Happy Halloween
While Halloween is not technically a christian holiday--or at least it originated with the idea that at the end of the year spiritual beings that are not God work mischief for a night--it's still a lot of fun.
Go buy some candy for the kids!
Friday, October 29, 2004
Monday, October 25, 2004
Weight Loss
I was watching "The Biggest Loser" on USA Network, which is a reality show about who can lose the most weight in a few weeks. They used a weird combination of encouragement, guidance, competition, and public humiliation to motivate people.
And then at the commercial break: Pizza Hut's new, 30% larger Extra Large Pizza.
It's probably old news that America has a weight problem, but I this helps point out why:
1. The weight loss approach is: fix-it-quick/instant results that can actually hurt the body and make it harder to keep weight off in the long term
2. The competitors don't usually move around very much. Sometimes I think suburbia in particular is structured to prevent any physical exertion.
3. Advertising works! It has made consumption into one of our national pasttimes. That includes eating.
Why is this a spiritual issue? Because God created our bodies and loves them. Our bodies are part of who we are, not something to fight, manipulate or abuse. God loves us--we should love ourselves.
One scene stood out for me: A woman was on the verge of tears over calorie counting, and the way she was crying I knew she had low blood sugar. I felt bad for her and wanted someone to get her a glass of orange juice. But of course no-one did. She had to keep on suffering and punishing her body.
So what are my suggestions for people trying to lose weight?
1. Trust in God's love. No matter what our bodies look like, we are children of God and deeply loved.
2. Trust your body. When you're hungry, eat. When you're full, stop. Your body knows what it needs. Let it tell you.
3. Enjoy your body. It is a gift from God to you. Enjoy your senses, enjoy the freedom of movement, enjoy being outside, enjoy time playing sports. If your body can do these things for you, then you have been richly blessed. Enjoy the gifts that your body gives you.
I was watching "The Biggest Loser" on USA Network, which is a reality show about who can lose the most weight in a few weeks. They used a weird combination of encouragement, guidance, competition, and public humiliation to motivate people.
And then at the commercial break: Pizza Hut's new, 30% larger Extra Large Pizza.
It's probably old news that America has a weight problem, but I this helps point out why:
1. The weight loss approach is: fix-it-quick/instant results that can actually hurt the body and make it harder to keep weight off in the long term
2. The competitors don't usually move around very much. Sometimes I think suburbia in particular is structured to prevent any physical exertion.
3. Advertising works! It has made consumption into one of our national pasttimes. That includes eating.
Why is this a spiritual issue? Because God created our bodies and loves them. Our bodies are part of who we are, not something to fight, manipulate or abuse. God loves us--we should love ourselves.
One scene stood out for me: A woman was on the verge of tears over calorie counting, and the way she was crying I knew she had low blood sugar. I felt bad for her and wanted someone to get her a glass of orange juice. But of course no-one did. She had to keep on suffering and punishing her body.
So what are my suggestions for people trying to lose weight?
1. Trust in God's love. No matter what our bodies look like, we are children of God and deeply loved.
2. Trust your body. When you're hungry, eat. When you're full, stop. Your body knows what it needs. Let it tell you.
3. Enjoy your body. It is a gift from God to you. Enjoy your senses, enjoy the freedom of movement, enjoy being outside, enjoy time playing sports. If your body can do these things for you, then you have been richly blessed. Enjoy the gifts that your body gives you.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Spirituality and Not Judging
Amber Tamblyn, who plays Joan in "Joan of Arcadia," says in an interview on Beliefnet:
"One of my good friends is Christian, goes to church every Sunday, very religious. I?m fine with that and I will never judge her. And one of my other friends could not believe in God if he came down and tapped her on the shoulder. She's a biologist--a student at UCLA--and I don't judge her either, because I really believe that God is a personal opinion, and only that." [My italics]
Here's the article if you're interested in reading the whole thing.
I think Amber's comments highlights a common thread I've seen elsewhere with folks who are spiritual but not religious. It is important to her that she not judge other people. There is a similar impulse in Christian teaching. However it is not a total rejection of judging other people--you just have to be brutally honest about your own faults. (To paraphrase Jesus: Don't complain about the splinter in somebody else's eye until you have taken the humongous wooden plank out of your own eye.)
There is a particular strength in Amber's commitment to making no judgements, which is that by calling God "a personal opinion" she can maintain relationships with people who have differing "opinions"--the Christian and the atheist biology student.
She is alluding to a common problem many people have with religion: it can convey a sense of superiority that makes followers judgemental. (Ironically, in the case of Christians, the very problem Jesus was preaching against.) The other side of that coin is that many people feel like they aren't good enough for church--that it won't be an accepting place. So if religion is not accepting, it is judgemental, and Amber is more interested in being accepting than stating her beliefs too firmly.
Of course this creates some problems, since a religious belief is something more than a personal opinion--it's part of a structure for organizing the world. For example, I believe the gravity holds me to the ground. Which to my mind is something more than an opinion. It helps me organize me day.
Is there a middle ground? Firmly stating your beliefs while still maintaining good relationships with a variety of people? I suspect that more openness about these things could be, like other risks in relationships, a way of building stronger bonds.
Amber Tamblyn, who plays Joan in "Joan of Arcadia," says in an interview on Beliefnet:
"One of my good friends is Christian, goes to church every Sunday, very religious. I?m fine with that and I will never judge her. And one of my other friends could not believe in God if he came down and tapped her on the shoulder. She's a biologist--a student at UCLA--and I don't judge her either, because I really believe that God is a personal opinion, and only that." [My italics]
Here's the article if you're interested in reading the whole thing.
I think Amber's comments highlights a common thread I've seen elsewhere with folks who are spiritual but not religious. It is important to her that she not judge other people. There is a similar impulse in Christian teaching. However it is not a total rejection of judging other people--you just have to be brutally honest about your own faults. (To paraphrase Jesus: Don't complain about the splinter in somebody else's eye until you have taken the humongous wooden plank out of your own eye.)
There is a particular strength in Amber's commitment to making no judgements, which is that by calling God "a personal opinion" she can maintain relationships with people who have differing "opinions"--the Christian and the atheist biology student.
She is alluding to a common problem many people have with religion: it can convey a sense of superiority that makes followers judgemental. (Ironically, in the case of Christians, the very problem Jesus was preaching against.) The other side of that coin is that many people feel like they aren't good enough for church--that it won't be an accepting place. So if religion is not accepting, it is judgemental, and Amber is more interested in being accepting than stating her beliefs too firmly.
Of course this creates some problems, since a religious belief is something more than a personal opinion--it's part of a structure for organizing the world. For example, I believe the gravity holds me to the ground. Which to my mind is something more than an opinion. It helps me organize me day.
Is there a middle ground? Firmly stating your beliefs while still maintaining good relationships with a variety of people? I suspect that more openness about these things could be, like other risks in relationships, a way of building stronger bonds.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Simple gifts
Aren't you happy to see that the comments are back? It only took an hour of fiddling around to get them started up again. Thanks, Haloscan, for not erasing my comments (at least not the most recent ones--they have some draconian policies toward old comments I'm told.)
Anyway... Hooray! Enjoy the new template. Maybe now I'll try and add some "greatest hits" like Heather does. Or something.
Don't worry. Tomorrow I won't be yammering on about technology foibles:
Spirituality is back on the plate.
Aren't you happy to see that the comments are back? It only took an hour of fiddling around to get them started up again. Thanks, Haloscan, for not erasing my comments (at least not the most recent ones--they have some draconian policies toward old comments I'm told.)
Anyway... Hooray! Enjoy the new template. Maybe now I'll try and add some "greatest hits" like Heather does. Or something.
Don't worry. Tomorrow I won't be yammering on about technology foibles:
Spirituality is back on the plate.
Never Change Anything!
Hello faithful readers. I changed my template, as you can see, but have lost all the wonderful comments everybody made about my posts!
Of course the new look does make things seem neater. But was it worth it? Ultimately no. My apologies to all my fabulous commenters.
Life Lesson: never change anything.
Hello faithful readers. I changed my template, as you can see, but have lost all the wonderful comments everybody made about my posts!
Of course the new look does make things seem neater. But was it worth it? Ultimately no. My apologies to all my fabulous commenters.
Life Lesson: never change anything.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Debt
Maybe this sounds odd, but I'm beginning to think that debt is becoming one of the biggest spiritual issues of our day. I hadn't heard of this particular group until recently, but apparently there is an organization called Debtors Anonymous that, like Alchoholics Anonymous, helps people get out of debt by recognizing their reliance on a higher power. Here's an encouraging article on people making their way out of tough spots.
But it's not just people who are catastrophically addicted to debt who are affected by debt. Lots of us coming out of college and graduate school have crazy loans to pay off. Credit cards are a tremendous source of temptation to overspend. And there's a middle class assumption that part of becoming an adult is buying a house, but often times people buy houses based on what they think they will be able to afford in the future, rather than what they are currently able to afford, and then are stuck with a huge mortgage payment. Oh, and don't ever get sick if you don't have health insurance!
You might be interested to know that in the middle ages it was illegal for Christians to charge interest on loans because of certain Bible passages. Obviously, if we were to follow those standards now, capitalism as we know it would crumble. (Perhaps another argument against taking the Bible literally?) And clearly there is a lot of convenience in being able to swipe a credite card rather than carrying cash everywhere.
But I think the old practice does shed some light on the spiritual problems debt creates. By allowing us to live beyond our means, easy credit can make us more materialistic. And then once we're saddled with crazy interest rates, it keeps us from spending money on good causes. And that's not even considering human toll debt takes. (Speaking of protecting marriages--how many fall apart because of money problems?)
So, maybe it's time to roll it back a little bit--less abundant credit and fewer credit card offers in the mail from the credit card companies. And more effort on our parts to live within our means. A debt sabbath, perhaps?
Maybe this sounds odd, but I'm beginning to think that debt is becoming one of the biggest spiritual issues of our day. I hadn't heard of this particular group until recently, but apparently there is an organization called Debtors Anonymous that, like Alchoholics Anonymous, helps people get out of debt by recognizing their reliance on a higher power. Here's an encouraging article on people making their way out of tough spots.
But it's not just people who are catastrophically addicted to debt who are affected by debt. Lots of us coming out of college and graduate school have crazy loans to pay off. Credit cards are a tremendous source of temptation to overspend. And there's a middle class assumption that part of becoming an adult is buying a house, but often times people buy houses based on what they think they will be able to afford in the future, rather than what they are currently able to afford, and then are stuck with a huge mortgage payment. Oh, and don't ever get sick if you don't have health insurance!
You might be interested to know that in the middle ages it was illegal for Christians to charge interest on loans because of certain Bible passages. Obviously, if we were to follow those standards now, capitalism as we know it would crumble. (Perhaps another argument against taking the Bible literally?) And clearly there is a lot of convenience in being able to swipe a credite card rather than carrying cash everywhere.
But I think the old practice does shed some light on the spiritual problems debt creates. By allowing us to live beyond our means, easy credit can make us more materialistic. And then once we're saddled with crazy interest rates, it keeps us from spending money on good causes. And that's not even considering human toll debt takes. (Speaking of protecting marriages--how many fall apart because of money problems?)
So, maybe it's time to roll it back a little bit--less abundant credit and fewer credit card offers in the mail from the credit card companies. And more effort on our parts to live within our means. A debt sabbath, perhaps?
Monday, October 18, 2004
Back to Gay Marriage
Obviously, I am a little biased on this one, since if I were allowed to legally marry the woman I love, we would automatically be afforded many financial and legal protections that we do not currently enjoy. So I have a selfish interest. But I still think it's right to let the gays be free to marry.
When I watched the third debate, I was not surprised by George Bush's statement that he didn't know whether or not homosexuality is a choice. Because clearly if he's agnostic on that point, it gives him room to continue grandstanding about "protecting" traditional marriage. (This seems to imply that if gay marriage were legal that most heterosexuals would suddenly flee traditional marriage for the nearest person of the same sex.)
What I found surprising and appreciated about John Kerry's comments was that he acknowledged that gay people were living as God had intended them to live. To me, this is a more radical statement than I usually hear in the public forum. It was very refreshing, really.
So I was a little surprised that in the post-debate spin, etc., people got upset not about Kerry's theology, but that he referred to Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney's daughter and campaign manager as a lesbian. It did seem a little unneccessary to me, since, first of all I already knew she was gay, and second of all since it seemed like he was using her to make some kind of a point (I admit I wouldn't want to be in her shoes). What I wish is that he'd been able to make that point a little more clear: that Dick Cheney seems willing to sacrifice his own daughter's well-being if it means he'll be able to stir up the base and win an election. I didn't love that Kerry talked about Mary Cheney, but I think the Bush campaign's policies are much worse for her and for all gays.
(Warning: cynicism) I wonder if the next Bush campaign move will be to have Mary Cheney promote the FMA on national television.
Obviously, I am a little biased on this one, since if I were allowed to legally marry the woman I love, we would automatically be afforded many financial and legal protections that we do not currently enjoy. So I have a selfish interest. But I still think it's right to let the gays be free to marry.
When I watched the third debate, I was not surprised by George Bush's statement that he didn't know whether or not homosexuality is a choice. Because clearly if he's agnostic on that point, it gives him room to continue grandstanding about "protecting" traditional marriage. (This seems to imply that if gay marriage were legal that most heterosexuals would suddenly flee traditional marriage for the nearest person of the same sex.)
What I found surprising and appreciated about John Kerry's comments was that he acknowledged that gay people were living as God had intended them to live. To me, this is a more radical statement than I usually hear in the public forum. It was very refreshing, really.
So I was a little surprised that in the post-debate spin, etc., people got upset not about Kerry's theology, but that he referred to Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney's daughter and campaign manager as a lesbian. It did seem a little unneccessary to me, since, first of all I already knew she was gay, and second of all since it seemed like he was using her to make some kind of a point (I admit I wouldn't want to be in her shoes). What I wish is that he'd been able to make that point a little more clear: that Dick Cheney seems willing to sacrifice his own daughter's well-being if it means he'll be able to stir up the base and win an election. I didn't love that Kerry talked about Mary Cheney, but I think the Bush campaign's policies are much worse for her and for all gays.
(Warning: cynicism) I wonder if the next Bush campaign move will be to have Mary Cheney promote the FMA on national television.
Friday, October 15, 2004
Opiate of the Masses
One of Karl Marx's famous quotes is that he called religion "the opiate of the masses," which is to say, I think, that religion was being used to keep people from waking up to the reality of economic oppression.
This raises some interesting questions, because I think that religion at its worst can take on this sort of a role--assuming too much authority, dispensing all the answers without allowing for doubt or disagreement, giving people excuses for not caring about what happens to them, or giving people reasons to endure rather than change the conditions that enslave them.
But I have had experiences with another kind of religion--one that requires consistency and commitment, yes, but through these things allows for personal growth, and the development of character and courage.
By the grace of God, there is more than one way to do "religion," I hope.
One of Karl Marx's famous quotes is that he called religion "the opiate of the masses," which is to say, I think, that religion was being used to keep people from waking up to the reality of economic oppression.
This raises some interesting questions, because I think that religion at its worst can take on this sort of a role--assuming too much authority, dispensing all the answers without allowing for doubt or disagreement, giving people excuses for not caring about what happens to them, or giving people reasons to endure rather than change the conditions that enslave them.
But I have had experiences with another kind of religion--one that requires consistency and commitment, yes, but through these things allows for personal growth, and the development of character and courage.
By the grace of God, there is more than one way to do "religion," I hope.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Bodysnatchers
Okay, this may or may not be a spiritual issue, but all I can do lately is either
1. Think about the election and read and re-read all the poll reports, analysis, and punditry, and get irritated by how, with the amount of spin on both sides of the race I am reduced to discerning the amount of hidden fear in a campaign manager's voice to determine how well the candidates did in a debate.
(I watched the second debate, but had pretty much already heard everything that was said)
OR
2. Avoid thinking about the election because of all the horrible things that will happen if Bush does get re-elected. Which, cynical as I am, I think is pretty likely. He is the incumbent, after all.
Is anyone else finding themselves doing meaningless repetitive mind-obliterating tasks lately?
Okay, this may or may not be a spiritual issue, but all I can do lately is either
1. Think about the election and read and re-read all the poll reports, analysis, and punditry, and get irritated by how, with the amount of spin on both sides of the race I am reduced to discerning the amount of hidden fear in a campaign manager's voice to determine how well the candidates did in a debate.
(I watched the second debate, but had pretty much already heard everything that was said)
OR
2. Avoid thinking about the election because of all the horrible things that will happen if Bush does get re-elected. Which, cynical as I am, I think is pretty likely. He is the incumbent, after all.
Is anyone else finding themselves doing meaningless repetitive mind-obliterating tasks lately?
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