Hope - Where can we find it?

Now that the dust is settling on the mid-term elections, I have been reflecting on what has transpired since the contrast of the two Presidential candidates themes. Many in the nation felt the message of "Hope" and "Change" resonated with their personal themes. Now two years later many believe that the President did not deliver on these basic themes of Hope and Change. So much of the country has changed the "non-change" of the President. This is evident by the significant number of state's governments changing for the first time to the Republican majority since the 1800s. So I guess we can accurately say that the President brought change - just not the change I think he wanted or thought.

As I reflected on our nation's "change", I began to look at the "church" within the Christian "nation". What change needs to happen? This is where I remembered the other part of the campaign message - Hope! So much of teaching I have been listening to from many pulpits is what we are doing wrong. So much of what I'm hearing from young Christians is confusion and lack of direction. So much of what I read on Christian blogs is argument, some of it quite aggressive.

So much yelling, confusion, egos, and complete lack of mercy. The system is broke and need fixing. Where are the leaders that (to bring up an old axiom) "think outside the box"? It is time for us to listen to the young generation and give them Hope, give them an example, give them the truth, give them ethical behavior, give them a real answer not simply theory.

In John 8:32 is recorded a famous quote of Jesus Christ:

"and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (NASB).

I find it interesting that John records this as "the" truth and again "the" truth. What is "the" truth? Ah a quest for me to discover the answer and the direction of this blog for the future. Suffice it to say as an initial thought, I would say that:

"the" truth is the Prerequisite of Freedom.

So as the mythical Luke Skywalker of the movie series Star Wars sets off on a quest to "learn the ways of the Force", I too am beginning my search for the Truth.

Image found at: http://descasa.i.ph/blogs/descasa/index.php?tag=shallow

C'ya
Eagle Driver
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Freedom of Thought

I am so thankful that we live in an age where so many ideas can be brought out through the internet. I am so thankful that I can read these ideas and then investigate the validity of the thought provoking concepts. I find this especially relevant in the discussion of Theology as I am quite interested in the subject - from The Gospel Coalition Blog to an atheistic blog of Unequally Yoked and everything in between. I find their philosophical and the Biblical questions fascinating and causes me to perform that all important activity, lost in much of our culture, that being to THINK. Much of what I read concerning the Bible falls into 4 categories:

1. Water Skiing approach - simple surface reading and then drawing life conclusions from the surface.

2. Snorkeling approach - searching just beyond the initial reading and then drawing life conclusions from the surface.

3. Scuba Diving approach - searching deeper into what we have read and beginning to ask the infamous "why" questions with a general comparison of Philosophical concepts and then drawing life conclusions from the surface.

4. Deep Sea Exploration approach - the result of unanswered questions from the Scuba Method and as the character of Morpheus in the first Matrix movie describes it as the "splinter of the mind". The questions drive us deeper and in this search we find the Answer of Life.

I am so thankful, and as the character Trinity of the movie Matrix says, "Be honest".

The scene that describes this quest for truth is where Trinity takes Neo to meet Morpheus:

The Matrix Scene from YouTube

C'ya
Eagle Driver
check 6

Human Being or Human Doing?

Over the weekend I picked up an old book whose title caught my eye: Ideology and Utopia by Karl Mannheim (printed by Harcourt, Brace, and Company in London, 1949). Although I have very limited knowledge of sociology, I have enjoyed the opening section on "Preliminary Approach to the Problem". On page 17 I highlighted a couple of insightful statements:

"Just as the most exact theory of cause and function does not answer the question as to who I actually am, what I actually am, or what it means to be a human being..."

"The mechanistic and functionalistic theory is highly valuable as a current in psychological research. It fails, however, when it is placed in the total context of life-experience because it says nothing concerning the meaningful goal of conduct..."

"The most important role of thought in life consists, however, in providing guidance for conduct when decisions must be made. Every real decision (such as one's evaluation of other persons or how society should be organized) implies a judgment concerning good and evil, concerning the meaning of life and mind."

Our emphasis on a modern mechanistically computer-controlled life cannot articulate to us and the generation to follow what Dr. Mannheim prophetically wrote in the 1940s, "what it means to be a human being". Corporations see employees as "unit costs", "human doings", "liabilities", etc. So how do we value the "life-experience" and define "the meaningful goal of conduct"?

Dr. Mannheim gives the reader a clue to the question of conduct - the role of Thought. What and how we think determines the value of life and the meaning of our conduct. What do we think? I know that thoughts are like planting a crop in the field of life. If you plant corn, it doesn't matter how much you wish, pray, hope, argue, fight, and curse you will not receive a crop of carrots. You plant corn you get corn. So what are we planting, what are we thinking?

I became aware of my thought life upon being forced to go to a radical movie showing at an independent movie theater years ago. The movie is What the Bleep do we Know? Although I may not agree with everything presented, I was intrigued with the responsibility of our thoughts. The following movie clip is from the movie and presents some of the data from Dr. Masaru Emoto's phenomenal work with water and words (from his book The Hidden Messages in Water):

What the Bleep do we Know? YouTube clip:

Additional videos on Messages in Water can be found at:

Water, Consciousness & Intent: Dr. Masaru Emoto on YouTube

We are not mechanical human doings! We are human beings responsible for our thoughts! Read and Think! The Eagle is Thinking.....

C'ya
Eagle Driver
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