Who Would Jesus De-friend? The Problem with American Christianity

One of my FB "friends" posted this the other day:

"If you in any way, shape, or form support Planned Parenthood, please unfriend me now. You are no friend of mine."

Of course, this was in response to the recent Planned Parenthood controversy. Of course, she is a conservative Christian.

My mind instantly contrasted her attitude with that of  Jesus'.  So, I thought of questions I could send her:

• Who would Jesus "unfriend"? 
• Wouldn't you be more likely to change a friend's mind on abortion if they remained your FB "friend"? 
• Might your attitude help reinforce stereotypes of the "Judgmental Christian"?
• Could your attitude help foster ill will towards your political allies and more importantly, Christianity? 

Of course I didn't send them.

I am sure she posted out of sheer anger and frustration. I am sure she felt compelled to preach the "truth" to others because she (and I) feel like we have little control over a crazy world around us. I suppose the real question to ask is:

When will Christians figure it out?

Love is the answer, not judging.

You will not change minds by being angry. You will not change minds by screaming at people in person or online on Facebook. You will most certainly not change minds by allying yourself with politicians. 20th century Christianity sold it's soul for 3 more decades of "cultural relevance" but its alignment with politics has left it bankrupt in the mind of the public.

Christians are seen as walking in lockstep with the GOP. Christians are often seen as mean, judgmental, anti-poor, even anti-tipping! Christians are generally seen to hate homosexuals and even science. The stereotype ain't that far off, either. They are defined by fear, repression and basically the word "no".

Judging others dismisses their perspective and makes the other person feel angry and not valued.

Love includes others in the conversation, listens and gains respect of the other person.

I don't blame my "friend" for the downfall of American Christianity, but she sure ain't helping either.

Art Post: Toucan Sam & Fragments on Cereal

Sometimes art imitates life and sometimes I imitate cartoons.

Inspired by picking up some Froot Loops from the hotel lobby this morning, I drew Toucan Sam. My mom would never let us get sugar cereal so it was a little cathartic for me to draw Sam. I loved cartoons. I loved sugar. So, why couldn't she just buy me Froot Loops once, just once!?!?

I loved staring at the colorful boxes at the store. Each cereal had it's own cool cartoon character.  I was a cartoon manic so I would just look up in wonder.  Also, how could any kid resist the little toy inside the box.  Wow, what a temptation. Whoever invented that was a genius!  So mysterious, so cool and yet most kids would be likely to lose all interest in it by the end of the day -  if you ever got your little grubby hands on it to begin with!

I loved the special offers and contests too!  I would read the back of  a cereal box like it was a map to a hidden treasure. It just made you feel like you were losing out on life if you didn't get that particular box.

Ok, so my Mom caved a few times. One time I ordered a magnet set of the Monster Characters (ya know like Boo Berry and Count Chocula). That was epic. I had those forever and I might still have Boo Berry somewhere.

One time when my Grandma was in town visiting, I went to the grocery store with her and begged her for Ghostbusters cereal. It worked! I couldn't believe it!  My mom was perturbed when she saw it sitting on the counter.

Update from the next week: 

Thought of the Day

If you want to irritate someone, get a bumper sticker.

If you want to debate someone, post something on Facebook.

If you want to change someone's mind, tell them a story.

Confucius Didn't Say That!: Where's the Glory in That?

One of the most oft-repeated ideas and tropes in American culture is, "Never give up!". It's built into our very myths about who we are as a people. We even celebrate lost causes like the Alamo or in the South, many sadly still celebrate the ultimate lost cause, the Confederacy.  "Never say die!" is also a a tried-and-true movie plot device, (Rocky, Braveheart, Hoosiers, or basically any sports or fighting movie). The lesson is to always give you best and never give up. If you give up you, you're a failure.

This all brings me to the latest "fake quote" of Confucius:

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Confucius 

It's true that when I first read this quote I thought of this old Dwayne Wade commercial (but I was wrong that it was a shoe commercial instead of a sugar water commercial):



Even taking into account how different many of the English translations of Confucius' purported ideas are, I have become familiar with the style and form of Confucius's sayings. He's rarely pithy or blunt. His ideas are nuanced and usually preceded by or followed by explanations or exposition.

This has none of the qualities of Confucius' style or tone.

The real issue is the value behind the quote. The quote implies that the "greatest glory" about being a human is our drive for individual success. There's nothing wrong with the idea of "try, try again" but the meaning is clearly aimed at motivating people to "never give up" or to continue striving for their goal.

I am not claiming that Confucius would be a quitter and "pack it up" as soon as the "going got tough". There is general support for the idea of perseverance and persistence in the Analects.

[17:5] Zi Zhang asked Confucius about fundamental human goodness. Confucius said, “If you can practice these five things with all the people, you can be called a fundamentally good person.”

Zi Zhang asked what they were.

Confucius said, “Courtesy, generosity, honesty, persistence, and kindness. If you are courteous, you will not be disrespected; if you are generous, you will gain everything. If you are honest, people will rely on you. If you are persistent you will get results. If you are kind, you can employ people.”

However, persistence only used for personal or worldly success would be obscene to Confucius. He would not be a fan of Chumbawamba's one hit in the 90's.

The "greatest glory" wouldn't be striving for something greater but in our relationships. 

For Confucius and later Confucian thinkers, individuals only made sense in their relationships with others. It's something of a Confucian obsession that if everyone knew "their place" in society (their relationships) then harmony could be achieved.  From a Confucian point of view, my drive for personal success should never come at the expense of others and it must come clearly within the boundaries of the traditional relationships. We see this most clearly in Confucius' ideas of Ren, which is usually translated as something like "humaneness". Ren was the ideal of what people were to live like:

[12:22] Fan Chi asked about the meaning of ren.

Confucius said “love others.”He asked about the meaning of “knowledge.”

The Master said, “Know others.”

Again, the idea is towards the inter-relatedness of one's success, it should never come at the expense of others,

[6:30].... Now the ren man, wishing himself to be established, sees that others are established, and, wishing himself to be successful, sees that others are successful. To be able to take one's own 
feelings as a guide may be called the art of ren.”

I once heard Ren described as "seeking the good in others". I'm sure that's more of an interpretative approach to the term, but I liked that. If I seek good in others, I can find empathy and understanding. 

It seems this has been a fake quote attributed to Confucius or "Chinese philosopher" for a long time. This one really surprised me, I thought it sounded like a wholly 1997 creation from the internet. However, it apparently it came from an Irishmen in the 1700's who wrote a fictionalized account of a Chinese philosopher living in London. So, this "fake quote" has been circulating for a long time and has been connected to China for over 3 centuries!


I'm not too fond of the quote itself. Well, okay, it sucks. 

While the quote's strength is its ability to adapt to almost anyone's circumstances, I think its usual application is that it's likely to be used on inspirational posters in a high school's guidance counselor's office. I am being a bit of a curmudgeon, but these fake quotes just irritate me. If someone is motivated by the quote to do better in school or at work, then kudos to them. Keep on truckin' friends.

Ultimately, I'll side with Confucius on this one, but I'll quote from another great thinker, Viktor Frankel, "The salvation of man is through love and in love." That is human's greatest glory. Without love, "rising" back up ceases to have any real meaning.

Peru Fragments: Part V: The Dream That Came True

In the summer of 2014 I taught a short-term study abroad program to Peru. Here is my fourth post of fragments on the trip. Here was Part IV.

As we were driving down from Misminay, many in our group fell asleep. I usually can't sleep in cars and this was no exception. Just listened to a podcast and enjoyed the view driving down the mountainside.

We arrived back in Ollantanytambo to catch the train to Aguas Calenties, the small town at the base of Machu Picchu.  We checked into our hotel room and went out for dinner at a nice place (I forgot the name of it). I had a stuffed fried rococo pepper. It was awesome. We had a nice dinner where we actually had a pretty focused "class" discussion for a good while.

This was one of my favorite meals of the trip. Note the rococo sauce near the top right of my plate, which just gave it that extra spice kick that I love.  

According to the forecast on two different weather apps, there was an 80% chance of showers the next day. This chance of rain was really, really bumming me out. I couldn't believe my one day at Machu Picchu would be potentially ruined. I tried to convince myself that it wouldn't be that bad. I had a poncho and umbrella, and it couldn't rain the whole time we were there. Right?

We called it an early evening as our goal was to arrive at the peak just before sunrise. Our wake up time was 4:30 or something insane like. The streets of Aguas Calenties are packed with restaurants, bars and hotels. Our hotel was situated immediately next to a nice looking pub. It is no exaggeration to say the people in that bar sounded like they were having the time of their lives. I'm not even joking. It was a piano sing-along bar and it just sounded so fun. Any other time, I would have been up for having a drink and checking it out except for the fact that I was trying to get rest and wake up before dawn.  Eventually, the music didn't matter, because I was exhausted. I woke up sometime around 2:00 in the morning and discovered they were thankfully closed. I was additionally thankful that I fell right back asleep.

We got up on time but I felt like we couldn't move fast enough to get down to the bus site. The whole group seemed strangely more lethargic as we entered what I knew would be our peak experience.   Thankfully, there were some morning clouds but nothing looked menacing. As we stood in line for the bus, dawn approached. I was a little perturbed because the idea was to be up on the peak as the sun came up, but I had forgotten just because it was light outside, it didn't mean the sun had peaked over the mountains.

Traveling up the mountain.

You can see the first ray of sunshine just peaking over the ridge of mountains on the right. 

How do you feel when a dream comes true?  

I found myself in this very predicament atop one of the world's most beautiful places. 

I was restless and unable to really pay attention as much as I would have liked during our 1.5 hour tour. After the tour, I found myself walking around aimlessly alone, looking out upon the most breathtaking vistas imaginable.  Exploring the buildings I had wanted to explore as a kid. I felt overwhelmed and alone. My colleague was busy walking with with a student who almost never left his side, but I didn't really want to be around anyone either. Looking back, this was one of the times I missed my wife the most. I wanted to share this moment with my best friend. 

I tried to soak it all up, but whenever dreams come true, it always seems like focusing on the event itself, is the wrong way to do it. I usually find myself practicing mindfulness at least a few times a day but being at Machu Picchu the experience seemed hard to pin down. The hype I had given this moment (from age 11) couldn't possibly match reality, could it?

I think I'm a little tired at just the memory of climbing all those ancient steps. 

As you can see, there was no rain. I don't think American weather apps do well outside the US. 

Your intrepid blogger (he's the one wearing the hat) 

It was a truly amazing experience but did it or could it live up to my own personal hype?

Nope.

I think it was impossible with a few thousand people around me, but it came darn close. There were moments of clarity and mindfulness that I won't forget and for that, I am thankful. After lunch at the restaurant on site (good but expensive) we took a hike to the Sun Gate. After days of walking, hiking and climbing mountains, this hike was another killer for my tired legs but even still, great. The Sun Gate was nice and I can say I hiked some of the Inca Trail. I also peed on it, cause I had to (don't worry no one was looking and it was in the grass).  

Looking from the Sun Gate to the main site, the road below on the right is the road the bus takes to the top. 

We stayed at in the park until about 4:00 PM, meaning we where there for about 10 hours. We descended down back into Aguas Calenties to grab a bite to eat, pick up our luggage and catch the train back to Ollantanytambo. Before we would, there's another story to tell but I'll save that for the next entry.  One day I'll finish this blog series, but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Just Updating the Ol' Blog Fragments

We've been crazy busy of late.

Re-doing our floors on our own is tough. We lived at the in-laws for almost three weeks. Parts of our house are still, uh, well, messed up. Working at work and working at home didn't leave much time to blog but the past 10 days or so have been back to normal.

I stepped into my favorite local establishment to grab an ice tea with my Nirvana shirt on when the cashier (clearly under 25) asked me what my favorite Nirvana song was. I was dumbfounded. I felt exposed, like I really didn't know the Nirvana discography backwards and forwards. Then again, I don't routinely listen to them that often these days either. 

My generation is used to "favorite album" questions, I'm usually ready for that one (although always split with Nirvana). So, to figure it all out my TOP TEN FAVORITE NIRVANA SONGS (keep in mind this is off the top my head). 

10. Love Buzz

9. On a Plain (the end always kills me)

8.  TIE (I know, I'm cheating) Lithium & Heartshaped Box   

7. The Man Who Sold The World 

6. About a Girl 

5. All Apologies 

4.Dumb 

3. Aneurysm 

2. Drain You 

1. In Bloom

Note: I am aware Love Buzz and The Man Who Sold the World are cover songs but ya know, I didn't say it had to be Cobain originals!!  I am also pretty sad my list is not full of "cred" songs, ya know, songs that no one else but hard core fans know and love. I mean, for goodness sakes, most of those songs were singles (technically even Love Buzz was a single). Oh well. 

Honorable Mention:  Turnaround (another cover), Old Age, Sappy (wait, this got re-named too, didn't it, although I am fond of Verse Chorus Verse as well), pretty much all of Nevermind and the Unplugged album. 

I would probably change that next week too. 

I remembered a few weeks ago, my big girl C, used to say, "Pritter please with a cherry on top" I have no idea if I recorded that here on the blog, but there ya go. Another one she used a year or two ago was a "tinch". Indicating a tiny pinch of something, ya know, "Can I have just a tinch of cake, Dad?" That should be a thing. 

Been on a reading kick lately, reading How to Break A Terrorist (about how to ethically obtain information from prisoners), Persian Mirrors (about Iran) both solid stuff. 

Other stuff from this year (that I haven't already forgotten about): 

Eaters of the Dead (last time I read this one was high school, it was purely for nostalgic reasons, and I would not recommend this) 

12 Years a Slave (Wow, a must read)

Ficciones and The Book of Imaginary Beings (both by the Spanish author Borges) - Strange stuff but good only for your literary-nerd types. 

As always, as many 1980's Marvels as much as I can ethically sneak in the house (and 2015 FCBD stuff too). 

The Analects (Confucius, along with a whole bunch of excerpts from Confucian ethic classics) 

A few of the Narina books (wait, was that during Xmas break??) 

Not bad considering I was writing like a madman Jan-March. Speaking of which, I am actually getting the itch again to get back to the novel which still stands right at 17,000 words. Hmmm....

I found myself oddly rooting for the Cavs during the finals. I was struck by how much people genuinely were awed by the Warriors' offense. And, when Curry and one other player are hitting, it's pretty sweet to watch. They did have an all-time great offense for the regular season. However, the playoffs left me a little unimpressed. They were at times, pushed around by the Grizz and the Cavs. so much that they lost to those teams that had terrible offenses

 I simply was not that impressed with their playoff run. I came away wondering if the 2015 Spurs could have beat them (doubtful as they were just dead-tired and wouldn't have had homecourt). I am pretty sure the 2014 version of the Spurs would have destroyed them though.

I suppose I should do something more production like watch the new version of Cosmos on Netflix (solid, check it out).  Here's a mini-pic dump because I can. Enjoy. In the meantime, don't forgot to turn off your porch light in the morning and tell your loved ones you love them every chance you get. 

Confucius Didn't Say That! : The Book Edition

Welcome to my second post of Confucius Didn't Say That! 

My first post is here, so be polite and read that one first.

Please keep in mind, this is my way of deconstructing these quotes. One can simply look up if Confucius said any of this garbage in the Analects, The Great Learning or The Doctrine of the Mean but that would make for a short blog post, wouldn't it?

Ya know, I like to read and because I am a nerd, I prefer non-fiction. I just love learning for the sake of learning.  So, when I saw this "non-quote" on good ol' "Brainy Quote" and I decided it was time to tackle it on the blog:


You cannot open a book without learning something. -   Confucius 

This quote is everywhere on the web and not just Brainy Quote, so let's explore why Confucius didn't say it!

Look, I know it's pretty low-hanging fruit if you know a little bit about history. 

I'm going to be a bit of a nitpick. In the first place, paper wasn't even invented to the 2nd century AD, so "books" as we know it, weren't invented until well after that date, and even by then Confucius had been dead for about 600 years. 

I know you might be thinking I'm a stickler here because in the Analects, Confucius does refer to books. In fact, he often refers to one of the Five Classics, The Book of Odes. He encourages his disciples to read, recite and act upon its principles: 

[13:5] The Master said: “You can recite the 300 poems from the Book of Odes, but when you try to use them in administration, they are not effective, and in handling the outerlying regions, you cannot apply them, then even though you know a lot, what good is it?”

So, of course there were "books" in Confucius' time but they were likely on bamboo.  And this brings me to the second point about how we know this quote is not from Confucius' time.

The larger and more important point should be made about "reading culture" or "book culture". It simply didn't exist in the ancient world.  Even if a printing press was transported via time machine into the ancient world, the percent of people that could have read (and maybe more importantly, understand these books) was infinitesimally small. Even today, some estimate that only half the population of China are functionally literate. 

In the 5th century BCE, in China, I would guesstimate that around 5% of the general population would be literate. Maybe even upwards of 10% if you're feeling generous.  I  would also wager there would be an additional amount of people who could read some or a little for business purposes but the masses would be illiterate. The idea that a majority of people in a nation could be literate, reading any number of books would have been astounding to Confucius! In ancient times, even if you could read, you likely didn't own any (or many) books at all because they would be so expensive! 

Besides the technicality difficulties with the quote, the entire tone doesn't jibe with Confucius' beliefs or life. The purpose is to inspire or encourage people to read.  Confucius did not intend his teachings to be for a general audience, in fact, he had no idea any of his ideas would be recorded at all!  All of the work attributed to him was written by Confucian philosophers, likely over a hundred years after his death. 

 I also think Confucius' ideas of what would be appropriate for people to read would be very restrictive to say the least  (The Book of Odes will never be on the New York Times Best Seller List).  I don't think Confucius would think one could read, The Hunger Games and learn anything useful for one's character.  

Confucius's main audience was (or at least his aim and hope) was to reach government leaders or at least those that would one day hold a government position.  His hope was that in doing so, he would help the leaders bring about a new "Golden Era" based on the learning and ethics from the past. According to Confucius, all the answers were in the past, waited to be remembered and implemented. At worst, his expected audience would be other scholars and educated men of the day.   

One might imagine the quote isn't supposed to be for a general audience but I  find that doubtful. Confucius's sayings were hardly so basic or "on the nose" as this proverb is.  

Confucius didn't say this fake quote but there are a few quotes about learning that might suffice to substitute for its general theme. I found two somewhat similar quotes. The first is edited for length, while the second reveals his disgust for a lack of reading. All quotes in this post are from the Analects. 

[8:13] The Master said: “Be of unwavering good faith and love learning..."  


[11:23] Zi Lu got Zi Gao installed as Prefect of Bi. The Master said: “You are damaging someone's son.” Zi Lu said: “There are people and there are national altars (to be administered). Why should it be necessary to read books to be regarded as learned.” The Master said: “This is why I don't like glib people.”

It's also important to note that Confucius wasn't all about "learning for the sake of learning". For Confucian philosophers, there should be no separation between learning from self-cultivation.  

He was always one of those the "world's going to hell in a hand basket" type of guys, here we have a grumpy Confucius moment:   

[14:24] The Master said: “The ancient scholars studied for their own improvement. Modern scholars study to impress others.”

While many would emphasize actions over that of study or knowledge, in the next quote, Confucius reverses that expectation.  Confucius believed that without study (and of course, by "studying" he meant studying the books he deemed worthy of study) our actions will suffer accordingly. 

[17:6] The Master said: “You, have you heard the six phrases about the six distortions?” You answered that he hadn't. “Then stay a moment,” Confucius said, “and I will tell you.”

If you love being kind to others, but don't like to study, then your kindness will be distorted into simplicity.

If you love wisdom, but don't like to study, then your wisdom will be distorted into aimlessness.

If you love trustworthiness, but don't like to study, then your trust will be distorted into harm.

If you love candor, but don't like to study, your candor will be distorted into rudeness.

If you love boldness, but don't like to study, your boldness will be distorted into unruliness.

If you love persistence, but don't like to study, your persistence will be distorted into rashness.

So, there you have it, for Confucius, books were important but never for their own sake and always in the service of cultivating wisdom and morality. 

If Confucius didn't say it, then where's it from? 

Well, that's a good question. The first 5-7 pages of Google attributed the quote to Confucius. After more poking around I finally found some folks stating it is an "Irish proverb". Later, after even more digging, I also found others attributing the quote as a "Chinese Proverb". This book (published in 1898) has it recorded as a Chinese proverb this is also mentioned by several other books published in the 20th century . So, someone, somewhere likely associated it with the Chinese but mistakenly attributed it to Confucius. This is as far down the rabbit hole as I need to go.  If you care to dig further, be my guest!

Honestly, this proverb isn't very good, no matter who said it. 

Although it might make for a great quote for your local schools' "Summer Reading Program" handout, I find the quote rings false.  People read all the time and don't learn a thing!

Many students in my classes read the class materials and some refuse to learn. You know, one trite proverb deserves another, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink."

Finally, and more importantly, Confucius would remind us that we might "know" lots of things but it's useless if we don't "use" it to cultivate righteousness in ourselves and others.