Faith + Reason = Truth

Life is the past.  Sure, there is also the exact instantaneous moment that is the present RIGHT NOW, and there is the concept of the future (what will, or could, happen), but for all practical purposes, life is our memories.  The way to prolong life, then, is to prolong memories.  This can be done in only one way:  making more of them; which, in turn, can be done in one of two ways:  live longer, or engage in memory making, that is, memorable activity.

Our brains don't slow down or speed up (at least not without external influence, chemical or other).  So if the brain takes a certain amount of time to get through memories, then it would take longer to get through more of them, resulting in the perceived extension of time.  This is somewhat paradoxical, since actually engaging in the memory making activity typically makes "time fly."  Yet, after the fact, say a few months or years later, when we think back to a span of time (hours, days, month, whatever), the periods that time seemed to fly are the periods that are now remembered as longer, more eventful, more memorable than the times when "nothing" was going on.  Do your own thought experiment here:  remember a courtship, an intensive learning time, a period when a new sport or skill or body of knowledge or relationship was being learned.  The time really seemed to pass quickly, didn't it?  Now, contrast some of those periods, with known lengths (maybe something took 3 weeks, or a day, or 2 years) to a similar period of time when "nothing" was going on.  Which period now seems longer?  Most likely, the periods where nothing was going on are merely blips in memory, if they can be recalled at all, whereas the active and engaged periods are filled with vivid memories that take some processing power and time to think about, thereby making those periods seem longer in duration.

The way to prolong life is to spend as many of your 1440 minutes per earthly axial rotation as you can on activities that will create memorable associations in your mind years from now, blasting through the days full throttle, generating years worth of memories and experiences that will seem like they must have taken several lifetimes to accumulate, rather than doing as most people do (especially the older ones with "nothing to do" now that they are retired and their children have long since moved on and they have picked up no hobbies or passions to get them through their remaining decades of life), which is putting life on autopilot, just trying to get through the days, surviving the pain and/or loneliness, and nothing more.  The days that take forever to live through, while at the same time resulting in memories years from now of vast stretches of years of nothingness, mere voids on the timeline of life.  Bleak?  Perhaps.  Changeable?  Yes!

Think back about 1,850 years, in the city of Rome, at the height of the Roman Empire.  You are the Emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.  What do you suppose your deepest, most personal thoughts revolve around?  After all, this is a cruel and brutal age, is it not?  All the world is nothing more than an epic struggle between civilization and murderous barbarians, blood games in the coliseums around the Empire, mutilation, torture, crucifixions (and not just for peaceful Jewish teachers), and on and on.  Yet if one takes it upon him/herself to peruse the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, those very deep and personal thoughts of the Emperor (and philosopher) himself, one could easily be taken with aspirations of becoming talented enough to author such a work in his or her lifetime during our present era.  Filled with gratitude, humility, diplomacy, the value of hard work, freedom of speech, and all manner of insightful observations and ideas concerning the human condition (then, as now - hardly the stuff of our preconceived notions of Roman Emperors), it is an eye-opening journey into the mind and soul of a man with a good deal of the world at his command, a man whose words one would do well to take to heart during each and every day of life's journey.

I recommend George Long's translation from the mid-1800's, from which follows the opening lines of The Meditations:

"From my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government of my temper.

From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly character.

From my mother, piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.

From my great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.

From my governor, to be neither of the green nor of the blue party at the games in the Circus, nor a partizan either of the Parmularius or the Scutarius at the gladiators' fights; from him too I learned endurance of labour, and to want little, and to work with my own hands, and not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander.

From Diognetus, not to busy myself about trifling things, and not to give credit to what was said by miracle-workers and jugglers about incantations and the driving away of daemons and such things; and not to breed quails for fighting, nor to give myself up passionately to such things; and to endure freedom of speech; and to have become intimate with philosophy; and to have been a hearer, first of Bacchius, then of Tandasis and Marcianus; and to have written dialogues in my youth; and to have desired a plank bed and skin, and whatever else of the kind belongs to the Grecian discipline."

Mankind has built upon its own advancements for thousands of years by studying, understanding, and applying previous generations' collective knowledge and wisdom.  This is no longer the case in America.  At first, the intellectual and learned elite of societies would discuss and debate important issues amongst themselves, eventually improving or, at the very least, thoroughly informing themselves of the leading thoughts and practices of the day as well of days past.  Then, the written word and the ability to pass down knowledge and observations verbatim enabled vast leaps and bounds in our development, up until the invention of radio and tv, which were far more entertaining than conversation or the written word.  Now, Americans are no longer schooled in the knowledge and wisdom of antiquity, or "the classics," or whatever that body of human experience can be called.  There is not enough time between all of the math and science and other topics that must be digested (at least SOME history is required, but not enough, and with nowhere near the diversity to which we should be exposed).  So we turn out highly unenlightened, non-worldy, non-versed scientists and business people and sales professionals and athletes, some of whom may eventually, as they get older (into their 30's), decide to delve into the wisdom of thousands of years for themselves in their own free time.  Like me.  Yet as I experience these discoveries and insights and revelations for myself, I feel like I'm the only one who knows them or cares to know them as compared to most of my acquaintances - until I visit blogs such as La Vie Quotidienne by Shefaly ( http://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/ ).  She has a community of fellow bloggers and readers, many of whom seem well-versed in philosophy, religion, history, etc. (although that's not what her blog is focused on per se), and it's a joy to post comments there and be surprised and engaged by the thoughtful and well-versed replies to them.

Wait - those happy thoughts almost made me forget my initial rant about the lack of exposure to the classics in the American education system.  Oh well, I suppose we can only do what we think is right for our own development and leave it to others to discover for themselves.  As for myself, learning an ancient written language should be just what I need to move things along, so Greek it shall be!

Once my 2 kids were old enough to speak, they quickly realized they had become able to blame and tattle on others (specifically, EACH other).  As parents, the ultimate dispensers of justice and, as required, punishment, in the household, my wife and I were constantly called upon to settle matters fairly.  After a brief honeymoon period in this role, I realized that I was doing my children no favors by handling situations in an utterly fair and logical manner - after all, was the "real" world based on such fairness and logic?  Absolutely not!  So my mission shifted to preparing them for that cruel, cunning, survival-of-the-fittest mentality, as I did not wish to see my innocent babies devoured alive by such a hostile and unforgiving environment.  They quickly adjusted, taking to my entreaties of "who ever promised that things would be fair?  Life isn't fair!  You need to be able to handle unfair situations on your own!  DEAL WITH IT!"
After feeling better about my handiwork, I recently came across some advice from a spiritual source:  the home should be a safe place, a fair place, a place where children can be taught the concepts of justice and kindness in dealing with others, since the external environments that they undoubtedly find themselves in are outside of a parent's control and are no place to learn such things.  Man, did I feel like a loser.  Although I constantly do my best to set a good example for my children, to show them how to treat others with respect and compassion (and honesty and fairness), I could see how they might take my problem-solving  words to heart about "life not being fair" and apply that to the frontier that is the playground.  Fortunately they are still considered model children by many (hopefully all) of our friends, family, and acquaintances, and seem to have a deeply ingrained sense of what is right and wrong and how to treat others (even though it's hard to do sometimes).  But to the title of this post, am I raising a couple of wusses?  Will they grow up to be idealistic losers who get walked all over and taken advantage of by unfair and unjust sharks?  And more to the point, is it better to be that idealistic person who's occasionally victimized or taken advantage of by others than to be the one doing the exploiting and the gaining?  I believe it is.  Such is the way of this world, and hopefully my children can enjoy it as much as I have in spite of those realities.

Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art is a remarkable Kimbell Museum exhibit of creative expression dating to the first few centuries A.D. Although touted as a “spectacular display of many of the greatest treasures of early Christianity from around the world,” the collection is almost entirely comprised of pieces from throughout the Roman Empire. Avid enthusiasts of the early history of the Church and its development, as well as casual museum-goers, will undoubtedly be moved as well as surprised by the depth and complexity of the thought and output produced by the earliest proponents of the New Testament. It is striking to witness the countless examples of popular and powerful themes of the day, themes that have been lost to the intervening centuries from then until now. These include the importance of the story of Jonah and the “leviathan” (which we commonly refer to today as a whale, but which the earliest artisans of both the Old and New Testaments invariably represented as a sea monster in their carvings and impressions); the apocryphal story of Peter, imprisoned in Rome, striking a rock wall in his cell and causing it to spring forth with water which was then used to baptize one of his Roman prison guards and which was a direct attempt to equate Peter with Moses accomplishing the same feat in his desert wanderings; and the constant, consistent use of the icthys (fish) symbol as their identifier, many decades before the use of the crucifixion symbolism that has been used up through present times.

When one is confronted with these earliest Christian symbols, representations, and practices, before the Church was “the Church,” one cannot help being transported back to that time and stepping into the physical and spiritual reality of the early Christian Roman Empire. Followers of Christ’s life and teachings had to rely on each other for understanding and interpretation of these strange tales and how they related to each other and to themselves personally, as there was no mass printing or distribution capability. It is fascinating and humbling to see a sampling of the seeds that were sown thousands of years ago, seeds that have grown into the faith and infrastructure of a religious tradition practiced by over a billion people throughout the world today.

Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art is on display at the Kimbell Museum of Art in Fort Worth, Texas through March 30, 2008. It features “major loans from the Vatican, the Bargello and the Laurentian Library in Florence, the British Museum, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and a number of other international institutions.” More information can be found at www.kimbellart.org.