Head-dibs

"Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. Death, for instance, is not terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death that it is terrible. When therefore we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles. An uninstructed person will lay the fault of his own bad condition upon others. Someone just starting instruction will lay the fault on himself. Some who is perfectly instructed will place blame neither on others nor on himself." (Epictetus, Enchiridion 5) In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful paragraphs in Stoic literature for here we are called to personal responsibility. Epictetus uses thoughts on the subject of death as an example, examining the opinion that death is terrible--but is this always the case? We can't seem to make up our minds about death, as we brea...

"Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions not outside." (Marcus Aurelius) Which is easier to manage: a bundle of wood, or a stick of wood? How often we look at a situation and begin to spiral about the burden. "It's too big," or "I can't do this," or "the pressure is too great!" and before long anxiety has blurred our vision, weakened our resolve and undermined our foundations. When we build a fire, we don't carry the whole stack inside at once. We take a few sticks at a time and before long the entire pile has been moved! Why focus on the wood pile when all we need is to move one stick at a time? You've heard the old joke, "how do you eat an elephant?" The answer is "one bite at a time."  So when you feel worry set in, discard it. Anxiety won't help move the pile and will drain your energy. Anxiety won't add years to your life. How often w...

Grandpa dropped his glasses once in a pot of dye, And when he put them on again he saw a purple sky. Purple birds were rising up from a purple hill, Men were grinding purple cider at a purple mill. Purple Adeline was playing with a purple doll, Little purple dragonflies were crawling up the wall. And at the supper table he got crazy as a loon, From eating purple apple dumplings with a purple spoon. (Leroy F. Jackson) It does not happen often but when it does, I try not to act surprised.  "Why do you wear glasses?" The answer is simple: so I can see. Without them, the world is a blur.  "Why don't you wear contacts?" Because I wear tri-focals AND my glasses are treated as such that, when in the sun, the lenses darken, protecting my eyes from the glare.  "Don't they bother you?" No. I forget they are there.  In some ways, our thoughts are like grandpa's glasses. We view the world through a set of lenses, assuming everything ...

A recent e-mail sits in my "In-box" tagged with a gold star. The message is so incredibly profound, so complicatedly simple that I can't archive it. Not yet. I need it under my fingernails. The e-mail tells the story of John "Max" Staniforth who in 1916 wrote a letter home describing how he and fellow World War I soldiers of the 16th Irish Division dealt with the reality of their war-time situation on the Western Front. Staniforth wrote: “If you are a soldier, you are either: (1) at home or (2) at the Front. If (1), you needn’t worry. If (2), you are either (1) out of the danger zone or (2) in it. If (1), you needn’t worry. If (2), you are either (1) not hit, or (2) hit. If (1), you needn’t worry. If (2) you [your wounds] are either (1) trivial or (2) dangerous. If (1), you needn’t worry. If (2), you either (1) live or (2) die. If you live, you needn’t worry: and – If you die, YOU CAN’T WORRY!! So why worry?" The choice for whatever we face is this: ...

There's the difficult way and there's the really difficult way. The Black Crest Trail is the latter--but it's the most rewarding. Culminating on the highest peak on the Eastern Sea Board, the Black Crest Trail (aka, "Death March") clambers over five peaks. That is, if one approaches from the North. We passed many hikers going the opposite direction--downhill. But for every "down" there's an "up." Scaling the first 3000 feet in the first three miles, we passed this unforgettable tree. I was caused to remember this tree when reading my dailies: " Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently holds in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions ." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.16) On the trail I could not pass this tree as quickly and easily as the previous million. What forces shaped this tree? How long has it endured? One can only imagine. The truth is that the tree remains shaped,...

“You shouldn’t give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don’t care at all.” —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.38 Ryan Holiday writes in "The Daily Stoic":  "Why bother getting mad at causes and forces far bigger than us? Why do we take these things personally? After all, external events are not sentient beings--they cannot respond to our shouts and cries . . . . . . circumstances are incapable of considering or caring for your feelings, your anxiety or your excitement. They don't care about your reaction. They are not people. So stop acting like getting worked up is having an impact on a given situation. Situations don't care at all." (p. 63) Meditating on this truth and on these questions, one remembers a song that came out a few years ago that contains this principle at it's very core. We need to be mindful of both circumstances and our reaction to them for (as the song expresses) a simple distraction might lead to a certai...

"Keep a constant guard over your perceptions, for it is no small thing you are protecting, but your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things??" (Epictetus, Discourses 4.3) We exist for a purpose much greater than to live in a constant state of annoyance. While some feel their calling in life is to be the burr-under-the-saddle, they have not thought that the burr can be removed. There is no reason to remain annoyed, anxious, or angry. A choice exists on how one will spend his or her emotional, physical, even spiritual energy. Why waste any of these on the whims of someone who cannot abide in peace? Control what you are able, starting by removing yourself from their influence. There are times when anger or annoyance may be appropriate, but one need not dwell there.  Epictetus instructs to guard perception on the grounds that (at your core) peace of mind is at stak...

“We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing and to not let it upset our state of mind – for things have no natural power to shape our judgments.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.52) Think for a moment about everything you don't know.  Go ahead. I'll wait.  What is your opinion about those things you don't know? How do you feel?  You don't have an opinion because you don't know what you don't know--right?  Ok, think for a moment about something that might upset you. Can you name it? Say what it is?  Did someone say something behind your back?  What did they say?  Did you hear it?  Do you even know for a fact that anyone said anything about you at all?  Was it derogatory or nice?  Still don't know? Then why upset?  So why get upset about something we know nothing about?  That guy that cut you off on the way to work this morning--why did he do it?  To be rude because he saw YOU...

"Consider thus: Your are an old man; no longer yourself be enslaved by this any longer (and) no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet by every impulse, and stop complaining about your present fortune or dreading the future." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.2) One of our Trustees here at the University is the CEO of Krispy Kreme Donuts. Do you know what that means? Well, if you were on campus the other day, you most likely would have been standing in line for your Hot and Fresh prior to Chapel. I mean that's the rule, right? When donuts are present, you MUST eat them. Right? I didn't.  Don't get me wrong, but just because they are hot and melty and have the tendency to just melt on the tip of your tongue does not mean that one MUST have one just because it's there. Of course someone might say, "do you do the same with chocolate chip cookie dough?" We're not talking about cookie dough. We're talking about donuts. We're talk...

M. Scott Peck in the 1978 book that made him famous, The Road Less Traveled describes (in so many words) life as terrain, so we need a “map”. Immediately one ruffles through the mental index, checking all the metaphors used to describe life: strange; a dream; a seed; a river; a box of chocolates; a mountain railway; a highway; a journey; a beautiful ride; a cereal, and so forth. Solomon Rabinovich (better known as Sholem Aleichem, author of “Fiddler On The Roof”, a beautifully tragic portrayal of life in it’s own way) is credited with saying that, “Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.” So what is life? Peck assumes that life is territory to be explored and in order to find our way, we need a kind of representation, a chart that reveals the arrangement of the area, or what he calls, a “route to reality.” Peck holds that we are born without maps so we must make them and the more effort dedicated to its formation, the m...

As my pastor says, "let's go back to the top" and consider how grade one thinking from the highest pinnacle of thought actually informs man's situation. It can be said theologically that “anthropology is the study of man” in terms of a literal definition. Man’s creation, existence and purpose has only one logical explanation in the person of God, the uncreated Creator. The Scriptures clearly and distinctly teach that God created man, that he is the result of an act of immediate divine creation. Asking the question, "how can we trust God’s perspective as recorded in the Bible?" moves us from level two to level one thinking, demonstrating we are pursuant of truth. First, the Bible can be trusted because it introduces and contains certain, verifiable history. Second, quotes itself and is quoted by people throughout history as being true. Third, the facts recorded in the Bible, including the creation and probation of man, lie at the foundation of God’s whole...

William Golding is best known for his novels "The Lord of the Flies," “Free Fall” and the sea trilogy "Rites of Passage," “Close Quarters” and “Fire Down Below.” Golding should have received greater recognition for his essay, "Thinking as a Hobby." Here Golding helps the reader understand how he came to the conclusion that there are three grades, or categories of thinking. Grade three thinking is "feeling, rather than thought," much like animal instinct and as equally reactionary. This is the thinking grade of addictive behavior, hedonists and Jedi Knights. Grade two thinking "destroys without having the power to create;" that is, while grade two thinking may enjoy discovering and pointing out contradiction, it provides no answers, solutions or security. This is the thinking grade of humanistic science, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. The danger of grade two thinking can be compared with the undertow, which drags th...

"It takes God to understand man. And He has written a book to go along with us--an instruction book to accompany the machinery He has designed. If you buy a new television set, refrigerator, or automobile, along with it you get an instruction book compiled by the manufacturer, who understands the machine best. It tells you what to do when things go wrong. That is exactly what the Bible does. It is the greatest book on human psychology in the world." Ray Stedman, "The Need for a Priest," Sermon on Lev. 8:1-9

New link added: Psychology Debunked . Thanks, Derek .

Responding to my last post, one reader commented on the section dealing with the failure of Psychology with the following: “ Certain paradigms of psychology (specifically the psychoanalytic and humanistic you mentioned) do not lend themselves well to science. That said, there are models, such as the cognitive-behavioral model, that are far from pseudo-science. The CBT model fairs so well in its attempts to demonstrate statistical significance in therapy, that is has even rivaled and surpassed the efficacy of many psychotropic medications. This is not some contrived psycho-philosophical idealogy that some Austrian intellectual pulled from a half-baked positivism; this is science. Is it an end-all answer? Absolutely not; but, if you are proposing that a nouthetic model is the only way to go, then I would ask that you take a second look at what you are considering .” I would like to underscore two features: first, the posts I am making at present have nothing to do with counseling, but ra...

Since the 12 th century the English language has enjoyed the word “wisdom” as the fruit of the root “wis,” an archaic word which means “to know.” So, in a manner of speaking, humankind has been on the seemingly never-ending, ever-winding Yellow-brick road, braving the journey with our companions in this small world for the single purpose that we may someday meet the “Wis.” Then what? Go back to Kansas? What ultimate deliverance is mankind seeking in the quest “to know?” Release from ignorance? The object of knowledge is allusive; though, when we speak of wisdom, we refer to that object that embodies the accumulation of all that is learned philosophically, scientifically and theologically. Immediately the dilemma arises in that our collective knowledge philosophically and scientifically originates out of ourselves; that is, within the framework of mankind. So what have we learned other than what someone else thinks? Is this wisdom? Solon of Athens gave us, “Know thyself.” What...

“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Also Sprach Benjamin Franklin . At one point in my life, I saw Franklin as the wisest person who ever lived—his contributions to mankind were so numerous that in my eyes, none but the most wisest could perform so many noble acts. Franklin’s inventions include water-wings, bi-focals, the lightening rod. He made contributions to the fields of medicine, agriculture, banking, printing, heating and air. He was an educator, a politician, founded libraries, published, and was the first to go postal. Ironically, when it came to personal and spiritual development he made many failed attempts at morality and sought to arrive at perfection by his own means, admitting at last that he could not. Regardless, Franklin was a leader. When we look for leaders, two facts come to the surface: first, we should strive to see wise people in leadership positions. I say, “should” because when I think of something grand like the Presidential ...