Taking A Break

I spend too much time on the Internet, and not enough doing the things that I need to. I'm going to go a little bit of hiatus. I may post every couple of weeks or so, but I just feel the need to unplug myself from this beast called the Internet. Bye.

A Life Worth Living

Isn't it amazing how well groomed we've become. Neatly trimmed haircuts, and cleanly shaven faces. Born into a life of indulgence, we're raised to view life as a series of carefully calculated events that one should hope to experience and thrive in. At age 18, High School is completed, followed by (at least) a four year degree, at which time an individual will meet a girl (or guy), get a white collar job, and "work for a living." Now it should be noted, that unless one has a 401K to hold onto, the individual should definitely stay with their job until retirement, so that he or she can safely retire, live comfortably in a retirement home, and die peaceably with no burden to their children. There are (of course) other stereotypes that are imposed upon us as Americans, but I'll keep it general for the purpose of this post. Everyone knows the story of Pavlov's Dogs. He rung a bell every time he fed the dogs to train them into expecting food every time they heard the bell. Then he rang the bell without giving the dogs food. By measuring how much the dogs salivated, he was able to determine what they expected. However, not many people know of Pavlov's Kids. That's right, he did similar experiments on children. And guess what... It yielded the same results! Why is this so important? Because somebody, somewhere, knows how the human mind works. These people also know how to condition a person to get him or her to do their bidding. This is a deep thought, so I'll let you ponder it whilst you look at this picture of Ivan Pavlov and one of his dogs..

What if one were to throw away all of these predispositions toward what a human "should" be and start to develop a mind of their own? From what I've learned from history, the people that made the biggest difference in society (i.e. Jesus, Paul, Elijah, Nicola Tesla, Thomas Edison, etc...) were called lunatics. Why? Because they didn't accept what society told them they "should" be. They understood what they could be, and they achieved it. One of the biggest examples I've ever come across of people doing what they should is the Nazi soldiers of WWII. In the trials after the war, all of them said that all they were doing was following orders. How could they be to blame for just following the orders of those superior to them? After all, they were just doing what they should. I'd challenge you to start thinking for yourself. You'll know you're on the right path when people start calling you crazy and slanting you. Abraham Lincoln said, "Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored." I'd encourage you to take the path less traveled, and think for yourself. G'nite.

The Present

My Grandpa taught me many things and told me many stories. He was by no means perfect, and I think that it makes his lessons all the more real. He was a man just like myself. Torn, tattered, and well worn. He told me a secret when he was in his late 80's. Everyday he woke up in the morning, he saw a present sitting on the edge of his bed. It was specially made just for him. Beautiful wrapping paper and a big red ribbon. As he carefully unwrapped his present, he found a wonderful gift inside waiting for him. It was his day. Every day that was given to him by God was another gift to be unwrapped and cherished. It deserved respect. The gift was a rare thing he told me, especially at his age. Because he didn't know if he would get another one, he valued it that much more. This really made an impact on me. We waste so much of our time and act like we'll never run out of it. The Bible teaches us to redeem our time. And my Grandpa taught me to as well. I hope you'll do the same.

Information Overload

Before the printing press was invented, books were very scarce. An education was a hard thing to come by, and even possessing one book was something to be extremely proud of. Few people in the world owned any, and even fewer had actual libraries. These were the days when an education was a thing to be coveted; days when what people knew were passed down from what their families and friends told them. Even after the invention of the printing press, books were somewhat scarce. In Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, he speaks of borrowing his friend's books with the utmost respect and even fear of them (he really didn't want to hurt them in any way). A book was a treasure, and the knowledge contained in them was a privilege to possess. Flash forward to today. Books can be bought for pennies at thrift stores or even found in the trash. A book is so commonplace that the regard that people once had for them has diminished to such a degree that once one has been read, its either thrown away or given away. With the advent of the Internet, information has taken another giant leap forward. Anything one would ever want to know is right before their fingertips. Just push a key and there it is! Then why are we seeing a decline in the education of people in today's society? Why are colleges pushing young adults faster and faster through their courses? I believe that a large part is because we have forgotten the sweetness of knowledge. We have taken for granted that for most of history, most people didn't know anything of literature, poetry, or many of the other things that education offers. We have become "Informationally Obese" if you will. Cramming twitters down our brains and wondering what Johnny ate for dinner last night. We have forgotten the fragrance that emanates from a truly educated person. An old Jewish tradition when a child was sent to school, was that when the first book was given to the student, it would be strewed with nuts and fruits to symbolize the sweetness of knowledge, and to encourage the child to savour an education. I would like to end this post with a quote from Desmond Bagley, "If a man is a fool, you don't train him out of being a fool by sending him to a university, you merely turn him into a trained fool, ten times more dangerous."

Electricity Vs. Magnetism

In the late 1880's there was a war. Not a war fought on the battle ground, but a war of the mind. This war was between two inventors: Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla. They were fighting over which type of current was superior; Alternating (AC) or Direct (DC). To make a long story short, Nicola Tesla won the war with his Alternating Current system. It totally changed the world! Today, almost every person the world over has electricity in their lives, and in most cases come in contact with it on a daily basis. People over the course of time have studied just what electricity is, and they seem to know everything about it. From what I've read and understand, electricity is the movement of the electrons on one atom's valance ring to the next in a rapid succession (the speed of light). This movement of electrons creates energy which we use in our everyday lives. I don't need to get into the differences of AC vs. DC, but suffice it to say that its just a different way of how the electrons move. Magnetism also plays a big part in how electricity is created. Wrap a wire around a soft iron core, move a magnet across it and you've just created voltage. They are closely related. However, the one thing that people have not discovered is just what magnetism is. We know that the positively and negatively charged particles align themselves perfectly to create opposing poles, but we don't know what the power of the magnet is. We call it lines of flux, but have no idea just what those flux lines are. There are ways of measuring the magnetic charge, but no way of observing what the power is. I just think its interesting. We don't know everything, even though we act like we do. See ya!

The Lonely Shepherd

The wilderness... I've often thought about how it might impact my life by abiding in it for some length of time. There are so many distractions in my life; so many things that take up time and space that have no meaning. I've only a limited amount of time in this life, and I want to spend the gift of it in the most meaningful way. Even writing on this blog is a distraction. All great men have gotten away from everyone and ventured into the wilderness to not only lose the distractions of their lives, but also to find who they truly were. David was a shepherd his whole childhood. He resided in the wilderness tending his father's sheep. Elijah the Tishbite was a man of the mountains. Most of his life was spent in the wilderness getting to know God. Jesus Himself frequently stole away into the mountains and wilderness to converse with His Father. The Aborigines down under go on walkabouts to become men as well as the Native Americans in their vision quests. Tibetan Monks live lives of quiet solitude in the wilderness. Some of my favourite stories aside from those in the Bible are those of the Cowboys. Men that ventured into unknown lands to look for a better life. Little did they know it at the time, but they have now become men of renown. People that knew themselves, and weren't afraid of pain or death. Their spirits were strong (even if they weren't always righteous in their decisions). The list is endless. The tie that all these people have in common is that while they were in the wilderness, they were vagabonds. They didn't build houses and put down roots there. Their stay was a temporary one. But even though it was temporary, they didn't have a set amount of time allotted. The quest is more important than the time it takes to accomplish it. Its not a quest for earthly treasures; its a quest for spiritual enlightenment. I find it interesting that in our society, we've become so attached to the physical things, that to simply "up and leave" is regarded as insanity. In my opinion, nothing could be closer to a true grasp on reality than to leave all earthly possessions and find the thing that cannot be lost: The spirit. A man (and woman) is a threefold entity. The spirit is the true self, the soul may be regarded to as the mind, and the temporary "house" is the body. Many people highlight the physical accomplishments that can be had, while many others delight in the mind and accomplish great feats by the strength of it. But few people understand that the power of the spirit is superior to the others. I know this because it is the only thing that endures. The only possession one has after meeting with death is their spirit. I don't need to go into the proof of the spirit, because the arguments whether or not it exists cancel each other out. To prove something exists in the physical realm, one must observe it in the physical realm. To prove the existence of the spirit, one must observe it in the spiritual realm. Only very rarely are belligerent manifestations made from the spiritual realm into the physical. Just know that in my own experiences within the spiritual realm, I've found it to be not only real, but permeating every facet of the life of the human. That being said, I believe that most people, while strong in body and mind, are becoming more and more atrophied in their spirit man. That is why I believe that a break from things that focus on body and mind is essential to anyone wishing to grow spiritually. However, with a wife, kids, and bills (not to mention being in the Navy), it is becoming a loftier goal to abide in the wilderness for any length of time. I still wish to do it however, and I plan on it. I just don't know when...

Groaning Together.

I've been facing a lot lately as you can tell from my latest blogs. Forsaking my childhood dream of playing music and getting ready for a real job. Finding out that some people are two-faced that I thought were friends. Meeting lost and new family. There is a lot going on, and trying to put on a strong front doesn't always work. I'm only human. I have weaknesses and sometimes I fall. Sometimes I get mad and lash out, or stumble and fall within my resolutions. Nobody but Jesus is perfect. All I can hope to achieve is a perfect heart towards Him. It gets a little overwhelming at times, and at some points I just feel like I don't need to fulfill my obligations and responsibilities. The kids don't listen, the house needs to be fixed, and I need to study for my ASE certifications in May. Not to mention practicing my horn, and trying to be strong for my family. I'm also trying not to offend any of my friends and relatives seeing as there are a lot of new acquaintances and I'm the kind of guy that worries about those kind of things. "Sigh" ... and I think its going to rain today.