I've been working on a project at work unrelated to the Study Abroad and it has eaten my life for about 10 days now. Thinking, planning, writing, investigating and now promoting it among the faculty. Ready for it to be done with and move on to more stress about if students are paying their fees for the Study Abroad (many are already falling behind, one has already dropped out).
Classes have begun and I feel good about the first few classes. Good kids, and I've had energetic classes thus far.
The first "real" day of class we discuss Plato's Cave. It's one of my favorite classes and one question I ask the class is for small groups to come up with the "caves" we are currently living in. This is a hard question so I let them grapple with it awhile. After all, if you take up residence in a cave, you're usually in denial of it being a cave. So often we can clearly see the past; the racism, sexism, injustice, etc. etc. but in our own time we have huge blind spots. I mentioned that you know someone is in a cave when they say there is no evidence you can provide for them to change their mind. Conspiracy theorists are the worst at this. I once tried to provide a CDC chart for a anti-vax person and OF COURSE it was part of the conspiracy to make us take vaccines.
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| So, in this "debate" with the anti-vaccine person on FACEBOOK - she told me the dramatic shift in childhood diseases and decline in childhood mortality was related to HAND WASHING. You might as well conclude it was NAPKINS or because KETCHUP really took off in the mid-20th century. |
This had actually already been on my mind.
Not vaccines, but the idea of changing my mind. I was talking with a fellow Christian when he mentioned that even if Christianity was somehow proved false, he would continue to be a Christian. Although we didn't spend too much time on what evidence that would be - let's assume it's Jesus existence or the resurrection itself. This means, he would continue to practice a faith - church attendance and a worship of a God that he no longer believes in. He says he would do this because he believes this lifestyle is the best one offered on earth.
I get that on some level. However, on the other hand, I disagree.
I believe if I found or was provided good evidence that Jesus never existed or the physical resurrection did not happen, I would stop being a Christian. This doesn't mean I would let go of my Christian ethics and I will always love the Sermon on the Mount and the concepts of non-violence, love over hatred, forgiveness and helping others. However, I couldn't drag myself to a church on a weekly basis nor consider myself a "Christian" in any real sense. For me the light out of the cave would be too much. I always ask questions, second-guess, wonder and maybe that's a dangerous thing but I don't know any other way.
Still working up ideas for a hadith post on women but it's on a back burner so far away I can barely see it. Wrote about a 1/3 of a post of another Weezer post (on an alternate and better Red Album) that will get done. Eventually. Also, about 1/3 done on my second post on the Beatitudes. The other day I felt bad about my lack of posting and then I remembered no one really reads and I am going to make time for it when I feel like it. Cause, you know, as Bon Jovi said it, "IT"S MY LIFE". (Didn't anyone else think that song sounded exactly like "Livin' on a Prayer"??????
Found me some 90's gold from some demos from the band Supersport 2000. Maybe something I will actually upload to Youtube as there are only a few tracks there.
Pandas are cool. One time I was flippin' channels when my oldest daughter was 4 and we stopped on one of the Spanish Channels that had a movie/documentary about this panda that lived with a little boy in China. It was so realistic I couldn't tell if it was a movie or documentary (I blame the fact that it was in Spanish, that kinda sucked). We were transfixed. It was amazing and yet I had no idea of the title nor how I can find this film. It was so good I still think about it to this day.
Happy Evenin' to ya folks. Stay Warm, Stay Happy and Take a look out on clear winter night and Wonder about the cosmos for a few minutes.
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