I'm certainly not suggesting that we all sleep on sidewalks and eat out of trashcans before we can find happiness. I also enjoy wearing nice clothes, driving a nice car, eating at a nice restaurant. That's kinda my point - we should enjoy what we have (what we've been blessed with, what you've earned, however you want to look at it) instead of seeing that "stuff" as the goal.
I think it was Johnny Carson that said "The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money."
By all means, pursue dreams. Just keep in mind that you're not going to reach a point where you've got enough stuff and are all of a sudden happy. Life is a continual adventure of ups and downs, not an uphill journey to some climatic point where we'll stay satisfied forever. For example, I'd love to have a Hummer. I think I'd have a heck of a good time driving a Hummer around, but it wouldn't bring ultimate happiness and fullfillment. I'm sure there would be something else I'd want next. I think that's fine, that's the way we're wired. I've just got to be careful that I don't say "I need a Hummer before I'm going to be happy." I can have a lot of fun driving my Pathfinder around. (Did I mention that I got it stuck in the mud the other day? It came out on it's own eventually, no tow ropes required. _That_ was fun! But I digress...)
In reference to my original post, you're saying essentially what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5:18-20. "Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is the gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart." (my emphasis added)
I know anytime religion is mentioned we all pull out our flamethrowers, but I don't think we're so far apart in our conclusions in the end.
The whole way "success" is defined has problems. It's like we're always thinking "If I could just get to _that_ point I'll feel successful." The problem is, _that_ point keeps moving.
Think about it, when we were in high school, if we could just graduate and turn 18 then we'd be grown up, mature, and happy.
In college, if we could just graduate and get that coveted degree, then we'd be successful and people would give us the respect we deserve.
Okay, now we've got a degree, if I can just find a job paying at least...
Hmm, I've got that job but I wish it gave me more fulfillment. If I could get the job that guy has, then I'd be much happier and people would see how successful I am. Oh yeah, and it pays more so I can get more toys.
Oh no, Mr SoAndSo saw me driving my Accord. I better go talk to the dealer about leasing a Lexus so the clients at work won't think I'm second rate. Oh yeah, and Bob bought that new big screen tv at Best Buy - I think I saw one two inches bigger at Circuit City that I may have to go look at.
Well, these new toys are pretty fun, but I'm still kinda lonely. All I need now is a wife... Then I can sit back and relax and enjoy being successful.
Now this is nice, loving wife, good job, lots of toys. I should build me a nice big house by the lake. Then I'd have it all.
I've got to go talk to the loan officer about that educational assistance so I can send my kids to one of their top choice ivy league schools.
When does the cycle end? The problem is, life doesn't build to some climatic point where we can sit back as say "Now I'm happy and successful." It just keeps chugging on like a machine. And yet, we keep looking for that magic something that will complete the puzzle.
We're not the first ones to go through this cycle. Take a minute and read Ecclesiastes. I am a Christian, but this is an interesting read even if you're not. King Solomon sets out to find meaning in life. If there ever was a person that could find enjoyment and happiness in life outside of God, Solomon could. He had done it all. Considered to be one of the wisest men of all time, he had intelligence, wealth, power - anything he wanted could be his. And he goes through it all and declares it to be vanity. He makes the conclusion that we can't find happiness and fullfillment outside of God.
Of course, once you begin searching for God, you run into a whole host of other issues to deal with. Ecclesiastes is a very honest book. There are two chapters dealing with atheism. In Ecclesiastes, the covenant name of God, Yahweh, is never used. Instead, Solomon refers to God euphemistically by other references and names. Some scholars believe that this book is written intentionally with the nonbeliever in mind. Ecclesiastes addresses someone who has sincere questions about life and the nature of God. It was interesting to me that the article at FastCompany explores some of the same issues that Solomon does.
Ecclesiastes is sometimes difficult to understand because we are unfamiliar with the language and illustrations. If you are really interested in studying the book, you might try reading the following book by Tommy Nelson:
(Tommy Nelson is the same guy that did a series on the Song of Solomon - a study about love, romance, and marriage. If you're struggling with those issues (don't we all?) you should strongly consider studying that book of the Bible. More resources are available at: www.thesongofsolomon.com. )
The conclusion of King Solomon is that we should enjoy life today. Be happy with what we have. Love and serve God on a daily basis - trusting Him with the big questions we don't understand. How many times do we let what we don't understand ruin what we could enjoy today? How many times do we miss the special moments of today because we're too busy trying to get to that magical point in life where everything clicks?
I know this post may open up a whole can of trolls, but for those of you who are honestly searching for answers to questions like this, I suggest that you at least give it a read and decide for yourself. It's good stuff that has made a difference in my life and in the life of people around me. I'm one of the lucky ones who has been able to hang onto a tech job during these last couple of hard years. And for the most part, I've been able to buy the toys and "stuff" that I've wanted. But I found myself not happy despite it all. I was just accumulating things and not really enjoying any of it.
I've tried lately to make it a point to slow down and enjoy the things I have - enjoy my family, enjoy my work, and spend time with the guys doing guy things ("Let's go lift heavy objects and put them back down again."). I stopped staying late at work trying to impress someone enough to get promoted and I spent that time down at the tutoring center playing with kids that don't get enough attention at home. If you want fullfillment, go spend some time with one of them - a kid comes in with a frown on her face and leaves laughing - that's success.
I like the simple back/forward functionality that we have now. IE provides a history in visited order (History bar and select "View: By Order Visited Today"). What we don't have is a nice branching tree that shows how we got to each piece of information.
I guess the problem would come when we surf in circles:
1) Go to slashdot
2) Click on a link to a user profile
3) click on a link to thier web page
4) click on a link (from their page) back to slashdot
5) click on a link to the latest article
How should this be displayed in a tree? Would you have:
slashdot
-user profile page
--user web page
---slashdot
----latest article
or
slashdot
-usr profile page
--user web page
-latest article
The first tree better shows browsing habits, but could get very deep browsing some sites (think my.yahoo.com or cnn.com for a more practical example where you go to the index page, go to an article, click a link back to the index page, go to another article, etc). The second tree is more condensed and shows where the information came from, but you lose some data.
Maybe a combination like this would be better:
slashdot
-usr profile page
--user web page
---[slashdot]
-latest article
where it shows that you clicked back to slashdot, but doesnt keep growing the tree deeper and deeper.
I'll have to admit that I sometimes can't get back to some information that I _know_ I just saw a few minutes ago. I usually don't have much success with the existing history menus.
Would a tree like this be useful, or would it just be a "neat" feature for a few days that we never end up using?
What can we do as software developers to actually make computers useful in the classroom instead of so distracting? Any thoughts from educators out there?
I know our posts could just go back and forth regarding "beautiful creation" and "suffering" but I do have a few comments. I also don't mean any of these comments as trolls or flames - I hope they are good food for thought and discussion.
I would claim that animal suffering (and suffering of the "creation" in general) is also due to human action. Following the story of Genesis, death/decay entered the world through human sin. God slayed animals to create clothes for Adam and Eve - seen also as foreshadowing the coming of Jesus to shed blood on the cross to cover all sin. (Also note the curse to Adam regarding thorns/weeds). Romans 8 deals with the pain of creation to some extent, mentioning that the "creation groans in pain as like childbirth" waiting for the final redemption.
I certainly don't claim to be a Bible scholar and don't have a good understanding of why God allows so many of the unpleasant things to continue without judgement. Then again, I'm glad that He witholds judgement when I find myself caught up in sin. I'm also thankful for unconditional love and a "peace that passes understanding" in the middle of a hectic/unpleasant world we live in.
As far as the lizard shooting blood out it's eye... I'm not sure where that fits into the picture at all. I'd have to say that's pretty creative myself.:)
I guess this is somewhat off-topic from our original posts, but your comments reminded me of a personal experience.
There was a girl that I was very interested in and I wanted to ask her out. I didn't think she was at all interested, so I didn't "stick my neck out". We (much) later became very good friends (although we never ended up dating) and I found out that she had also been interested. I tried to explain why I never asked her out and she was shocked. She said something along the lines of "I didn't think I could make how I felt any more obvious..." I don't know if I was looking for signs in the wrong place, wasn't looking good hard enough, didn't pay attention to what I saw, etc. I boils down to the fact that the signs where there, but I either didn't understand or see them. I guess "her ways were not my ways" just like "His ways are not our ways."
Carrying the example a little further: Sometimes I get an idea in my head along the ideas of "If she's interested, she'll do [some crazy sign I come up with in my head that she'd be open to dating]". Then she reacts in a different way (trying to show her interest) but I don't see it or worse ignore it because it wasn't what I expected. I hope that's not the way we approach God. I believe there are times that He will humor us and let us "throw out the fleece" but I don't think He is by any means required to do it our way.
Besides, I'm sure someone would still try to explain away "Made by Yaweh" written on the moon... How much evidence would be enough?
(How difficult can it be for a supposedly omnipotent being to leave *hard* evidence of his existence around in a world he supposedly created?)
I have a hard time looking at the Smoky Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, the Rain Forests, the creek running through my back yard, a beautiful sunset every evening, a tropical island, the Big Dipper, Rainbow Falls, the Redwood Forests, a snowcovered hillside,... and not believing that IS "hard evidence" of a creative force much greater than myself or any writer/painter/craftsman/slashdotter could ever dream of possessing.
"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." - Romans 1:20
Slashdot Mirror
Here's a comment from the above kuro5hin.org link.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/comments/2003/1/4/125411/1 900/74#74.
I think it was Johnny Carson that said "The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money."
By all means, pursue dreams. Just keep in mind that you're not going to reach a point where you've got enough stuff and are all of a sudden happy. Life is a continual adventure of ups and downs, not an uphill journey to some climatic point where we'll stay satisfied forever. For example, I'd love to have a Hummer. I think I'd have a heck of a good time driving a Hummer around, but it wouldn't bring ultimate happiness and fullfillment. I'm sure there would be something else I'd want next. I think that's fine, that's the way we're wired. I've just got to be careful that I don't say "I need a Hummer before I'm going to be happy." I can have a lot of fun driving my Pathfinder around. (Did I mention that I got it stuck in the mud the other day? It came out on it's own eventually, no tow ropes required. _That_ was fun! But I digress...)
In reference to my original post, you're saying essentially what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5:18-20. "Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is the gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart." (my emphasis added)
I know anytime religion is mentioned we all pull out our flamethrowers, but I don't think we're so far apart in our conclusions in the end.
Think about it, when we were in high school, if we could just graduate and turn 18 then we'd be grown up, mature, and happy.
In college, if we could just graduate and get that coveted degree, then we'd be successful and people would give us the respect we deserve.
Okay, now we've got a degree, if I can just find a job paying at least...
Hmm, I've got that job but I wish it gave me more fulfillment. If I could get the job that guy has, then I'd be much happier and people would see how successful I am. Oh yeah, and it pays more so I can get more toys.
Oh no, Mr SoAndSo saw me driving my Accord. I better go talk to the dealer about leasing a Lexus so the clients at work won't think I'm second rate. Oh yeah, and Bob bought that new big screen tv at Best Buy - I think I saw one two inches bigger at Circuit City that I may have to go look at.
Well, these new toys are pretty fun, but I'm still kinda lonely. All I need now is a wife... Then I can sit back and relax and enjoy being successful.
Now this is nice, loving wife, good job, lots of toys. I should build me a nice big house by the lake. Then I'd have it all.
I've got to go talk to the loan officer about that educational assistance so I can send my kids to one of their top choice ivy league schools.
When does the cycle end? The problem is, life doesn't build to some climatic point where we can sit back as say "Now I'm happy and successful." It just keeps chugging on like a machine. And yet, we keep looking for that magic something that will complete the puzzle.
We're not the first ones to go through this cycle. Take a minute and read Ecclesiastes. I am a Christian, but this is an interesting read even if you're not. King Solomon sets out to find meaning in life. If there ever was a person that could find enjoyment and happiness in life outside of God, Solomon could. He had done it all. Considered to be one of the wisest men of all time, he had intelligence, wealth, power - anything he wanted could be his. And he goes through it all and declares it to be vanity. He makes the conclusion that we can't find happiness and fullfillment outside of God.
Of course, once you begin searching for God, you run into a whole host of other issues to deal with. Ecclesiastes is a very honest book. There are two chapters dealing with atheism. In Ecclesiastes, the covenant name of God, Yahweh, is never used. Instead, Solomon refers to God euphemistically by other references and names. Some scholars believe that this book is written intentionally with the nonbeliever in mind. Ecclesiastes addresses someone who has sincere questions about life and the nature of God. It was interesting to me that the article at FastCompany explores some of the same issues that Solomon does.
Ecclesiastes is sometimes difficult to understand because we are unfamiliar with the language and illustrations. If you are really interested in studying the book, you might try reading the following book by Tommy Nelson:
The Problem of Life With God: Living with a Perfect God in an Imperfect World
(Tommy Nelson is the same guy that did a series on the Song of Solomon - a study about love, romance, and marriage. If you're struggling with those issues (don't we all?) you should strongly consider studying that book of the Bible. More resources are available at: www.thesongofsolomon.com. )
The conclusion of King Solomon is that we should enjoy life today. Be happy with what we have. Love and serve God on a daily basis - trusting Him with the big questions we don't understand. How many times do we let what we don't understand ruin what we could enjoy today? How many times do we miss the special moments of today because we're too busy trying to get to that magical point in life where everything clicks?
I know this post may open up a whole can of trolls, but for those of you who are honestly searching for answers to questions like this, I suggest that you at least give it a read and decide for yourself. It's good stuff that has made a difference in my life and in the life of people around me. I'm one of the lucky ones who has been able to hang onto a tech job during these last couple of hard years. And for the most part, I've been able to buy the toys and "stuff" that I've wanted. But I found myself not happy despite it all. I was just accumulating things and not really enjoying any of it.
I've tried lately to make it a point to slow down and enjoy the things I have - enjoy my family, enjoy my work, and spend time with the guys doing guy things ("Let's go lift heavy objects and put them back down again."). I stopped staying late at work trying to impress someone enough to get promoted and I spent that time down at the tutoring center playing with kids that don't get enough attention at home. If you want fullfillment, go spend some time with one of them - a kid comes in with a frown on her face and leaves laughing - that's success.
I think we're looking in all the wrong places.
I like the simple back/forward functionality that we have now. IE provides a history in visited order (History bar and select "View: By Order Visited Today"). What we don't have is a nice branching tree that shows how we got to each piece of information.
I guess the problem would come when we surf in circles:
1) Go to slashdot
2) Click on a link to a user profile
3) click on a link to thier web page
4) click on a link (from their page) back to slashdot
5) click on a link to the latest article
How should this be displayed in a tree? Would you have:
slashdot
-user profile page
--user web page
---slashdot
----latest article
or
slashdot
-usr profile page
--user web page
-latest article
The first tree better shows browsing habits, but could get very deep browsing some sites (think my.yahoo.com or cnn.com for a more practical example where you go to the index page, go to an article, click a link back to the index page, go to another article, etc). The second tree is more condensed and shows where the information came from, but you lose some data.
Maybe a combination like this would be better:
slashdot
-usr profile page
--user web page
---[slashdot]
-latest article
where it shows that you clicked back to slashdot, but doesnt keep growing the tree deeper and deeper.
I'll have to admit that I sometimes can't get back to some information that I _know_ I just saw a few minutes ago. I usually don't have much success with the existing history menus.
Would a tree like this be useful, or would it just be a "neat" feature for a few days that we never end up using?
http://www.familyhaven.com/parenting/hightechheret ic.html
If you haven't read his book "High Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian" you really should. It's got some great reading and some things we should think about as we design software.
What can we do as software developers to actually make computers useful in the classroom instead of so distracting? Any thoughts from educators out there?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596 001231/qid=1033488183/sr=1-19/ref=sr_1_19/002-1087 167-2367228?v=glance
I would claim that animal suffering (and suffering of the "creation" in general) is also due to human action. Following the story of Genesis, death/decay entered the world through human sin. God slayed animals to create clothes for Adam and Eve - seen also as foreshadowing the coming of Jesus to shed blood on the cross to cover all sin. (Also note the curse to Adam regarding thorns/weeds). Romans 8 deals with the pain of creation to some extent, mentioning that the "creation groans in pain as like childbirth" waiting for the final redemption.
I certainly don't claim to be a Bible scholar and don't have a good understanding of why God allows so many of the unpleasant things to continue without judgement. Then again, I'm glad that He witholds judgement when I find myself caught up in sin. I'm also thankful for unconditional love and a "peace that passes understanding" in the middle of a hectic/unpleasant world we live in.
As far as the lizard shooting blood out it's eye... I'm not sure where that fits into the picture at all. I'd have to say that's pretty creative myself. :)
David
There was a girl that I was very interested in and I wanted to ask her out. I didn't think she was at all interested, so I didn't "stick my neck out". We (much) later became very good friends (although we never ended up dating) and I found out that she had also been interested. I tried to explain why I never asked her out and she was shocked. She said something along the lines of "I didn't think I could make how I felt any more obvious..." I don't know if I was looking for signs in the wrong place, wasn't looking good hard enough, didn't pay attention to what I saw, etc. I boils down to the fact that the signs where there, but I either didn't understand or see them. I guess "her ways were not my ways" just like "His ways are not our ways."
Carrying the example a little further: Sometimes I get an idea in my head along the ideas of "If she's interested, she'll do [some crazy sign I come up with in my head that she'd be open to dating]". Then she reacts in a different way (trying to show her interest) but I don't see it or worse ignore it because it wasn't what I expected. I hope that's not the way we approach God. I believe there are times that He will humor us and let us "throw out the fleece" but I don't think He is by any means required to do it our way.
Besides, I'm sure someone would still try to explain away "Made by Yaweh" written on the moon... How much evidence would be enough?
David
I have a hard time looking at the Smoky Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, the Rain Forests, the creek running through my back yard, a beautiful sunset every evening, a tropical island, the Big Dipper, Rainbow Falls, the Redwood Forests, a snowcovered hillside, ... and not believing that IS "hard evidence" of a creative force much greater than myself or any writer/painter/craftsman/slashdotter could ever dream of possessing.
"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." - Romans 1:20
David
When I see your face
Emotion floods over me
Wait, I mean lotion.
That night we kissed,
I couldn't get over it
You gave me mono.
I hunger for you
Only you satisfy me
Make me some dinner.
You are like a dream
In the morning, I awake
And I forget you.
Your love was a gift
A fine, cherished present, you
Indian Giver!!!
(I wish I could claim to have written these. One of my old roommates came up with several pages of "Love Haikus".)