Finding Flow

Came across this neat article by Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on "flow". He was the former head of the Psychology deparment at the University of Chicago, and the concept of flow is one of his main contributions to the field.

It's a long article, well worth the read. But here are a few snippets I particularly enjoyed:

These exceptional moments are what I have called "flow" experiences. The metaphor of flow is one that many people have used to describe the sense of effortless action they feel in moments that stand out as the best in their lives. Athletes refer to it as "being in the zone," religious mystics as being in "ecstasy," artists and musicians as "aesthetic rapture." It is the full involvement of flow, rather than happiness, that makes for excellence in life.
...
Flow tends to occur when a person faces a clear set of goals that require appropriate responses. It is easy to enter flow in games such as chess, tennis, or poker, because they have goals and rules that make it possible for the player to act without questioning what should be done, and how. For the duration of the game the player lives in a self-contained universe where everything is black and white. The same clarity of goals is present if you perform a religious ritual, play a musical piece, weave a rug, write a computer program, climb a mountain, or perform surgery. In contrast to normal life, these "flow activities" allow a person to focus on goals that are clear and compatible, and provide immediate feedback.

Flow also happens when a person's skills are fully involved in overcoming a challenge that is just about manageable, so it acts as a magnet for learning new skills and increasing challenges. If challenges are too low, one gets back to flow by increasing them. If challenges are too great, one can return to the flow state by learning new skills.
...
Leisure time in our society is occupied by three major sorts of activities: media consumption, conversation, and active leisure--such as hobbies, making music, going to restaurants and movies, sports, and exercise. Not all of these free-time activities are the same in their potential for flow. For example, U.S. teenagers experience flow about 13 percent of the time that they spend watching television, 34 percent of the time they do hobbies, and 44 percent of the time they are involved in sports and games. Yet these same teenagers spend at least four times more of their free hours watching TV than doing hobbies or sports. Similar ratios are true for adults.

Why would we spend four times more of our free time doing something that has less than half the chance of making us feel good? Each of the flow-producing activities requires an initial investment of attention before it begins to be enjoyable. If a person is too tired, anxious, or lacks the discipline to overcome that initial obstacle, he or she will have to settle for something that, although less enjoyable, is more accessible.

(Hat tip to Maggi Dawn)

Cheers

Runnin in circles

Nobody said it was easy.

No one ever said it would be this hard.

Where oh where has Kevin been?

Sick with a really nasty case of Influenza. I've been pretty much knocked out since Sunday when my fever began, and it's still around 39 or 40 C if I don't take regular doses of Advil/Tylenol. I've got about 4 hrs of sleep a night for 4 nights in a row. My head feels like it's gonna explode. My neck and back are stiff and in pain. I'm so fatigued I can't even walk straight down my hallway. My ears are under constant pressure, and any high pitch noise kills. I have no appetite, and what appetite I have is brutally suppressed by the high fever and the antibiotics. The antibiotics are so I don't get a secondary bacterial infection since I'm in such bad shape. I get chills and major shakes at night when my meds wear off since my body thinks I have hypothermia.

Fortunately, my lab work turned up negative, as did my chest x-ray. So we're pretty certain it's just Influenza. And an emergency doctor/family friend said that this isn't out of the ordinary for Influenza: high fever that takes you out of the game for 3-5 days. And right now, there's a lot of it going around.

I'm going to miss a week of school at crunch time: a week where I have no juice to do any homework. So now I'm a week behind when I really, really couldn't afford it.

So that's where Kevin has been. Not like you cared anyways.

Slippery Slope

Another great post by Real Live Preacher.

Here's a snippet of a part I really enjoyed:

Once I told someone that I did not think the events described in the book of Jonah had actually occurred. The story has great spiritual value, which is why it was included in the Bible, but I felt there was no real history behind it.

An alarmed Christian person said, “Yes, but once you say that Jonah didn’t really happen, what’s to stop you from saying any or all of the Bible didn't happen?”

I’ve heard this same argument with regard to scripture a thousand times over the years. Here is the appropriate response:

“Well, let’s see. I believe that Jonah was not swallowed by a great fish and vomited up on the beach. But I believe Abraham was a real person. Further, I believe that David was a real king of a real Israel. And I believe that Jesus was also a real person, one who worked miracles and died on the cross for our sins. See now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Read it all here.

My week

I feel like posting. I don't know why - I don't really have anything specific to talk about. That's never stopped me before though.

I just finished the first draft of my RELG 304 paper (Creation and Covenant in Ancient Israel). It's a look at laws concerning sexual behaviour in ancient Israel using sociological criticism. My thesis is something along the lines of:

As reflected in Deuteronomy 22.13-29, non-marital sex was primarily restricted for women in ancient Israel—and only secondarily for men—because it challenged the structure and stability of the society.

It wasn't a particularly difficult paper to write. Once I had a question (regulation of sexuality and society), the method came naturally (sociological criticism), and then the text was obvious (Deuteronomy 22.13-29). But, my lack of formal sociological training didn't help. Fortunately, my RELG 370 paper drew on sociology, and I've been reading up on the field throughout this semester. Sucks I'll never take a sociology course in my life. Oh well.

Now this weekend I have to start researching for my RELG 414 paper (Gospels and Jesus). I think I might change my topic. My original topic/thesis was too broad for only 15 pages. I'm now thinking of writing about the significance of Jesus' open shared meals. I have a gameplan in mind (i.e., an outline of the argument) so I think it just might work.

Oh, and I've registered for summer session.

Animal Physiology - M W F @ 9AM-12PM; M @ 12PM-2PM; M @ 2PM - 5PM. (May to end of June)
Biostatistics - T Th @ 7PM - 10PM; W @ 2PM-5PM. (May to mid June)

Then, okay wait for it...I HAVE TWO MONTHS OFF!!

Oh. My.

I haven't had two months of summer since...man...before University. Wooow!!

I'm gonna be so bored, haha!

Fin
-Kev

Biblical Inerrancy: What is it? How does it work?

I have decided to write out my understanding of the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. This isn't from a theological textbook, or a history textbook, but from my mind - a layman's understanding. This is partially to clarify my thoughts, but also to aid others to reflect upon their own beliefs.

Biblical inerrancy is the idea that the Bible is inerrant. Okay, great, good definition. What this really means is that the Bible is free from error. Different people consider different issues as under the category 'error-free'. I think a majority of Evangelicals that believe in inerrancy, the ones I know at least, hold on to a pretty strong version of the doctrine. That is, the Bible is free from error in issues of theology (who is God, what is God like, who is Jesus), morality (what is right, is lust bad), history (was there an exodus, did Jesus walk on water), and science (did God create the universe in 7 days, is the earth the center of the universe). However, others hold to weaker versions of this doctrine. Often, the first thing to go is scientific inerrancy, after that goes historical inerrancy, then typically moral inerrancy, and the last to go is theological inerrancy. My feeling is that many evangelicals have let go of scientific inerrancy, and some have at least softened a bit on historical inerrancy, but most do not part with moral and theological inerrancy.

Why do some believers think that the Bible is inerrant? Well, they would argue, it is divinely revealed by God. God spoke, or moved, the biblical authors to write; therefore, what they wrote is error free. Because it is divinely revealed, it has access to divine perspective, and thus would see all things truly. Moses wasn't around for creation, no problem - God told him everything. John wasn't in the room when Pilate was talking to Jesus, no worries - God revealed the conversation to him. So on, so forth.

Thus, believers who hold onto inerrancy stand defiantly with their 'biblical truth' over against the tools of scientific or historical inquiry. Hundreds of thousands of man-hours of research and discussion has built up the modern theory of evolution. Yet biblical inerrantists still think the world was made in 7 days. This is based on a ~2500 year old text, the product of an ancient civilization. Biblical inerrantists think that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are real, and all the stories in the Bible about them are real; this is based on a text written at least a thousand years after they lived. But to one who believes in biblical inerrancy, this is no problem. God revealed all truth to the biblical authors, and they wrote this down.

But the real dagger of biblical inerrancy is that those who champion it do so on basis of "faith": "I have faith in the Bible that it is true". I don't get this. Why do you have faith in an ancient collection of diverse texts? Inerrantists make it seem that if I have a "real faith" in God, I would also have faith in the Bible. This, of course, plays into the related idea that faith in God is mainly intellectual assent (believe in your mind something to be true), not fidelity, trust, or loyalty (the way we use "faith" in daily human relationships). So faith in the Bible becomes equally important as faith in God, and both are equated with intellectual belief. The result - if I don't believe the Bible is true, I'm only quasi-Christian. If the Bible isn't free from error - my oh my, how could it be relevant to our religion!?

I don't bite. Most of my life isn't based on mathematically certain truths. None of my interpersonal relationships are based on certainties. Why should the transcendent relationship be any different?

It is possible to be a Christian yet not believe the Bible to be inerrant.

The Blind Can See

I was standing at the bus stop, waiting for the Vancouver bus, when an elderly gentleman got off one of the busses passing by and hobbled under the bus shelter. The man was old--but not that old--a little slow, and seemed shaky. Within seconds of seeing this man, I had judged him and formed a picture of him in my mind.

Now I'm sitting on the bus, on my way downtown. A middle aged lady gets on the bus, along with her seeing-eye dog. The bus driver seats her just in front of me in the handicap section. She's sitting beside the shaky old man.

Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be blind.

Soon enough, the shaky man and the blind lady started chatting.

To the blind lady, the man was just another voice in a sea of dark: no judgement, no prejudice.

Perhaps it's the blind who truly see - they see humans as humans, not as shaky old men.

Welcome to Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent.

I've hurt someone who means so very much to me - really hurt them.

What a great start to Lent.




God have mercy on me.



please

A Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord, vision.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.