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Are You Teaching Quality

April 28, 2017

Some of you may have seen my Facebook post about the death of Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values as seen in The New York Times.

The book is not really about Zen (a form of Buddhism popularized by Alan Watts and the Beatnik generation) or about repairing your motorcycle. “The real motorcycle you’re working on is yourself.”

Along with the Bible and St. Augustine, this book was most influential in my life.

While teaching rhetoric at Montana State University in Bozeman, another professor asked while passing him in the corridor, “Are you teaching quality?”

That led him into a deep dive into the meaning of quality.

Part is philosophical as he detailed his battles with the famous leader of philosophy at the University of Chicago. (I’ve read Mortimer Adler. I prefer Pirsig.) I think he was right about the decline in western thinking with the over emphasis on rationality thanks to Plato and Aristotle (especially the latter).

Part was details on working on his motorcycle preparing for a cross-country trip with his son and two friends. He must have been worse than me, by the way, as a travel companion. I often get lost in thinking. He must have gone a bit overboard on that.

He talked about learning skills in metalworking to do his own repairs because he was upset with the lack of care so many mechanics took in repairing thing.

Quality in part comes from caring about what you do.

He also taught logical troubleshooting. Something more of us need when we approach a problem.

Posted in Disciplines, Learning, Thinking | Leave a Comment »

You Can Be a Mystic

April 27, 2017

Meditation is greatly misunderstood by most people. You can do it.

You can do it if…you can sit still and focus.

We focus on our breath. Slowing it down. Paying attention.

Then we focus our attention on God. We just sit (or lie, or walk) in the presence of God.

It may last 5 minutes. I may last 2 hours. Doesn’t matter.

Mystics? Not a popular word these days. Well known in previous centuries.

They are just people who make a daily practice for longer and longer times of sitting in the presence of God.

It changes their lives. They slow down. Are less anxious. Can face adversity.

We sometimes have visions of things God wants us to see.

And then again, sometimes not.

But we have conversations, speaking and listening, with God. We thank him. We ask him for guidance. But then we must listen and pay attention to what he tells us. Sometimes that is hidden within other people. It is up to us to discern.

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Meditation | Leave a Comment »

Enjoy Your Day

April 26, 2017

I am still in Germany. It is great seeing old friends and meeting new ones. My last appointment ran late and I’m about to be late to my next encounter. That means it is easy to get into a rush and not relate properly.

In the midst of busy-ness, remember to breathe. Maintain awareness. Be calm. Enjoy your day.

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We Will Be One

April 25, 2017

Traveling again, I’m staying in a small town in northern Germany about 10 miles from Hannover. Most of the people I have met do not speak English. I am from an area of the US settled by German immigrants. Other than I understand about 10% of what I hear spoken, there are not many differences between here and home.

In my meditations, I have been given the awareness of the unity of all people.

It seems that our nature as humans it to divide. We divide people into groups. The groups may be based on any number of perceived differences. But the key is that we can identify people like us and people not like us.

I have experienced whole religions and churches within them organized on the principle of “us versus them”. Think of the divisions among Christians. “We have the truth; they don’t.”

Then I remember my awareness of how people essentially are all the same.

As chance (?) would have it, I just attended a press conference in Hannover, Germany, with the global energy and automation technology giant ABB. I won’t get into the gory details of high-voltage DC power transmission. But the speaker made an interesting observation. There is discussion at some of the highest technology levels about the imminent possibility of a single, global electrical power grid.

Step back in your mind and consider how commerce and business and technology have perpetrated changes in global political structures. We have not always had nation-states. Is it possible that technology and commerce can continue to propel us into a “global village”?

And I can see spiritual conversations among people from many and diverse cultures.

One of my favorite philosophers, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, talked about us reaching the “Omega Point” where “Christ will be all in all” as Paul the Apostle stated.

Despite the racism, bigotry, divisiveness we can see around us, I remain optimistic that Christ will win. In fact, I read the end of the book as they say (the Revelation of John, of course), and John says indeed that Christ already won.

We will come together. Especially if we all do our part. God if funny that way. He always expects us to do some of the work!

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Disrupted by Power of the Wrong Kind

April 24, 2017

Recommended reading–The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World. It is a conversation held in 2015 when Archbishop Desmond Tutu traveled to India to meet with old friend the Dalai Lama.

The Book of Joy

Both men had know much suffering in their lives. Yet, the spirituality of each shines through.

What most got to me was toward the end of the book during a description of a celebration for the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday. Children from the local Tibetan school presented their stories of escape from Communist China.

It struck me that people everywhere just want to live their lives. Work, worship, dance.

Yet there exist everywhere men (almost always men) who seek power (political mostly) over people. They want to tell them what to do. To obey them. Exert power over the daily lives of people.

Even in America there exists a movement since 1979 where a group of men decided to try to turn American Christians into political activists–of course in support of their causes of telling people how to live.

And that movement has somewhat succeeded. It has ruptured Christianity in America, splitting churches, separating friends. All in the name of politics.

At least, for the most part, we don’t shoot each other. Yet.

Then I think of the moment of realization when I came to knowledge of what Jesus meant by turning the world upside down. He lived in one of those power hungry eras. The Romans were quite brutal.

Study Jesus. He said time after time that he came to turn that power relationship on its head. The leader washes the feet of the follower. A powerful example in his own life of that new power relationship.

We give power to the Spirit. We use the power from the spirit we receive in return to help people live better. Now, that’s a vision.

Posted in Disciplines, Relationship, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

I Was Such A Mess, And Then

April 21, 2017

“I was such a mess,” said Radek, “and then I started studying productivity and became productive, happier, and found a great job.”

This is from The Podcast, a conversation between the developer and CEO of productivity application Nozbe Michael and the Nozbe Apple App developer Radek. Two Polish guys who speak English on the podcast better than some of my friends.

Episode 93 asks, Why is studying productivity a worthwhile pursuit? Many people assume it’s all useless — and much of it is! Like with dieting, it’s a field filled with charlatans promising amazing results with barely any effort at all. Yet, underneath all the nonsense is wisdom to be discovered.

They are correct. The first “productivity” or “self-help” seminar I attended was 40 years ago. I’ve been through DayTimers, ProActive Management, Franklin Planners, a series of software applications, and now Nozbe. I like Nozbe. The link above is an affiliate link (thank you to all who have downloaded or purchased the app).

But you have to use it to benefit from it. I ditched the others because I could incorporate Nozbe into my daily workflow better than the others.

I remember from my days of selling and installing automation in factories that if the technology got in the way of work, then it was turned off–quickly.

Radek and Michael agree–you don’t become productive overnight, just as you don’t lose 20 pounds and keep it off overnight. You start with one habit change. Do it for 30 days and see if it works. Then maybe go to the next habit change. Repeat.

Spiritual formation is the same thing. You don’t go from “worldly” to “spiritual” overnight. Perhaps you go from “not-God” to “with-God” overnight. You went from “who’s Jesus” to “oh, Jesus” overnight.

But then what. You were a mess. You’re still a mess. Just have a new awareness.

In my life, I’ve seen many (too many) people “get saved” but still remain the same person. The New Testament tells us over and over that we’re in a long-term race.

You change one habit. Bring it into your daily life (maybe reading spiritual books and the Bible every morning for 15 minutes). See how it works. Then add another habit (maybe prayer and meditation every day, maybe twice, regularly). Try it for 30 days and see the benefits of incorporating it into your daily life. Then maybe you begin to see little acts of service you can do daily.

Then one day someone says to you, “Wow, you’re really a changed person!”

That is going from a mess to a maturing Christian. People see it in your life and ask, How can I get some of that?

Posted in Disciplines, Intention | Leave a Comment »

Watch Out For Pointing Fingers

April 20, 2017

Our pastor somehow worked the evils of sex into every message. Then one day, he ran off with the wife of the chairman of the Board of Deacons. — Told to me by a friend years ago.

A “Mr. Morality” on TV is now looking for a job after years of sexual impropriety become public.

Hamlet:
Madam, how like you this play?

Queen:
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Gertrude says that Player Queen affirms so much as to lose credibility. Her vows are too elaborate, too artful, too insistent.

Shakespeare

Yes, sometimes we seem to affirm morality so much that others begin to doubt just how moral we are.

Have you ever looked deeply within? Just as Paul describes early in Romans, I have looked and discovered that within me, I am capable of many sins and immorality.

I’d rather spend my energy focusing on me, and my path. It is not for me to point out everyone’s wrongdoing. That is too easy.

As Jesus pointed out, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” [Matthew 7, but also Luke 6]

Or Paul in Romans [2] who is more prosaic and less poetic, “You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”

Like yesterday’s thoughts on an angry mom who tweets, it’s too easy to take shots at others. Better is to take care of our own spiritual house.

Posted in Attitude, Disciplines, Grace | Leave a Comment »

How Do You Use Social Media

April 19, 2017

“All it takes is a tweet from one angry mom.” Overheard on a sports talk show.

One of the best services we can perform is to get involved with youth sports. Coach, referee, manager.

Working with kids at all ages can be satisfying if done with the right end in mind. And that end is human development. Kids are taught responsibility, team work, to perform when people are watching. They get to run and jump and learn a skill.

I’ve devoted 30 years to refereeing soccer and teaching and mentoring new referees. I’ve seen kids at 13 grow into 16s who can make decisions, control their emotions (tough at that age), manage people situations. I keep hoping one will eventually be refereeing on TV, but even so, they’ve become better people because of it.

But I’ve seen the worst beginning when I was about 16 and umpiring baseball and softball in my hometown.

And I thought–why would someone want to coach these days. Or even referee. After all, it only takes one tweet from an angry mom. Or one Facebook post from that angry mom. And your reputation goes down the toilet. People pile on whether they know anything or not.

Social psychologists, I suppose, study why people sitting alone somewhere with Internet access just spout off with any emotion that crosses their awareness. Face-to-face is harder. Online is easy.

I remember when TV came along and the pundits were talking about how this new communications medium can lift the collective intelligence and knowledge of the population. And we just keep sinking to new lows with every new way of communicating.

We could do things that are motivating in a positive way. We could build people up. We could be sympathetic to the plight of people.

Or, we can just bask in raw emotion and “let it all hang out.”

Posted in Disciplines, emotions, Silence | Leave a Comment »

Don’t Miss The Starting Gun

April 18, 2017

No one told you when to run; You missed the starting gun. — Pink Floyd

I was thinking about all the people (guys and girls) gathered around Jesus after his resurrection. They were still thinking about the kind of power that comes from running the country and the religious establishment. (see yesterday’s post from Acts 1)

They almost missed the race.

Jesus told them about the different kind of power that they were to receive.

Read the next chapter. Acts 2 (Willow Creek Community Church, for example, is a church driven by the vision of an Acts 2 church) reports the power of the Holy Spirit in people as it settled inside the followers. And then many more followers.

The apostle Paul loves athletic analogies. He talks about running the race. You can’t run if you miss the starting gun.

What about us? Like Willie Nelson, have we been looking for love in all the wrong places? And then we never really got started in life? Just settled?

It’s not too late.

I just saw an article in The New York Times that discussed research into creativity. Turns out that our creativity does not die off once we hit the age of 30. Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) said at age 22 that middle aged and older people cannot be creative. “All I have is a mattress at home. I don’t have stuff to stifle my creativity.” I wonder if he thinks he has no creativity now. I bet with a wife and babies he has more than just a mattress in his mansion, er house.

The article featured a guy who is 91 and working to invent an entirely new battery to replace alkaline and lithium ion. Looks like he just about has it.

It’s amazing how people can embark on entirely new careers at 50 or 60, or even 70.

It’s not too late to get started.

Posted in Attitude, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Sometimes You Get What You Need

April 17, 2017

You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need — The Rolling Stones

The child uses the persuasive and time-honored technique of screaming to get a candy. Mommy buys fruit.

Followers ask their leader if he is finally going to do what they expect. He says no, but he’ll give them something he thinks is better.

Jesus’ followers, talking with him after his resurrection, ask, Well, now that you pulled off this coming back to life thing after suffering a cruel death, are you going to finally put on the king’s robes, grab a sword, and drive the Romans out of Israel. In so doing, are you going to re-establish the line of legitimate kings and also restore the Temple to the glory it knew under Solomon as the dwelling place of God? (see Acts 1:6)

Jesus said, No.

But, I’ll give you something better. You will get the power of the Holy Spirit from God and then you will go around telling people about me–what I did, how I changed your lives, and what I offer to other people. (apologies to Acts 1:7-8)

As Christ-followers, we are living in a post-Easter world.

Maybe we should get over the childish tantrums of arguing over which theology is more correct–even (throughout history) raising armies and fighting to the death among ourselves to prove whose theology is the best, and actually do what Jesus said and accept his gift.

Come Holy Spirit, enter the hearts of your faithful goes the old prayer.

And we’ll tell people about the power that came over us. Not the power to argue a point. The power of living a full and free life. With-God.

Posted in Christianity, Disciplines, Witness | Leave a Comment »

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