Category Archives: Humanities

The Glass Hypnotist

My last post touched on one aspect of modern living that creates stress — compressed time. This post considers another factor that contributes to stress. We are bombarded by information from all directions. There are many modern tools that contribute to this, and among them is the television.

Television is a powerful medium and, used properly, can be a vehicle for education and entertainment. However, as in many things we enjoy, too much of it bloats the sense it stimulates. I have come to see t.v. as a giant glass eye that hinders truly seeing. What we view on the screen can become a substitute for reality.

Here are some interesting statistics regarding television viewing:

TV STATISTICS (compiled by TV Free America)

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co. (1998), the average American watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of TV each day (more than 52 days of nonstop TV-watching per year). By age 65 the average American will have spent nearly 9 years glued to the tube.

  1. Percentage of US households with at least one television: 98
  2. Percentage of US households with at least one VCR: 84
  3. Percentage of US households with two TV sets: 34; three or more TV sets: 40
  4. Hours per day that TV is on in an average US home: 7 hours, 12 minutes
  5. Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66
  6. Number of videos rented daily in the US: 6 million
  7. Number of public library items checked out daily: 3 million
  8. Chance that an American falls asleep with the TV on at least three nights a week: 1 in 4
  9. Percentage of Americans who say they watch too much TV: 49

What might you do to assess the quality of life that mindless television viewing steals from you?
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Words to Ponder #51

Our perception that we have “no time” is one of the distinctive marks of modern Western culture.

–Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner (1991)

Time was a river, not a log to be sawed into lengths.

–Margaret A. Robinson, A Woman of Her Tribe (1990)

Do You Have the Time?

We live in a fast-forward world. Do you ever feel rushed and yet always behind? Exceed the speed limit when you drive? Do you get frustrated when you have to wait in line? Do you go to bed wound up, have trouble falling asleep, and then wake up tired? When you drive, do you tailgate others, flash your lights, pass often, complain, and gesture at other drivers? Do you skip meals or hurry through them? Do you multi-task frequently? Do you feel as though there just isn’t enough time?

If any of these questions can be answered “yes” by you, it’s worth paying attention to this state of affairs. The intensity of your pace of life may be hastening your aging and ultimate demise. And you don’t enjoy the time you have, to boot.

There are many techniques for dealing with this situation.
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Risk and Reward

Today I moved forward toward a goal, and suddenly it seemed as though the heavens opened up and provided an opportunity that very closely matches the dream I’ve nurtured. This reminds me of a quote that served as a great inspiration to me twice in my life — when I made the decision to move to Austin sight unseen, with no job or apartment established, and the other to quit my full-time job to attend graduate school. The quote that served as my talisman:

The moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves, too. All sorts of
things occur to help one that would never
otherwise have occurred.

–W.H. Murray

Who is this Murray guy, you ask? W.H. Murray was a Scottish mountain climber and author of authoritative works regarding the occupation. Certain decisions in life can seem mountainous, and this quote catalyzed me long before I knew who he was. I like the synchronicity of that.

I am grateful how the universe reminds me that faith — risk — rightly focused, is rewarded. It has been awhile since I experienced the exhileration of commitment, and I am heartened.

Words to Ponder #49

Maybe being oneself is always an acquired taste.

–Patricia Hampl, in Janet Sternburg, ed., The Writer on Her Work, vol. 2 (1991)

We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they run up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends.

–Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook,” Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968)

Metaphors of the Self

“Changing Metaphors of the Self: Implications for Counseling,” by Marie Hoskins and Johanna Leseho, Journal of Counseling and Development, January/February 1996, Vol. 74, pp. 243-252.

The nature and character of the self can be described in many metaphors. This article explores the variety of metaphors used, first examining the traditional and then the postmodern metaphors. Finally, the authors explore the implications these have for counseling. Traditional metaphors for self include: the unitary self and the integrated self. The unitary self concept contends that the self is a central core which remains unchanged throughout life. The goal of life is to remove the outer protective layers gained as defenses from life’s trials to discover the inner true self. The integrated self, on the other hand, focuses on combining all aspects of self cohesively, and not in shedding all undesirable aspects of a person’s thinking, feeling, and behavior. It involves the reconciliation of opposites to create the “True Self,” or “Higher Self.”

Postmodern metaphors for self include: the narrative self, possible selves, the empty self, the internalized self, the community of selves, and the dialogical self. The narrative self is described as a fluid, evolving character in a continual process of becoming which is impacted and shaped by the surrounding culture in which it lives. Possible selves are, in essence, the cognitive bridges that connect the “now” self with the future. They are a person’s schemas or “working self-concept” for what one might become. They incorporate past and present experience as a means of creating future selves, while at the same time future possible selves are used to evaluate and define the present self. The empty self arises from a self which is divorced from a sense of historical past or spiritual presence, a hollow person without a sense of purpose and meaning in life.
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Words to Ponder #47

I couldn’t remember how to forget myself. I didn’t want to think about myself, to reckon myself in, to deal with myself every livelong minute on top of everything else — but swerve as I might, I couldn’t avoid it. I was a boulder blocking my own path. I was a dog barking between my own ears, a barking dog who wouldn’t hush. So this was adolescence.

–Annie Dillard, An American Childhood (1987)

Words to Ponder #46

Every now and then it’s hard to choose just one. I found a dozen wonderful quotes on food, and I narrowed it down to two this time.

This was the dawn of plastic eating in America…. We doted on Velveeta. Spam. Canned ravioli. Instant puddings. Instant anything. The further a thing was from the texture, flavor, and terrifying unpredictability of real food, the better.
–Shirley Abbott, The Bookmaker’s Daughter (1991)

Fake food — I mean those patented substances chemically flavored and mechanically bulked out to kill the appetite and deceive the gut — is unnatural, almost immoral, a bane to good eating and good cooking.
–Julia Child, Julia Child & Company (1978)

Thanksgiving Approaches

Searching around for information on contemplative meals, I came across an article written by Margaret Krome in The Capital Times of Wisconsin.

Gratitude isn’t naive. It doesn’t ignore the world’s terrible hunger, hostility and pain, deep anxiety about impending war, or the frustration of one’s car stalling in traffic. Nor does it celebrate superficial hopes or hollow victories. Appreciating isn’t the same as wishing that things were better than they are or hoping that they’ll improve. To be conscious of what’s good isn’t to grasp at straws.

It also isn’t smug. A thing’s goodness isn’t made better by knowing that others don’t have it, nor does something good come in proportion to one’s own merit. For example, much of my good life derives from a sound education that I didn’t obtain alone but with help from my parents and a supportive culture, which many others lack. Some people’s idea of grace – that their blessings flow because they’re good, well-behaved and pay homage to God – seems false and dangerously divisive. It can justify injustice or callousness to others’ needs.

But thankfulness isn’t callous. It’s easy to say that a loving family, time to spend with them and other intangibles are worth more than money – when you have money. That I have loving parents and good food can’t allow me to care less about others’ hunger or suffering from their families’ actions. Rather, deep gratitude for something’s importance in my life can open my awareness to inequities and inspire me to help others.

Thanksgiving in America is a time to pause and reflect on what is good in our lives. I’ve become interested in mindful eating. This involves awakening to the process of creation, paying attention to our actions as we chop vegetables and measure spices, remembering that many hands contributed to the nurturance and delivery of that product. It also means savoring flavors, feeling texture in the mouth, allowing our attention to focus fully on the task of nourishing the body. Thanksgiving is a step toward that, except I would like to weave this practice into daily life. Contemplative meals, in which people eat together in silence, occur in many settings. Some churches hold them, retreat centers make it part of the experience, and –wonder of wonders — we could gather friends and do this at home.

Here are some other links to sites oriented toward mindfulness and food:

MindfulEating.org
SlowFood.com
Slow Food USA
Conscious Eating

Bon appetit, and peace to you.