Intellectual Percipitation

Woah! I must appologize to you faithful blog readers (and 4 subscribers!). I was so busy this week that I was unable to pump out a compelling entry on my normal Sunday schedule. I hope you'll forgive me and take this Monday post as an acceptable substitute. 

You see, this week I was charged with the extra responsibility of officiating over Sunday's services at my local Church. Our senior pastor had reason to be away this week and, being the assistant pastor, I inherit the extra slack. 

On top of my normal schedule of preparing for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday night and Sunday school lessons, I also needed to plan 2 sermons and plan out a morning and evening service. On paper it seems like no big deal. But if any of you have taken time to shadow your local pastor (or youth pastor), then you realize the immense amount of work, worry and prayer that goes into any particular week. 

However, this extra responsibility is not without its reward. My mind feels as if it's been thoroughly exercised as I prepared for these messages. My heart feels at peace from spending time in God's word. And my work week will seem easy breezy this week. PLUS! I have a wonderful week of vacation approaching at the week's end with my sister in SC! WOOT! 

Why is it that the week or two before a vacation is extra busy?

My brain is struggling to fire up this morning. Caffeine is flowing through my body's systems but most of my functions don't seem to be opperating at peak efficiency. I've already typed 4 paragraphs and said nothing of consequence... make that 5...

This blog post isn't exactly turning out how I would like it to. I have big dreams for this blog. I know what I'll do; I'll devote the rest of this blog to share with you my hopes and goals for blogging! (Yeah... that'll spice things up...)

I've seen blogs and heard of blogs that gain national attention and are quite famous. People hold these authors, their ideas, writing style, and opinions in high regard. Not that I'm looking for fame or attention (although it IS nice to be noticed), no, I blog because I earnestly feel as if I have thoughts and ideas to contribute to the world!

My number one goal - To change the world. Show people the potential and point to a better way. If I can help shape people's ideals and impact this world, even in a small capacity, then I have accomplished something. Again, this isn't for fame or recognition, but because I sincerely care about the condition and direction of the global community of Earth. 

So, if my blog can become an influential powerhouse of stunning ideas, thrilling rhetoric, and foster an expansive community of like-minded individuals working for a goal similar to that which I've shared, I'll have earned a klondike bar. 

I have set some seriously high goals for this blog to hit before the end of this year. 

I would like to see this blog:

* Hit 500 views by the end of 2011

* Gain 25 more followers

* Encourage more discussions in the comments section

* Have at LEAST 3 people share my blog via Twitter/Facebook

2012's goals are much more ambitious, but I think these are reasonable for the last 2 months of '11. 

Now that I've shared my purpose and goals with you, will my faithful readers help me attain these goals? Of course, I don't ask as someone who's not willing to recipricate the favor. 

What are your goals (internet based or otherwise)? How can I (or any other reader) help YOU reach your goals? Leave some comments below!

Feedback Loop

This week has proved my mind works like a toaster from the 1990s. A time before they put that nifty "ABORT" button on toasters. Honestly, this never made sense to me. Who would ever be so indecisive to say, "wait... I take it back, toast was a bad idea"? People who can make up their mind put the bread in and wait for the cooking process to come to fruition. This is how my brain has been acting this week. No "ABORT" button. 


This week started with sermon preparation. For those of you who just read the blogs and not my bio, I am an assistant pastor at a small church in Florida. (Come to think of it, do I even have a bio? Might be my fault you don't know this then... my bad!) I'll be speaking this next Sunday for the morning and evening service, filling in for the senior pastor while he's away. 

I'm not sure how other people feel about public speaking. I've heard that it's one of the most common and powerfully gripping fears that people face. I also know that sharing faith or religious views is high up there on uncomfortable topics. You could easily imagine some sort of huge weight hanging over my head just waiting to fall and crush my tiny brain out of the fear and dread of this doubly uncomfortable task... and I have to do it twice in one day!


But that's not the case. I rather enjoy the opportunity to share what God puts on my heart. The chance to expound on Scripture in a way that others may not have realized otherwise. And I relish the chance to impact the people who listen with information that can create life-altering change!


That slice of bread was in slot one this week. A nice piece of white bread; nothing fancy really. I'm still waiting for the cooking process to be done with that one. I'll butter it once it's finished and hope I don't overburn it. But I know it's sure to satisfy most people. 


The other slice that's been inserted into my brain this week, however, was quite the opposite. Whole grain wheat, filled with fiber, some sort of nuts and possibly baked with babies. (At least that fact would've proven to be less provocative...)


See, what you need to know is that this blogging experience is rather new to me. It's quite a different task from other writing. Yes, I'm sharing ideas and thoughts, but with an audience in mind. I want my words to be clear, meaningful, shining like silver and just as attractive. I want your mind to say "I like this guy. I think I will subscribe to this blog. It makes my day feel full of glitter and rainbows and I hate my family less." Ok, maybe I'm dreaming too largely here, but I still have my audience in mind. 


But blogging is only a small part of my internet literature experience. Like millions of others, I have a facebook account and take gratuitous advantage of the NOTEs application. This week I ventured out a doosey of a thought on a subject that continues to be a boiling point in America and elsewhere in the world.

I'm not going into detail about it here, but if you care to view what I've wrote and wish to comment, I gladly accept feedback. I ned to warn you, it's controversial in nature and I definitely DON'T take a popular stance. If you wish, you can view this note here. 


I always brace myself for controversial statements because I know the immense amount of backlash and passionate, emotion filled, ALL CAPS rage responses they can register. This post surprised me because, although it currently has over 40 comments (a good portion of those are my responses to comments), none of these were derrogatory or hateful. It's so rare to see honest, intelligent, constructive conversation on an internet thread anymore!


I'm not new to internet debating. Because of my faith, I have ventured to many an Atheist site and debated Christianity (and subsequently metaphysics, morality, social science, psychology, and quantum mechanics... all of which are a little beyond my expertise...). Everyone on these forums were incredibly intelligent and, admittedly, much more educated than I was. (I was maybe only 17 when I first started on these forums.) 


With all this massive intelligence and enlightenment you would think people would be able to express what they considered true knowledge with grace and compassion to the "inferior intelligence," a nice way of calling someone "stupid" that was never an adopted in these forums. No, people used intelligence to pound bruises on their opponents head. Talking to anyone on these forums felt rougher than 10 rounds of sparring with sumo wrestlers. Incredibly, if they couldn't counter your argument, they would resort to pointing out your grammatical and/or spelling errors (it's the internet...) and belittle your intelligence that way. "You must be wrong, you can't even spell supercalifragilisticexpealadocious..." (Pretty sure I just goofed it again... sorry)


What I wish, more than anything else in the world, is that people in this time would learn HOW to argue or debate a point correctly. I know going into a debate that there is NO hope of convincing the person I debate with. Not my job. I'm only supposed to present my side with clarity and finality for the benefit of those who observe. If I make MORE sense than the other person's point of view, I have won. But it's no use winning if you cut down another person, invalidate their intelligence and make yourself look like a bloodthirsty jerk! These are things I wish people would learn when debating:


1. Respect your opponent. Debating is supposed to be the civilized way of expressing the reasons for two differing points of view. Decorum and respect are crucial components to understanding both sides. 


2. Don't resort to name calling/defamation. This is an extension of respect. When someone makes a mistake or an error, what's the point of making them look stupid? They're not stupid. If you truly believe that every opinion has value, then show it by allowing someone to make a mistake here and there. We're not perfect, and we're all here to learn. 


3. Argue on precision. I have been in so many arguments where everything, including the kitchen sink, was thrown into relevant subject matter. This caused the logic behind another person's opinion to flip flop... but when someone thinks winning is all about trumping the other side, there's no hope. Let your own argument hinge on something substantial and then point out the flaws that may be present in your oponent's argument. Don't go off on rabit trails that elude your main point!


4. Objectivity. Unless you are God, or have heard directly from him, you don't know everything. (If you did, you would know it's pointless to argue against objective truth.) Finding something objective to base an argument off of is crucial. Because there are so few things that people agree are "objective," (i.e. God, Bible, Human law, morality...) leave room for the possibility that you are wrong. Logic is a powerful tool, but in and of itself it leaves room for grave error. If logic is based off of a false assumption, all conclusions have the possibility (and probability) of being false. 


5. The most powerful thing. Ask questions. The greatest way to show people their error is not to bash them over the head with absolute, unbridled, rage inspired "truth." Yes, sometimes people need to hear it before they do something incredibly dumb... but in the realm of debate and expressing ideas, a simple question can get their own mind to consider the weaknesses and glaring pitfalls in their argument. We learn by examination. Help them examine their argument as you examine your own. 


If we could all learn to argue correctly, I think even the most disagreeable conflicts could be sorted out for the betterment of everyone. Some may agree to disagree and wind up on separate ends of the map (it happens). But civility in expression of opinion is what separates us in our desires from how animals express themselves... Biting, scratching and poo-slinging... sigh... sounds like congress... 


What about you? What's your least favorite part of arguing/debating?

A Post in 30 Minutes

It's Tuesday. Once again, I find myself falling into the habit of breaking my set schedule for consistent posts. I'm tempted to say that Tuesday will just be an additional official post, but then I know I'll be tempted to break that ruling as well. Gotta give that rebellious nature some sort of outlet.

At some point in life, we've all had the feeling of impending doom. Not end of the world, appocolyptic kind of stuff. But that impending doom feeling that follows 5 assignment due dates that happened to covertly converge on a single day (always happens to be tomorrow!) and neither one is done. Or you lost something terribly important (like your passport on the bus...). It's not the doom that the whole Earth is ending, crumbling into oblivion... just YOUR world.

Fun feeling right? Pressure comes at you from all sides and there's no conceivable solution in sight! I know that when I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders I go to a place deep inside myself, in the corner hidden behind my courage, and find this little box with a tiny superhero resting inside. By the way, don't think just becase he's tiny that he can't do anything. I site Mighty Mouse, 'nuff said.

No, this tiny superhero nested deep inside, when released, takes over everything. Adrenaline spikes, my mind is clear, and I can see countless possibilities and solutions to my problems. Sure, only 15% of those solutions DON'T involve me setting fire to something, but every idea helps. It's this superhero that helped me through the stresses of college and why I work well under pressure.

Perhaps you have a superhero inside of you as well? An extraordinary piece of your being that you unlock when the world, people, and life pressures you to be amazing just resting beneath the consciousness of your mind. But what happens when your superhero takes a vacation? Or has become afflicted with cancer and lupus at the same time??! What happens when your superhero can't take it?

Oh my! In movies, they build up the hero to be auper awesome and potentially invincible (coughcoughSupermancoughcough) only to tear him down and introduce a challenge or insiginificant item (coughcoughkryptonitecoughcough) that renders the hero completely and utterly useless. Art mimics life and in these stories there is a great deal of truth.

In my life's circumstances (if you don't read blogs that hit on a personal level for the author, skip this paragraph and the next one), I'm finding my superhero is not uch help because he's drained. He's saved me too much and too often. The little things in life have erroded the immense power and strength that he supplied.

It's odd how the little things in life tend to wear down a person. It's like a thousand tiny pebbles that chip away at joy, sandblast imagination into oblivion, irritate a person to death, and make it always feel like you have sand in your undies...

To recharge this superhero, I have to recharge. How, you ask? Vanilla Coke, a week's vacation, and shrugging off responsibility until my insides come back into synch with reality.

My question to you on this Tuesday, where many people start feeling the world's pressure again, is "How do you recharge YOUR superhero?" (If you have one, what's his/her name?)

Driving Me Crazy

It's Sunday! A time for worship, religious obligations, rituaslistic painting of one's flesh to support a favored football team, afternoon naps, and for me to create an addition to my blog postings.


Today I'd like to take you to a very special section of my brain. It's a magical place of seething criticism and astute observations. A place where tolerance for idiocy does not exist. It's a place where my attitude of swift and deliberate retribution rests. Yes, Faithful Followers, today we're visiting my RANT center. (If you have not already applauded in anticipation and glee, do so now)


Not long after automobiles were made available to the public, laws started springing up to make sure people used these vehicles properly. Laws are great. If you ever looked up "Dumbest Laws" in google, you'll most likely be entertained for hours. What truly boggles my mind is that no matter how dumb the law is, there was SOMEONE dumb enough to do the opposite in order to bring the law into existence. For example: In New York it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your pocket on Sunday. WHO was doing this in the first place? Ridiculous people...


That sets up for this rant. Obviously I'm not bothered by crazy laws. I'm upset at these things called automobiles, or "Cars" for the common tongue, and the people who drive them. Car laws have been enhanced and rewritted everytime someone has had a not-so-great idea. Seatbelts were introduced as more and more accidents occured at higher speeds. Now the top concern for car manufacturers isn't luxury or perfomance or even how cool the car looks. It's how safely can this car be destroyed when it hits something at 30-60 miles per hour?


We don't need safer cars! We don't need more restricted rules for opperations! What we NEED are smarter drivers!


Personally, it seems that we give anyone who can see straight and say their name a liscence to opperate a two thousand pound fiberglass, poly-alloy death weapon on wheels. Ok, maybe that's a bit harsh. But it seems like the educational process is wasted on rules and procedures without teaching people the essence of HOW to drive.


How many of you have been ticked off by the person who rides your bumper? You're already going 5 over the speed limit and the guy behind you still feels as if he can just nudge you a little bit that you'll speed up OR pull over, cry for failing at life and let him pass. It sickens me that people have this NASCAR mentallity where if they pass you, they will win some sort of trophy for getting to their destination a whole 8 seconds faster. Chill out! You're not Jeff Gordon!


I have lots of time to think in the car and I rant about these drivers to myself. But I also did some simple mathematic calculations. It just doesn't pay to speed! Listen, if my car (on its best days) gets 38 miles per gallon at a rate of 70 miles per hour. That means every hour I drive freeway is costing me rougly $6.50. Let's say I'm on a 160 mile trip. Total time: 2 hours, 16 minutes (appx). Total fuel cost: $14.02 If I increased my speed to 80 miles per hour I can shave a good 16 minutes off my total time! But my MPGs drop to 26... Those 16 minutes just cost me $6.48. Is it worth it?


That's 16 minutes off a 3 hour drive. But what about the short game? People seem to LOVE to race me to red lights. They must imagine that if they get there first that they'll have the best position for the next heat! Sorry, untrue. Cars burn more fuel accelerating in those start-up gears. My philosophy is always to coast to red lights (when I have a ways to go) instead of gunning it until I HAVE to stop. Most times, the light turns green and instead of wearing on my brakes for stopping AND spending more gas to get back up to 3rd or 4th gear, I can resume my course and speed without wasting anything.


These things just bother me. If people were smarter about their transportation, stopped being in a rush, stopped trying to be first, and just worry about letting EVERYONE get to where they're going safely, then the world probably wouldn't need so much oil, AND driving would be a lot more pleasant.


For more driving philosphies, leave me a comment asking for more. Feel free to share some of your own!


What bothers YOU about other drivers?

Black, White, and a Shade of Green

The trusted and tried principle for excellent blogging is to issue a new post at regular intervals. This instills a level of expectancy and consistency for any followers. I had decided that Sunday would be my regular interval but I just couldn't resist spilling some more thoughts before then. (One solitary post on the blog looks for a bleak and dismally pathetic site...)

For this particular post, I need you to do something with me. First, close your eyes. Now open them because you can't keep reading with them shut. Now imagine yourself many years ago when you were 5-6 years old. You're just starting your educational adventure and discovering new things every day. The world is opening up its wonders to you. 

A blank sheet of paper is placed before you and soon a large yellow box with many wonderful objects appears. It's a 64 count box of crayons! There are so many vivid and subtle colors packed in between thse thin pieces of cardboard that you barely know where to begin. Suddenly creativity takes a hold of you and your hands grab colors at will, almost of their own accord, and now a masterpiece is taking shape; unfolding right in front of you.

Of course masterpiece is a subjective term, but the fact of the matter is that your brain was exploding with new ideas. Neurons were firing and creating new synapses to handle the creative potential being unleashed. You felt alive. You felt in control. You felt the limits of this world melt away much like they had melted the wax to form those crayons. 

That feeling and opportunity to create is perhaps the most important aspect of learning. Here's the sad part: At some point, either high school, middle school, or even somewhere before then, someone from somewhere else decided it would be more advantageous for your curricular development to make you trade in your box of crayons for blue or black in only. Now you have no blank pieces of paper. Only papers with words and blank spaces. Only a single isolated term (or letter...) belongs in that blank. Nothing else will do. Anything else is failure. 

Now comes feelings of enclosure. Gone is the creative element. It has been replaced by objectivity and despair. 

Why?

Why do we do this to ourselves? Is education so immensely important that creativity must take a side seat to objective fact? What do we gain by diminishing the value of imagination and creativity in the educational arena? I venture boldly to say that we gain nothing. I venture to say that we lose the essence of knowledge itself. 

Einstein said that "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Everything that we know today has been brought to the light of human intelligence by some great discovery. People who weren't bound by convention or by the "facts" as they were. They dreamed. They imagined something greater than what was possible at the moment. Very few of the world's great innovations happened by accident (save chocolate chip cookies and french dip sandwiches... :D ) but were the product of great imagination. 

I know that this won't revolutionize the educational system in place. I know that these words are simply black and white constructs of a frustrated individual who sees imagination dying in the streets like a stabbed hobo. There may be little that I can actually do... But I imagine a world that allows for the colors of life to inspire once again. I imagine schools and institutions more concerned with unlocking the creative potential in each student than with their status quo and schedules. I imagine a world where everyone has the opportunity to create from their endless box of crayons. 

I imagine that these words would inspire others to dream with me. Maybe together we can create a better life for those yet to come. 

What do YOU imagine?

Thought Singularity

Hey, there! Welcome to my blog! I'm immensely grateful that you are taking the time to read my thoughts. Feel free to let them become your own, to challenge what I say, and to share what you would like. I welcome plagiarism.


I often wonder what it would be like if I could only say a single phrase or word for the rest of my life. What word/phrase would I want to represent my thoughts and character for the remainder of my days? This is a question I keep coming back to again and again because it's such a difficult thing to nail down. Do I want a representative phrase like a life motto? (Mine's "BRING IT!" btw) Or something more useful, like "thank you." That'd be nice. You should always be thankful.


Anyway, I still have no idea what my sole phrase would be, what thought would define my life. BUT I do know this; I don't want my life to be defined or confined by a standard, mundane thought. There's something about conventional thinking that seems so distastful to my essential being. Conventional thinking now includes that whole "thinking outside the box" concept which has kinda become the new box. Now a person can become pigeon-holed into one camp of thinking or the other. This does not seem productive to me.


Now, my line of thinking is this: On Star Trek (if everyone were a Star Trek fan, then I wouldn't have to explain this illustration too much... follow the parantheses if you get lost) the ship usually comes across some sort of space anomoly (an anomoly is something uncharacteristic of the normal laws of space-time. A unique occurance). Some of these are called "singularities" (usually the term spelled out as a gravitational singularity. called by an imploding star or other irregularity of gravity. Again, a fairly uncommon and unique occurance).


I want my thoughts that define my life to be like a singularity. I want them to be unique, dazzling, amazingly brilliant. But I also want them to have gravity. I want my thoughts to grab people, pull them in and win them over to the uniqueness of though. I like being unconventional, but not simply for unconventional's sake.


Here's a danger I try to avoid: being defined by someone else. If I say "I like to think unconventionally" people tend to automatically assume that you are unconventional and now I've been branded for life. It's seered into my flesh and there's no hope to change... NEVER, EVER let people define who you are. DO NOT accept that. God is the only one able to define a person's character and identity, a person's thoughts.


My thought singularity is produced not from my own uniqueness or my desire to be unconventional, but it coes for seeking God's will and ideas and refusing to let myself be defined by others' perceptions.


This is the start of something huge. A mental revolution. Are you ready to get sucked in?


Two things you should take away from this post. 1. You NEED to become a Star Trek fan! 2. Don't let other people define you, don't even try for yourself. Let God do it. He's better.


Thanks for reading!