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Personal Exploration of People, Personalities and Meaning
Browsing All Posts filed under »Personal Reflections«
Sometimes We Get Lost
There are times in my life when I can become almost paralyzed by a continual self-examination and the attempt to break down my own thoughts, actions and the motivations behind them. Other times, it can feel like days, months and even years go by with barely even a rudimentary acknowledgement of their passing or personal reflection back upon them. Why at times I am one way and other times I am another, I don't fully understand, but what I do know is that in this tumultuous life, it is easy to get lost. The worst kind of 'being lost' being when we do not even realize how lost we are, because in our own minds, we have deceived ourselves into believing we have it all together.
Modern Christianity: All Take and No Give
September 16, 2011
As human beings we all carry within ourselves a myriad of past experiences; some joyful and others painful, each uniquely shaping the way that we make sense of the world around us. All of our life experiences change us. Sometimes the effects are subtle almost imperceptible, while other times the influences are significant and life changing. We are changed, regardless of whether or not we are consciously aware of the impact or not. We live each day, we are altered and frequently, we are forced to develop more and more complex coping skills. These skill are employed on the hope that they can heighten our experiences of joy and lessen our experiences of pain.
Will the Real Me, Please Stand Up
September 14, 2011
You have this detailed image, a concept of who you are. You support it with a convenient set of memories of events which support your supposition. I am a decent, honest guy, trying to do the right thing, get through this life and hurt as few people as I can in the process. To continue believing that you also need to conveniently forget the times when you acted completely contrary to that carefully crafted image. You can think, for your entire life that you are one way and then in one defining moment, that glass house you have carefully built over the decades can be shattered. One day, you know who you are, everything is clear and you feel confident about your place in the universe; the next you are lost.
Christmas Tree Compromise
September 13, 2011
I know it's too early to start talking about Christmas, but I was thinking that many relationships or marriages are like picking out a Christmas Tree. These two roommates both love Christmas, but each of them has a very specific type of Christmas Tree that they like. One likes tall and thin trees while they other likes short and fat trees. Since they can't agree upon the type of tree that they like, they decide to compromise and a medium-sized tree and they both accept it but neither of them is truly delighted with it.
Does It Really Require Much Discernment to Separate the Authentic from the Counterfeit?
September 3, 2011
Even a casual watcher of American Idol Season 10 understands that there is a qualitative difference between a gifted professional singer and a hack. My definition of a hack being someone who seeks to convince others, along with themselves perhaps, that they are gifted at something which they are not. This lack of talent in that arena does not stop them from exercising it and even feeling good about their effort.
A Picture, Even if Painted with Words, Speaks Volumes
September 2, 2011
The human brain doesn't function/learn as if it had a hard drive to store specific knowledge and memories. While knowledge doesn't need to be packaged into campfire stories, using your own word, it does make it more "memorable". A picture, even if painted with words, speaks volumes. That’s what parables are and that’s why they are some memorable – pictures are the way our brains learn.
Sorry, Can’t Hear You over the Voice in My Head
September 1, 2011
The two most difficult things to patiently endure when discussing one’s personal beliefs with others has to do with: 1.Navigating the minefield of predisposed prejudices, assumptions and opinions that others have about your beliefs before you even have the chance to explain your position. It’s those Blind Spots that we all have. Sometimes that filter can be so strong, that they may not even be able to hear you over the voice in their own head. 2.Controlling your emotions when someone, intentionally or mistakenly, misrepresents your position. It’s the Straw man logical fallacy where you hold position X; someone disregards certain points of X and instead presents a similar position Y. Y being a distorted version of X. They then attack Y, concluding that position X is false. "A straw man is a component of an argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position.[1] To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man"), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position." - Wikipedia.com
Serving Two Masters
August 31, 2011
It has been said that you cannot serve two masters, for you will hate the one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. I find this true within the workplace. When individual exaltation or organizational self-promotion takes precedence over the focus on the indisputably important services of a company, it becomes increasingly more difficult to keep focused on securing the truly important from the propagating mass of politically important self-serving projects.
Conversations with an Atheist
August 30, 2011
It has been said that the atheist has created his own religion, where his God is called “Chance”. That may be well be true, but I have found in discussions with one of my friend (the self-proclaimed spokesman for all Atheists) that when an atheist cannot explain why they believe something, they do what they accuse Christians of doing, and appeal to Blind Faith. No, their appeal is not to a Supreme Being or divinely inspired holy text but in something we call the Scientific Method. For my friend, the Scientific Method has become his personal safety net used to explain everything. It turns out to be extremely efficient and effective for him, as he no longer has to spend the time considering all the evidence.
Have We Have Become Comfortably Numb?
August 29, 2011
Comfortable. The most dangerous place for people (especially the Church) to be is when we allow ourselves to become comfortable…comfortable not just in our physical living conditions but in an attitude of acceptance or resignation that the tragedies occurring around us are just normal everyday things which will never go away. We become calloused; deaf to the plight and pain of others. How else could we ever become comfortable enjoying our ‘stuff’ unless we were able to quiet the voice of conscience within us?
Scarface was Right, We are the Masters of Deflection
August 28, 2011
I think that most of us, especially those in the church, fear being known and knowing others. We isolate ourselves; stay home (think ostrich with its head in the ground), so we do not have to learn that our neighbors (or friends or family) are in ‘need’. It’s as if, so long as we are not consciously aware of a specific problem, we are not accountable for how we respond.
No Pain No Gain
August 27, 2011
Perhaps it is our lot in life to suffer. Isn’t that part of the curse? It is a truth which is easily agreed upon by most people – not based on book knowledge but upon the un-ignorable teachings of experience, equally available to all people. Yet in that experience, one might ask, ‘Where is God?’ […]
Stop Cursing the Darkness, O Reluctant Leader!
August 26, 2011
This is the problem with modern church culture…perhaps with modern culture altogether. We talk and expect God or Bill Gates to do something about it. We are very good at identifying needs and problems, but we are very poor at looking for answers within ourselves. We prefer to point our finger at other people and organizations and cry out because they are not doing something that God has called us to do. The real question we should be asking is; why aren’t we doing what we were called to do?
Be the Exception to the Rule
August 25, 2011
People in the church often err by labeling groups of people with broad strokes (e.g. liberals, democrats, homosexuals, etc.) and not spend the time to see that all people are unique individuals. There may be similarities, but just as all church attenders are not identical clones of one another, people outside of the church are not either, regardless of what group one labels them with. The reverse is also true, non-church folks tend to label church folks as all being hypocrites, illogical, insecure or hateful. If that were true, how do they account for Billy Graham, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Mother Theresa? Here’s the hope. When we individually as Christians engage non-Christians in a Christ-like manner, an amazing thing happens; it helps to falsify the stereotype of Christians that others may have previously held. Individuals impacted by our Christ-like actions can no longer claim (at least not honestly) or live comfortably with their previous label for “all Christians”. They are forced to broaden their prior stereotypical thinking to now include, at the very least, exceptions to the rule. They can no longer use “All Christians are…” because they now know a Christian who does not do that. It’s a two way street. As the Christian, in this case my friend, got to know this transgendered individual as a unique person with common human fears, hurts, dreams and hope – we begin to see others more and more like ourselves. Our common humanity is reinforced and mankind’s artificial “walls of separation” are broken down, if only a little bit.
Blind Spots
August 24, 2011
We all have blind spots. They are situation or issues where we are either too close emotionally to fairly evaluate or we’ve become too invested in our current position on the subject to see it objectively. We make some assessment and then write it off as done, refusing to reexamine or reconsider our view on the subject. Most people seem blissfully content to remain in this state because we do not like changing our previously written off positions; mainly because many of us see doing that as an admission of wrong; we take it as a personal loss and our egos cannot accept that. We therefore choose to stubbornly cling to outdated notions, refusing to reevaluate them against new evidences. While this may make us feel strong and confident (not to mention a bit arrogant and intolerant), we are really blinded by our own desire to be right.
Scripta Manent 
September 18, 2011
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