Eye on Faith

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Deep time: Old and older

Map Lichen (Photo by Tigerente)

It’s amazing just how far a 110 camera plus a child’s curiosity can reach.

In Rachel Sussman’s case, what began as a youthful hobby of photographing storm-tossed trees, eventually developed into a philosophical exploration of deep time.

During a trip abroad as an adult, Sussman “found herself on a remote Japanese island, photographing a 7,000-year-old tree.” This led to the launching of her Oldest Living Things in the World project.

Paulette Beete of the National Endowment for the Arts explains that Sussman’s project entails internationally-based photographs of “everything from a 3,000-year-old lichen to a 9,550-year-old spruce to an 80,000-year-old colony of aspen trees.”

The subjects of these photographs come under the umbrella of what Sussman calls “deep time.” Although this phrase means different things to different people, Sussman defines it as a “scale that’s so much deeper than a human life span.” She often cites Greenland’s map lichens, which grow just one (silly?) centimeter every 100 years, as an example of experiential “deep time.”

In questioning why this particular year is dubbed “2014” when the planet has existed for far longer than that, Sussman critiques the key role that religion has played in our perceptions of time. She explains that this religious lens for viewing time is “completely detached from the deep history or big history… of our planet.”

Resources

http://news.yahoo.com/art-science-philosophy-behind-photos-oldest-living-things-220725990.html

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Napoleon I: Religious opportunism

Napoleon I's Deathbed (by Horace Vernet)

Napoleon Bonaparte is often praised for his religious tolerance. This quality was not so much due to faith as it was to opportunism.

Wikipedia explains that although Napoleon was “piously raised and received a Christian education,” he could best be described as a deist who recognized the redeeming social value of religion.

Napoleon I therefore practiced a kind of “When in Rome…” religious philosophy. Although he allegedly admired the Prophet

Muhammad, Bonaparte nevertheless stated: It is by making myself a Moslem that I established myself in Egypt.

His “religious tolerance” extended to other traditions, as well. Bonaparte explained: It is by making myself a Catholic that I brought peace to Brittany and Vendee… If I governed a nation of Jews, I should

reestablish the Temple of Solomon.

Bonaparte often emphasized Roman Catholicism (he was crowned Emperor Napoleon I by Pope Pius VII) because he believed that Catholicism’s “splendorous ceremonies and sublime moral[s] better act over the imagination of the people than other religions.”

Although he is said to have privately favored “the Mohammedan religion” because there are “fewer incredible things in it,” Napoleon (ever the opportunist) was “anointed by a priest before his death.”

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

Friday, August 29, 2014

Can crushes crush?

The Flirtation (by Eugene de Blass)

An article titled “Hitched: Is it OK to get crushes… when you’re married?” from Women’s Health thus far elicited 94 comments, many of them emphatic.

After wrestling with her attraction to a banjo-playing “hottie,” married (with toddler) author Korin Miller concludes: As long as I’m not having crushes on the regular, hiding anything from [husband] Chris, or treating him any differently because of another guy, it’s fine.

Or is it? Many readers think not.

One warns: Why even flirt with disaster? Playing with a crush can lead to cheating, so don’t take the chance.

Another told the sad story of a marital breakup, due to his wife’s crush on her boss’s boss.

Still another claims that the media messes up marriages by convincing people that it’s perfectly normal to have such extra-marital crushes.

Can crushes crush? In some cases, yes. Each “spoken-for” person must therefore decide: Is this a chance worth taking?

Resources

http://living.msn.com/love-relationships/hitched-is-it-ok-to-get-crushes%E2%80%A6when-youre-married

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Koko and Robin: Two extraordinary beings

Young Gorilla (Photo by Justin Norton)

Robin Williams was so universally loved that his death was mourned by more than one species.

When Koko (the female gorilla that “understands spoken English and uses over 1,000 signs to share her feelings and thoughts about daily events, life, love, even death”) overheard her human trainer discussing Williams’ death, she began to show obvious signs of mourning.

In 2001, Williams had been invited by the Gorilla Foundation in California to meet with Koko. Laura T. Coffey of TODAY reports that when this occurred, “Williams and Koko laughed, tickled each other and hugged like old friends.” Williams described this encounter with Koko as “mind-altering.”

Koko's enthusiasm for Williams was especially heartening in that Koko hadn’t smiled for six months before then, due to the death of her “childhood gorilla companion, Michael.” Koko not only smiled while meeting with Williams, but also tried on his glasses, kissed his hand, and “pulled him in for a big hug.”

After hearing of his death, Koko's head was bowed, and her lip was quivering. Her eyes became filled with sadness.

She, too, was missing the light that was Robin Williams.

Resources

http://www.today.com/pets/robin-williams-mourned-koko-gorilla-1D80056867?cid=sky|outbrain|1D80056867

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Parenthood: Evolutionary kindness

And so it begins... (Photo by Indrani)

According to her August 2014 Spirit article titled "Chaos Theory," Sheril Kirshenbaum's experience of parenthood has not been without its frenzied moments.

Nevertheless, Kirshenbaum asserts that "when it comes to parenting, scientific evidence proves that the perks for our health and happiness far outweigh the pitfalls."

How is that possible when parenting tends to yield exhaustion of body, mind and bank account? To answer this question, Kirshenbaum relies upon the reassurances of research findings.

It is now known that oxytocin (the happy hormone) increases significantly for both parents "during the first six months of a child's life." Not only that, the scent of a new baby "triggers the brain's dopamine response."

The very act of raising a child nurtures altruistic tendencies in parents to the point where their neurological systems change for the better. Kirshenbaum explains that parental "brains are literally being reshaped from a world primarily consisting of self to one consisting of both self and other."

As parental brains become rewired for altruism over time, the world itself becomes a kinder and gentler place.

Resources
http://www.spiritmag.com/features/article/chaos_theory/

Copyright August 27, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Honestly, honesty heals

Says who! (Public Domain)

Because psychology professor Anita E. Kelly runs a project called The Science of Honesty, she and her team “recruited 72 adults” in order to study the effects of sincerity.

David DiSalvo of Forbes reports that Kelly then divided this pool of adults into “a Sincerity group and a control group.” Whereas the control group was given virtually no instruction, the Sincerity group was given this specific one: You must always mean what you say in situations where your statements are to be taken seriously… [but] you certainly can choose to not answer questions…

Over the course of the next five weeks, Kelly and her team carefully observed each group. Participants were given “periodic polygraph tests and standard measures of health.” At the study’s end, Kelly reported these “amazing” results: The Sincerity group not only reported significantly “fewer sore throats, headaches, and nausea,” but also “fewer mental health complaints like feeling tense.”

Kelly was so impressed with these results that she herself tried upping the sincerity ratio. She afterwards found that she needed far less sleep and had far fewer colds.

Honestly.

Resources

http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2014/08/10/how-telling-the-truth-could-keep-you-healthier/

Monday, August 25, 2014

Lemmings: Not just 'Marching Morons'

Lemming (Public Domain)

The metaphor of lemmings “marching” en masse to certain death in the sea is, for the most part, a mythological one.

They, like the rest of us, are simply hardwired for survival. When overpopulation threatens their well-being, (big) bunches of them decide to move on to greener pastures. Since lemmings multiply quite rapidly, this happens quite often.

During the course of this migration, a body of water sometimes gets in the way. Lemmings can swim, and in the urgency of the moment may choose to test their aquatic abilities to the max. This works out well for some; others drown.

This sad-but-true syndrome leads onlookers to believe that lemmings are practitioners of mass suicide. Actually, they are practitioners of self-preservation; it’s just that some are simply not up to the task.

Nevertheless, the tall tales and jokes persist – perpetuated (of course) by Disney, and even by Apple. In order to make it appear as though lemmings were deliberately jumping to a certain death, Disney’s White Wilderness staffers launched the critters “off the cliff using a turntable.”

Stereotypes tend to be deadly, especially when launched against such humble creatures as lemmings.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemming