Compassionate Living

I have been writing some reflections for the master classes I have been taking this summer.  Seems such a shame to waste all my thoughts on an e-mail to an instructor, so I've decided to post a few here. :D
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            Is simple living synonymous with compassion?  A case could be made that the choices made in simpler living provides for others to live better lives, thus it is a compassionate response.  Yet I wonder, is it inherently compassionate?  Or does the level of compassion resonate with the one choosing the simpler life?  Can one choose a simple life and it have the opposite effect of compassion?

            My aunt knew a family in her church that lived a very simple life.  They always wore the same clothes, week after week, to church.  They had a mid sized family with three or four children, yet lived in a tiny cramped house.  It’s not that they were dirty, just very simply.  Their church community saw a need and began to support the family in small ways.  Everyone assumed that the family did not have the means to provide a better life for their children and the family never corrected the view.  Once the children had grown and left the nest, the parents left their poor life style and began to better provide for themselves.   It seemed that they were the “poor” millionaires. They had given their children a much lower standard of living than necessary.  They took away resources from those who truly could have used them.  Their choice for a simple life was purely selfish. 

            Others may choose to live simply as a matter of “salvation.”  They become self-righteous and look down their snub noses at those around them who do not choose to live as they do.  They carry a martyr’s cross, their simplicity is their suffering.  They are free from the sinful wants of this life.  Or so they believe.  Simple living is not intrinsically, compassionate living.

It is also most important to remember that “Global living doesn’t attempt to impose limits on others.”  (Merkel p 16)  Education and loving examples are powerful ways of encouraging a wider participation in compassionate life styles.  “Lasting change happens when people see for themselves that a different way of life is more fulfilling than their present one. Eknath Easwaran” (Schut p. 11)  If we attempt in any way to force people to comply, or share our choice of a simpler life, we will not be successful and only become counter productive.

            Compassionate living is a fundamental Christian life style.  In Matthew chapter 25 Jesus shows that compassion is what separates the sheep from the goats.  Those who enter into His kingdom are those who have: “done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,” (Matt 25:40).  When one chooses a life of compassion, a life which embraces “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” they will consider how each of their actions effect others.  (dictionary.com)  Thus compassionate living is synonymous with following Christ.  It is inherently selflessness.  If then selflessness inspires simplicity then one could suggest that a compassionate life is tantamount with a simple life. 

            So one may choose a simple life out of compassion; yet simple living does not always result in compassion.  

My Prude Manifesto

The word prude originally meant a discreet, modest, excellent woman. To be prudent means to have discretion or economy. So I wonder, how has society turned this, word which should be desired, into an insult?


Modern society does not value discretion or modesty. The more careless and unguarded you are the more desirable. Freedom is spelled in the giving away of all caution. The less attached to values or civility the more admirable. While claiming to be enlightened, they are still searching for peace. Void, they have gained the world and all it's logical knowledge. They are set "free" from the confines that have bound previous generations.

Looking at the wreck of broken unhappy people this philosophy has in it's wake, I don't care much to prescribe. So call me a prude. I'll bear the title with pride. It's true. I am committed to the values that so many scornful call prudish.


My value is not found in how much I can flaunt, nor in the brightness of peacock feathers. It is not found on the latest catwalk, nor in my ability to stick-it to fashion. However I am committed to bear my self with dignity. To modestly, tasteful, care for my body.


The depth of my mind is not measured in the amount of human babble I can consume. It is not found in the diversity of philosophy. My mind is expanded by the lessons from the one who gives all breath. The literature I choose to consume delves into the mysteries of the universe as given by the ruler of all that is and is not. There is no higher pursuit!


My character is not counted by the number of exploits I achieve. I cannot be judged by the onlooker. Instead, it is only found by my intimate connection with the Prince of my heart. Only He can rule upon the state of my affairs. Only He knows me.


Here is my true value, my ultimate prudishness. I hide myself in the Savior. His wisdom is of the highest quality. I seek to be a discreet, modest, excellent woman, by His grace.

The Inherent Value of Human Life

{Recent conversations with people have lead me to consider the value of human life.}

What value does a single life hold? It has been said that if you add up the monetary value found in one human body the total would be about $4.50. This doesn't really make you worth very much. At that rate you are certainly replaceable. (http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/worth.asp)

Beliefs about the value of human life boil down to two systems: contingent value and inherent value. Contingent value makes the value of a human life dependant upon variables. Therefore the value is conditional. On the side of inherent value, life's value is a quality that cannot be removed. The value of human life is permanent and consistent; it cannot be separated or changed. Inherent value simply is.

Contingent value has a long history and finds many supporters in various philosophies. One characteristic that these groups share is the desire to impose their own pursuits upon others (to elevate themselves or their group to some advantage). These form their own variables upon which they measure the value of a life. The ancient Greek Stoics found value through virtues. Those who did not poses these "virtues" were not considered worth as much. Those who were ill, maned, disabled, orphaned, etc were considered unable to posses these "virtues" and were thus not valuable.


The Stoics, however, were not alone in their philosophy. Many ancient peoples placed similar conditional value on life. The ancient philosophers valued "virtuous men." These men of virtue were mostly comprised of the educated, or those connected by specific kinship or state citizenship. Confucianism taught the suppression of individual differences for the greater common good. Value was here placed upon the group good, leaving the individual little or no value. Hitler taught that value could be based upon a person's European blood line.


Fundamentally, contingent value leads to oppression. Slavery, caste systems, the Holocaust, and mistreatment of the disabled, ill, or orphaned all arise from the belief that the value of human life is dependant upon a set of variables.

Taken even further, to the ultimate result, contingent value does not allow society to react to ones personal choices which may effect the quality or status of life. This means that anti-drug or self mutilation laws have no basis. What one chooses to do to or with ones life is based upon their own set of variables. Variables by their very nature can change. Thus we can also not speak against murder or genocide when they are based upon dependant variables. "Without inherent value in human life, at most these acts would be socially impolite or culturally distasteful, but never objectively wrong." (http://talk.thinkingmatters.org.nz/2008/the-inherent-value-of-human-life/)

Inherent value also has a long historical tradition. The Hebrews, and their forefathers, were the first to assign unconditional value on human life. While the Hebrews believed in just punishment of the guilty, the Talmud taught that innocent life should be guarded, even at the cost of other lives. The Torah also held that all life should be valued while the quality of life should never be a factor in its preservation. Jewish tradition mandates the preservation of all life (Jewish legal sources call this pikuach nefesh). One source puts it this way "When one destroys a single individual, it is as if that person destroyed the whole world. (Sanhedrin 4:5)" (http://judaism.about.com/library/3_intro/level2/bl_war.htm)

This belief is illustrated by the story of David and his punishment of the messenger who brought news of the death of King Saul. The messenger claimed to have happened upon Saul while he lay wounded on the battle field. Saul called out to the man and asked him to end his life that he might no longer suffer. The messenger hoped that by claiming to have taken the life of Saul himself he would secured for himself favor with David who's life had been relentlessly sought after by Saul. David, however, valued the life of Saul and was greatly distressed by the news of Saul's death. "And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?" (II Samuel 1:14, KJV) It was obvious that King Saul would have eventually died of his wounds or by the hand of the enemy army which was in hot pursuit of the Hebrews. Yet David was horrified by the messengers boldness to judge the King's life worthy of being cut short. The messenger himself died for his confession to the crime of murder.


Beliefs of inherent value where later shared with Judeo-Christian believers. These beliefs that all are of an equal inherent value were developed and expressed in a variety of ways. One example of the expression of this belief can be found in the United States Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." (http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html) They believed that this value could not be taken away and should be preserved.


These two schools of human value are connected to the believers notion of God. Contingent value is connected to a lack of belief in God. The ancient Greeks and other philosophers, while they often believed in some form of deity, did not hold great personal connection with these deities. Their gods where not personal creators who loved and cared for their creation. Some cultures held that they themselves were smaller gods working their way to divinity. Many of the more modern embracers of contingent value do not believe that there is any divine being or purpose for humans. They hold that humans sprang from eons of evolution and have only accidentally achieved their modern state. By this humans cannot have inherent value because one is only an accident, survival of the fittest. So by these standards life's value can change based on the conditional variables one chooses to place upon it.


In inherent value ones life is locked with a creator God. The Hebrews and their forefathers, as well as those of Judeo-Christian thought, hold to a personal God. Genesis chapters one and two describe the creation of man in the image of God. Again, in Genesis 9:6 this connection is referred to when condemning murder. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." (Genesis 9:6, KJV)

25 Random Things

I compiled this a while ago and like the silly randomness of it so much I thought I worth posting.

1. My favorite two animals in the whole world are cows and hippos. (They are just too cute!)
2. My hair has naturally been black, blond, light brown with chunky blond highlights, auburn, and medium brown with auburn flex. All this without the aid of chemical dyes.
3. From childhood through my teens I was extremely shy. My biggest fears were strangers and guys. Working as a colporteur, however, freed me. (To this day I'm not sure what possessed me to do maga books.)
4. I love going to school and hope to return to college soon. (Learning is so invigorating!)
5. I hated math until I had to teach it. Now I have a strange fascination with the subject. (I've even checked out library books on the topic.)
6. In the eighth grade I felt burdened to choose a career and spent several weeks in prayer over the subject. I choose teaching then and only strayed for about three weeks, during high school, when I considered nursing.
7. My life time aspiration is to be a renaissance woman. (Maybe I will do nursing after all.)
8. My favorite college classes where: Research Design and Statistics for the class itself and Christian Beliefs for the company.
9. I no longer eat an American styled breakfast, instead I choose a large salad or steamed vegetables.
10. Currently, my favorite food is beans. Any kind of beans really. Bean make everything taste better.
11. Earthquakes scare me more than hurricanes or tornadoes.
12. Blood does not bother me. However, a story about blood will totally gross me out.
13. My childhood best friend and I used to stay up late into the night to discuss how to live the most practical lives.
14. At different times in my life I have acquired small vocabularies in Norwegian, Spanish, Korean, and Tagalog. (Except for Spanish, however, I never attained more than a series of lists and phrases.)
15. I'm horrified by most of my childhood fashion statements.
16. If I had my way, I go live in some third world country and run an orphanage; loving as many children as I could possibly get my hands on.
17. The last time I played dress-up (then also known as settlers and Indians) with a group of kids I was 16 yrs. old. I found, however, that I had lost my childhood imagination and it no longer worked for me. I was also much less excited by the mud pies and slug stew than I had previously been.
18. The older I get the more I realize how much I love to love children.
19. Despite my extreme lack of skills, I really like soccer!
20. I still have a childhood fantasy of digging myself a cave in the side of a hill and living in it. (Maybe kind of like the fawn from Narnia.)
21. Christmas mistletoe is still hanging in my kitchen. *kiss kiss*
22. Some of the best friends I've had I've never meet in person.
23. I set off the fire alarm in my college dorm room microwaving licorice.
24. I like turtles, however, I find empty turtle shells gross.
25. I have tried durian fruit twice. It smells like a cross between the outhouse and smelly underarms, but doesn't taste all that bad.

Called

Recently I was given a personal challenge to pray a prayer of purpose. I've heard it said that you must be careful when really asking something of God. My prayers of "Where would you have me? How would you have me live in the now?" ended with direction I never expected.

When we ask God to show us purpose we probably expect something with flash or passion, something significant. There must be some great meaning or ministry, etc in plan for our lives. Answers to these kinds of prayers should be definitive; an explanation of where we are going. Or, so it would seem. The answer to my prayers was consistently -- suffer.

Suffering is not something we usually seek. In our humanity the last thing on earth we want to experience is suffering. Discomfort is unpleasant! In fact, at the threats of hell fire and brimstone some have become Christians to avoid suffering. But to truly follow Christ, suffering is unavoidable.

The call to suffer seems strange at first. After listening to it and staring into its face, I have come to see suffering as the call of the Christian. In Matthew 10:22 Jesus told his disciples that they would be hated because of Him. Some, though, may never experience much opposition here. While this is an important point for a Christian to contemplate, the call to suffer goes much deeper.

"Then Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me." Matthew 16:24 (KJV) The cross, the ultimate symbol of suffering is Christ's call.

Deeper still, the call to suffer is not mere pain or even the act of sacrifice. Paul warns that it is possible to even give your life away and yet have it be of no profit. (Corinthians. 13:3) The only way to avoid this is to do the hardest thing in all the world, to completely give up oneself to suffer. The daily inward surrender of ourselves is the suffering to which we are called.

In Hannah Hurnard's allegory Hinds Feet On High Places, the character Much Afraid is given two companions. Sorrow and Suffering, as her companions, to help her reach the High Places. Without these two, poor Much Afraid could not have accomplished her destination.

After Nathan the prophet condemned him, David lamented his state, "Behold, I was sharpened in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psalms 51:5 (KJV). By very nature he was sinful. All humanity has the same nature. More than just mere inclination and tendency, self living is entwined within us.

While our hearts are so inherently self-centered and evil we are told, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:5 (KJV). Christ is love and selflessness. Just to acknowledge our nature can be difficult! Giving up our self will is painful. "...mortify the deeds of the body..." Paul tells us (Romans 8:13 KJV). As a natural human, I really don't want to mortify anything connected to me! Yet that is exactly what we need.

A few days back I was praying for wisdom to respond to an irritating situation. Nothing I tried seemed to work. I knew I was not in the wrong, so I used "righteous indignation" as an excuse to defend myself. Quietly God brought to my mind the picture of a silent Christ. He stood before His accusers, listened to outrageous accusations, and received torture in silence. He did not seek to vindicate Himself. He always let go of Himself. Yet these moments of silence are some of his most glorious.

Christ's life, free from self, is our example. For us to surrender to selfless living is to suffer. Any small surrender of one's will is difficult. If we then are not daily surrendering, and therefore suffering, we are missing the Christian calling. If we find that we are not suffering then perhaps we should examine our lives to see if we are truly surrendering to love.

Maybe if we would stop to listen we would all hear Christ whisper to our hearts
-- suffer.

10-14-04

I recently came across a series of quick writes I did in 2004. The are a little bit ruff, but I thought one of them was worth publishing. So hear it is, unedited, in it's original form. Faith (10-14-04)

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Most of the time it's hard to just trust God without any evidence of what has been promised. It's easy to loose sight of the ultimate goal. Our small finite minds barely see past our noses. Through the glasses of faith we must grasp what is there just beyond our own sight. I often wonder, "God, what are you doing with me!" I like to have things figured out, I like goals and plans. But God simply calls me to take steps in faith. He has promised to supply all my needs. God does not call the equipped, He equips the called; or so they say. Yet I often stop to wonder, "How Lord?!"Things aren't lined up as I envisioned. You can plan and strategies, and have all the common sense in the world, yet in the end your ideas are never what really is. All logic may be employed to your cause; still nothing remains with in your control. So you must let go and let God. "I trust God; yet help that which I don't trust!" Moment by moment you must lay aside personal ambitions and ideas to grasp with the hand of faith. Our faith, that often so whithered and weakened hand, is strengthened only by exercise. "But how long Lord" I question. "Just wait." comes the patient answer. ... "Why not now? Why must I wait?" "I know best, wait" He answers. Oh the agony of faith!

Faith may very well be one of the most agonizing exercises of the Christian walk. It is as if you are standing on a precipice, blindfolded, and you are told to step forward onto the bridge. To your knowledge there is no bridge. Your senses tell you there is nothing before you. Still you must take the step.

"Take an unseen hand? What Lord?" We question His infinite wisdom. Trust in that which is not? No, it's there, we are assured, yet you cannot see it. Keep walking? But it maybe a long time? "Yes, it may. Trust me." He whispers. Hold on, don't give up! The time will come when we shall see the fruits of our faith. He has said it and so it shall be.

Bitter Sweet Satisfaction

(Job Satisfaction-Part 2)

From the full mustache and the deep voice, it was obvious that puberty had long since past him. Still the boyish tangle of hair and his melancholy eyes spoke more of the years he'd fallen through the cracks. His folder told me that his school career is almost through; the system that somehow failed him is about to launch him into adult life.

He bent over the notebook paper, his brow creased with effort. "Spell want." I told him, and watched the large squiggly letters form. W-O-T. He relaxed waiting for the next word, while my heart broke. If he couldn't spell want I knew he couldn't spell caught.

As he sat before me I wondered who it was that first noticed he wasn't getting things. Had they just passed him by? How many failed papers or years of struggle had it taken for someone to reach out to this one? I felt angry! Here he was; there wasn't much time for him now. He had years of ground to cover and so little time.

Glancing over his profile I noted that he was "too old" for his grade. "Why hasn't anybody done something!" I wondered. Clearly he'd never even been given a second chance at a grade. The No Child Left Behind Act had been in effect when he was still in elementary school. "A lot of good it did him!" I send a silent angry vibe out to all the politicians. People trying to "make education better" who have never met kids like him, never had to sweat over a child. Here was one that all the politics hadn't done a thing for! They spout the catch phrases and wax eloquent over philosophy while hard working kids still don't make it.

Later, as we poured over a lists of sight words I again wondered how he's made it all these years. "Pro-pro-pro..." he sighed from exhaustion. "You've got that part, look at the rest." I encouraged him. "C-c-c," "Remember that c says /s/ here." "Cess.. pro, cess - process?" "Good!" As I looked forward over the list I could see numerous problems ahead: silent e's, long and sort vowels, digraphs. All cracks that he had fallen through.

Somewhere in the midst of counting all the rifts in his education I realized that I was happy. "This," I thought to myself, "is why I went to school!" So, for the first time, in a long time, I'm happy to wake up in the morning and head off to work. My student helped me realize how truly satisfying a job can be.