Excessive Information

It seems, as I have wandered the wide world of blogging, that there is an abundance of material and a dearth in meaningful material.  It brings to mind the history of publication and written information.  That point at which a person’s writings could be instantly read by millions of people across the globe should have been a dramatic event historically.  Yet we view such activities as normal and ordinary in this day and age of abundant information.

It once was a special talent to be able to inscribe such information as you saw fit.  Thus, only those writings so deemed important were written down for history to have.  However, there was a breakthrough with the advent of type set printing. Though this was tedious in many aspects, it allowed for multiple copies of a work without much additional labor.

Since then, printing became more advanced.  We saw typewriters and then computers which could hold and manage large amounts of written work.  Yet still, publication of writing was a prize worth seeking and only those works deemed competent were published.

Yet today, the internet and the web log (blog) have transformed that which was once sacred.  The mere fact that my writing is here and you are partaking of said inscription is a testament of historical significance.  Yet no amount of energy will proceed to celebrate such a feat.

Now the world is replete with an abundance of information which has little or no value (though value is but the worth which we place upon an object or piece of information).  So many today are able to enumerate immense amounts of material which says very little of significance.  I also have now spent some bit of time pronouncing nothing of worth.

While all this may be true, the important idea to remember is this.  Our time and our energy are numbered.  We must seek therefore to espouse those causes, and research those ideas which are pertinent, powerful, or prolific for that which is profitable.  In so doing, we will ensure that though we may not accomplish everything, we may offer our sincerest efforts to accomplish what is possible.

That being said, I must confess that I will strive, as I blog, to provide such writings as may be found helpful, encouraging, or pointed.

Always remember, not all that is eloquent is of any value and not all that is helpful is eloquent.  Search and strive at all times to focus on what is true and what is good (Galatians 6). 

Good Foundations?

I have noticed recently an alarming reality in my life.  It is a pattern that may well spread to other people, though I haven't spent time doing any searching.  The fact is that all of my bad personality traits are built upon a foundation of my good traits.  Confused?  Well this is what I have noticed.  My personality and skill set would tend towards the following characteristics.

1. Methodical
2. Even tempered
3. Unaffected by negativity around me or towards me
4. Detail focused and driven
5. Somewhat intelligent
6. Confident
7. Cautious
8. Etc.

Most of those things are beneficial and helpful for my life and I have structured the shape of my future plans around using those skills to glorify God.  However, the struggles with sin and my bad traits come from an extension of all of those good traits.  I could be termed insensitive, arrogant, condescending, unfriendly, not interested in other people, unloving, etc.  I find that I have to work every day to temper and overcome the sinful desires to "be myself."  I seek my own pleasure and that usually means fulfilling my own personality towards my own comfort.  I have just now realized (far too late) that I must be conscious of who I am, so I can consciously act properly in a tempered way.  Why can I not naturally be in perfect balance?  Why can't my good traits end where they turn bad without my daily focus?  Maybe in another 30 years or more, I will get it all worked out.

What is Legacy?

I have recently begun to think about the legacy we leave behind.  I enjoy the poet W.H. Auden and his poem "The Unknown Citizen" is a statement on this topic.  Is the point of our life to leave an imprint of somekind?  Do we strive to make a mark for ourselves or something greater than ourselves?  Should I spend my life being remembered or making the world better?  Is I live with eternity is view, will I not desire a legacy on earth?  Is the desire to be remembered wrong?  I understand that my first goal in life is to please God and that earthly recognition of any kind is unnecessary.  However, when I think of family and loved ones, there is that creeping desire to be important or cherished.  Pride is very persuasive.

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content 
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

Christmas Music

The Christmas season is by far my favorite time of year.  I love winter and snow and most of all, Christmas music.  I listen to it all year long although I have to keep it to myself since my wife does not approve until we pass Thanksgiving.  There are hundreds of varieties and versions of classics and great new songs introduced every year.  I myself seek to get my hands on as much Christmas music as possible.  With the exception of two songs, I have never heard a Christmas song which I did not like.  And truly, many of the timeless classics reverberate frequently in many versions in my collection.
But for the sake of this post, I wanted to highlight an underrated Christmas song and album.

1. Song - His Favorite Christmas Story by Capital Lights (listen here)  This song is just a great story that centers around Christmas time.  It highlights the fact that memories made during the Christmas holiday can reverberate throughout a person's life.
2. Album - Do You See What I See? by Todd Agnew (and friends) (order or sample here) Todd Agnew has a powerful voice and a great skill for creating lyrics.  In this album, he weaves a masterful collections of stories.  Each song is a different character's interaction with the happenings of the incarnation.  From Mary and Joseph to the innkeeper and John the Baptist's mother, each character's song explores the fears and trepidations that they as humans must have faced.  And the album concludes with the greatest rendition of In The First Light I have ever heard.  It is truly worth a listen if you can get your hands on it. 

I welcome suggestions for other music or songs that I may not have heard.  Have a great Incarnation Season.

The Humor of Calvin

© Universal Press Syndicate

This is still by far one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes episodes.  Below is a link to one person's idea of the best 25 Calvin and Hobbes ever.

http://progressiveboink.com/archive/calvinhobbes.htm

Mirror Image

I enjoy taking and making notes in mirror image.  It was a habit I started when I was young and have continued to use it throughout my life.  While in college, I had to read a book titled How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci.  One of the suggested assignments was to write in mirror image as Da Vinci was known to do.  The book claimed that writing in mirror image would force you to use both halves of your brain.  I never knew any of that.  I just enjoyed writing in mirror image and it would annoy people who tried to read my notes.  It really isn't that hard.  Try it sometime.  All you have to do is pretend you are sitting on the opposite side of the paper.  Then just write normally and it will be in mirror image.  It truly is helpful for keeping you focused.  I am prone to drifting off in church services but have found that writing in this way keeps me attentive and alert.

Counter Cultural Faith

The current construct of common culture constrains our conscience into a confused commonplace coexistence with the chaotic complexities of this circus of life.  However, Christ has called us Christian citizens to conduct our character in contrast to the culture and not capitulate to complacent causality.  Continuing then we are to circumvent our callous carcass of carnality and to contemplate the character of Christ.  And finally to completely consider our celestial certainty and to champion the cause of our commander and consider our consecrated, crucified Christ and concentrate on a continued constitutional which challenges complacency with that which is counter cultural.

Worth and Value

The following is some notes I wrote while reading a book recently. It has not been edited for grammatical or logical accuracy. I merely was interacting with the text. I do have many thoughts on the subject and answers from my own beliefs that I do not include here. This is merely the rambling trackings of a small mind.

Perchance I would have but one chance to enumerate the worth or value of an object or idea. Such an event would be of utmost important depending on the worth I myself place upon said particular item. If I feel naught but callous apathy, my words would display such a belief through a dismissal and lackadaisical motif. However, if my full capacity of passion and fervor is consumed in the importance of said idea, my opportunity to speak should ignite within me a desire and purpose without rival. But in either case, does my perspective of value have any relevance to the worth of the object? It would seem to raise no small question concerning the identification, and more importantly, the source of the worth.
Worth may be on one case the value of an object or idea to an individual or group of people. In such perspective, the object has no value except that which is ascribed to it by a frivolous association of need. On the other hand, worth may be an intrinsic character trait which exists due to the nature of an object or idea. If such be true, then no matter the perspective of the purveyor, the value would remain unchanged.
Such a worth seems Utopian but logically inconsistent. In said path of reason, worth naturally must mean the perceived value of an object. The demand of desire for an item determines its worth. The phenomenon of money or currency is one such example (or even conundrum). A piece of paper or metal takes on more value due to its makeup and format. The materials which construct the item are not worth the value of the final object. The worth is attributed due to representative construct with which the materials are formed.
But at the same time, that worth comes from an arbitrary designation based upon a greater system of interchange and commerce. Need drives desires which crave satisfaction only provided by an exchange of capriciously designated “worthless” material.
But society has progressed to such a point where the abandonment of such system (though a constructed farce) would cause massive collapse of societal structure and widespread destitution. Therefore, artificially created worth has become irreplaceable due to the core needs of human life and interaction.
Many such questions pervade all constructs of understanding and communication. Words and language exist due to shared agreement of worth and value. Without such understanding, no sound would bear any meaning outside of each individual. So worth once again is needed but not necessarily real.
What then must be the view of life itself? We believe that we exist and therefore seek most often to preserve that existence. But is our existence of any particular value or is it merely a brief blip on an irreversible path of material existence? Can a singular being whose existence is not sustained within itself the best evaluator of its own worth? Or must our worth be defined by what we do with whatever life we have? To confront such questions is to identify that entity which you designated the evaluator. You must decide if you will believe that there is something which has worth and value intrinsic to itself. And if so, what then emanates from such worth which ascribes to our existence a value not subject to our own feeble understandings.

My one unedited attempt at flash fiction

The flickering light from a solitary candle illuminated a downcast pair of eyes.  The candle’s waning glow mirrored the heart of the silent observer.  His shining moment had fallen just short of success but the distance seemed a yawning chasm.  He could feel the eyes of the crowd upon him, but the dim light shielded him from what must surely be looks of disenchantment.   Slowly the consequences of his failure became strikingly clear.

His greatest hopes and dreams had been coupled to his absolute success.  With the weight of defeat, came the crushing realization that his wish would never be realized.  The past year of life was all for naught.

What had led to this fiasco?  He moiled in thought to descry some insight.  The past became a conspicuous hole into which the eyes did seek.    Alas, no solitary answer came.  He could find no place to blame for he had given everything.

Yet with a slight shimmer, the candle’s radiance increased.  With it as well, the downcast eyes raised faintly.  Was there now a chance that his dream remained intertwined with the fate of this solitary candle?  Could he spare such hope in this moment of sorrow?  Possibly a renewed burst of energy would atone for what could become a momentary stumble.

Could the unseen eyes be appeased with a second effort?  Maybe triumph and approval were yet attainable upon the wings of rejuvenated fervor.  Slowly the determination swelled.  He summoned all his strength to battle once again.

A solitary figure stood shrouded on the outskirts of the crowd.  He watched the eyes of the silent observer as the candle’s glow displayed the battle within the soul.  Finally his voice broke the silence with a statement of pointed wisdom.

“Blow out the candle already and let’s eat some cake.”

A Labyrinth to Me

The following poem is one which I enjoy reading.  And recently I have stared at the road ahead of me and it seems to me to be a labyrinth.  I believe that I know where the maze should end, yet each day I find another turn.  The poet writes of futility and emptiness.  I myself would feel the same if only to the end I strive.  The hazy nature of the future should incite in me a passion for today. I have a task each day (Eph 2:10) laid out before me.  Joyfully must I face my now.  But I cannot stop my daily quest to elucidate a definite call.  Balanced must I be in living now and faced ahead.  When I stop and look back, I can see a focused track that has led me here.  Now I must trust the God who lives take my life, if willing I am, to use that which he has shaped.

The Labyrinth


Anthropos apteros for days
Walked whistling round and round the Maze,
Relying happily upon
His temperment for getting on.

The hundreth time he sighted, though,
A bush he left an hour ago,
He halted where four alleys crossed,
And recognized that he was lost.


"Where am I?" Metaphysics says
No question can be asked unless
It has an answer, so I can
Assume this maze has got a plan.

If theologians are correct,
A Plan implies an Architect:
A God-built maze would be, I'm sure,
The Universe in minature.

Are data from the world of Sense,
In that case, valid evidence?
What in the universe I know
Can give directions how to go?

All Mathematics would suggest
A steady straight line as the best,
But left and right alternately
Is consonant with History.

Aesthetics, though, believes all Art
Intends to gratify the heart:
Rejecting disciplines like these,
Must I, then, go which way I please?

Such reasoning is only true
If we accept the classic view,
Which we have no right to assert,
According to the Introvert.

His absolute pre-supposition
Is - Man creates his own condition:
This maze was not divinely built,
But is secreted by my guilt.

The centre that I cannot find
Is known to my unconscious Mind;
I have no reason to despair
Because I am already there.

My problem is how not to will;
They move most quickly who stand still;
I'm only lost until I see
I'm lost because I want to be.

If this should fail, perhaps I should,
As certain educators would,
Content myself with the conclusion;
In theory there is no solution.

All statements about what I feel,
Like I-am-lost, are quite unreal:
My knowledge ends where it began;
A hedge is taller than a man."


Anthropos apteros, perplexed
To know which turning to take next,
Looked up and wished he were a bird
To whom such doubts must seem absurd.


WH Auden

About the Title

cog·i·tate/ˈkäjəˌtāt/

Verb: Think deeply about something; meditate or reflect.

The Bible is very clear that we are to be people who meditate (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2, and Colossians 3:2).  Obviously, the object or objects of meditation will often determine our behavior or the type of people we are or become.  God has blessed me with a one track mind. I often use that mind to meditate and cogitate.  In order to make sure that I am properly focused, I have decided to write down some of those thoughts.  When I am cognizant of the fact that God and others can see that on which I am meditating, I hopefully will be more profitably focused in my thoughts.