postmodernquestions

Abandoned Memories

I really like this Photo. Let me know what you think!

New Lens

Okay so you can be a jealous hater. Or you can stand in awe of the perfection of my new Nikon 70-200mm VR f2.8 lens. I just got this in the mail today. I love this thing already. It is kind of like a mini christmas for me. I feel like a giddy little kid! I will be taking this out and doing some shoots today. I will post some of those pics here; if anyone cares.

Ignorance!!!

                     

I am going to do a little bit of venting here. Now I am used to telling people that I am going to get out of the USAF and go back to school. Then they ask me what my major is. I tell them that I am a philosophy major. After this a glazed look rolls across their face. Nine times out of ten I get variations of the following question: What are you going to do with that. To which I begin to explain what my goals are and some of the opportunities available for philosophy majors. However today was apparently the tenth time. My lucky day! This guy that I work with looks at me and goes; well at least with that major you don’t have to work very hard. You can put whatever you want on paper and say that is what you believe. I was flabbergasted at the ignorance and the slap in the face that I had just received. Seriously people! I work with the people that are supposed to be smart. They continually tout themselves as the most intelligent in the military. What killed me was this guy is one of my many bosses. He has a college degree. I think he needs to go back and demand a refund because he is far from educated. Unfreaking believable!!!!

Letting Go

As all of my friends know; I am getting out of the military soon. I have so many feelings that I have a hard time putting them into words. On the one hand my soul longs to be free to chase my dreams and my passion for philosophy, theology, photography and to be an active partner with God’s active work of redemption. I am thrilled that I am being given the opportunity to chase those dreams. On the other hand I am scared. I have been in the military my entire adult life. And while I have never really fit in; I have been somewhat institutionalized by always knowing that I have a constant safety net and ultimate job security. It is a scary thing to be letting go of that security blanket especially during this economic situation. I know it is the right thing to do, but it scares me. I know that this will be really good for me. But I am afraid of getting hurt. I am afraid of the unknown and yet my soul yearns for the journey into the unknown. A helpful friend pointed out a really interesting parallel. He said that in many ways I am experiencing the same physchological thought process of many women in an abusive relationship. In that they know that the relationship is really bad but they know it and can predict it. They know what to expect from it. They want out but are scared of the unknown. I am beginning to understand how they must feel. I guess I would ask that my friends pray that I would have strength and the courage to take the leap and learn to trust. I am excited but I want to have a calm about this.

Jesus versus Plato

 

                                                                          Jesus versus Plato

Those in the clutches of platonic dualism cannot possibly understand the greatest sermon ever given by Jesus called the sermon on the mount; often referred to as the beatitudes. Platonic dualism teaches this or that. Jesus teaches us to transcend these binaries. We see this struggle all the time. Think about the age old debate between faith and reason. I would suggest that this is an entirely false dichotomy but a prevalent one nonetheless. It is hard to identify all of the areas that this dualism has infected; just because it is so incredibly pervasive. Many people operate under the false illusion that just because they choose this rather than that or that rather than this; then they are somehow not viewing the world through a dualistic lens. It is perhaps best illustrated when  we think about a dry erase marker. If we were to look at it from the side it looks like a rectangle. But if you were to turn it and look from the tip to the end; you would see that it unmistakably  a circle. Well from someone who could only think two dimensionally the idea that it could be both is utterly inconceivable. The fact that one person chooses to say no, it is this rather than that means they are unable to escape the lens with which they are seeing through. Furthermore we also see in a scripture a direct contradiction of Plato when Jesus says that he is incarnationally the way the truth and the life. He is literally saying that he embodies truth. This is a direct slap in the face to Plato. He said that truth existed in abstract forms. He would have viewed a sweaty smelly dirty human being as being the embodiment of ultimate truth utterly laughable.