Monthly Archives: June 2009

Word Power Can Move Society Towards New Directions

I was very happy to hear recently about a new bookstore opening downtown. I don’t when it is going to open; I suspect it will be at least a few months, judging by the stage they are in the construction. Nevertheless, by the looks of it, it is going to be a doozy. Everyone who has ever been able to enjoy a bookstore has at one point or another realized that the more books there are, the better the choices you have. Really successful bookstores, and bookstores chains (you know the one’s I’m talking about) will even order books for you that they don’t have on the shelf. And some bookstores are well known for their customer support. I’ve generally found that the people that work there are lovers of books, as well as me.

I feel sorry for those who have never set foot into a bookstore, although I understand books can be intimidating to some people. The great library of Alexandria wasn’t burned to the ground by accident. Ever the printing press and books were invented; the written word has had an almost magical power over people. I remember a great line in a movie I saw recently, and two different characters were talking about the difference between the printed word and the electronically displayed word. They had just broken a fantastic story, uncovering a big conspiracy. They were debating on publishing it in their newspapers print version first, or on the newspapers blog. The blog writer conceded and said “People need to have ink on their hands after reading this.” I thought that was a great play on words.

It is generally believed that the Germans first invented the printing press, and the world has never been the same since. And for a long while, it was the people that controlled the printing presses that controlled the thought and beliefs of society. Who knows what would have happened to Western Society had the owners of the printing press been Moslems of Buddhists. You can certainly appreciate the wonderful effect words have on your daily life, can you not?

Once a society has words spread throughout, they can never go back to their previous beliefs and way of living. The first thing that occurs in a society when a printed word is introduced is that there is a subtle shift of power. And nothing is more powerful that a printing press to sway the masses. Can you think of anything as persuasive as a well-written piece of work in your very hands?

Again and again, great religions and governments throughout time have referred to the written word to propagate their power and influence. It’s not wonder that the Gideon society replaces their hotel bibles every so often. And it’s not only the Gideons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons and other religions have relied heavily on printed material to promote their faith.

When you really stop and start to realize the power and prevalence the written word has over every aspect of your life, you can’t help but to wonder what life could have possibly been like if you could only rely on word of mouth, and stories past down from generation to generation to keep ideas alive. And when you really become aware of your own power to create and promote your own written words, you will really feel a sense of awareness of how much power you have, literally at your fingertips.

Luckily we live in day and age when it is fairly easy to set up a blog and write several times a week or even several times a day to get your ideas out there. Should you not realize how powerful this concept is, just count how many blogs there are today versus how many there were five years ago. And when you think of how much money you’d be making today had you started blogging a few years ago, you can really feel motivated to start now.

How many ideas do you have that are worth sharing with others? How many ways can you imagine putting your figurative pencil to paper and getting your thoughts out in the collective consciousness to literally change the direction of society? Are you not just as worthy as some other random blogger out there? Who cares if nobody reads it or not, there is still a plethora of benefits to writing down your ideas every day and publishing them for all to see. I wonder if you are no already more convinced of this than most people. Because when you leave behind your old ideas of what you used to think was possible, you can really enter into a whole new reality, a reality of your own construction.

Metal Work Saviors – East – I

East was having fun. A lot of fun. The three chosen for their group had never met before, not really. But for some reason, when they began walking on the first day, they found that they had a lot in common. They had many of the same experiences growing up. Like when you share something with somebody, and they have a very similar experience from their history. It’s like you were made to be with this person. The three of them were able to feel an incredible closeness as soon as they started out. That was four days ago.

When the time came to spread out and walk alone from sunrise until sunset, they weren’t afraid like they had expected. They were sad. They had just spent the last three days getting to know each other, and now they would have spend their waking hours mostly alone, and their nights mostly spent in sleep, recovering. They would miss sharing stories of their youth and the mischief they all seemed to get into and out of without too much trouble or punishment from their parents.

The days seem to pass too quickly as they knew the inevitable was coming. Their inevitable separation. As they arose, they dressed in silence, knowing that as soon as they were ready to leave, the fun would be left behind, and ahead was only loneliness and danger. That was ok, though. They had made a pact. They made a pact before they went to sleep the night before. No matter what happened, they would all make it back safely, and they would be the team who would find the new source that would support the village into the next generation. And they would be friends their whole lives. They had made the secret prayer together they all learned when they were children. Then they had slept, their dreams of a future in new village whose location and life source was chosen by them keeping their thoughts of the dangerous mission ahead.

They dressed, packed their tools and equipment and stood. They gathered on last time, and looked into the distance where they would spend the next six months walking alone, searching alone, surviving alone. They each silently and mutually held each other in high regard, and then turned to leave. The last of the sun was just breaking free of the horizon. They sky was clear, and the day was going to be hot. And long. They started walking.

* * *

Elder was clutching his side, in extreme pain. It was too soon to die. He grimaced and stood, facing defiantly into the setting sun. He turned a full circle, surveying the area around him. He knew where eldest and younger would be meeting. He would get there before they rose for the morning. He would not be left.

He spent the next hours, through the dusk into the night, shuffling towards the directing of the rendezvous. With each step the pain in his stomach lessened somewhat. The more he walked, the more he convinced himself it was merely a passing pain due perhaps to an unnoticed poisonous plant or insect that shouldn’t have been eaten. Must be more careful next time. He checked his water. Plenty left. He knew exactly what plants would produce water, and how to convert certain kinds of earth into water as well. Those were methods that required a certain amount of time, so they were reserved for emergencies. Now he had to focus only on moving in the direction of the rendezvous. The other two needed his skills. The village needed his skills. He would not allow himself to die. Not yet. Not until their assignment was completed. The village council had made sure that each voyager understood the importance of the mission. That was one of the most important requirements. That they understood that they had only two choices. Succeed, or die trying. He was not ready to die yet.

He stopped, paused, and closed his eyes. He sensed his surroundings. There were several small animals around him. Not dangerous. Only curious. Perhaps he could lure them close for food. If he needed to. Not yet. He sensed the wind, the direction. He quieted his mind to be more receptive. There. He could sense the other two. At the camp, there fire emitting a certain smell. Perhaps another two hours walk.

He kept moving.

To be continued…

Focus on Actions, and Results are Automatic

So the other day I was out walking, like I do every morning. It was kind of cloudy. I’d been frustrated because I have this goal I’d been meditating on, and for some reason I had a funny feeling. Not really a funny feeling, kind of a disconnected feeling. Like when you shift a car into gear, and you shove the gear shift where it is supposed to go, and it feels like the proper pieces of machinery have engaged, but when you apply the gas, all you get is strange, unhealthy sounding complaint from the engine. So you have to stop, yank the gearshift back, and then put it back, only slightly different. Slightly different in position, and slightly different in results. This time the gear slides smoothly into place, and when you slowly release the clutch your car takes off smooth as silk.

I had formulated this goal several weeks ago, and had been meditating on in regularly, with positive intentions, proper visualizations in several different representation systems. But something switched, and I hadn’t noticed it. I had been visualizing the overall completion of the goal, which is about two or three months out, but I came to a significant milestone last week with regards to the short term completion of it. Something that placed the realization of my goal less in my hands, and more in the hands of others. Before last week, the realization of the goal was completely in my hands. When I achieved the milestone last week, I neglected to change the wording of my goal. Since last week, I was still phrasing my goal the same way, but was expecting others to do the work. Once I realized this while walking, I suddenly released all the frustration I’d been carrying around, and suddenly felt a surge of motivation.

The purpose behind visualizing and meditating on your goals is to give your unconscious mind a clear direction of where you want to go. So long as the result that you want is under your control, your unconscious mind will have absolutely no problem figuring out a way to get you there. For example, if you want to lose weight, and you visualize yourself slim and healthy, with sufficient motivation, you will get there, because your weight is completely under your control.

However, the mistake that many people make, especially when applying “The Law of Attraction,” is somehow expecting others to magically fill in the gaps where you have no control. For example, if you have a business, and want your sales to double in three months, you can approach in two different ways. You could focus on doubling your sales by other people magically discovering your business and making calls to you to buy your product. This puts the ball completely in their court, and you have no power over the outcome. By focusing on passively receiving an increase in sales orders, you aren’t giving your unconscious much to work with. This will increase your frustration and anxiety, which may cause you to give up trying to increase your business. On the other hand, if you focus on changing your behaviors so that an increase in business is a natural result, then you’ll have a much easier time. Your unconscious will then be able to feed your conscious mind ideas in the form of insight and intuition on what you can do specifically to increase your sales.

It’s fairly straightforward to do this. Simply choose an outcome that you want, and then focus on what behaviors will create this outcome. If you are not sure what to do exactly, look around and find people that have done what you want to do, and just copy them. The great part about this is once you focus on your own behaviors, it doesn’t really matter if you get it right the first time. As long as you stay focused on the outcome that you want in terms of your own behavior, you can easily adjust your behavior along the way. If you try something and works a little, try something a little bit different and see what different results you get.

It’s like playing golf if you aren’t very good. Sometimes you hit the ball, and it goes too far to the left. You observe where the ball went, and adjust your next shot accordingly. You keep adjusting your swing and aim until the ball is in the whole. The cool thing about setting goals is that you don’t need to keep score. Just keep adjusting your behavior slightly until you get where you want to go. Then simply move on to the next thing you want to create.

Beware of believing in magic. It seems like a great idea to be able to create something simply by wishing for it, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. When you realize that a strong desire of an outcome, coupled with an intense drive to get there solely on your own behavior, you will be able to achieve anything. Focus on the action, and the results will be automatic.

Are there Donuts in Your Future?

The other day I went looking for a new pair of shoes. I don’t own very many pairs, and I don’t particularly like shopping for shoes, so when I do go and look at shoes I want to make sure that the pair I buy is going to last a long time. It’s amazing how important a good pair of shoes is. I remember several years ago I was having some insoles made. I have a bit of a fallen arch and I needed to have some extra support. It’s always nice to feel support whenever you need it. While I was waiting for the foot specialist to see me, I couldn’t help but read all the newspaper clippings on the wall. The particular “foot specialist” I was waiting for had come highly recommended by several doctors and sports trainers. As far as getting someone to look at your foot, and your gait and everything else foot specialists know about, this guy was king.

As I was looking at all the articles on the walls, I couldn’t help but wonder about all the important things that most people over look. Up until then, all I really cared about when I bought shoes was that they “looked cool,” and they didn’t hurt very much when I wore them. I didn’t realize that an improper fitting pair of shoes could cause so many health problems, including all kinds of back pain. It’s amazing the amount of effects we have on our future by the decisions that we make today. Just sitting there thinking how much health problems can interfere with an otherwise happy life made me a believer in really taking the time to buy the right pair of shoes.

I was listening to a friend tell me about this new diet program that she had started recently. She had learned it at a seminar that used self-hypnosis for the method to lose weight. I guess that is as good a method as any, and I asked her how they specifically taught her to eat healthier. She said the key was to train yourself to imagine three different futures when looking at food. Most people, when they look at that food only rely on their automatic response, which of course is to eat, and eat and eat. That was a fantastic strategy when we were cavemen and finding a donut was a once in a year occurrence, but when we are surrounded by donut shops, it doesn’t work so well. She said the trick is to imagine the future one hour, one week, and one year to help overpower that urge to eat eat eat. If you are looking at a piece of fruit, for example, you will imagine yourself light and energetic in an hour, perhaps having a deep sense of self control in a week, and in a year, feeling fantastic because you have a healthy diet that supports a nice body. You then take those three feelings into the present, which makes you really want to eat that piece of fruit. When you compare that to the jelly donut that is beckoning you with its Jedi skills of persuasion, you will imagine all kinds of “blech” feelings from the future, which will hopefully cause you to pass on the donut. The trainer said that takes time, but when you do this on a regular basis, you will be amazed at the results

It’s interesting when you really stop and think how your decisions will affect you in the future. Many people are unhappy today, and I think one of the reasons is that when we make our choices, sometimes we are only thinking of the short term. Not that the short term isn’t unimportant, but the long term needs to be considered just as much. One of the biggest regrets people have when they look a back and examine their lives is some of the bad choices they made earlier. You can easily avoid them if you imagine your future, as well, when you make choices. It only takes a couple minutes and can potentially have powerful life long results.

And I finally did find a fantastic pair of shoes. The shop I found them had to order them from another shop (It’s hard to find my size here) so I had to wait a week, but so far, they are really supportive and look really cool. And when you can find something that makes you feel really good, and look really cool, you’ve got a winner.

The Metal Work Saviors – The South I

South was having problems. They left the same time as the other groups, and spent the first three days as required walking a straight line to put sufficient distance between them and the original village. The problems began on the first day, as they passed the outskirts. Elder started having stomach pains. At first they all thought, including Elder, that it was just nerves. After taking several breaks, they realized they had to make a decision. The village counsel was clear on this. No member may slow the group. The purpose was to find new earth that would support the entire village for at least another generation. If one member of the search party became ill, or fell to attack, or did not make it to their nightly rendezvous point, the directions were clear. Leave him, and continue.

When Elder, whose name used to be John before being selected, had agreed with his parents to submit his name to the council, he never dreamed he would be chosen. Surely there were many boys more fit than he to carry this lofty burden. He was the youngest, and the only boy in his family. His older sisters were in the processing of selecting their mates for the second half of their lives, and they had their fate already chosen. John’s father was one of better-respected metal workers in the community, coming from a long, lone line of expert craftsman. None of their line had ever been chosen to be a voyager, to venture out into the territory to find new earth filled with abundant minerals with which they could continue their prosperity.

When John had first submitted his name, as all boys were required to do, he had never expected to be chosen so he hadn’t even allowed himself to imagine what it would be like. To venture with two other boys in one of the main directions, in search of a new source. The actual tests that he’d gone through were much easier than he’d anticipated. Of course, the actual metal working tests were easy, as his family had long taught boys those skills from a very early age. Where he excelled much more than expected was in reading soil, and reading the land and the elements, as if he was in some kind of primordial communication with them.

A metal worker usually doesn’t need these skills, as the sources are identified, and the village is established. Skills of reading the land and the earth are only needed in a great while, and are not routinely taught to the young. Because John had demonstrated such a talent for this, he was chosen unanimously by the council. The families of the other two boys that were in John’s group were happy when they learned of John’s talents. Surely his skills would bring the boys home safely after the six-month ordeal.

That was three days ago, and Elder, having shed his given name, was on his knees, doubled over, clenching his stomach in excruciating agony. Eldest and Younger looked on in disbelief and horror. Their orders were clear. They must leave him. Because they had all sworn their lives in the name of the village, they had taken a solemn oath. And because, after this oath, their lives, and happiness, and even physical comfort were only incidental to the success of the mission, they knew they must do the unthinkable.

They must leave Elder, alone, writhing in pain.

He looked up, and summoned enough courage to disregard his suffering. He slowly looked each of them in the eyes.

“You must go. Find a new source. I will recover, and I will catch up. You will see. Go. Now.” Exhausted by the supreme effort it took to ignore the pain long enough to speak, Elder slumped forward, close to unconsciousness.

He was fifteen.

To be continued….

Where’s my Burrito?

The other day I was sitting in a Mexican restaurant downtown. It was remarkable in that my city doesn’t have very many Mexican restaurants, and I am a huge fan of Mexican food. Maybe because I grew up in Southern California, or maybe because I’ve traveled to Mexico several times, I just can’t get enough of the stuff. My favorites, of course, are the tacos you can buy from street vendors.

I’m sure you’ve eaten several different ethnic dishes in the past that you’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Just sitting there now, reading this, you can remember some of those dishes now. Maybe you ate them recently, or maybe it’s been a while, or maybe you’re even planning on eating soon. I think one of the greatest things about living a world with so many opportunities for cultural interchange is the incredible variety of food that you can enjoy. Realizing this can really give you an appreciation for different cultures. Most women know that the path to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but most people aren’t aware that the quickest way to the heart of another culture is through their kitchen.

When you realize this you can automatically begin to feel a great sense of appreciation for the other wide variety between cultures that is available to you, right here, right now. In this day and age, it is easy to understand this. And by eating the food of other cultures, it allows you to find other avenues to explore.

I have a friend who is a seasoned world traveler. She tells me the cuisine of a particular country has a great impact on her overall opinion of the place. Her favorite places are where she enjoys good meals. I don’t know if you can feel the same way or not, but when you understand the vast richness that cultural exchange can afford, you can easily begin to understand the benefits of world traveling.

Many people have realized that traveling is the best way to enrich your life. I was at a seminar a few years back, and the instructor was saying that people who have been to other countries tend to have an easier time learning new things. When you go to another country, and find yourself surrounded by people that look and dress and talk differently that you, you can find those things that you thought were important starting to drift away, making space in your mind for new and better ideas and beliefs. Of course, while few people have the time and resources to travel abroad extensively, everyone can find ways to expand your mind in your own neighborhood, even if it is going to an authentic restaurant, or studying a foreign language in your spare time.

Studying foreign languages is much easier than most people expect. People feel that can’t easily learn something new, but they realize that they can, you can begin to wonder how you may apply new ideas to increase your skills. And when you do this, you might be able to realize how easy this is.

Of course, most people realize the importance of learning. The understanding that most people don’t have yet, and you are receiving now is that learning never stops from occurring. There are those that say the biggest block to learning is education, because it removes your natural ability to learn things on a regular basis, so that you may easily and consistently improve yourself. You can understand this, can’t you?

One thing that can make the most pervasive changes in your life in several areas is the idea of continuous and conscious learning of new things. Whether it is of new cultures, new food, a new language, expanding your mind will always benefit you in the long run.

Now, back to my burrito.

The Metal Work Saviors – Departures I

The first group to leave was simply called West. West was comprised of three youths; one aged fourteen, and two aged fifteen. This was the year that youths began their training at metal work. The typical journeyman was a period of a few to several years. There wasn’t any rush, as in this old village, the only path to metal work mastery was to inherit the shop of your superior. And that was usually only through his death.

They had only one task. Walk towards the setting sun until they found soil that was suitable enough to keep their village healthy and profitable for at least another generation. They were not to return for at least six months, regardless of what they found. Three other groups had also been dispatched. Although this seems a cruel way to treat a village’s precious youth, it would be much crueler to allow the village to die off completely. Not just for them, but for all the other surrounding villages that depended on their metal work for their horses, and farming. They would suffer as well. There were four groups, each with three boys, and all the villages were depending on them.

Before leaving, they had been trained in the ancient art of soil divining. Not dissimilar to finding a source of water, the boys were trained in the old art of determining if the soil contained enough elements to support a metal working village. They had been taught, and tested severely before being sent out on their quest. They each had a small collection of rocks of different sorts, several tiny vials of different oils, and a peculiar looking balance. When assembled the device would indicate the content of the soil, and if it had the ingredients that would allow the boys to go home, and the village to feel safe knowing they would survive yet another generation.

The awoke every morning at sunrise, and their rules were simple. They would walk together until midday, when the sun was directly overhead. They would then fan out, with the two older boys breaking right and left, and the youngest boy walking due west. Each boy would pause every hour, and measure the content of the soil. They would then record their measurements, and their location in a small bound parchment that was prepared for them by the village elders. When the sun was at three hands above the horizon, and sinking fast, they would converge and meet together just as the sun was disappearing. They would make their camp, and prepare for the next day.

Each boy was trained in the art of extracting water from the plants, and trapping small animals for food. They would take notes where there were abundant sources of water for their return trip. After three months of walking into the setting sun, they would turn around, and head back to the village. If all groups returned safely, the village elders would spend a sufficient amount of time with the boys’ notes, and determine the next location for the village.

They were on their fourth day, the day where the elders had told them it was safe to begin reading the soil. They had to move a sufficient distance from the village to ensure that their interpretation of the earth was pure. The sun was just reaching the apex, and they were preparing to split, for the first time.

“So, we meet back in a few hours, right?” Asked the younger.
“Yep.” Replied the eldest.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” Added the elder. The eldest was older than the elder by only a few weeks, but nonetheless, he was the eldest.

They stopped, looked out into the still flat and undiscovered land, with the slow hills rising just a few days off in the distance.

“What lives in hose hills?” asked the younger.
“We’ll find out when we get there,” said the elder. The eldest only grinned.

They stopped, looked at each other, and split up. It was the first time that any of the boys had ever been alone in an unfamiliar environment. The younger began to silently weep, yet bravely kept walking forward, not looking back. He chastised himself or crying, but he didn’t know that the others were doing the same.

Several days up ahead in the distance, just as the hills slowly rose up out of the flat earth, a solitary figure stood watching. Waiting. Wondering.

To be continued….

The Metal Work Saviors – The Choosing

Once upon a time there was a small village. They village was part of a large collection of villages, which together formed the basis of a kingdom. It was kind of a strange kingdom, as it wasn’t governed by a king in the traditional sense, with the king living in a big castle in the center of the kingdom, and poor serfs living outside the castle walls. This village/kingdom was a semi-independent collection of villages. Some villages were better at certain things than others, and there were various trade agreements between villages. For example, some villages were good metalwork, and others were good at farming. They would all meet once a month in a large flat treeless area to set up and exchange the goods they could produce for the goods that they needed. This was a time before money, so they all enjoyed bartering and trading and all the ensuing arguing that happened naturally when people got together and tried to get the best deal.

The great meeting usually lasted three or four days. After everybody was satisfied, the traders would stay for one extra night to have a large celebratory party. Of course the most popular person at this large celebratory party were the villagers that made the mead that was used to drink at this festival.

The particular village of this story was the village that specialized in making horseshoes. Because several of the villages depended on horses for travel and farming, horseshoes were in great demand. In the horseshoe village, boys were trained from a very early age to find the raw materials to make the steel, and forge the iron that would be used to make horseshoes to use in trade with the other villagers.

But recently there had been a problem. The hills where they would go out into and collect the materials for making the steel were becoming less and less fruitful. They had known about this for several years, and they finally decided it was time to do something about it. The village elders demanded a solution be found when it was determined that the raw materials wouldn’t last for more than three more seasons.

So after they finished the month end celebrations for the trade, the horseshoe village decided to have a meeting of the elders and the senior horseshoe makers to determine what they could do. After much arguing and consulting with oracles, they decided that they would simply need to find another source of raw material. This wasn’t entirely unheard of, as other villages had moved in the past in order to better produce whatever they were good at producing. The loose collection of villages comprised a large enough area that it wouldn’t be a problem to maintain their monthly meetings.

Then the tough decision was made. Who to choose to send out in search of new material? They would need at four teams of scouts. One for each direction, north, south, east and west. And it was expected that each team of scouts would be gone for six months at the very least. They would be trained to be able to determine from the earth which hills would support a new village for at least another generation. They decided they would choose four teams of three-member search. A total of twelve young boys who would be tasked to finding the resources that would keep the village alive for another generation.

After their decision, they made an announcement, and asked for volunteers. They were completely surprised by the number of applicants. Every single boy in the village that was old enough to be an apprentice was accepted as an applicant. They put them through a series of rigorous mental and physical tests, and made their selections. The time finally came for the boys to depart.

Nobody had any illusions about the safety of the boys. They would be gone for at least six months, and despite the loose collection of villages, there was much danger. Predators, both beast and man, threatened to kill the boys just to take their supplies. It was expected that half of the boys would not return. The boys knew, however, that if they returned with a location sufficient to sustain the village for another generation, they would forever be loved by the village. Having the status of a provider, an explorer, a discoverer of resources was well worth a fifty percent chance of death.

The village had a celebration for three days to pray to the gods and celebrate the bravery of the young boys whose discoveries would carry the life and safety of the village on into the next generation. After much singing and weeping, and several tearful goodbyes, the boys, who were by now being only referred to as The North, The South, The East, and The West, gathered their equipment, and departed.

To be continued…

Sotomayor – For or Against – Why it Doesn’t Matter, Really

Many people have been talking back and forth recently about Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court. Some say that Sotomayor is clearly a racially motivated choice. For them the main reason she was selected was because she is female and Hispanic. While I don’t know exactly if President Obama chose her himself, or she was the best choice presented to him by his advisors, the choice is out there nonetheless. Of course, the two main criticisms against her from the right are the case she ruled for the city against the white fire fighters in a reverse discrimination case, and statements she made suggesting her race and gender somehow made her better equipped to make legal decisions. Her supporters argue that in the case of the reverse discrimination, she was actually upholding the law, and any beef people have with the decision is with the law she was upholding, and not with her. And for her statement regarding the relationship between gender/race and decision making ability, I think most will safely agree that at the very least, that statement was taken out of context.

We live in a sound bite, thirty-second society. Most people don’t have the time or the patience to sort through several layers of meaning and context to get to the intent behind the delivered message. Recently Will Smith said something about Hitler, and it didn’t take very long for a reporter to take one or two sentences out of a spoken paragraph which was surrounded by content and context and put a spin on it. All to sell newspapers. Luckily, when most people saw context of the statement, it was clear that the reporter was attempting to put a spin on it, and Mr. Smith’s reputation wasn’t adversely effected.

With so much spin and out of context quotations, and ten-second attention seeking news headlines, it’s no wonder that it can be extremely difficult for someone in Obama’s position to choose an appropriate candidate for such a powerful appointment of authority. It’s not like Sotomayor can be kicked off the bench if people don’t like her opinions.

This kind of thinking makes sense on a large scale, choosing your position wisely when there is no chance of going back if it doesn’t work out. That is why a selection for the Supreme Court is such a long, public, lengthy process. We can’t afford any mistakes. I think it is obvious that the original architects of the United States put quite a lot of effort into designing a system that was fairly difficult to corrupt (despite many instances of the contrary).

Whether your think Sotomayor will be a great Justice of a terrible one, you’ve got to have some appreciation for the process through which she will be scrutinized to the nth degree. It is an example that despite however many corrupt and unscrupulous politicians find themselves in power, it is difficult to out navigate a system that has been in place for so long. One can only hope it stays that way for a while.

For my part, given the facts of the structure and operational guidelines of the supreme court, and the enormous amount of seriousness that justices must feel when they make decisions, and that Sotomayor, if she is eventually selected (which I’m pretty sure she will be) is replacing someone with similar political leanings and beliefs, I don’t think there is anything to worry about.

When you take a step back and look at the big picture, despite all of the problems of the United States, we’ve got a pretty good system and set of rules in place to make sure we stay free and profitable for many years to come.

Star Trek and Jesus, Have you Seen the Prequel?

I just recently saw the new Star Trek movie. As a huge fan of the original series, I was incredibly impressed. I loved all the small quick references to original episodes. Because of where I saw it, I couldn’t help but wonder how much of the plot was understood by those who don’t know what it’s like to be a trekkie. One interesting thought I had while I was watching is how many successful stories and moves will sometimes come up with the idea of a “prequel.”

Of course there are as many exceptions as there are examples, but couldn’t help thinking of the idea of making a “prequel” after the original series becomes popular. The prequel series for Star Wars didn’t come about until nearly thirty years after the original series were released. A few years ago, the James Bond was re-written as a prequel. Just recently I saw a movie poster for “Underworld, The Beginning.” Because movies here are released sometimes several months behind the rest of the world, I don’t know of the original release date of this movie. Another recent popular movie/story that had a prequel released was Hannibal Rising.

I guess it’s part of human nature to want to know the origin of things. Maybe because when a story is first conceived, it is wholly conceived according to the classical intro/climax/resolution model. And because many times, after the conflict resolution, there isn’t much room for more story to please eager fans who want more, so a prequel is the only direction a writer can go. I’m sure you can think of a few stories or movies where the sequels were just not as thrilling or entertaining as the original. (Jaws comes to mind.) Perhaps writing a prequel allows for much more leeway in story creation, as in Star Trek. Or maybe humans are just naturally curious about where things come from. The more we learn about something, the more we want to find out the beginning.

When you write a prequel for a story, you aren’t bound by matching the new story to the original story. Because it is a prequel, it only has to end where the previous one began. And the more you tell a story, the further back you can go, and the more creative you can be with how the story began.

One very popular story (arguable the most popular story ever told) that comes to mind that fits this model perfectly is the story of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s generally agreed that the first gospel that was written was the Gospel of Mark, around 40 or 50 AD. Twenty years after the crucifixion. Since the crucifixion happened around 20 or 30 AD (the calendar we used to guess the date wasn’t invented until around 400 AD, so there is plenty of room for error,) most of the “story’ that was circulating around was by what they call “oral tradition.” People telling and retelling stories. The interesting thing about the gospel of Mark is that it doesn’t contain the birth of Jesus. At that point in the stories life, people were really only concerned with His teachings and crucifixion/resurrection. Only when the next two gospels appeared twenty years later (Luke and Mathew), did they contain a narrative regarding the nativity. It’s like the more the story about Jesus spread, the more people wanted to know where He came from. And as they spread, they naturally grew and evolved backwards in time, to include this information.

One of course has to wonder about the accuracy of any of these stories, as it consisted of orally passed on renditions of Gospel. I once watched a fascinating rendition of the Gospel of Luke performed by an actor who portrayed what he imagined was an accurate rendition of how this would have occurred two thousand years ago. He gave a compellingly fascinating monologue for about an hour as he described the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It was completely amazing, and would be fascinating to see how this particular story spread an evolved over time as talented orators two thousand years ago retold, embellished, added to and improvised on the story that we now call the Gospel. I think you have to agree that one thing that is always on a storytellers mind is how to keep the audiences attention throughout the monologue.

Of course the final Gospel, or at least the final Gospel that was included in the Latin Vulgate around three or four hundred AD, was written around 90 AD and borders on the metaphysical, but that’s another story.

I don’t know if this makes any sense to you, or whether or not you see a connection between the evolution of stories and the nature of human curiosity. Maybe something to keep in mind next time you watch or read a prequel.