So, I have One-hundred and eleven posts written on this blog. A couple of which are private, so feel free to claim it faulty at this point if you counted them up. I enjoy patterns and numbers, the little significance and stories that I can attach to things. It endears them to me, simultaneously making them easier to remember and more interesting as well.
Sadly, I don't keep all the quirky facts and trivia on brainwave command as I once did. I collect things, as I have mentioned before. I don't remember my first collection (probably coins given to me, in which a dollar felt like wealth untold.) But I remember vividly one in particular when I was twelve-ish. My parents had kept nearly seven years of back issues of Reader's Digest, and I would scour them for interesting tidbits and anecdotes. Many of the ill-tasteful dross went over my head, but I loved amusements and learned small insights into the lives of celebrities and everyday heroes brought to light in the course of a few choice pages.
One lingering side effect of this endeavor is that I have become insufferable when listening to "jokes," I hear the opening and claim, 'Heard it already, the punchline is _____ or near it, correct?' (I wonder if I could use this fickle memory for more useful streams of knowledge, in schoolwork perhaps?). Among the stories I read in these pages, I recall at least three which I particularly liked.
The first was an article written by a former "dipper" or pickpocket. He told of his early training and entry into the trade. Some of the exercises he did were wrapping rubber bands around his fingers to flex, or picking up bricks by the corners using only two fingers. The tone of the article was precautionary, how to defend yourself from predators, especially cute kids who could be hiding a light-fingered knack behind an innocuous smile. He and his sister would work a mall, it was her job to distract the mark while he lifted the wallet, stripped the cash/cards, and returned the empty vessel into the owner's possession. He was caught one day when he was bored with a successful haul and wanted to do one more mark, a challenge this time. The lady had a leather zippered purse and he fumbled it up and was caught. Interesting seeing the game from the perspective of the other, profiteering side of the criminal bargain.
The second was the story of Will Shortz, the New York Times crossword editor and puzzlemaker extraordinaire. The man's story was a wonder - created his own field by the improvised major of studying the construction and history of puzzle-making in college. Mr. Shortz was just a fascinating fellow, I don't think myself alone in admiring his motivation, vision, and success.
The third I had in mind took me a couple of times through the reams of issues to appreciate - it concerned the mental state of a man who decided to stay awake for as long as he could endure. He wrote about his experiment in sleep-deprivation, and the delusions and daydreams which plagued him for the duration. At the beginning of the article, he described a dozed dream in which he was a laboratory rat running through a maze. He cannot stop, cannot rest, he must continue... I don't want that problem. I will go to bed now, just thought I should update this chronicle of my ramblings every so often.
Until the Muse lays me low with a disheartening mental blow,
I shall persevere to scribble my thoughts and make them so.
To manifest an gloriously novel idea on a page,
Only to be informed its origins stretched back to the Middle Age.
Sometimes I pause to query rhetorically, "Is there anything truly new under the sun?
Technology's progresses are merely rearranging of 'What are the limits as to what can be done?' "
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Motivation - Muddled
I am human, I need. I started reading The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis *pauses for applause to fade* (I know I do this fourth wall soliloquizing overmuch, but it aids in keeping the reality of this medium in mind.). People love C.S. Lewis - he is like the Ben Franklin of Christian quotes. The old joke is that, "People will accept your ideas more readily if you tell them Ben Franklin said it first." - David H. Comins.
It makes me wonder, "What is it about a man that makes people long to trust him, take him at his word? Can I someday be such a man?" I am sure that Clive Staples Lewis never dreamed of his lasting influence and impact on theology and thinking. Especially in his space trilogy - He wasn't the finest science fiction author, but utilized the medium to air out some of his more theoretical ideas and concepts. The end of Perelandra is beautitful, but out of reach of my comprehension, though it is well worth the attempt to wrap my mind around it. The brain wants for exercise, for challenges to arise and force it to reconsider or refortify firmly held beliefs.
Back to the main point with which I opened - Four Loves begins with the splitting of the concept into two fields - Need-love and Gift-love. God is Gift-love to us, giving without reserve out of the deeper wish for the wellbeing of another.
"[Do you think God cares to have me do his will? Is it anything to him?] I am sure of it. Why did He make you else? But it is not for the sake of being obeyed that He cares for it, but for the sake of serving you and making you blessed with His blessedness. He does not care for Himself, but about you." - George MacDonald.
As humans, we have Need-love for this Father figure, we are incomplete and unfulfilled without this gift of God. An example of Need-love is an injured or scared child in need of comfort of his or her mother - the craving for the knowledge that they are safe within their guardian's presence.
There are pleasures for humans. Ones in which there is a need to be satisfied - A drink of water when thirsty is counted deeply and thankfully. Lewis says that few men would ever take as much pleasure from water when they are satisfied as is. There is another appreciation-pleasure - one in which there was no need involved, but nevertheless contains a note of necessity of being enjoyed. Lewis uses the example of a wine taster whose palette is uniquely qualified and trained for fine wine. For the wine to be consumed on an ordinary man would not fulfill its full potential for being. The wine taster is able to take pleasure, nay, almost it is his duty to drink and experience the delicate, exquisiteness of the tumbler's contents. It is also the smell of a field on daily walk in the country, when the sun peeks out of the clouds, the wind picks up in the meadow with the scent of wildflowers carried in its wake. To not stop, and experience this unexpected moment of beauty is... well, to be unheard. Why should such a delightfully divine moment go to waste?
I have much to accomplish in this last week of school before spring break, and must rouse my motivation from its lethargy and use it to fuel my drive to finish well. I am to pause, soak in the wonder of the moment of life and vigor, then set my face as a flint and press forward for the glory of a man fully alive. We were made to work and reflect the image of our Father, of His love and creativity upon those around us. We are to be different, to shine with the knowledge that we are loved with the Gift-love of the Father, and can grant a portion to those in need. Rest in this Love, but take righteous action in Christ's Name. Thank you, My Lord, for this world which you have granted us, may I ever worship you with the work of My hands and the words upon my tongue. Thank you.
It makes me wonder, "What is it about a man that makes people long to trust him, take him at his word? Can I someday be such a man?" I am sure that Clive Staples Lewis never dreamed of his lasting influence and impact on theology and thinking. Especially in his space trilogy - He wasn't the finest science fiction author, but utilized the medium to air out some of his more theoretical ideas and concepts. The end of Perelandra is beautitful, but out of reach of my comprehension, though it is well worth the attempt to wrap my mind around it. The brain wants for exercise, for challenges to arise and force it to reconsider or refortify firmly held beliefs.
Back to the main point with which I opened - Four Loves begins with the splitting of the concept into two fields - Need-love and Gift-love. God is Gift-love to us, giving without reserve out of the deeper wish for the wellbeing of another.
"[Do you think God cares to have me do his will? Is it anything to him?] I am sure of it. Why did He make you else? But it is not for the sake of being obeyed that He cares for it, but for the sake of serving you and making you blessed with His blessedness. He does not care for Himself, but about you." - George MacDonald.
As humans, we have Need-love for this Father figure, we are incomplete and unfulfilled without this gift of God. An example of Need-love is an injured or scared child in need of comfort of his or her mother - the craving for the knowledge that they are safe within their guardian's presence.
There are pleasures for humans. Ones in which there is a need to be satisfied - A drink of water when thirsty is counted deeply and thankfully. Lewis says that few men would ever take as much pleasure from water when they are satisfied as is. There is another appreciation-pleasure - one in which there was no need involved, but nevertheless contains a note of necessity of being enjoyed. Lewis uses the example of a wine taster whose palette is uniquely qualified and trained for fine wine. For the wine to be consumed on an ordinary man would not fulfill its full potential for being. The wine taster is able to take pleasure, nay, almost it is his duty to drink and experience the delicate, exquisiteness of the tumbler's contents. It is also the smell of a field on daily walk in the country, when the sun peeks out of the clouds, the wind picks up in the meadow with the scent of wildflowers carried in its wake. To not stop, and experience this unexpected moment of beauty is... well, to be unheard. Why should such a delightfully divine moment go to waste?
I have much to accomplish in this last week of school before spring break, and must rouse my motivation from its lethargy and use it to fuel my drive to finish well. I am to pause, soak in the wonder of the moment of life and vigor, then set my face as a flint and press forward for the glory of a man fully alive. We were made to work and reflect the image of our Father, of His love and creativity upon those around us. We are to be different, to shine with the knowledge that we are loved with the Gift-love of the Father, and can grant a portion to those in need. Rest in this Love, but take righteous action in Christ's Name. Thank you, My Lord, for this world which you have granted us, may I ever worship you with the work of My hands and the words upon my tongue. Thank you.
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