutionary sociology. Unaddressed by Chagnon, structured and communal belief systems fulfill a very real need among humanity for security--the evolutionary promise of survival and progeny. Religion provides the structure and validation for certainty. Structure gives us a sense of predictability, which makes us feel that we can control our future, rather than fall victims to it. Also, humans need to be validated in their utility- -again, associated with security. For example, a useful employee in the office will more than likely have a higher job-retention rate than a useless employee that offers little in their employment. Security, as it relates to violence, creates the need for religion. Religion, in turn, validates acts of aggression and violence because the motivation can be attributed to cosmic or spiritual conviction. So, man created religion within their society as a means of achieving purposeful unity within a society--perhaps at times, a political exploitation of an intrinsic human need in pursuit of control. And just as religion often defines certain aspects of culture, religion falls subject to the influence of evolution and human need. Therefore, although there are very salient circumstances in which Chagnon characterizes the Yanomamo’s belief system’s culpability in acts of violence, his conclusion again leaves wanting for lack of a deeper rabbit hole. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another aspect of the Yanomamo culture, the societal organization and kinship ties, most definitely reinforce the violence created by substance and nature. In understanding the structure and relationships within the Amazonian tribes, Chagnon goes to great length to formulate complex genealogies and hierarchal diagrams to illustrate his observations. Chagnon fervently explores the violence instigated over women--trading, lusting, kidnapping, etc. Battles since the stone-age to the modern era, to the timeless age of the Yanomamo have been fought over the relationship of male and female. However, the simple observation that raids and violence are the result of kidnapping women, or a need for more women, seems deficient. Of course, men (collective) want women (pl.)-- they want a lot of them. Conversely, women (collective) want man (s.). One man. And not just any man, but the best. The mutual desire is apparent, yet many people fulfill this desire without violence. Chagnon’s conclusions lack the cost-benefit evaluation of when and why violence is chosen. Also, his speculation about violent males, the unkari class, and their statistically increased probability for mating, seems fruitless. The data, which is the basis for this hypothesis, is unsubstantiated and varies among sub-groups. Perhaps a deeper look into the evolutionary motivations behind violence would validate Chagnon’s claims in a way that his research has suggested, yet failed to evidence. For there is no doubt that disputes over women has created confrontation and aggression throughout history, but the value does not seem to be in the conclusions of Chagnon’s theory. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The value, per my assessment, should point towards action, not a dead-end statement. Where can humanity move from Chagnon’s conclusion? Should men just care less about women? This is obviously perverse, and certainly not Chagnon’s assumption. But I do believe this personifies the danger in using such data to discover the source of violence--shouldn’t the source point us towards some solution? If a pipe is leaking, you follow the hose from the end until you find the leak. Once you find where the source of the problem is, you do not resolve with just knowing the location of the leak. You fix it. Seemingly, this same logic would function in the investigation of violence. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, a point in favor of Chagnon’s work--I see great potential for a broader understanding of violence. Understanding fosters compassion and honesty. And in all fairness, an honest representation seems to be Chagnon's ultimate goal. To understand the circumstances under which violence becomes the choice method for evolutionary efficiency, is to build a catalogue of experience that can function alongside our intuition. The problem, however, remains that throughout time, violence has proven to be an effective tool for meeting our needs. Otherwise, evolution would have weeded-out this mechanism long ago. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thus, only classifying and evaluating observations, as Chagnon has done in his ethnography, we are limited by the tools we have been exposed to. Consider Ariel in the Little Mermaid--she had never seen a fork. She, actually, had heard of a "thingamabob," but had never seen it used for its intended purpose. At dinner with Prince Alex, she brought her soup bowl to her mouth to eat, and began using the fork as a brush. Using only her past experience, she was unable to appropriately use the tools at her disposal. Chagnon would certainly admit that his research on the nature of violence is by no means comprehensive, but he offers another layer of understanding. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Humanity, depravity, and benevolence are such complex experiences--no single method or interpretation could ever contain the whole of these matters. The value of Chagnon’s work is not to be a comprehensive theory of violence, but his research broadens our perspective of humanity. His life work does not ultimately offer any defined solutions or fortified origins of violence, and we are again left without an answer. But we may use Chagnon’s contributions with discretion and continue further assimilation, interpretation and application in hopes of someday understanding the darkness within.</span></span></span></span></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-37333508865142877892011-02-15T00:16:00.000-08:002011-02-16T11:41:19.790-08:00The High Courts of Love + The 14th of February<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><u>Note:</u></strong> I have chosen to arrange this post so that the historical background of St. Valentine's Day appears before my personal discourse and discovery of the Day for Love. If you are less interested in the data, and would prefer to just observe insight from another perspective, I would suggest scrolling down to just below the <em>Roses are Red</em> poem to the paragraph beginning, <em>"So I am not sure any of this work..."</em></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgSiTkWPcNazEFWKymmRGHUAKoz3P82W2ReHca717v7UdtMq-0LHvTyEzaRxZtpeZAn7JBRRals3AQyVY-Ms3AvXDbFBDdYRHDZeh-aiS9mqtbagfEFL4bcZTSaLMWUo80FmK-bh2wA-0/s1600/Valentine_Postcard_43902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgSiTkWPcNazEFWKymmRGHUAKoz3P82W2ReHca717v7UdtMq-0LHvTyEzaRxZtpeZAn7JBRRals3AQyVY-Ms3AvXDbFBDdYRHDZeh-aiS9mqtbagfEFL4bcZTSaLMWUo80FmK-bh2wA-0/s1600/Valentine_Postcard_43902.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whichever point you find yourself on the continuum of St. Valentine's Day sentiment, I do not believe a heart exists outside of, or beyond, its spectrum of influence. Sure, many see only the bad, and those of such opinion may readily contest my belief. Yet, I would remind the skeptics that negative associations remain to be emotions, and humans have yet to discover how to avoid the affects of emotion. Thus, Cupid's arrow still carries the sting, and his arbitrary target practice renders February 14th an annual excuse to disdain love. But why let the American commercialization of yet *ANOTHER* holiday control the possiblity or mask the opportunity for something good? For me, I had just lost contact with what the day was purposed to acheive. It can't be all bad (as much as I think that would be easier), so I went on a quest to redeem the chubby cherib. As [almost] always, I googled it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">For starters, who is Mr. Valentine? Well, there are actually 2 known martyrs of this appelation: St. Valentine of Terni (AD 197) and St. V. of Rome (AD 269). However, by the time these two Casanovas were linked to the romance of 2.14, they had become one memory. Not much is known of Val, except that he/they was/were buried on the Via Flaminia on the day we now celebrate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So, how did these two young chaps get hooked up on the love train? The historical data, as it relates to the romantic tradition, actually presents a sketchy link. Yet, as the origins of V-day, the subject remains worthy of consideration. The medeival acta, or "acts" of the saints appear in the haiographical <em><strong>Legenda Aurea</strong></em> [a.k.a.: <strong><u><a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/">The Golden Legend</a></u></strong> (<em>the G.L.</em> from here on), circa 1260 AD, is the Medeival equivilent of today's Harry Potter or Twighlight series--the "everyone-and-their-mother has read/loved/watched the movie/bought the T-shirt" fad. However, instead of twisting tales of vampiers, warewolves and witchery, the G.L. records the fanciful accounts of the Saints as an anthology.] Anyhow, the historical records state that Val was a Christian who came into contact with the Roman Emperor Claudius II. Claud kind of liked Val, so the Emporer tried to convince Val to convert to pagaenism in order to save his life. Val wouldn't concede, and in reply, he offered an audacious presentation instead, trying to convert Claud to Christianity. Well, Val's "Come to Jesus" session didn't sit so well with Claud, who was not exactly enthused by Val's blatant disrespect. And immediately, Claud called for Val's execution. Suggestively, while awaiting his death, Val healed the blind daughter of his jailer. A seemingly random point, but the significance ties in to the story at a later crossroad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So, those are the key points as recorded in <i>the G.L</i>., commonly accepted to be largely representative of historical fact. As for the modern romantic connection, we can attribute to the great "historical investigations" of American Greetings. As posted on the <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day">history.com website</a> (submitted by none other than American greetings), we read the story of a harsh Roman Emperor Claudius II who would not allow his soldiers to marry because he believed they would be less-effective warriors. The love-crazed St. Valentine believed so faithfully in love, that he would secretly officiate the marriages of the soldiers. When Claud discovered this treason, he ordered Val be put to death. And then, while imprisoned before his execution, St. Val fell in love with the jailer's daughter, who would come to visit him everyday leading up to his death. The day of his execution, February 14th of the 2nd or 3rd century, St. Val allegedly wrote the first "valentine" to Miss Jailer's Daughter, signing the note, "From your Valentine..." Thankfully,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"> history.com concedes the potential mysticism of this lore, a legend that most-certainly romanticizes the tale of a Christian martyr. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">From the 3rd century A.D., no St. Val romantic reference appears in literature until the 14th century, A.D., when Chaucer ushers in the use of the Saint's Day in reference to a season when birds meet to find their mate. The poem, <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=UfhKAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Parlement+of+Foules&source=bl&ots=GEEKxuln3U&sig=xvKN1PqYogPlveI1aGM5fah8fuA&hl=en&ei=SytaTeqbIcLytgfFzuXPCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false">Parlement of Foules</a></i>, was commissioned for the wedding of the 15-year olds, Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia. Cute. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-J1K_khrB7wo_8QfpYEbv0yrCrZ4sfHdxbrWYdjFxILeR41IHSAfy-igmFUuIuROJsifZ9LmCYxhWWZu_oXkAGwdgsPkhJN-AqujPDp9uTmbWcB3FBocHoklnoGamgOxySFmp5s3YNs/s1600/Chaucer_Hoccleve.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-J1K_khrB7wo_8QfpYEbv0yrCrZ4sfHdxbrWYdjFxILeR41IHSAfy-igmFUuIuROJsifZ9LmCYxhWWZu_oXkAGwdgsPkhJN-AqujPDp9uTmbWcB3FBocHoklnoGamgOxySFmp5s3YNs/s320/Chaucer_Hoccleve.gif" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">Now, the connection has been made. France becomes the center of the world during the Early Renaissance and Enlightenment Periods. The world comes together in Paris and explores life, learning and love. On St. Valentine's Day in 1400 A.D., the High Courts of Love are established in Paris. The special court deals with matters between lovers, betrayal, and the abuse of women. Interestingly, the judges in the courts are elected by the women. And the basis of their selection, a poem submitted by applicants. These poems came to be known as, Valentines. The earliest surviving record of such a Valentine is scribed by Charles d'Orleans from the 15th century who was being held in Captivity in England. His submission was a poem for his wife, and in French, it reads:</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Je suis desja d'amour tanné</span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ma tres doulce Valentinée...</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Charles d'Orléans, Rondeau VI, lines 1–2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The proliferation of this idea lead to an onslaught of literary references, and soon, the idea of Valentine's Day as a special day for lovers became tradition. An interesting note, we are all familiar with, "Roses are red. Violets are blue...," but the origins of this poem are actually from Edmond Spencer's, The Fairee Queen. The original text reads...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>"She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew,</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew."</em></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grammar's Garland Nursery Rhymes took off on this epic piece of literature and offers us,<br />
<br />
<i>The rose is red, the violet's blue<br />
The honey's sweet, and so are you<br />
Thou are my love and I am thine<br />
I drew thee to my Valentine<br />
The lot was cast and then I drew<br />
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.</i><br />
<br />
So, I am not sure if any of this work has acted to redeem or expose the origins of the Holiday for the Heart, but for me, I think I am ready to reclaim St. Valentine's Day, fable or fact. I do tend to question tradition--and not to rebel against tradition alone for rebellion's sake--but so that I do not forsake the richness and fullness of its origins. To take a retrospective glance reveals the rose-scented road that has brought us to dancing teddy bears and kiss-print boxers. This discovery liberates me to decide for myself whether, or not, this is an occasion I will accept, reject, or choose to redeem.<br />
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And the verdict. For me, I think this one may take some intentional redemptive measures, but I am none-the-less confident it can be done. Over the years, I have bounced between being <i>jaded</i> (wearing black on Feb. 14), <i>rebellious</i> (Single's Awareness Day! YAY!) and/or <i>compensating</i> (Jesus is my Valentine--true, but not legitimately the spirit of the day). As for today, I will choose to redeem. Because Valentine's Day IS a day for lovers. So, although I have no such attachment in 2011, I can recognize the holiday each year, but without feeling any pressure to compensate or yield.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think of it like this. I am not Muslim, so I do not feel the need to participate in the fasts of Ramadan. Yet, I also feel no need to criticize, react, nor justify my absence in the festivities. Conversely, I am a person who loves God and Jesus. There are many days which carry a special significance to my faith. Passover, for example. Although I am thankful for the covenant between God and Abraham every single day, the Passover feast is a special time for me to fully embrace the gift of God's goodness. I just imagine a young boy in Jerusalem, participating in the ceremonies of the sacrificial lamb for the first time. Passover would be a yearly festival known to the young boy since his birth. Yet on this year, the festival carries unprecedented excitement, honor and significance--an experience that will hang heavily in his heart until the day of his death.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For me, I think I would like to look at Valentine's Day as such. No red balloons or boxed chocolates for me right now, but that is perfectly okay. I am presently not of station to participate in V-Day, but just as the young boy experiences the the yearly festivals since birth, his waiting period does not spoil his anticipation with shame or resentment, but he can cherish the day that he should be the one to bring the family sacrifice to the altar. Even now, I can see the goodness, and one day, if/when it is my turn to "carry the lamb to the altar," I will be ready to meet the occasion with steadfast joy and profound understanding and humility.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, my charge to the <i>Beyonce Crew/Single Ladies</i> and the <i>Bachelors 'til the Rapture</i>--time for us all to sluff-off the shame+guilt associated with not appearing on Cupid's hit list, and maybe even be thankful for another year of escaping the crazy, toxic venom of Chunk's arrows. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fUwjmuA_xMJwUdcpgCi4WjcUGZcAl3QUJOXiZiu8GwtZTQAaFdE29y3OcKL397XuMX6s54Xcb9bFzbcftFu_sQZVVm23vHR5ly8oPxac8UvZrOIO581end8MaDO75z6B1Qwt7rZPXPE/s1600/424px-My_Dearest_Miss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To all my <i>Romeos and Juliets, Ferdinands and Isabellas, Guineveres and Lancelots, Edwards and Bellas,</i> <i>Bennifers</i> and <i>Brangelinas</i>--<i><b>equally</b></i> time to stop taking for granted the goodness of Valentine's Day by cheapening it with false love or gifts not worthy to be brought to the altar. To bring back the metaphor, families would literally spend an entire year's wages just to bring a worthy sacrifice to the temple--all in hopes of begging God to remember their covenant. The promises of their faith rested in their traditions. Imagine the streets of Jerusalem perverted with paper cut-outs of lambs and pigeons and cotton-stuffed animals that perhaps even sing the scriptures. Impossible. But if the Jews forget the origins of their traditions, perhaps this possibility becomes plausible, and even logical, considering the costs. Yet, what a profound detriment tied to the loss of the heritage of such rituals. And if the annual sacrifice could be purchased at a market on your way to the altar--with little, or no, effort and from only an hour's wages--would the redeeming covenant retain its potency? Suggestively, perhaps the real "gifts" of St. Valentine's Day have been muffled in the convenient markets filled with paper cut-outs and plush toys masquerading as the true gifts, leaving the Lover's Day empty or cheapened. </span></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span> <br />
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Perhaps when the brokenness of Valentine's Day is restored, all hearts can be truly filled on February the 14th--either through God's gift of romantic love, or the hope found in God's love for romance.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Thanks for stopping by. Happy Valentine's Day. Stay dusty.</div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-9663444828230959972011-02-11T19:53:00.000-08:002011-02-11T23:40:09.564-08:00I Take my Hands Off it: You Build and Destroy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My mom actually sent me this article about 3 weeks ago (excerpt at bottom of post). I printed it, and it has been in my "To read when i can breath" file ever since. Well, isn't that just like God. For today, when I desperately needed a breath, He had already provided. The faithful worlds of another soul in the kingdom provided me an access point for learning in my own life. A few weeks ago, I read a wonderful, yet simple book, <u>The Whole-Hearted Life</u>. Not my typical read, but I am so thankful for the gift it has been to me. The author of the book is actually a Shame Researcher. Correct. She researches shame. Sounds depressing, I know, but her profound experience with shame--its causes, effects, and power-- actually lead to her understanding of what comprises a full, happy life. She interviewed hundreds of participants over a a period of years, had them self-rate their happiness, and combined her own session notes to achieve her data. Through a series of interviews and analysis, she recognized some very central commonalities among the group of people who lead happy lives. These commonalities breached: race, social class, occupation, gender, and even religion. I learned a lot from the book, as far as some more intentional techniques to weave good practices into my daily life, but I was also encouraged to find that I had been doing many of these things already. So--<i>What are they?</i> you may ask. Well, I will tell you, but to understand what these terms mean (she has constructed very intentional definitions in her book), taking 4-5 hours to understand them would certainly be worth the effort.<br />
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<b><i>Compassion</i></b> is huge. This comes almost directly from her shame research, but true compassion is not lying, "buttering someone up," minimizing, hyperbolizing or attacking. Compassion is meeting someone with honesty, while validating their need and pointing them towards reality and calm. A great way to do this is to share an experience and become vulnerable, as well. This creates a special bond between the two--for they share in the wonderful and overwhelming experience of humanity. A key point here is to know who you can trust to show you compassion. It would be unwise to seek compassion from someone unable to give it. No good would come from bringing your shame and vulnerability to someone who does not have enough care and concern to meet you in your weakness and see you through it. With this understanding, it is equally unwise to publicize such need for compassion. I do not discourage "publication" in the sense that one should hide his insecurities, but if you throw your needs to the wind, prepared for the wind to sweep them away. If some sparrow does happen to pass overhead and take hold of your offering, perhaps the semblance of compassion satisfies, but the sparrow will more than likely continue its flight, and your need for validation will remain unfulfilled. The truth is, we all have needs and we all feel inadequate at times, but to try to fill up with "false compassion" leaves your heart like an empty malt ball. Such a bummer. It looks good, and the chocolate is nice, but you wanted the malt part. Surely you have experienced this before! Because when you take a bite, there is only air! Looked like a malt ball; felt like a malt ball; came in a malt ball box. But is a malt ball a malt ball without the malt? (How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck... haha) Anyhow... the malt ball is empty, and you are still left with your hurt. Better to develop real relationships that where the compassion is symbiotic. Promise. :) To illustrate this, just a few days after reading this chapter, I was handed an opportunity to practice what I had read. I focused on not minimizing how real the situation seemed to my friend, I shared a similar experience of frustration, and we were able to laugh about our freak-outs. And guess what--it worked?!?! :) God blessed me. This encouragement gave me the motivation to keep reading.</span><br />
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<b><i>Boundaries</i></b> are important. When you feel taken advantage of, it is difficult to feel positively about your actions. Understanding your limits with honesty and communicating those to your environment, and following through with your needs even works to form stronger bonds when you sometimes have to say, "No." Resentment and obligation are difficult emotions to push out, and often, when unresolved, they poison the goodness that your initial desire to please intended to access.<br />
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<b><i>Gratitude</i></b>. I always felt like I was a thankful person, but this is different. My conversations with God no longer end or begin with, "Thanks for my amazing family. I know they love me. Thanks for my incredible friends; I love our community." These are CERTAINLY things to feel thankful for, but EACH DAY I am waiting for God's special little gifts. I realized that when I really feel thankful for a gift that someone has blessed me with, I want to bless them also. A very special bond forms through gratitude, and I see this as one of the most transforming ways I can remain connected to God. Today, I am looking for the gifts. A gorgeous, sunny day is a gift, and sometimes I can truly be thankful for it, but my gratitude has more become the connections or experience that dramatically move my soul. Example: Today, I met a man at Wal-Mart--he was asking for donations. He was part of a ministry for recovering drug addicts. He said a lot, actually, but one thing he definitely said was, "I don't do this because the ministry needs money, or because I am even expecting donations. But when I walk into the world every day and can share the love of God, my hearts pulses and my spirit sings the grace that I can claim in Christ." I am pretty sure that is verbatim; for his testimony is inscribed on my heart and still rings in my ears. He also went on to say that people don't believe addicts can change. By confessing to people every day the grace and love of LORD, he was able to remind himself of the joy he has found. Amazing man. His name is Selby. We will be praying for each other for one month. Thank you, LORD. Your face shines upon me.</span><br />
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And--then there is <b><i>play</i></b>. I am actually pretty good at this, if I do say so myself. BUT, it was wonderful to hear that this is actually a key component to a full life. :) I think there are times when my play has been viewed as irresponsible or unnecessary, but actually, we need to play and create! Whether music, photography, scrap-booking, acting, woodworking. Lord God is Creator, and being formed in His image, it is only natural that we should have the desire to create (and procreate, I might add! But that is for a different post!).<br />
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Finally, <b><i>spirituality</i></b> is inextricably important--perhaps even the glue. A belief that we are all connected and part of something facilitates the possibility for all other factors of joy. In life, everyone is looking for purpose, and the need for purpose comes from a need to be validated or valued. This need points directly to love. We all are desperately looking for love. Well, Selby found it. I think/know that I have found it. And even in the times I choose the lesser or when I close my heart to the love that has been offered, there love remains, waiting. An out-streched hand. A peaceful stream. <i>Shalom.</i> (by the way... <i>Shalom</i>--<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Definition</span>: as His will be done. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Translation</span>: everything exactly as God wills it.) An opportunity to fall within His will awaits me.<br />
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So, that being said, here is the excerpt that really moved me to post. It is from Churchianity (Full article on <a href="http://inthedustofhissteps.blogspot.com/p/featured-finds.html">Featured Finds Tab.</a>) Worth the read.<br />
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<i><b>It will not be enough for you to then say: "Lord, the Church belongs to You, not to me, not to anyone. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Now I see my mistake. I take my hands off of it, for it is not mine to control or run. I repent of trying to build what you wish to destroy, and destroying what you wish to build. </span>What am I, Lord, but a little stone, a little sheep, a little member of a wonderful Body of Believers? You are building Your Church, and now I will let you do it. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">At last I see. Only let me find a quiet place to serve You and serve Your people in secret, for I want nothing else for me, but all of it for You."</span><br />
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All the arguments in the world will not convince people, nor should we attempt to make people see. Simply allow them to see.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"> Look upon the face of Him who sees things as they are so that others may look into your eyes and see Him as He is.</span> God will grant us a discerning heart and eyes to see and hear if we will ask Him for such holy things, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">and if we are willing to accept both the joy and the burden that accompanies such a revelation.</span></b></i></span><br />
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</i></b> Thanks for stopping by. Stay dusty.</span><br />
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</div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-28142961105395178172011-02-10T02:07:00.000-08:002011-03-13T18:07:26.790-07:00The Special Two, Missy Higgins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_481332408"></span>Okay, so I like Missy Higgins. Fair enough. Also, the girl rocks. This one I am not playing (obviously), but it took me around 6 months to learn the other one (I don't play the piano), so I used a karaoke track.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hope this doesn't come across as indulgent. I am just having fun with it. I love these songs--although, kind of wish my sister would sing them. But I'm all I've got for now. ha. okay... The Special Two, Missy Higgins.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=inthedustofhissteps&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00092ZM84&fc1=E9DB63&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=D38846&bc1=000000&bg1=423939&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-70828156681086739202011-02-06T16:33:00.000-08:002011-03-13T14:41:25.236-07:00This is a first. Nightminds by Missy Higgins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Soooo.. not my typical post. I just learned I have a video on my computer! ha. i'm a little behind, to say the least. This is Nightminds by Missy Higgins. Don't go listen to her right away--I don't hold a stick! But this is sometimes what happens as a result of "inclement weather conditions." I haven't sung "in front of people" since high school, so here's to regaining my youth! ha. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enjoy. Thanks for stopping by. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=inthedustofhissteps&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00092ZM84&fc1=E9DB63&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=D38846&bc1=000000&bg1=423939&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-12789635676062922742011-02-06T16:17:00.001-08:002011-02-06T16:17:22.423-08:00A spider chooses to spin her web.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ntrigued by anonymous’s comment, I went researching. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As proposed: Spiders choose to spin a web.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But why? Well, every species (including homo sapiens) are coded with a genetic propensity towards survival. There is a collective drive and an individual drive. The collective, for example, creates the phenomenon of “society” or “community.” Humans have learned over the years that survival is much easier when we do not have to generate every resources necessary to survival. I did not grow all that is in my refrigerator and I did not build the house I live in. I trade for what I need with the resources that my life (and life choices) produce. On the other hand, the individual drive to survive causes circumstances such as inter/intra-communal violence and aggression. Our instinct to push our DNA into the future generations holds such force that species are willing to take offensive action for the protection of this intrinsic impulsion.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With such germane tendencies, species learn to adapt to their environment in order to assure survival. Over multiple generations, the benefactors of preferred genetic mutations pass on their adaptations to their offspring. Those that posses the genetic “upper hand” are more likely to survive, thus more likely to procreate. Thus, the process of evolution has allowed for each species to develop a “tool kit” of genomic and phenomic capabilities that increase the opportunity of progeny. The human thinks. The eagle flies. And the the spider spins its web. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To return to the proposed choice of a spider and her web, a little data on the process of webbing draws a few potential parallels. Firstly, The spider spins a web to catch food--naive insects who tangle in the sticky web. The thread of the spider’s web is quite the evolution--its strength, elasticity and gummy properties, if reproduced by humans with a girth of 3 cm, could stop a Boieng 747 mid-flight. The production of this thread takes place in several glands on the upper abdomen. Each gland produces a thread for a special purpose. There are seven different known glands. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of note, each spider possesses only some of these glands and not all seven together.</span></span></i></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To spin her web, normally a spider has three pairs of spinners. Although, some spiders have just one pair and others, as many as four. Just as each gland serves a special purpose, each spinner has it own function. Within the spinners, there are small tubes connected to the glands. The number of tubes can vary between 2 and 50.000.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And, how is this web constructed? The most difficult part is the construction of the first thread--a sturdy horizontal thread on which the rest of the web hangs. But how does the spider connect this thread between the two connecting points? She can not fly. Does she connect a thread at one place, walk down with an enrolling thread behind her to the other side where pulls the thread horizontal and connects it?</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No, the answer is more simple. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She makes use of the wind and some luck.</span></span></i></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The wind carries a thin adhesive thread released from her spinners while making the thread longer and longer. If she is lucky the thread sticks to a proper spot. Then she walks carefully over the thread, strengthening it with a second thread. This is repeated until the primary thread is strong enough. Spinning a web takes a lot of time and energy. The process almost completely drains the spider, so once complete, she must sit and wait for her meal. She has done her work--hopefully chosen a prudent location, spun her web with care and attention, and courageously utilized her resources to work for her survival. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I am aware that courage and fear are concepts which a spider simply could not understand, but there is no denying that the spider experiences something like emotions--fear, specifically. When in danger, spiders may bite or spin a web or run away. They will use their bodies’ physique and genetic make-up to escape danger. Human, however, may be more complex in some ways and perhaps less complex in others. When humans are “in danger,” or are struggling with emotions perhaps unattainable to a spider, we have no way to spin a web from a silky thread, or bite with poison to numb our adversary, but we do have other tools--our brains being the most significant. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I have not dealt with so many aspects of the spider and her web, and perhaps I will revisit this topic at another time. But for now, the most salient parallel I see between the choice of a spider and human sovereignty over fate, is that we are both coded to survive, and there are an incalculable number of factors that threaten this intention in both environments. Yet, we also both have a very unique set of tools. We don’t just disappear or become invisible when threatened, but we can choose to use our instincts, spin the appropriate thread, take the first leap, wish for luck and a good wind, get to work spinning, and then learn patience as we await the results of our labor. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thanks for the comment, Anonymous. You made me think. I am blessed. </span></span></span></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-88056627594518227132011-01-25T22:00:00.000-08:002011-01-25T22:00:48.354-08:00Nature vs. Nurture: Who decides?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Scientist, psychologist and sociologist alike would agree--we are all a product of nurture vs. nature. In a course I am currently taking, <i>Violence and Human Nature</i>, this concept has been heavily reinforced. Scientists can predict with 99% accuracy, the 8-year olds that will be displaying violent behaviors by age 18. Cynical? Perhaps. But with odds such as these, the profile is difficult to ignore. The terms for such identification are based on race, family structure (nurture) and specific genetic profiles (nature), composed of variations on about 27 genes. The age-long debate surrounding such profiling revolves around the fear attached with such arbitrary profiling. The argument is that humans are not robots. Although influenced by, we are neither controlled by fate nor circumstance, even if science seems to prove otherwise. The hope is that humans are still the deciders of their own fate. And the fear is that perhaps we are not. </span></span></div><div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 25.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yet, in the midst of both lofty and depressing presentations of the human, I cling to hope. For, the gorilla may not be able to change his fate. His environment coupled with his genome will determine the kind of life he will live. And his influences are as inextricable as ours. Yet, the human brain has undergone such extreme evolution that has developed our frontal lobe to be able to think about abstract concepts, analyze sensory input, and assess value decisions. This ability sets us apart from the gorilla in a way that our DNA composition may never reflect. Suggestively, this development has offered humans an out. </span></span></div><div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 25.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Consider the 2002 movie, <i>Minority Report</i>. A new technology has been developed that is able to offer evidence of a murder before it happens. Precogs, humans exposed to certain chemicals at birth, have violent "previsions" of murder. These images are extracted and saved under case files. In decoding the evidence of the murder, the Pre-Crime unit investigates the case, hoping to be able to identify the location and identity of the murder. Before he murder. Using this technology, the Pre-Crime unit convicts citizens before they are able to commit their crime. For a year, the city survives without a single murder. However, a turn of the events predicts that the lead investigator, John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise), will commit murder. Notably, the Precogs do not "predict" murder, they actually see events yet to occur. Yet a circularity develops as Anderton discovers his pending crime. He steals one of the Precogs, to eliminate evidence and assist his investigation to track his victim with the hopes of proving his innocence. As the plot leads Anderton on a renegade search, Anderton finds himself at the apartment of his victim. No one appears to be there, so he breaks in to find it empty, except for a bed and a briefcase with hundreds of pictures of children. The eerie mood, mixed with Anderton's frantic rummaging through the photos leads the audience to realize that the murderer of Anderton's son and wife several years prior must live here. And then, Cruise sees a picture of his son. He mourns over the picture, as he bares the emptiness that his son's death has left him. But his cries quickly turn to hate. A wild and powerful rage. At this point, murder is within him. And the very quest which leads Anderton to prove his innocence, fabricates perhaps the only circumstance under which Anderton would commit murder. He waits for the owner of the apartment. And as the keys jingle at the door, Anderton is imminently a victim of his predetermined fate. The man enters, shocked to see Anderton. And as Anderton begins to pull the trigger, the Precog offers him hope. She tells Anderton that he is not bound by fate, for he has the knowledge that others did not have. He can choose another outcome.</span></span></div><div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 25.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In light of the earlier discussion, this sentence rings such hope in my heart. The very capabilities humans have developed or been given that allow us to decide, offer the power to overcome our influences. For we may never separate from our genes and environment, but I do believe that there is hope to overcome them. Perhaps, by giving the predetermined "assailants" knowledge of their tendencies and offering them hope and a path to another future, we will not be face with same fate of the Pre-Crime Unit. Those accused never had the opportunity to change their fortune or misfortune. True, some would still commit murder and violent acts, but could we really condemn an entire class of people based on statistics without offering the opportunity to supersede? I certainly could not. </span></span></div><div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 25.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 21.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And hope offered with knowledge does not end with violence. We are all crippled by our genetic make-up, our upbringing, or the opportunity life has brought us, but just as Anderton was able to choose his fate, we too can overcome ours. Admittedly, the road to victory may be more difficult for some, there is a road and there is a way. We are not victims. Yet so many are unaware of their choice. They have been deceived and believe themselves to be outcomes of their environment or heredity. For them, this is probably true. But in the moment they realize the power of the decision before them, victory is within their reach. By God, we have been offered free will and at every single moment, life is ours to be chosen. We can choose Good or we can choose the lesser. But whichever we decide, we must realize that we have written our own fate. We create ourselves. </span></span></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-79464896284305363632011-01-21T21:08:00.000-08:002011-01-21T21:08:26.246-08:00Of Ape and Man: How much can our primitive ancestors inform the origins of human behavior?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While reading </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Demonic Males </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, I was convinced by the lead author and researcher’s anecdotal approach to the scientific study of natural aggression in male apes. Wrangham’s connection between chimpanzee and primitive human behavior construct a riveting plot journeying through time, culture, and species. In a quest to discover the origins of human violence, a turn towards our kin-species seems to abstract the nature of violence from many of the complications surrounding current human aggression and elucidate the base motivations for such behavior. Additionally, the accessibility of the scientific and genetic evidence make Wrangham’s suggestions appear completely plausible. With his experience among the demonic male chimpanzees and his observations of the peaceful bonobos, Wrangham offers his solution to human violence--a universal, psychological renaissance that would establish a monarchial, homogeneous (yet, peaceful) one-world order. Yet, not until the conclusion of my reading, in considering this grave outlook, did certain problematic assumptions that led to this suggestion cause me to question their validity. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Firstly, the genetic evidence that man and ape are distant evolutionary relatives is not a point of contention for most, yet much of Wrangham’s attention focuses on this intent. By offering superfluous and redundant scientific evidence of this connection, the reader makes that same as sumptuous jump as the author has made. Although genetics, anatomy, social characterization and mating habits all link apes to man, no substantial scientific documentation records at what point in history certain evolutionary differentiation took place. For example, specific chimpanzees communities have recently been discovered to exhibit intra-communal and inter-relational aggression. Based on common ancestry, Wrangham projects that this phenomenon, also found in human behavior, links humans more closely to the chimpanzee species. However, evidence of species differentiation producing common evolutionary occurrences would debunk this theory. Not only does the author fail to mention the possibility that violence in apes and males originated as a distinct responses, but Wrangham enthusiastically concludes that the peaceful variations within the bonobo species result from a preferable evolutionary cycle--a cycle he separates from man’s evolution. Basically, I cannot make the hypothetical leap from a modern species of apes to our primitive evolutionary primates and back to contemporary behavioral aggression without the connections that show homo sapiens’ specific divergence from either the violent chimpanzee, or the peaceful hominid. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another point that is only briefly addressed in Wrangham’s theodicy, remains that human intervention or interruption that may, or may not, have contributed to primate violence. Bananas were used in some cases to form a bond that would allow for observation of primate behavior, yet the affects of this can really never be known. For only up until recently, the reality of our primate relatives was believed to be a peaceful, utopian, primitive existence. Perhaps more credit should be payed to the law of unintended consequences. Although human interference may not have influenced the behavioral patterns of chimpanzees in any way, there is absolutely no way to be sure. Therefore, if this behavior was, in fact, an isolated reaction to human intrusion, the observations of violent behaviors would prove much less reliable. For, an observation noted in both primate and primitive human communities, confirms that clan or tribe size is most closely tied to food abundance. Where there is more food, there are larger clans. As the clans grow larger, food becomes more scarce. The clan must divide in order to provide for all its members. For a while, a peaceful existence ensues. Yet eventually, territorial, progenitive, and/or food supply competition erases all memory of the past camaraderie and rivalry establishes a new rift between the clans. Thus, in supplying the observed apes with a surplus, or spike in bananas, researchers may have artificially instigated this cycle of violence.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perhaps the most alarming point overlooked by Wrangham is the abundant evidence of a genetic profile with the propensity towards violence. In humans, this profile has been vaguely identified, but Wrangham provides no evidence of such research among his observed apes. Such comparisons could reinforce or explain many of the observations detailed in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Demonic Males</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Yet, with the plethora of evidence giving rise to genetic dominance, one must consider that some humans posses this profile, while others do not. If so, does the human link to chimpanzees hold quite as true, or is the peaceful profile in humans somehow a mutation, as presumed with the bonobos. Interestingly, the demonic male profile would seem to be preferable among chimpanzees, yet the author would suggest that humanity may prefer the profile more akin to the bonobos. However, insufficient data in the way of genetics leaves the human roots of violence only loosely tied to chimpanzee aggression.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And finally, the disparity between primate and human violence cannot be ignored. The violence displayed by the chimpanzee species certainly matches certain aspects of human aggression--gang violence, war and raids, female aggression and dominance, etc.--yet, the cognitive processes of humans make our violence an entirely more complex and confused phenomenon. The very ability to consider the concept of violence separates us inconceivably from our primitive kin. Although Wrangham addresses some level of cognition (possibly tied to the consumption of roots) that crosses the threshold of primitive aggression, too little emphasis is placed on the significance of such disparity. Violence in the animal kingdom has always been a result of primitive survival instincts. Presumably, humans were the only species that chose aggression for what seemed to be an accessory, rather than necessity, to survival. Yet, arguably, with the introduction of cognitive recognition among humans, perhaps the rules of survival changed. Perhaps physical survival in humans remained a base motivation for violence, but the emotional survival develops need for aggression as elusive and complex as human emotion. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To conclude, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Demonic Males</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> certainly offers an intriguing perspective on the origins of aggression, but in a series of haphazard assertions, many of Wrangham’s suggestions prove sterile. However, I would not advocate the absolute dismissal of any avenue of study that could lead to the eradication of human violence. Thus, I certainly see the benefits of such consideration. Wrangham points out that removing violence from society will call for a universal overhaul of thought and structure. I, too, come to a similar conclusion; however, my reasoning does not point directly to the pro-generative success of the “bad boy” gene. With much to consider, from demonic male chimpanzees to the Utopia experienced by the bonobos, human cognition opens a world of possibility that we may discover, which is unavailable to all other species. With this gentic “upper-hand,” perhaps such observations offered by Wrangham and his team will point humanity to a more peaceful future.</span></span></div></div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748783992436356016.post-76537214595160034682011-01-13T08:05:00.000-08:002011-01-13T13:24:54.408-08:00Violence and Human Nature: Contingency of Opposites<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Per Newton's Law, "For every action, there is an equal or opposite reaction;" suggesting forces of nature, bound by opposition, hold the universe in balance through the tension between opposites. To illustrate, if one pushes a stack of books in any direction, the converse action is that the books are pushed in a new direction. Essentially, one cannot move books without affecting the space outside of the action (or the original space of the books). This relationship of action to reaction seemingly governs all energy in the physical universe. Interestingly, since the beginning of recordable history, the contingency of opposites has intrigued the thinking man. However, man's consideration does not end with physics; but such explorations lead to the discovery of opposites within all realms of experience--psychology, sociology, economics, and so on. Through identifying related ideas, man builds conceptualization packages. These packages are often connected by two extremities or opposites, normally of equal impact. For example, the opposite of famished could be satisfied, but perhaps a more appropriate selection would be stuffed. A state of satisfaction would fall on the continuum between famished and stuffed, yet does not effectively communicate the polarization of famine. However, through understanding a feeling of hunger and fullness, one can understand his precise state of hunger in relation to the two opposites. Intriguingly, many basic understandings of everyday ideas most clearly translate through their relation to this supposed continuum—darkness is the absence of light; freedom, the absence of fear, and suggestively—evil, the absence of good. Although modestly dogmatic, such symbiotic definitions help conceptualize otherwise elusive ideas. <br />
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In addition, as any good debater would agree, to understand the “other side” of an argument enhances understanding of the defense. Similarly, if man never experienced pain, would he be aware that he had been "painless" his entire life? Certainly not. For, if the entire world were filled with light, no concept of darkness could exist. Seemingly, the spectrums created by the opposites of physical laws also exist within functions of the physiological nature. To entertain this theory, evil and violence—met by good and benevolence—may construct the pendulum which holds humanity in balance. Admittedly, this suggestion projects a depraved outlook for a hopeless world eternally bound to both good and evil, yet such a proposition also offers unmatched grace to those with a “propensity” towards violence. However, before exploring the affects of violence and benevolence, a return to the qualifications of such concepts may prove beneficial. <br />
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To return to a definition of violence, specific classification or an action set of what violence is may actually restrict understanding of this force. Therefore, an investigation of violence in connection with benevolence may offer aid. Throughout cultures and across time, man has somehow come to an agreement of the appropriate ways in which humans should interact—i.e., morality or benevolence. Simply, violence could be stated as any action outside of these moral codes. For example, both a native hut-village of interior Uganda and a suburban settlement in Iowa both possess similar concepts of ownership. Considering this idea, both groups would more than likely agree that when a person owns an object, no other person should take this object from him without consent. The justification for this synchronism perhaps that thievery could leave a rightful owner without a possession that necessary for survival. At base, this incident could harm the rightful owner at the expense of the coveter's desire. Such action would go against the universal moral code. Similar codes govern the physical interaction between people. In athletics, one may use aggressive force towards her opponent, so long as the force complies with the rules of the game. However, after the whistle blows in a football down, aggression renders a penalty and would be considered "violent" or "aggressive." Seemingly, violence acts against the moral code that humanity has established. <br />
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Yet, if this is the case, then what of those not informed of this moral code? In some homes across America, parents see no problem disciplining their children with spankings or belt lashings, yet the school system no longer tolerates corporal punishment. Within the national borders, only a different setting, varying standards define the concept of violence. However, violence seems to speak to a greater degree of action than discipline alone, or any abstracted event, could portray objectively. <br />
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Moving forward, a definition of violence may be tied to the emotion or state of mind of the aggressor, making an already elusive concept that much more difficult to explicate. Yet the irony remains that given a set of events, both violent and non-violent, the vast majority of civilization could agree upon a similar division. Even serial killers acknowledge the violence of their crimes, so although the conceptualization of violence appears evident, to investigate the true nature of violence requires definitive qualities (or non-qualities) of violence. Thus, in examining the emotive connection to violence, such feelings of anger, disappointment, fear, and jealousy (among others) become primal motivators. Yet, as any psychologist would concur, these emotions are subsidiary to a deeper issue, symptoms of a greater disease. In tracing the roots of these emotions, one often finds disappointment masquerading as anger, or jealousy a result of disappointment, or anger really pointing directly to a fear. In the misidentification of such emotions, the connectivity emerges, alluding to the similar origins of the different motivators. Suggestively, the greatest upsets within the individual arise from unmet expectations. Perhaps each act of violence, motivated by a symptom of emotion (the catalyst), finds its roots deeper within some disappointment experienced by the aggressor. Perhaps a man that works five days a week feels entitled to a new house. If his salary does not support this expectation, perhaps he decides to rob a bank. When he enters the bank and demands money at gunpoint, he looks around and sees all of the people around him, unaware of his predicament. He may feel isolated, undermined, or short-changed. In his resolution, he deserves a new home, and his own disappointment leads him to be angry with the people at the bank making transactions and living their own lives. The people around him may become symbols of his disappointment. And an act that began as a personal means to a goal, transforms into a violent vindication, punishing all those that may possess what he believes he deserves. Although only one imagined scenario out of an innumerable number of recorded armed robberies that occur annually around the world, by tracing the roots of the aggressor's violence in this scenario, one finds that the motivation neither ends with his violence nor a propensity towards violence, but the aggressor's act eventually amounts to an unmet expectation. Thus, violence could now be defined as the possible result of unmet expectations. Yet, the search cannot end at this point. For, just as humanity has decided upon a moral code, so it seems individual cultures create standards of life, coined humanity. <br />
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Unfortunately, expectations within a society do not flawlessly translate from the collective mind of society to the individual; otherwise, humanity may experience something like Utopia. However, in this miscommunication, misapplication, misunderstanding or misgiving, conflict arises within the individual through the disunity of her belief of entitlement and the realization of her status. Yet, many resolve to reassess their situation and redefine their expectations, leading to positive growth. Investigation must turn to those whom the disappointment overcomes. Defeat in the face of disappointment open the discussion to an incalculable number of possibilities. At this point, culture, biological, socioeconomic, and genetic factors contribute to how the individual reconciles this emotion. Not being a psychologist, scientist, sociologist, economist, nor genealogist, further hypothesizing would be in vain. Yet, in the recognition of such divergence, the observer finds that all avenues of study reconnect with the human--for man can only know what man can experience. Thus, the point of consideration available to each man remains within man. The practice of philosophy would lead the observer to return to the purpose or causation of expectations.<br />
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Interestingly, etymology would link expectation to experience, for man cannot expect what he has not experienced in some measure. At base, man survives. Survival suggests a need. Each compulsion of man drives propulsion, whether action or inaction. And each compulsion represents an attempt to resolve a need. Need, in this sense, does not suggest common understandings of physical necessity, but physiological internalizations of significance within the human psyche. With this understanding, expectations reflect some need. To contemplate need, one may ask, what need does a person have to purchase a BMW? Would not a Ford Focus meet the same assumed need for transportation? Perhaps this person seeks personal validation, social validation, or even self-fulfillment. In any case, these needs point to a universal need of significance or purpose, goals uniquely tied to giving and receiving love. The person may not rob a bank to meet this need, but would he put his financial stability or responsibility at risk? Such an outcome has similar undesired results as violence. And when he is unable to afford his purchase, suppose the man seeks other options to support his purchase. Perhaps he begins only selling drugs. Eventually, a client may become dissatisfied with their purchase. When they demand their money back, what option does this leave the man with the car, assuming he has already allocated this money for himself? Perhaps now violence becomes an option for him. Without spending too much time on the philosophic discourse of these needs, another example may elucidate this phenomenon, beginning with the need. A woman finds herself questioning her self-worth. She has never been in love and does not feel lovable, nor does she see any purpose for her life. She meets a boy that she believes likes her. She offers him herself as his lover. Nine months later she has a newborn, but she is excited because now her life is for her baby. But, the boy she loved is not ready to have a family or settle down. She is heartbroken, but she loves her child and decides to make a life for herself. She works two jobs and comes home to be with her baby. The baby's father is not keeping up with child support, so finances are becoming a stress. She takes on more hours and picks up other peoples' shifts. She comes home tired to her baby. Her baby won't stop crying. Working two part time jobs--neither which offer insurance--and a baby that needs to see a doctor, her plight is becoming overwhelming. One evening, she arrives home exhausted. More tired than she could ever imagine her body being. She sits in her chair and begins to cry. She no longer feels the same fulfillment she once remembered. The baby beings to cry. The baby is screaming. She cannot do anything. She doesn't know what to do. She picks the baby up from the crib as her cries and whaling begin to match the babies. She holds the baby in the air and all she can see is the man that left her and her insufficient paychecks. All she can feel is heartbreak, loneliness and exhaustion. Well, one can imagine the various tragedies that could result from such a state of destitution. Yet, even with such unlikely origins, imagination can nonetheless render a picture of the potential violence. <br />
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Ultimately, humanity may not be at a point to universally address violence at the very core, and such an a attempt may not even be possible, in the practical sense. However, there are many areas of education, evaluation, and evolution that help address and understand the nature of violence. Yet, such a cosmic force as violence will not be absolved until applied in this same macro-context. To sincerely reach the core of violence, humanity must be willing to investigate the core of the individual and realize the eternal needs of purpose and love.<br />
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</div>BrittneyNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11034649643965905093noreply@blogger.com0