Reflecting on Reflecting

HS #34 2018.5.1

Reflecting on Reflecting

A few years ago I celebrated Christmas with my sister in Fargo in the midst of Lutheran country. We attended a Christmas vespers service at a Lutheran church and I was struck by the grandeur of its modern sanctuary. Majestic stone and brick walls loomed high, punctuated by stained glass. Even before the service began, I felt myself transported into another time and space. 

Thinking back on that evening, I’ve wondered why so few modern churches have sanctuaries – most have auditoriums. Here’s the difference:  A sanctuary, even when empty, has a presence, an energy and ambiance, of its own. Test: A sanctuary is a place one might go alone to reflect and meditate.

Why so few modern sanctuaries? Does the paucity of sanctuaries point to our lack of valuing quiet reflection? In the present age, we seem instead to crave activity.

I remember as a young child going to see July 4^thfireworks in a city park of Lincoln Nebraska. Lying back on the prairie ground, with the warm alfalfa breeze wafting over, we heard a faint hissssss as the invisible projectile made its way into the silent evening sky.  We waited in anticipation until our patience was rewarded with a burst of sound and color, bringing a low chorus of “ahhs” that rose above the cricket splashed quietness. The power was in the contrasts: solitude versus community, stillness versus explosions, dark sky verses bright flashes.    

I also remember communion services from my childhood. There were extended periods of organ music as a backdrop for personal reflection as each element was passed and then taken together. Even as a child, I found myself anticipating the time of silence. 

Are these times of quiet reflection being replaced by a more-is-better doctrine of ever-present activity, ubiquitous cell phones, and saturation of our senses? (For a striking example, notice the distracting plethora of lime-green signs at the pedestrian crosswalks on 9^thStreet.) 

My high school band instructor once commented that just as a painter needs to begin with a clean canvas, so also the creative process of making music together requires a background of silence.  In a “Point to Ponder” from a recent Readers Digest, a neuroscientist agreed, “People used to wait in line at the checkout and daydream. Now they pull out their phones and go into the digital world. This is a missed opportunity to reflect, to relax, to be mindful of the moment. Creativity lives in those quiet places.”  Indeed,  CPA – Continuous Partial Attention – the state of constantly waiting/listening for a cell phone to ring, robs even the silent times of their potential for relaxed reflection. It’s noteworthy that teen depression and suicide increased markedly in 2012 with the advent of smart phones. 

How interesting that we have ignored the advice that comes from our most trusted sources. In the Christian tradition, Jesus retreated alone in the wilderness and often pulled away from the crowds. Moses got away to the top of Mount Sinai. David’s character was forged on the hillsides of Palestine tending sheep. Safe to say that none of them carried a cellphone. 

Indeed, freedom from distractions is doubtless why much great literature has been written in prison. John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim Progress”, MLK Jr.’s “Letters from a Birmingham Prison,” letters of the Apostle Paul, and even Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” all come to mind.  Other prison authors include Marco Polo, Sir Walter Raleigh, Martin Luther, Napoleon Bonaparte, Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, E. E. Cummings, and O. Henry.  That’s an impressive list. 

Malcolm X got himself the equivalent of a college education while in prison and observed that it is easier to get an education in prison than at college where there are so many distractions.  Agreed. The lives of many college students are spent rushing frantically from one social activity to another. 

The key to good living – as always - is balance: time for activity and time for quiet reflection and rest. A number of years ago one of my students – popular and active - came to me with a concern. He had his sights set on medical school, but his grades, while good, were likely not good enough for him to meet his goal. To control his activities, I gave him one suggestion: Decide on a regular bedtime and stick to it. Three years later, graduating and off to medical school, he thanked me for the advice. The next time I saw him – about 10 years later at a Hope basketball game - he was a thoracic surgeon. 

Inspired by Students

HS #32  2018.3.6

Inspired by Students

Last month I did it again. The first time I forgot to teach a class was twenty-five years ago. Busy in my office, I looked at my watch and realized that I was fifteen minutes late. I sprinted across the hall and found the classroom empty.  Granted, the students could have come gotten me, but taking the day off seemed a better deal. That’s par.  

Last month I was similarly caught up while I was supposed to be teaching a 3:00-5:00 class at Davenport University. At 4:00 I got an email from one of the students saying he had left and would study on his own.  I raced upstairs – an hour late – expecting to find another empty classroom. Instead, everyone else was still there. One of the students had the board filled with his own impromptu math lecture  – pretty close to what I would have done. The others were dutifully taking notes.

I love surprises like that - teaching is full of them. I turn 60 this month and realize that I have spent exactly half of that time as a teacher. In one of my favorite movies, A Man for All Seasons, Sir Thomas Moore advises Richard Rich, “be a teacher.” A teacher is something one IS, not does.

Indeed, after mastering the material and learning techniques of pedagogy, one becomes a better teacher mostly by becoming a better person. Want proof? Who were your favorite couple of teachers? Agree?

A teacher can learn valuable teaching lessons anywhere. I am more empathetic with my students because of a summer construction job I had while in college. The gruff foreman sent me to the shed to get “6-penny nails.” Not wanting to incur his scorn by admitting ignorance, I choose a nail that looked right and brought them back. I still remember his disdain as he held them up for all to see, “Look what college boy thinks is a 6-penny nail!” I laughed (inwardly) at his derision. Just because he had been around 6-penny nails for 40 years, why did he expect me to know what they were? I keep that in mind now – sometimes telling students in mock exasperation, “Why don’t you know this algebra – I’ve been doing it for 50 years!”  The magician David Copperfield made the same point, “Any eight year old could do these tricks with twenty years of experience.”

Primarily, I have (hopefully) become a better person through interactions with students. Just this past week I had life-challenging conversations with several. One of them has two jobs, but is still finding time to read “The Stranger” by Camus and Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” – just for the enjoyment and enrichment. That inspires me.

Another gave up his sights on Stanford because he figured that he could learn just as much far less expensively close to home if he was intentional about pushing himself. Part of his plan is to seek out new experiences. I asked him what he had recently done. The previous Sunday he had visited a Catholic church for the first time. How interesting. How many conversations have I had with western Michigan folk who spend thousands of dollars to travel to foreign countries to be immersed in other cultures for a week. He is getting rich experiences in cultural immersion within his own neighborhood.

Yet another explained that their Intervarsity Christian Fellowship chapter of 60-70 students had spent the previous week’s meeting discussing, “What I like most about my race/ethnic group” as part of a series on whether it’s good to be “color blind.” How dangerous is that! We professional educators tend to keep things safe and can be threatened when not in control. Yet these students, bound together by their common faith, were willing to take the risk.

I have also been heartened by the protesting MSU students, and I got goose bumps when I heard that Hope College students seeking change from the college dropped flyers from the balcony at Vespers this past Christmas. They didn’t know it, but they were carrying the torch of some of their professors who, as Hope students in the 60’s, protested the Vietnam War by “crashing” the Tulip Time parade.  

All of these students inspire and challenge us all to become better people by seizing the day. They are living out the ideals of the Mary Oliver poem that I recently discovered: 

Tell me

what is it you plan to do 

with your one wild and precious life?

Presidents' Day

HS # 31  2018.2.5

Presidents’ Day

What does it take to lead a country? Is it possible, for example, to have an effective leader who i) is unpolished, with no prior political experience, ii) seems focused on his own needs and situation, iii) gets into fights regularly, hitting back hard - and often unfairly - because it is an effective way to win, iv) can’t control his tongue – gets himself into trouble repeatedly because he can’t just keep quiet, v) has his career threatened momentarily by the way he treats women but still wins in the end, vi) is impulsive and erratic, giving little deep or reflective thought to his actions, vii) is excessively concerned about keeping his hair, viii)  marries a foreign wife, ix)  lives this sort of a life even without drinking alcohol?

Unlikely leader to be sure, but Sampson was the leader of Israel for twenty years. And even though an unsavory character personally, he was able to accomplish some things and help Israel in certain ways not only in spite of, but because of his rather unique “skill set.” Indeed, his self-centered, vindictive temperament was crucial to his success. Had he not taken a hard line on his enemies and sought revenge, his extraordinary strength would have been of no use.  Gladly, his type of leadership was not needed for long, so it eventually passed on to those with different temperaments and value systems.  Shows the wisdom and value of limiting the terms of leaders.

Indeed, looking backwards, our nation has also been served well by bringing in new leaders on a regular basis (codified into law in 1951 with the 22^nd Amendment). Not only does a new broom sweep clean, but also, whatever weaknesses are present in a leader will be endured only for a limited period.

Although our Founding Fathers had a deep mistrust of those with power, interestingly, they did not rule out the possibility of a president serving for an extended period of time.  However, they seemed to know instinctively that it would not be good for the nation. Upon hearing that George Washington was returning to his plantation after two terms, King George III famously said, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

He did, and quite possibly he was. Feels good, doesn’t it, to reflect back on some of our virtuous leaders of time past. Let’s do a bit more. It’s good for the soul. Here are a few anecdotes you may not know.

Bess Truman was once asked if she could get her husband to stop using the word manure. “Stop? It took me twenty years to get him to use that word!”

John Adams was more refined.  With solid puritanical background and lifestyle, unlike Franklin and Jefferson, while in France he found the extravagant French lifestyle quite disagreeable. Then he became ambassador to Holland and fell in love with the Dutch people.  He wrote home to Abigail that no people are more deserving of respect than the Dutch for their pursuit of learning and the arts and their lack of greed. “Their industry and economy ought to be examples to the world.”  But after spending more time with them, even this Puritan was disgusted by their “littleness of soul” and “a general littleness from the incessant contemplation of pennies and nickels.”

Although that stings a bit, I appreciate Adams because of his appreciation of the liberal arts.  He reflected, “I am a revolutionary so my son can be a farmer, so his son can be a poet.”

JFK and Jefferson were two towering intellects who valued the life of learning.  Once when President Kennedy hosted a group of Nobel Laureates for dinner, he opened with the remark: “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

Teddy Roosevelt is maybe my favorite. The man was bold and brash, but also wise. His love of adventure and of the great out of doors and his forward vision led to our National Park system. But he was also a philosopher. Listen to him: “Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die. And none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life. Both life and death are part of the same Great Adventure.” I have had that quote on my desk for years.

Nature's Patterns

HS #30 2018.1.2

Nature’s Patterns

What’s happening around you? Perhaps people walking, talking, a clock pendulum swinging, icicles growing. Surprisingly, much of it can be described with just four mathematical relationships.

The simplest is linear: as one thing changes, another changes in proportion.  Crickets provide one interesting example. As the temperature rises, so does the rate of cricket chirps.  Count the chirps in 15 seconds and add 37, and you’ve got the approximate temperature.  Neat.

Edwin Hubble noticed a linear relationship between the distance of galaxies from earth and the speed they are moving away from us. Since there is no scientific reason to think that our galaxy (the Milky Way) is the center of the universe, that means that all galaxies in the universe are moving away from each other (similar to how ink spots on a rubber band all move away from each other as the band is stretched). Extending that linear relationship into the past, he was the first to posit that the universe began at a particular point in time - now known to be about 13.8 billion years ago. All of this from understanding simple linear relationships.

The second is parabolic. Throw a ball into the air (actually works best if you remove the air) and you’ll produce a parabola. Ever see those streams of water at the Holland 8^th Street fountain (or the fountain at the Detroit Airport)? Those are parabolas. When I first learned about them in high school, I ran into physics class one day after using the rest room and excitedly announced that I had just created a parabola. My physics teacher wasn’t amused. The beautiful arcs made by the cables of the Mackinac Bridge are parabolas.

The third is the exponential. Whereas linear growth comes from repeatedly ADDING the same number, exponential growth happens when repeatedly MULTIPLYING by the same number. Example:  Suppose two technicians are hired for 5 weeks.  The first requests $1 million/day.   The second asks for a penny the first day, two cents the second, doubling each day.  Who makes out better? The second earns almost ten times more. Three more weeks would dwarf the national debt. That’s the power of exponential growth.

Savings accounts and investments grow exponentially (over the long run) which is why I advise students to start saving and investing early in life.  Exponential growth gives atomic explosions their power. When a neutron hits an atom, a couple more neutrons are released which in turn hit other atoms. Something that simple could destroy all human life.

That’s three, what’s the fourth?  What pattern is missing?   Hint: It is the one most central to who you are.

The fourth relationship is periodic.  Mathematics uses the trigonometric relationships (sine and cosine) to describe periodicity. A periodic pattern is one that, as the name suggests, repeats itself over and over.

Why are periodic patterns so important? Because many processes in the natural world are periodic. We live our lives by them. Just think: daily rotation of the earth, the work week, lunar/monthly cycles, tides, annual seasons, generational cycles, menstrual and reproductive cycles, musical vibrations, heart beats, election periods.  We measure time itself by the cycles/vibrations of a cesium atom. The regularity of Old Faithful and the other geysers has intrigued people for generations.  Haley’s Comet comes periodically every 75 years. Mark Twain was born in a Haley year and predicted that he’d die when it came again – and he did.

In our modern world, we are much less tied to the cycles of nature than our ancestors. Nature’s cycles were so central to the ancient Hebrews that they thought of time itself as being cyclical. The interest in biorhythms is a modern counterpart.

These cycles are likely built into our DNA as with other living creatures that periodically migrate, lose leaves, bloom, hibernate, and reproduce.  Cicadas mysteriously appear regularly every seventeen years.

Owners of parrots are told not to put them in cylindrical cages. Parrots need corners – points of reference - for their psychological health. Similarly, cycles provide periodic reference points that serve as reassuring anchors.  Birthdays, New Years Day, new academic year and (my favorite) annual time changes all provide pivotal occasions for reflection and starting afresh. 

Soren Kierkegaard observed, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Cycles allow us to do both by periodically pausing, assessing and then improving the next time around.  As 2018 begins, we thus have opportunity to glance backwards to learn from the past, and then charge headlong into the future.

Racism, Prejudice and other Generalizations

HS #29  2017.12.5

Racism, Prejudice and other Generalizations

I recently heard a news story explaining that affluent African Americans might be subjected to more racism than those with less means.  To illustrate the point, they told of an African American lawyer/retired colonel who moved into a gated community in Virginia. When met by the neighbors, he was repeatedly asked if he was a former professional athlete. He responded straight-faced that he was a pimp.

This brief account brings up many issues, but I’d like to concentrate on just one.

One component of intelligence is the ability to make generalizations.  We all do it  - humans and other intelligent animals.  Dogs get excited when their owners jingle their car keys or go to a certain drawer. They have learned that such actions are often followed by a walk or treat. Psychologists call is conditioning.

A child bitten by a snarling dog needs instruction in how to generalize. Ideally, they are taught that not all dogs are dangerous, but snarling ones should be avoided.   If not instructed, they will likely learn the lesson eventually from their own experience.  It was Ben Franklin who said, “Experience is a teacher; fools will learn from no other.”

I am acutely aware of our tendency to generalize each time I ride my bike to work – at the Holland DU campus. I cross 16^th Street, US 31, Waverly Avenue, and the exits of several parking lots. As any Holland bicyclist or pedestrian will attest, it’s dangerous to pass from the right in front of a stopped car that is turning to the right. Why? Because Holland drivers encounter few pedestrians, so many look only for cars coming from their left. If the way from the left is clear, off they go.

Several points follow.   First of all, we all make generalizations - constantly – and most of them are unconscious and generally correct. Every time you sit in a chair you are generalizing from past experience that it will not collapse.  Making these generalizations is crucial to learning and living.

Second, our generalizations are sometimes faulty since they are based on limited experience and we have selective memories, and, of course, the world changes.  Moreover, we sometimes just form the wrong conclusions. My father liked to say, “All Indians walk in single file - at least the one I saw did.”

Third, we form prejudices precisely because of our ability to generalize.  “Prejudice” means a pre-judging, and we pre-judge new acquaintances and situations by generalizing from past experiences.

 

Fourth, it seems to me (now I’m generalizing from MY experience) that although prejudices can be wrong and dangerous, they are not formed with malicious intent. Instead, intent has nothing to do with it.  As with other generalizations, prejudices are formed passively from our own experiences or unconsciously picked up from others.

Thus, I disagree with the lyrics that Oscar Hammerstein penned to a South Pacific song about prejudice, “they have to be carefully taught [to hate].”  Nope. Nothing careful about it – it’s too bad that it doesn’t take that much effort.

I remember as a child that when we traveled to Grand Rapids on family vacations from the rural Midwest, mom instructed us to lock our car doors as we passed through certain sections of the city. Looking out the window, I saw black people.  So without anything being explicitly stated, a prejudice was unintentionally passed on to me.

As I’ve grown, I’ve learned that some of the prejudices I formed and picked up as a child were incorrect. Generalizing from those mistakes, I expect that some prejudices I presently hold are also wrong. (Notice the irony – I may change current prejudices precisely because of my ability to generalize.)  Thus I remain open to changing my mind.

But altering one’s generalizations requires more than keeping an open mind. It requires learning from new experiences. And this most effectively happens when we are free to inquire and reflect, and to ask probing, honest questions. But asking candid questions, even when done with good intentions, often offends.   

 So kudos for those who risk being derided as simple, naïve, or misinformed by taking chances and being vulnerable. And those who are offended by naive questions, toughen up!  How else will we come to realize that some of our prejudices are wrong? Therefore, I commend those gated Virginians who asked honest questions with an openness to learn, and I hope that the African American lawyer starts giving honest replies.