My Compromise Post...

Prologue: I made a rule that I'm not allowed to edit my posts. This is theoretically supposed to suffocate my almost-narcissism....
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So one of my teachers bought me The Shack for graduation. I was like "cool, thanks..." and placed it in my stack of books that I plan on reading sometime during the next 10 years...

But then I heard that it was a (DumDaDumDa) "!!! VERY controversial book!!!"

So I moved it into my "Read." pile. I like controversies. 'specially "Christian" ones. I think they're kinda cute...

So then I read it....

And before I blahblahblah, I should prolly find out who else has read it....
yes? no? gonna read it?

News and a Link

Yesterday I had my surgery implanting the grid of electrodes to find over the next 3 or so weeks exactly where seizures start, and whether the spot can be removed.

God has blessed me wonderfully, with many friends praying for me, and while the grid implant is generally regarded as more invasive than the depth electrodes, I am already able to make blogs the day after the surgery and eat, while I had about two days after the depth electrodes before I could really start eating.

For more data, visit the How Is David blog, sign in at the bottom of the page, and feel free to leave comments (and to visit me if you live near and have time).

On Why Blogging Is Hard For Me

I like thoughts. I think they're pretty fantastic. Blogging, then, would seem like a good outlet...

Except that I have this problem...

"Narcissism: Being in love with one's self.... (kinda)"

I sort of wonder if online social networks and blogs sometimes create a glorified mirror of "self" that we all look into to fall in love with "us" (or the "us" we create..). We maybe want to think (and want others to think) that we're cute or funny or social or interesting or insightful or whatever.
I'm not sure how to avoid it...

I want to relax and not really think about it, least I be overly intense about something that doesn't deserve so much concern.

I also wonder if, since I've thought about it, I am therefore responsible for acting wisely on my thought...

So yeah...
I've got lots of things that I'd like to share, but mostly I refrain because I don't know what my motive is....

Hah. Maybe I'm only posting this because I'm so very narcissistic. Like being prideful about being "humble."

And maybe I only brought that up in order to deceive myself and you into believing that I have more integrity than I actually do...

Now I want to throw up. :(

Maybe I'll go talk with Jesus about it....I'll letcha know how it goes...

Pleasure vs. Happiness

Before Wheatstone, I came across something that I found very interesting in a book, I believe it was Knowing Scripture by RC Sproul, where he made a distinction between pleasure and happiness. Happiness is satisfaction; "Because a thankful heart is a happy heart...", while it is possible to be pleased and yet not satisfied, for example, if a person finds pleasure in things of this world, such as gorging himself, getting power, looking good to others, gaining knowledge, or in evil, he will periodically have temporary pleasure, but he will never find satisfaction in such things, and thus will never attain happiness.

In one of his lectures, Dr. Reynolds said something that identified pleasure with happiness. I tried to tell him about what I wrote in the paragraph above, but I'm not sure I ever got far enough, so before I make any statements concerning his view or anything like that, I'll try to email him a link to this blog.

Meanwhile, I will hypothesize that by JMR's definitions, pleasure is a component of happiness, not exactly the same thing.

Please post comments to make this a discussion, citing memories and notes from Wheatstone, things you've read, and things you've heard elsewhere. (And please make sure you include not only a statement on this topic, but also where you got it and what you think of it).


Another note - Please start posting and commenting to start and continue discussions!

Bible Reading (discussion)

Ok, here's a post to start a discussion! (Sorry I took so long!)My notes indicate that one of the foci (pl of focus) of Dr. JMR's "Devotional and Making Connections" lecture on 7/11 morning (Friday, I think) was reading the Bible and getting the most out of it.For... (checking the site out) ... essays by such people as JMR, we were referred to www.ScriptoriumDaily.com .Some notes that I took on the lecture include:

"If your general view of reality is working, you should not change it; if you cannot make a great improvement, do not make a change"

• "The truth has nothing to fear from open and free inquiry"
• "Doubt is a virtue, though by itself it is toxic"
• "Don't try to do too much at once; chose one area of improvement at a time"
• "Read the Bible the same way you read everything else" (Psalms the same way you read other poetry, epistles the same way you read other letters, etc.)

I found some help with this last note in a book which is required prereading for Torrey Academy (youth program, prep for JMR's Torrey Honors Inst) year 2, Foundations of American Thought, How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth, by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. After the first two chapters give rules for reading the whole bible, including choosing translations, chapters 3-13 each focus on one genre of books of the Bible (multiple chapters on some genres). Even if you aren't going to take TA next year, I would really recommend this book.

The new Batman movie

Hey everyone, What's up.

I just saw the premier of the new batman movie and it was pretty much epic. Definitely a movie to see. There were some interesting messages in the movie. I really enjoyed it. Tom, you should check it out. You can kind of decifer the movie the way you want to but at the same time it ties up most of its questions. I think you might enjoy this movie. Just wanted to say hi. peace.
-Billy

David's Wheatstone Album

Wheatstone Web Album

Intro to Blogging for Authors (Group Members)

To start a new discussion, make a post by clicking "New Post" on the upper right. Try to make the content of a post sufficient to build a discussion from.

When someone has made a post to start a discussion, click the title (if it doesn't have a title, click the first line on the "Blog Archive" list on the right) to see if and how anyone else has responded by comment, and then if you have a response and/or a question about the post or about anyone's comment, make a comment by scrolling to the bottom, where, under the last comment, it says in grey, "Post a Comment".

I would advise that no one make their email address available on this blog, since a spammer may stumble across it. We have already exchanged our email addresses, and if yours changes, I would recommend that you alert everyone by emailing them.

So, if there is at any time a discussion from Wheatstone which you would like to continue and has not been posted yet, or something Wheatstonish which you would like to start a brand new discussion about, make a post!

If you have any questions about the hows of the blog which you think others might benefit from, please make a response to this post. If you would like to keep the question private, look up my email address (or if your question is for someone else, like Tom, look up that person's), send your question, and I try to check my email daily and make responses promptly.

God bless,
David Nemati