Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

To make Comments write directly to Jim at jimt@quixotic.ca

 

Published on Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Beware of destructive emotions

Writing about the quagmire of lies, distortions, allegations, and denials that beset the news media these days, William Rivers Pitt, syndicated columnist and Senior Editor for the alternative news agency Truthout, commented, In this line of work, despair is not an emotion we can indulge ourselves in.

            Hes right. Despair leads only to a desire to pull the covers up over our heads and hope the world will go away.

            But his advice applies to much more than just despair.

            Because a number of emotions are cancerous. They tend to destroy their host.

            Anger, for example. And hatred. Hate generally harms the hat-er much more than the hat-ee. Contempt, too. Jealousy. Helplessness.

 

Know your limits

            In many situations, the only factor you can control is yourself.

            Because you cannot by yourself change the policies of Monsanto, Exxon, or the National Rifle Association. You cannot boot Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin out of office. You cannot prevent earthquakes, volcanos, hurricanes, floods, droughts, and plagues of locusts.

            We are all victims of what Shakespeare called the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

            So what can you do about it?

            (Disclosure: I have plagiarized the following suggestions from a variety of workshops attended over my lifetime. I have no special knowledge of or training in psychological counselling myself.)

 

Know what you can do

            First, back off. Slow down. Reassert control over your emotions. Breathe.

            Yes, breathe. Few people can voluntarily control their heart rate; I doubt if anyone can control their liver function. You may feel you cant rein in your racing thoughts. But you can control your breathing. So breathe deeply, slowly, and deliberately.

            Second, try not to take it personally. Its probably not about you at all. Donald Trumps daily dose of falsities are not about you, but about him. Even if you feel personally attacked, your attacker may feel backed into a corner by circumstances, convictions, or policies beyond his or her control.

            Third, turn a self-destructive emotion into a constructive one. Anger can be a good thing, if it gives you energy to combat an unjust system. Despair and helplessness, once named and confronted, can lead to recognition that you have nothing to lose by taking a stand.

            Fourth, do something. Take that stand. Write a letter. Sign a petition. Change a habit. To use a word beloved by preachers, repent. For example, stop buying products that require cutting down tropical rainforests and make sure the store knows why.

            Talk to your elected representative, at any government level.

            Donate to a charity that supports your aims.

            Live your convictions every day.

            Above all, work with people who share your despair or anger. What one person cannot change, many acting in unison can. Lynne McTaggarts books, such as The Power of Eight and The Intention Experiment, document ways that individuals sharing a common intention can influence events -- even at a distance.

            Remember that, to quote one of my churchs creeds, You are not alone.

            As William Rivers Pitt noted, indulging yourself in destructive emotions benefits no one. Not even yourself.

*****************************************

Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.

            To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

*****************************************

 

YOUR TURN

 

Infinity, my theme in last week’s column, is a fairly weighty subject. Fortunately, my cousin Mike Parmenter, a former professor of mathematics at Memorial University in St. John’s, helped make it simpler (I think): “You anticipated that I might have something to say about this week's Soft Edges column, especially the contention that infinity is logically impossible. Actually, your logical comments are correct and there is indeed a problem if we insist that infinity is a real number like 1,3/4, pi, etc.

            “But......

            “Let's ask the question ‘How many integers are there?’ It's clear from the reasoning in your column that the answer can't be a real number. So we define the answer to this question to be a new number called infinity (I'll write INF since I don't have the right symbol) and it makes sense to also consider it larger than any real number. INF is certainly a different kind of number -- as you point out it satisfies properties like 1+INF=INF and 2INF=INF. However, looking back at the question that defined it we can see that it does make sense to think of INF as a number.

            “At the risk of confusing matters let's ask a slightly different question ‘How many real numbers are there?’ Again the answer is a new number called infinity, but a cute argument shows that this infinity is different (and logically larger) than INF. In fact there are lots of different infinities, but we won't pursue that any further right now!”

 

Jack Driedger and Ted Wilson gave infinity a theological twist. “When you talk about infinity you are talking about God,” Jack wrote. And Ted Wilson suggested that infinity (or perhaps God) = “the limit of our understanding + 1”

 

Bob Rollwagen explored the changing ways we know stuff: “When I was in Sunday school, eternity was a concept related to heaven and Pluto was the last planet before that unknown space. Infinity was just a math concept.  I had not given much thought at that age to the fact that the Bible was written by scholars who lived on a flat planet and believed they would fall off if the sailed too far in any direction. They only had stars to limit their views of eternity.

            “Now, thanks to science, medicine, and technology, we have a much wider concept of the universe, an awareness of just how very small our world really is, and a life style which consumes resources at a faster rate than ever before. Global population is many times greater than when the idea of “’eternity’ was first envisioned.

            “This is not to say that their intelligent understanding intended was not the same as modern scholars, and while the average level of education of the population has significantly increased in many areas of the world, we cannot be sure that the average level of intelligence has. Infinity has become a real aspect of the universe that has introduced much greater levels of uncertainty, so I am not sure if we are any better off being aware of all these realities.

            “We are evolving. Let’s hope it is fast enough.”

 

Steve Roney commented, “It seems to me that you have demonstrated that the mental world, as in mathematics, is different from the physical world. In the mental or spiritual world, things can be eternal and infinite. In the physical world, they are transitory and limited.

            “Traditional theology has always been perfectly well aware that the physical universe is limited, had a beginning, and must pass away.”

 

*******************************************

 

PSALM PARAPHRASES

 

“Make a joyful noise,” says Psalm 100. If you don’t already know it, I commend to you Linnea Good’s song based on Psalm 100, available from lg@linneagood.com -- it is a genuinely joyful noise. But since I can’t include audio files, I based this paraphrase on a street party.

 

1          Two guitars and a washtub bass,
a country fiddle, an old-time caller.
Come on, everyone, join the dance.

2          Dosey-do and allemande left,
swing your partner, bow to your corner.
Clap those hands and stamp those feet.

3          Oh God, O God, this is good!
God enjoys the square dance of our lives;
Our individual colours and patterns
swirl into God’s living kaleidescope;

4          So step onto God's dance floor
with a song in your heart and a smile on your face. 

5          God loves a good time too.
God is in the sweat and the swinging,
in the sawdust and the singing.
God IS the dance of life.
Whether you join the dance or sit on the sidelines,
the beat goes on,
and fills the night with music!

 

For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

 

*******************************************

 

TECHNICAL STUFF

 

If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.

            To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an e-mail message to jimt@quixotic.ca. Or you can subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message or subject line) to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at softedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.

            I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

            I’m leaving out some of the links to other blogs and pages, to see if those links have caused the recent blockages, preventing some of your from receiving the columns at all, and preventing others from sending responses. We’ll see.

 

********************************************

 

PROMOTION STUFF

 

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols.

            Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca

            Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)

            Wayne Irwin's Churchweb Canada, an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>

            I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom

            Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.

            Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet

 

Comments (0)Number of views (1304)
Print
«December 2024»
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
24252627282930
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930311234

Archive

Tags

"gate of the year" #MeToo .C. Taylor 12th night 150th birthday 1950s 1954 1972 1984 215 3G 4004 BC 70 years 8 billion 9/11 A A God That Could Be Real abduction aboriginal abortion Abrams abuse achievement Adam Adams River addiction Addis Ababa adoption Adrian Dix Advent advertising affirmative action Afghanistan agendas aging agnostics Ahriman Ahura Mazda airlines airport killings Alabama albinism albinos Alexa algorithms Allegations allies Almighty Almighty God alone ALS alt-right altruism Amanda Gorman Amanda Todd Amazon American empire Amerika Amherst amnesia analysis anarchy Andes Andrea Constant Andrew Copeland Taylor anger animals anniversaries Anniversary Anthropocene antidote Ants aphrodisiac apologetics Apologies apology apoptosis App Store Archives Ardern Aristotle armistice Armstrong army Army and Navy stores Art artifacts artists ashes Asian assisted death astronomy atheists atonement atropine Attawapiscat attitudes attraction audits Aunt Jemima Australia authorities authorities. Bible autism automation autumn B.C. election B.C. Health Ministry B.C. Legislature B-2 Baal Shem Tov baby Bach bad news baggage Bagnell Bahai Baldi Bali Banda banning books Baptism Barabbas Barbados barbed wire barbers barriers Bashar al Assad Batman baton BC BC Conference Beans bears beauty Beaver Beethoven beginnings behaviour bel-2 belief systems beliefs bells belonging benefits Bernardo Berners-Lee berries Bethlehem Bible biblical sex bicycle Biden Bill C-6 billboards billionaire BioScience Bird songs birds birth birthday birthdays Bitcoin Black history Blackmore blessings Blockade blockades blood blood donations blood donors Bloomberg Blue Christmas boar boarding school body Boebert Bohr bolide Bolivia Bolivian women BOMBHEAD bombing bombings bombs books border patrol borrowing both/and bottom up Bountiful Brahms brain development Brain fog brains Brazil breath breathe breathing Brexit broken Bruce McLeod bubbles Buber Bucket list Buddha Buddhism Bulkley bulldozers bullets bullying burials bus driver bush pilots butterflies butterfly Calendar California Cambridge Analytica. Facebook cameras campfire Canada Canada Day Canadian Blood services Canal Flats cancer candidates cannibalism Canute Capitol Capp caregivers Caribbean Caribbean Conference of Churches caring Carnaval. Mardi Gras carousel cars Carter Commission cash castes cats cave caveats CBC CD Cecil the lion. Zanda cell phones Celsius CentrePiece CF chance change Charlie Gard Charlottesville Charter of Compassion Checklists checkups chemical weapons Chesapeake Bay Retriever Chesterton Child Advocacy Centre child trafficking childbirth children Chile Chile. Allende China chivalry chocolates choice choices choirs Christchurch Christiaanity Christian Christianity Christians Christina Rossetti Christine Blasey Ford Christmas Christmas Eve Christmas gathering Christmas lights Christmas tree Christmas trees Christopher Plummer Chrystia Freeland church churches circle of life citizenship Clarissa Pinkola Estés Clearwater Clichés cliffhanger climate change climate crisis clocks close votes clouds Coastal GasLink coastal tribes coffee coincidence cold Coleman collaboration collapse collective work colonial colonial mindset colonialism colonies Colten Boushie Columbia River Columbia River Treaty comfort comic strips commercials communication Communion community compassion competition complexity composers composting computer processes Computers conception conclusions Confederacy Confederate statues confession confessions confidence Confirmation confusion Congo Congress Conrad Black consciousness consensual consensus consent conservative Conservative Party conservative values conspiracies conspiracy constitution construction contraception contrasts Conversations Conversion conversion therapy Convoy cooperation COP26 copyright coral Cornwallis corona virus coronavirus corporate defence corporations corruption Corrymeela Cosby Cougars counter-cultural Countercurrents couple courtesy courts Covenant Coventry Cathedral cover-up COVID-19 Coyotes CPP CPR CRA Craig crashes Crawford Bay creation creche credit credit cards creeds cremation crescent Creston crime criminal crossbills cross-country skiing Crows crucifixion Cruelty crypto-currencies Cuba Missile Crisis Cultural appropriation cuneiform Curie curling cutbacks cute cyberbullying Cystic Fibrosis Dalai Lama Damien Damocles Dan Rather dancing Danforth dark matter darkness Darren Osburne Darwin data mining daughter David David Scott David Suzuki de Bono dead zone deaf deafness death death survival deaths debt decision decisions decorations deficit Definitions Delhi Dementia democracy Democratic denial Denny's departure Depression Derek Chauvin Descartes Desiderata despair determinism Devin Kelley dew dawn grass Diana Butler-Bass Dickie dinners dinosaurs discontinuities discussion Dishwashing dissent distancing diversity division divorce dog dogs dominance Don Cherry Donald Trump donkey Donna Sinclair donor doorways Doug Ford Doug Martindale Dr. Keith Roach Dr. Seuss dreaming dreams Drugs ducks duets Duvalier dying Dylan Thomas earth Earth Day earthquake Earworms Easter Eat Pray Love Eatons Ebola echo chambers e-cigarettes eclipse
Copyright 2024 by Jim Taylor  |  Powered by: Churchweb Canada