December 3, 2010

• Time flies

  Hello good people.

   

  My last entry was sometime in Feb.  That is a long time.  I've decided to resurrect this blog, and as countless times before keep up with it.  I've been meaning to really because I've had so much to say, but life has gotten in the way.  Things like getting a degree, applying for MORE school, and now school itself.  Well, time for some reflection (as if I don't do this enough already).

  I am a generalist.  I am no authoritative source on anything. Jack of all trades but master of none.......and I like that.  It's what allows me to be interdisciplinary, flexible, adaptable, which has essentially describes my entire life, and perhaps why I loved my liberal arts education.  Minor Myers Jr. would be proud I think.  The question is, what place in society does such a person have?  At best, such people lie between extremes of knowledge.  They occupy the middle ground between groups of people who are the experts in their fields.  At worse, they are ill-qualified to be authoritative figures.  Is there a market for such people, or will what I like be irrelevant in a society that places value on people who are deemed experts?

  I suppose it is a matter of balance.  I wonder what a society would be like if there were fewer experts and more generalists?  Would we get more things done?  Instead of knowing all there is about one particular subject, perhaps know a lot about 3 subjects?  Well, maybe not necessarily equally, but to a level where a person would be proficient, skillful, and be able to contribute to society.  Would education be viewed in a different way then, where we wouldn't be pigeon holed into one particular profession that determines what is and should be important for the rest of our lives?  I think, maybe, if we were more multifaceted, we would make better neighbors.  We would genuinely be interested in what other people do, and perhaps see....more purpose in what we do.  

  Eh, so much for changing the world.  Now for a bit of theology, since that's what I do nowadays.  I looked out the window on the 14th floor of my building to see the gridded streets of Chicago.  The cars were busy making traffic, like little ants, doing what they do...And I let out a big sigh.  I wondered, what does God see?  Does he see a world where everything was good, or does He shake his head, seeing a fallen creation?  Is He on the verge of wiping creation out and starting over, shaking his fists in the air as if there was someone else to blame for all that is wrong in the world?  The problem with a God outside time, One that sees time all at once, is that the end is also the beginning.  To know all that will happen must necessarily create restraints on what and how things can be made, which is disconcerting if the world is supposed to be the way it is now...that it IS the best possible world.  Here we have a closed system, one that limits freedom, constrains diversity, and is overall rigid.

  I cannot imagine creation like that.  More on this in another blog.

  • 6:06 pm
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