unrestrained material world
recently something (I forget what, b/c I didn’t get to my blog promptly) triggered this thought, that our society (I’d prefer not to use the overloaded term “world”) is bent on doing anything and everything that a person wants to do, unrestrained freedom and license, as if the body and the material world was the only existence we have, so we can do well whatever we please, with one small caveat of “as long as we don’t hurt anyone else”, and by that I think they mean “materially” or “physically” and perhaps also “without consent”, and it dawned on me that there’s sorta this dismissal of the concept of the soul, and the immaterial reality.. so this society is on this all out assault against the soul, and doing battle to kill the soul, and putting on a feeding frenzy of the material world (”for a material girl”), enticing people to sell their soul for consumerism, sensational experiences be they physical/sexual, drug-induced, or anything + everything outside of moral bounds..
Brian faciliated some great interactive sermons this past month at Cedar Ridge, based on John 8:2-11, and we entered into the story, to see thru the eyes of the woman, the men, and the Lord Jesus himself [Real audio links], and it was such an enriching experience, to imagine ourselves being in the story and seeing it from each of those respective lens, and recognizing how we are in similar places at various times, and what faith calls for in those moments.. today’s poignant moment is realizing that to be like Jesus isn’t only loading up on more spiritual disciplines (as so often taught, and over taught), but to be like Jesus is to see like Jesus..
Chinese American storytelling
tonight’s the last night of the PBS special, Becoming American, totally 6 hours of re-telling the stories of the Chinese people coming to America.. I’ve been videotaping it on timer and will watch it later at a time of my own choosing.. the most fascinating thing is their interactive storytelling at http://www.pbs.org/becomingamerican/portraits/ where they’re collecting stories (portraits) of Chinese Americans all over the US of A, sharing how they adapted, when they felt American, and when not so much..
Asian Malling
… salient sound bites from NYT article “The New Chinatown? Try the Asian Mall” –
“In Safeway, it’s fillet,” said Frank Chang, a 35 year-old engineer from Fremont. “Chinese people feel more comfortable when they see the fish’s head.”
Mr. Kwong, who was born in Hong Kong, appreciates such consumer loyalty. But he also knows that change is the California way. “The Asian market is saturated,” he said. “I’m planning to open a Latino mall.”
a rare political thought + my article
… been watching some of the war coverage on and off, and hearing of anti-war protesters around the country and world as well.. and slowly over recent times, I’ve been reading up on politics and politcal theory, and the ugly rantings of the liberals and conservatives, both terms often used as pejoratives, but used as reference points at this moment, and not being politically vocal personally, I do some of my civil duties in being a registered voter, and do my nominal duties to vote at major elections.. perhaps comparable to the way that many people do with their religious faith, except for me, I’m politically nominal, and spiritually active.. I do believe there should be vigorous debate of ideas, as such would be for political ideas, but I’m disappointed by the name-calling, stereotyping, selectivity of data (”facts”, perceptions, and statistics), guessing of motives and agendas, and veiling of one’s own presuppositions.. my observations: liberals seem to advocate personal freedoms, seem to think government should enforce personal opportunities and rights, seem to believe financial gain is often from exploitation; conservatives seem to advocate personal restraints (”morality”), seem to think government should enforce punishment for wrongs, seem to believe financial gain is from hard work.. at the moment, I think I’m personally “liberal” in my interactions, and civicly “conservative”.. mediaresearch.org thinks the media is too liberal + fair.org thinks the media is too conservative..
phuture.org published my commentary, Where are my people? on Asian Americans.. hope to spur some conversations.. thanks Rudy for rallying the multiethnic troops to flood the zone..
Liberals Like Christ
Liberals Like Christ
fascinating rationale that Jesus was a liberal, rather than the common notion of being a conversative as loudly trumpted by the “Religious Right”, and this site asserts a whole different and contrasting perspective of how to apply the meaning of the text to life and politics
