For the last two weeks, I have blissfully been enjoying my life of freedom from employment. After leaving my job, life has been surprisingly productive -- I have been able to run errands to my heart's content, meet friends for lunch, get in a lot of reading, but the one thing that has been starkly missing from the last two weeks has been my daily obsession, the New York Times.
With no internet at home and no easy access near my house, I have not been able to spend leisurely hours in front of the computer screen catching up on the latest in the American Presidential race or read fascinating articles on behavior or health. I have been blissfully unaware of the status of Musharraf's miliary state, and haven't been able to follow up on the latest Chavez drama. I haven't heard of the latest environmental crisis in China.
For a long time I have mentally chasitised the American youth for being too out of touch with the outside world. Only concerned with what happens on Main Street, or at the very most Capitol Hill, many young Americans today just don't know much about life outside of their surburban bubbles. And isn't it true that the things you fear most are the things you know the least about?
What is the solution to fear of being "Bangalored" (or "Bengalurued," now I guess, but I digress)? What is the greatest weapon in the war on terror? How do we cure the apathy about the environmental crisis our planet seems to be plunging into?
Education. Simple understanding of our own personal universe and the world around us. Time spent with people different than us.
Now, I've got to run, I have a date with the Times.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Note to self...
...Praise children for trying hard, not for doing well!
The Many Errors in Thinking about Mistakes
"In a study that Professor Dweck and her reserachers did with 400 fifth graders, half were randomly praised as being "really smart" for doing well on a test; the others were praised for their effort.
They were then given two tasks to choose from: an easy one that they would learn little from but do well, or a more challenging one that might be more interesting but induce more mistakes.
The majority of those praised for being smart chose the simple task, while 90 percent of those commended for trying hard selected the more difficult one."
Apparently we learn more from our failures than our successes -- go figure!
The Many Errors in Thinking about Mistakes
"In a study that Professor Dweck and her reserachers did with 400 fifth graders, half were randomly praised as being "really smart" for doing well on a test; the others were praised for their effort.They were then given two tasks to choose from: an easy one that they would learn little from but do well, or a more challenging one that might be more interesting but induce more mistakes.
The majority of those praised for being smart chose the simple task, while 90 percent of those commended for trying hard selected the more difficult one."
Apparently we learn more from our failures than our successes -- go figure!
Monday, December 03, 2007
For those who like things just so...
Which kind of perfectionist are you?A recent New York Times article talks about the dangers of perfectionism: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/health/04mind.html?8dpc
"Some researchers divide perfectionists into three types, based on answers to standardized questionnaires:
- Self-oriented strivers who struggle to live up to their high standards and appear to be at risk of self-critical depression
- Outwardly focused zealots who expect perfection from others, often ruining relationships
- Those desperate to live up to an ideal they're convinced others expect of them, a risk factor for suicidal thinking and eating disorders."
Dysfunctional? And I always thought perfectionism was an asset! Guess I better watch myself for signs of being self-critical, expecting perfection from others, and trying to live up to someone else's ideal...
Not sure if you're a perfectionist? Take the test: http://psychologytoday.psychtests.com/tests/perfectionism_access.html
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Mystery
www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/ark-covenant-200712.html
Recently, my dad sent me the following article about the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and their claim that they are the keepers of the Ark of the Covenant.
For me, it stirred up thoughts and feelings about the role of faith and mystery in today's church.
Growing up in the US, Christianity (and Catholicism especially) seems so contemporary, normal, and, well, safe ... almost like the mystery has been shaken and squeezed out of it. You go to church, remain solemn and mostly silent, say your prayers (with heads bowed and hands clasped in front of you) to the benevolent God to "put your time in" on Sunday morning and spend very little time the rest of the week thinking about your faith. This attitude, as far as I can tell, stems from belief in the "Scale Theory" of religion, but more on that later.
At least, this is how it was for me -- I understand that some people, my incomparable Grandma Pesek among them, find a close connection with the heavenly through Catholic rituals --beautiful hymns that echo the angels, rituals handed down for generations, but for me, they were obstacles in my path to creating a relationship with a personal God.
I started reading through the whole Bible earlier this year and was really struck by a couple things -- first, that they sacrificed animals in the Old Testament, a fact that I'm sure I was aware of, but didn't really hit home. It was a little like reading in the news about terrorist attacks in Asia or civil wars in small Carribean nations -- doesn't quite hit you until you see it first hand.
I visited the Golconda Fort here in Hyderabad about a year ago. The fort was built as a Fortress for the Nizam (Muslim leader of India from the 14th and 15th centuries) but has since been overtaken by the Hindus as a place for prayer and sacrifice. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of chickens in various states of sacrifice were on display all over the fort compound, with solemn prayers to the Hindu gods spoken in reverence and piety. For someone who has grown up in the sheltered cove of suburban and rural American, it was at once one of the most revolting and amazing things I've seen in India, and certainly something that had no parallel in my life before that.
It was shortly after that that I read about sacrifice in the Old Testament -- God goes into almost morbid detail about the nature and substance of the sacrifices. The rift in my mind between the strange and exotic rituals of the Hindus at Golconda Fort and the somber Sunday Catholic services of my youth closed in an instant and I began to first understand, in awe, the power of Christ's work on the cross. The crucifixion and resurrection, which had previously been mixed with thoughts of Easter time chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks, suddenly became the most humbling and ultimately life changing event that has ever happened on the face of the planet.
It is this mystery that is the lifeblood of faith. Ultimately, in the articled I've linked above, the author considers entering the holy of holies to see for himself whether the ark in question is really the Ark of the Old Testament but is stopped by a healthy fear of the powers of God. It is this same mystery that creates a healthy fear in those of us who believe in the power of a living God.
Of course, for me, everything goes back to Ecclesiastes 3 :)
The eternal question:
"What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men."
And the answer, in three parts. One:
"He has made everything beautiful in its time." -- God loves us too much to give us lives that are happy and pain-free but ultimately create self-centered people who always get what they want -- he weaves in mourning, weeping, death, war, and even hatred into the fabric of our lives to give us depth and strength to make us his beautiful creations.
Two:
"He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;" -- We are made not for this world, but for the next.
Three:
"yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." -- Ah, the mystery that creates the faith that pleases God.
Recently, my dad sent me the following article about the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and their claim that they are the keepers of the Ark of the Covenant.For me, it stirred up thoughts and feelings about the role of faith and mystery in today's church.
Growing up in the US, Christianity (and Catholicism especially) seems so contemporary, normal, and, well, safe ... almost like the mystery has been shaken and squeezed out of it. You go to church, remain solemn and mostly silent, say your prayers (with heads bowed and hands clasped in front of you) to the benevolent God to "put your time in" on Sunday morning and spend very little time the rest of the week thinking about your faith. This attitude, as far as I can tell, stems from belief in the "Scale Theory" of religion, but more on that later.
At least, this is how it was for me -- I understand that some people, my incomparable Grandma Pesek among them, find a close connection with the heavenly through Catholic rituals --beautiful hymns that echo the angels, rituals handed down for generations, but for me, they were obstacles in my path to creating a relationship with a personal God.
I started reading through the whole Bible earlier this year and was really struck by a couple things -- first, that they sacrificed animals in the Old Testament, a fact that I'm sure I was aware of, but didn't really hit home. It was a little like reading in the news about terrorist attacks in Asia or civil wars in small Carribean nations -- doesn't quite hit you until you see it first hand.
I visited the Golconda Fort here in Hyderabad about a year ago. The fort was built as a Fortress for the Nizam (Muslim leader of India from the 14th and 15th centuries) but has since been overtaken by the Hindus as a place for prayer and sacrifice. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of chickens in various states of sacrifice were on display all over the fort compound, with solemn prayers to the Hindu gods spoken in reverence and piety. For someone who has grown up in the sheltered cove of suburban and rural American, it was at once one of the most revolting and amazing things I've seen in India, and certainly something that had no parallel in my life before that.
It was shortly after that that I read about sacrifice in the Old Testament -- God goes into almost morbid detail about the nature and substance of the sacrifices. The rift in my mind between the strange and exotic rituals of the Hindus at Golconda Fort and the somber Sunday Catholic services of my youth closed in an instant and I began to first understand, in awe, the power of Christ's work on the cross. The crucifixion and resurrection, which had previously been mixed with thoughts of Easter time chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks, suddenly became the most humbling and ultimately life changing event that has ever happened on the face of the planet.
It is this mystery that is the lifeblood of faith. Ultimately, in the articled I've linked above, the author considers entering the holy of holies to see for himself whether the ark in question is really the Ark of the Old Testament but is stopped by a healthy fear of the powers of God. It is this same mystery that creates a healthy fear in those of us who believe in the power of a living God.
Of course, for me, everything goes back to Ecclesiastes 3 :)
The eternal question:
"What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men."
And the answer, in three parts. One:
"He has made everything beautiful in its time." -- God loves us too much to give us lives that are happy and pain-free but ultimately create self-centered people who always get what they want -- he weaves in mourning, weeping, death, war, and even hatred into the fabric of our lives to give us depth and strength to make us his beautiful creations.
Two:
"He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;" -- We are made not for this world, but for the next.
Three:
"yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." -- Ah, the mystery that creates the faith that pleases God.
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