Lenses…

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Everything in life is affected by our perspective. The way we look at the world, our family and friends, God, the Bible, our purpose in life…everything depends on your perspective. If everyone had the same perspective, we would have no difference of opinion, no difference in religion, no difference in culture- no differences at all. So one might argue that a difference in perspective is something to be desired, if only to preserve diversity and individuality. I would not disagree with you on this, however where I do disagree is where there is one right perspective on something and people still desire to have multiple perspectives. It is so important to try and remove the lenses that we have on our eyes so that we can not only see how others see the world, but see the world as it really is. In any particular situation that we find ourselves in, we should try and identify those factors that are influencing the way that we think, act and feel. Identification is half the battle won…

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Posted in Me

Kalidasa

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

The Dawn – Kalidasa

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.

In its brief course lie all the

Verities and Realities of your Existence.

The Bliss of Growth,

The Glory of Action,

The Splendor of Beauty;

For Yesterday is but a Dream,

And To-morrow a Vision of Hope. Look well therefore to this Day!

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

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Posted in Poetry

Wisdom…

Posted on December 16, 2009 | 1 comment

Ralph Waldo Emerson is too much of a machine!

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Posted in Poetry, Quotes

Unknowingly…

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment


OK, this is such a silly picture but I think it is kind of funny. It reminded me of a principle we teach in Economics: you do not have to understand something to be doing it. Tiger Woods (probably not the best example at the moment) does not need to understand Newton’s laws of motion, or the mathematics of arc’s, trajectories etc to hit a perfect shot, he just does it. Likewise he does not need to understand the psychological, hormonal and physical processes (that occur when he meets some hot chick) to act on those impulses. In Economics terms, you may not understand the principles of diminishing marginal utility, the Law of Demand or the psychological processes involved with cognitive dissonance (buyers remorse) and yet we act accordingly all the time. Where I’m going with all this is that as we advance as a human race and begin to understand more of the world (Science, Biology, Biochemistry etc) we understand more of what causes things, and also what are the results of the thing that was caused. We do not understand Grace fully and yet we partake (?) of it. We do not understand the ramifications of responding to the salvation call of God on our lives and yet we do it anyway. However, understanding these things (usually in hindsight) is particularly useful and thrilling! Taking this to a broader level, as we advance, we start to understand more and more of things we have been doing but didn’t even know we were doing. Or the principles we were acting in accordance with, without even knowing it. We are all part of God’s Redemption Plan on the earth. As we understand more about God, Salvation, Predestination and Sovereignty we can begin to glimpse and (perhaps) understand a portion of the awesome plan of God that is unfolding throughout the world today. I hope so…

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Posted in Economics, Funny

Brokenness

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

“Our life is full of brokenness – broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives.” – Henri Nouwen

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Posted in Christian, Quotes

Rock, paper, scissors

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

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Posted in Funny

Indifference

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Indifference – Studdert Kennedy

When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged him on a tree,
They drove great nails through hands and feet
and made a Calvary;
They crowned him with a crown of thorns,
red were his wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days,
and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham,
they simple passed him by,
They never hurt a hair of him, they only let him die.
For men had grown more tender
and they would not give him pain,
They only passed him down the street
and left him in the rain.

Still Jesus cried ‘Forgive them,
for they know not what they do’
And still it rained the wintry rain
that drenched him through and through.
The crowds went home and left the streets
without a soul to see,
That Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary.

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Posted in Christian, Poetry

Demotivational Posters

Posted on December 16, 2009 | 1 comment

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Posted in Funny

Pure Capitalism

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

“I [suspect] we are throwing more and more of our resources, including the cream of our youth, into financial services, into activities that generate high private rewards disproportionate to their social productivity. I suspect that the immense power of the computer is being harnessed to this ‘paper economy’, not to do the same transactions more economically but to balloon the quantity and variety of financial exchanges…I fear that, as Keynes saw even in his day, the advantages of liquidity and negotiability of financial instruments come at the cost of facilitating nth-degree speculation which is short sighted and inefficient” – James Tobin (1984)

This observation of Tobin was prescient and prophetic considering he wrote it in 1984! Personally I love this picture – it is so tongue-in-cheek. It highlights the absolute absurdity of our cycle of consumerism we are lead to believe is life. Study so you can get a good job, so you can earn a good salary, so you can buy lots of stuff and supposedly be happy. Then work harder to get a raise so you can have kids and send them to good schools, so that they too can earn a good salary and buy lots of stuff. Bleh. How is it that smart people can’t see straight through this? Often it is the smartest people that seem to be the most driven to succeed (as defined by our materialist culture).

I suspect the winds of change, they are a’blowing…

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Posted in Economics

Invictus

Posted on December 15, 2009 | 1 comment

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

-William Ernest Henley

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Posted in Poetry

My analyst…

Posted on December 15, 2009 | Leave a comment


I love this picture! It captures so much in such a short quip. I think it resonates with me for two reasons:

  1. I study Economics and we have analysts that recommend all sorts of things
  2. I am sometimes overly clinical when considering dynamic things – which obviously presents a problem

It’s this second point that I want to talk about for a bit here. I’m not sure if it’s because of my genetic makeup (or is it make-up?), my upbringing, my education or more probable than any one of these alone, a combination of all of them, that I over-think things. I think about conversations long after I’ve had them [how did this person interpret what I said?], I think about the choices other people make [would I make different decisions? What made them decide that? How will this affect them?] I think about lots of things (mainly consciously, however I’m sure that there’s lots going on sub-consciously as well). One of these things is my future wife. I can just imagine some obnoxious economist meeting a girl and saying ‘my analyst thinks you’re a good idea’ – douchbag! People can work on paper and yet flop in reality, just like an idea can be perfectly laid out on paper and yet fail perfectly in reality…

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Posted in Me, Quotes

Impossibility

Posted on December 15, 2009 | Leave a comment

I have always liked Alice in Wonderland and thought that it has many profound insights. The Queen’s comments above are quite comical and yet thought provoking. Why is it that we base our entire notion of religion and belief on faith in God and yet proof and reason are needed for any other form of belief? If we are to believe in others, we demand a reason for that confidence. If we are asked to believe in, and support a notion/cause/group we require that they give us ample reason to do so. While I don’t think that any of these these are necessarily wrong, I think it does warrant a rethinking. Often we try to apply the principles of reason and logic to God because that is how we operate with everything else in the world. However, after our eyes have been opened to the greater reality of God and we have received the gift of faith, surely our point of reference should also change? No longer do we bow and scrape to the god of rationality – demanding that everything must make sense or else it is hogwash. Perhaps I should believe in someone based purely on the sense inside me that tells me (in that most indefinable, unsystematized, nonclinical way) to believe in them. How often do we step off that venerated branch of reason, logic and rationality into the unknown world? If I am honest, not very often…

“Precision is not reality” – Henri Matisse

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Posted in Christian, Me, Quotes

Beginning my blog…

Posted on December 15, 2009 | Leave a comment

So this is the start of my blog, which will be a selective collection of thoughts about my reality, the reality of others and anything else I think is interesting or note-worthy. I will endeavor to include one picture with every post to keep it visually interesting…I hope you like it…

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Posted in Me

Tagged

Hello world!

Posted on December 15, 2009 | 1 comment

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times“. Welcome to my blog. I love people, books, movies, Jesus, quotes, Economics, pictures and many other things. This is a blog about my thoughts on reality, my own and others’ and anything else I find interesting. I hope you like it…

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Posted in Me