Category Archives: Me

So I have an econometrics test in a couple hours, but couldn’t help quickly scrolling through this 88-page photo journal capturing the adventures of 40 travel bloggers. Loads of photos that just make you want to book a plane ticket to somewhere, anywhere!

The world’s a big place, how much of it have you seen?

Hello to all my blog-readers. I think I could count all of you on my fingers, and better still, I could name you Nevertheless, I don’t care. I told a friend who was starting a blog, let’s call her Bernice, that you should blog as much for yourself as for others. Who cares if no one reads it, write it for yourself. Write it for your self-in-ten-years. Write it for your kids, you future spouse, some random Zimbabwean who happens to drop by your blog out of pure serendipity. Whoever, whenever, just write.

I think that writing is to our thoughts as exercise is to our body. It helps to expunge our brains of all the nonsense that’s up there and allow some of the more meaningful thoughts to touch the surface. In our wonderful, comfortable, information-saturated existence, we are hardly ever thoughtless. There’s usually something going through our brain – work, play,church,eat,drink,learn,read,etc – so generating thought is not hard. The problem is, is that our thinking is dragged down to the lowest common denominator of our world – basically advertising and consumption. So we need to reclaim the higher ground that we have lost to this denigrating force. And I think one of the ways we do this is by writing (reading also, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish!).

When we write, especially for an audience, we have to distill truth, meaning, humor, sorrow, love or hatred, or any other notion, into words. We beat our disorganized thoughts into shape with the tools of grammar and language. We allow others to follow our thought processes: to think like we did, to see what we saw, and hopefully, to realize what we realised. Poets, novelists, prophets, researchers; all people who use the written word and try to convey something, perhaps it is meaning or a narrative, revelation, truth or discovery. In every instance, the very act of writing is a step of faith. We are saying, ‘let me write this down so that another may be enriched’ (even when that other is simply another version of you). Implicit in that statement is that we want others to benefit from our experience. Perhaps someone can identify with your pain as you coped haphazardly with the death of a loved one…or maybe you can help someone expand their understanding of a problem by your systematic research.

So I think writing is important. I think thinking is far more important than writing, but usually they go hand in hand. Because it’s important, and because our society doesn’t value taking time out, we must discipline ourselves to write. We must also discipline ourselves to think. One such initiative to discipline me to write is the pelting-pact-of-persistence. Yes, I realize the name is completely bizarre – although the author must have a fondness for alliteration by the sounds of things! Anyways, it’s just an agreement with two friends (who also blog, see here and here) that we will blog at least once a week (and they are caning me, although I think I get double points for mentioning the name in the eternal halls of the interweb). So this constitutes my week’s blog. I have  also done some other writing (see here), and while that is probably more important than this (although I think this is also important), I think I prefer writing like this. For one thing you don’t have to pore over every sentence – you can just say it and let the chips fall where they may.

Anyhoo…not too much else to report on…econometrics test coming up on Wednesday. I really hope that the learning disposition falls on me sometime soon, otherwise the panic-disposition is sure to follow. Also teaching, Two Oceans trail run and something else I can’t remember right now…

Cheerio all you good people…

PS – I have no idea why the picture is relevant but it is

**PPS – the title comes from a lovely Economist article, I include the excerpt below: (David Cameron was visiting Tahrir Square in Egypt)

““Are you happy now?” Mr Cameron asked a teenage boy whose face was painted in the colours of the Egyptian flag. The boy proving happy but silent, Mr Cameron settled for a handshake. An older relative stepped in to inform curious reporters that the youth “loves the new freedom”, adding, “Lovely-jubbly, tally-ho, tally-ho.”

As part of my ongoing effort to reevaluate my life, I am trying to define success and successful living. If you are a Christian, your view of success in this life is very different to someone who does not believe in Jesus. Although, even if you are not a Christian this is true for you – it is a universal truth as far as I’m concerned. Something I’ve realised over the years of contemplating what we, as Christians, should value, is that people are what matter. After a relationship with God, the personal relationships we have with those around us are the number one ‘treasure’ we have on this earth. I rarely live as if I believe this, and yet I know it to be true. I know that success at work, wealth, knowledge, fame, whatever you are looking for, will be empty without people to share it with. And this is only the beginning of wisdom. We shouldn’t seek friends only to have someone with whom we can enjoy our good fortune, rather, we should seek people as an end in and of themselves. We believe that people are made in the image of God. How logical then, that people possess the highest value it is possible to possess.

Prioritize people over possessions.

“Facts and truth really don’t have much to do with each other”  -William Faulkner

I do not want my life to be consumed by facts.

We are constantly told about the importance of balance in our lives; a balanced diet, work and play, talking and listening, thinking and doing. Balance is a law of nature it would seem. One type of balance which I have neglected is that between fiction and non-fiction. I find it so easy to lose myself in non-fiction. There is so much to know, to understand, to remember, to think about, that I don’t have time for non-utilitarian reading. What’s the point? And yet there is a massive point staring at me from the pages of novels and poems, or the scenes of plays and movies, and even in still images. Yes, pictures are what alerted me to this need for fiction. When I look at some images, I instantly like them, but often cannot put my finger on exactly why I do.  Perhaps it is the way the photographer has caught the mood or the expression in a portrait, or even the simplicity of design. These type of pictures are all fuel which feeds a creative fire in me. The more you see the creativity of others, the more you are driven to be creative yourself. Or perhaps it is simply that I give myself more license to be myself when I see how wonderful it is when others are being themselves. The cultural-consensus of our time is so drab and boring. While there are streaks of colourful individuality, and people who refuse to exist within the lines of society, there are far more drones than there are Jedi! But back to fiction. There is something about fiction which engages our minds and emotions in a way that is not possible if we limited our content to fact. Biographies and history are great, but they are constrained in that they have to be true. And that really is a big constraint! With a blank page, a blank world or a blank person you can do anything. You don’t even have to be realistic. It can be completely fantastical. There’s something about reading a story you know is not true. One would think that this would diminish the experience, but somehow it doesn’t. It’s weird I know.

I have recently had the wonderful experience of liking an abstract photo, but not knowing what I like about it (which is the wonderful part). The reason why it was a wonderful experience is that it was ME that found it cool. It wasn’t because it had good composition, or was by a famous artist. I just liked the way it looked. You might have hated it, and that would be equally wonderful (for me anyways) because it means that I am tapping into my own individualness. Judging something on the criteria that have been given to you (like composition or author (at least implicitly) feels very second-hand. You’ve been told what’s good and what’s bad, what’s interesting and what’s not. When you judge it on those scales, it often just feels like you are a part of the system and that you have no unique view to add. That’s why I hate model answers; because that’s basically saying that there is only one answer to any given question. And if you venture even just a little beyond the porch of hard sciences, that’s no longer true.

So I think what I’m trying to say is that it’s good to read fiction. It’s good to observe and engage with creative works, and, even better, creative people. Surrounding yourself with creativity, uniqueness and individuality helps you to realise that you too are unique (just like everybody else, ironically), you too have something inside you that no one else has. Yes you are influenced by society and education and religion and all those things, but you are a unique non-linear system. The way you combine with those external factors will be fundamentally different to the way someone else combines with those very same factors – and that’s individuality. Your personality, your quirks your you-ness. These are things you should value highly- it’s the only part of you that no one else has or ever can have. So, be creative. Cultivate creative relationships. Read fiction. Engage in visual creativity. Think uniquely. Feel uniquely. Be yourself.

I, for one, am really going to try to!

When I saw this photo, I was reminded of a great philosophy about work. I think the quote goes back to Confucius who said something to the following effect: “Enjoy the work that you do and you will never work a day in your life”. I agree with this type of thinking. I know that not everyone has the privilege of being able to do work that they enjoy, but many people have the possibility within their grasp but choose not to grab it for any number of reasons. Insecurity. Fear. Conformity. Who knows? Well, you do.

I want to occupy my time doing work that I would do even if I wasn’t been paid for it. Pay is a bonus I know it’s not always stable or predictable but I flat out refuse to work for 50 weeks in the year so I can spend 2 weeks actually living my life.

Keep it real peeps…

Often I think to myself that there are not enough people who have healthy delusions of grandeur. Wanting to accomplish something big in your life is not a sin in and of itself. So often we look at those feelings as prideful or greedy and yet I don’t think that the root is pride or greed. For sure this desire for greatness can be manifested in the wrong way by people wanting to amass fortunes or become famous. But we cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater – there is a place for this desire for greatness and significance, for purpose and meaning. Ambitious people who come to Christ should not be told to cut off that desire since the correct response to abuse is not non-use but proper use. Those energies should be channelled into something productive and of eternal significance.  As people grow up, most lose their ambition to want to do something important or unconventional and instead settle for a run of the mill life…hmmm