Thinking

We live busy lives. No time to stop. No time to think. We are often told we should meditate, though this is not-thinking. Thinking is seen as an effort or a burden.

But thinking is a necessary part of a healthy life. We stop, pull back, see the bigger picture and our place in it and to move ahead with purpose. Thinking precedes the creative act and informs intuition. Thinking stimulates the process of problem solving. Many great minds took nature walks—spatsieren gehen—just to think through difficult problems.

History demonstrates that thinking and the doing that follows are often acts courage. To think vigorously about a big world filled with beauty, complexity, horror, grandeur and spirit is an adventure open to everyone. Think.

A college education

Today the main goal of a college education appears to be the degree that leads to the job that leads to the career that leads to financial comfort. The desired degree focuses on technology, skills training and proficiency. This is a reasonable goal in today’s world.

But another important goal is opening the eyes. Peeling the onion of the world. Lifting the veils, as the Buddhists might say. The disciplines that underlie a college education should help a student continue to see the world in a broader and deeper way, a way which leaves each “old world” view behind. Each time the eyes are opened there should be an excitement that fuels a lifetime desire to know and learn.

The first goal is to become an engaged professional, the second to become an engaged human being.

Task for the day

Task for the day:

Go to your local supermarket. Walk all the food aisles. Pay attention to how much shelf space in the store is allotted to candy, cookies, chips, snack foods, beer, wine, soda pop and frozen desserts. Draw your own conclusions.

Task for the day

Task for the day:

Recall one important thing you learned in childhood, and apply it to your life today.

Task for the day

Task for the day:

Try to make sense of the world without referring to God.

Task for the day

Task for the day:

Have a thought you’ve never had before, and act on it.