Being a scientific minded little fella, I soon became uneasy. Why was it true? Where did this “common sense” come from? Through introspection I came to realize that those who spoke things that aligned with my preconceptions evinced this ring of truth.

Your body is made up of somewhere between 50 to 100 trillion cells. Each cell is a living entity. It has function and does work. Your red blood cells gather up oxygen and disperse it to the other cells in the body. I like to imagine them as bicycle messengers racing through the body more for the love of it than the recompense. Your brain cells sedately reach to one another and bounce impulses off of each other like research colleagues in a colloquium.  And nestled among the cells are approximately 10 times their number in bacteria, a somatic lower class providing the grease that keeps the metaphorical gears going.

It’s amazing how they all came together in our body, but it’s not a miracle. We found scientific explanations for how our body came to be as it is. Though these explanations may not be complete they are enough to be authoritative.

Also amazing is what we can do because of this body. We walk, talk chew gum, and make iPhones. All these cells have come together in a gestalt that functions at a very high level of cooperation. But this is not a miracle either.

Looking farther we see that part of this gestalt is the brain, the collection of researchers stuffing away impulses and talking to their colleagues. They, through no fault of their own, create our experience of being. This experience of being has been the subject of philosophy as long as human beings have existed. The idea of thinking about yourself thinking about thinking about yourself is a one of those self-referential contradictions that resolves to nothingness when you look at it long enough. This is a conundrum that will continue to puzzle the puzzlers long after humans have left the building.

Well, is this it? Our very Selves? Is this merely our mind or does it create our very soul? Is this the miracle?

This is no miracle either. It’s pretty great, you have to admit, but it is an emergent phenomena, our brains are sufficient to create it. But now we come to the place where we have taken our cellular selves into something else.

Our experience of our Selves has nothing to do with our existence as cities of cells and bacteria. The experience of our selves is that of relationship. We navigate a web of our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, our bosses and teachers, friends and mentors, our lovers.  We find ourselves in a wider society which we must accommodate as well. This is the weft of our lives. And yet our perception of our existence is that of a solitary individual.

The solitary individual yearns. You yearn.

As part of our existence we deal with issues higher than immediate concerns, even the concerns of relationship. We want meaning. And so we have religion.

Religion accumulates the wisdom and experience of generations. He is wise who listens to its counsel. There are a variety of religions and a variety of religious experiences. These, sadly, require no miracle.

Some of the most sensible religions, such as Taoism deal with things as they are. They urge you to see that everything has two sides, and that your own desires undermine you most. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Christianity, not as sensibly, has a tradition of miracles. Christmas is a miracle tradition. The birth of Jesus has many skeptical and sensible explanations, as do most miracles. Even the stories of His death and resurrection, earnestly reported, have sensible explanations.

What’s important in this case is not the explanation, but the tradition. The tradition of Christmas is that the creator of the universe gave His all to us knowing that we would spit on it. The love of a parent for a child is one of the most intense and powerful connections there is. Jesus is God’s child. This represents a profound gift, a gift that represents the idea of infinite love flowing from the Universe to humanity.

This idea creates a jolly fat man who gives you stuff to make you happy, peace on earth as a viable goal, and the thought that all people, no matter how different from you, are not only worthy of that infinite love but are worthy of your love.

You can’t help but to be infected by this idea. All because people choose to celebrate Christmas.

This is the true miracle. Regardless of your beliefs, this mass of miasmic microbes that is you, this swirly soupy swamp we call our Selves participates in infinite love.

Cool, huh?

I am both, much to the consternation of many of those in either camp.

]]> http://baronponders.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/the-skeptical-christian/feed/ 1 baronschaaf http://baronponders.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/kevin-smith-on-leadership-and-creativity/ http://baronponders.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/kevin-smith-on-leadership-and-creativity/#comments Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:09:28 +0000 baronschaaf http://baronponders.wordpress.com/?p=50 ]]> Recently @ThatKevinSmith replied to a question Twitter and I thought his response was well worth noting. 

@Henrikse “Dont you always think the next film’s gonna be the big one?” That’s the director’s job: to believe in their dopey vision- quest so much that it fuels not just him/her, but the entire cast & crew as well. For months. As the person everyone’s looking to for answers, you’ve GOTTA believe. Anyone can be negative, because bitching takes no discernible talent and costs nothing. And sure: every once in a while, you die in despair a bit, broken-hearted that your ideas didn’t reach more people. But until then? You have hope that the next flick WILL reach a larger audience. You’re living in hope. Living ON hope. And hope is life’s sweet elixir, touching not just human beings, but every thinking organism on the planet. Living in a constant state/haze of hope = smoking God’s own strain of Kush.

Kush, for the innocent, is exceptionally high-grade marijuana.

I have seen no better recognition and description of the kind of hope necessary to accomplish any creative project, including software projects.

Kevin Smith is the critically acclaimed director and writer of films such as “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy.” This note is especially poignant in that his last film did not achieve box office goals. I appreciate the kind of guts it takes to do what he does, and I appreciate the guts it takes to keep doing it.

I’m sure he’d disavow any such earnest abstruse praise as I have undertaken but I hope my tribute helps make this bit of wisdom more widely appreciated.

Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as your status. If you think you can do it then repost this message as your status to invite others to take the challenge, then post what YOU are thankful for today.

As I’ve been writing my status and thinking about thankfulness, several ideas from Rapt by Winifred Gallagher come to mind.

Focus is important; being awake to the moment, paying attention. Focused is a higher state of being. It enhances every aspect of life. Every so often, whatever you are doing, stop.  Just stop. Stop everything. No hope. No fear. Notice everything that impinges on your senses. You are the phenomenal in phenomena. Where you are existing has depths of beauty and meaning that are easily missed. I call this appreciating the existential moment.

What you focus on is important. The same phenomena can be either very positive or very negative depending on how you look at it. Choose to focus on the positive aspects. It will help you relax and enjoy life.

Creativity brings richness. Winifred cites a William James’ experiment:

First, he says, make a dot on a piece of paper or a wall, then try to stay focused on it. In short order, your mind will wander. Next, start asking your self questions about the dot: its size, shape, color and so on. Make associations with it….

This is one of the best exercises for creativity I’ve heard. A dot is boring, but the dot that is like the course stone at the beach is more interesting. A dot that is like a plane disappearing into the horizon is also more interesting. A dot that is the freckle of a loved one is very interesting.

Bringing creativity to bear on focus is key to a thankful heart.

There is more in your life, and more has been done for you than you can imagine. It’s all there for you to find.

Thank you for reading.

This question brings to light many aspects of the Christian faith worthy of examination.

The reason cited for non-belief was the killing of the innocent, implying that this was a cruel and arbitrary thing to do.  If we stop to think, this is not the only cruelty God has inflicted on us. Reuters described death by Ebola this way:

Within days you are likely to be in tooth-grinding agony. It is painful to open your eyes and your head feels as if it is about to explode…Only once you start bleeding from every orifice — including your eyes and ears — might they suspect you have the Ebola virus. By then it will almost certainly be too late.

Other deaths are more painful and longer. This is cruelty.

What about the experience of depression, where every action you take is like lifting the weight of the world for no purpose; where the world around you seems to resent your very existence? What about someone who is emotionally abused, where a loved one emotionally assaults a person, separating them from any support and convincing them that they are worse than worthless? That’s cruelty.

Children locked in crates, elders starved to death and neglected make regular appearances in the news. The abuse of the vulnerable happens every day. The personal pain experienced by people rises to unimaginable levels; unimaginable unless you have experienced it yourself.

The cruelty of a deist God who created such pain, one who sets things in motion and then removes, pales in comparison to the cruelty of an active personal God, who is capable of miracles, who listens to our prayers, and who does nothing to stop it.

I can say without hyperbole that there are billions of reasons to not believe in God. The killing of the children of Egypt fades in to a sea of histories of cruelty, pain, and suffering attributable to God.

Why does the Bible cite this particular cruelty as a reason to believe in God? How can that possibly be justified? The Bible is not trying to persuade you.

The Bible is a collection of historical accounts written by and about those interact with God. It is a reminder to those who already believe in God what God is all about. In this case, the writer is telling you that the Jewish race is special. It has been chosen by God as His people. There are always plagues and tragedies, but if you walk with God you will enjoy His favor.

Why believe in God then?

You shouldn’t. It’s a ridiculous idea. The existence of God is not an objective fact. It’s not falsifiable.   You can’t set up an experiment to prove or disprove it. It is intellectually the equivalent of believing in leprechauns.

Some of my friends say you should believe in God because it is written in the Bible. The Bible is held as a holy standard of truth, inviolable, complete, and inerrant.

This is not persuasive. The Bible was written by human beings and collected together by human beings in very human and ordinary ways. Even if we accept that the Bible is inerrant, we are not. Our interpretations could easily be in error.

Other believers are so accustomed to the idea of God that the suggestion that a person should not believe in God is abominable. They have seen how not believing in God leads to Nazism and other atrocities. These beliefs are persuasive only if you already believe in God. Crimes against humanity are a prevalent among those of Christian nations as a nation identified otherwise.

There is only one way to believe in God. One must be called by God. Being called by God means that you personally feel the need to seek God out. If you don’t feel the need, don’t do it. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Matthew 9:12-13)

If you are lucky enough to be called by God, then you will seek Him. This is an act of faith. You can’t prove how good your decision is. You can only step onto the unsupportable. This is completely and fundamentally unreasonable.  When you know that it is none the less the right thing to do, you will seek God.

If you seek God then you may be lucky enough to experience the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul said:

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14 

If you are lucky enough to experience the Holy Spirit, then maybe you will be wise enough to continue to pursue God. Paul describes it this way, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  (Philippians 2:12-13)

What about the cruelty? Doesn’t that remain as a troubling issue? I think about it this way:  a God who would be subject to such criticism is too small.

The universe is 13.75 billion years old according to the latest estimates. Human beings are estimated to have existed for about 100,000 years. Let’s say you make a movie of the universe that lasts for 1000 hours. (It’s kind of an epic.) The existence of entire human race would fit in the last 3/100 of a second.  God’s timescale is much larger than ours.

There are more things at play here than I can comprehend. I have offered to give God advice for reordering the universe, as yet He has declined.

Job was noted as a man who knew pain, complained to God, and God answered:

Who is this that darkens my counsel
 with words without knowledge?
 Brace yourself like a man;
 I will question you,
 and you shall answer me.
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
 Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
 Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
 or who laid its cornerstone-
while the morning stars sang together
 and all the angels shouted for joy?
Job 38:1-7

Perhaps I am gladder my invitation has remained unanswered.

I recognize that my understanding is very limited.  God is more than a pronoun, more than the history of Western civilization, more in fact than the history of the universe, and more than time itself. God is even more than the mysterious power that finds you a good parking spot at the mall. My lack of understanding of God’s actions is to be expected.

Don’t believe in God. It’s a stupid thing to do. The cruelty of the sacrifice of the first born sons of the Egyptians thousands of years ago is the least of the reasons to not believe in God.

Only believe in God it if you have to.

We are used to having such stories told to us in newspapers, or having live action commentary in radio and television.

With the technology of the Internet, there is a new way to tell the story of the game. It is called GameDay. GameDay demonstrates what I had hoped the Seattle Post Globe was going to do in my previous post. It combines media story telling capabilities into a new form.

You have the audio commentary, video highlights, and most important of all, the variagated depth enhanced content. This is on track to being what I was talking about.

There are several things missing, however. One is a good recap view, which I will discuss here.

After the game is over, you should be able to come into the story, and follow a story arc through the completed game. This arc should point out the things an educated eye tells you. For example, where someone is improving, or the historicity of an event, as you might do in a newspaper story but in the form of the GameDay application. You click things to “read” it, that is to advance yourself in the story arc.

This gives you a more visual and interactive experience than reading a newspaper column, but with this format you have an essentially unlimited “news hole” and you have a great dept of content created at no additional cost. The interactive audience could go in depth ona player to look at their stats, even encounter another story arc on that individual player. They could watch video highlights, zoom, watch individual pitches from different angles. They could hear the play-by-play for an interesting inning or series of plays.

You still have story. But you have the advantage of being able to have variagated depth. The media could have an even less crowded version for a more niave viewer. Less, or more; whatever the interactive audience finds compelling.

So, they encounter the story in a way they choose. They go in depth in the areas that are compelling to them. You end up with a greater connection to the story and more impact.

Isn’t that your goal in every story?

If not, what do you want?

According to Kerry Murakami’s bio at the event, the Seattle PostGlobe is “a daily news site with 29 former PI journalists in partnership with KCTS 9 and KPLU.”

Look at that triumvirate!  Storytelling, particularly in journalism has been defined by the primary forms of media. Television, print and radio have existed in their separate silos and have developed their own lore on how to create good stories. These paradigms have persisted into our new age. We watch online television, read online newspapers and listen to online radio.

Now these forms have merged into one “online” media. This requires a new multisensory, variegated depth form of story telling.

The multisensory aspect is obvious. People can encounter the story in whatever way they are most comfortable, and in whatever way they wish to be engaged.  Previously these forms have been available only through separate outlets. Now these outlets can be unified and present an opportunity for a new synergistic gestalt form. These senses can be engaged as a good boxer combines punches and blocks. If one doesn’t get you, the next one will.

The audience can also go as deep as they want into the story. They can encounter the story at a glance,  go in-depth with the sources or explore alternate accounts.

In additon we have the ability to create methods of interactive engagement. Each story can become its own game.  In such a game the audience could literally climb the hierarchies of power as such constructs can be replicated in a virtual environment and encountered viscerally.  To say that the possibilities are endless is not hyperbole. 

The story is no longer about the story. It’s about carrying the essence of the story to the heart and the mind of the audience.

It’s hard for us to recognize this new tool.

Take it.

Go play.

Have fun.

First, let’s sumarize the most important problems facing the schools system.

As with many of our institutions, the public school system is based on industrial priniciples. That is, it views its purpose as creating a product, an educated adult.  It’s criteria for success are the demonstration of adequate capability  in certain defined areas of knowledge, such as geography, mathematics, language, etc. This is easy to test for quality  in standardized tests and success in subsequent education.

The problems with the industrialized approach could be enumerated at great length, but I ‘ll just hit  few highlights here:

• Knowledge required to successfully navigate society changes too quickly for the education system to adapt.
• It places too little emphasis on life-long learning, and still conveys the idea that a high-school education is all you need in life.
• It fails to allow students the opportunity to use their unique abilities to navigate areas of knowledge.

The public school system employs age stratification. Age stratification refers to the fact that children are segregated into groups of children their own age, and are expected to move lock-step through the education system. Problems here include:

• Inadequate socialization
• As the article mentions inadequate empathy
• Inability to account for individual differences
• Primative societies arise that put that “Lord of the Flies” to shame.

Traditionally children have been expected to contribute to the household and their society. This tradition is often given lip-service by the current education system, but their airy pronouncements only sap the principle of any sense of reality. Children are expected to go to school, turn in homework, participate in other kid activities and nothing more.

This:

• Robs children of their ability to contribute to their family and society.
• Robs children of the esteem and the ability to pick up real-world skills and tasks.
• Creates life-long children. I value life-long play, but not a life-long sense of entitlement and/or  inadequacy.

I have given short shrift to the problem, I will also give short shrift to the solution:

• All education should involve multi-age groups.
• Children in these groups should have certain expectations set on them for care and teaching of the younger children.
• All children should have real responsiblities in maintenance of the classroom and school, as in cleaning, repair, and construction.
• Education should be accessible in whatever learning mode and passion best suits the student.
• Children should be allowed to work at a business; businesses should be aligned with schools and the children should be able to work at these businesses and get paid a child’s wage for their work.
• There is no graduation, only increasing responsibilites in paid work.

There is, of course much more, but that’s a good start, don’t you think?