These are a few recent newsletters. You can subscribe to receive them free every two weeks. Drop my a line at jlangen @slidingotter.com and I will add you to my mailing list.
Sliding Otter News
August 29, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 16
Wondering Why We Bother to Read Books
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
~Sir Francis Bacon
I recently wondered why people read books. I woke up early one morning trying to recall the exact words of Sir Francis Bacon’s statement which I first encountered in high school. Once I got past my initial adolescent fantasies about a guy named Bacon writing about tasting, eating and digesting, I thought about what he had to say. His words have often returned to me throughout the years since high school.
What sort of books do I taste? These consist of books I read for information. Bacon sees such books as to be read in parts. I find what I need and then move on. I might never read the rest of the book and don’t feel a need to. One example is my thousand page manual on Dreamweaver web development. It turned out to be a treasure trove of useful information but I would not torture myself reading it cover to cover. I’d never surface for months. Life is too short.
Then are books I swallow. Bacon sees these as to be read “but not curiously.” It’s too late to ask him what he had in mind here. He died in 1626. I think he meant that some books are just fun to read. We don’t necessarily learn anything from reading them, but we do enjoy them like we enjoy eating candy. They have more glitter than substance. Mysteries, adventures, humor, and story collections come to mind.
Finally some books are to be chewed and digested. Bacon suggests we read such books “wholly and with diligence and attention.” These are books to take seriously. I have found that these do not yield all their riches in one reading. I like to keep them nearby on my bookshelf for further consideration and rereading. I wrote about two such books in my last column, Bob Fussell”s My Great Life and Thomas Berry’s The Dream of the Earth. Although I have finished both books and moved on to other readings, their messages keep popping up in my thoughts and conversations.
Do some books have more value than others? Are some trash and others gems? Are some more worthwhile than others? Not to my mind. Each book has its own value. Of course, some authors write better than others, no matter what genre of book we are discussing. A book’s value to me depends on the purpose for reading it.
A book I read for pleasure delights me more if it doesn’t become bogged down in information I don’t need right now. I value a book I read for information based on its organization and clarity rather than on its literary style. Thoughtful books enchant me by clarifying issues which trouble or perplex me.
Life Lab Lessons
- Taste a delightful book.
- Swallow some knowledge.
- Digest some wisdom.
- Fine tune your approach to life.
- Enjoy your personal library.
Sliding Otter News
January 16, 2009
Volume 2, Issue 2
What Nature Teaches Us About Waste Garbage is simply useful stuff in the wrong place~ Alex Steffen.
David Hertz reminds us that “as Americans we consume approximately thirty-five percent of the world’s resources and create over fifty percent of its solid waste.” There may be others more wasteful than we are but not many. Maybe it’s time to consider our lifestyle and its impact on the rest of the world. Happily, our collective conscience shows signs of stirring lately. Recycling efforts are commonplace. Government agencies monitor the quality of our water supply.
Alternative energy, more respectful of our environment than reliance on fossil fuels, is starting to attract some serious attention. Yet we remain one of the most wasteful countries in the world. The number of people poo-pooing concern about our environment seems to rival the number of those serious about making changes. Yet we barrel along creating more and more trash in our wake.
What’s important in our culture? Most of us make some effort toward conservation and recycling. But being responsible isn’t easy. Our national anthem and political speeches subscribe to lofty ideals. But what about our daily lives? More telling than what we espouse as our priorities are how we act, how we spend our time and what we eat, wear and drive. It’s easy to say what sounds good and then do what we like regardless of the consequences. Our rubbish says that speed and convenience appeal to the fast pace of our lives.
The remnants of packaging remain as one byproduct of our lifestyle. Similar waste clogs our transportation, entertainment, communication and commerce. It seems clear to me that our technology is often designed to become obsolete in order to insure more sales. If we did want to change these destructive wasteful habits, where would we turn for example?
It occurred to me that we might consider nature. Most of the time we take for granted the cycles of nature and hardly notice them. At first glance nature seems extravagant. A single maple tree drops many thousands more seed pods than are required to insure a sufficient crop of maple trees. Looking closer, we see that the excess feeds wildlife. So what’s the difference between nature and human society? Nature provides an abundance sometimes favoring one group of beings and sometimes another.
Our human society often does not accept the flow of nature but tries to bend it to our own desires. In the process we often destroy or diminish our own natural environment in our quest for immediate rewards. There are no easy answers and it’s hard not to put ourselves first. Maybe part of the answer is to consider ourselves as part of nature rather than its owners.
Life Lab Lessons
- Take some time to learn how nature respects the overall community of life rather than playing favorites.
- Rethink the importance of your immediate needs and wants.
- Consider your place in nature.
- Consider how you might be more in tune with nature.
- Balance your needs with those of the world community and of nature.
Sliding Otter News
January 2, 2010
Volume 2, Issue 1
Harnessing the Power of Creativity
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret MeadAs January starts, many of us look forward to possibilities for the New Year. I know I do after all the disappointments of the past year. I agree with President Obama that if we all put our minds together we can do great things. It sounds good in theory but doesn’t seem so easy to put into practice. Could we all spontaneously decide to work together for a change rather than pitting ourselves against each other?
My chief frustration lately has been our pattern of using most of our energy to fight with each other on state, national and international levels. I wonder what would bring us together for the betterment of our world community. Lately it doesn’t seem possible that we can all agree on anything. We seem to want what is best for us as individuals without concern for each other’s needs. We don’t seem to realize that taking what we want at someone else’s expense sets us up for conflict.
Not too long ago I read H.L Mencken’s Notes on Democracy. His writing was not familiar to me but I liked the title and hoped he might have some ideas about working together. After looking at the possibilities from many angles, he concluded that only about twenty percent of us are capable of thinking and the rest prefer to be led along like sheep. I found his conclusions cynical and refused to accept his opinion.
With time, I have come to see that he might not be far from the truth. Maybe it is not possible for all of us to work together. Perhaps the best we can hope for is the small group of thoughtful, committed citizens to which Margaret Mead refers. Good ideas come and go and some transform our society. Should we just wait for the next generation of creative geniuses to arise? We could but maybe there is something we can do while we are waiting.
Twenty years ago Steven Covey wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. His habits are ways to get our lives moving toward worthwhile goals. Here are the habits he suggests: Take responsibility for our own lives. Know what is important in our lives. Act in ways consistent with the first two habits. Think of ways both sides can benefit from our decisions (win/win). Understand others before expecting them to understand us. Work together to create new alternatives. Take time to maintain our physical, mental, social/emotional and spiritual energy. Perhaps these new habits won’t change the whole world but they will make us more open to appreciating each other’s ideas.
Life Lab Lessons
- See how many of these habits are part of your life.
- If you know what Steven Covey is suggesting, try it.
- If you don’t, read his book.
- If you can help lead, lend a hand.
- If not, get out of the way.
Sliding Otter News
December 19, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 24
Peace on Earth and In Our Hearts
Imagine all the people living life in peace.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one. ~ John Lennon.At Christmas time we hope and pray for peace. But is it only a dream? In pursuing inspiration for this topic, I found that others have preceded me and spoken more eloquently than I can. Let me share some of their words with you.
What Peace Is Not
Indira Gandhi said, You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist. How can we reach out to others if we harden our hearts? Mother Theresa added, If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Instead of living as a world community we have divided into factions set against each other.
Jimi Hendrix seemed to quote William Gladstone, When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will have peace. Power once grasped is hard to release but power over others sets us against each other. Albert Einstein elaborated, Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. Not knowing and understanding our brothers and sisters leads us to fear them.
Francisco Petrarch wrote, Five enemies of peace inhabit us- avarice, ambition, envy, anger and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perfect peace. It is easy to blame others for conflict. How often do we look for our own roadblocks? The Dalai Lama said, This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. Waiting to be shown the way to peace keeps us from starting on a peaceful path.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it. Others can hear us talking about peace but won’t take us seriously until they see our peaceful acts. Henri Nouwen added, Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared. Once we try to grab peace for ourselves rather than share it with others, it shatters.
What Peace Is
Dorothy Thompson moves us toward a positive understanding of peace. Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict. We can’t expect to agree on everything but must find ways to connect with each other. Albert Camus agreed. Peace is the only battle worth waging. What if we spent as much energy and money enhancing each others’ lives as we do trying to destroy each other?
Elsewhere Mother Theresa said, All works of love are works of peace. Somehow we must find a way to move from fearing and hating each other to mutual love and respect. Joan Chittister shares a key to peace, Awareness of the sacred in life is what holds our world together and the lack of awareness and sacred care is what is tearing it apart. She reminds us that peace involves a shared spiritual understanding of our world community.
Malcolm X said, You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has freedom. Our challenge is to find a way to make us all free. Pope John XXIII took this to an international level. The true and solid peace of nations consists not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone. The arms race made for a very nervous world. Opening our arms invites others to our embrace.
How We Can Find Peace
John Kennedy said, But peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. Finding peace is not the job of just a few statesmen but the quest of our world community. Cicero wrote, Laws are silent in times of war. We are born to unite with our fellow men and to join in community with the human race. We can’t beat peace into each other. We must join hands and search for it together.
Henry David Thoreau wrote, As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness. Being alone and needy gives us a chance to meet each other’s needs. Francis De Sales said, Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if the whole world seems upset. Approaching each other with our own peace helps us to work together for world peace.
Thomas Paine wrote, He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. None of us is at peace unless we all are. Yehudi Menuhin challenges us, Peace may sound simple- one beautiful word- but it requires everything we have, every quality, every strength, every dream, every high ideal. Are we ready for the challenge?
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. ~ Matthew, V:9
Life Lab Lessons
- How can you find peace within yourself?
- What can you bring to the peace table?
- What fears and hatreds keep you in turmoil?
- Dare to risk opening yourself to those you don’t understand.
- Work together to find a common path toward peace.
Sliding Otter News
December 5, 2009 Volume 1, Issue 23
Julius Caesar, Saint Nicholas and My Grandfather
The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones. ~William Shakespeare
Shakespeare put these words in the mouth of Mark Antony after the assassination of Julius Caesar. His crime was becoming so popular that the Roman Senate feared his power. While Shakespeare’s words ring true, exceptions happen. Saint Nicholas lived from the third into the fourth century. He was born on the Ides of March, the same day that Julius Caesar died.
Many miracles were attributed to Nicholas and he was well known for his anonymous gifts to the poor. He is most noted for leaving gold coins in the shoes of those who left them by their doorsteps. After his death, others continued his tradition of secret gifts to the poor. He has since been commercialized into Santa Claus. He remains a model of caring for the less fortunate. I remember Saint Nicholas each year at the beginning of December as his feast day approaches.
Yesterday my thoughts wandered from Saint Nicholas to others who lived in his spirit such as my grandfather Charles Gill. He wasn’t a bishop like Nicholas and never became a celebrity. Yet he also left a legacy. My earliest memories of him are of the time I spent with him in his drug store as he prepared prescriptions and going with him to watch trains pause and then resume their journeys at the Park Avenue Station in Dunkirk, NY.
In our family he reigned with his quiet presence. No one ever heard him complain about anything that happened in his life. He guided his family through the great depression in a way which shielded them from concern. He found humor in every situation. At his funeral, no one could recall an instance of his expressing anger. He enjoyed people’s foibles with amusement rather than annoyance. He also laughed with his family about his habit of burning his toast in the manual toaster.
He chuckled about the Limburger cheese odor and cloud of cigar smoke emanating from his favorite chair as he fell off to sleep and snored during the Friday night fights on television. To my mind his most remarkable legacy was his leaving traces of his personality in each of his children and grandchildren with whom I grew up. Each one of them shows the kindness, humor and humility I admired in my grandfather. This is the miracle of his life.
We live in a time of ideological struggle, war and terrorism. Our leaders battle to humiliate or defeat each other, often to the detriment of our society and community. Those who live in the background and dedicate their lives to the less fortunate are often ignored or forgotten. Crime, money and notoriety grab the headlines. Acts of kindness often lie buried in the back pages or don’t appear at all. It is up to each of us to find our own examples of how to live life for the benefit of others and to care for our world community.
Life Lab Lessons
- Whose kindness has impressed you?
- How have you benefited from others’ kindness?
- How can you repay them?
- Do something for someone today without expecting a reward.
- See how it makes you feel.
Sliding Otter News
November 21, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 22
Saying Thanks by Giving of Ourselves
You’re in the arms of an Angel: May you find some comfort here.
~Sarah McLachlan Arms of an Angel
Sometimes it’s hard to receive gifts from others. It’s easier on our birthdays or at Christmas time when we expect gifts. But what if they arrive for no particular reason. What if we feel we don’t deserve them? How do we give thanks for them? Sometimes we thank others for gifts they bestow on us. Sometimes we return the favor. Sometimes we respond with our generosity to others.
The movie Pay it Forward suggests what would happen if we all responded to others’ gifts with our own acts of kindness toward others. Sharing our good fortune can benefit those we know well or just in passing. The gift of our generosity may eventually help people we will never meet and perhaps return to benefit us. You might think this topic occurred to me because Thanksgiving is on the horizon. That’s part of it but there’s another reason too.
Some time ago I heard of Spiritus Christi Mental Health Center. Finally I took the time to visit. I discovered that it is one of the ministries of Spiritus Christi Church in Rochester. I never heard of a church operating a mental health center. My curiosity stirred.
The Center began nine years ago in response to the need for mental health services on the part of the working poor who earn too much for Medicaid but whose lack of insurance or inability to make copays leaves them unable to afford needed help. Starting small, the Center grew over the years and now consists of three psychiatrists and twenty therapists donating their time. Other therapists in the community accept referrals for unpaid services. In addition to counseling,. the Center provides a support group for mothers of prisoners, assistance for young men during and after incarceration, a peer support group and referral to other community services.
Proceeds from New Unto Others, a home furnishings consignment shop, donations from Spirtus Christi parishioners and from the the community fund these efforts. No one is born with a spirit of generosity or caring for others or with an arsenal of therapeutic or other useful skills. Most of us work hard to develop our gifts. But I dare say we have all had others reach out to care about us and help us hone the abilities we now possess.
The support of our parents and relatives, teachers and colleagues have helped us enhance them over the years. Spiritus Christi Mental Health’s talented and generous therapists and their support team provides a community response to serious and often desperate needs of those who have little or no other recourse. What if the rest of us followed their example by sharing our talents with those most in need of them without expecting anything in return?
Life Lab Lessons
- What are your unique gifts?
- Who helped you discover and perfect them?
- Who could benefit from you sharing your gifts with them?
- Are you ready to pay it forward?
- Give it a try.
Sliding Otter News
November 7, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 21
Creativity- Searching to Understand Michael Jackson
We are the world, we are the children.
We are the ones who make a brighter day.(from We’re the World~ Michael Jackson)
Creative people often think differently from everyone else. They imagine ways of seeing the world and of doing things which might not occur to others. However their relationships often show a complexity difficult to understand. Sometimes they create disasters for themselves and everyone else involved.
Mary Lou Cook describes creativity as “inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun.” It is a process of reworking reality, seeing new connections and sometimes a whole new reality. Frank Barron sees the creative person as “both more cultivated, more destructive, a lot madder and a lot saner than the average person.”
Extremes and contractions mark the lives of the creative. They often appear as enigmas to others for whom order and logic is important. Like many exceptionally creative people, Michael Jackson defies understanding and explanation. He stretched music and dance beyond their previous boundaries. Yet his personal life slowly unraveled, inviting criticism and scorn. At times I have imagined that successful creative people live charmed lives. Details of Michael’s life splattered in the tabloids turned my speculation on its head.
Creativity provides no guarantee of economic success nor does it insure an ordered life. In fact the opposite is often true. The above definition of creativity could also serve to describe adolescence. Maybe living a creative life is like perpetual adolescence, seeing nothing as impossible and no traditions as sacred. Unbounded by context, their ideas take on a life of their own.
Speaking of adolescence, Michael Jackson’s cavorting with teenage boys suggested he was inclined toward pedophilia. Yet the similarity between creativity and adolescence intimate that he might have lived more at the emotional level of teens than of adults. He might have felt more comfortable in their company than in that of adults.
Creativity can take the form of a demon as well as a muse. It can raise its possessor to new pinnacles. It can also exact a steep toll on the quality of life. Finding a balance between creativity and rationality would make for a less chaotic life, but it would also dull the sharp edge of creativity. Part of adolescence is reckless abandon. Stopping to consider consequences inhibits spontaneity, a problem for creative expression but not a bad thing in personal life.
Maybe understanding someone like Michael Jackson is too much to expect no matter how you approach it. Like creativity itself, it can’t be pinned down. His creative success and personal limitations may just dramatize the extremes of which we are all capable.
Have you seen my Childhood? I’m searching for that wonder in my youth.
Like fantastical stories to share The dreams I would dare, watch me fly...
(from Childhood by Michael Jackson)Life Lab Lessons
- What Are your creativie talents?
- Do you celebrate or hide them?
- Let your spirit fly, if just a little.
- Share your gifts with those who need them.
- Treasure and celebrate others' gifts.
Sliding Otter News
October 24, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 20Weddings, Funerals and the Community of Life
For everything there is a season, And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; ...
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance; ...
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
~EcclesiastesKyle and Emily married on Saturday. On Tuesday Laney was laid to rest. For the first time in my life I attended a wedding and funeral in the same week. I never considered before what two such events had in common. Both involved large gatherings of people who do not often get together.
There must be more to it than that but it took me a while to figure out what it was. In marriage, a couple publicly commits to sharing their lives in good or bad times no matter what their adventure brings. Death marks the end of our life journey along a path strewn with our hopes, fears, desires, disappointments and accomplishments. But marriage is not just for spouses and death not just for the person leaving the earth.
Weddings bring together the bride and groom’s families and friends. Guests include those who gave them life, helped them through childhood and adolescence into adulthood and who support their choice to marry. Funerals bring together many of the same people as well as new friends and family members who have appeared along the way and helped celebrate life’s triumphs, offered consolation in sorrow and lent support in times of uncertainty.
Recent marriages I have attended reminded me that we are there not just for a party but to witness and contribute to the success of the marriage in any way we can. Funerals give us a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of people leaving us, admire their courage in facing their life challenges and learn what what lessons we can from their example in how to navigate life successfully.
Weddings and funerals, marriage and death are major events in the life of the family community to which we all belong. Weddings give us a chance to realize how our lives are connected. Funerals encourage us to thank God for our time with those who have brightened our lives and for what we have shared with them. All of our lives are intertwined. What others do affects our lives. What we do affects their lives.Life Lab Lessons
- Thank God for the gifts those you love have shared with you.
- Thank God for the gifts you have shared with those you love.
- Remember that you are never alone in facing life’s challenges unless you choose to be.
- Remember that you can help make others’ lives easier.
- Find comfort in being part of the world community.
Updates
My friend Bob Fussell recently received the 2009 Will Rogers Medallion Award for editing Unbridled Cowboy, his grandfather, Joseph Fussell’s memoirs about his life. The book is “a firsthand account of a defiant hell-raiser in the wild and tumultuous American Southwest in the late 1800’s... Joe’s unadorned prose is as exposed and simple as the wide open Texas plains.” The book is available from Truman State University Press. Way to go, Bob.
Sliding Otter News
October 10, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 19
Visiting and Learning from the Fall Fling
Lately it has seemed to me that people grow more self centered by the day. Maybe it’s just the news I read. Then I learned about City Church’s fourth annual Fall Fling. I thought it must be some kind of community party. I was wrong.
City Church works throughout the year to provide food, clothing, furnishings and even cars to those in need. They recently finished their six week adopt a block program in which trucks took provisions to neighborhoods where there might be needy people. Each year they organize their Fall Fling, a free giveaway event with goods donated through Operation Blessing and donations from church and community members. I had to see this for myself.
Arriving at the site, I saw more people than I have ever seen gathered in Batavia. I also saw enough food to stock a grocery store. Rack after rack of clothes offered themselves to those preparing for winter without the benefit of adequate resources. Home furnishings also awaited a new residence. Cooking smells attracted patrons to the free food stand. While parents shopped, parish members offered free games for children with prizes they could win without the need to beg their parents for money to play.
Most “free” giveaways have a catch. I wondered if there might be one here. I did find a minor one. In order to qualify for the giveaway, people had to register and visit booths describing community services which might be useful to them and with which they might not be familiar such as the Mental Health Association, Community Action, the Department of Social Services and Care A Van Ministries.
Although many of the visitors come for much needed clothing and food, these provisions provide for only their immediate needs. Introducing them to the resources of the church and of the community gives them some options for meeting other needs and learning how to manage on their own.
Armed with resource information they were free to proceed to the giveaway. Church members also made it a priority to connect with visitors to the event to understand other needs they might have. They will do their best to meet these needs on follow up. The Red Cross also received donations of blood as a gift to others in need.
I was glad to see the event in full swing. Our help to those in need tends to be impersonal. We donate money, clothes, household goods and food to agencies but never see any of the people who benefit from our generosity. Being there made the process real for me. My Saturday expedition helped restore my faith in humanity and in the generosity of corporations and ordinary people who themselves have fallen on hard times.
Life Lab Lessons
Remember those who need your help for life’s basics.
Look in your attic, cellar and garage.
What don’t you need that someone else does?
If you were ever in need, remember those who helped you.
Remember that we are all members of the human family.
*****
Updates
Here’s a book review I recently posted in my blog. I found it a great book for understanding the experience and effects of cancer.
Between Me and the River by Carrie Host
In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron observes, "My body which carries a knowledge deeper than my mind, has answers for me as an artist and a person." In her new book, Between Me and the River, Living Beyond Cancer: A Memoir (Harlequin, 2009), Carrie Host chronicles her encounter with the river of cancer, sometimes paddling along, sometimes caught in the rapids and sometimes grasping desperately for the shore.
Her account reminds me of Dante's Divine Comedy, especially the Inferno with its River Styx and the Purgatorio where her body, mind and soul are purified. She never quite makes it to the Paradiso, although none of us do in this life. From the start of her account, I wanted to push or pull her boat to safety or paddle with her.
Before her encounter with cancer Carrie wrote poetry. She learned to watch, listen, smell, touch and taste the joys, frustrations, fears, defeats and victories punctuating her voyage. She shares with the reader her poignant observations, thoughts and feelings as her body experiences them. You will share with her the sting of each setback and the glory of each victory. As Julia Cameron says, "We store memories in our bodies. We store passion and heartache. We store joy, moments of transcendent peace."
Carrie's book shares her perspective on wrestling with cancer, from the loneliness of facing it alone inside her body to the loving support of her thirty-eight muses who helped write her story. She starts writing with the goal of finding an ending to her story. Eventually she does, "Radiating pure light, I've surreptitiously come to a place with winter clarity along the banks of a magnificent river, its roar a vague whisper, a place with all words sleeping."
Sliding Otter News
September 26, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 18
Celebrating My Mother's Ninetieth Birthday
My mother started her life journey in 1919. She was born during World War I. Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic while she attended grammar school. Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz appeared in her twenties. World War II raged during her thirties. Sputnik orbited during her forties. The Beatles reigned during her fifties. America turned 200 during her sixties. AIDS was discovered in her seventies. Northern Ireland found peace during her eighties. She turned ninety in a new century. I began to wonder what life meant to her. I decided to ask her a little about her life.
Her favorite memories are of her wedding and the births of her children. She wanted to have six children as her parents did. She came close with five.
Her greatest satisfaction was having a good husband and five children. She loves each of us unconditionally and has always found the best in each of us no matter what shortcomings we could come up with. Despite my father predeceasing her, she still appreciates his caring for her through financial arrangements he made for her.
She views her greatest accomplishment as having brought into the world five loving and successful children.
She has found the most joy in being with her husband and kids. Even now, the highlight of her life takes place when we all gather at her house for celebrations.
Her greatest challenge has been staying well. Despite whatever ailments come her way, she always manages to stay concerned about others and to share her love with them.
She had to think quite a while about whether she had any regrets in life but in the end could not come up with any. How many people can say that?
Her only real disappointment in life was when her husband was drafted for World War II shortly after they married. Like all newlyweds she looked forward to a time of starting her new life with her husband only to have him sail off to war.
Her greatest surprise in life was receiving love back from her children. She has heard other people complain about their children not getting along with each other and counts herself fortunate never to have experienced the distress this causes parents.
Several of us wrote in our birthday cards to her that we appreciated her ability to accept and love everyone unconditionally. I asked her how she managed to do this all these years. She referred to the bible exhortation to love others as you love yourself. Taking this to heart has kept her focused on loving others.
I wondered what wisdom she wished to share with others about living a happy life. She said that for her the key was to be thoughtful of others and to encourage them in whatever they chose to do.
I’m glad I took the time to ask my mother these questions. Nuggets of wisdom from one I love and who loves me gives me a beacon to keep me focused on moving in a positive direction in my life.
Life Lab Lessons (Five Simple rules for Happiness found on my desk paperweight)
- Free your heart from hatred.
- Free your mind from worries.
- Live simply.
- Give more.
- Expect less.
*****
Updates
I’ve been busy trying to balance writing and marketing as you probably know if you have read my blog, Conversations with Calliope lately. I found a good book by Levinson, Frishman and Larsen called Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. I’m starting to figure out where I want to go next with my writing. Details to follow next time.
Order a free PDF copy of Conversations with Calliope: A Year with My Muse by Joseph G. Langen from Sliding Otter Publications at http://www.slidingotter.com/order_page.html.
Sliding Otter News
September 12, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 17
Deciding for Seven Seconds or Seven Generations
In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation.
Tradition of the Great Law of The Iroquois
Recently I wrote about books which were to be chewed and digested. I woke up early this morning still chewing on something I read weeks ago. At the risk of flouting the rule about talking with my mouth full, let me elaborate. The seventh generation rule formed part of the oral tradition of the Haudenosaunee. We know them better as the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy formed many years ago in what is now Western New York.
Lately I have been pondering how we make decisions in our culture. Many of us consider only ourselves and then take into account the next seven seconds rather than seven generations. In my immediate family the seventh generation would be my great, great, great, great, great grandchildren. It’s hard for me to imagine. During my lifetime I have known only five generations from my grandparents to my grandchildren.
If we were to follow the tradition of the Great Law, we would consider the effect of our decisions on descendants whom we will never meet. What do our lives have to do with theirs? Our children and grandchildren will inherit the consequences of our decisions for better or for worse. Their children and grandchildren will inherit the results of the stories and example we leave for them. Each of us started life as a single cell with a complex genetic makeup inherited from our ancestors.
We also inherit values, customs, beliefs and prejudices. So why be concerned about it? Jered Diamond wrote about civilizations throughout history whose collective decisions left them with only archaeological traces and no descendants. Lester Brown, in his book Plan B 2.0 paints a graphic picture of trends in our current world community. If we continue life as usual we might well make the earth unfit for human habitation. Maybe we won’t have any seventh generation descendants.
Our decisions and actions affect those we love and those they will love. They will have to live with what we leave for them. How would we feel if our ancestors had used up all the earth’s resources and left us with just a pile of sand and toxic water? Some people scoff at environmentalists as devotees of Chicken Little, flapping around worrying about the sky falling. Others tilt at windmills and other experiments in search of sustainable ways to preserve our environment while meeting our survival needs. Fortunately voices of concern continue to speak for the earth, our home. Many of us are beginning to act responsibly and slowly shifting toward sustainable use of our resources. We still have choices but unless we act responsibly, our options may soon become severely limited.
Life Lab Lessons
* Do your actions consider the next seven seconds or seven generations?
* How important will the next seven seconds be from tomorrow’s perspective?
* What are you willing to give back to your earth?
* What do you wish to leave for those who follow you?
* How do you want to be remembered?******************************************************************************
Updates:
If you wonder how I come up with these newsletters or what goes into writing books, take a look at Conversations with Calliope: A Year With My Muse. After you read it, I’d like to know what you think of it.
Order a free PDF copy of Conversations with Calliope: A Year with My Muse by Joseph G. Langen from Sliding Otter Publications at http://www.slidingotter.com/order_page.html.
If you have any trouble downloading it, please let me know.
Sliding Otter News
August 29, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 16
Wondering Why We Bother to Read Books
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
~Sir Francis Bacon
I recently wondered why people read books. I woke up early one morning trying to recall the exact words of Sir Francis Bacon’s statement which I first encountered in high school. Once I got past my initial adolescent fantasies about a guy named Bacon writing about tasting, eating and digesting, I thought about what he had to say. His words have often returned to me throughout the years since high school.
What sort of books do I taste? These consist of books I read for information. Bacon sees such books as to be read in parts. I find what I need and then move on. I might never read the rest of the book and don’t feel a need to. One example is my thousand page manual on Dreamweaver web development. It turned out to be a treasure trove of useful information but I would not torture myself reading it cover to cover. I’d never surface for months. Life is too short.
Then are books I swallow. Bacon sees these as to be read “but not curiously.” It’s too late to ask him what he had in mind here. He died in 1626. I think he meant that some books are just fun to read. We don’t necessarily learn anything from reading them, but we do enjoy them like we enjoy eating candy. They have more glitter than substance. Mysteries, adventures, humor, and story collections come to mind.
Finally some books are to be chewed and digested. Bacon suggests we read such books “wholly and with diligence and attention.” These are books to take seriously. I have found that these do not yield all their riches in one reading. I like to keep them nearby on my bookshelf for further consideration and rereading. I wrote about two such books in my last column, Bob Fussell”s My Great Life and Thomas Berry’s The Dream of the Earth. Although I have finished both books and moved on to other readings, their messages keep popping up in my thoughts and conversations.
Do some books have more value than others? Are some trash and others gems? Are some more worthwhile than others? Not to my mind. Each book has its own value. Of course, some authors write better than others, no matter what genre of book we are discussing. A book’s value to me depends on the purpose for reading it.
A book I read for pleasure delights me more if it doesn’t become bogged down in information I don’t need right now. I value a book I read for information based on its organization and clarity rather than on its literary style. Thoughtful books enchant me by clarifying issues which trouble or perplex me.
Life Lab Lessons
- Taste a delightful book.
- Swallow some knowledge.
- Digest some wisdom.
- Fine tune your approach to life.
- Enjoy your personal library.
Sliding Otter News
August 15, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 15My Great Life and The Dream of the Earth
That which extends throughout the universe I regard as my body and that which directs the universe I regard as my nature. All people are my brothers and sisters and all things are my companions.
~Chang Tsai
When Bob Fussell and I met early this year we exchanged our latest books. His novel, My Great Life, finally rose to the top of my reading pile and I finished it a few days ago. It started as the story of a self–satisfied advertising executive, proud of his climb up the ladder of socioeconomic success. The story ended as a moral tale about our relationship with our home, the earth.
The last page left me contemplating the balance between our romance with the wonders of the earth and our collective responsibility for its welfare. My mind traveled backward and forward.
What led me to read Bob’s book at this time? I just read Lost in Translation, a love story in the context of searching for the lost remains of Peking Man in China. The subplot centered on the life and relationships of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit paleontologist. Years ago, my interest in his writing brought me to an appreciation of the human role in the life of our planet.
I recalled Thomas Berry’s book, The Dream of the Earth, waiting patiently in my pile of books to be read. The last few days have fully immersed me in his essays about the earth, our sharing in its life, what we have contributed to its decline and our responsibility as its caretakers. Thomas Berry was the priest who helped me forge a path to life after the monastery. He also served for a time as the president of the Teilhard de Chardin Society and was lauded at his recent funeral by friends of the earth. I don’t suppose it is any coincidence that these books, their connections with each other and their lessons came my way when they did.
A couple days ago I read a story about the cash for clunkers program and a chemical mixture poured into clunker engines rendering them instant junk to throw on our mounting piles of trash. The article stressed the instant profit flowing to the manufacturer of the Clunker Bomb but made no mention of the process as an example of what our throwaway society is doing to our environment. We take it for granted.
We have tricked ourselves into thinking that we can go on pillaging the earth without long term consequences for our home or even for our own wellbeing. Our quest has become to control, exploit and consume the earth and its resources rather than to act as their caretakers. We haven’t completely destroyed the world yet. We have the choice of continuing to make the environment inhospitable to our survival, leading ultimately to our extinction. We also have the choice to become loving stewards of our world and environment.
Life Lab Lessons
- Do you care what happens to the human species after you pass on?
- What do you wish to leave as your legacy.
- Do you cherish the earth or see it as a commodity?
- Think of the earth as your home.
- Do what you can to protect it.
Sliding Otter News
August 1, 2009
Volume 1, issue 14
From Inspiration to InstitutionThey that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.~Benjamin Franklin
Recently I began attending services at Spiritus Christi Church. Their community practices what Jesus taught rather than just talking about it. No “waa” here. That's Hawaiian for all talk and no action. Thanks Bob and Carol. I got to thinking about what happens to new and innovative ideas and approaches.
Political movements form to meet social needs. As time passes, they become stodgy, self righteous and entrenched in their beliefs. Religious groups arise with fresh approaches to spirituality. Visionaries forge new paths toward seeking God. Eventually they too become encrusted with doctrine, rules and the belief that they have the corner on communicating with God while everyone else misses the boat. Civilizations across the globe and over the centuries became glorious spectacles but eventually crumbled under their own weight.
As much as I hate to admit it, our once noble American experiment is in danger of collapsing due to our greed and selfishness. Why does this happen and what can be done about it? I have been thinking about both questions lately and seeking opinions from fellow thinkers. I am not happy with what I have discovered but it's better to know what's going on than living in blissful ignorance.
Many factors might contribute to the decline of political groups, religions and civilizations. I have settled on two which I think play an important part. One is power. Each movement began with the vision of idealists. Their enthusiasm excites people ready for change and the enterprise takes off. At some point, when the movement is better established, the idealists move on to new challenges while those who wish to preserve the venture end up creating an institution with rules to control those not in charge. The other factor is money. These movements started with the goal of improving life for their followers. With success comes an interest in expansion. Patrons contribute funds and adherents are eventually taxed in one way or another. This attracts people more interested in money than in the original goals. They end up battling each other for as much of the pot as they can control. At least that's the way I see it.
My second question is whether these developments are inevitable. Because new ideas usually take this course does not mean they must do so. What could keep them fresh? Once an enterprise meets its initial goals, it might not need to continue. Sometimes an ongoing purpose remains. Power could be shared by all the constituents rather than being left in the hands of administrators to whom power becomes paramount. Leaving a few people in charge seems to lead inevitably to decay. As Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Amassing great wealth and leaving it in the hands of a few administrators creates too great a temptation for the greedy. Keeping everyone actively involved might provide the best protection against decay.
Life Lab Lessons
- What matters most to you?
- Do your goals also benefit others?
- Who works with you toward common goals?
- Stay involved.
- Don't let others live your life for you.
Sliding Otter News
July 18, 2009: Volume 1, Issue 13
Balancing Peak Experiences with SimplicityA peak experience- disorientation in time accompanied by a loss of fear, anxiety, doubt and inhibitions ~Abraham Maslow
Does a peak experience sound like being high to you? It does to me. But it doesn't depend on drugs and provides a magic carpet ride into a different dimension. Sounds exotic doesn't it? You can probably recall a few in your own life. How about graduating from college, your first date, your wedding day or the birth of your child?
Although we anticipate some of these events, others surprise us, filling us with sudden pleasure and blocking out all awareness of our surroundings. What if life flooded us with one peak experience after another? We would quickly become exhausted. By nature, peak experiences are rare, punctuating rather than filling our lives.
These days we seem to try stuffing our lives with them. We want others to get our of our way so we can live faster. We collect toys and add more when those we have start to bore us. We buy things we can't afford until we have more debt than income. We can exhaust ourselves chasing a constant feeling of ecstasy. Rather than enhancing our lives, the pile of things we collect can blind us to our true pleasures.
So what does simplicity have to do with all this? As I pondered this topic, I discovered a photo I took several years ago in Colorado. From an observation deck in the foothills of the Rockies I sought the best vantage point from which to capture the grandeur of the snowcapped mountains in the distance. While jockeying with other tourists for that ideal spot, a fir tree sprig blocked my view. For some reason I photographed the sprig and later found it to be one of my favorite photos. A few evergreen needles in a vast forest came into focus, blurring the Rockies' expanse in the background.
The seemingly insignificant can sometimes bring us greater enjoyment than the treasures with which we crowd our lives. Have you ever seen an X-ray photo of subatomic particles colliding? It happens so fast we can't see it with our eyes and can only capture it on film. Yet this brief flash captivated me when I saw its evidence. What do we miss in our search to fill our lives with the best and latest? Life's simple pleasures. Maybe you notice them or maybe you are too busy.
Here are a few examples: bringing a smile to the face of someone you love, the first wildflower blossom in the spring, the return each year of migrating birds, watching a baby begin to explore its world, a gentle breeze relieving the day's heat, the sudden perfume of honeysuckle. I could go on but I think you get the point. Experiences don't need to be profound. All it takes is stepping out of the rat race, slowing down the pace of our lives and taking time to appreciate life's little joys.
Life Lab Lessons
*Find a peaceful place away from the frantic part of your life.
*Notice what you see, hear, smell, taste or touch.
*Discover what you have overlooked in your haste to get on with life.
*Notice your friends' quirks which bring a smile to your face.
*Find the part of yourself you enjoy most and delight in it.
Sliding Otter News
July 4, 2009: Volume 1, Issue 12
Dancing in a Swirl of Musical Emotions
As a young child I danced by the hour while my grandmother tickled the ivories. By the time I was a teen, show tunes on the piano and folk music with my guitar delighted, comforted and consoled me.
The first time my parents dragged me to an Opera Under the Stars at Highland Park, I sat facing away from the stage and refused to look at the performance. Over the years I have learned to enjoy Carmen on the Common in Boston and the Metropolitan Opera production of La Somnambula among others.
I thrill to Gilbert and Sullivan, Simon and Garfunkel, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and most recently Smoky Robinson. Anticipation of coming concerts and the afterglow of ones we recently attended remain highlights of my relationship with Carol.
On our third visit to the recent Rochester International Jazz Festival, Michael McDonald awaited us. While I undoubtedly heard him sing over the years, I could not identify his style or recall anything he sang. Carol and the friends who attended with us all looked forward to the concert. I had learned to adapt to many musical styles and thought I could add one more. Wrong.
I found his first selection a little screechy. I could not have characterized his style but couldn't argue with the reviewer who later described it as “falsetto castrato.” I couldn't have put it better myself.
The second song was no better. The ten songs I recognized didn't impress me either. I was left cold. Out of respect for the performer's efforts I have never walked out of a concert. But staying in my seat until the end tested my perseverance.
Okay, I didn't like his style. But something else raged inside me. Anger, resentment and sadness overtook me. Very strange. It was just a concert and here I was a basket case.
I turned in my sleep all night and awoke still puzzled. Would this ever make sense? Then on my way to the gym, my aha moment arrived. The music which stirred my murkiest emotions played almost constantly at my workplace twenty years ago. It annoyed me then too. More than that, those were the worst years of my life when nothing seemed to make sense or go right and my future appeared bleak.
Who knew music could dig up such memories and feelings? I shouldn't have been surprised since so many of my happiest moments are also attached to music. Their memories return every time I hear the music played.
It finally made sense. What can I learn from this musical trauma? None of my experiences or their emotions are ever lost. Certain kinds of music can trigger these memories when I least expect it. I could try to block out unwelcome memories and emotions. However they are part of what shaped me and led me to where I am now. Without them, who knows if I would have arrive at a time of peace and contentment with my life?
Life Lab Lessons
*What memories and emotions does music trigger in you?
*Compare your life now to how it was before
*What unfinished business needs attention?
*Have you resolved issues which caused difficult feelings?
*Face and changes what nags you.
Sliding Otter News
June 20, 2009: Volume 1, Issue 11
Remember That Nazis Were People Too
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?- William Shakespeare
President Obama spoke at Buchenwald Concentration Camp on June 6, 2009 along with Angela Merkel and Elie Weisel. He noted the existence of “bravery and kindness even in times of terror.” He also reminded us that “the perpetrators of such evil were human, as well, and that we have to guard against cruelty in ourselves.”
I was with him for the first quote but stopped in my tracks when I heard the second. Could the potential for evil and inhuman behavior toward each other reside somewhere in all of us? Could we all be capable of such atrocity?
We don't like to think of evildoers as human. We refer to them as animals. When we do recognize them as part of our species, we call them sick or crazy. They couldn't be in their right mind. We try to distance ourselves from them, preferring to think we have no kinship with them. We bridle at the very thought of having anything in common with them.
We have no interest in understanding them or their behavior. What purpose would that serve? We want them as far away from us as possible. We don't want to think about them at all. Execution or life imprisonment would keep us from ever having to deal with the worst of the lot.
Yet they are human. The most diabolical people we can imagine all started out as cuddly babies. It's hard to even imagine, but no one could have looked at Hitler as a newborn baby and predicted what he would become.
Maybe their upbringing leads them to act the way they do. Looking back on the lives of antisocial people usually reveals their encounters with troublesome issues along the way, usually in their childhood. Sometimes we can almost imagine why they ended up as they did. Looking deeper, we might find that they had siblings who experienced the same upbringing but did not turn out to be as evil as they did. There must be more to it.
Maybe the answer is in their genes. They could have inherited evil tendencies. Perhaps people with certain genetic makeup are more likely to become antisocial than their siblings with a different set of genes. Several researchers are exploring this possibility.
Environment and heredity both play a part. After arguing for years about which was more important, most researchers now agree that a combination of both influences leads people to antisocial behavior.
Can antisocial behavior be prevented in people who have such tendencies? Threats and punishment can often make matters worse. Social skills training and drug abuse prevention have proved promising. Yet, evil remains mysterious and difficult to understand, prevent or control. Part of the mystery is why more men act out than women. Perhaps testosterone is the culprit. Nevertheless, the capacity for evil remains in all of us.
Life Lab Lessons
*Do you know what you might be capable of?
*What would incline you to abandon your principles?
*What holds you back from following your impulses?
*What influences in your life have civilized you?
* Understanding antisocial behavior does not mean you condone it.
Sliding Otter News
June 6, 2009: Volume 1, Issue 10
Empathy and the Court System
The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.- Meryl Streep
Haggling over President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor raised an issue close to my heart. I first heard of empathy in my psychology training and wondered what the word meant. I discovered that it referred to understanding the emotions of another person. Carl Rogers made empathy the foundation for his Client Centered approach to counseling and that it formed the basis for a counseling relationship.
I wondered how empathy could be a bad trait for a judge to have. Should justice be blind to the feelings, emotions and circumstances of individuals standing before the court? Some people think so. They prefer to punish the crime rather than the criminal. Justice should be meted out impartially regardless of personal circumstances.
Recently I attended Genesee County Mental Health Association's annual meeting. Buffalo Judge Robert Russell presented the keynote speech. Instrumental in developing specialized drug, mental health and veterans' courts, his presentation of himself spoke even more eloquently than his words. He clearly takes into account the person standing before him as well as the legal matters in question.
Working with troubled families and raising my own children taught me that harsh punishment did not put an end to unwanted behavior. Rather than acting as a deterrent, punishment often perpetuates the very acts it intends to correct. It makes angry criminals more angry and more devious in their efforts to avoid punishment.
In my search for an AmeriCorps position, I interviewed at Genesee Justice, an agency which works with those entangled in the criminal justice system, helping them to address issues in their lives which led them into the court system. Genesee Justice is developing a project to track people coming into the legal system so they can understand the people behind the infraction and better understand how their life circumstances relate to their crimes. Drug courts, mental health courts and veterans' courts look at criminal charges in the context of life circumstances, looking toward the root of the problem.
I am not suggesting that individual circumstances should excuse illegal behavior or that we should overlook it because of issues which individuals face. I am also not suggesting that circumstances account for all illegal behavior. One person growing up in a difficult family environment might appear regularly in court while a sibling growing up in the same family might become a model citizen. There are also career criminals which psychologists see as showing a pattern of antisocial personality disorder. They are very unlikely to change their behavior no matter what the courts do. I have seen estimates that they make up about two percent of the adult population.
I am suggesting that most people in the criminal justice system have circumstances contributing to their delinquency. Addressing these circumstances might well decrease their likelihood of reappearing in court.
Life Lab Lessons
*How do you view criminal behavior?
*Would you view it differently if you were the one standing in court?
*How effective do you think punishment is?
*Have circumstances ever led you to act against your principles?
*What if someone helped you see other choices?
Sliding Otter News
May 23, 2009: Volume 1, Issue 9
Sharing a Few Words about Marriage
A good marriage is one which allows for change and growth in the individuals
and in the way they express their love.- Pearl S. Buck.What are we to make of the word marriage? Its history shows us a pageant of many different meanings over the centuries, and that’s just in the Western world. Marriage was seen as an individual matter, a partnership, a family affair, a way to control property or a means to establish alliances between countries. It often gave a man control over his wife and children and served practical purposes. Romance entered the scene only over the last century or so.
Depending on who was in charge, marriage was sometimes held to be a lifelong commitment or easily dissolved, usually by the husband. Currently in the United States, marriage means a civil contract between two people conveying certain rights and responsibilities. Most religions maintain that marriage was ordained by God as a sacramental union bestowed on one man and one woman rather than by society. Some churches have expanded their view to include gay marriages.
Governments and religions have their own rules about how to begin, conduct and end a marriage and what happens afterward. So how do we untangle these intertwined and contradictory views of marriage? It’s not just words which confuse matters. Emotions and money further confound our attempts to sort out the issues. Taking all this into consideration, it seems clear to me that marriage has no fixed meaning but has evolved for better or worse over the centuries. The current controversy over gay marriage reminds us that marriage is still evolving.
Marriage clearly means something different to governments and to churches. In the United States there appears to be general agreement that a marriage should be between two people although lately not as much agreement about whether the two people must be of different genders. Governments and churches often disagree about whether divorce should be allowed, how difficult it should be to obtain and what happens to rights and responsibilities (children, money and possessions) after divorce.
Civil laws about such matters differ among individual states and rules also differ among the various religions. Although the Catholic Church does not recognize divorce, it does allow a marriage to be annulled as if it never took place if a spouse can establish an impediment to a marriage being considered valid in the first place. It doesn’t seem very likely to me that all these competing views will ever be reconciled to the satisfaction of governments and their citizens or religions and their adherents any time soon.
I wonder whether the word marriage may have outlived its usefulness. Could we reach a mutually agreeable solution by finding new names for what society defines as civil marriage under its laws and what religions define as marriage in terms of their beliefs? Stay tuned to the rumblings of society.
Life Lab Lessons
*What does marriage mean to you?
*How would you feel about new terms for the various forms of what we call marriage?
*Do you think marriage should be a lifetime commitment?
*What would lower the divorce rate?
*How does gay marriage affect your view of marriage on the whole?
Sliding Otter News
May 9, 2009: Volume 1, Issue 8
Becoming Lost in the Culture of Immediacy
Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs
that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions- Niccolo MachiavelliLast Saturday I took my grandson Joey to the Rochester Institute of Technology Innovation and Creativity Festival. Joey, anxious to get to the hot dog robot and solar powered race cares, showed remarkable patience while a student showed me how his project allowed an e-book reader, portable data assistant or cell phone to download anything from the Internet. Another project he showed me could gather data from just about anywhere and organize it into a print publication. I followed him for about the first ten seconds and then felt myself lost in William James’s world of blooming, buzzing confusion.
Although I didn’t immediately grasp what he told me, I did understand that his projects both had to do with immediacy. Newspapers could download text, reports and photos from afar and print them instantly with no trips back to the newsroom. Magazines, newspapers and whole books could be ordered and delivered to various communication devices in a matter of minutes.
Anything available on the Internet will soon be available for download, editing and publication without ever being touched by a human hand. With a booklet in hand describing the projects, Joey and I headed for the robots and alternative fuel vehicles.
Technological advances excite us with the possibility of something new. Travelers can contact their friends by cell phone the moment their planes touch down. People who prefer not to live undocumented lives can tweet to the world whenever anything of great or little consequence happens in their lives. We can summon almost endless data to our devices at will.
We live in a culture of immediacy. We want what we want and we want it now. Having to wait for anything feels like an imposition. Living on credit has allowed us to have what we want before we can afford it.
A couple weeks ago I had a chance to walk in the same monastery garden where I walked forty five years ago. I had more time and opportunity then to think about the world than to experience it. My life pace has certainly quickened over the intervening years. Maybe it just seems that way because so much information flies at me from every direction. If I find a way to filter out what isn’t so important, I regain control of my life.
When I first practiced as a psychologist, patients would occasionally complain of stress from their current circumstances. These days it seems stress bombards us all. I’m not sure life is any harder now than it ever was. We don’t have to scratch for survival the way our ancestors did. Most of us have the basics we need to live. Illnesses are not as life threatening as the once were.
What we think we need has changed. We tend to see conveniences as necessities and imagine we can’t live without them. Maybe an occasional time out to consider what is really important would help us get our lives back in perspective.
Life Lab Lessons
*What do you consider essential for your life?
*What could you do without?
*Would you die of impatience if you had to wait for what you wanted?
*Sit in a room or under a tree for a while without any of your possessions.
*Practice appreciating who you are rather than what you have.
Subscribe free to Sliding Otter News at jlangen@commonsense-wisdom.com.