Randomocity

A couple things this afternoon, random inquiries.  There’s nothing premeditated here, so who knows what could come out.

First, a quick movie review.  If you can handle a bit of profanity and some mild drug use, Shrink is an excellent film.  For one reason or another, especially in religious circles, we pretend that a normal life carries the rough resemblance of the guts of a clock.  Each piece is designed and installed with less than a hair’s width tolerance and each piece must and often does look and work exactly as it should; a well oiled machine.  People, just so you know, that’s not how life is.  Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it’s awesome and most of the time, at least for me, I’m just trying to keep my head above water for some reason I’m not really sure of.  Thus, Shrink was a very honest and refreshing portrayal of the realities of life.  We don’t have all the answers and never will.  It’s okay for us to find ourselves in the midst of the struggle.  It’s also ok for us to feel a bit uncomfortable when people are continually trying to fix us.

Moral of the story?  Just like I’ve written before, the journey really does matter.  Further, self discovery is probably the most concrete method of education.  And what I, and I’m sure many others, desire is to be loved for who we are, not what other people want us to be or think we should be.

Second, has anyone ever stopped and thought about the concept of antibiotics?  Translation in layman’s terms: anti-bacterial medicines.  Rumor is, there is actually good bacteria.  You know, that stuff that keeps us regular, eats some of the nasty stuff in our bodies, etc.  So, when we take an antibiotic we are essentially killing off all bacteria.  I’m not too keen on the idea since it’s likely the majority of those bacteria are good ones.  But shoot!  Let’s kill everything off…  I’m more for the natural approach.  I’m not sure if it works, but I haven’t taken any antibiotics or been poked with a flu “vaccine” in roughly 8 years and during that time, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I finally broke and took an over-the-counter neural inhibiter.  I feel much better filling my body with stuff that supposed to be there and my body naturally knows how to break down.

Third, I’m looking over the parable of the 10 virgins found in the new testament.  Most of us assume it was said by Jesus since it’s written in “red letters.”  Case in point.  We assume a lot of stuff about the bible.  So the question is, does the story of the 10 virgins lose its significance if Jesus wasn’t really the one who said it, rather it was a story engineered by a late first century author in response the fears of the community to which he was a pastor?

In my opinion, it implies a necessity to sever the notions of an eschatological (or apocalyptic) Jesus from the historical Jesus.  The historical figure of Jesus seems to have been much more interested in an alternative kind of wisdom than proclaiming “the end of the world is near.”  My assumption is that his statements similar to the kingdom is near, were not referring to impending disaster for heathens, rather a new kingdom, a way of existing that is and should be fully realized now.  And frankly, the 10 virgins doesn’t really have much to do with participating in a happening right now sort of kingdom.  And that’s outside of the fact that our english translation of that story off some interesting quandaries within itself.

Quickly, one of those being the very first sentence of the story.  The kingdom of heaven is like 10 virgins… Notice what is not said.  The people who want to enter the kingdom of heaven are like… or People in the kingdom of heaven can be compared to… It could be nothing of much significance, but the reference to the kingdom itself being compared to the 10 virgins seems to point to the notion that the kingdom is already happening and depending on how you choose to participate in that kingdom reflects the amount of life and celebration you will enjoy from inherently being apart of it.  That begs the question, what then do we think about all those arguments of “us and them,” you’re either “in or out” or comparisons between “truth and lies?”

Food for thought.  Random entry.  Random enough to coin my own word: Randomocity.  Of course, it’s likely someone has already penned it elsewhere making me at the very least, a second place finisher.  Oh well.  Life goes on.

Enjoy it!

Compassion

As an interesting lead-in to the video I’ve posted below, I have a thought.

The other day, while my wife and I were sitting and talking about our car, among other elements of eternal consequence.  Anyway, as we carried on about our car, I said something along the lines of, “she’s been a good car.”  It could be nothing, but it got me thinking.  Why is it that whenever, especially for guys, we name a piece of property, it’s always a she?  Then I decided to dig a little deeper into my psyche and upon further investigation, I find it quite interesting how deeply engrained the male dominated ideal is in the way we think and act.

Now, I offer up that seemingly insignificant thought as an introduction into the video you’ll find below.  For those of you who read my stuff semi-regularly, this video will probably rub you a little raw.  However, I could be wrong and if that’s the case, there is truly hope.

For now, I’ll leave it at that.  I’d like for the video to speak for itself.  And, as is most often the case, there are many others that speak much more clearly and honestly than I do.  So as you view this video, I ask only this: please open your heart to the possibility of a world saturated with compassion.  And, what are you willing to do in order to make it a reality?

Enjoy!  And please, I’d love to begin a conversation via this blog or any other means.  So, feel free to leave any comments.  I look forward to what the possibilities!